S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: December the 3rd, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated
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S1: radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast.
S1: With me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager. Damo McMorrow. Hey, Damo.
S2: Hi, Stephen.
S1: Damo, let's talk about buying a PC. There has to
S1: be done from time to time, particularly as some of
S1: us may still be using Windows 10 machines. And to
S1: get into Windows 11 you need a different machine. Explain
S1: what the state of the world is now for buying
S1: a new windows PC.
S2: Sure, and I went through this process myself this week.
S2: I the machine that I was using developed a fault
S2: with the charging port, and I had to. I've got
S2: to send it away to Sydney, and I can't really
S2: be without a computer for 3 or 4 weeks while
S2: all of that happens. So I sort of went through
S2: the process myself and quite a bit has changed. So
S2: there's a couple of changes in terms of the processes.
S2: So um, we have the usual sort of Intel i5
S2: and i7, but then there's a newer generation, which they
S2: call an ultra core or U5 and U7 processor. And
S2: these are sort of particularly prevalent in laptops. So they're
S2: designed to be a lower power processor, but they also
S2: have a number of different processor cores for accomplishing different tasks.
S2: So it's supposed to make the machines more responsive overall,
S2: but particularly with artificial intelligence or AI tasks.
S1: People tend to buy laptops these days. Is there a
S1: reason to be getting a desktop?
S2: Well, personally, I don't think there is. I've been using
S2: laptops as desktop replacements for quite a while now. Um,
S2: and yeah, I don't think there's really any need. I
S2: guess the only reason that you might consider a desktop
S2: is if you don't ever bother with a monitor, and
S2: you just kind of want a box that can sit
S2: under the under the desk somewhere and you don't ever
S2: want to take it with you. But from my point
S2: of view, yes, I have my laptop here and it's
S2: hooked up to my mixer. It's hooked up to my
S2: amateur radio gear. But equally, if I just want to
S2: sit on the couch and look something up while I'm
S2: sort of half watching television or whatever, it gives me
S2: the the luxury to be able to do that. Also,
S2: because Marion and I have a caravan. Sometimes I'll take
S2: the computer away with me and do a bit of tinkering.
S2: If we have a rainy afternoon where it's not good
S2: weather for going to the beach.
S1: And the laptops can run for hours on end like
S1: desktops do.
S2: Yeah they can. I mean, I've sometimes run mine for
S2: weeks at a time and not really had a problem.
S2: The cooling these days is a lot more efficient than
S2: it used to be. So I think that it's no problem.
S2: The only thing probably to be aware of is to
S2: exercise the battery from time to time, rather than leaving
S2: it plugged in and charging just so that you don't
S2: sort of shorten the life of the battery. The laptops
S2: do tend to have pretty good battery management these days,
S2: but it's still not a bad idea.
S1: Now you were talking about the processes.
S2: Yes. So the other thing that you'll see, if you
S2: particularly if you're, you know, looking at a lot of
S2: the kind of Black Friday type sales that we're seeing
S2: around at the moment and those sorts of things. And
S2: of course, then we'll have Boxing Day sales. You'll see,
S2: particularly the Microsoft devices are advertised as Co-Pilot PCs. And
S2: when I say Microsoft devices. I'm talking Surface Pros, the laptops,
S2: the studio laptop family of machines. Microsoft have made an
S2: interesting move in that they have moved away from Intel processors,
S2: which they've been using for many years, to the Snapdragon
S2: family of processors, sometimes also called ARM or ARM processors.
S2: The main reason is to sort of try and compete
S2: with Apple and that sort of thing in terms of
S2: battery life and cooling and some of those things, and
S2: also again, with the focus on AI. So with a
S2: co-pilot PC, the one, the couple of differences. One is
S2: obviously the processor. The other is that what used to
S2: be the applications key on a lot of machines has
S2: been retasked as the co-pilot key. So it launches Copilot,
S2: which is Microsoft's AI based assistant.
S1: So what about assistive tech? How does that go with
S1: these processors or Snapdragon machines?
