WEBVTT - Talking Tech 19th November 2024 0:00:07.970 --> 0:00:11.840 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:15.769 November the 19th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:15.770 --> 0:00:19.820 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio associated 0:00:19.820 --> 0:00:23.210 stations of the Radio Reading Network or perhaps the Community 0:00:23.210 --> 0:00:26.810 Radio Network. There is also the podcast. To catch that, 0:00:26.810 --> 0:00:28.760 all you need to do is search for the two 0:00:28.790 --> 0:00:32.330 words talking tech and down a canal come usually on 0:00:32.330 --> 0:00:36.110 a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option 0:00:36.110 --> 0:00:39.320 is to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play. 0:00:39.409 --> 0:00:44.330 Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:49.700 tech podcast with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. 0:00:49.699 --> 0:00:51.979 Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo. 0:00:52.099 --> 0:00:53.210 Hi, Stephen. 0:00:53.239 --> 0:00:57.800 Damo, let's talk about something that falls right within your portfolio. 0:00:57.860 --> 0:01:03.260 And that's the At Access Technology help desk at Vision Australia, 0:01:03.290 --> 0:01:05.150 because there's some great things that you're able to do 0:01:05.150 --> 0:01:06.950 from that desk. Tell us about it all. 0:01:06.980 --> 0:01:11.149 Yes. So the help desk really is there to provide 0:01:11.149 --> 0:01:14.660 you with phone and email support for your products. And 0:01:14.660 --> 0:01:16.369 when I say that, what I mean is that we 0:01:16.399 --> 0:01:19.550 we can't come to your house. But what we can 0:01:19.550 --> 0:01:23.630 do is if you have questions, you can call the 0:01:23.630 --> 0:01:32.270 main vision Australia number the 1300 847 406. That's 1300 847 466 or one 0:01:32.300 --> 0:01:37.789 300 vision. Um or you can email ATC help at 0:01:37.789 --> 0:01:41.510 Vision Australia. Org. And we're able to help with a 0:01:41.509 --> 0:01:44.150 whole range of things. So if it's just advice you're 0:01:44.149 --> 0:01:48.260 looking for on, you know, phones or screen readers or magnifiers, 0:01:48.260 --> 0:01:51.680 we can certainly help with that. But we can also 0:01:51.710 --> 0:01:57.350 use remote support tools like Remote Incident Manager from Numa solutions. 0:01:57.350 --> 0:02:00.020 If you've got a windows machine or a mac, we 0:02:00.020 --> 0:02:03.080 can remote in and provide support for you that way 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:06.800 as well and actually see what you're seeing and hear 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:11.830 what you're hearing And address problems. That way all of 0:02:11.830 --> 0:02:16.420 the team are blind or low vision themselves and they 0:02:16.420 --> 0:02:20.650 are spread around the country. So we have Mo. In Sydney, 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.670 Greg in Perth, Eric in Brisbane and Brett on the 0:02:24.670 --> 0:02:27.790 Sunshine Coast. And they all use all of this sort 0:02:27.820 --> 0:02:31.060 of technology on a daily basis. So they, they bring 0:02:31.090 --> 0:02:33.940 not only a lot of technology experience to the table, 0:02:33.940 --> 0:02:36.040 but a lot of lived experience as well. 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.490 So that's very interesting that they're distributed all over the country. 0:02:39.490 --> 0:02:42.820 And it really doesn't matter where you're calling from or 0:02:42.820 --> 0:02:44.740 one of those people is available to help. 0:02:44.770 --> 0:02:51.190 That's right. And we operate from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. 0:02:51.220 --> 0:02:55.330 Australian Eastern Daylight Time. So and that's Monday to Friday. