S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: June the 4th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have
S1: you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia radio associated
S1: stations of RPA Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network.
S1: There is also the podcast to catch that, all you
S1: need to do is search for the two words talking
S1: tech and Dana can all come usually on a Tuesday
S1: afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to
S1: ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision
S1: Australia Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking tech
S1: podcast with me, someone who can explain all this tech
S1: stuff really well. Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology,
S1: David Woodbridge. David, let's start with the product minute, maybe
S1: product minutes from the vision store of Vision Australia. There's
S1: a sale on.
S2: There is this includes I think all up around about
S2: 16 different products. So it's up to 15% off. I
S2: know we don't quite often talk about low vision stuff,
S2: so I'm going to give a plug to three particular
S2: low vision products I always see recommended for home, school
S2: or work. So I'm talking about the three different types
S2: of explore video magnifiers. So you've got the explore five,
S2: which is the five inch screen with a handle that
S2: you can pull out to hold on to really, really
S2: good at when you're shopping the explore eight, which is
S2: like almost like holding it because it's an eight as
S2: an eight inch, it's almost like little holding a little
S2: iPad mini in your hand. Really good for being at school,
S2: going into the library, reading stuff at your desk, that
S2: sort of stuff. And then the explore 12, which is
S2: almost good for everybody. But, um, it's got it comes
S2: with a stand, so you can actually pop the explore
S2: 12 on a stand. One of the benefits of having
S2: on the stand is you can put stuff underneath it
S2: and read it, quote, hands free. And of course you
S2: can handwrite underneath it because it's being held up by
S2: the stand. The explore 12 is highly recommended in lots
S2: and lots of workplaces for low vision folks. That's the
S2: explore five, explore eight, and explore 12, which is currently
S2: in that sales sequence, up to 15% off till the
S2: end of June or until stocks run out.
S1: Shop Vision Australia. Org and for the specials shop Vision Australia.
S1: Org slash sales the blind shell phone the classic two.
S1: Been a bit of a scare about what happens when
S1: the 3G network disappears.
S2: Yes, I know some people have been concerned about when
S2: the 3G network shuts down. I think Telstra's turned his
S2: 31st of August and I think it's followed by Optus
S2: and so on. So different carriers are closing down their
S2: 3G network at different times. I've double checked that with
S2: Vision Australia Vision store itself. I've checked it with Quantum technology,
S2: and everybody 100% assures me that you stick a 4G
S2: SIM card in your phone, your blind shell classic two,
S2: and it will absolutely work. So don't panic. All you
S2: need is just is pop in a new 4G 5G
S2: sim card. If you've got 5G in your region and
S2: it'll work.
S1: The revolutionary Bemyeyes app with Be My. I been around
S1: for a little while on iOS and Android. You can
S1: now run it through windows.
S2: Which is actually pretty exciting because this will actually use
S2: your camera, which you go, yep, well, it does it already.
S2: I can take a picture and, uh, have it look
S2: at stuff, but it's also the live camera, so you
S2: can literally hold up something in front of your camera
S2: and get it to identify whatever you're holding in front
S2: of your camera on your laptop, which is actually really
S2: exciting because it's bringing that thing about AI object recognition
S2: closer and closer to that particular time when we'll be
S2: able to just theoretically, hopefully, practically as well wave anything
S2: in front of your camera on your laptop, in this
S2: case windows, and have it identify stuff. So I'm really
S2: looking forward to see how this goes, particularly in the
S2: next six months or so.
S1: There's been a lot happening in this area with freedom
S1: Scientific's great work with the Smart Picture features, and now
S1: with the Be My Eyes indeed.
S2: So, you know, we've got our famous thing coming up
S2: next week, which we'll talk about in a minute. So
S2: I think the next six months is going, like I
S2: just said, is going to be very explosive, I think,
S2: in the AI world across all the different platforms.
S1: So let's talk about the event coming up next week.
S1: Apple's worldwide. Developers Conference and the keynote address, which will
S1: be 3 a.m. our time on Tuesday morning.
S2: I shall be popping up for it, as I'm assuming
S2: you will be too, Stephen, to have a listen to it.
