WEBVTT - Talking Tech 29th August 2023 0:00:33.450 --> 0:00:37.170 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:37.170 --> 0:00:41.340 August the 29th, 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:41.340 --> 0:00:45.150 you with us. Listening through maybe Vision Australia Radio associated 0:00:45.150 --> 0:00:49.680 Stations of Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network. There 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.380 is also the podcast. The way to get that is 0:00:52.380 --> 0:00:55.620 to search for the two words talking Tech and Danica 0:00:55.620 --> 0:00:59.160 Noor commercially on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:02.910 Another option is to ask a Siri device or smart 0:01:02.910 --> 0:01:08.190 speaker to play Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech Podcast. Vision 0:01:08.190 --> 0:01:12.600 Australia Radio Talking Tech podcast. With me someone who can 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.260 explain all this tech stuff really well. Vision Australia's National 0:01:16.260 --> 0:01:22.230 Advisor on Access Technology, David Woodbridge. David, when we think 0:01:22.230 --> 0:01:26.040 of Pacific Vision in Australia, those of us who use 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:31.740 the blindness products think of blindness. Products consultant Sam Taylor. 0:01:31.830 --> 0:01:35.580 Sam is no longer with Pacific Vision. He finished up 0:01:35.580 --> 0:01:38.280 last Friday, the 25th of August. But the news isn't 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:38.940 all bad. 0:01:39.420 --> 0:01:41.400 No, it's not all bad because when you hear of 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:45.210 these really excellent people vanishing, you think, Oh no, they're guys. 0:01:45.210 --> 0:01:48.630 All that knowledge and experience and everything else. Well, I'm 0:01:48.630 --> 0:01:51.780 actually very pleased to say that Sam Taylor is now 0:01:51.780 --> 0:01:57.300 part of Vision Australia and he joins our excellent team 0:01:57.300 --> 0:02:03.630 of assistive technology specialists at Vision Australia. So not only 0:02:03.630 --> 0:02:07.890 can he help, quote Pacific Vision people, if you like, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.250 he can also help everybody else as well. So we 0:02:11.250 --> 0:02:14.970 can freely talk about all the different products that Sam 0:02:14.970 --> 0:02:17.520 also uses, because I've known him since he was at 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:20.250 school and I know he uses a lot more products 0:02:20.250 --> 0:02:22.260 than what Pacific Vision sells. And I guess the one 0:02:22.260 --> 0:02:25.770 thing about Vision Australia is that because we deal in 0:02:25.770 --> 0:02:30.720 all products from every supplier, then I really think that 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.100 Sam's going to bring a huge thing to Vision Australia, 0:02:33.180 --> 0:02:37.620 particularly in the areas of Braille and speech output devices 0:02:37.620 --> 0:02:41.010 like the Sense Player OCR, but also things like the 0:02:41.010 --> 0:02:43.770 Victoria Stream and all those other different types of products. 0:02:43.770 --> 0:02:46.560 So I'm really, really happy to see him being part 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:47.670 of Vision Australia now. 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.540 Welcome, Sam, to Vision Australia and we wish Pacific Vision 0:02:51.540 --> 0:02:54.840 well with filling what will be quite a large gap indeed. 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:01.140 An interesting item that you came across concerns batteries, particularly 0:03:01.140 --> 0:03:03.090 the iPhone in the future. 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.170 Yes. So this is one of the stuff that's coming 0:03:07.170 --> 0:03:10.710 out of the European Union at the moment. Is there 0:03:10.710 --> 0:03:16.680 sort of battery decisions in 2027 which everybody's going to 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.440 start fighting with? So what it is, is that any 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:24.540 electronic device should be able to have its battery changed. 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:26.940 And what they're really talking about is consumer products. So 0:03:26.940 --> 0:03:29.310 they're not talking about electric vehicles and that sort of stuff. 