WEBVTT - Talking Tech 18th June 2024 0:00:46.928 --> 0:00:50.888 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:50.888 --> 0:00:55.148 June the 18th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:55.148 --> 0:00:58.658 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio associated 0:00:58.658 --> 0:01:02.768 stations of RPA Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network. 0:01:02.768 --> 0:01:06.128 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:01:06.128 --> 0:01:09.458 need to do is search for the two words talking tech. 0:01:09.458 --> 0:01:12.158 And it can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon 0:01:12.158 --> 0:01:16.118 just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask 0:01:16.118 --> 0:01:19.598 your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia 0:01:19.598 --> 0:01:24.608 Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking tech podcast 0:01:24.608 --> 0:01:27.368 with me, someone who can explain all this tech stuff 0:01:27.368 --> 0:01:34.808 really well. Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David, 0:01:34.808 --> 0:01:39.398 let's start with the product from the vision store of 0:01:39.398 --> 0:01:42.518 Vision Australia. What have you got for us today? 0:01:42.908 --> 0:01:48.908 I have the Orcam read three. That's Orcam Orcam read three. 0:01:49.058 --> 0:01:53.978 And this is a little handheld device. And if people 0:01:53.978 --> 0:01:55.988 that know about the orcam in general are the ones 0:01:55.988 --> 0:01:59.528 that normally go on your glasses, basically you point the 0:01:59.528 --> 0:02:04.538 little camera at handwriting or any text, what it might 0:02:04.538 --> 0:02:05.858 be on a piece of paper or even on a 0:02:05.858 --> 0:02:08.768 computer screen, and it will read it back to you. 0:02:08.768 --> 0:02:11.108 So it sort of does very similar things. It also 0:02:11.108 --> 0:02:15.428 reads handwriting, which is for me, very cool, but the 0:02:15.428 --> 0:02:18.038 really exciting stuff to do with the the read three, 0:02:18.038 --> 0:02:20.678 they'll can read three is the fact that it actually 0:02:20.678 --> 0:02:24.308 comes with a stand. So it literally turns your little 0:02:24.308 --> 0:02:30.758 portable handheld reading device into a standalone reading machine, which 0:02:30.758 --> 0:02:32.888 we used to call them back in the old dark days. 0:02:33.308 --> 0:02:36.128 And the third really cool thing, and this is the 0:02:36.128 --> 0:02:37.868 one that I like about it, is that if you 0:02:37.868 --> 0:02:42.788 link it up to your windows computer or your iPad 0:02:42.788 --> 0:02:46.688 via a web browser, you can run some. So I'm 0:02:46.688 --> 0:02:50.258 going to use the word artificial intelligence to do things 0:02:50.258 --> 0:02:53.768 like summarize the page you're looking at, or perhaps ask 0:02:53.768 --> 0:02:56.588 it how much an item costs, or to search for 0:02:56.588 --> 0:03:00.608 particular things. It does quite a few different types of things, 0:03:00.608 --> 0:03:03.788 and you can also use it as a video magnifier 0:03:03.788 --> 0:03:06.008 as well. So not only does the camera do the 0:03:06.008 --> 0:03:09.128 optical recognition and the eye stuff, you can also use 0:03:09.128 --> 0:03:12.908 it as a video magnifier. So you're really getting around 0:03:12.908 --> 0:03:16.328 about three machines in one. So it's one of those 0:03:16.328 --> 0:03:20.708 great improvements that I've been thinking about for 2024, where 0:03:20.708 --> 0:03:25.028 sort of AI meets assistive or mainstream technology for us, 0:03:25.028 --> 0:03:26.528 blind and low vision folks. 