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.630 Obviously if you email us out of hours, we'll we'll 0:02:58.630 --> 0:03:00.460 get back to you as soon as we're open or 0:03:00.460 --> 0:03:01.630 as soon as we can. 0:03:01.630 --> 0:03:04.960 So what sorts of things do the help desk team 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:07.870 help people with? Like it seems pretty amazing. I know 0:03:07.870 --> 0:03:10.900 it's been possible for years, but happens a lot more 0:03:10.900 --> 0:03:13.210 now that you can remote into somebody's machine. 0:03:13.210 --> 0:03:15.790 We get all kinds of different questions. You know, it 0:03:15.790 --> 0:03:18.070 might be a problem with jaws, or it might be 0:03:18.070 --> 0:03:21.790 an issue upgrading your jaws or your zoom text. It 0:03:21.790 --> 0:03:25.870 might be a question about Nvda or Jaws. Why is 0:03:25.870 --> 0:03:30.340 it not reading a particular thing? It might be just 0:03:30.370 --> 0:03:32.860 a feature that perhaps used to work and doesn't seem 0:03:32.860 --> 0:03:36.400 to be working the way that you might expect. Um, 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:40.060 it might be someone using something like Dolphin Supernova or 0:03:40.060 --> 0:03:42.430 Guide Connect. It can be any, any number of things. 0:03:42.430 --> 0:03:46.930 We don't tend to do things that are not at 0:03:46.930 --> 0:03:50.260 all related. So, you know, if you want to upgrade 0:03:50.260 --> 0:03:53.380 your machine from Windows 10 to Windows 11, that's not 0:03:53.380 --> 0:03:56.470 something we would necessarily do. So we do focus on 0:03:56.470 --> 0:03:59.710 the sort of at aspect of it, if you like, 0:03:59.710 --> 0:04:04.450 rather than, you know, fixing printers and general computer related help, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:08.230 removal of viruses and those kinds of things fall outside 0:04:08.230 --> 0:04:11.380 of our area of expertise. But if it's Related to 0:04:11.410 --> 0:04:15.610 any At product you're using. You know, VoiceOver talkback on 0:04:15.610 --> 0:04:19.540 an Android phone, your Braille display, or any of your 0:04:19.540 --> 0:04:22.360 screen readers or screen magnification type products. 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.670 And again, the way to get in touch with the 0:04:24.670 --> 0:04:25.480 help desk. 0:04:25.510 --> 0:04:32.380 Is the main vision. Australia number 130847466 or HTC Help 0:04:32.410 --> 0:04:33.910 at Vision Australia. 0:04:34.210 --> 0:04:38.530 Org one 308 47466. 0:04:39.010 --> 0:04:43.000 That's right or HTC help at Vision Australia. 0:04:43.270 --> 0:04:47.470 Org we've talked in the past about the Ray-Ban meta 0:04:47.470 --> 0:04:51.460 smart glasses. You've got some very good news about those. 0:04:51.460 --> 0:04:54.490 Let's start by talking about what those glasses are. 0:04:54.730 --> 0:04:58.180 Just to sort of recap from previous discussions. Because they 0:04:58.210 --> 0:05:01.510 are made by Ray-Ban, they essentially look like a regular 0:05:01.510 --> 0:05:06.010 pair of sunglasses, except that they have a small camera. 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:09.370 I think it's a 13 megapixel camera positioned in the 0:05:09.370 --> 0:05:14.440 top corner of the left hand Lens and in the 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.140 opposite corner. So the top right corner of the right 0:05:17.170 --> 0:05:19.960 hand lens, there is a little LED light. And then 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.110 on the right arm of the glasses is a physical 0:05:23.110 --> 0:05:27.190 button that you can press to take photographs or videos 0:05:27.190 --> 0:05:30.460 and initiate a number of other things. There is also 0:05:30.460 --> 0:05:34.180 a touch sensitive surface running along the right arm of 0:05:34.180 --> 0:05:38.469 the glasses. These are produced in partnership with meta. So 0:05:38.500 --> 0:05:43.330 meta is the company that's responsible for Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram 0:05:43.330 --> 0:05:46.990 and so on. They were originally designed, I suppose, for 0:05:47.020 --> 0:05:51.280 the sighted user who might want to take photographs and 0:05:51.280 --> 0:05:54.250 post them to Instagram or post, make little videos and 0:05:54.250 --> 0:05:58.150 post them to Facebook, that