S2: There are a few things to be aware of. You
S2: do need a particular version of Windows 11 to be
S2: compatible with these processors. Jaws works okay. Again, there's a
S2: separate sort of version of Jaws for that. Zoomtext unfortunately
S2: doesn't though, so if you if you are using Zoomtext,
S2: you really probably do need to at this point in time,
S2: stick with the Intel family, the i5, i7 or U5
S2: and U7 type processors.
S1: That's going to have to change though, isn't it?
S2: It is. And I think in time it definitely will.
S2: But I guess the thing to remember is that this
S2: is a fairly significant change on the part of Microsoft.
S2: It's fairly recent. And so I think as time goes on,
S2: we'll probably start to see greater compatibility. There's also some
S2: issues around some games and some of the sort of
S2: slightly more unusual apps, um, where, you know, you'll occasionally
S2: run into things with the ARM processors that just don't work.
S2: So it is something to be aware of if you're
S2: a Jaws user and the battery life is a consideration,
S2: by all means, go for it. But if you're using
S2: zoom text. Uh. I you know, you really need to
S2: hold off, at least at this stage.
S1: So what's the best way to make this purchase online?
S1: Go to a store.
S2: I still like to go to a store and have
S2: a look at the keyboard and the sound. Um, but again,
S2: that's just me. Um, I still like to know that
S2: the keyboard layout is something that I'm comfortable with. You know,
S2: the key travel is nice and those sorts of things,
S2: and that the thing has reasonable speakers. And if you've
S2: got some vision, obviously, to have a look at the
S2: quality of the screen, whether it's bright enough for you
S2: or too bright and those kinds of things. So call
S2: me a bit of a traditionalist or a dinosaur, but
S2: I still like to actually have a look at what
S2: I'm buying and check that I'm going to be happy
S2: with it. But having said that, you know, you can
S2: buy plenty of things online. You know, if you do
S2: your research, um, you know, and you don't want to
S2: traipse around the shops and have a look, um, by
S2: all means, you know, there's plenty of places where you
S2: can buy on online, but I still like to have
S2: a bit of a hands on with what I'm buying
S2: and make sure that I'm comfortable with it.
S1: So there's some things to think about when considering purchasing
S1: a new windows PC. Let's move to a Humanware development now.
S1: And the Mantis Braille Display product, which has been around
S1: for a while. A major upgrade.
S2: Yes. So the mantis is the human Wes 40 cell
S2: braille display that comes equipped with a Qwerty keyboard, as
S2: opposed to the Perkins style keyboard that you have on
S2: their brilliant family of products. The. The latest development is
S2: that the December update will add text to speech to
S2: the mantis family of devices. We've had it on the
S2: brilliant for some time, but the mantis up to now
S2: has not included text to speech, so I think this
S2: will actually be quite a significant update. There is a
S2: webinar which is happening on the 2nd of December, but
S2: you should be able to find a recording of that
S2: on Humanware website. If you want to sort of see
S2: that in action and and understand what that update means.
S2: But I think for mantis users who perhaps want to
S2: use their machine in a little more of a standalone
S2: context as a sort of a note taker replacement, if
S2: you like, I think that this should be quite a
S2: significant update.
S1: That's the Mantis Braille display from Humanware and a major update.
S1: Now let's talk about Rim. Quite a package really it is.
S2: So we have talked a little about it before. It
S2: stands for Remote Incident Manager. And it's a product from
S2: Pneuma Solutions that's pneuma Solutions. And it's designed to allow
S2: you to provide or receive remote support. So for example,
S2: if I if my mom is having a problem with
S2: her computer, I can log into it even though she
S2: doesn't have a screen reader on the machine. And I
S2: can fix whatever problem she's having, or have a look
S2: at an email for her and determine if it's a
S2: scam or something like that. So I use it a
S2: lot for remotely accessing my own computer if I'm away
S2: from home, but also members of the family. It's also useful,
S2: you know, if you, um, if you need to receive
S2: tech support from time to time, it's a good way
S2: of doing it. And even services like IRA now use
S2: that as a way of connecting to your machine to
S2: help you with, you know, something like an inaccessible web
S2: shop or something like that. So Numa have announced an
S2: update this week. There is now some AI tools available
S2: from the Rim dashboard. So there's three AI tools that
S2: you can access. One is the Ask Microsoft Accessibility AI tool.
