Tech that I use myself

00:08S1

Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from January 30th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have you with us. Wherever you're listening, perhaps through Vision Australia Radio, Associated Stations of Australia 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 then it can all 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, someone who can explain all this tech stuff really well: Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, David Woodbridge David, let's start by talking about the Dean Blazey device, which started from the device that came out over 30 years ago. Now, the 21st century version we were talking about this last week, the BT Lasi technology speak.

01:12S2

So as we talked about last week, there's two versions of it. So it's the BT speak, which is the basic version, and there's the BT Speak Pro, which by the sound of it, yes, is the more professional, the pro version. Uh, and just as a reminder, the Pro version has everything in it that the BT speak does, plus a little bit more. And I was sort of speculating last week about the price. And I've actually ordered one of these and of course maybe me. I ordered the pro version. Now what I sort of forgot in the back of my mind was when I looked at the website to confirm the prices, the BT speak the basic version. The note taker was 795 US. Uh, the Pro version was 1195 US. And I thought, oh, well, you know, that's not too bad. But when it came to ordering it and getting it shipped to Australia, the shipping cost was actually $200 US. And given our current exchange rate, that ended up being just slightly over $2,100. 

So what I might suggest people might want to do is exactly what they're going to do with the Vision Pro. Let's let these, uh, first people that like to use, you know, get their hands on the first technology. So the Vision Pro, we're going to have a couple of months of looking at what the US people think about it. Well, when the BT speak and the BT C Pro starts selling direct properly in March 1st, then people like me and lots of other people that have always wanted a modern day rail and speak, we'll have pre-ordered, we'll get our hands on it. And I'm certainly going to do lots of different types of audio demos, and you can base your decision based on that. But if you're not a diehard Roland Speak user and you just want a modern version of it, maybe just sit back a little bit and don't get too caught up in the hype and see what it's all about.

03:08S1

Last week we went through a number of items that are available from the vision store of Vision Australia that might be of help to people, at the workplace or in study. One area we didn't get around to but be good to cover is keyboards.

03:27S2

That's right. So there's lots of different types of keyboards around. And of course, if we just break them down into the basic ones, you've literally got a wired keyboard and then a basically a Bluetooth keyboard. And there's different varieties of that as well. But what my main thing to remind people about is it's all well, good. And having a Bluetooth keyboard that you connect to your smartphone or your computer. But if that keyboard goes flat because they normally battery operated, um, then you need an alternative, either another Bluetooth keyboard or you buy yourself a very cheap basic USB keyboard. And yes, you can convert them to USB C with an adapter, which means you can then just plug them in and they literally run, if you like, off the power, off the the computer that you're using them on. Now just so happens that Virgin Australia sells are quite a few of these large print keyboards. So they're standard keyboards with larger characters on them. 

So the different versions of them, there's a black and white one, a white on black and a yellow on black, and they only cost about $19. Now, when you consider that most Bluetooth keyboards probably started about 70 or $80 and go up, having a back up keyboard for $19 is a really good idea. So even if you're not a low vision person like I am, uh, it's always a good idea to have a backup wired USB keyboard. And I've always said to my wife as well, because she uses a magic trackpad, which is, of course, Bluetooth again. Uh, we've also got a cable, of course, lightning bass that plugs that, um. Head into the back of the Mac as well. Um, although that one's a little bit different because it's got a built in battery, but it gets the charge off the off the Mac. So just be aware that there are benefits of having not only a Bluetooth keyboard, but a wide one as well.

05:22S1

Might be a good time this week to talk about some of the hardware devices that you have that are probably not available through the vision store of Vision Australia, but they can be located around the place. Let's start with tags. You've got two kinds of tags. That's some ways of identifying where objects are.

05:43S2

That's right. And the reason why I've got two is because the famous one, of course, is everybody knows about the tags where you put them in the little holder and you attach that holder to your keys, your baggage or in your purse and that sort of stuff. So that's all well and good. If you've got an iOS things such as an iPhone and iPad or a mac. Now, if you don't have that and you've got an Android system of some sort, um, then the toe tag is another one where it actually has a little hole drilled into the actual toe tag itself, so you can tag it straight to a keyring or a lanyard and everything else. Not only does it work on Android, but it's also iOS plus the fact it does something that the attacks don't do, and that is you can hold a little button down on the toe tag and it plays a little tune on your Android smartphone or your iPhone so you can find out where you put down your iPhone. So that's really nifty. So that's something that the AirTags don't do.

06:40S1

So how do you identify other objects with it? What does it indicate to you if you're trying to find out where the device is, like a case or a bag or something.

06:50S2

So the way it works is any AirTag or tile tag, you have a tile tag or an AirTag per item, and then in your tile app or your Find My app on your iPhone. Each one of those tags is labeled, so I've got things like David's keys, David's cane, and then you play the appropriate sound of whatever AirTag or tile tag you're choosing.

07:14S1

The actual AirTag makes the sound it does. Okay, so that's tags. Let's talk now about the gaming headset that you've got, the steel series.

07:25S2

So this one's been around for several years now. So the one that I've got is called the Steel Series three Gaming Headset. Effectively, what it gives you is two sound cards, one for chat, so audio and mic and one just for sound output. So what I can do on my Mac or my PC is, say, assign zoom to the sound card that supports both sound and Mike and the other one to voiceover. So at any stage during what I'm doing on my computer, I can turn one sound card up or down and vice versa. Quite handy.

