S1: Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: February the 27th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley, great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, Associated
S1: Stations of Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. There
S1: is also the podcast to catch that. What you need
S1: to do is search for the two words talking tech
S1: and downer can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon
S1: just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask
S1: your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia
S1: Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking tech podcast
S1: with me, someone who knows all this tech stuff really well.
S1: Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David,
S1: let's start. The report is in. In January we spoke
S1: a couple of times about the web Aim Screen Reader
S1: survey to get an idea of what people across the
S1: world are doing in the screen reader area, and the
S1: report is in. What's the comment?
S2: This is the web Aim survey. So it's it's looks
S2: at mainly screen readers. I personally wish it looked at
S2: absolutely everything, whether you're using a screen reader, screen, magnifier,
S2: braille display, which it does also as well. But it
S2: seems as Mo most people reply because they're a screen
S2: reader user, and it's a fairly large report. Uh, keeping
S2: in mind it's worldwide, there's different platforms, different screen readers,
S2: different screen magnifiers, different areas of the world. So it's
S2: really hard in some ways to get a really good
S2: idea of what's going on. But what I guess I
S2: tend to look at a few different things. For example,
S2: the Australian numbers were basically improving this time around. Um,
S2: but again, you know, most of the respondents were overseas, um, and,
S2: you know, some of the stuff that you would expect
S2: that would happen. So, you know, jaws was at the
S2: top of the list for screen reader users. And then
S2: of course, you had, you know, windows at the top
S2: of the list. The Mac was down as usual. Linux
S2: was actually up, which I thought was really interesting. Poor
S2: old narrator was down at the bottom of the list,
S2: almost Nvidia, which I think is absolutely brilliant. That's non-visual
S2: desktop access from our guys in Australia that's getting more
S2: and more utilized around the world. But at the end
S2: of the day, what it just reminded me about was
S2: it's great to have the advances in screen reading technology,
S2: but there's still underlying web development issues. And, um, this
S2: wasn't in the report as such. But, um, reading in
S2: another email that was a bit of a summary of
S2: this guy's thoughts. Now, I think the person that wrote
S2: this email was a web developer, not 100% sure. And
S2: I don't think it was to do with anything to
S2: do a friend of scientific or anything else. But the
S2: old things about, you know, links not being labelled, buttons
S2: not being labelled, controls not being labelled, um, the dreaded
S2: captioning to verify to do off a website, all those
S2: sorts of things were still happening. Now they're not as
S2: bad as they used to be, but one of my
S2: friends that used to work in assistive technology back in 2004,
S2: I think it's scary because he could come back now,
S2: 20 years later and be presented with exactly the same
S2: web accessibility issues that he, as a sort of person,
S2: used to talk about at conferences 20 years ago. So,
S2: you know, screen reader and other stuff's improving. Yes, it's
S2: getting better overall, but we still have to keep fighting
S2: the same fight. And I would just encourage maybe people
S2: next year when we get web ehm, 11th survey to
S2: really take notice and answer questions. The survey is only
S2: as good as the data that goes into it. It's
S2: the old computer adage garbage in, garbage out. So the
S2: more people we get inputting into this type of survey,
S2: the more these people will actually see what's going on
S2: in the world. You know, it's an extremely important survey
S2: to do. So next year. I hope places like Vision Australia,
S2: Guide Dogs, BCA, all the organisations, particularly in Australia, will
S2: push a lot more to get folks to fill in
S2: this survey.
S1: But encouragingly, on a per capita basis, the Australian contribution
S1: was about equivalent to all that from the United States
S1: going by the population sizes. So not bad, but we
S1: can do better indeed. Yeah. You'll have links to the
S1: report in the show notes.
S2: I will, yes.
S1: Now a couple of items to tell you from the
S1: vision store of Vision Australia. For many years, Vision Australia
S1: has been a seller of Apple products that's being discontinued.
S2: Yes it has. So as of February 29th. Will actually
S2: stop selling Apple products. It's for a few good, really
S2: solid reasons, so we just didn't take this decision lightly. Um,
S2: it's for various reasons, including economic ones, because we really
S2: don't make hardly any money out of selling Apple products.
