WEBVTT - Talking Tech 20th February 2024 0:00:17.904 --> 0:00:21.624 Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:21.624 --> 0:00:25.944 February the 20th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:25.944 --> 0:00:29.364 you with us listening maybe through Virgin Australia Radio, Associated 0:00:29.364 --> 0:00:33.684 Stations of Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network. There 0:00:33.684 --> 0:00:36.744 is also the podcast. To get the podcast, all you 0:00:36.744 --> 0:00:39.024 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:39.054 --> 0:00:41.844 tech and downer can all come usually on a Tuesday 0:00:41.844 --> 0:00:45.354 afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to 0:00:45.354 --> 0:00:48.444 ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play Virgin 0:00:48.444 --> 0:00:53.154 Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast, Virgin Australia Radio Talking Tech 0:00:53.154 --> 0:00:56.484 podcast with me, someone who can explain all this tech 0:00:56.484 --> 0:01:01.344 stuff really well. Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, 0:01:01.344 --> 0:01:05.694 David Woodbridge David, let's start with a little bit of 0:01:05.694 --> 0:01:09.324 a vision store off. That's the the shop of Vision 0:01:09.324 --> 0:01:14.364 Australia news for people particularly who use the Parramatta Centre. 0:01:14.604 --> 0:01:21.144 Indeed, what's happening between February 21st and April 22nd is 0:01:21.144 --> 0:01:24.834 that they're doing quite a few renovations downstairs on the 0:01:24.834 --> 0:01:26.814 ground level, which just happens to be where the vision 0:01:26.814 --> 0:01:30.024 store is. So of course, with renovations, that means the 0:01:30.024 --> 0:01:33.804 vision store has to close. So what we tend to 0:01:33.804 --> 0:01:37.464 recommend is then you can certainly purchase all your Vision 0:01:37.464 --> 0:01:41.184 Australia products via the online shop, which is the Shop 0:01:41.484 --> 0:01:45.684 Vision Australian website. Or if you need to get your 0:01:45.684 --> 0:01:47.094 hands on a product to have a bit of a 0:01:47.094 --> 0:01:50.154 play with before you purchase, then remember that you can 0:01:50.154 --> 0:01:55.404 also visit the Caring Bar Office, the Epping office and 0:01:55.404 --> 0:01:59.154 they'll be able to give you hands on demos. Just 0:01:59.154 --> 0:02:01.494 keep in mind though, that with the comb bar and 0:02:01.494 --> 0:02:04.944 the Epping offices, they're actually smaller places and we just 0:02:04.944 --> 0:02:06.984 can't fit the amount of stuff that we actually have 0:02:06.984 --> 0:02:10.254 in the vision store at Parramatta. So ring up beforehand 0:02:10.254 --> 0:02:14.604 via the main one 308 4746 number, just to see 0:02:14.604 --> 0:02:15.984 if the item that you want to have a bit 0:02:15.984 --> 0:02:19.074 of a play with is there. But certainly you can 0:02:19.074 --> 0:02:21.654 ring us up on that number. I've just mentioned the 0:02:21.654 --> 0:02:25.584 website that I've also just mentioned. Um, and hopefully we'll 0:02:25.584 --> 0:02:27.534 be back in business in about two months time. 0:02:27.534 --> 0:02:33.654 Yep. Great website shop Vision Australia George. Now a Vision 0:02:33.654 --> 0:02:38.484 Australia store product. Our product Minute and my spotlighting the 0:02:38.484 --> 0:02:39.984 mini guide this week. 0:02:39.984 --> 0:02:43.494 This is always been my favourite device. I want to 0:02:43.494 --> 0:02:46.764 say almost from the year dot. It's a little handheld device. 0:02:46.764 --> 0:02:49.824 It almost feels like a torch in your hand. It's 0:02:49.824 --> 0:02:51.504 got a little cap over the end of it, and 0:02:51.504 --> 0:02:54.564 when you pull that cap off, you've got two sonar sensors. 