S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: August the 15th, 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us wherever you're listening, perhaps through Virgin Australia
S1: radio associated Stations of Australia or maybe 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 tech,
S1: and then it 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 someone who can explain all this tech
S1: stuff really well. Vision Australia's National Advisor on Access Technology,
S1: David Woodbridge. David, last week we spoke about the technology
S1: that you'd be recommending. A person who was blind would
S1: think about when they'd be using screen readers and Braille, etcetera.
S1: We were going to talk today about the situation for
S1: people with low vision.
S2: Indeed. So what I thought I might do today, which
S2: is slightly different from last week, I talk about the
S2: base hardware for everybody, so home, school and employment, and
S2: then I'll add on the little bits that will increase
S2: your productivity in that sort of stuff. So let's just
S2: start with the base configuration stuff for. So again, it's
S2: basically the same hardware in a way as last week.
S2: So it's your Windows 11 laptop or desktop again with
S2: 16GB of Ram and an i7 processor. So of course
S2: that's for Windows and a mac. I'm still going to
S2: stick to the M2, MacBook Pro and of course running
S2: on Windows, you'd be running either the Zoom, which is
S2: built into Windows itself if you can't afford anything else.
S2: And if you can, then I always recommend Zoom because
S2: it's been my favorite for a long, long, long, long time.
S2: And of course, on the Mac, you've only got a
S2: choice between one system like you do with speech, and
S2: that's called System Zoom. And then for the other things
S2: at home, you might want to consider. I always recommend
S2: a good size LCD monitor, and I say that because
S2: it's a crisper, clearer screen to look at and it
S2: doesn't suffer from glare as much as an LCD screen.
S2: And you can get effectively whatever size you like because
S2: it's going to plug into the Windows computer or the
S2: Mac the next thing. And again, this is probably only
S2: if you need it, is a monitor arm. So of
S2: course that's the pop the monitor on the external one
S2: or even your laptop for that matter, if you really
S2: want to use it that way and bring the screen
S2: closer to you so you're not hunching forward trying to
S2: peer at the screen all the time, large print keyboard
S2: or large print stickers. So again, you can buy a
S2: large print keyboard standard with black on white, white on
S2: black or yellow on black keys. And of course, the
S2: stick on labels just will go on any keyboard. And
S2: then the iPhone. Now for low vision people, I'm not
S2: too fast for accessibility between the iPhone and a Android phone.
S2: So if you if you love Android I still recommend
S2: a Samsung phone so you know go for it for
S2: Android if you want which.
S1: Model of iPhone for.
S2: A low vision person I'd say go for the bigger screen.
S2: Think about the iPhone 14 plus because the next version
S2: up in the bigger screen is going to be the
S2: iPhone pro max, which is going to send you back
S2: a lot, a lot more expense wise than the than
S2: the lower version. So if a bigger screen suits your vision,
S2: because remember, sometimes bigger is not better for people with
S2: particular vision conditions, then I'd go for the 14 plus.
S2: Or if you're not fussed about it, either the 14
S2: or the 14 pro, if you need the the extra
S2: pro stuff, which leads me onto my next thing is
S2: still get yourself a stand that you can put your
S2: phone on. It doesn't matter again, it doesn't matter what
S2: it is. And last of all, I always recommend if
S2: you want to get a Bluetooth headphones, go for the
S2: shocks and of course a printer slash scanner.
S1: So that's really for anybody with low vision. Tell us
S1: what you would recommend that students think about.
S2: For schools in particular? What I would tend to recommend,
S2: which is a little bit extra, is a Bluetooth keyboard.
S2: And yes, I'm saying a separate Bluetooth keyboard because sometimes
S2: I don't trust standard large print keyboards, let's just say that.
S2: So Bluetooth keyboard and then it will give you access
S2: to an iPhone a course as last time. I always
S2: recommend an iPad because again, some things won't work on
S2: an iPhone, plus an iPad's got a much bigger screen
S2: and then the next thing I recommend and I strongly
S2: recommend people get an assessments and I'll backtrack to home
S2: in a minute. But when you're looking at video magnifiers
S2: and I mean electronic video magnification, that increases the stuff
S2: that you're looking through pretty much for a video camera.