0:03:26.528 --> 0:03:29.168 It is quite amazing how small it is. 0:03:29.168 --> 0:03:31.478 I would say it's about the size of those very 0:03:31.478 --> 0:03:35.618 sort of thick marker pens. So it when I say tiny, 0:03:35.618 --> 0:03:39.008 it's very tiny and literally you potentially where you can 0:03:39.008 --> 0:03:43.388 hold it like a pen. Um, and it's just one 0:03:43.388 --> 0:03:45.458 of those things that you can just, you know, have 0:03:45.458 --> 0:03:48.458 in your pocket, pull out when you need to. Um, 0:03:48.458 --> 0:03:50.948 it's also got LED lights, I might say, too. So 0:03:50.948 --> 0:03:54.128 if you want to have a quick read of something 0:03:54.128 --> 0:03:57.008 in your pantry which is normally fairly dark, um, you 0:03:57.008 --> 0:04:00.308 can do that as well. But yes, the size of it, um, 0:04:00.308 --> 0:04:02.588 is like a marker pen. Or if you ever had 0:04:02.588 --> 0:04:06.248 an orcam myeye, which is the one that mainly connects 0:04:06.248 --> 0:04:08.858 to glasses, but at the same size as that as well. 0:04:08.858 --> 0:04:12.848 It's available through the vision store of Vision Australia. It's 0:04:12.848 --> 0:04:15.578 a quantum reading learning vision product, isn't it? 0:04:15.578 --> 0:04:17.768 It is. So if you want more information or you 0:04:17.768 --> 0:04:20.498 want to demonstration, you can either contact the Vision store 0:04:20.498 --> 0:04:24.278 locations around Australia or you can also contact quantum, which 0:04:24.278 --> 0:04:26.978 has also got different places around Australia as well and 0:04:26.978 --> 0:04:28.598 have a bit of a hands on play with it. 0:04:28.688 --> 0:04:32.648 It's about $4,000, but in this case, I think the 0:04:32.648 --> 0:04:34.898 technology in it and what it's going to do now 0:04:34.898 --> 0:04:37.568 and into the future is pretty amazing. 0:04:37.568 --> 0:04:42.398 That's the Orcam read three from the vision store of 0:04:42.398 --> 0:04:46.658 Vision Australia. We'll spend time now just whetting the appetite 0:04:46.658 --> 0:04:49.808 about what we can expect from the new Apple operating 0:04:49.808 --> 0:04:53.618 systems when they come out in September. You've been playing 0:04:53.618 --> 0:04:55.298 with the beta version. 0:04:55.298 --> 0:04:59.258 Yes, I'm doing Mac OS, iOS, iPadOS and the watch 0:04:59.258 --> 0:04:59.918 one as well. 0:04:59.918 --> 0:05:03.128 Okay. What have you got across the whole Apple ecosystem 0:05:03.128 --> 0:05:04.058 to tell us about? 0:05:04.058 --> 0:05:06.068 One of the major things is, and I know this 0:05:06.068 --> 0:05:08.618 sounds a bit boring a bit, but your Apple ID 0:05:08.738 --> 0:05:11.558 account now, anything associated with it is now called your 0:05:11.558 --> 0:05:15.278 Apple account, which makes more sense. Apple ID was getting 0:05:15.278 --> 0:05:17.858 a bit weird because it was associated with so many 0:05:17.858 --> 0:05:21.788 other things. It didn't make sense, and probably the overall 0:05:21.788 --> 0:05:24.608 other one is the fact that we've now got, well, 0:05:24.608 --> 0:05:26.978 they call it music recognition. Back in the old days, 0:05:26.978 --> 0:05:30.038 we used to call it Shazam, and that's your way 0:05:30.038 --> 0:05:32.258 that you can get your phone, Siri, to listen to 0:05:32.258 --> 0:05:34.118 music and tell you what the song is. 0:05:34.118 --> 0:05:35.678 Anything with passwords. 