S2: There's also the PFS companion tool from Vespero. And Rim
S2: have their own tool called Rimbert. And it's designed, I guess,
S2: to help someone. If you're trying to solve a technical problem,
S2: you can quickly look something up while you're in a
S2: Rim session. So for example, I typed in to the
S2: rim bot how do I build a recovery drive for
S2: Windows 11? It's something I always do when I get
S2: a new PC, and within about 2 or 3 seconds
S2: it gave me a very nice step by step guide.
S2: So it's a would be a great sort of technical
S2: troubleshooting type resource if you were providing support using Rim.
S1: It works on windows machines. What about Apple MacBooks?
S2: Um, there is a mac version, but as far as
S2: I know, they still haven't addressed a couple of the
S2: issues that they were having with the Mac OS Sequoia. Um,
S2: there are a couple of compatibility problems with it, but
S2: certainly it runs absolutely fine on earlier Macs. And I
S2: think if you are using a mac as the controlling machine,
S2: so you're the person providing help, I believe it's okay.
S2: I think it's mostly, um, if you're trying to connect
S2: to someone who's who's using a mac and provide help
S2: for them. Um, that's my understanding. So that one is
S2: has still not been resolved.
S1: It's fascinating how we've had this year the appearance of
S1: these AI help products. It's been quite a thing this year,
S1: hasn't it? The development of these products.
S2: Yes. Yeah. And it's and you know, we're also going
S2: to be seeing that in iOS 18.2 with the Apple
S2: intelligence which is their sort of AI platform. Uh Google
S2: Gemini as well. Um, there's so many to choose from now.
S2: And it's really, I think, probably been one of the
S2: biggest developments in tech in the last sort of five
S2: years or so.
S1: Have you been using them much in your daily work?
S2: I do a little bit, yes. Um, I certainly use
S2: Microsoft Copilot sometimes just to summarize things for me. Um,
S2: we've been going through the process at the moment of
S2: selling a property and even just to have it summarize
S2: a contract or, you know, be able to ask questions
S2: about particular terms of a contract, that kind of thing,
S2: without having to trawl through 40 pages of legal speak,
S2: you know, stuff like that. Um, I find it really handy.
S1: Mhm. Yes. It's quite, quite an amazing thing how you
S1: don't have to search stuff out so much now. It'll
S1: steer you in the right direction. And you might go
S1: to those places for more detailed research sometimes. But it
S1: gets you well on the way, doesn't it?
S2: It does. And even little things like using a piece
S2: of ham radio equipment. And I wanted to know how
S2: to how to enter a frequency. And it was an
S2: old piece of equipment from the early 2000. I didn't
S2: have a manual for it because I'd got it second hand,
S2: but I was able to ask ChatGPT some questions and
S2: figure out how to do the things that I needed
S2: to do.
S1: Is it becoming a challenge for you to decide which
S1: of these AI tools to call on at any time?
S2: Sometimes I would say it is. I probably my go
S2: to would would be copilot or ChatGPT, depending on what
S2: context I'm using it. But you know, then we've got
S2: things like meta AI for the, the meta Ray-Ban glasses
S2: and those sorts of things as well. So sometimes for
S2: me it just depends on the the context that I
S2: need to use it.
S1: Now, before we go, let's remind everyone of where there
S1: are details of what we've been talking about in this
S1: and previous editions of the program. You can go to
S1: VA radio.org/talking tech. VA radio, dot org slash talking tech.
S1: And to right to the program.
S2: You can email me Damo Damo McMorrow m c m
S2: o r o w at Vision Australia. Org and thank
S2: you to those who have written in over the last
S2: few weeks I've really appreciated your emails.
S1: Damo McMorrow at Vision australia.org. Yes, you've got some very
S1: good reaction to the chat we had with Ruby Lacy
S1: last week at the vision store.
S2: Yes, we have and and lots of great questions as well.
S2: So thank you very much everybody.
S1: Damo McMorrow at Vision australia.org. This has been talking tech
S1: with me has been Vision Australia's national access technology manager
S1: Damo McMorrow I'm Stephen Jolly. Stay safe. We'll talk more
S1: tech next week. See you.