S1: Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: November 14th, 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have you
S1: with us listening through maybe Virgin Australia Radio associated sessions
S1: of Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. There is
S1: also the podcast to catch that, all you need to
S1: do is search for the two words talking tech and
S1: down a canal come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just
S1: after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your
S1: Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia Radio
S1: talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking tech podcast with me,
S1: someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well.
S1: Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge David,
S1: let's start with a bit of an update to a
S1: conversation we had last week about the vision store, where
S1: you were talking about the great reservoir. It is for
S1: Christmas gifts, but people have got to make sure they
S1: make the last order date to get it to their
S1: friends by Christmas.
S2: So the order cutoff date is in two parts, actually.
S2: So if you're anywhere else in Australia except for Western Australia,
S2: then the cutoff date is actually 8th of December. And
S2: if you are in Western Australia then the cut off
S2: date is the 1st of December. So again, Western Australia
S2: is actually the 1st of December. Anywhere else in Australia,
S2: including Tasmania is actually the 8th of December.
S1: And those dates are Fridays. We did mention last week
S1: the brilliant and the major update to version 2.1, and
S1: you've been playing with those updates.
S2: I have, as we pointed out, that our will now
S2: connect with the Vision Australia library. So in in iOS
S2: or Android terms, the connect. And it was absolutely amazing
S2: because I was able to listen to everything that the
S2: visual library offers. So I was enjoying a couple of
S2: my already on my bookshelf Daisy audio books. Then I
S2: was able to read the Sydney Morning Herald in Braille,
S2: actually on the Braille display of the Bryant, and also
S2: was able to listen to a few podcasts, including Talking
S2: Tech from Vision Australia Radio, which was also very awesome.
S2: And just to note for people that for what I've
S2: got is that if I return a book on my bookshelf,
S2: which you can do on the Bryant, I've actually got
S2: my profile set up on Vision Australia Library to automatically
S2: suggest another book to me once I've returned one. Now,
S2: if you don't have that turned on in your profile,
S2: what would have to happen is that you'd have to
S2: log in either on the connect app on Android or iOS,
S2: or on the web page for Vision Australia library, and
S2: actually search and add a book there so you actually
S2: can't add a book inside the online Daisy Vision Australia
S2: library service. But like I just said, if you've got
S2: an automatic update once you've returned to book, then you
S2: should be fine.
S1: But it's pretty good how the newspapers tumble down as
S1: they're published, don't they?
S2: It's incredible. Yeah, and the one nice thing about Brown,
S2: which we always keep getting caught out with speech, is
S2: that you really get to learn how people spell their
S2: names or other things going on in the world that
S2: you're actually literally reading in under your fingertips. So that's
S2: one of the things I miss about Braille in particular,
S2: is that you don't have that sort of one on
S2: one correspondence for literacy.
S1: Leader has been with us now as a technology in
S1: the iPhone for three years. It came out with the
S1: iPhone 12. More and more work is being done to
S1: make use of this technology. And there's an app that
S1: you discovered recently called Obstacle Detector. What do you reckon?
S2: It's a very good start. I mean, there's been a
S2: few of these apps over the years that have work with,
S2: you know, the 12 Pro, 13 Pro, 14 Pro and
S2: of course the 15 Pro. And look, it has it
S2: has vibration, it has audio and it has speech, which
S2: what I would advise not to use because it all
S2: makes make the app unusable because it keeps talking at
S2: distances and so on. But as a good starting point
S2: to tell you how far you're away from an object.
S2: So of course, in the old terms, the closer the clicks,
S2: the closer you are, the lower the slower the clicks,
S2: the further away you are. And I think if I
S2: was going to test this absolutely properly, then I would
S2: suggest maybe wearing a chest harness or a lanyard around
S2: your neck, which sort of may or may not work
S2: because it still moves when you're walking around. But look,
S2: I think it's a good start because rather than spending,
S2: I don't know, six. $700 on a on a sonar
S2: device you're spending. If you want to buy the full version,
S2: $7 on something that you know may work for you
S2: and may not. Keeping in mind that you've got all
S2: the other lead functions such as door detection and so
S2: on in the camera app on iOS, but it's one
S2: of those apps where I think because somebody has gone
S2: to the trouble of writing and developing such an app,
S2: I would love it if people gave the developer feedback
S2: and constructive feedback. So saying, look, this is really fantastic.
