S1: Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: July the 4th, 2020 3rd July already I'm Steven Jolly.
S1: Great to have you with us listening maybe through Virgin
S1: Australia radio associated Stations of Australia or perhaps the Community
S1: Radio network, there is also the podcast. If you haven't
S1: caught up with that yet, the way to find the
S1: podcast is just to search for the two words talking tech.
S1: The usual way you get your podcasts and Downer can
S1: all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's
S1: been produced. Another option is to ask your Siri device
S1: or smart speaker to play Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech Podcast.
S1: Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast. With me someone who
S1: can explain all this tech stuff really well. Vision Australia's
S1: National Advisor on Access Technology, David Woodbridge. David, let's start
S1: by talking about the catalogue, the new catalogs that are
S1: now available from the Vision Store of Vision Australia, Indeed.
S2: So there are actually three, if you like, updated ones
S2: in the last, let's say 2 to 3 months, which,
S2: you know, sometimes people get a bit bored about hearing
S2: about catalogs, but these have been updated. So if you're
S2: looking at specific different types of products. So there's three
S2: catalogs at the moment, magnifiers, assistive technology and daily living.
S2: And just to give your brain a bit of a
S2: reminder about those different categories, magnifier is everything from manual magnifiers,
S2: as in you could all visual type ones that you
S2: hold over the page manually to electronic video magnifiers, which
S2: were effectively looking for a camera to say stuff magnified
S2: color contrast or that sort of cool stuff. Assistive technology
S2: is everything to do with computers and smartphones and smartphone stands,
S2: and daily living is almost practically everything else. So things
S2: like lighting, stuff to use in the kitchen, stuff to
S2: use in the bathroom, talking clocks, talking watches, all that
S2: sort of stuff. And what you'll see is a bit
S2: of a test run on one of them. So you'll
S2: see in this technology one, it says assistive technology zip file.
S2: And what that is, it's a daisy format catalogue. So
S2: rather than having to listen to a whole MP3 file
S2: or read for the Braille file, the Bref file or
S2: reading the PDF file, we're trying a daisy format to
S2: see if people like the daisy format. So that's the
S2: assistive technology, one or the other two, the magnifiers and
S2: the daily living ones are just straight pdf file accessible,
S2: an MP3 file and a brief profile.
S1: Shop dot vision australia.org/catalogs. But that's in the show notes. Indeed.
S1: Very good. Now navigation apps of the quite a number
S1: of navigation apps around has been soundscape from Microsoft but
S1: Microsoft has ceased support of this app. Now that we're
S1: into July, it has now made it open source so
S1: developers can work with it. And we're seeing other apps
S1: similar to soundscape popping up like mushrooms.
S2: David That's a good way to put it, actually. Yeah,
S2: there is. So there was one that's been around for
S2: a little bit of a while now that we haven't
S2: talked about because it's been in beta and it still
S2: is in beta and that's called open scape. Again, it's
S2: based on the soundscape, open source code. And the reason
S2: why I haven't mentioned it was because sometimes it's very
S2: hard to get into these beta programs and it's all
S2: fiddly through Testflight, which is the program we use for
S2: testing apps on iOS. So I haven't mentioned that one,
S2: but just keep an eye on that because it may
S2: appear on the App Store sooner than later, but the
S2: open source software for Soundscape that has appeared on the
S2: App Store and you can download it now is one
S2: called Voice Vista, and that's Viki Vista. And it basically
S2: is soundscape minus, I believe, a few bells and whistles.
S2: I've tried it and it does work like soundscape. You
S2: won't see all the whiz bang features. For example, I
S2: believe there was a few comments on Apple that said
S2: Street View was in there where you can sort of
S2: virtually walk through a neighborhood or where you want to
S2: travel to and get to know the environment and what's
S2: around you. But for all intents and purposes, so to speak,
S2: it's soundscape. So give it a go. It's free, it's
S2: open source, give feedback to the developer, give it some
S2: stars on the App Store. But it's just nice to
S2: see the fact that some developers are indeed picking up
S2: the open source code for soundscape and making it available again.
S1: It'll be interesting to see what comes out over the
S1: coming months with the children of soundscape children. Yeah.
S2: Exactly.