0:05:36.008 --> 0:05:41.528 Passwords is normally built into your system preferences, uh, particularly 0:05:41.528 --> 0:05:44.948 on the Mac. Well, now there's a separate passwords app 0:05:44.948 --> 0:05:48.618 on both iOS. And Mac OS, and I must say, 0:05:48.618 --> 0:05:51.888 just be able to run an application, then you can 0:05:51.888 --> 0:05:54.468 just search for your passwords is a lot easier than 0:05:54.468 --> 0:05:57.768 having to keep going into system preferences and try and 0:05:57.768 --> 0:05:59.988 find it in there. So I really think that's actually 0:05:59.988 --> 0:06:01.158 a huge improvement. 0:06:01.308 --> 0:06:06.588 Let's look at each device now, the Apple Mac and 0:06:06.588 --> 0:06:10.968 the new operating system 10.15 A new tips app. 0:06:11.148 --> 0:06:13.938 People might not remember, or maybe you've just got bored 0:06:13.938 --> 0:06:15.828 of it, but iOS has a tips app. So does 0:06:15.828 --> 0:06:17.418 iPad OS. Well, now you've got it on the Mac 0:06:17.418 --> 0:06:20.298 as well, and it's just a little application that will 0:06:20.298 --> 0:06:21.918 pop up. Or you can go and have a look 0:06:21.918 --> 0:06:23.568 at it, and it will give you tips and tricks 0:06:23.568 --> 0:06:26.028 on how to use your system better, in this case, 0:06:26.058 --> 0:06:27.978 how to use Mac OS better. So it's just one 0:06:27.978 --> 0:06:29.898 of those little things that's quite handy to have. 0:06:29.898 --> 0:06:32.418 And what about all those sounds you can hear? 0:06:32.688 --> 0:06:36.408 To me, this is a huge improvement because when you 0:06:36.408 --> 0:06:40.878 turn on hearing on your extras menu before, when you 0:06:40.878 --> 0:06:44.118 turn background sounds on like rain and ocean and Brooks, 0:06:44.118 --> 0:06:46.548 that sort of stuff, it just said enable sound for 0:06:46.548 --> 0:06:48.498 each one of them. Well, now it actually has proper 0:06:48.498 --> 0:06:51.948 names of each sound, so if I feel like rain 0:06:51.948 --> 0:06:55.188 or ocean or brook, then I can turn the appropriate 0:06:55.188 --> 0:06:57.108 one on. So it's just a little change, but I 0:06:57.108 --> 0:06:58.518 think it's actually quite nice. 0:06:58.638 --> 0:07:00.918 And there's a new voiceover tutorial. 0:07:01.038 --> 0:07:05.538 This is just not a slight improvement to the VoiceOver 0:07:05.538 --> 0:07:11.268 practice tutorial. This is a wholly rewritten tutorial which is 0:07:11.268 --> 0:07:14.598 highly interactive, and it's a lot more extensive than the 0:07:14.598 --> 0:07:18.498 old one used to be, so that is actually very worthwhile, 0:07:18.498 --> 0:07:22.308 even for um experienced users. It's worthwhile having a play 0:07:22.308 --> 0:07:24.408 with even in the beta or when it comes out 0:07:24.408 --> 0:07:25.698 in September October. 0:07:25.698 --> 0:07:28.128 What about with shortcuts on the Mac? 0:07:28.158 --> 0:07:30.168 I'm going to cheat slightly and say this is also 0:07:30.168 --> 0:07:34.188 available on iOS, so you can assign any voice command 0:07:34.188 --> 0:07:37.158 to an action as long as it's supported by the 0:07:37.158 --> 0:07:39.648 operating system. Of course, it's more extensive on iOS and 0:07:39.678 --> 0:07:43.008 on the Mac. For example, I can say turn on 0:07:43.008 --> 0:07:46.368 background sounds now to my Mac. And because that's a 0:07:46.368 --> 0:07:49.788 command shortcut, it will turn my background sounds on or 0:07:49.788 --> 0:07:52.098 off rather than me having to go and do it manually. 