S2: It would it be possible to do A, B, C,
S2: and D and really encourage this developer and perhaps other
S2: developers to take on this type of orientation mobility software
S2: on your smartphone, in this case, the iPhone.
S1: That's obstacle detector, very easy to find in the App Store.
S1: As Christmas approaches, we start to think about how we
S1: might treat others, or even ourselves. And maybe the device
S1: of the year is the sense player from hims.
S2: You know, look, I was looking back over all my gadgets.
S2: Now I've got two shelves that are four meters long,
S2: practically with lots and lots of tech on them, including
S2: other areas of this room. And I was thinking, if
S2: I had to really sit down and work out what
S2: the most interesting, innovative, good looking, easy to use, most
S2: productive little piece of hardware that I could possibly have
S2: in my hand, of course, besides my iPhone, then I
S2: really think it really does need to be the sense
S2: player OCR 80. And the reason for that is because
S2: we've got the FM radio. We can use it as
S2: a custom keyboard to your smartphone iPhone in particular. We
S2: can listen to podcasts, Daisy books, the web, radio in particular,
S2: use it as a recorder and so on. And the
S2: fact that it looks like a really cool little device
S2: in your hand, plus the fact that it's got stereo speakers,
S2: which to me is actually a really cool thing. When
S2: you're listening to good audio, then I don't think there's
S2: anything not in the device. And one really cool thing,
S2: I came across this really lovely thing that was mentioned
S2: on Vision Australia as part of our workplace web hub,
S2: and that is the light that cannot be seen. And
S2: it's an audio described miniseries about a blind girl meeting
S2: a German soldier during the last part of the Second
S2: World War. And it's beautifully done. The actress is absolutely
S2: amazing portraying a blind person, and I listen to that
S2: on Netflix on my sense player. How cool is that?
S2: Listening to an absolutely beautiful little miniseries and being able
S2: to listen to it on my little handheld device.
S1: And it's great with Connectable headset, 3.5 mil connection, or
S1: of course, the Bluetooth. And it's very good with the
S1: Apple AirPods. Great little device. I Bluetooth that yesterday to
S1: my speakers in the lounge room, and could quickly change
S1: from one web stream to another, and it worked beautifully.
S1: It was like a remote control.
S2: Nice little device.
S1: Tell me about Octo Studio.
S2: Over the last several years or so, we've had a
S2: number of apps brought out by, in particular, places like
S2: the emerging printing house for the blind to do with
S2: teaching blind or low vision children how to code. And
S2: most of it's been around the sort of concept of
S2: block programming where you basically add blocks or code chunks
S2: into a stack, and you can change them around and
S2: you can do sounds or pictures or images and that
S2: sort of cool stuff. And what Perkins School for the
S2: blind have done in conjunction with MIT, who really knows
S2: what they are? They actually have an app called Octo Studio,
S2: which again is for seven years and above, teaching blind
S2: and low vision and sighted children originally sighted how to
S2: do block coding. And what they've done is they've made
S2: the app on iOS and Android screen reader friendly. So
S2: if you're on iOS, VoiceOver works. If you're on Android,
S2: talkback works. And look, I wouldn't say the apps and
S2: they admit this. It's not 100% accessible, but 90% of
S2: it is fine for doing basic block coding so you
S2: can pick your image, sound, etcetera. And you can build
S2: this little program, and then you can run the program.
S2: And the video that they had was a strawberry on
S2: a plate getting squashed. Remember this is for children. So
S2: that's why the strawberry got squashed. But no, it's really,
S2: really cool. It's free. So octo as it sounds studio
S2: and I think it's really worthwhile. It's again another tool
S2: in your toolbox for getting your young folks into Stem science. Technology,
S2: engineering and mathematics.