S2: And look, I'm really hoping that all the chit chat
S2: about Siri and, you know, teaming up with OpenAI or
S2: Google Gemini or or doing something like that really comes
S2: to fruition because I really want a Siri AI. I've
S2: got ChatGPT on my Mac, I've got it on my iPhone,
S2: I've played with Gemini, all that sort of stuff. But
S2: I really want to see Siri do well. So out
S2: of all the updates next week, iOS 18, the new
S2: Mac operating system, etc., etc., etc. um, I'm really looking
S2: forward to see what's going to be happening with iOS
S2: 18 and Siri.
S1: So let's put this one into context for people who
S1: aren't as close to it as some of us are.
S1: This is the Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple talks about
S1: what's going to be happening in the software area, and
S1: amongst other things, we'll be waiting to hear what's happening
S1: with iOS.
S2: Correct. So iOS always seems to get sort of the,
S2: you know, the flagship waving of the flag type stuff. Um,
S2: so that's why everybody's excited about iOS 18 and see
S2: what Siri does. And, you know, supposedly a new home screen,
S2: new this and new that. But it's also to do
S2: with the software on the Apple Watch, the software on
S2: the Apple TV, the software on the Mac. Um, let's
S2: not forget the software and the Vision Pro, which we
S2: sort of haven't talked about for quite a long time.
S2: And of course, the software in the HomePod. So there's
S2: quite a few different things. I think last year they
S2: sort of snuck in a few hardware things. The chat
S2: this time is they probably won't talk about any hardware
S2: at all. It'll be purely software. Although I wouldn't be
S2: surprised if we talk about an M4 Mac because we've
S2: got the M4 chip and the iPad Pro. I wouldn't
S2: be surprised if they sneak in a bit of a
S2: chat about the M4 chip in a new MacBook Pro
S2: or something like that.
S1: So what happens is this new software goes into a
S1: protracted beta phase, and it'll become public sometime in September, October, etc.,
S1: won't it?
S2: Correct. So iOS 18 sort of drops around about the
S2: middle ish of September. And then I think normally, if
S2: I can remember correctly, it's about October for macOS. And
S2: who knows what new silly name in California Apple will
S2: come up with next for Mac OS 15.
S1: We talk about the good things with AI. There are
S1: some silly things and not so good things, and Google's
S1: had to protect itself a bit.
S2: It certainly did. Just a bit of a point. I
S2: want to say first thing to do is remember that
S2: all AI or the large language models doing is absolute
S2: word prediction. So it can do word prediction on word, sentence, paragraph, etc.
S2: but literally all it's doing is word prediction. So it's not,
S2: you know, particularly fascinating type stuff that's doing. Um, and
S2: so what's happening when you use Google's Gemini, it's coming
S2: back with weird stuff. So for example, it says something
S2: like you should at least eat one rock per day
S2: or you should glue your pizza together. Now, obviously some
S2: silly person on the internet or some training data has
S2: written those particular words. And obviously somebody typed in something
S2: a bit weird in the Gemini search, and that's what
S2: it's come back with. So it just goes to show
S2: you that this thing is not intelligent, it's purely word prediction.
S2: And it's looking up data that it's been trained on.
S2: So always take what Google I ChatGPT comes back with
S2: with a grain of salt.
S1: Now this is an odd one, but uh, it could
S1: well happen that you might not necessarily buy another iPhone,
S1: but it could be an iPad mini.
S2: What they were sort of like getting towards, I think
S2: is and this is probably more for people that are
S2: in the Apple universe, not so much in the Apple
S2: slash Android universe, but if you're used to ringing people
S2: up via FaceTime in particular, um, and I guess also
S2: WhatsApp and zoom and all the other different platforms now
S2: I'm thinking about it, is that the times you really
S2: need to make a phone call in quotes, like a
S2: real mobile phone call, is quite minimal. The only thing
S2: I could probably imagine, although my system can do it here,
S2: is if you want to send a quote SMS text,
S2: but normally you can get your um systems to generate
S2: an SMS if you really want to. Anyway, so I
S2: was thinking, you know, why spend over $1,000 when you can?