S2: That does all sorts of wonderful things for low vision people.
S2: Please get an assessment because these things can span from
S2: 6 to $800 up to $8,000. I don't want to
S2: mislead anybody, but let's just say both employment and for school,
S2: you can get hand-held ones that are portable. You can
S2: get ones that just look at what the camera is
S2: looking at directly, or you can get distance viewing ones.
S2: You can get desktop ones that you put the piece
S2: of paper underneath and then it electronically focus what you're
S2: looking at. You can get wearable ones and you can
S2: also get ones that do not only video magnification but
S2: also do speech. So they'll do optical character recognition. So
S2: always say to people and this gets back to the
S2: home thing I was going to mention when you get
S2: past optical video magnifiers so your good old sort of
S2: your visual arts and your your torch ones that have
S2: got video implication and the light in them, they're fine.
S2: But once you get above these very expensive to these
S2: very expensive ones, you really, really do need to get
S2: assessed by a orthopedist.
S1: Anything extra for people to think about when they're working.
S2: This is going to sound a bit strange. Clearly, for employment,
S2: you need a lighting assessment. So above the video magnification
S2: and all the other hardware I've talked about, because lighting
S2: is so important for people with low vision, people that
S2: do these lighting assessments, look at things like what sort
S2: of lights are in the ceilings, what sort of lights
S2: coming through the window, blinds recommended, which way your desk
S2: is facing. Is there any other source that's splashing onto
S2: your screen that's giving you eyestrain and fatigue? So all
S2: sorts of things can be done with a lighting system,
S2: and particularly for job access, the assessor can write recommendations
S2: for changing the workplace if possible, such as putting a
S2: blind in changing the diffuser and the lights above your desk,
S2: maybe even taking out a light above your desk if
S2: it's too bright. And you know, for schools, they might
S2: suggest that, you know, David, who's low vision, might want
S2: to sit down the front of the class, for example,
S2: if the lighting's better or worse than the front class
S2: versus the back. So again, for low vision, you do
S2: need to get assess when you're looking at anything to
S2: do with your vision. Not so much the hardware, but
S2: to do with how your your seeing the screens that
S2: you're looking at or the hardcopy print that you're viewing
S2: through something like a video magnifying camera type system.
S1: So what are the pathways to getting good advice about
S1: the technology?
S2: So a good starting point is always to ring up
S2: the adaptive Technology helpdesk at Vision Australia, which is the
S2: one 308 4746. Number one.
S1: 308 4746.
S2: And just gather as much information as you can. And
S2: then of course, assessment wise, then you would contact the
S2: Vision Australia Adaptive Technology Service to arrange an assessment. Now
S2: that assessment can be for home for school and for employment.
S2: So it's not just for school and employment, it's also
S2: for home, particularly for home. If you also want a
S2: video magnifier because you might want to read the newspapers
S2: on a Saturday morning and your your optical magnifier is
S2: not good enough. Or you might want a video magnifier.
S2: So again, you would talk to the people and come
S2: out and they would give me and show you a
S2: range of devices. Just keep in mind, just because you
S2: see one device doesn't mean that's the be an end
S2: or have a look at at least several and then
S2: make up your own mind.
S1: Speaking of Vision Australia, the digital Access team are again
S1: conducting an assistive technology survey.
S2: So this is for Australians, for anybody who was blind
S2: or low vision or carers of people that use assistive technology.
S2: So we're talking about Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. Funnily enough,
S2: Linux is not mentioned, which is a bit of a
S2: side side point. But look, it really only takes you
S2: around about 10 to 15 minutes. It's all sort of
S2: checkboxes and radio buttons. And I think it's the other
S2: thing if you if you choose other, you've got a
S2: little bit more. But besides that, it's very straightforward and
S2: it'll help Vision Australia look at what we have to
S2: put our research into for both web design and application
S2: design to be completed by September 1st.
S1: September 1st. And you've got a link to that in
S1: the show notes. I do Bindi Maps do some very
S1: interesting indoor stuff and they're conducting a survey at the moment.