S1: There was an article on VS which is the Blindness
S1: Community Forum for Apple Stuff, an article there are a
S1: few weeks ago about the Mac and how well Apple
S1: is playing the game, supporting the Mac for blind users.
S1: Tell us about the article.
S2: Yeah, the article was basically entitled I can no longer
S2: recommend the Mac for people who are blind in particular.
S2: And this was all based around Safari. So when using
S2: Safari on some web pages or maybe lots of web pages,
S2: for this person that wrote the article, you would get
S2: Safari not responding. And this person said that this got
S2: to such a state of irritation that he now can
S2: no longer recommend the Mac, particularly if using web browsing
S2: in good conscience to people actually using Safari. And he said,
S2: I know you can do workarounds. I know you can
S2: go and use another app, but, you know, honestly, VoiceOver
S2: should be fixed so it works with the application that's
S2: built in, which is Safari.
S1: What's your reaction?
S2: My reaction is it's that old thing about chucking out
S2: the baby with the bathwater. I haven't had the safari
S2: not responding now for quite a long time, but even
S2: on windows, when I had issues with Microsoft Edge or
S2: Firefox or Chrome and one of them didn't work, I
S2: just went and switched to another browser. I mean, at
S2: the end of the day, it was no big deal.
S2: And I really think that's the attitude we need to
S2: take with the Mac. Just because VoiceOver is built in
S2: and just because it supposedly crashes all the time with Safari.
S2: That's one program that I use out of about 20
S2: programs on the Mac. So just because one program doesn't
S2: work doesn't mean you should stop using the Mac. So
S2: that's sort of my argument against that particular article.
S1: But let's hope the issue is dealt with so that
S1: you don't have to go another way around. Don't stop
S1: yourself having the benefit of pretty good technology. Just like
S1: windows technologies. You've had an interesting experience using audible because
S1: you're one of these people who uses the same app
S1: on different platforms. Tell us about it.
S2: I've been listening to see if other people have this issue.
S2: So when I'm using the audible app on iOS or
S2: on my iPhone 14 Pro, when I go down the
S2: main home tab where you've got suggestions of titles or books,
S2: what VoiceOver says is details button, and then practically almost
S2: like it's reading an image of the title of the book,
S2: and sometimes it reads it properly and sometimes it doesn't.
S2: And if it doesn't read it properly, I just get
S2: details button. Now, when I use the exactly same app
S2: cause different coding was on Android, when I go down
S2: the home tab on suggested titles, it reads out that
S2: all the titles of the books properly, you know? So
S2: I get Harry Potter, Philosopher's Stone and then a bit
S2: of a little summary who the author is and so on.
S2: But I definitely don't get anything about details. Button and you,
S2: you know, you feel like it's sort of reading half
S2: of the screen and half the time it's all jumbled up.
S2: So what? I'd love to know. And you can email
S2: David Woodbridge at Vision Australia at org. Are other people
S2: experiencing this very annoying issue on iOS? Because if you are,
S2: I'd love to hear from you. And in that way
S2: I can email or you can email, particularly us in Australia, audible,
S2: Australian Audible and just give some feedback to them because,
S2: you know, I've got lots and lots of books and audible.
S2: I'd I'd love to read my title suggestions properly.
S1: Just before we go, a reminder of where people can
S1: find details of what you've been talking about in this
S1: and previous editions of the program.
S2: So as always, you can check out my blog site,
S2: which is David Woodbine dot Podbean podbean.
S1: Com David would be dot podbean pod b e a
S1: n to write to the program.
S2: You can write to me at vision where I work
S2: which is David Woodbridge hot sounds division australia.org.
S1: David Dot Woodbridge at Vision australia.org. This has been talking
S1: tech with me has been Vision Australia's national advisor on
S1: access technology David Woodbridge I'm Stephen Jolley stay safe. We'll
S1: talk more tech next week. See you.