WEBVTT - Talking Tech 23rd January 2024 0:00:08.288 --> 0:00:11.768 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:11.768 --> 0:00:16.418 January the 22nd, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:16.418 --> 0:00:20.318 you with us listening through maybe Virgin Australia Radio, Associated 0:00:20.318 --> 0:00:24.638 Stations of Australia or the Community Radio Network. There is 0:00:24.638 --> 0:00:27.578 also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to 0:00:27.578 --> 0:00:30.848 do is search for the two words talking tech and Dan. 0:00:30.848 --> 0:00:33.758 It can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just 0:00:33.758 --> 0:00:36.908 after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your 0:00:36.908 --> 0:00:41.048 Siri device or smart speaker to play Virgin Australia Radio 0:00:41.048 --> 0:00:46.808 talking Tech podcast, Virgin Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast with me, 0:00:46.808 --> 0:00:49.928 someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well. 0:00:49.928 --> 0:00:55.178 Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge and David, 0:00:55.178 --> 0:00:58.688 you were off explaining the technology somewhere else on Virgin 0:00:58.688 --> 0:01:01.508 Australia Radio recently. I like the idea of being able 0:01:01.508 --> 0:01:03.998 to talk about other programs on our network. 0:01:04.268 --> 0:01:08.108 It is good. I was actually on the Studio One 0:01:08.108 --> 0:01:12.488 podcast with Sam Richard, and we were talking about all 0:01:12.488 --> 0:01:16.388 the different types of technology that people actually can use, 0:01:16.778 --> 0:01:20.648 smartphones and TVs and all sorts of wonderful stuff. So 0:01:20.648 --> 0:01:22.748 if you want to listen to it, go into your 0:01:22.748 --> 0:01:27.158 favourite pod catcher and check out this Studio One podcast 0:01:27.158 --> 0:01:29.228 feed and have fun having a listen. 0:01:29.318 --> 0:01:31.748 That's a good program to keep up with each week 0:01:31.748 --> 0:01:36.398 to studio one from Virgin Australia Radio. We talked a 0:01:36.398 --> 0:01:40.868 couple of weeks ago about the web Aim Screen Reader survey. 0:01:41.198 --> 0:01:46.058 It's a worldwide initiative and the closing date is very soon. 0:01:46.058 --> 0:01:50.498 Yeah, so it's the end of January. Uh, January 31st, 2024. 0:01:50.768 --> 0:01:53.468 And this is a way that the people can keep 0:01:53.468 --> 0:01:55.868 track that do these surveys. So this is the 10th 0:01:55.868 --> 0:02:01.328 one of what's currently happening in the realm of access 0:02:01.328 --> 0:02:04.448 to digital things in the world, whether it's the World 0:02:04.448 --> 0:02:08.378 Wide Web, uh, whether it's PDF files, whether it's desktop 0:02:08.378 --> 0:02:12.938 mode for Android, iOS, all that sort of stuff. So 0:02:12.938 --> 0:02:14.828 it's a really great way of seeing what's happening and 0:02:14.828 --> 0:02:17.408 what the trends are in the world. So as you know, 0:02:17.408 --> 0:02:22.928 it's Android, uh, getting bigger and better versus iOS. Is 0:02:22.928 --> 0:02:25.958 the Mac growing? Is it shrinking? Are people using windows 0:02:25.958 --> 0:02:28.358 more and so on. So it's a really great thing 0:02:28.388 --> 0:02:31.298 to get involved with. And of course we want really 0:02:31.298 --> 0:02:34.058 relevant stats across the whole world. So if you haven't 0:02:34.058 --> 0:02:36.428 done it yet, check out the show notes and certainly 0:02:36.428 --> 0:02:38.528 do the survey. And it'll literally only take you less 0:02:38.528 --> 0:02:39.608 than about ten minutes. 