S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: September the 10th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated
S1: stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network.
S1: There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you
S1: need to do is search for the two words talking
S1: tech and Dana can all come usually on a Tuesday
S1: afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to
S1: ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision
S1: Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech
S1: podcast with me for the last time on a regular basis.
S1: Leading Australian blindness technologist David Woodbridge. David, welcome to what's
S1: really a pretty special program.
S2: Well, it's a special in a couple days, isn't it?
S2: Number number one, it's sort of my last official regular,
S2: like you just said, last program. And number two, of course,
S2: it was all about the Apple keynote, which took place
S2: today as we go to air.
S1: And how fitting it is that this program is about
S1: an Apple event. Let's start with the event that happened
S1: at 3:00 this morning Australian time. Australian Eastern time. Firstly,
S1: your overall impression of the event itself.
S2: Yeah. Look, I mean as you saw, it's been pre-done.
S2: So it's been, you know pre-recorded. It's audio described which
S2: is really good. There was lots of information in there.
S2: Sometimes the audio description of course, which happened was a
S2: little bit too quick. And it's the same level as
S2: the rest of the audio. But overall it was a
S2: really good polished presentation from Apple. And they got all
S2: the marketing promo stuff in there very nicely. But yeah, look,
S2: if I was giving you a bit of a rating
S2: as far as content, I'd give it about a 8.5
S2: out of ten.
S1: So if you'd like to go and listen to it,
S1: it runs for about an hour and a half. Mhm.
S1: Lots of content there. Hardware devices were on center stages
S1: at were the Apple Watch, the AirPods, and the iPhones.
S1: Let's talk about those starting with the Apple Watch series.
S2: Yeah, so effectively there's going to be two Apple Watch
S2: versions that at least what they talked about. So that's
S2: the Apple Watch ten and also the Apple Watch Ultra
S2: which is the the two version. And they were really
S2: talking about the fact that and they did with this
S2: most of the stuff except for the AirPods that we'll
S2: get to in a minute. We're talking about the fact
S2: that it's thinner, lighter. The screen is slightly bigger, it's
S2: slightly brighter, it's slightly louder, um, nicer bands and all
S2: that sort of cool stuff. So as with most of
S2: the stuff that we'll talk about in the program today,
S2: it's incremental changes, which are actually quite good. So, um,
S2: I'd say if you're back at a sort of an
S2: Apple Watch, I'd say eight. Um, then absolutely. It's definitely
S2: worthwhile updating it, particularly for low vision, because the the
S2: actual face of the watch is a lot easier to
S2: see in, in bright sunlight. Uh, and of course, at
S2: night time, it lowers the luminosity of the watch face
S2: so it doesn't glare at you. But no, look, it
S2: looked really good. One of the things that caught my
S2: attention about the, uh, Apple Watch ten, of course, which
S2: I've always wanted on my Apple Watch, is the fact
S2: that you can actually listen to media on the Apple
S2: Watch itself, because beforehand, of course, as we all know,
S2: you really need to use AirPods or whatever else to
S2: listen to music or audiobooks on the Apple Watch, but
S2: now you don't. And the other little thing that also
S2: caught my attention was the sleep apnea, um, function. Uh,
S2: so that if you do suffer from sleep apnea or
S2: you don't, you don't even know that you've got it,
S2: as they pointed out. and then this will pick up
S2: if you've got breathing problems during the, uh, the night
S2: and I'll give you a report once a month. So
S2: that was quite fascinating as well.
S1: Now that won't be available straight away, but it will
S1: be in the coming weeks, hopefully in Australia soon.
S2: Correct. Yeah. And they did say that that will be
S2: available also on the previous Apple Watch, but not on
S2: the old ultra watch, the original one, but it will
S2: definitely be on the previous. What we now say is
S2: the series nine Apple Watch. So that was a really
S2: great thing to to have a chat about.
S1: We'll talk about dates later because they're the same across
S1: all the devices. Let's come to AirPods now.
S2: Yeah. Look I'm going to say up front that I
S2: found the discussion about the AirPods a little bit confusing
S2: because they talked about sort of two versions of the AirPods,
S2: one of which was slightly more expensive. They did talk
S2: about the fact that they're reducing the size of the case.