0:03:29.700 --> 0:03:31.770 So what they're saying is you should be able to 0:03:31.770 --> 0:03:33.750 use any commercial tool that you can buy in a 0:03:33.750 --> 0:03:37.860 shop to change your battery. Now because Apple in particular, 0:03:37.860 --> 0:03:41.400 but this also applies to Samsung phones as well and 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:46.200 pixel phones is that these batteries are pretty much part 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.960 of the whole system. I mean, you've got to use 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.930 glue guns and special screwdrivers and everything else to even 0:03:51.930 --> 0:03:54.360 try and get the battery out, let alone do it 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:58.140 yourself as a non technician. In some ways I agree 0:03:58.140 --> 0:04:01.290 with them because like you don't want battery waste or 0:04:01.290 --> 0:04:04.050 like you and I talked before the show, Steven, half 0:04:04.050 --> 0:04:06.240 a time when you get rid of your phone, you're 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.280 really getting rid of it because one, you can't afford 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.590 to replace the battery or the battery's dying, so you 0:04:10.590 --> 0:04:12.990 buy a new phone. But wouldn't it be nice back 0:04:12.990 --> 0:04:15.660 in the old days, remember that if you had a 0:04:15.660 --> 0:04:18.300 phone and the battery was getting a bit woozy, you 0:04:18.300 --> 0:04:20.310 could just pop that one out, pop a new one 0:04:20.310 --> 0:04:23.580 in and off you go again. So I would like 0:04:23.580 --> 0:04:27.150 the fact that Apple did something, wherever it's going to be, 0:04:27.300 --> 0:04:29.700 will replace your battery for nothing. Because when I got 0:04:29.700 --> 0:04:32.490 my battery replaced in my phone a couple of years ago, 0:04:32.490 --> 0:04:35.940 it cost me just on $200. So maybe one way 0:04:35.940 --> 0:04:38.120 they'll be able to wiggle out of it is to say, well, look, 0:04:38.130 --> 0:04:42.870 we'll no longer charge for consumers. But remember, this is 2027. 0:04:43.500 --> 0:04:47.160 It just got announced. And I'm sure most of the 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:51.330 major manufacturers of phones and tablets remember and computers because 0:04:51.330 --> 0:04:54.420 remember the MacBook Air and the iPad, again, the batteries 0:04:54.420 --> 0:04:56.400 part of the whole unit. So I have a funny 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.160 feeling we're going to see a lot of benefactors screaming 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.490 and yelling with the EU about, no, no, no, we 0:05:02.490 --> 0:05:05.280 possibly can't do this. So let's keep looking at that 0:05:05.310 --> 0:05:06.570 over the next couple of years or so. 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.300 Yes. Because it really will make a big difference to 0:05:09.300 --> 0:05:11.760 the business models for those products. 0:05:11.790 --> 0:05:14.400 Can I say for the famous quote, they won't be 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:18.360 the thinnest iPhone or iPad Mac ever made, because you're 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.340 probably going to have to make it bigger to be 0:05:20.340 --> 0:05:22.230 able to cope with the fact that you want to 0:05:22.230 --> 0:05:23.490 be able to remove the battery. 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:25.950 And by the way, by then the iPhone will have 0:05:25.950 --> 0:05:28.620 been around for about 20 years. It's gone quick, hasn't it? 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:31.620 Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I wish you wouldn't have said that. 0:05:31.620 --> 0:05:32.700 I'm starting to feel old now. 0:05:32.950 --> 0:05:37.990 Tell me about the EU's Digital Services Act. More ramifications 0:05:37.990 --> 0:05:38.620 from that. 0:05:39.090 --> 0:05:41.500 Yeah. So this came into effect last week. So what 0:05:41.500 --> 0:05:45.850 it basically says is that any major company that has 0:05:45.850 --> 0:05:53.260 over 45 million users is responsible for the content that 0:05:53.260 --> 0:05:55.960 is on their platform. So what they were really talking 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.630 about in this article was what to do with ads. 0:05:58.870 --> 0:06:01.330 But when you think about content as well, you've got 0:06:01.330 --> 0:06:06.940 things like appropriate content for children, parental control, where you 0:06:06.940 --> 0:06:12.100 can opt in and opt out of ads or data sharing, 0:06:12.100 --> 0:06:15.160 which is one of the things that everybody's really concerned about. 