S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: July the 9th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, Associated
S1: Stations of Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network. There
S1: is also the podcast. To catch that, all you need
S1: to do is search for the two words talking tech
S1: and Dan. 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, we'll start with the product minute. A
S1: a product from the vision store of Vision Australia. Another
S1: piece of headwear, I know.
S2: And this one's actually really, really cool. It's actually called
S2: the head beam. Plus in effect it's a wearable torch.
S2: So you've got this band that goes around your head.
S2: So it's a soft fabric type band. It's got a
S2: little torch on the front of it, and it illuminates
S2: either spotlight or in general, so it can spotlight onto
S2: particular tasks such as, you know, um, doing your nails,
S2: for example, um, or you're doing sewing and so on,
S2: or it will do a general sort of floodlight type thing,
S2: and that means you can use it for, I don't know,
S2: looking in your pantry fossicking around in your car boot.
S2: So it's a general purpose headlamp to assist not only,
S2: you know, people with sight, but of course for us,
S2: for people with low vision. And you can adjust each
S2: one of those illumination ones. So the spotlight and the
S2: floodlight and it's also got an SOS. So it's got
S2: a red flashing light for SOS. But what I think
S2: is really cool about it is it has a motion sensor.
S2: So if you wave your hand in front of your face,
S2: it'll turn the torch on you wave your hand in
S2: front of your face again, turns the torch off. Now,
S2: I think that's really fantastic because I know a lot
S2: of times, um, my wife has turned up at our
S2: house and I forgot to. I'm doing something with the
S2: Wi-Fi network and the front lights off. Um, and she
S2: has a trouble finding her keys in a bag. Um,
S2: if she had that available, she could just look down
S2: in the bag and see, okay, straight away. Or even
S2: see the keyhole, where to insert the key. So that's
S2: actually really handy. So I really think the the headlamp
S2: plus it's one of those things if you're low vision
S2: or you know, somebody that has difficulty seeing in dark,
S2: gloomy conditions, this thing is absolutely fantastic. And the fact
S2: about it is it's only $25. So to me this
S2: is one of those things that's sort of like a
S2: no thing to even purchase. If you need one of
S2: these devices, it's called. It's actually called the Head Beam Plus.
S2: So that's the name of it, Head Beam Plus. And
S2: it's $25.
S1: Head Beam plus from the vision store at Vision Australia.
S1: Now speaking of Vision Australia, the bursaries for students are
S1: open for application again for next year's bursaries. Tell us
S1: about it.
S2: These are available every 12 months. And it's for people
S2: undertaking certificate four and above tertiary studies. So you know,
S2: things like TAFE and universities and so on. And it's
S2: available for students to help you buy your assistive technology.
S2: And the way you get involved in this is you
S2: go along to Vision Australia org forward slash bursary. And
S2: it's got all the application details there. What sort of
S2: things you have to fill in. Um who you probably
S2: need to talk to, where you get your assessments done
S2: and so on. And they close at the end of September.
S2: And then you will get notified towards the end of
S2: the year if you're successful or not in your bursary award.
S2: And then normally what happens in the new year is
S2: that you get a full assessment done by one of
S2: our technology staff just to finalize your assistive technology equipment.
S2: Then it's ordered delivered to you, set up and off
S2: you go, hopefully for your fantastic course next year.
S1: Very good. The Vision Australia bursary. Go to the website,
S1: have a scratch around and give yourself plenty of time
S1: to get organised because it's fairly comprehensive. Yes, fairly thorough,
S1: but well worth it by the end of September. The
S1: BT speak. We've spoken about it a number of times
S1: over recent months. There's an update just come out in
S1: the last few days.
S2: Look, I quite like these updates. I must say. The
S2: thing that's got my attention is that the the new
S2: version has got games in it now, so I can
S2: play a little text adventure game. Um, it's got black
S2: blackjack on there and a few other little interesting bits
S2: and pieces. It's also got the new Vocalizer voices now.
S2: So that's things like Tom and Samantha and so on.
S2: So just to remind people, you now have choice between
S2: Espeak the Dectalk voice, the RH voice or voices and
S2: the vocalizer voices, like I just said, like Tom and
S2: Samantha and so on. So that actually really makes things
S2: very clear because as people always know, whilst the ECB
S2: can speak many, many languages, it's not the most clearest
S2: voice on the planet.
