WEBVTT - Talking Tech 11th February 2025 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.119 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:12.120 --> 0:00:16.239 February the 11th, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:20.160 you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.920 stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:27.040 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.000 need to do is search for the two words talking tech. 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.000 And it can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:36.240 just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask 0:00:36.240 --> 0:00:39.839 your Siri device or smart speaker to play. Vision Australia 0:00:39.839 --> 0:00:45.080 radio talking tech podcast. Vision Australia radio talking tech podcast 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:50.640 with me. Vision Australia's national access technology manager Damien McMorrow. Hey, Damo. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:51.479 G'day, Stephen. 0:00:51.559 --> 0:00:54.679 You were ahead of the rest of the country last week. Maybe. 0:00:55.320 --> 0:00:58.520 Let's catch up with what the country's been advised by 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.240 the government in relation to deep seek. 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.560 Yes. So we talked a little bit about deep seek 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:10.500 last week. It is the Chinese developed AI tool. And 0:01:11.220 --> 0:01:14.500 I mentioned that there was, you know, a little bit 0:01:14.500 --> 0:01:18.740 of concern around Silicon Valley because they've said that they 0:01:18.740 --> 0:01:22.660 can do it with much cheaper infrastructure than platforms like 0:01:22.660 --> 0:01:26.420 ChatGPT and so on, but that there were some concerns 0:01:26.420 --> 0:01:29.100 around its security. And as a follow up to that, 0:01:29.220 --> 0:01:32.940 I saw earlier this week that the Australian federal government 0:01:32.940 --> 0:01:36.859 has blocked access to deep sea on all of their 0:01:36.860 --> 0:01:41.100 devices and from all of their networks. So I suspect 0:01:41.259 --> 0:01:45.660 their concerns are probably well founded, or at least serious 0:01:45.660 --> 0:01:49.380 enough that they've felt it necessary to implement that. 0:01:49.380 --> 0:01:52.860 And in that statement announcing that they were making sure 0:01:52.860 --> 0:01:56.220 it couldn't be on any government devices, they're advising people 0:01:56.300 --> 0:01:58.540 not to have it on their own private devices as well. 0:01:58.980 --> 0:02:01.580 I think the message is don't swim outside the flags 0:02:01.740 --> 0:02:03.740 where it's not being patrolled. 0:02:04.140 --> 0:02:07.580 Absolutely. Yeah, I think, you know, certainly it is a 0:02:07.580 --> 0:02:09.240 bit of a venture into the unknown. 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.560 So that's deep seek. Many people may not yet be 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:19.880 aware of a recently commenced podcast. A technology podcast from 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.520 the National Federation of the blind in the United States 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:29.800 called Access On. It's hosted by Jonathan Mohsin, and in 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:36.080 last week's edition, he had a feature conversation with representatives 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:39.040 from Blazing Technologies. You heard it. 