07:58S1

Hmm. You've also got a Bluetooth transmitter...

08:02S2

So these come in really handy when the device that you're using doesn't allow Bluetooth transmission. So normally we're thinking about things that only have a 3.5mm headphone jack, and that's about it. Or maybe an internal speaker. So you literally plugged this 3.5 mil Bluetooth transmitter into the headphone jack. It then transmits and then you connect your headphones, whether they're, you know, aftershocks or whatever else there might be to that Bluetooth transmitter. So effectively when you're playing audio out of the non Bluetooth device, because you've got the transmitter plugged into the headphone jack, it turns it into a Bluetooth transmitting device so that you can use your headset with it.

08:47S1

Now let's talk about your zoom powered track P4. You've had that for a little while.

08:54S2

I have I want to say I've almost had this for about 4 or 5 years now, and the reason why I like about it is because it's small, it's easy to use, and because I use a number of different devices, I've got them all running into the pod track. So normally I've got my two mics plugged in, I've got my PC or my Mac plugged in, and I've got my either my iPhone on my iPad plugged in. So it literally means that I can just use one device for switch between a few devices that are plugged into it, and it's just nice having this external unit that I can get better recording out of if you like.

09:30S1

Yeah, and it's very small, isn't it?

09:32S2

It is very small. It's not tiny. Tiny, but you certainly can fit it in, like a little over-the-shoulder tech bag and doesn't take up much room at all. It's a very expensive, pretty round, about $300.

09:45S1

Let's talk USB now. You've got a USB sound card and you still use it.

09:51S2

I do mainly on poor old windows because for some reason or another, sometimes the sound card software on my Windows Surface Pro tends to go into nowhere land, and as soon as I plug in my little external USB sound card, Windows goes, Oh, hello, I know what to do with that sound device. I'll start playing audio through it. So of course, as soon as I plug in a a little mic and a headset into the 3.5mm headphone jack, I've got speech back via my screen reader, whether it's NVDA, narrator, or Jaws. So it's just a bit of a backup that if the sound goes on my windows computer, I've always got that as an alternative.

10:32S1

Tell us about your USBC port hub.

10:37S2

So the port hub is when you're using a computer that may not have enough ports on it. So you might only have 1 or 2 USBC ports, or you may not have like an SD card or a micro SD card slot, and so on. So what these port hubs do is they give you a number of these different types of ports, and the only thing you have to plug in to the computer is just one cable. So they're pretty little amazing cheap devices.

11:03S1

Hmm. And you've got a USB hard drive. It's a USBC one.

11:08S2

This one's a USB, but I do have an adapter that converts it from USB to USBC. And the reason why I mentioned this was because I always get worried. Like, I mean, I stole my stuff in the cloud, which like most people do. But there's something there's something about having a physical medium that you can actually physically touch and look at that you know, you've got your backups on as well. Now, it.

11:32S1

Was some years ago when the HomePods came out from Apple that you got hold of a couple. You still use them?

11:40S2

I do, so people might remember the big one. So the original HomePod, I've got about four of those. Um, when they updated to the new full size HomePod too, I didn't bother. But I also have several HomePod minis hanging around the house. And because primarily my house is an Apple house, it fits in very nicely. So, you know, if you happen to be a Google or an Amazon type household, then remember you can also get Google smart speakers and of course the Amazon Echo range of speakers as well.

12:12S1

And for such a small speaker, they're pretty good quality aren't they?

12:17S2

They are. So I've got quite a number of Echo Dots. I've got a few Google Minis or Nest Minis as they're called these days, and even the HomePod minis. They actually really do have good sounding stuff. So, you know, the days of wanting to use an Echo Studio or a full size HomePod or a full size nest, a full size nest Max hub, I think is pretty much gone by the wayside because a lot of these speakers now, yes, the speakers are tiny, but they produce some really great sound.

12:50S3

Yeah.

12:51S1

Very good. So have you got advice for people that are wanting to really find out what's what's available? Like you can start with the Vision store with lots of technology. And what about other things like what we've been talking about here.

13:07S2

Yeah. Well you can always contact the IT helpdesk at Vision Australia. And that's of course main via the main one 308 4746 number and 308 4746.

13:20S1

Yeah. Correct.

13:21S2

And that the people on that helpdesk are all techie people like I am. And you know, they've probably got different devices than to what I've got but very similar. So it's you know it's one benefit is you're getting different opinions about different hardware. And they can certainly point you in in other directions as well. Or if you need more of an assessment to find out what you really need at home, study or work, then you can arrange an assessment with one of the technology consultants directly.

13:50S1

Very good. Before we go, a reminder of weather, a details of what we've been talking about in this and previous editions of the program.

13:57S2

You can always check out my blog site, which is David would be dot Podbean pad Bain comm.

14:05S1

David would be dot podbean pod b e a incom to write to the program.

14:11S2

You can write to me in Australia, where I work which is David Woodbridge heart sounds at visionaustralia.org. 

14:19S1

david-dot-woodbridge-at-visionaustralia-dot-org. This has been Talking Tech. With me has been Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley - take care. We'll talk more tech next week. See you.