S2: You know, if you've got a cheap iPad mini that
S2: will do everything? So the only thing an iPad can't
S2: do is make, like I just said, a real quote,
S2: phone call. So anything else you want to do with. iOS,
S2: your iPad, or your iPad mini can do exactly the
S2: same thing. So that's just one way of saving a
S2: bit of money.
S1: David, I have a little tip for Sonos users who
S1: are screen reader people like I am. The app is
S1: still not very good, not as good as it should be.
S1: I had a discovery recently when I went back to
S1: the windows app for Sonos, and I found it was
S1: working pretty well. I could do a lot more with
S1: it than I can do with the app. So if
S1: you're struggling with Sonos at the moment until they get
S1: it right, the accessibility for screen reader users try the
S1: the windows app and it might do the trick for you.
S2: So the thing to remember sometimes is, don't think you're
S2: doing yourself any disservice by using the web version of
S2: an application. So, for example, I my sensibo air conditioner,
S2: I sometimes will use the web version of that as well,
S2: rather than the the iOS app version, just depending on
S2: what I'm doing. So if the Sonos actually works for
S2: the moment and gets you through the wait time that
S2: we're waiting for for the app to be fixed for accessibility,
S2: then that's a really good alternative.
S1: I'd like to talk Braille now. The International Council on
S1: English Braille completed its general assembly in Auckland last week
S1: in New Zealand, and they came out with a tweet
S1: at the end talking about the importance of Braille. Even today,
S1: more and more Braille is used.
S2: Exactly. The big thing about bras that everybody forgets is literacy.
S2: Everybody thinks, oh, look, you can just use a screen reader.
S2: The screen reader talks to you. Well, that's all well
S2: and good, but you don't learn how words are spelt.
S2: You don't learn about punctuation, capitalization. Braille, to me, is
S2: one of those things that's ultra important. And speaking about Braille, um,
S2: my daughter had the sadness of going to the hospital
S2: over the weekend. She's all well now, but on the
S2: nurse call button in her room, there was an odd
S2: symbol on the call button, and it was actually the
S2: letter N in braille for nurse. And I thought, wow,
S2: that's just absolutely amazing. Yep.
S1: Very impressive. You were playing with 11 labs recently and
S1: discovered something interesting with sound effects.
S2: So as with the the other application that I talked
S2: about quite a long time ago, there's no I the
S2: application for generating music. Well, this is actually 11 labs
S2: itself generating sound effects. So if you type in, uh,
S2: train going through a railway crossing, formula one cars zipping past, etc., etc.,
S2: it'll generate the sound effects. Now, what it's doing is
S2: looking up a whole library from Shutterstock, which has got
S2: all these public domain, different types of sound effects, and
S2: it normally gives you about 5 or 6 samples. So
S2: the trick is you choose the one that you want,
S2: then you download the one that you want to use.
S2: So pretty, pretty good. Um.
S1: I'd like to spend more time on this one day,
S1: but just quickly tell us about the technology that you
S1: use these days, your personal technology in a minute or two.
S2: So this is my personal stuff. And I guess the
S2: couple of things that really jump out for me, and
S2: I've got the whole list in the show notes, if
S2: you want to have a read of them, is, first
S2: of all, the versus slate, which is a really quick
S2: way of jotting down Braille with a stylus that's really,
S2: really cool. The BT Speak Pro from Blazey Technologies for
S2: taking notes, and the third one, which is what I've
S2: used for quite a long time now, I almost want
S2: to say about eight years now is the Revo concept keyboard,
S2: which allows me to use both my iPhone and my
S2: Android phone, switching between them with the interface keyboard because
S2: it's such a tiny little credit card size keyboard. So
S2: there are three of the main things that stand out
S2: for me when I think about my computer bag. But
S2: like I said, if you want to read the whole list,
S2: it's in the show notes.
S1: Just before we go, a reminder of where there are
S1: details of what we've been talking about in this and
S1: previous editions of the program, you can.
S2: Check out the show notes on my blog site, which
S2: is David Woodbury Dot Podbean pod Cbn.com.
S1: David Woodbury Podbean Podbean For.com. To write to the program.
S2: You can write to me at Vision Australia, where I work.
S2: David Dot Woodbridge how it sounds at Vision Australia.
S1: Org David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org this has
S1: been talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's national
S1: advisor on access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolly take care.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.