S2: But besides that, there are a lot of other organizations
S2: before we took this on. But now we'll do endorse
S2: quotes and so on. So it's not so important as
S2: it used to be, hence why we're stopping it. So
S2: we will still, you know of course our at service
S2: and at helpdesk. Nothing's changed as far as supporting Apple
S2: products across the board. Um but as far as the
S2: stores concerned will no longer be selling them and quoting
S2: on them.
S1: The Apple online store is a very good way to
S1: independently purchase technology from Apple, isn't it?
S2: Indeed, especially the Apple Store app, because you can go
S2: in there and really read information about all the different
S2: types of products, their specifications, and of course, uh, look
S2: at the comparisons between the different devices. So that's always
S2: my go to app when I start thinking about upgrading
S2: or looking at Apple devices. Is the Apple Store app
S2: on my iPhone?
S1: Our product from the Vision Australia Vision store to talk
S1: about this week is the humble one.
S2: Indeed, and I've actually got this sitting right in front
S2: of me, which is pretty amazing. Surprise, surprise. But basically,
S2: this is an eight key device for, uh, controlling and
S2: typing into your Android or to your iPhone. And for
S2: those that are browser users, if you can imagine a
S2: brow cell one, two, three down the left hand side, four, five,
S2: six down the right hand side, of course not dots,
S2: but keys, and then a long key at the level
S2: of two and three on the left hand side, and
S2: a long key on the right hand side along dots
S2: five and six or keys five and six. And by
S2: combinations of these keys you can fully navigate and type
S2: in to your, like I just said, your Android or
S2: your iPhone. And because it uses fairly simple and clever
S2: navigation keys, I quite like it. So for example, one
S2: of my favorite examples is if you want to go
S2: to the right. So let's say in normal voiceover terms
S2: you're going to the right. So you're flicking to the right.
S2: You hold down seven and press eight. Now if you
S2: want to go the other direction, which is flicking to
S2: the left, if, if you like, you hold down eight
S2: and press seven. So you're still using the same two keys.
S2: You're just holding down down one and pressing the other
S2: one and vice versa. And it actually uses a lot
S2: of those key combinations. So the same keys, but the
S2: reverse result. And of course you can activate Siri from it. Uh,
S2: you can stop and start voiceover or talkback talking. You
S2: can start and stop playing. You can answer and hang
S2: up your phone calls, all sorts of things. And it's
S2: also got an easy mode. So what it does is
S2: once you turn this easy mode on, it converts all
S2: those eight keys into doing a specific function, uh, which
S2: is actually really nice if you just want to use
S2: it as a, almost like a quick remote control to
S2: do certain things on your iPhone or your Android phone.
S2: So I think it's one of those nice little devices
S2: because it really is quite tiny, um, to use if
S2: you're an Android or iPhone user. So log in to
S2: the website or pop into your local Vision Australia vision
S2: store and have a look at the device. The Hable
S2: habla one.
S1: How much is it?
S2: It's about $450, which is about right for a custom
S2: braille input device keyboard.
S1: We haven't talked for a while about the Vision Australia
S1: library service and the app VA connect.
S2: I find we sort of take this for granted a bit,
S2: so I'd like to remind people that the Vision Australia
S2: library is there for anybody who is blind or low
S2: vision and has a print disability. It gives you free
S2: access to books, magazines, newspapers and podcasts. And with the
S2: VA connect app running on your Android device or your iPhone,
S2: you've got access to all that information at your fingertips.
S2: You can log on to the website and you can
S2: add things to your bookshelf, take things off, search for
S2: all sorts of things, get the The Age or the
S2: Sydney Morning Herald every day, so on and so on.
S2: So it's a really great resource that I think sometimes underutilized.
S2: So that's why I thought it was good bringing it
S2: up today.
S1: Tell us about Nvidia Nvidia it's hardware isn't it.
S2: That's correct. So Nvidia is very famous for its chips
S2: particularly for gaming. But where it's coming into its own
S2: is all about artificial intelligence and the power that particularly
S2: PCs need to run AI systems, particularly locally, not just
S2: in the cloud. They made a metric ton of money
S2: in the last quarter that they reported, made lots and
S2: lots of money, and it's all around artificial intelligence. So
S2: this led to me to think that this is sort
S2: of the what is it? It's almost like the jumping
S2: off period where we need to have powerful machines now
S2: and moving into the future to cope with the developments
S2: of artificial intelligence and of course, moving towards artificial general AI.