kind of thing. But they've 0:05:58.150 --> 0:06:02.320 become quite popular in the blindness community because they are 0:06:02.350 --> 0:06:06.040 a mainstream consumer item. So you can purchase them from 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:10.540 any sunglass store, and they do have the meta AI 0:06:10.570 --> 0:06:13.090 assistant built in. So you can say things like, hey, 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.230 what am I looking at? Hey, meta, look and read 0:06:16.230 --> 0:06:19.860 me any signs. Uh, those kinds of things. So you 0:06:19.860 --> 0:06:23.610 can sort of get hands free information about the visual 0:06:23.610 --> 0:06:24.810 world around you. 0:06:24.840 --> 0:06:27.540 And there's been a great development with them in very 0:06:27.540 --> 0:06:28.740 recent times. 0:06:28.770 --> 0:06:33.750 Yes. That's right. The Be My Eyes service, which is 0:06:33.780 --> 0:06:39.390 a visual interpretation service that is staffed entirely by volunteers. 0:06:39.390 --> 0:06:44.400 So they have, I believe, 8.1 million volunteers globally registered 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.950 with the system. And the idea is that you can 0:06:46.950 --> 0:06:48.900 make a call and you put through to one of 0:06:48.900 --> 0:06:53.370 those volunteers and they can provide you visual assistance. So 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:57.000 up to now that's been done using the back camera 0:06:57.000 --> 0:07:00.659 on your phone, either Android or your iPhone. So you 0:07:00.660 --> 0:07:04.590 could ask for assistance reading print. You could ask for 0:07:04.590 --> 0:07:08.580 some visual information about the world around you. You could ask, 0:07:08.610 --> 0:07:10.890 you know, what's on the screen of my computer, that 0:07:10.890 --> 0:07:14.970 kind of thing. But they have partnered with meta as well, 0:07:14.970 --> 0:07:18.810 so that you can now get hands free visual interpretation 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:24.930 assistance through the Ray-Ban meta smart glasses. The idea is 0:07:24.930 --> 0:07:29.430 you can say, hey meta, be my eyes and it 0:07:29.430 --> 0:07:32.490 will initiate a call to one of the Be My 0:07:32.490 --> 0:07:36.090 Eyes volunteers, and you could then get help to navigate 0:07:36.090 --> 0:07:39.990 through the airport or, uh, you know, have a look 0:07:40.020 --> 0:07:42.600 if your dog or your cat has taken off out 0:07:42.600 --> 0:07:44.790 the back, you know, is it visible somewhere, whatever it 0:07:44.790 --> 0:07:47.040 might be? The other thing that they've done, which is 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:50.400 quite nice, is that you can double tap the button 0:07:50.430 --> 0:07:53.400 on the top of the right arm of the glasses 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:58.500 and switch between your phone's camera and the camera in 0:07:58.500 --> 0:08:02.010 the glasses. So you might, for example, use the glasses 0:08:02.010 --> 0:08:05.670 to help you get somewhere or find a doorway. But 0:08:05.670 --> 0:08:07.830 you then might want to switch to your phone camera 0:08:07.830 --> 0:08:10.800 and have the volunteer read the menu to you as 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:13.770 an example. For those that already have the glasses, all 0:08:13.770 --> 0:08:15.360 you need to do is make sure that you have 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:19.710 the latest update. And then under the settings under accessibility, 0:08:19.710 --> 0:08:22.590 there's a Be My Eyes button which allows you to 0:08:22.620 --> 0:08:26.190 link your Be My Eyes account to the glasses. 0:08:26.190 --> 0:08:28.590 Where do you get these glasses and how much are they? 0:08:29.310 --> 0:08:32.730 They vary in price depending on what lenses you have. 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.670 There's three different kind of models. The difference is just 0:08:35.670 --> 0:08:38.010 in the shape of them. So there's the Wayfarer, which 0:08:38.010 --> 0:08:44.399 is sort of a trapezoid shaped lens. There's a headliner 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:47.429 which is sort of the traditional kind of rounded glasses. 