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.880 Yes, yes I did. Some of the stuff, obviously, you know, 0:02:42.920 --> 0:02:44.800 some of us were already aware of. Those of us 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.320 who have been experimenting around with the BT speak for 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:49.680 a while. So they talked about its history and a 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:51.920 little bit about the company and the fact that it 0:02:51.920 --> 0:02:56.200 is a family company. But the thing that was potentially 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:01.240 quite exciting was their plans to release a almost like 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.680 a modern day Braille light. So they're calling it the 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:08.480 BT Braille. So it'll have similar functionality to the BT speak, 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:13.030 but it will have refreshable Braille. So they are saying 0:03:13.030 --> 0:03:17.670 that initially they'll have a 20 cell version, and then 0:03:17.670 --> 0:03:20.910 later on they'll release a 40 cell version. It'll still 0:03:20.910 --> 0:03:25.750 be Raspberry Pi based, although it'll use a slightly more 0:03:25.750 --> 0:03:29.670 up to date module than the BT speak. And they're 0:03:29.670 --> 0:03:34.990 aiming at a price point of around about 3,500 USD, 0:03:34.990 --> 0:03:37.750 which will probably be substantially more by the time it's 0:03:37.750 --> 0:03:42.630 landed here. But, you know, interesting that you know, that 0:03:42.630 --> 0:03:45.590 it's something that they are looking at and that they 0:03:45.590 --> 0:03:50.390 have in development because they do say that whereas most 0:03:50.390 --> 0:03:52.830 of the other braille products that are on the market 0:03:52.830 --> 0:03:57.430 are either a braille display or a braille note taker, 0:03:57.630 --> 0:04:00.310 they describe these as a pocket computer because of all 0:04:00.310 --> 0:04:03.350 of the things that you can do with it. So 0:04:03.350 --> 0:04:05.510 I think, you know, it'll be interesting to see how 0:04:05.510 --> 0:04:10.690 that one develops and the level of interest in it. Um, 0:04:10.730 --> 0:04:13.530 you know, it won't be for everybody because it's it'll 0:04:13.570 --> 0:04:16.090 be Linux based as the BT speak is. And that 0:04:16.089 --> 0:04:19.090 tends to, you know, put some people off. But, uh, yeah, 0:04:19.089 --> 0:04:22.010 I think it has the potential to be an interesting product. 0:04:22.010 --> 0:04:24.810 And I'm hoping that at some point, perhaps when I 0:04:24.810 --> 0:04:26.770 go to CSUN, I can have a look at one 0:04:26.770 --> 0:04:27.650 and report back. 0:04:28.130 --> 0:04:32.850 Yes. That'll be very interesting. A fascinating company, really. Blazie technologies, 0:04:33.090 --> 0:04:40.010 a company founded by Dean Blazie and his three sons, Chris, 0:04:40.050 --> 0:04:44.610 Steven and Brian, worked for him. We say sons, their 0:04:44.650 --> 0:04:50.130 70s babies. So they're they're quite experienced. And it was 0:04:50.130 --> 0:04:53.890 Brian Blazie who was a guest, along with David Goldfield, 0:04:53.890 --> 0:04:57.409 who also works for Blazie Technologies. And it was interesting 0:04:57.930 --> 0:05:00.690 how they talked about their approach and the features they're 0:05:00.690 --> 0:05:04.490 looking at introducing and various things, including, as you say, 0:05:04.610 --> 0:05:09.050 the BT Braille, which is maybe a year or so away. 0:05:09.050 --> 0:05:12.270 And well worth a listen, I think if you're curious 0:05:12.270 --> 0:05:15.830 about the BT speak and potentially the BT Braille. 0:05:16.190 --> 0:05:19.030 That was on access on from the National Federation of 0:05:19.030 --> 0:05:21.510 the blind, you can find it the usual way that 0:05:21.750 --> 0:05:29.390 you seek out your podcasts. Now let's talk about seeing I, 0:05:29.430 --> 0:05:32.030 for one, haven't visited it for a little while, but 0:05:32.390 --> 0:05:37.390 you sent me there recently. It's certainly changed from its 0:05:37.390 --> 0:05:38.270 earlier days. 0:05:39.190 --> 0:05:41.909 It has. It's evolved quite a lot. We talked a 0:05:41.910 --> 0:05:45.190 couple of months ago on the program about, you know, 0:05:45.230 --> 0:05:48.790 the feature that you could use to have videos described 0:05:48.790 --> 0:05:52.030 to you. So it is still actively being developed. But 0:05:52.510 --> 0:05:55.589 one of the things that I wanted to mention is 0:05:55.590 --> 0:05:59.430 the fact that the, the, the interface or the layout 0:05:59.430 --> 0:06:01.750 of the program has sort of had a bit of 0:06:01.750 --> 0:06:02.990 a makeover. 