S1: Yeah. Mr. Musk Mr. Elon Musk has been making announcements
S1: again about Twitter. And you're only allowed to look at
S1: 600 tweets a day instead of 6000, which the paying
S1: customers can have access to. 600 is still not bad, David.
S2: No, it's not. And look, the most the tweets that
S2: I read per day is maybe 2 or 300 tweets
S2: per day. But I think Elon, every now and again,
S2: he tends to get a bee in his bonnet about
S2: different things. So it gets all excited and makes these
S2: silly rules up. That is supposed to stop things happening.
S2: And of course what he's worried about at the moment
S2: is these artificial intelligence, what they call screen scrapers, where
S2: it basically tries to go through like a whole Twitter
S2: feed and basically scrape all the information of it and
S2: dump it into some sort of database and then rehash
S2: it and then spit it back out again. So that's
S2: what he's supposedly trying to stop. I can honestly say
S2: that these days, and this is in some ways to
S2: do with Mastodon as well, they're not really great sources
S2: of news anymore because I find the news that I
S2: pick up hasn't really anything to do with Twitter and
S2: Mastodon anymore. I get my news from other sources. I
S2: do double check Twitter. I do double check Mastodon, but
S2: they're sort of turning into the the Twitter and mastodon
S2: social media stuff of the old days, even where, you know,
S2: back in 2011 and that sort of stuff. And even
S2: on Facebook, it was like I had a great cup
S2: of coffee this morning or I agree strongly with that
S2: comment or I don't think people should have done this.
S2: And to some ways, that's what both of these social
S2: media platforms are turning into. So I'm getting less and
S2: less enthusiastic about using either platform these days.
S1: People still use them maybe to follow what journalists or
S1: other people of interest to saying, but not much more.
S2: No. And I say, if you're after following journalists, I
S2: think you're much better using Twitter if you want to
S2: do that one. I'm finding particularly my one that I
S2: that I use for the incident that I use on Mastodon,
S2: which is Dragons cave dot space. That's spacey. It's just
S2: a full of opinion after opinion after opinion. And I'm
S2: getting a little bit tired of it these days. So yeah,
S2: I do use Twitter. Like I said, I only read
S2: about 2 to 300 tweets per day versus my other
S2: way of reading news, which is basically news what's called
S2: a news aggregator, which sort of gets news from all
S2: different sources. I think I'm on that sort of stuff.
S2: I'm reading to probably till about 900 to 1000 articles
S2: a day.
S1: A lot more than most people. You talked the other
S1: day about Leary Leary and there are other News Feed
S1: aggregators there are.
S2: So think about what platform you're using. And they're normally
S2: cross-platform anyway. So you've got things like Microsoft News, you've
S2: got Google News, you've got Apple News. We've already mentioned Leary.
S2: So inside of these, you can then say, okay, well,
S2: I want to follow information coming out about cricket or
S2: I want to follow information about the F1 or I
S2: want to follow information from the Sydney Morning Herald or
S2: The Age or specific Apple News. Specific Microsoft News. Specific
S2: Google News. I want General Tech News, Artificial intelligence or
S2: that sort of stuff. And you can get all that
S2: just coming straight into your inbox. I use Apple News
S2: and I use Leary as well, but every morning I
S2: run it and it says Updating feed and you hear
S2: it go, one, two, three, four, up to about 36
S2: a mine. And you literally just go down category by category.
S2: So I opened up Sydney Morning Herald for the day,
S2: read the news stories because that's the only thing that
S2: I've got selected as part of my filter and I
S2: can share it. Then out to my friends, other tech people,
S2: to Mastodon, to Twitter. I save stuff for the show,
S2: for talking tech and so on, and it's just really
S2: convenient rather than having to sort of pop into Mastodon,
S2: pop into Twitter, pop under different websites all the time.
S2: I just use one aggregator that does everything for me.
S1: Let's move now to Smart home apps. There are apps
S1: for lots of devices on our Smart devices now on
S1: our smartphones. ET cetera.
S2: I was thinking about this the other day, and I thought, well,
S2: it really has got to the day and age where,
S2: you know, we're sort of a bit over the echoes
S2: and the Google nests and the homepods of the universe.