S1: And we should just remind people what this amazing little
S1: device is.
S2: Simply, it's a note taking device. And it's also got
S2: a full desktop version. Um, it does lots of things
S2: like text editing. You can do web browsing on it,
S2: you can record music, you can play radio stations, you
S2: can use a calculator. Um, it just got a new
S2: phone book, which I'm trying to work out. Why, you'd
S2: want a phone book on something that doesn't have a
S2: phone in it. Um, so it's got all different types
S2: of things. And of course, once you use the desktop
S2: mode of it, that gives you access to email and
S2: lots of other things as well. And it's based on Linux,
S2: not Android, and it's constantly under development. So, you know,
S2: like I said, about once a month you can expand
S2: a new new update to come out. And the one
S2: thing I just realized too, that it's got today in
S2: there too. They've split up the BT learn for learning Braille.
S2: So you've got a test mode in there, a games mode,
S2: and a mode just for learning the different letters of
S2: the alphabet. So I think that's actually quite good as well,
S2: especially since the BT Speak Pro has a Braille input keyboard.
S1: Yep, that's what it's called. The BT Speak Pro and
S1: the Braille input keyboard is the key thing, isn't it?
S1: It's just using those braille keys so you can do
S1: it very easily. It doesn't take up too much space.
S1: Now also there's been an update to the device. From
S1: now on they sell an eight gigabyte version for Ram. Um,
S1: up until now, it's been four. and you can have
S1: your device modified to get that eight gigabytes. I think
S1: it's about $150 US. It would mean sending the device
S1: away and getting it back, but there are some benefits
S1: that they talk about on their website with that. So
S1: people might like to keep that in mind if they
S1: have one.
S2: I'm sort of going to wait and see what other
S2: people say on the internet. I don't tend to use
S2: many things in parallel on my system at the moment,
S2: and I don't use the desktop mode very heavily, which
S2: I'm assuming that's where you'd probably want the eight gigabytes
S2: coming in. Um, so I'm just going to do a
S2: bit of a bit of wait and see, because at
S2: the moment, the way I use my one is quite okay.
S1: Speaking of the BT speak, let's talk about the long
S1: awaited announcement from the orbit. People about the orbit speak.
S2: Yes. This has been one of those things that I
S2: think you and I have been talking about for. Geez,
S2: I want to say about 18 months now or more.
S2: So for people that might remember the orbit writer, which
S2: is the, you know, little Braille input keyboard that you
S2: can link up to your smartphone. Well, if you can
S2: imagine that device and then turn it into also speech output.
S2: So that's what the orbit speak is. And there's two
S2: versions of the orbit speak. The orbit speak and the
S2: orbit speak plus Plus, both versions have various note taking functions,
S2: very similar in some ways to the basic version of
S2: or the traditional mode of the Speak Pro. So you've
S2: got things like an editor, a book reader, a calculator,
S2: a clock, date and time, um, and so on. So
S2: it's a basic note taking device, but then if you
S2: spend $100 us more, so the basic version is 5.99.
S2: The plus version is 6.99. You basically get what's called
S2: the entertainment version. So that includes things like being able
S2: to listen to podcasts, being able to stream internet radio,
S2: being able to do a voice recording because it does
S2: have a built in microphone and so on. I know
S2: it's $100 us cheaper to me. If you're going to
S2: buy something like one of these note takers, you're better
S2: off buying the one that's got more functionality in it.
S2: So have a bit of a think about it and
S2: just people's information. Any of the orbit reader products are
S2: not available in Australia, so you'll have to buy them
S2: from overseas.
S1: And talking of the orbit products, the orbit reader 20
S1: and the orbit reader 40, you can now get a
S1: Q 20 and a Q 40. So that's the Qwerty keyboard.
S2: Which I think is actually really, really good. This is
S2: the unit with the Braille display. And to me this
S2: reminds me of the the mantis Q40. A lot of
S2: people are really good typists, as in keyboard typists, but
S2: you're a Braille user, so you want to be able
S2: to read in Braille. And this hits that sweet spot dramatically.