S1: We're seeing a generational change with smartphones as we move
S1: more into the AI world.
S2: That's right. So I was looking at over the weekend actually,
S2: whether my Z flip three from, you know, several years
S2: ago would be able to run things like Gemini, which
S2: is not quite ready for Australia yet. And the answer
S2: is no, because the the CPU in it, the graphics card,
S2: the neural engines or that sort of stuff that you
S2: need to run AI systems is not powerful enough. So again,
S2: as with the PC, I think we're sort of having
S2: to hit a launching period again to say, as with
S2: the iPhone 15 Pro, which has got the A17 Bionic, uh,
S2: lots of graphics power, lots of neural engines in it
S2: for processing data, all that. So stuff. That's what you need.
S2: So I think moving forward, if anybody now says to
S2: me what phone should I buy, I think it's really
S2: going to have to be, well, if you want to
S2: keep up to date with your smartphone in reference to AI,
S2: it has to be a current phone moving forward. Before
S2: we could sort of get away with maybe looking at
S2: a phone about, you know, three or 4 or 5
S2: years ago. But I have a funny feeling now moving
S2: forward into artificial intelligence. Those days of being a bit
S2: slack about our specs of our, you know, our desktop
S2: computers or our mobile computers is getting very, very thin indeed.
S1: Google, particularly with their smart speakers, have been spotted making
S1: moves towards seamless updates. In other words, changing things without
S1: letting you know what's happening. You'll just see the outcome
S1: of it.
S2: And I think from looking at it, I think it's
S2: not just the Google speakers, but it's across the board.
S2: And whilst Google likes it, I have a funny feeling
S2: major manufacturers like Samsung don't like it because they don't
S2: want things happening in the background that they haven't got
S2: control of it because. So normally when I update my
S2: Samsung phone, it's just an update. It's nothing happening in
S2: the background. So let's just watch this space and see
S2: if Google can convince people like Samsung to say, you know,
S2: it's it's cool to have the updates running in the background.
S2: Users don't have to think about it, and your systems
S2: will always be up to date without having to do
S2: anything with it. So let's just see what happens. Maybe
S2: this year, next year.
S1: Rice is not included in Apple support documentation for wet iPhones.
S2: No. And this probably includes, um, sort of any phone
S2: that you get wet. There's been this urban myth where
S2: if you stick your phone in a bag of rice,
S2: the rice will basically dehydrate the water out of your smartphone.
S2: And the real thing is it's the fact that you
S2: wait for it to dry out. It's got nothing to
S2: do with the rice. In fact, putting your smartphone in
S2: a bag of rice, the rice can go into your
S2: ports and damage your smartphone. So at the end of
S2: the day, the best idea is to just let the
S2: thing dry out for a couple of days. Plug it
S2: back into power. If you get a moisture warning, then
S2: you let it keep letting it dry out. If worst
S2: comes to the worst, take it to a person that
S2: can fix it. But yes, do not put it in
S2: a bag of rice. That's a real urban myth.
S1: In terms of water, the Apple Watch is much more resilient.
S2: Yes, the only thing you'll notice from a voiceover point
S2: of view, and this is also on the Galaxy Watch
S2: that I've got, because the membrane of the speaker doesn't
S2: get dried out as much. When you do the tone
S2: generation and make the speaker vibrate, it sounds very tinny,
S2: but give it about an hour or two, it'll dry
S2: out and it'll be back to normal.
S1: Now, before we go, a reminder of where people can
S1: find details of what you've been talking about in this
S1: and previous editions of the program.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site,
S2: which is David. Would it be a podbean pad bayan.com?
S1: David would be our podbean pod be a incom to
S1: write to the program?
S2: You can write to me at Visit Australia where I work,
S2: which is David Woodbridge Heart Sounds at Vision Australia.
S1: Org David Woodbridge at Virgin Australia. Org this has been
S1: talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national adviser
S1: on access technology David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolly stay safe.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.