0:07:52.098 --> 0:07:54.168 So they're the little things that you can assign voice 0:07:54.168 --> 0:07:55.188 commands to. 0:07:55.218 --> 0:08:00.258 Let's talk more about iOS now and some interesting things 0:08:00.258 --> 0:08:03.708 in iOS 18. Firstly, you can power it off a 0:08:03.708 --> 0:08:04.818 slightly different way. 0:08:04.818 --> 0:08:06.798 We had a chat about this before he went on air. 0:08:06.798 --> 0:08:08.448 I don't do it your way, Stephan. I do it 0:08:08.448 --> 0:08:11.718 a weird way. Yes, the power button where you can, 0:08:11.718 --> 0:08:13.998 you know, power off your device that's now available in 0:08:13.998 --> 0:08:15.828 the control center. So if you're one of these control 0:08:15.828 --> 0:08:18.318 center people that use the control center all the time, 0:08:18.588 --> 0:08:20.088 right down the bottom of the screen, or you can 0:08:20.088 --> 0:08:22.278 always change them around is the power off button now. 0:08:22.278 --> 0:08:25.968 So if you've done it the long way, which I do, um, 0:08:25.968 --> 0:08:28.758 then that's actually a huge improvement for productivity. 0:08:29.028 --> 0:08:32.838 Here's one that I'm looking forward to in settings. And 0:08:32.838 --> 0:08:35.808 it's about the settings for a specific app. 0:08:36.048 --> 0:08:38.928 So you know your current version of iOS, you can 0:08:38.928 --> 0:08:42.828 imagine your settings folder having all these applications. I've got 0:08:42.828 --> 0:08:45.528 about 450 of mine, but what they've done now is 0:08:45.528 --> 0:08:48.708 they've put all those apps in a folder called apps. 0:08:49.008 --> 0:08:53.148 They're alphabetized and you've got your vertical scroll down the 0:08:53.148 --> 0:08:55.488 right hand side where you can flick through A, B, C, 0:08:55.518 --> 0:08:58.008 D and so on. So it's a much more efficient 0:08:58.008 --> 0:09:00.258 way to find an app when you want to adjust 0:09:00.258 --> 0:09:01.098 its settings. 0:09:01.398 --> 0:09:05.238 Um, just a little thing when you're turning VoiceOver on, um, 0:09:05.448 --> 0:09:08.208 there's a haptic indication as well. 0:09:08.208 --> 0:09:10.698 It does. It vibrates now and then. That's particularly good 0:09:10.698 --> 0:09:13.758 for deaf blind people if you're using a Braille display, 0:09:13.758 --> 0:09:16.428 because before it would just say voiceover on and the 0:09:16.428 --> 0:09:18.678 braille display didn't work, you didn't know that voiceover was on. 0:09:18.678 --> 0:09:22.338 So adding vibration to it is a really nice little feature. 0:09:22.338 --> 0:09:24.738 Tell us now about the rotor and what we called 0:09:24.738 --> 0:09:26.148 the language rotor. 0:09:26.148 --> 0:09:29.208 Let's now change to voices, because you can do a 0:09:29.208 --> 0:09:32.238 lot more things to do with your primary and different 0:09:32.238 --> 0:09:34.848 voices now. So I think they're trying to make it 0:09:34.848 --> 0:09:38.448 to say that it's much more than just languages. It 0:09:38.448 --> 0:09:40.098 does everything else for you. 0:09:40.098 --> 0:09:44.088 Yeah. So there's lots of little accessibility changes, isn't there? 0:09:44.088 --> 0:09:45.678 Particularly with iOS. 0:09:46.068 --> 0:09:49.398 They're more sort of tweaks under the hood type stuff. 0:09:49.398 --> 0:09:53.268 So they're not you know, they're not horrendously amazing. But 0:09:53.268 --> 0:09:56.478 I think as you know, as in iOS improves, they're 0:09:56.478 --> 0:09:59.268 always just little changes that do make our lives a 0:09:59.268 --> 0:10:00.078 little bit better. 0:10:00.078 --> 0:10:03.408 Live detection is an example of a change that will 0:10:03.408 --> 0:10:04.728 make it easier to get to it. 0:10:04.728 --> 0:10:06.858 That's right, because normally when you want to use things 0:10:06.858 --> 0:10:11.298 like door detection, people detection, scene detection, etc., you had 0:10:11.298 --> 0:10:14.028 to bring up magnifier. Well, now if you turn it 0:10:14.028 --> 0:10:17.928 on in your rotor, um, you can turn on all 0:10:17.928 --> 0:10:22.278 those ones that just mentioned scene door people, etc. clearing 0:10:22.278 --> 0:10:25.788 text OCR. And then you've also got a four finger, 0:10:26.028 --> 0:10:28.098 I'm going to say double tap. You can turn that 0:10:28.098 --> 0:10:32.118 function on or off which makes it very very handy indeed. 