0:06:03.030 --> 0:06:05.029 So this comes from Microsoft, doesn't it? 0:06:05.150 --> 0:06:07.990 That's right. It's a free application from Microsoft. A lot 0:06:07.990 --> 0:06:11.030 of people use it. It has, you know, short text mode, 0:06:11.030 --> 0:06:15.490 a document mode, um, you know, for reading, uh, printed text. 0:06:15.890 --> 0:06:19.970 It has the ability to describe people. Um, it has 0:06:20.010 --> 0:06:24.530 a photo and video description function. It has a light detector, 0:06:24.570 --> 0:06:28.289 a color detector, a whole bunch of different features. And 0:06:28.290 --> 0:06:30.050 the way it used to work was that as you 0:06:30.090 --> 0:06:33.690 swipe through the screen, you had a selector where you 0:06:33.690 --> 0:06:36.330 could swipe up and down and select different channels. They 0:06:36.330 --> 0:06:39.130 call each feature a channel rather than a, you know, 0:06:39.130 --> 0:06:42.250 a function or a feature. What they've done now is 0:06:42.250 --> 0:06:45.490 they've changed the layout of the product. So when you 0:06:45.490 --> 0:06:49.250 first run it, after you've done the update, you'll notice 0:06:49.250 --> 0:06:53.450 there are three tabs. So there's a read tab. And 0:06:53.450 --> 0:06:56.370 what they've done is they've combined all of the reading 0:06:56.370 --> 0:07:01.330 features into that tab. So you have the short text mode, 0:07:01.810 --> 0:07:03.890 but if you want it use the document mode. You 0:07:03.890 --> 0:07:07.090 can tap the take picture button. Um, and also the 0:07:07.090 --> 0:07:11.810 handwriting recognition has been added into or combined into that tab. 0:07:12.650 --> 0:07:16.870 You've then got the describe tab, which has all of 0:07:16.870 --> 0:07:21.830 the sort of image description features available there. So things 0:07:21.830 --> 0:07:26.510 like the photo and video description, the AI feature where 0:07:26.510 --> 0:07:30.510 you can ask it about the image, that kind of thing. 0:07:30.510 --> 0:07:32.910 And then there's a more tab, and the more tab 0:07:32.910 --> 0:07:35.790 is laid out, much like the, the, the sort of 0:07:35.790 --> 0:07:39.110 the previous layout. So there's pretty much anything that doesn't 0:07:39.110 --> 0:07:43.110 fit into either reading or description. Uh, it gets put 0:07:43.110 --> 0:07:46.310 into the more tab and you can swipe up through 0:07:46.310 --> 0:07:51.110 the different options. There's the things like the world thing, 0:07:51.110 --> 0:07:53.790 which allows you to pan around with the camera and 0:07:53.790 --> 0:07:57.230 have things described to you. There's the light detector and 0:07:57.230 --> 0:08:00.350 the color detector and so on. So it's well worth 0:08:00.390 --> 0:08:02.350 sort of having a bit of a look around because 0:08:02.390 --> 0:08:05.590 the the layout has changed, the functionality hasn't. But what 0:08:05.590 --> 0:08:08.230 they've tried to do is just group all of the 0:08:08.230 --> 0:08:11.830 features that sort of do similar things or are complementary 0:08:11.830 --> 0:08:15.620 to one another into these different tabs. So it does. 0:08:15.620 --> 0:08:17.700 It is a much cleaner interface. It does make a 0:08:17.700 --> 0:08:20.580 lot of sense, but the first time I looked at it, 0:08:20.580 --> 0:08:22.300 I thought, hang on, what's going on here? And it 0:08:22.300 --> 0:08:24.780 confused me for a couple of minutes. So well worth 0:08:24.780 --> 0:08:27.020 a bit of a look around before you sort of 0:08:27.060 --> 0:08:28.740 need to use it in a hurry, just so that 0:08:28.740 --> 0:08:29.780 you know what's happening. 0:08:29.980 --> 0:08:32.300 I found it interesting going back to seeing AI after 0:08:32.300 --> 0:08:36.620 not having been there for quite some time, and I 0:08:36.620 --> 0:08:39.900 was reminded that it's very important when we see these 0:08:39.900 --> 0:08:42.740 things to go back to them, because you can forget 0:08:42.740 --> 0:08:45.939 about all the wonderful tricks that are buried away in there. 