0:02:39.968 --> 0:02:43.928 Yeah. The great thing to do Apple is many of 0:02:43.928 --> 0:02:48.758 us know about Apple visits, really the accessibility community for 0:02:48.758 --> 0:02:55.628 Apple products. And Apple is has its Apple Vision report 0:02:55.808 --> 0:02:59.498 each year on Apple accessibility. What do they say in 0:02:59.498 --> 0:03:00.128 this time? 0:03:00.458 --> 0:03:04.088 Overall, I don't think it really changes that much because 0:03:04.088 --> 0:03:06.698 what they really wanted to say is, of course, low 0:03:06.698 --> 0:03:12.158 vision seems to be reasonably okay. Uh, when it comes to, uh, 0:03:12.158 --> 0:03:17.708 apple supporting blind people with speech output i.e voiceover, um, 0:03:17.708 --> 0:03:20.648 and Braille support, there seems to be a still a 0:03:20.648 --> 0:03:23.888 bit of a glum mood around that. It's still not 0:03:23.888 --> 0:03:27.398 quite there yet. There are some things, particularly for Braille, 0:03:27.428 --> 0:03:30.848 that people are not satisfied with, the same bugs or 0:03:30.848 --> 0:03:34.238 the same issues keep reappearing and you sort of get 0:03:34.238 --> 0:03:37.058 to a stage where you think, well, why would I 0:03:37.058 --> 0:03:40.838 want to keep giving feedback if such a big multinational 0:03:40.838 --> 0:03:44.768 company like Apple doesn't pay attention to it. So hopefully 0:03:44.768 --> 0:03:48.728 this will feed back into the Apple accessibility folks at 0:03:48.728 --> 0:03:52.688 Apple in Cupertino in the US, and hopefully they'll take 0:03:52.688 --> 0:03:55.718 it on board. So this type of feedback is still important. 0:03:55.718 --> 0:03:58.688 So I'm not saying don't bother. Um, but what I'm 0:03:58.688 --> 0:04:02.558 saying is that, you know, it's like writing a letter 0:04:02.558 --> 0:04:05.678 in the sand every time the waves come in, it 0:04:05.678 --> 0:04:07.298 washes it out, and you've just got to keep doing 0:04:07.298 --> 0:04:09.848 it over and over again. And unfortunately, that's part of 0:04:09.848 --> 0:04:10.808 being an advocate. 0:04:10.808 --> 0:04:15.278 And accessibility is going to be really important with this 0:04:15.278 --> 0:04:19.628 new generation of Apple products. The Vision Pro. 0:04:19.748 --> 0:04:23.138 Indeed. Because to me, this almost feels like going from 0:04:23.138 --> 0:04:26.168 the old days of, you know, mS-DOS, which was a 0:04:26.408 --> 0:04:30.848 text based operating system, command driven, one to a graphical 0:04:30.848 --> 0:04:33.878 user interface, windows. And when that happened, we all sort 0:04:33.878 --> 0:04:35.738 of threw up our hands and went, oh dear, what's 0:04:35.738 --> 0:04:38.558 going to happen to blind people in particular? But this 0:04:38.558 --> 0:04:41.468 to me with the Vision Pro, I'm really looking forward 0:04:41.468 --> 0:04:43.418 to it. Now. I know I said last week, you know, 0:04:43.418 --> 0:04:46.048 the pre-orders are out. It's going to come out the 0:04:46.048 --> 0:04:49.478 2nd of February in the US. Um, I'm looking forward 0:04:49.478 --> 0:04:51.848 to people getting their hands on it for accessibility testing 0:04:51.848 --> 0:04:55.208 in the States. And it's going to be interesting because 0:04:55.208 --> 0:04:57.278 I think this is one of these things, particularly about 0:04:57.278 --> 0:05:02.138 spatial computing, that as blind people we've never really experienced before, 0:05:02.138 --> 0:05:03.908 we've had a bit of a taste with it, with 0:05:03.908 --> 0:05:07.538 things like the CIA app and