S1: Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from
S1: January 16th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have you
S1: with us listening maybe through Virgin Australia Radio or associated
S1: Stations of Australia or perhaps the Community Radio Network. There
S1: is also the podcast to catch that, all you need
S1: to do is search for the two words talking tech
S1: and downer can all come usually on a Tuesday afternoon
S1: just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask
S1: your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia
S1: Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio talking Tech podcast
S1: with me, someone who can explain all this tech stuff
S1: really well. Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge. David,
S1: to begin, let's go back to that very brief conversation
S1: we had last week about Microsoft being and Microsoft Co-Pilot.
S1: Can you explain for us the roles of each of
S1: those two Microsoft features?
S2: In simple terms, Bing is actually the search engine, which
S2: incorporates a little bit of what Copilot does from an
S2: AI artificial intelligence point of view, but primarily its main
S2: function is as a search engine to find stuff on
S2: the internet, whereas Copilot is truly your 100% AI artificial
S2: intelligence generative system, which allows you to do research and
S2: ask questions and get it. To summarize, texts and emails
S2: help you write documents, uh, look at uploaded images and
S2: find out what they're about, and so on and so on. Uh,
S2: because after I did the show last week, I thought, oh,
S2: maybe a bit of check. So I asked both Microsoft
S2: Copilot and Microsoft Bing if they were the same system,
S2: and they came back and they said, no, they're not.
S2: They're two separate systems. So apologies for the misleading comment
S2: last week, but no, they're two completely different systems.
S1: And significant news has been that Microsoft is going to
S1: introduce a co-pilot key on its Windows 11 keyboards. But
S1: if you don't have the special Windows 11 keyboard, you
S1: can do it with the windows key and see which
S1: is very good news.
S2: It is because everybody was talking about the fact that
S2: all the new keyboards that are coming out this year
S2: are going to have a co-pilot key, and you'll be
S2: sitting there going, well, my laptop or my desktop keyboard
S2: doesn't have one. But yeah, I think it's a great idea. And,
S2: you know, in windows terms, they've always said there are
S2: lots of different ways of doing exactly the same thing.
S2: And this is just one of them.
S1: Apple news. Now the much talked about Vision Pro is
S1: about to become available in the United States. It is.
S2: Indeed. So it's pre-ordering on January the 19th and it'll
S2: be available in store on February. The I want to
S2: say second in the US it's going to be in
S2: short supply. Of course everybody wants one, but this is
S2: the first time I really felt comfortable saying, let's let
S2: the US have a go at this completely new system.
S2: Apple saying it's not an AR or a VR system,
S2: augmented reality or virtual reality, it's a spatial computer, uh,
S2: which means it actually accesses spatially what's around you. And
S2: you can put things in the particular environment like a
S2: computer screen or notification. You can access your Mac, your rights,
S2: your iPhone, all sorts of amazing things. But what's good
S2: for us from an accessibility point of view is we
S2: can see how people with different disabilities interact with their system,
S2: from VoiceOver users to low vision users to hearing impaired,
S2: to people that may have issues with their hands. You know,
S2: in a way. And I want to say this in
S2: the positive thing, the people in the US are going
S2: to be sort of our little guinea pigs, and we
S2: can sit back and then say, yeah, look, this looks
S2: really interesting, has great benefits. Or perhaps there's a few
S2: more things to work on. Let's wait for version two.
S2: So I'm really looking forward to the time after it's
S2: released to see what people over there do it. Within
S2: the disability area.
S1: Apple has discreetly changed its find my limits.
S2: They have so in the Find My Devices tab, you
S2: only had a maximum of six two items and one
S2: in mind. By devices are mainly mean things like your
S2: AirTags for example, and you only had a maximum of 16. Well,
S2: apparently in iOS 16 and above. And now at 17,
S2: they they increase the number to 32 but didn't tell anybody.
S2: So now they've released a support document saying, oh, and
S2: look by the way, you can have more AirTags now
S2: rather than just 32 because I hit. My 16 limit
S2: very quickly, because I was basically taking almost everything in
S2: my house to keep track of it. So now if
S2: you want, you can exceed that limit now and go
S2: up to 32 rather than just 16. So that's good news.
S1: Tell everyone what magic keyboards are and what Apple's doing there.