0:02:54.654 --> 0:02:56.574 And of course, when you turn the unit on by 0:02:56.574 --> 0:02:58.794 the big button on the top of it, um, you 0:02:58.794 --> 0:03:01.524 can have it preset to three different levels. So I've 0:03:01.524 --> 0:03:05.274 got my anomaly set to 0.5m, uh, two meters. And 0:03:05.274 --> 0:03:08.064 I've got mind set to a whopping four meters and 0:03:08.064 --> 0:03:10.674 it vibrates. It does have this weird option, Stephen, that 0:03:10.674 --> 0:03:12.444 I've never actually used because I can't stand it when 0:03:12.444 --> 0:03:14.214 I first heard it. But you can plug in a 0:03:14.214 --> 0:03:18.024 pair of headphones and listen to the sonar pulse. And 0:03:18.024 --> 0:03:19.794 I must say, there's nothing worse than listening to because 0:03:19.794 --> 0:03:23.484 you can't adjust the volume. The sound just is basically overwhelming. 0:03:23.484 --> 0:03:26.814 So really, it's a handheld vibrating device. The faster it vibrates, 0:03:26.814 --> 0:03:29.604 the closer the object is to you. It's got a 0:03:29.604 --> 0:03:30.984 little lanyard on the back of it, so when you're 0:03:30.984 --> 0:03:32.694 not using it, you can sort of simply strap it 0:03:32.694 --> 0:03:34.404 around your hand. Or I normally put it back in 0:03:34.404 --> 0:03:38.334 my pocket, but it's a really great adjunct to your 0:03:38.334 --> 0:03:41.244 cane or your your guide dog, because you can just 0:03:41.244 --> 0:03:42.804 sort of whip it out when you feel like it, 0:03:42.804 --> 0:03:45.714 sort of scan around and take it from there. So 0:03:45.714 --> 0:03:47.994 I tend to cheat sometimes when I'm at one of 0:03:47.994 --> 0:03:50.964 the stations, because I know when the thing stops vibrating, 0:03:50.964 --> 0:03:52.284 then I know it's the end of the world and 0:03:52.284 --> 0:03:54.174 I can just tell my guide dog to, you know, 0:03:54.174 --> 0:03:56.994 turn left and find the ramp. But I've always liked 0:03:56.994 --> 0:04:00.414 the fact that these devices that just have one function, 0:04:00.414 --> 0:04:04.464 dare I say, which is object detection, only work very well, 0:04:04.464 --> 0:04:06.294 and the mini guide is certainly one of them. 0:04:06.294 --> 0:04:07.614 And it's not too expensive. 0:04:07.794 --> 0:04:10.554 I don't think so. And look, you know, when we 0:04:10.554 --> 0:04:14.364 say not expensive in blindness terms, it's always relative. If 0:04:14.364 --> 0:04:16.194 I had to buy this as a sort of person, 0:04:16.194 --> 0:04:18.084 I'd say it's a bit horrendous. I think it's about 0:04:18.084 --> 0:04:20.814 $700 Australian Hmhm very good. 0:04:20.814 --> 0:04:24.264 And that's the mini guide available from the vision store 0:04:24.264 --> 0:04:27.624 at Vision Australia. There's some other products that you are 0:04:27.624 --> 0:04:30.444 going to be investigating and telling us more about in 0:04:30.444 --> 0:04:33.354 the future. One of those, the Ultra cane. 0:04:33.714 --> 0:04:38.004 So this is a cane. And again it's only function 0:04:38.004 --> 0:04:41.874 is object detection. That's all it does. It's got two 0:04:41.904 --> 0:04:45.954 ultrasound devices in or two sonar sounds actually. Um and 0:04:45.954 --> 0:04:47.994 again what the what they do is the one that 0:04:47.994 --> 0:04:49.794 sort of goes straight out in front of you to 0:04:49.794 --> 0:04:52.374 detect objects above your waist height. And then of course, 0:04:52.464 --> 0:04:55.164 one that you can do above your head height. Now, 0:04:55.164 --> 0:04:58.584 I believe you can change the angles up. I'm not 0:04:58.584 --> 0:05:01.854 too sure about my demo units turning up this week. Again, 