0:08:45.939 --> 0:08:49.140 Absolutely. You know, and these things are evolving at a 0:08:49.179 --> 0:08:52.300 quite an alarming rate. So even if you look at 0:08:52.300 --> 0:08:53.780 an app and you think, well, maybe that's not for 0:08:53.780 --> 0:08:56.020 me at the moment, it's always worth checking back every 0:08:56.020 --> 0:09:00.020 now and then because things do change. And seeing AI 0:09:00.059 --> 0:09:03.460 particularly is one that is evolving quite rapidly. 0:09:03.459 --> 0:09:09.540 So that's seeing AI from Microsoft. There's a new Apple 0:09:09.579 --> 0:09:13.900 app that you discovered a thing called invites I n 0:09:13.900 --> 0:09:15.819 v I t e s. 0:09:15.819 --> 0:09:18.720 That's right. And this one is for those of you 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.479 who like to party, which, incidentally, isn't this grey haired 0:09:22.479 --> 0:09:26.439 old bloke. But, um, the concept is interesting nonetheless. So 0:09:26.439 --> 0:09:29.000 the idea of this is if you're having an event, 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:30.839 you know, like a, you know, I don't know, an 0:09:30.839 --> 0:09:34.439 engagement party, a birthday party, whatever it might be. You 0:09:34.439 --> 0:09:38.199 can use the app to send out your invites and 0:09:38.199 --> 0:09:42.840 you can, um, you know, import photos and sort of 0:09:42.839 --> 0:09:46.160 personalize the invites. Or you can develop something using the 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.439 new Image Playground feature if you want. Uh, so you 0:09:49.439 --> 0:09:53.720 can you can send out the invites, you can track the, 0:09:53.719 --> 0:09:58.360 the replies as to who's coming and who's not. You can, uh, 0:09:58.359 --> 0:10:01.400 send out directions and weather and things like that so 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.160 you can send out like a, you know, a map 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:06.639 to help people, uh, find the place. You can set 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:10.519 up a playlist that people can add songs to. So 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:13.240 an Apple Music playlist so people can, uh, you know, 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.839 add their, their choice of music for the party and 0:10:15.839 --> 0:10:20.260 all of that kind of thing. so very useful potentially 0:10:20.260 --> 0:10:22.660 for those of you that have a busy social life 0:10:22.660 --> 0:10:25.699 and have lots of gatherings of one form or another. 0:10:26.059 --> 0:10:28.219 There are a couple of caveats, as there often are 0:10:28.219 --> 0:10:31.739 with these things. So in order to actually send out 0:10:31.780 --> 0:10:35.020 the invites and have all of the the features available, 0:10:35.020 --> 0:10:39.059 you do have to have an iCloud plus subscription. And 0:10:39.059 --> 0:10:42.660 if you want to do the collaborative playlist thing, obviously 0:10:42.660 --> 0:10:46.740 you need access to Apple Music. However, you don't need 0:10:47.339 --> 0:10:51.219 that iCloud plus subscription to receive the invites to respond 0:10:51.219 --> 0:10:53.939 to them. Those kinds of things you don't even need 0:10:53.939 --> 0:10:57.420 to be. I think on the Apple ecosystem, you can 0:10:57.420 --> 0:11:01.219 be an Android user and still respond to the invite 0:11:01.219 --> 0:11:03.620 and say whether you're going and view the maps and 0:11:03.620 --> 0:11:07.499 those sorts of things. So, yeah, for the socialites among you, um, 0:11:07.500 --> 0:11:09.620 it might be something well worth having a look at. 0:11:09.939 --> 0:11:13.059 As one would expect from Apple, it is very accessible. 0:11:13.300 --> 0:11:15.300 I haven't obviously had a chance to test it out 0:11:15.300 --> 0:11:17.750 in a practical sense yet. If I'd had it 3 0:11:17.750 --> 0:11:19.079 or 4 weeks ago when I when I had my 0:11:19.079 --> 0:11:22.040 50th birthday party. It might have been useful, but, uh, 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.880 it'll be another ten years before I need to do that. But, uh, 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:26.240 I've had a bit of a look at it, and 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.959 it certainly looks very accessible and quite interesting. 