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:18.010 So again, I know it's, you know, part of the 0:06:18.010 --> 0:06:22.000 European Union stuff, but this stuff always has global implications 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.960 because you can imagine that major companies don't want to 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.830 start filing with the EU. And hopefully for me in 0:06:29.830 --> 0:06:33.550 particular as a parent and a granddad, it has implications 0:06:33.550 --> 0:06:35.260 for the rest of the world. So to me, I 0:06:35.260 --> 0:06:38.290 think this is a really good thing. It's really holding 0:06:38.290 --> 0:06:44.770 up places like Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft to a set 0:06:44.770 --> 0:06:47.680 of standards that just basically says, you know what is 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:49.390 at the end of the day, you just can't do 0:06:49.390 --> 0:06:52.630 what you feel like. You've got responsibilities. And if you 0:06:52.630 --> 0:06:54.610 like it or not, tough luck. We're going to make 0:06:54.610 --> 0:06:55.030 you do it. 0:06:55.390 --> 0:06:59.230 A big driver around these changes, and particularly with the 0:06:59.230 --> 0:07:02.200 battery story we were talking about earlier, is about the 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:06.610 need to be more sensible with the materials we use 0:07:06.610 --> 0:07:08.620 and recycling. ET cetera. 0:07:08.830 --> 0:07:10.840 That's right. Both of them are really saying, you know, 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.780 common sense with batteries and common sense with content. 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.620 Google, apparently you can hum a song and it'll find 0:07:17.620 --> 0:07:18.280 it for you. 0:07:18.700 --> 0:07:22.410 Yes. So this is in beta on YouTube. So people 0:07:22.430 --> 0:07:25.630 are part of this Android beta testing program. So remember 0:07:25.630 --> 0:07:29.710 with like Shazam on iOS, you can actually let the 0:07:29.710 --> 0:07:32.830 microphone slash Siri listen to a part of a song 0:07:33.340 --> 0:07:36.250 or you can sing it and it will recognize that, Well, 0:07:36.580 --> 0:07:39.820 Google has taken this one step further and you can 0:07:39.820 --> 0:07:42.760 hum part of a song and it will recognize what 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:46.030 you're humming. And I don't know about you, Steve, but 0:07:46.030 --> 0:07:50.560 my musicality is absolutely awful. So I assumed if I 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.470 hummed on it, no bananas in pajamas, it might have 0:07:53.470 --> 0:07:55.240 a good idea of getting it. But I don't know 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.000 about the fantastic hits on the radio. I don't think 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:00.600 it'll work. But if anybody's on the beta team and 0:08:00.620 --> 0:08:03.460 used it, let us know and email me at David 0:08:03.460 --> 0:08:06.490 Dot Woodbridge at Borg and I'd be really interested to 0:08:06.490 --> 0:08:09.130 see how you go with that humming technique. Yeah, good. 0:08:09.130 --> 0:08:13.000 Luck folding phones now. Are they such a good idea? 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.670 This was a good article on folding phones that I 0:08:15.670 --> 0:08:18.430 found over the weekend because, well, it's really saying is 0:08:18.430 --> 0:08:21.700 folding phones, even though there have been around for recently, 0:08:21.700 --> 0:08:25.510 even smartphone technology for 4 or 5 years. I've had 0:08:25.510 --> 0:08:29.860 folding phones before back in the early 2000. Part of 0:08:29.860 --> 0:08:32.230 the problem with them in one one side of the 0:08:32.230 --> 0:08:36.220 argument is that the hinges can get dust inside them. 0:08:36.220 --> 0:08:40.450 Even though they open out the actual camera inside the 0:08:40.450 --> 0:08:45.790 phone is reduced in size because the actual phone's too thin. 0:08:46.480 --> 0:08:50.920 And the third major thing is because it has to unfold. 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.910 The battery in the phone is not that big. So 0:08:54.910 --> 0:08:56.830 half the time you've got to charge it more than 0:08:56.830 --> 0:09:00.470 once a day. On the positive side, particularly for us 0:09:00.470 --> 0:09:02.800 as blind and low vision people, you can open the 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.750 phone up to answer the call. You can close the 0:09:04.750 --> 0:09:07.840 phone to hang up the call. And for everybody you 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.930 can very quickly use the outside screen of the phone 0:09:10.930 --> 0:09:13.270 because remember, it folds down and you've got this little 0:09:13.270 --> 0:09:15.850 screen on the outside and you can use that screen 0:09:15.850 --> 0:09:18.670 to quickly check a message or reply to a message. 