0:05:01.854 --> 0:05:06.354 what I want from an object detection sonar device is, 0:05:06.804 --> 0:05:09.324 you know, my cane has already taken care of stuff 0:05:09.324 --> 0:05:11.574 below my waist height. I want to know about stuff 0:05:11.844 --> 0:05:14.064 above my waist and above my head height in case 0:05:14.064 --> 0:05:15.444 I hit my head on a, you know, back of 0:05:15.444 --> 0:05:18.304 a backed up high truck or or. Ranch and so on. 0:05:18.304 --> 0:05:21.754 So I'm still on the search for the holy grail 0:05:21.754 --> 0:05:24.634 of sonar units. I still remember back in the 1970s 0:05:24.634 --> 0:05:27.334 when I first tried out the Sonic glasses, and it 0:05:27.334 --> 0:05:30.784 still has been nothing yet that replaces the functionality of 0:05:30.784 --> 0:05:33.874 that device. What's that practically? Was that 50 years ago? 0:05:34.264 --> 0:05:36.934 It is. Yes. And I was one of the fortunate 0:05:36.934 --> 0:05:40.114 ones who spent time with that device as well. There 0:05:40.114 --> 0:05:42.724 are sonar glasses on the horizon for us. 0:05:42.754 --> 0:05:46.054 This is done by a company who produces two products 0:05:46.054 --> 0:05:49.894 once called the sonar glasses, and the other one's called 0:05:49.894 --> 0:05:52.054 the sonar. I know I mentioned that briefly in a minute. 0:05:52.054 --> 0:05:56.464 The sunglasses, it's using sonar, pulsed sound waves to detect 0:05:56.464 --> 0:05:58.324 objects in front of you. Again from above your waist 0:05:58.324 --> 0:06:02.374 height and above your head height. Um, very straightforward design 0:06:02.374 --> 0:06:05.554 from I think it's one up to three meters you 0:06:05.554 --> 0:06:08.434 can set it for. And they're just a nice pair 0:06:08.434 --> 0:06:11.314 of simple glasses. Now in the States you can also 0:06:11.314 --> 0:06:14.194 have them with prescription lenses. So if you happen to 0:06:14.194 --> 0:06:15.844 be a low vision person that wants a bit of 0:06:15.844 --> 0:06:19.054 extra object detection, you can get that as well. Um, 0:06:19.054 --> 0:06:20.764 I don't know if we'll be going to that level 0:06:20.764 --> 0:06:22.294 here in Australia if we decide to bring them in 0:06:22.294 --> 0:06:23.974 or not. But I thought first the thing we need 0:06:23.974 --> 0:06:26.554 to do is evaluate them. Uh, so I'll be doing that. 0:06:26.554 --> 0:06:30.664 And the reason why I mentioned the sonar guide briefly before, 0:06:31.144 --> 0:06:34.084 it's a device that attaches to a wheelchair. Now it 0:06:34.084 --> 0:06:36.934 has to be custom made to fit a wheelchair. Over 0:06:36.934 --> 0:06:39.784 the years, I know there's been a few blind people 0:06:39.784 --> 0:06:42.964 in particular and very, very low vision people that are 0:06:42.964 --> 0:06:45.454 actually in a wheelchair. Uh, so I find it a 0:06:45.454 --> 0:06:47.494 bit hard to use a kind motor in a chair. 0:06:47.704 --> 0:06:51.004 And I think something like the, the sonar guide, which 0:06:51.004 --> 0:06:53.344 attaches to the chair and then gives you indication objects 0:06:53.344 --> 0:06:56.494 in front of the chair would be very interesting. So 0:06:56.494 --> 0:06:58.384 I'm going to talk to my my boss about that 0:06:58.384 --> 0:07:00.394 in the future. But initially it's going to be us 0:07:00.394 --> 0:07:03.124 having a look at the sunglasses, which will hopefully turn 0:07:03.124 --> 0:07:04.894 up to evaluate for me in the next couple of 0:07:04.894 --> 0:07:05.584 weeks or so. 0:07:05.764 --> 0:07:10.804 Staying with object detection with the release of the iPhone 0:07:10.804 --> 0:07:16.174 12 Pro that was in 2020, came a technology that 0:07:16.174 --> 0:07:20.644 was new to that environment and that's LiDAR. Object detection 0:07:20.644 --> 0:07:24.244 is one of the things about LiDAR. Where are we now? Uh, 0:07:24.244 --> 0:07:27.694 as we are post the release of the iPhone 15. 