S2: One of the versions of the AirPods had better sound
S2: acoustic quality, and a few other odds and ends. So
S2: what I would suggest, and I'm not talking about the
S2: AirPods Pro here, when they were talking about the two AirPods, um,
S2: I would say if you go back and have a
S2: listen or go to Apple.com now, and because they have
S2: the information about the AirPods online now and have a
S2: read about them, and they also talked about the new
S2: AirPods Pro. Now, the thing that caught my attention about
S2: that was another health one, and that's the hearing aid functionality.
S2: So what they've done is they've said that the AirPods Pro,
S2: the new one, will be the same as over-the-counter hearing
S2: aids that you can buy at the chemist or the pharmacy,
S2: as we call them in Australia. And it will allow
S2: you to have a audiologist, as in the iPhone, give
S2: you an audio test, and then it will actually give
S2: you a hearing aid through the AirPods Pro By themselves
S2: so you can use it. So that will be interesting
S2: to see how that goes against, you know, people that
S2: have to use like $6,000 hearing aids.
S1: Yes, certainly iPhones. The big one.
S2: The big one. Yeah. Look, there was of course, the
S2: of course there's the iPhone 16, the 16 plus, and
S2: of course the iPhone 16 Pro and the 16 Pro Max.
S2: So the 16 is basically 6.1 right up to the
S2: fairly large 16 Pro Max, which is 6.9in diagonally. So
S2: that's actually, you know, fairly fairly large, um, from a,
S2: I guess, a blindness and low vision type point of view.
S2: I'd say most people are probably going to be quite
S2: satisfied with the, the 16 or the 16 plus. Um,
S2: one thing they did start to talk about several times,
S2: which I only got worked out what they were talking about.
S2: There's a little touch surface on the side of the
S2: phone now, which is called the camera click and the
S2: camera click. You can do all sorts of wonderful things
S2: in it. Um, you know, launch the camera and you
S2: can do like a force press and a light press
S2: to bring up different functionality for the camera. One of
S2: the fantastic things was visual intelligence, because they did spend
S2: a lot of time, of course, when they talked about
S2: the iPhone, about Apple intelligence, which, by the way, they
S2: covered back in WWDC. There's nothing new. Um, and that
S2: was the fact that you could be wandering down the
S2: road and you could see a nice little puppy dog
S2: in a park. You could take a picture, and then
S2: you could do a search on ChatGPT or Google, and
S2: it would tell you the actual breed of the dog.
S2: Or if you're at a restaurant and you took a
S2: picture of the menu, it would go up and search
S2: the menu options, um, find prices and all that sort
S2: of really cool stuff. So that's almost getting to what
S2: we would like to have, as you know, blind and
S2: low vision people. And that is your camera taking pictures
S2: of objects in your vicinity and telling you more about them.
S1: Yeah, I can imagine this could be very useful in
S1: the shopping environment where you photograph something on the shelf
S1: and it goes to a website to tell you more
S1: about it.
S2: Yeah, no, that was quite fascinating. But keep keep in
S2: mind though, that with Apple intelligence it's not quite here yet.
S2: We've still got sort of 18.1 currently in beta. Um,
S2: so they did sort of point out that this is
S2: a building process. And these things will come online in
S2: the next month up to the next year or so.
S2: So just keep your ear out for a software update.
S2: And then all these other Apple intelligence stuff that they
S2: talked about today will be coming on board. But as
S2: far as 18.0 is concerned, the stuff they talked about
S2: today in the keynote actually won't be there.
S1: There's been some significant developments with audio.
S2: That's right. So what they were talking about is particularly
S2: when you're videoing and you're in a bit of an
S2: echoey room, what the system will do, it will do
S2: a lot of noise dampening on the echo or the
S2: sounds in the room. And the other thing it will
S2: also do is decrease the background sound. So it will
S2: focus on the main audio focus. But I think the
S2: fact that it's actually focusing on dampening the noise around
S2: you when you're recording, that's actually pretty amazing stuff happening
S2: as far as audio is concerned.
S1: This applies in the Voice Memos app too.
S2: That's right. So for budding podcasters or even maybe people
S2: that are doing their own little filming, um, that's going
S2: to work really nicely. Mhm. Yeah.
S1: Very interesting. You can preorder these devices from today.
S2: Indeed. And they said of course in in US terminology
S2: they'll be available from September 20th. Um and then they also,
S2: like I said just now, they kept saying that all
S2: the other some of the features will be in later
S2: iOS 18.1, but also to the FDA in the US.