S2: And I thought what we should really should be focusing
S2: on these days is appliances in your home that are
S2: actually app driven. And I was having a browse through
S2: a bit of my content research over the last couple
S2: of weeks and I thought it's probably a good idea
S2: to remind people what's available Now, some of these things
S2: I have not tried myself yet, so I've still got
S2: to look at them. But just to give you some
S2: samples of some highlights, there is an Airfryer, which is
S2: called the Philips 5000 and will have the correct model
S2: number and everything else in the show notes. But it's
S2: an air fryer that's controlled by the Philips app, which
S2: means the things quote and I say quote, accessible quotes.
S2: Just to remind people that I haven't I haven't checked
S2: it yet, but. That's where you can completely control the temperature,
S2: how long things are cooking for the recipes you might
S2: want to apply to a particular cooking event or that
S2: sort of cool stuff. So I thought that's a really
S2: interesting one to keep an eye on. I'm probably going
S2: to be having a look at the air fry this week,
S2: so hopefully I'll let you know next week. The other
S2: one that caught my attention, Steve, was a dishwasher that's
S2: also app accessible. So you run the app and then
S2: you can completely control your dishwasher so you can have,
S2: you know, the eco cycle. You can just do dirty
S2: pots and pans, all the different cycles because at the
S2: moment with my dishwasher, I just press start. It just
S2: goes through the normal watch and I press the end function.
S2: And I know these days with electricity bills going up,
S2: I thought, I just want to be more effective about
S2: using my power, hence why I'm looking at the air
S2: fryer rather than using my oven to cook all the time.
S2: And the same thing to do if the dishwasher. So
S2: if I can get away with not having to run
S2: my dishwasher for 90 minutes when I don't have to.
S2: It's just another way of cutting down costs. So they
S2: were sort of the two main ones that popped out
S2: at me. And in this list, I've also got things
S2: like a dryers mentioned, washing machine, TV, a kettle, and
S2: of course our well-known sensible air conditioning. One for your
S2: split system to control your air conditioner. And the other
S2: one that I use all the time, which is for
S2: my coffee machine to control my prima donna, one for
S2: my cups of coffee in the morning. So there's probably
S2: about 10 or 11 there. You know, things are slightly
S2: getting better. There's more apps coming online that the problem
S2: with this stuff, though, Steve I find the apps that
S2: work with these appliances, it always ends up being the
S2: most expensive model. I just can't see why we can't
S2: have economical hardware that doesn't cost that much, that that's
S2: also our driven.
S1: And it's often an accident that it's accessible and the
S1: accessibility can fall away with an update.
S2: Absolutely. Which I found with I think it was last
S2: year when I might have been complaining on the on
S2: talking tech about the the app not working properly on
S2: my iPhone for my coffee machine and I had to
S2: use Android and then I had to go back and
S2: use the iPhone again. So yes, because remember, quite a
S2: lot of these products are touchscreen. So like the air fryer,
S2: that's a touchscreen one. I'm not too sure about the dishwasher.
S2: That's another I'm going to have a look at in
S2: the shop. And you're right, you're sort of riding by
S2: the seat of your pants hoping fingers crossed that they
S2: don't go, Well, let's bring out a brand new interface
S2: for this app and make it all whiz bang and
S2: everything else. And of course, for our screen reader users
S2: on our smartphones, it becomes inaccessible.
S1: Yeah, that can happen. So David, what's your advice to
S1: someone who's looking to use an app that is available
S1: with a device?
S2: My first suggestion is to go and check on the Internet.
S2: People tweet people mastodon people talk to other blind and
S2: low vision people and see what they use and get
S2: their recommendations. First, do not buy a product that says
S2: it's got an app, if you like, sight unseen, because
S2: I can guarantee most of the time you might be
S2: somewhat disappointed. So the ones that people use are fine,
S2: the ones that people don't use but they've heard about,
S2: that's the ones that you always check first to make 100%
S2: sure that it's going to work for you.
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 programme.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can check out my show
S2: notes on my blog site, which is David, would it
S2: be a dot Podbean pad B and David.
S1: Would be dot Podbean pod A in to write to
S1: the program.
S2: You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work,
S2: which is David Dot Woodbridge Sounds at Vision Australia. Org.
S1: David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org This has been
S1: talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's National Advisor
S1: on Access Technology, David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley. Take care.
S1: We'll talk more tech next week. See you.