0:07:27.694 --> 0:07:29.314 So it's good three years. 0:07:29.314 --> 0:07:32.194 The lidar itself is still as good as it's ever been, 0:07:32.674 --> 0:07:36.874 because literally it's the light bouncing back off an object. And, 0:07:36.874 --> 0:07:40.744 you know, if you use the magnifier app in the 0:07:41.074 --> 0:07:45.394 iPhone 12 Pro and above, um, people might remember in 0:07:45.394 --> 0:07:47.524 Covid that you can tell how far a person is 0:07:47.524 --> 0:07:49.924 in front of you. And of course, they've extended its 0:07:49.924 --> 0:07:53.284 functionality to do more sort of object recognition type stuff 0:07:53.284 --> 0:07:57.454 like door detection, but it's always improving. And there's a 0:07:57.454 --> 0:07:59.344 few apps that I will put in the show notes 0:07:59.344 --> 0:08:04.204 about some LiDAR apps that will actually help you indicate 0:08:04.204 --> 0:08:07.744 how far objects away, because at the moment, object recognition 0:08:07.744 --> 0:08:10.654 apps that tell you that the object in front of you, 0:08:10.654 --> 0:08:13.024 as far as I'm concerned, still doesn't work properly. And 0:08:13.024 --> 0:08:16.174 that's why I'm so keen to rely on there's an 0:08:16.174 --> 0:08:19.084 object in front of you, rather than saying there's an 0:08:19.084 --> 0:08:21.934 object which is in front of you, because most of 0:08:21.934 --> 0:08:23.944 the time I've been finding with my stuff, I just 0:08:23.944 --> 0:08:25.114 gets it wrong. Anyway. 0:08:25.384 --> 0:08:28.144 Now something with an emphasis really on the needs of 0:08:28.144 --> 0:08:32.974 people with low vision. Um, Shelley Brisbane, who lives in 0:08:32.974 --> 0:08:36.064 the United States. She's a journalist. She has low vision. 0:08:36.064 --> 0:08:41.194 She has explored recently the Apple Vision Pro, a very 0:08:41.194 --> 0:08:43.714 interesting article about her initial experience with it. 0:08:43.714 --> 0:08:46.414 And I'd say it's a very fair article because she 0:08:46.414 --> 0:08:49.984 talked about her experience as a low vision person, the 0:08:49.984 --> 0:08:53.134 difficulty to some extent that she had in the actual 0:08:53.134 --> 0:08:56.254 shop doing the demo at the Apple Store, uh, she 0:08:56.254 --> 0:08:59.794 then went through and basically commented on her experience with 0:08:59.794 --> 0:09:02.284 all the different types of demos that she was getting 0:09:02.284 --> 0:09:05.854 shown what I liked about it, and she also talked 0:09:05.854 --> 0:09:09.034 about that. This is just the starting point for us 0:09:09.034 --> 0:09:13.384 in looking at what the Vision Pro can deliver, blind 0:09:13.384 --> 0:09:17.014 or low vision people. And I thought that was really 0:09:17.014 --> 0:09:20.404 good because this is only the start. Remember, it's a 0:09:20.404 --> 0:09:24.754 1.0 product. It's only been out for less than a month. 0:09:24.994 --> 0:09:29.614 It's very, very early days. So rather than us thinking, well, 0:09:29.614 --> 0:09:32.344 it certainly won't do what things like the envision glasses 0:09:32.344 --> 0:09:35.614 do or other stuff. This is just the beginning. So 0:09:35.614 --> 0:09:38.344 let's wait to what happens in the Worldwide Developers Conference 0:09:38.344 --> 0:09:41.554 in June. And certainly let's see what happens when a 0:09:41.554 --> 0:09:44.434 new device 2.0 comes out, or a lighter version or 0:09:44.434 --> 0:09:47.734 whatever else happens. So I think it's watch this space 0:09:47.734 --> 0:09:49.804 for the next two years, and I think we'll be 0:09:49.804 --> 0:09:51.034 pleasantly surprised. 