S2: And of course, it's a lot cheaper than, you know
S2: what the man is currently sells for. Um, like you said, Steve,
S2: it's got a 20 to 40 cell version of it
S2: with the Qwerty keyboard, and it interacts with your windows computer,
S2: your Mac, your Android device, and so on. So a
S2: really good implementation of having a device that has a
S2: Qwerty keyboard and a Braille display.
S1: Tell me about the 11 labs reader.
S2: So this is going to be interesting. So people might
S2: fondly remember 11 labs where you log on to their website.
S2: And and you can copy a document into it and
S2: have it read out of these really fantastic different voices. Well,
S2: you've got an A app version of this now for
S2: both iOS and Android coming soon. So you basically pop
S2: your text into this text field, and you can choose
S2: from stacks and stacks of different voices, including some well
S2: known voices like Laurence Olivier and so on. And then
S2: you can have it read back to you. And Thomas
S2: Donville from Applevis did a really good podcast on using
S2: the 11 labs iOS app, and it's actually called reader
S2: when you run it, and it's absolutely fantastic. And what
S2: he does, he uses the share tab on, you know,
S2: the files app or in a web page or on
S2: an email to then send whatever he wants to read
S2: out to 11 labs reader and just the voices that
S2: it reads out, you would not imagine that that's not
S2: a human being reading the document to you.
S1: 11 labs reader. And then on your device it'll be
S1: known as reader. Correct. The ABC listen app has had
S1: an update, a little difficult for users, but it's on
S1: its way and you can give them feedback if you
S1: don't like it, you can.
S2: And again, this applies for both the iOS version or
S2: the iPhone version and the Android version. So to me,
S2: what's happening at the moment is sometimes less than iOS.
S2: You to think of magic double tap to start and
S2: stop playing doesn't always work. The play button, whether you're
S2: playing a station or anything else, um, doesn't change between
S2: play and pause. It just says play. And because the
S2: screen has got lots of information on the home screen now,
S2: it's a bit hard to find things. Now, before we
S2: came on air, you suggested, Steve, that if you go
S2: to your listen, then you can navigate by Henning, and
S2: that's a better way to find content within the app
S2: at the moment. And as you just said, there's got
S2: a feedback link there where you can say if you're
S2: having any issues with the actual ABC listen app itself,
S2: which they encourage you to give them feedback. You can
S2: send them feedback, and I've done that for voiceover, at
S2: least at the moment.
S1: The user interface has changed quite a lot, so you've
S1: got to play around with it and get familiar with it,
S1: and you'll find it pretty good. But there are a
S1: few funny things some people have experienced drain on their
S1: battery of their iPhone anyway, so that's one thing that
S1: will need attention, but I'm sure it'll all get fixed
S1: and run very smoothly indeed. They're very good. The ABC
S1: at responding to difficulties, particularly in the accessibility area. Tell
S1: us about Arcs and the latest update.
S2: So this is the wearable headset. So you've literally got
S2: a camera on a bone conduction headset. And that plugs
S2: in via a USB-C cable to traditionally your Android phone
S2: or your blind Sherlock Classic two. And there is an
S2: app version for Arcs, which is the app that drives
S2: the headset coming out for the iOS system in. I
S2: think it's about four weeks as we go to air,
S2: which means on your iPhone 15 and above, because it
S2: has a USB-C port, you'll be able to plug in
S2: and use it, and which is actually really, really exciting.
S2: And 1.5 being the new version of the hardware. I
S2: had a look at it last week, and I must say,
S2: the new hardware looks really comfortable. Um, and a little
S2: bit more adjustable than the version 1.0. And of course,
S2: it does things very similar to what you'd expect a
S2: wearable headset to do, such as scene detection and so on.
S2: And as with Android, the iOS version will also work
S2: with Navi lens for tagging and tag tracking, and also
S2: the seeing AI app from Microsoft, which is really, really exciting.
S1: So that's going to be very interesting. Before we go,
S1: a reminder of where there are details of what we've
S1: been talking about in this and previous editions of the program, as.
S2: Always, you can check out my blog site, which is
S2: David would be Dot Podbean pod Band.com David.
S1: Would be our podbean pod b e a n.com to
S1: write to the program, you can.
S2: Write to me at Vision Australia where I work, which
S2: is David Woodbridge, how 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: advisor on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.