0:09:18.670 --> 0:09:21.190 You can check the time, the weather and do sorts 0:09:21.190 --> 0:09:24.970 of very small things without actually having to open the phone. 0:09:24.970 --> 0:09:28.260 So there's sort of good and bad points to it. 0:09:28.290 --> 0:09:31.510 Also got my Z three flip, which I'm still happy about, 0:09:31.510 --> 0:09:34.720 but I really, really want a flip phone from Apple. 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.290 So maybe in 2027 as well. Steve I might have 0:09:38.290 --> 0:09:39.610 a flip phone from Apple. 0:09:40.090 --> 0:09:42.850 Yeah, I don't really get this, but there's a contention 0:09:42.850 --> 0:09:45.520 that note taking apps don't make us smarter. 0:09:45.790 --> 0:09:48.820 And I think what this article is really getting at 0:09:48.820 --> 0:09:52.000 is that you can write down and keep links to 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:56.830 the cows come home. But if you don't think about 0:09:56.830 --> 0:10:01.600 what you're reading about or taking notes about, then you're 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:06.490 not really using your thought processes as a fairly advanced 0:10:06.490 --> 0:10:10.690 life form. Because what we're saying is that apparently was 0:10:10.690 --> 0:10:13.990 it three decades ago, we used to spend a couple 0:10:13.990 --> 0:10:16.480 of minutes looking at a screen or whatever else it 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.720 might have been. Now we spend 47 seconds per screen 0:10:20.260 --> 0:10:22.780 for us blind folks. We probably spend more time than that. 0:10:22.780 --> 0:10:24.730 But the problem is what they kept saying is that 0:10:24.730 --> 0:10:29.830 if you switch too many times doing multiple tasks, you're 0:10:29.830 --> 0:10:32.830 not really being able to concentrate on any one task. 0:10:32.900 --> 0:10:35.780 Any one time. So it's like that jack of all trades. 0:10:35.780 --> 0:10:38.660 You do average on most things, but you're not really 0:10:38.660 --> 0:10:40.860 going to be very good at one thing. So I 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.000 this one, I like it because when I focus on 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.480 a particular topic for talking tech, I try and read 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.510 more about that topic while I'm thinking about it and 0:10:50.510 --> 0:10:53.210 taking notes on it rather than going, Oh my goodness, 0:10:53.210 --> 0:10:56.090 I've got to find these ten other articles. I just 0:10:56.090 --> 0:10:58.160 focus on one thing at a time because it said 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.010 in reality there was really no such thing as multitasking. 0:11:01.010 --> 0:11:03.050 If you're switching every 47 seconds. 0:11:03.470 --> 0:11:07.490 One of the old Twitter third party apps spring for 0:11:07.490 --> 0:11:10.120 X as it now is still goes viral. 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.350 I know. And look, I don't know how this thing 0:11:12.350 --> 0:11:14.750 has survived because we know like things like Twitter riffic 0:11:14.870 --> 0:11:18.080 went and all the other major ones that particularly blind 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:20.960 and low vision people love. So I don't know how 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.910 spring for Twitter has survived under the radar and it 0:11:25.910 --> 0:11:28.670 hasn't yet picked up and told you, No, go away, 0:11:28.670 --> 0:11:31.190 you're not supposed to be doing that. So remember the 0:11:31.190 --> 0:11:35.270 developer of Spring for Twitter is also the developer of Moana, 0:11:35.930 --> 0:11:39.440 for iOS and for Mac, and that works extremely well. 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:43.340 So quietly, if you don't like the Twitter app on iOS, 0:11:43.370 --> 0:11:46.640 go and grab a spring for Twitter and it's absolutely brilliant. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.850 What's the latest with Lego and Braille? 