lidar and that sort 0:05:07.538 --> 0:05:09.598 of stuff. But I think when you can put stuff 0:05:09.598 --> 0:05:13.888 in a special place so you can park your mail 0:05:13.888 --> 0:05:16.618 over a particular spot, and you can park a notification 0:05:16.618 --> 0:05:20.188 somewhere else in your app, somewhere else. This is a 0:05:20.188 --> 0:05:22.918 very interesting thing for blind people to get involved with. 0:05:22.918 --> 0:05:25.738 So all this stuff they're talking about by watching TV 0:05:25.738 --> 0:05:29.758 shows and movies and doing all sorts of fancy visual stuff, 0:05:29.758 --> 0:05:32.398 that's all well and good, but it's also got some 0:05:32.398 --> 0:05:36.328 amazing stuff. Can you imagine having it your eye level, 0:05:36.418 --> 0:05:39.058 running an app like CSI, which I'm sure is going 0:05:39.058 --> 0:05:41.818 to work on the headset, uh, being able to use 0:05:41.818 --> 0:05:45.448 that at eyesight head height again and being able to 0:05:45.448 --> 0:05:49.318 identify objects in your current location, that's going to be amazing. 0:05:49.318 --> 0:05:54.718 So a real pivotal moment really in the progress of wearables, 0:05:54.718 --> 0:05:55.258 isn't it? 0:05:55.378 --> 0:05:58.198 Look, I think so. And this really extends the the 0:05:58.198 --> 0:06:02.068 boundaries of what's what's happening. And that's why I think 0:06:02.068 --> 0:06:05.098 that Apple didn't call it augmented reality or virtual reality. 0:06:05.098 --> 0:06:07.048 Or there's another one I can't remember the name of now, 0:06:07.048 --> 0:06:10.138 but it's called XR. This is really spatial reality. This 0:06:10.138 --> 0:06:13.768 is putting objects in your environment that benefits you. 0:06:13.888 --> 0:06:16.018 If people want to find out more about Vision Pro, 0:06:16.018 --> 0:06:17.728 there's a bit of stuff out there on the web 0:06:17.728 --> 0:06:18.838 now from Apple. 0:06:18.958 --> 0:06:21.208 There's lots of stuff on the web, so you can 0:06:21.208 --> 0:06:23.458 really delve into, you know what the vision probably even 0:06:23.458 --> 0:06:26.518 looks like, what the apps will run when they talk 0:06:26.518 --> 0:06:29.038 about things like windows and volumes and that sort of stuff. 0:06:29.038 --> 0:06:31.888 What what's meant by all that sort of stuff. And 0:06:31.888 --> 0:06:35.188 there's a really good intro video where they got a 0:06:35.188 --> 0:06:39.748 quite surprising new person, uh, working with the Vision Pro, um, 0:06:39.748 --> 0:06:43.948 in an Apple Store. And it was extremely well done. 0:06:43.948 --> 0:06:47.908 And of course, it's very well described. And as with 0:06:47.908 --> 0:06:52.078 all Apple's ads, you've always got the ad stuff happening anyway. 0:06:52.468 --> 0:06:54.958 And you're happy to be sitting back and seeing what 0:06:54.958 --> 0:06:59.098 happens in the States where it's being released. Now before 0:06:59.098 --> 0:07:01.168 we get the opportunity to put our hands on it 0:07:01.168 --> 0:07:03.148 in Australia and other parts of the world. 0:07:03.238 --> 0:07:06.478 I am, I'm going to be really enjoying seeing how 0:07:06.478 --> 0:07:10.138 other people that I've got the disability perspective, look at 0:07:10.138 --> 0:07:13.048 this headset and say, you know what, these are all 0:07:13.048 --> 0:07:16.738 the different types of things you can do with the headset. Um, 0:07:16.738 --> 0:07:19.048 because I remember on I think it was on Twitter 0:07:19.048 --> 0:07:20.788 last week, somebody said, oh, but look, it's not going 0:07:20.788 --> 0:07:23.458 to be accessible because it's all visual. And I said, well, 0:07:23.458 --> 0:07:28.048 if you go back and look at Wwdc in 2023, 0:07:28.048 --> 0:07:32.998 they actually had a whole demo on accessibility that was 0:07:32.998 --> 0:07:36.088 built into the headset. So of course we've got VoiceOver, 0:07:36.238 --> 0:07:39.508 we've got zoom, we've got all sorts of other things. 