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.079 I must say. It can be a bit challenging when 0:11:31.079 --> 0:11:35.079 you receive an invitation and it's come from messenger or somewhere, 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.199 and you think, how am I supposed to respond to this? 0:11:37.319 --> 0:11:39.439 Sometimes it's a bit hit and miss whether you pick 0:11:39.479 --> 0:11:42.360 up those sorts of invitations, but not everybody's going to 0:11:42.359 --> 0:11:43.920 be using this app, of course, but it seems an 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.199 interesting step forward. The invites app from Apple. 0:11:48.319 --> 0:11:50.280 That's right. And you can of course download that just 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:54.040 from the Apple App Store as you would any other 0:11:54.079 --> 0:11:55.200 iOS type app. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.800 Daymo. We haven't for a while reminded people about a 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:02.880 very useful service from Vision Australia, which is the help desk. 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.000 Yes, that's always worth keeping in mind. So the At 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:10.319 help desk is a free service for people to access, uh, 0:12:10.319 --> 0:12:13.800 phone and email support. Uh, you can ring the main 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:19.199 vision Australia number one 384 746. Or you can email 0:12:19.469 --> 0:12:24.070 ATC help at Vision Australia. Org and the team are 0:12:24.189 --> 0:12:27.110 all themselves blind or low vision. They all use all 0:12:27.109 --> 0:12:31.510 of this tech on a daily basis. And so for any, 0:12:31.510 --> 0:12:34.309 you know, just general tech advice or if you know, 0:12:34.349 --> 0:12:37.189 all of a sudden your assistive tech stops working and 0:12:37.189 --> 0:12:40.589 you need some help, well worth giving the At help 0:12:40.630 --> 0:12:44.910 desk a try. They're available Monday to Friday, 830 till 0:12:44.949 --> 0:12:47.390 six Australian Eastern Daylight Time. 0:12:47.709 --> 0:12:50.790 So you've got some boundaries around the scope. It's got 0:12:50.790 --> 0:12:54.949 to be an eight or assistive access technology issue. 0:12:54.990 --> 0:12:57.109 That's right. You know we can't help you with your, 0:12:57.949 --> 0:13:02.710 you know, perhaps your printer or your internet or your router, 0:13:02.709 --> 0:13:05.230 those kinds of things. But if it's to do with, 0:13:05.270 --> 0:13:09.150 you know, your screen reader, your screen magnifier, your the 0:13:09.150 --> 0:13:12.710 accessible features on your phone, even Braille devices and those 0:13:12.709 --> 0:13:15.550 sorts of things, we can definitely do our best to help. 0:13:15.910 --> 0:13:18.670 We must talk some time about the challenge of that 0:13:18.670 --> 0:13:23.449 broader problem of getting IT support for your home system 0:13:23.449 --> 0:13:26.129 because it is challenging for people sometimes, isn't it? 0:13:26.370 --> 0:13:28.730 Yes, we are lucky that we have things like Be 0:13:28.729 --> 0:13:32.250 My Eyes and IRA that can help us in that situation, 0:13:32.250 --> 0:13:34.129 but it's still a frustrating experience. 0:13:34.530 --> 0:13:36.010 A lot better than a few years ago. 0:13:36.490 --> 0:13:37.050 Definitely. 0:13:37.130 --> 0:13:40.290 Before we go, a reminder there are details of this 0:13:40.290 --> 0:13:43.530 and previous editions of the program available by going to 0:13:43.569 --> 0:13:50.970 VA radio, Talking Tech, VA radio, Talking Tech, and to 0:13:51.010 --> 0:13:52.370 right to the program. 0:13:52.370 --> 0:13:57.050 You can send me an email Damodar m o m 0:13:57.689 --> 0:14:02.210 m o r o w at Vision australia.org and I 0:14:02.209 --> 0:14:05.089 really appreciate those that have emailed in. 0:14:05.089 --> 0:14:10.250 Damien McMorrow at Vision Australia. This has been talking tech 0:14:10.250 --> 0:14:14.009 with me has been Vision Australia's national access technology manager 0:14:14.050 --> 0:14:17.450 Damien McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolly. Stay safe. We'll talk more 0:14:17.449 --> 0:14:18.250 tech next week. 0:14:18.250 --> 0:14:19.090 See you.