0:09:51.124 --> 0:09:55.714 Shelley Brisbane does a very interesting podcast to the parallel podcast, 0:09:55.714 --> 0:10:01.864 which talks about developments in accessibility alongside mainstream technology. Well 0:10:01.864 --> 0:10:04.174 worth catching up with if you like podcasts. 0:10:04.174 --> 0:10:06.544 It is. It's one of those excellent podcasts and I 0:10:06.544 --> 0:10:07.894 find she does a really good job. 0:10:08.434 --> 0:10:10.804 Let's move into the screen reader world now. One of 0:10:10.804 --> 0:10:15.604 the things that came out with the jaws 2024 release 0:10:15.844 --> 0:10:20.854 from Freedom Scientific. It was the split screen mode and 0:10:20.854 --> 0:10:23.524 human were have taken quite an interest in this as well. 0:10:23.674 --> 0:10:26.824 So this is basically the way that sighted people were 0:10:26.824 --> 0:10:30.454 being able to have multiple screens. So what happens is 0:10:30.454 --> 0:10:34.294 when you use draws with your browser display. So in 0:10:34.294 --> 0:10:38.584 this case the B40 um, you can actually set it 0:10:38.584 --> 0:10:40.984 up so that one part of the display will focus 0:10:40.984 --> 0:10:43.564 on one item on the screen. And another part of 0:10:43.564 --> 0:10:45.784 the display will focus on something else. So you can 0:10:45.784 --> 0:10:48.664 keep monitoring things rather than having a sort of alt 0:10:48.664 --> 0:10:52.684 tab around or tab around or anything else. This allows 0:10:52.684 --> 0:10:56.074 you to be much more productive now. The YouTube demo 0:10:56.104 --> 0:10:58.234 that I watched was actually very interesting, but I think 0:10:58.234 --> 0:11:00.004 it's definitely one of those things that you're going to 0:11:00.004 --> 0:11:02.944 have to learn how to use it by just doing it, 0:11:02.944 --> 0:11:06.784 because it had six different modes that you can use 0:11:06.784 --> 0:11:10.504 the actual split brow display mode with. So what I 0:11:10.504 --> 0:11:12.064 would suggest is pick the one that you want to 0:11:12.064 --> 0:11:14.254 use and play with that. And then once you get 0:11:14.254 --> 0:11:16.264 comfortable with that particular one, go on to the next one. 0:11:16.264 --> 0:11:19.954 But no, it's certainly a really great advancement in using 0:11:19.954 --> 0:11:22.024 a screen reader with a Braille display. 0:11:22.294 --> 0:11:25.924 Yes. And the wider the braille display, more cells per line, 0:11:25.924 --> 0:11:27.334 the better it works for you. 0:11:27.424 --> 0:11:29.374 Yeah. This is where you. Wouldn't it be lovely if 0:11:29.374 --> 0:11:30.994 you could do this? Well, you can do it on 90. 0:11:30.994 --> 0:11:33.364 So braille display because of the focus which is from 0:11:33.364 --> 0:11:36.544 Freedom Scientific. Anyway that would be really cool. Maybe that's 0:11:36.544 --> 0:11:38.074 an excuse to get a bigger Braille display. 0:11:38.614 --> 0:11:41.794 Thinking back over 30 years to the Braille and speak, 0:11:41.794 --> 0:11:44.764 which we talked about a few weeks ago, and its descendant, 0:11:44.764 --> 0:11:49.174 the BT speak from Blazey Technology. You found a tutorial 0:11:49.174 --> 0:11:51.004 about this exciting new device. 