New from Apple and more from CSUN

00:08 S1

Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from April the 1st, 2025. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have you with us listening maybe through Vision Australia Radio, associated stations of the Radio Reading Network or the Community Radio Network. There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you need to do is search for the two words Talking Tech. And [?down it comes], will come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech Podcast. Vision Australia Radio Talking Tech Podcast. 

With me, Vision Australia's national Access Technology Manager Damien McMorrow. Damo, are you just about settled back to normal now after your CSUN adventure?

00:55 S2

I think so. I'm still excited about a lot of the people that I met and the things that I saw, but I'm over the jetlag now, so that's that's nice. I'm starting to feel vaguely human again.

01:06 S1

So it's not quite a distant memory yet.

01:09 S2

Not yet. No, no.

01:12 S1

Well, let's talk about more of what you discovered later in the program. But to start, just to alert everyone to the fact that Apple are releasing another batch of their software updates this week - some of you may already have it. So we're... the iOS 18.4 and the corresponding increments for their other devices, including Mac OS... and Damo, we're not going to see the enhancements to Siri that people were anticipating, because Apple said they'd be bringing them to us... the AI enhancements, which certainly will come maybe next year sometime. There have been a lot of improvements in Siri, though over recent months, haven't there?

01:58 S2

Yeah there have. Yeah. It's a shame that they've sort of... delayed further rollouts of that, but it's definitely a big improvement on what it was.

02:07 S1

I believe that... with the 18.4, Siri will be available from more areas, such as the Lock Screen and the Control Centre. So look out for those and play around a bit, and you might find some useful improvements. Also an interesting feature for prioritising notifications is going to be refined a bit more, so that'll be good.

02:34 S2

Definitely, definitely. There's nothing more annoying than being bombarded by those.

02:38 S1

So that's iOS 18.4 and other Apple software coming to your machine sometime this week. Now Damo, let's go back to CSUN - and you did see some interesting stuff in the area of low vision. And I guess a way to describe it would be distance cameras. Tell us about that.

02:59 S2

Yes. So there was a couple of devices that interested me. One was a device called the Magnabot. If anyone remembers the old bot [?Ebert] that HIMS used to make. It's kind of a similar idea, but a lot smaller. So the idea of this one is it's a motorised camera, so you can tilt it up and down left and right, and it connects wirelessly to a tablet. So something like an iPad. And the idea is that you could put it in a place where it's got a good view of what's happening. 

So, you know, for example, in a classroom situation, you might sit it on the teacher's desk looking straight at the board. The student can then sit wherever they want to or need to in the room, and they can drive the camera from their iPad so they get the image on the screen and they can zoom in and out and all of that sort of thing, but they can also pan it around. So if the teacher was doing something on the board and then, you know, let's say, for example, if it was a science lesson and they were doing a practical demonstration, you could direct the camera to what was happening at the front of the room and be able to observe that. So that was one of them. 

The other one was the Snow Pad, which is a similar idea, but it's a manually operated camera. So the student would have the camera next to them and they can sort of move it around. But it's a good distance camera, and it's nice to see a couple of options in that space, because it's something that's been missing for a while. I think in the education area is having a good distance solution. 

You know, there are things like the CCTV type magnifiers where the camera's on an arm. So, you know, I'm thinking things like the Onyx from Vespero, the Acrobat, those sorts of devices, but they're not really portable for a high school student. They're okay for early primary where you want something that just fires up and works, and there aren't too many buttons for little hands to fiddle with. But, you know, they are like carrying a heavy monitor around so they don't lend themselves to someone who needs to move from room to room. Whereas both of these devices would allow you to have your distance magnification solution in your backpack.

05:10 S1

We have moved a long way from the kid that can't see very well, having to sit right up the front of the room and stress and strain to find out what's on the board.

05:20 S2

That's right. Yeah. And which is really good to see. And a lot of these things, you have the ability to, to capture photos and do OCR and that sort of thing. As I've said before, it's really important, I think these days because we have so many options. It's so important for kids to have that concept of the technology toolbox and having a couple of different tools at your disposal so that when your eyes aren't cooperating or something's hard to see, you've got other ways of accessing it. And I think we're we're getting there in that way.

05:50 S1

So just remind us again of these devices... the Magnabot.

05:53 S2

The Magnabot is one of them, and the other is the Snow Pad from Zoomax.

06:00 S1

They're both from Zoomax?

06:02 S2

Oh, no. Sorry, the Magnabot is from [?TriCity].

06:05 S1

Right. So we'll do that again.

06:06 S2

Yeah.

06:07 S1

So just remind us of those two devices again. The Magnabot?

06:11 S2

Yeah. The Magnabot from [?TriCity] and the Snow Pad from Zoomax.

06:16 S1

Okay, now let's move into the area of Braille displays. We talked about those last week, and there's a new kind of... haptic technology.

06:29 S2

Yes, there's a company called New Haptics, and they've developed a Braille display which operates... using air to operate the pins, the Braille cells. So normally your traditional Braille cell is operated with a sort of a piezoelectric type arrangement. I'm not exactly sure the ink cells that are used in the Dotpad and the Monarch, they are a different technology again, but this one, it's a fairly large sort of multi-line display. So it's a desktop device rather than something portable. It comes with a little air pump that sits under the table and that operates the pins. 