0:08:47.429 --> 0:08:49.469 And then there's the Skyla, which I haven't seen. I 0:08:49.469 --> 0:08:52.140 think they're perhaps more an oval one, but you can 0:08:52.140 --> 0:08:56.040 also get things like ones with transition lenses or polarized lenses, 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:58.829 that kind of thing. The most basic one starts at 0:08:58.829 --> 0:09:02.010 about $460, and you can get them from any of 0:09:02.010 --> 0:09:06.179 your sort of major sunglasses type chains. I think I 0:09:06.209 --> 0:09:09.959 got mine from a local Sunglass Hut store. I think 0:09:09.990 --> 0:09:13.410 opsm have them. Any of your sort of standard eyewear 0:09:13.410 --> 0:09:15.540 type stores would carry them? 0:09:15.839 --> 0:09:21.439 The Ray-Ban meta smart glasses. We have talked in the 0:09:21.439 --> 0:09:26.899 past about the Blind Shell classic phone. There's a new 0:09:26.900 --> 0:09:29.479 model on the horizon, shall we say. 0:09:29.510 --> 0:09:33.530 There is indeed. Yes, the Blind Shell classic three is 0:09:33.530 --> 0:09:37.550 what they're calling this one. The blind shell is what 0:09:37.550 --> 0:09:39.980 they used to call a candy bar style of phone. 0:09:39.979 --> 0:09:44.060 Anyone that remembers the old Nokia type phones from the 90s, 0:09:44.089 --> 0:09:47.689 you know, with a tactile keypad, a screen above that. 0:09:47.689 --> 0:09:50.990 And they were sort of roughly the the shape of 0:09:50.990 --> 0:09:53.150 a chocolate bar, which is why they used to call 0:09:53.150 --> 0:09:55.819 them a candy bar phone. That's sort of what the 0:09:55.819 --> 0:10:00.529 blind shell looks and feels like. And it provides a 0:10:00.530 --> 0:10:04.879 whole array of features, all of which, you know, the 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.380 output is is spoken. The classic two did all of 0:10:09.380 --> 0:10:11.839 the usual sort of smart phone type things, and it 0:10:11.839 --> 0:10:15.650 had an array of curated apps that you could install, 0:10:15.679 --> 0:10:18.420 things like WhatsApp. It was compatible with the Arc Arcs 0:10:18.420 --> 0:10:21.929 vision headset, a whole range of other apps and things 0:10:21.929 --> 0:10:27.000 that you could install. Now, with the classic three, they 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.969 look and feel the same. I don't think there's any 0:10:29.969 --> 0:10:34.290 change to the physical design, but they have added some 0:10:34.290 --> 0:10:38.400 new features, so they've added a voice assistant, which is 0:10:38.429 --> 0:10:41.910 sort of like your Siri or your Google type assistant, 0:10:41.910 --> 0:10:45.839 where you can ask it questions and get multiple pieces 0:10:45.839 --> 0:10:48.900 of information rather than just, you know, voice commands to 0:10:48.929 --> 0:10:51.390 call Fred or that type of thing. It goes much 0:10:51.390 --> 0:10:59.579 beyond that. There is also the ability to install a 0:10:59.579 --> 0:11:03.089 wider range of apps. I don't exactly know how this works, 0:11:03.089 --> 0:11:05.939 but you can install other apps that are available on 0:11:05.939 --> 0:11:09.720 the Google Play Store. Not all of them, but a subset, 0:11:09.719 --> 0:11:13.140 and not all of them will work. So it will 0:11:13.140 --> 0:11:15.929 be some sort of experimentation with this. You know, if 0:11:15.929 --> 0:11:19.020 you want to go and download the Sportsbet app or 0:11:19.020 --> 0:11:21.620 the Tab app or something like that. It may work, 0:11:21.650 --> 0:11:25.670 but it may not. So the support, you know, for 0:11:25.699 --> 0:11:28.369 that is fairly limited. If you're using an app that 0:11:28.370 --> 0:11:31.489 isn't sort of native to the phone, if you like. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.520 There's also going to be the capability for someone to 0:11:34.550 --> 0:11:39.650 connect into your phone remotely and do updates and things. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:41.000 That's right. Yes. 0:11:41.030 --> 0:11:43.520 So so there might be the tech guru in the 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.300 family who is very good with this stuff and can 0:11:47.300 --> 0:11:51.050 help out mum or dad or grandma, grandad, whoever with 0:11:51.050 --> 0:11:53.479 the updating to the phone. And that takes a lot 0:11:53.510 --> 0:11:56.780 of the tech challenge requirement away from the owner of 0:11:56.780 --> 0:11:57.679 the phone, doesn't it? 0:11:57.709 --> 0:12:00.709 It definitely does because a lot of people, you know, 0:12:00.740 --> 0:12:03.559 they don't necessarily want to know what's going on under 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:05.989 the hood. They just want the thing to work. Um, 0:12:05.990 --> 0:12:09.589 and so yes, that's a really good feature. I think 0:12:09.589 --> 0:12:11.929 they're calling it tandem. Those that are familiar with sort 0:12:11.929 --> 0:12:14.659 of the jaws tandem concept would be familiar with that. 0:12:14.660 --> 0:12:17.989 So yes, someone can, uh, log in remotely and install 0:12:17.990 --> 0:12:21.139 an update for you or help you figure out how 0:12:21.140 --> 0:12:23.809 an app works or what's on the screen. 0:12:24.109 --> 0:12:26.479 Now, I believe these phones are going to cost pretty 0:12:26.479 --> 0:12:30.319 much the same as existing ones, in the order of $1,000, 0:12:30.319 --> 0:12:33.349 something like that. When are they coming to Australia? 0:12:33.380 --> 0:12:36.709 There's a couple of things that still need to happen. 0:12:36.709 --> 0:12:39.260 One is that we obviously need to get things like 0:12:39.260 --> 0:12:43.790 all of the electrical compliance sorted before we can bring 0:12:43.790 --> 0:12:46.069 them in, but also we want to make sure that 0:12:46.069 --> 0:12:49.880 they're actually approved for use by all of the carriers. 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:54.830 The Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, recently gave a 0:12:54.829 --> 0:12:59.029 directive to the telcos to say that if it's not 0:12:59.030 --> 0:13:01.640 a phone that you recognise, if it's not what they 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.900 call white listed, then you know you should potentially block 0:13:05.900 --> 0:13:08.030 it from the network. And I think that's to avoid, 0:13:08.059 --> 0:13:11.390 you know, people, uh, bringing in, you know, phones that 0:13:11.390 --> 0:13:14.929 might cause radio interference or cause other problems or might 0:13:14.929 --> 0:13:18.290 not meet the Australian standards. So one of the things 0:13:18.290 --> 0:13:21.650 that we would need to do before it's available is 0:13:21.650 --> 0:13:23.809 to make sure that it's whitelisted with all of the 0:13:23.839 --> 0:13:27.619 all of the carriers. Those processes are already underway, so 0:13:27.620 --> 0:13:29.809 I would think they should be available here in Australia 0:13:29.809 --> 0:13:30.709 in the new year. 0:13:30.740 --> 0:13:34.130 The blonde Show classic three. The phone with the physical 0:13:34.130 --> 0:13:36.500 buttons on it. Watch out for that. We'll have news 0:13:36.500 --> 0:13:39.559 of it as it does arrive on our shores. Now, 0:13:39.589 --> 0:13:41.990 before we go, a reminder you can find details of 0:13:41.990 --> 0:13:44.660 what we've been talking about in this and previous editions 0:13:44.660 --> 0:13:53.030 of the program from VA radio.org/talking tech. VA radio.org/talking tech 0:13:53.030 --> 0:13:54.439 and to right to the program. 0:13:54.439 --> 0:13:59.630 You can email me Damo Damo dot McMorrow m c 0:13:59.660 --> 0:14:04.969 m o w r o w at Vision australia.org. 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:10.309 Damo Dot McMorrow at Vision australia.org. This has been talking 0:14:10.339 --> 0:14:14.179 tech with me has been Vision Australia's national access technology 0:14:14.179 --> 0:14:18.289 manager Damien McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care. We'll talk 0:14:18.290 --> 0:14:19.700 more tech next week. See you.