S2: They have again, because they're doing some work on different
S2: types of usage for Bindi Maps moving forward. And what
S2: they want to find out is how people really do
S2: use their navigation, a hardware and software. So your smartphone
S2: plus all your other stuff like your mini guide and
S2: your guide dog and really get an idea of both
S2: how you travel independently using GPS and then how you
S2: indoor navigate using your different piece of technology. And again,
S2: that's to be hopefully completed by September 1st. When I
S2: did it, it probably took me less than ten minutes,
S2: but it's a very thorough survey of navigation. So fill
S2: that one in and look. Again, it just helps researchers
S2: and developers look at what they need to do.
S1: For those who use the sense player from Hims, which
S1: is the multimedia device that came out earlier this year.
S1: Exciting news last week.
S2: Extremely exciting. You I almost fell off my chair when
S2: I read it. It's a system 2.0 or sense player
S2: version 2.0. And the thing that got me very excited, Stephen,
S2: of course, was the fact that we can now access
S2: the default apps for Android that hims recommends. And then
S2: you can also put in your own apps from a
S2: particular service that they explain in the very well done
S2: to trial for the sense play version 2.0. But I'm assuming, Steve,
S2: you've played with some other bits and pieces in the
S2: sense player upgrade and did anything stand out for you
S2: in particular?
S1: Well, I must quickly say the Android apps one is
S1: very interesting. I can run BBC sounds and was able
S1: to go out as advised in the tutorial hunt for ABC.
S1: Listen and have got that on board now. In other
S1: areas there's done a lot of work with the media
S1: playlists and with the what you might describe as the
S1: book playlists. The place in the book is maintained more
S1: easily and some other very nice features. With the streaming
S1: of the web radio, one can organize the stations a
S1: lot better, grouped them the way you want to have
S1: them in the right sequence rather than just in the
S1: sequence that you've loaded them on board. So some very
S1: interesting tidy ups and I reckon there'll be more to
S1: come in the future too.
S2: Yeah, they didn't mention this a while ago, but I
S2: think I did ask Sam Taylor from Pacific Vision if
S2: if it did have a GPS chip and he didn't
S2: really answer me, so I thought, wouldn't that be cool?
S2: But as they pointed out in the tutorial, the sense
S2: player is not meant to be a smartphone. So, you know,
S2: whilst it's got a camera and it can do all
S2: sorts of wonderful things, I think they might have mentioned
S2: this about several times during the tutorial. It's not a
S2: replacement for your smartphone.
S1: Yeah, very good point. Be my. I started talking about
S1: a virtual AI assistant back in I think it was
S1: around March and they had a closed beta program that's
S1: become a lot more open from this week. So people
S1: have put their names on the list for that will
S1: be invited very soon hopefully to participate in that public
S1: beta program. Should be an interesting one.
S2: Look, I think so, because the demo that I saw
S2: several months ago was a lady looking at a magazine
S2: that had different fashion models in it, and she was
S2: able to ask a description of what each model was wearing.
S2: So what doesn't effective, you know, for people dressed up
S2: or for people wearing a dress? It was much more detailed.
S2: So I'm really looking forward to testing this myself. And
S2: as they said in the notes from Be My Eyes,
S2: you'll get an invite email to be part of the
S2: beta program. And for those who signed up a long,
S2: long time ago, you'll be first off the rank. And
S2: if you sign up now, then they'll get to you
S2: when they get you. But no, it's exciting times because
S2: I've been really, really, really wanting to try this feature
S2: out and this is really bringing, you know, things like
S2: ChatGPT and another models of artificial intelligence to help us
S2: blind and low vision folks quite dramatically.
S1: Before we go, a reminder of where can be found.
S1: Details of what we've been talking about in this and
S1: previous editions of the program.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site,
S2: which is David would be a dot podbean pad and.
S1: David would be dot podbean podbean. Com. To write to
S1: the program.
S2: You can write to me at Virgin Australia where I work,
S2: which is David Dot Woodbridge. It sounds at Vision Australia.
S1: Org David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org This has
S1: been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national
S1: adviser on access technology, David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley. Take care.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.