It's interesting that we're starting to see, I think, different ways of producing multi-line Braille. You know, it'll be interesting to see kind of which technology wins out. But the problem with the... piezoelectric cells and a lot of the others is the high cost. And I think this particular device, it's it is still I think prototype. But it's nice that people are trying to find more affordable ways of producing multi-line Braille and experimenting with different technologies.

07:34 S1

Yes. And you just wonder what there's going to be in, say, five years time, don't you?

07:37 S2

Oh, you absolutely do. Yeah. As I said, this device is a... desktop type unit. I think they're sort of targeting perhaps the developer-slash-coder market or someone that doesn't need to carry their Braille display around. It's an interesting concept, and the Braille itself actually feels very nice.

07:57 S1

So this one's on the way. It's still at prototype stage.

08:00 S2

That's right. Yes.

08:01 S1

From New Haptics.

08:03 S2

New Haptics. Yep.

08:04 S1

Let's go back to getting around, or orientation and mobility, as they say in the trade - a product from Make Sense...

08:13 S2

Yes. This one was an interesting one to experiment with. The product consists of a chest harness in which you install your iPhone, and then there are two variants of the other component. One is sort of a little hand-held wand type thing, and the other is one that attaches to a long cane. And the idea is that the camera in your phone detects obstacles, but it also uses the GPS in your phone to record routes and those kinds of things. And the little wand device, essentially like a cylinder that you hold in your hand. And there's a little groove that you put one finger into, and that groove kind of pivots. 

So the idea is that when you need to make a turn, the little indicator that your finger sits in pivots around and tells you how much you need to turn. So, you know, whether it's a, you know, a hard left or whether it's just a gradual kind of veer. What it also does though, if you record a route, it will let you know if you're veering on , say, a road crossing. So if you start to veer to the left, the little indicator under your finger will sort of push to the right to tell you which way you need to go and by how much in order to correct your course. 

And there is another version of it that attaches to the grip of a a long cane. In that instance, your thumb sits in the groove and you can then receive the the feedback from the the application that way. So good for pre-recording routes but also good for obstacle avoidance and that type of thing. So it was quite an interesting one. And... the little trial that I had with it was actually quite impressive.

10:03 S1

What stage is it at?

10:05 S2

Oh, I think this one still also at prototype. They're still kind of refining it, but I think they're hoping to have it available sometime in the next couple of months. I don't think it's far off.

10:15 S1

Mm, it's very interesting, isn't it, that we're seeing a number of these devices that are what I think of as guidance devices, sort of nudging you in the right direction.

10:25 S2

And it is interesting. I mean, I think that there's still no substitute for good orientation and mobility skills, but I think having some of these secondary aides available, perhaps, you know, for some people it gives them a little more confidence or it helps them to if if something has gone wrong, helps them to sort of troubleshoot and, and correct course and that kind of thing. So, uh, you know, I think it's, it's going to be an interesting space to watch over the next couple of years.

10:54 S1

The AI world moves quickly along, and there's an interesting web based product in a search. Tell us about that one.

11:04 S2

Yes. So this is designed to provide an accessible shopping experience. It essentially makes its money, I think, by the online retailers that work with the platform paying to use it. So there's no cost to the end user if you like, but the idea is that it uses AI to guide you to particular products. So it has a couple of ways you can do it. You can do it through a web browser, and it's all nice and accessible, but it also has a phone based option as well where you can talk to essentially an AI robot type thing and say, you know, I'm interested in headphones and it will give you some options or ask you some questions to narrow down your search, and then it will allow you to go right through to the sort of checkout process. 

So for people who maybe don't want to or can't get out and about and go shopping with a support worker, but there may be a little bit nervous about using things like eBay or Amazon and then finding, you know, going to an online store and finding that it's all great until you get to the checkout and then it becomes inaccessible. This gives people a couple of different ways to accessibly shop. And for someone who's non-technical, having that phone sort of voice guided way of doing it as well, I think is actually pretty impressive.

12:25 S1

I suspect there are more situations than we realise where we ring up and have an interaction with a being at the end of the phone who is not actually a human, but an AI tool.

12:36 S2

Yeah, I think it's getting that way, definitely. The thing is that it's the quality of the speech now is so good that it does almost sound like you're dealing with a person, doesn't it?

12:46 S1

Mm, it certainly does. So this one is called Inner Search... and it's available in Australia, the UK, the United States and Canada.

12:56 S2

The other thing interesting thing about Inner Search is that I think over time things like flights and accommodation and those sorts of things will be added to it as well.

13:05 S1

That will be really good. And... particularly if they can for us. I think of when you book travel and you need to include an assistance dog, a guide dog or whatever, to be able to do that sort of automatically would be very good too, because that seems to really slow up the process.

13:24 S2

Oh it does. It's so tedious. And you... invariably get the silly questions. I think my favourite was, Why you want to travel with this dog? I didn't really know what to say, so I said, Because it's got lovely fluffy ears.

13:38 S1

An excellent answer! Before we go, let's remind everyone that you can find details of this and previous editions of the program by going to varadio.com ... VA Radio dot com. And to write to the program...

13:56 S2

You can email me at damo.mcmorrow@visionaustralia.org ...

14:06 S1

This has been Talking Tech - with me has been Vision Australia's national Access Technology manager Damien McMorrow. I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe and we'll talk more tech next week. See you.