S2: So Magic Keyboards are those little keyboards that we've been
S2: using for quite a long time as a Bluetooth keyboard
S2: to access primarily your Mac. And also, you know, I
S2: found in your iPad, but apparently there's been a bug
S2: for a while with the Bluetooth connection between the physical
S2: keyboard and then when it Bluetooth connects to the device
S2: that it's using because apparently a hacker close by, as
S2: in near that keyboard, can hack the Bluetooth signal to
S2: get the key to the Bluetooth pairing, which means then
S2: they can actually monitor what's being sent over that Bluetooth connection, i.e.
S2: what you're typing on the computer, like passwords and that
S2: sort of stuff. So it's a bit of a dangerous one.
S2: And like I said, the person has to be in
S2: physical proximity to the keyboard, but now they've actually repaired
S2: that particular bug and like with your AirPods and so on.
S2: Once you connected this device, like the Magic Keyboard, it'll
S2: get updated automatically in the background.
S1: Let's talk about CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. It's the
S1: big event that takes place in the first part of
S1: the year, and some accessibility announcements that might be of interest.
S1: So let's talk indoor navigation first. And the AC mobility
S1: smart cane.
S2: So this one uses a cane linked up to a
S2: smartphone I'm assuming. And what it allows you to do
S2: is to navigate independently around a building inside. So they
S2: were talking about being in a museum and you could
S2: locate a particular artwork or museum display area, and it
S2: would describe it to you. This one sounds good in theory,
S2: but it would mean that somebody would have to map
S2: that inside of the building and update it all the time.
S2: So a great idea. Let's just see how it gets implemented.
S2: Now remember again, all these devices are coming in this year.
S2: Just because they were talked about at CES doesn't mean
S2: either one they'll actually come to be in the marketplace
S2: or two that will actually go anywhere. So but let's see.
S2: Let's keep fingers crossed for this one.
S1: Now, when I first heard about a good year or
S1: so ago, the gliding self-driving cane.
S2: This is the kind that uses two wheels and you
S2: basically pushes it along and it gives you indications about
S2: obstacles that the system's detecting. So it's very much like
S2: a bit of a smart car in a way. Uh,
S2: so it'll indicate you whether it's an obstacle that you
S2: should slow down or it'll indicate that you want to
S2: go around to the left or right. Go around an obstacle.
S2: It looks very interesting. What they're saying is this thing
S2: will indicate to you it will not try and drag
S2: you around things unless you don't want to go there.
S2: So it sounds like it's more of a by the way,
S2: we can go around this obstacle left. Or by the way,
S2: there's an obstacle in front of you. So I think
S2: that's an interesting way to do it. And hopefully we
S2: might see more information on this because again, yeah, I
S2: was reading about this last year and we'll see how
S2: they go this year.
S1: You found an article about several different smart glasses products.
S2: Yes. It was all sort of labeled into one article,
S2: which was a bit weird the way it was labeled,
S2: but basically there's a set of glasses to enable better hearing. Um,
S2: so it sort of amplifies the sounds around you. So
S2: if you've got a slight bit of hearing loss, this
S2: is actually quite handy for that. That particular purpose. Second
S2: one was about smart glasses to indicate changes in your environment,
S2: like again, like obstacles or changes to the footpaths and
S2: that sort of stuff. A little bit of hi messaging
S2: to say that it would be absolutely amazing and change
S2: people's lives forever. And you could get rid of your
S2: guide dog or your cane, which is another one that
S2: also said that, uh, but we'll see. But again, this
S2: is another tool. And again, with all this sort of
S2: navigation and orientation mobility stuff, I noticed that people try
S2: it out first. If it works, brilliant. If it doesn't,
S2: then nobody says you have to use it.
S1: Tell us about Lighthouse Tech and their product.
S2: This one was a lot more substantial than the other
S2: glasses that I just talked about to do with obstacle detection.
S2: This one was apparently saying that it'll actually be able
S2: to do a lot with your environment, identifying objects and
S2: all that sort of stuff. So this one's going to
S2: be very interesting to look at. But again, I just
S2: wish people would stop saying that, you know, this is
S2: a time to replace the cane or the guide dog. Um,
S2: and like I said with the previous one, this is
S2: just an adjunct to what you are using. As far
S2: as I'm concerned.