0:07:39.508 --> 0:07:42.568 So it's not just your eye movement, but your gestures 0:07:42.568 --> 0:07:45.868 and your voice. So like all Apple products, it's going 0:07:45.868 --> 0:07:48.748 to be 100% accessible a course. There'll be things you 0:07:48.748 --> 0:07:51.118 won't be able to do as a blind person, but 0:07:51.118 --> 0:07:53.008 my goodness, you'll be able to do a heck of 0:07:53.008 --> 0:07:53.818 a lot as well. 0:07:54.118 --> 0:07:59.668 In 1989, for use in the workplace, I got my 0:07:59.668 --> 0:08:04.738 hands on a device called Braille and speak from Blazey 0:08:04.738 --> 0:08:08.098 Engineering in the United States. It was the brainchild of 0:08:08.098 --> 0:08:11.488 a man named Dean Blazey. Um. He's back. 0:08:12.118 --> 0:08:15.688 He's back now, this really does feel like a time 0:08:15.688 --> 0:08:19.078 jump to me, because he's back with a new business 0:08:19.078 --> 0:08:23.218 called Blazey Tech, which is very familiar with his name. 0:08:23.638 --> 0:08:27.388 And the two devices that he's reintroducing to the market 0:08:27.388 --> 0:08:32.128 this year is the BT speak and the BT Speak Pro. 0:08:32.128 --> 0:08:37.228 So they're both basically are two Braille input speech output 0:08:37.228 --> 0:08:39.238 no takers. So there's no braille display on them. They're 0:08:39.238 --> 0:08:43.228 just like the original Braille and speak typical notetaking type 0:08:43.228 --> 0:08:50.398 things such as an editor, play music, stream music, calendar, stopwatch, clock, 0:08:50.398 --> 0:08:53.038 all that sort of stuff. Uh, the pro version. It 0:08:53.038 --> 0:08:56.098 will also allow you to run desktop applications like social 0:08:56.098 --> 0:08:59.848 media office type apps, keeping in mind that this is 0:08:59.848 --> 0:09:04.408 based on Unix. So it's literally a shell running on 0:09:04.408 --> 0:09:06.328 top of this platform, which is going to be the 0:09:06.328 --> 0:09:09.448 BT speak show. But you can actually boot into this 0:09:09.868 --> 0:09:13.528 thing and run orca, which is the Unix screen reader. 0:09:13.528 --> 0:09:16.678 So it's going to be absolutely amazing and in all 0:09:16.678 --> 0:09:19.408 measurements because I'm an old person now, so to speak. Um, 0:09:19.408 --> 0:09:24.238 it's six inches long, two inches in depth and about 0:09:24.238 --> 0:09:26.758 half an inch or a little bit bigger in depth. 0:09:26.758 --> 0:09:30.178 So to me, that was roughly about the same size 0:09:30.178 --> 0:09:32.818 of the original Braille and speak, which I had in 1990. 0:09:32.818 --> 0:09:34.528 So I'm a bit sad, Steve, that you got one 0:09:34.528 --> 0:09:37.678 before I did back then. But, um, it's really great 0:09:37.678 --> 0:09:40.408 to see that. And oddly, Stephen, it actually uses the 0:09:40.408 --> 0:09:43.708 desktop voice. I haven't heard the desktop voice for a 0:09:43.708 --> 0:09:45.568 long time, so it's going to be nice to hear 0:09:45.568 --> 0:09:48.868 Paul and someone on the beat speak again. 0:09:49.048 --> 0:09:50.488 Might cost a few bucks, though. 