0:10:32.118 --> 0:10:35.358 So I love the fact that live detection has now 0:10:35.358 --> 0:10:36.768 come to the voiceover rotor. 0:10:36.798 --> 0:10:41.778 Um, tell us about the big one for Braille users. 0:10:41.988 --> 0:10:44.388 Can I say I've been dying to talk about this one? 0:10:44.388 --> 0:10:47.438 All show. So this. One is the Braille screen input, 0:10:47.438 --> 0:10:50.738 or as people in the know like to say, the BSI. Uh, 0:10:50.738 --> 0:10:53.468 so normally when you turn Braille screen input mode on, 0:10:53.468 --> 0:10:57.218 you use your the soft keys on your screen to 0:10:57.218 --> 0:11:00.068 braille in to an edit fill, which is all well 0:11:00.068 --> 0:11:04.568 and good. But now if you switch over to what 0:11:04.568 --> 0:11:10.568 they call command mode, it turns those keys into your 0:11:10.568 --> 0:11:14.438 navigation keys for the whole operating system. So it's as 0:11:14.438 --> 0:11:18.938 if you were using your, say your brilliant by 20 0:11:18.938 --> 0:11:22.388 or 40 keyboard. So you know, normally when you do 0:11:22.388 --> 0:11:24.758 like space one to go left and space for to 0:11:24.758 --> 0:11:27.098 go right, well that's exactly what you can do with 0:11:27.098 --> 0:11:29.138 the command mode. If you put it in command mode, 0:11:29.138 --> 0:11:31.748 it knows when you press one, it's like pressing space 0:11:31.748 --> 0:11:34.328 and one, um, if you want to go home, you 0:11:34.328 --> 0:11:38.318 just press H rather than doing space H and so on. 0:11:38.318 --> 0:11:41.588 And whenever you like to, you can very quickly switch 0:11:41.588 --> 0:11:45.398 between Braille input mode and command mode. And the other 0:11:45.398 --> 0:11:47.228 thing you can do is the way you can turn 0:11:47.228 --> 0:11:51.068 on the BSI now is much easier. You simply touch 0:11:51.068 --> 0:11:54.968 one finger on each side of the screen. Um, so 0:11:54.968 --> 0:11:57.518 like you're doing a letter C in Braille. So dots 0:11:57.518 --> 0:12:00.608 one and four and that will toggle it on or off. 0:12:00.608 --> 0:12:02.978 So they've even made the way you can turn BSI 0:12:02.978 --> 0:12:06.368 on and off far easier as well. I haven't extensively 0:12:06.368 --> 0:12:09.008 used it so far, but I've used it enough to 0:12:09.008 --> 0:12:12.248 think this is just amazing. And I have a funny 0:12:12.248 --> 0:12:14.828 feeling this is probably going to turn into one of 0:12:14.828 --> 0:12:17.678 my ways of navigating on. Of course, the iPhone or 0:12:17.678 --> 0:12:20.648 the iPad is the braille on screen mode. So so 0:12:20.678 --> 0:12:24.758 two modes keyboard input or Braille keyboard input and the 0:12:24.758 --> 0:12:29.378 command mode. And it's just like I've already said several times. Incredible. 0:12:29.378 --> 0:12:33.038 Looking forward to that. Um, let's talk about the watch now. 0:12:33.038 --> 0:12:34.508 A couple of little changes. 