S1: The one comes find and keyboard for gaming.
S2: This is a two pronged device if you like. It's
S2: they're going to try and incorporate it into things like the. Controller,
S2: the Xbox controller and so on. But for us, blind
S2: and light vision people, it's a six key Qwerty keyboard.
S2: So by different combinations of those six keys, you can
S2: actually effectively type as a if you're on a query keyboard.
S2: So they were saying it's not only good for gamers
S2: if you want to, you know, type into your text
S2: chat box, but it's also good for blind and low
S2: vision people because you've only got six keys to to
S2: deal with. So let's see what happens with that one.
S2: I get a bit overwhelmed with custom keyboards, but if
S2: this ends up in, uh, game controllers, there may be
S2: it might not be a bad thing to get involved with.
S1: Orcam have moved into the hearing world.
S2: Yes, this is actually pretty amazing because all can we
S2: know about the, you know, the Orcam camera and the
S2: Orcam read and so on. Well, this is to allow
S2: you to do a profile of a person's voice. So
S2: if you're talking to a person in a restaurant or
S2: a couple of people, and you've set up different voice
S2: profiles for them via an app, you can zero in
S2: by moving a hearing focus on the screen and you're
S2: able to hear them, and you'll be able to hear
S2: any sort of background sounds at all. So I think
S2: this is a really interesting thing that both it's been
S2: developed and to that Orcam is going out into other areas,
S2: rather than just focusing on blind or low vision assistive tech.
S1: There's a bit of stuff been happening with head tracking,
S1: silent speech, um, whispering into your device, etc..
S2: There has been there's been a few devices that see
S2: us that have sort of done this. So one of
S2: them is, uh, this sort of dental insert that you
S2: get scanned to put it inside your mouth to control
S2: your computer, uh, by moving your tongue around in your head.
S2: There's another one. If you could only whisper, for example,
S2: that you've damaged your lyrics, uh, then this would actually
S2: generate either your samples of your own voice or use,
S2: I guess, a computer type voice to be able to
S2: speak clearly. Uh, so that was also pretty amazing. And
S2: there was another device that you could actually muffle your voice, uh,
S2: so that people could not hear what you were saying.
S2: If you're on a smartphone talking on a phone call,
S2: and or it would actually muffle the sounds around you
S2: so you could actually concentrate on a phone call, for example.
S2: So yeah, so interesting stuff to do with audio there.
S1: Some other service announcements clicks.
S2: This is a mini full sized keyboard if you like
S2: quality keyboard for your smartphone. So it's iPhone 14 and
S2: iPhone 15 and the Pro versions. Uh, it's only about
S2: a third of the size of the screen. It's going
S2: to have very tiny keys. You can do shortcuts with it.
S2: I'll be interested to see how it actually interacts with VoiceOver,
S2: for example. So I think that's one of these devices
S2: to keep an eye on because it is a mainstream product.
S1: What about this ring?
S2: This ring is wearing a little ring that if you
S2: want to then whisper to ChatGPT or talk to Siri, etc.
S2: then you can bring the ring to your mouth and
S2: you can whisper to it. So apparently this is rather
S2: than hearing people shouting at their device, you can just
S2: whisper it to it now via the little ring on
S2: your finger shocks.
S1: We used to know them as aftershocks, but their shocks
S1: shock Z. They've gone to the water.
S2: They have gone to the water. They had a device
S2: back in 2019, uh, which was sort of okay, this
S2: is an updated version. It's got a microphone in it now,
S2: 32GB of Ram. And it's really good for people that
S2: if you want to listen to music, uh, and I
S2: guess talk because it's got a microphone, uh, then you
S2: can do that while you're swimming now as well.
S1: Lots more has come out of CES. You'll have a
S1: link to all that in your show notes.
S2: I certainly will, plus some really great articles from TechCrunch, etc..
S1: Just before we go, a reminder of where there are
S1: details of what you've talked about in this and previous
S1: editions of the program.
S2: Indeed. So as always, you can check out my blog site,
S2: which is David Wood Beer dot Podbean pad Ben comm.
S1: David would be AirPod bean pod b e a incom
S1: to write to the program.
S2: You can write to me at vision share where I work,
S2: which is David Woodbridge how it sounds at Vision Australia.
S1: Org David 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.