0:09:50.638 --> 0:09:53.098 I think in Australian dollars it's going to be probably 0:09:53.098 --> 0:09:56.788 around about a $3,000 mark. Hopefully I'm wrong. Um, but 0:09:56.788 --> 0:10:00.328 it's been show showed off at the Atea conference next 0:10:00.328 --> 0:10:04.078 week in Orlando, Florida, and we'll just see what happens 0:10:04.078 --> 0:10:05.218 about the price. 0:10:05.218 --> 0:10:09.378 Tell us about the Samsung S20. For range of phones 0:10:09.378 --> 0:10:10.398 announced last week. 0:10:10.398 --> 0:10:14.088 Smartphones indeed. So this is the new Samsung range. So 0:10:14.088 --> 0:10:16.668 you got the S20 for the S20 for plus and 0:10:16.668 --> 0:10:20.508 the S20 for ultra. So it's all the premium phones 0:10:20.508 --> 0:10:24.498 from Samsung. And they were talking about an AI feature 0:10:24.498 --> 0:10:26.748 in particular. And mind you, the whole thing was about 0:10:26.748 --> 0:10:30.558 AI in a way, was this benefit of where you 0:10:30.558 --> 0:10:34.218 can talk on your phone and up to 13 languages. 0:10:34.218 --> 0:10:37.458 The other person hears the language that you chose for them. 0:10:37.458 --> 0:10:40.608 So if you're speaking in English and you're speaking to 0:10:40.608 --> 0:10:44.958 somebody in Spanish, they will actually hear a voice talking 0:10:44.958 --> 0:10:47.928 in Spanish. Now when they speak in Spanish, it will 0:10:47.928 --> 0:10:53.808 get automatically translated to you in English. And that's pretty amazing. 0:10:53.808 --> 0:10:56.358 And another thing they showed off, which was more of 0:10:56.358 --> 0:10:59.328 a Google feature than a Samsung feature, I believe, and 0:10:59.328 --> 0:11:00.978 I don't know how this is going to work with 0:11:00.978 --> 0:11:04.338 assistive technology like talkback at the moment, but you can 0:11:04.338 --> 0:11:07.218 draw a circle around anything on the screen. So let's 0:11:07.218 --> 0:11:09.978 say it's a picture of a flower, a picture of 0:11:09.978 --> 0:11:12.978 a car, a picture of a building, and by drawing 0:11:12.978 --> 0:11:15.708 this circle around it, you identify to the eye that 0:11:15.708 --> 0:11:19.488 that's what you would like to search for on the internet. Um, 0:11:19.488 --> 0:11:23.208 or I'm assuming in some language large model thing LM 0:11:23.208 --> 0:11:25.458 that AI is based on, and it will give you 0:11:25.458 --> 0:11:28.578 information based on that search that you've just circled. So 0:11:28.758 --> 0:11:32.568 it'll be interesting to see how that works with access technology. 0:11:33.048 --> 0:11:36.708 But again, the whole the whole phone was built around 0:11:36.738 --> 0:11:40.758 AI type of information to do with photos and messages 0:11:40.758 --> 0:11:44.358 and videos and all sorts of stuff. So let's just 0:11:44.358 --> 0:11:47.298 see where that goes today. I'm probably still not going 0:11:47.298 --> 0:11:49.848 to budge and I'm going to keep happily using my 0:11:49.848 --> 0:11:54.168 Z3 flip. But no, it's really fascinating. And we did. 0:11:54.168 --> 0:11:56.898 So this year it's all going to be about AI. Absolutely. 0:11:56.898 --> 0:11:59.868 And Samsung has certainly proved it with these three new 0:11:59.868 --> 0:12:00.918 phones on the market. 0:12:01.128 --> 0:12:05.868 With people getting back to their studies and people continuing 0:12:05.898 --> 0:12:08.028 to do things in the workplace, it's probably a good 0:12:08.028 --> 0:12:11.658 time to talk about gadgets and technologies and stuff. You've 0:12:11.658 --> 0:12:15.408 got a whole list of devices that you'll have in 0:12:15.408 --> 0:12:17.538 the show. Notes. I want to talk to you about 0:12:17.538 --> 0:12:21.588 the desk environment at the vision store of Vision Australia. 