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:53.900 This is really exciting. So we've had Lego bricks for 0:11:53.900 --> 0:12:00.500 educators since 2019, so educators could get a whole box 0:12:00.500 --> 0:12:03.500 of Lego that had Lego letters and numbers on it, 0:12:03.500 --> 0:12:07.100 plus print, and they're all different nice colors as well. 0:12:07.220 --> 0:12:11.780 And educators could use that to build in literacy literacy 0:12:11.780 --> 0:12:14.090 into play with children, which is a great way of 0:12:14.210 --> 0:12:18.770 improving literacy. But now what the Lego Foundation has done 0:12:18.770 --> 0:12:21.290 is said, Well, now we're going to commercially sell this 0:12:21.290 --> 0:12:25.280 to everybody on the planet. So if you're a parent 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:28.190 with a blind or a low vision child going blind, 0:12:28.190 --> 0:12:30.920 then you can use this as a literacy and as 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:35.330 with all different types of Lego, it comes with instructions 0:12:35.330 --> 0:12:39.410 or play instructions on how to incorporate Braille and it 0:12:39.410 --> 0:12:42.350 really cool thing. Steve I think it's amazing you'll be 0:12:42.350 --> 0:12:45.650 able to use Be My Eyes when the Lego bar 0:12:45.650 --> 0:12:47.780 becomes available and probably in about the second week of 0:12:47.780 --> 0:12:53.060 September to talk to Lego itself directly for support people 0:12:53.060 --> 0:12:55.460 on how to use the Braille bricks. And I think 0:12:55.460 --> 0:12:57.530 that is absolutely amazing. 0:12:57.710 --> 0:13:01.490 Interesting things happening in the Bemis world with my eye 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:02.870 out in the public beta. 0:13:03.290 --> 0:13:05.990 I think we've been my eyes in particular it's watch 0:13:05.990 --> 0:13:09.530 this space because they're adding so many specialist services. As 0:13:09.530 --> 0:13:13.370 you said, the eye one you can contact Google Microsoft 0:13:13.370 --> 0:13:16.550 via the Beam Eyes app. They are really becoming a 0:13:16.550 --> 0:13:20.720 powerhouse for doing video support and I might add, for free. 0:13:22.340 --> 0:13:25.760 The Apple event announcing the new iPhones and other bits 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.160 and pieces. When do you reckon? In a couple of weeks. 0:13:28.460 --> 0:13:30.980 I reckon in a couple of weeks. So I think 0:13:30.980 --> 0:13:34.040 the second week in September, I normally give two weeks 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.610 warning to journalists and mainstream media about when it's coming up. 0:13:37.610 --> 0:13:41.240 Now as we go to air on Tuesday afternoon, there's 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:45.110 a tentative suggestion that it may be on a Tuesday 0:13:45.260 --> 0:13:48.350 in the second week of September. So hopefully by next 0:13:48.350 --> 0:13:51.950 week Stephen will know 100%. But as with people follow 0:13:51.950 --> 0:13:55.370 me on X or Mastodon, I'll certainly let people know 0:13:55.370 --> 0:13:56.810 as soon as I find out anyway. 0:13:56.810 --> 0:14:00.890 Yeah, so around the 12th, 13th, 14th, etcetera of September. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:04.160 Just before we go, a reminder of where people can 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.470 find details of what we've been talking about in this 0:14:06.470 --> 0:14:08.030 and previous editions of the program. 0:14:08.210 --> 0:14:10.340 Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site, 0:14:10.340 --> 0:14:14.840 which is David would be a dot podbean pad and com. 0:14:15.050 --> 0:14:20.270 David would be our podbean pod b e n to 0:14:20.270 --> 0:14:21.200 write to the program. 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:23.960 You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work, 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:28.670 as well as Sam Taylor at David Dot Woodbridge. How 0:14:28.670 --> 0:14:31.220 it sounds at Vision Australia. Org. 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.780 David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org This has been 0:14:35.780 --> 0:14:38.930 talking tech with me has been Vision Australia's National Advisor 0:14:38.930 --> 0:14:43.670 on Access Technology, David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley. Don't forget 0:14:43.670 --> 0:14:46.580 about Dad for Father's Day and there's always the vision store. 0:14:46.580 --> 0:14:48.890 You can go to just a few days to go. 0:14:49.250 --> 0:14:52.220 In the meantime, take care. We'll talk more tech next week. 0:14:52.220 --> 0:14:52.610 See you.