0:12:34.868 --> 0:12:36.458 There's a few things to get excited about if you're 0:12:36.458 --> 0:12:38.948 an exercise person, but the one that I've definitely used 0:12:38.948 --> 0:12:41.318 is the vitals app. It's like a sort of a 0:12:41.318 --> 0:12:43.148 cut down version of the health app to give you 0:12:43.148 --> 0:12:47.498 your main biometrics like heart and exercise and calorie burn 0:12:47.498 --> 0:12:50.288 and everything else. So that's pretty cool. You can pause 0:12:50.288 --> 0:12:52.898 your rings. So me, like a fanatic karate person who 0:12:52.898 --> 0:12:55.388 always trains every day. If I want to be slack 0:12:55.388 --> 0:12:58.328 and take half a day off, um, I can turn 0:12:58.328 --> 0:13:02.018 off my rings for the rest of the day. But interestingly, 0:13:02.018 --> 0:13:04.208 what they've actually got rid of, which is probably a 0:13:04.208 --> 0:13:06.428 little bit sad, is they've got rid of the Siri face. 0:13:06.428 --> 0:13:08.318 So if you used to use the Siri face on 0:13:08.318 --> 0:13:11.018 your Apple Watch, um, they've got rid of it. And 0:13:11.018 --> 0:13:12.368 I have a funny feeling they've got rid of it 0:13:12.368 --> 0:13:15.218 because hardly anybody used it. It was always talking. It 0:13:15.218 --> 0:13:18.548 was annoying. So I just think they went well. We tried. 0:13:18.548 --> 0:13:20.138 That didn't work. We'll take it away. 0:13:20.138 --> 0:13:23.408 I just hope Mickey Mouse is still there for my granddaughter. 0:13:23.408 --> 0:13:25.928 Mickey Mouse is still there. And I think there's one 0:13:25.928 --> 0:13:28.298 called Snoopy. But I think Snoopy might have been there already. 0:13:28.478 --> 0:13:33.458 You haven't discovered anything about Apple I yet. There is 0:13:33.608 --> 0:13:36.518 something for people to know though, and that is that 0:13:36.518 --> 0:13:39.698 that's not happening in the watch world. 0:13:39.728 --> 0:13:41.618 No, it's not happening in the watch world and it's 0:13:41.618 --> 0:13:45.578 not happening in the HomePod world either. And remember that 0:13:45.578 --> 0:13:48.038 they're not even really going to touch upon this stuff 0:13:48.038 --> 0:13:53.318 until probably middle of spring our time. Um, and then 0:13:53.318 --> 0:13:55.508 it's going to be a gradual implementation. I did see 0:13:55.508 --> 0:13:57.578 on a day where they did say that Siri will 0:13:57.578 --> 0:14:00.818 probably get more of a conversational mode, but it certainly 0:14:00.818 --> 0:14:04.598 won't be any other Apple intelligence stuff going on. So 0:14:04.598 --> 0:14:06.668 that's something to look forward to. I wouldn't be surprised. 0:14:06.668 --> 0:14:09.608 Maybe next year, Steve, we get an updated HomePod and 0:14:09.608 --> 0:14:13.718 an updated Apple Watch that can definitely do, uh, the 0:14:13.718 --> 0:14:15.338 AI stuff from Apple. Um. 0:14:15.638 --> 0:14:19.328 Thank you, David, for giving us your initial impressions of 0:14:19.328 --> 0:14:24.368 the betas for the new Apple operating systems. Before we go, 0:14:24.368 --> 0:14:26.438 a reminder of where there are details of what we've 0:14:26.438 --> 0:14:27.548 been talking about. 0:14:27.668 --> 0:14:29.708 Indeed, as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:14:29.708 --> 0:14:33.908 which is David Woodburn Dot Podbean pod Cbn.com. 0:14:33.908 --> 0:14:39.518 David would be r dot podbean podbean for.com to write 0:14:39.518 --> 0:14:40.328 to the program. 0:14:40.328 --> 0:14:42.278 You can write to me at Vision Australia, where I work, 0:14:42.278 --> 0:14:45.758 which is David Dot Woodbridge how it sounds at Vision Australia. 0:14:45.938 --> 0:14:50.558 Org David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has 0:14:50.558 --> 0:14:53.528 been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national 0:14:53.528 --> 0:14:57.908 advisor on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolly stay safe. 0:14:57.908 --> 0:14:59.618 We'll talk more tech next week. See you.