S2: Um hasn't authorized some of the features quite yet. So
S2: things like the hearing aid audio function that hasn't been
S2: quite okayed by the FDA yet.
S1: The prices are pretty consistent with what we've seen previous years,
S1: aren't they? People can go to the website to check
S1: out the details of those.
S2: They are? Yeah. And look, they're still Apple. Um, they're
S2: still high end phones. Um, I know we've been talking
S2: about Apple, but I've been testing the r I headset
S2: and I bought a really nice Samsung A15 for $350,
S2: and it's been absolutely perfect. So whilst I've really enjoyed
S2: talking about Apple, it's not the only thing on the
S2: block and you can get cheaper smartphones out there.
S1: There are useful podcasts around about the hardware and the
S1: software there is.
S2: So of course all the normal people are doing all
S2: the all their own podcasts, Macworld and so on. But specifically,
S2: Jonathan Myerson just did a really good show on all
S2: the features of iOS 18.0.
S1: Living Mindfully Edition 300.
S2: That's correct. And he also did another podcast earlier on,
S2: I think about a month ago on the Apple intelligence
S2: features for 18.1 coming later this year. So those two
S2: programs will cover them quite nicely of what they actually
S2: talked about today in the keynote.
S1: And you're talking to the tech.
S2: Doctor I am indeed. So that'll be happening with Alison
S2: and Robert. So hopefully by the time you listen to
S2: this talking tech during the week, that podcast will be
S2: out and you can enjoy hearing me go on about
S2: the Apple keynote in more detail.
S1: Doctor Robert Carter with the Tech Doctor podcast. As we
S1: come to the end of the program, let's reflect on
S1: In your 12 years with talking tech? Prior to that,
S1: you used to do a Tuesday afternoon session on the
S1: afternoon program talking about what was the latest in tech.
S1: Give us some reflections on your 12 years, you and
S1: I chatting away.
S2: I've always been one for sharing information about stuff that
S2: I find to, you know, originally to just stuff inside,
S2: you know, Vision Australia. And back in the day, the
S2: old royal blind site in New South Wales. And because
S2: I spent a lot of time on social media. Um,
S2: so LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram X, Mastodon and so on. Uh,
S2: for my own information, myself, plus sharing it out to
S2: people now. Um, that's always worked out really well. And
S2: the other thing too, is that I always assume that
S2: I don't know enough. Um, you know, there's somebody else
S2: that knows a lot more than I do. And that's
S2: one reason why I keep delving into the whole range
S2: of mainstream and assistive technology, because the only way that
S2: I can keep up to date and make sure that
S2: my knowledge and skills are up to date as well.
S2: So in a way, doing talking tech over the last
S2: 12 years has made me really focus on all the
S2: technology trends that are happening in the field. So that's
S2: been really great. So it really has done wonders for
S2: my professional development, looking into what's happening and then sharing
S2: it with us. Because, you know, before you and I
S2: could talk about it, either one of us have got
S2: to understand what what we're actually talking about. So it's
S2: actually worked out quite well. And making it concise in
S2: a 15 minute program every week has worked out really nicely,
S2: I think, for everybody.
S1: And don't worry, we'll be picking your brains in the
S1: future for more insights into this evolving world of blindness technology.
S1: Before we go, a reminder of details of what we've
S1: been talking about in this and previous editions of the program,
S1: this address for the last time.
S2: Indeed. You can go to my blog site, which is
S2: David It would be our podbean pad ban com.
S1: David would be our podbean podbean.com to write to the program.
S2: You can drop me a line again for the last time,
S2: or you can just keep it in your thing and
S2: just send me an email anyway. And that's David would
S2: be our@gmail.com.
S1: David would be our@gmail.com. We will give you details of
S1: new contact information next week. And in next week's program
S1: I'll be introducing my new partner in crime, Damon McMorrow,
S1: who is the National Access Technology Manager with Vision Australia.
S1: But today I've been speaking with David Woodbridge, leading Australian
S1: blindness technologist. It's great to have been working with you, David,
S1: and look forward to from time to time in the future.
S1: See me, I'm Stephen Jolly, this has been talking tech.
S1: Stay safe. We'll talk more tech next week. See you.