0:12:21.978 --> 0:12:26.148 There's a nice little holder for the smartphone. 0:12:26.328 --> 0:12:29.418 It is. It's called the Arcon Desktop Stand. And basically 0:12:29.418 --> 0:12:31.218 you can put your phone in it and you can 0:12:31.218 --> 0:12:36.468 literally point the phone in any direction you like down, up, sideways, 0:12:36.468 --> 0:12:40.068 upside down, horizontally angled, blah, blah, blah. So it's basically 0:12:40.068 --> 0:12:43.908 a 360 angle, and it's really good for low vision 0:12:43.908 --> 0:12:47.298 access to turn your phone into a video magnifier for 0:12:47.298 --> 0:12:49.938 video conferencing. And of course, if you're a blind person 0:12:49.938 --> 0:12:54.138 using optical character recognition and so on. And it's a 0:12:54.138 --> 0:12:56.028 really good stand. And by the way, it actually sort 0:12:56.028 --> 0:12:59.028 of collapses down to be very tiny. Uh, the base 0:12:59.028 --> 0:13:01.518 is a little bit big, but you can certainly pull the, 0:13:01.518 --> 0:13:04.668 the pole off that holds up then the articulated arm 0:13:04.668 --> 0:13:05.928 that holds your smartphone. 0:13:06.258 --> 0:13:07.698 Yeah. And how much is that one. 0:13:08.178 --> 0:13:09.858 So it's about $180 for that one. 0:13:10.458 --> 0:13:13.458 Tell me about the daylight smart go lamp. 0:13:13.788 --> 0:13:16.308 One of the things about love in particular is to 0:13:16.308 --> 0:13:21.198 have task lighting. So whether you're looking at a piece 0:13:21.198 --> 0:13:25.788 of paper while you're handwriting, uh, why you're maybe examining 0:13:25.788 --> 0:13:30.498 some photos again, you know, your hard copy photos or 0:13:30.498 --> 0:13:32.748 doing any other types of tasks that you need good 0:13:32.748 --> 0:13:36.288 lighting for. It's really good to have these type of 0:13:36.288 --> 0:13:40.818 desk lights that you can have different brightnesses depending on 0:13:40.818 --> 0:13:43.248 what you're looking at and what your environment's like in 0:13:43.248 --> 0:13:45.918 your house and your room and so on. So I 0:13:46.188 --> 0:13:49.248 always recommend to for low vision people, it's really beneficial 0:13:49.248 --> 0:13:52.998 to have a task lighting because it's directed lights rather 0:13:52.998 --> 0:13:55.818 than having your light in your room. In general, this 0:13:55.818 --> 0:13:58.788 is a much more focused, if you like, spotlight on 0:13:58.788 --> 0:13:59.748 what you're doing. 0:13:59.898 --> 0:14:02.628 And just before we go, a reminder of whether details 0:14:02.628 --> 0:14:04.848 of what you've been talking about in this and previous 0:14:04.848 --> 0:14:06.588 editions of the program, indeed. 0:14:06.588 --> 0:14:08.478 So as always, you can check out my show notes 0:14:08.478 --> 0:14:11.148 on the blog site, which is David, would it be 0:14:11.148 --> 0:14:14.568 a dot podbean pad bayan com. 0:14:14.808 --> 0:14:19.848 David would be a dot podbean pod be a incom 0:14:19.848 --> 0:14:21.018 to write to the program? 0:14:21.018 --> 0:14:23.268 To write to me at Vision Australia where I work. 0:14:23.268 --> 0:14:27.798 You can email me at David Woodbridge Heart Sounds at 0:14:27.798 --> 0:14:28.668 Vision Australia. 0:14:28.938 --> 0:14:34.038 Org David Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has been 0:14:34.038 --> 0:14:37.308 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor 0:14:37.308 --> 0:14:41.778 on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe. 0:14:41.778 --> 0:14:43.338 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.