0:11:51.184 --> 0:11:54.154 So this is the first of, I hope, many tutorials 0:11:54.154 --> 0:11:58.204 that Blazey technology will be due in relation to the 0:11:58.204 --> 0:12:02.164 BT speak and of course the BT speak Pro and 0:12:02.164 --> 0:12:05.314 it sounded really nice when I listened to it actually today, 0:12:05.314 --> 0:12:07.744 you know, you could hear the good old dick talk 0:12:07.744 --> 0:12:10.804 speech in the background. You could hear what I would 0:12:10.804 --> 0:12:13.864 consider the keyboard to be a little bit noisy. Um, 0:12:13.924 --> 0:12:16.114 for people that do podcasts, that might be an issue 0:12:16.114 --> 0:12:19.024 because you're recording the noise. But no, it definitely went 0:12:19.024 --> 0:12:22.504 through a physical, uh, introduction of the device, talked about 0:12:22.504 --> 0:12:25.864 the options menu and everything else and device, how to 0:12:25.864 --> 0:12:28.804 connect it up to WiFi and so on. So it's 0:12:28.804 --> 0:12:31.084 looking very real now. I mean, I know it's going 0:12:31.084 --> 0:12:34.114 to be real as of March 1st, and hopefully I'll 0:12:34.114 --> 0:12:36.994 have mine very soon after the March 1st release in 0:12:36.994 --> 0:12:38.044 the United States. 0:12:38.044 --> 0:12:39.964 I'm going to ask you more about this in a 0:12:39.964 --> 0:12:42.214 week or two, when you've had more experience with it, 0:12:42.214 --> 0:12:46.444 but you've started playing with the 11 labs voices. 0:12:46.564 --> 0:12:50.404 Yes. And this is where you can generate your own 0:12:50.404 --> 0:12:53.524 personal voice. In my case, you can choose different already 0:12:53.524 --> 0:12:55.504 preset voices. So what I've done is I've taken one 0:12:55.504 --> 0:12:58.534 of my recordings up to about five minutes. I put 0:12:58.534 --> 0:13:02.704 it through the system of 11 labs and generated a 0:13:02.704 --> 0:13:05.704 similar sounding voice to my own. And then what you 0:13:05.704 --> 0:13:08.254 simply do is you drop text in this edit field. 0:13:08.254 --> 0:13:12.244 You then turn it to generate into a talking document, i.e. 0:13:12.244 --> 0:13:16.444 my voice speaking. And what happens is initially there's about 0:13:16.444 --> 0:13:19.354 three parameters that you can change easily by default, which 0:13:19.354 --> 0:13:23.134 is to do things with stability, clarity and emphasis, I think. 0:13:23.134 --> 0:13:25.594 So they're all sort of sliders. And what you do, 0:13:25.624 --> 0:13:28.294 you play with each one of those sliders. I played 0:13:28.294 --> 0:13:30.454 it to my wife and I said, does this sound 0:13:30.454 --> 0:13:32.284 like me? And she said, yep. Was that you really 0:13:32.284 --> 0:13:34.444 doing it? I went, no, that was a generated version 0:13:34.444 --> 0:13:38.314 of my voice done by an AI system. And that's 0:13:38.314 --> 0:13:41.584 really scary because as we said before the the radio 0:13:41.584 --> 0:13:44.104 show today, Stephen, we could almost write up her own 0:13:44.104 --> 0:13:47.224 script and have two eyes talking. People wouldn't know. It's not. 0:13:47.224 --> 0:13:48.454 It's not real after all. 0:13:48.484 --> 0:13:52.204 Don't worry everyone, we won't do it. Just before we go, 0:13:52.204 --> 0:13:55.024 a reminder of where you can find details of what 0:13:55.024 --> 0:13:57.544 we've been talking about in this and previous editions of 0:13:57.544 --> 0:13:58.204 the program. 0:13:58.204 --> 0:14:00.394 You can check out my blog site, which is David. 0:14:00.394 --> 0:14:03.214 Would it be Podbean Podbean. 0:14:03.424 --> 0:14:09.514 Com David would be dot podbean Podbean. Com to write 0:14:09.514 --> 0:14:10.354 to the program. 0:14:10.354 --> 0:14:12.094 You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work, 0:14:12.094 --> 0:14:15.844 which is David Woodbridge how it sounds to Vision Australia. 0:14:16.054 --> 0:14:20.734 Org David Woodbridge at Vision Australia dot org this has 0:14:20.734 --> 0:14:23.884 been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national 0:14:23.884 --> 0:14:28.804 advisor on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolley stay safe. 0:14:28.804 --> 0:14:30.424 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.