Accessible chat, info event and new product

00:21 S1

Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from July the 16th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley. Great to have you with us - listening maybe through Vision Australia radio, associated stations of RPA Australia or perhaps 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 Dan. 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, and later we're going to hear from a guest from Quantum Reading Learning vision, Peter Cracknell. But before that, let's have our usual Product Minute segment. David, you've got a phone which we've talked about a number of times in the past, but it's worth reminding everyone about it that can be obtained from the Vision Store of Vision Australia.

01:27 S2

And I should probably also say Quantum as well. And the other reason why I'm mentioning it too, is because I've got a little surprise for people coming up in about 3 to 4 weeks time. So stand by for that one with the BlindShell Classic 2. But anyway, getting back to the BlindShell Classic 2. It's a nice standard phone. And when I say a standard phone, it's actually got real keys on it. So you've got your traditional numeric keypad 12345 good old function keys at the top which are tactile a camera, a flashlight, a voice input button, volume up, volume down, and so on. So for people that used to have the old Nokia phones, if you remember those with that type of keypad and the function button above it, then that's actually what the BlindShell Classic 2 is actually based upon. And the reason why it's called BlindShell is because it's running a set of custom software applications. 

So things like mail, internet radio, podcasts, lookout, out, which is the Google Lookout app, Envision I, which is the Envision AI assistant, and so on. But what really stands out for me is a couple of functions. One is the flashlight, one that I've already mentioned. So if you want to look in the pantry and you can't see stuff, you can use the the flashlight. Number two, it's actually got a real FM radio chip inside it. So you can pick up terrestrial radio, which when you're in the back of what? When you don't have any cellular or Wi-Fi connection, you've still got an FM radio. It's also got an SOS function. So it's got this big button on the back that if you need to have the phone contact your emergency contact and give your GPS location. It can do that as well. And you can also use it both as a low vision phone. 

So it's got high contrast larger font and the or a different, you know, black and white, white on black, yellow on blue and so on contrast settings. So you can have the speech turned off or you can have the speech on. And of course you can have both things happening. So it's both a low vision phone and a quote blindness type phone. It's a really functional fantastic phone.

03:33 S1

How much does it cost?

03:34 S2

It's $990. So for a good, you know, smartphone, it works really well. And of course, like I said at the beginning, it's both available from the Vision Store and Quantum Technology as well.

03:46 S1

The BlindShell Classic 2. We turn to our guest now, Peter Cracknell, who is manager of Blindness and Low Vision Technologies with Quantum Reading Learning Vision. Good to have you with us Peter.

03:59 S3

Oh thank you Stephen. Good morning.

04:01 S1

Over to you David.

04:02 S2

So before we talk about our main one, which is my one of my favorite bits of technology, which is the Mountbatten or in this case, the Mountbatten Tutor. Do you just want to allay people's fears about the BlindShell Classic 2 not being available to switch over to the 4G network? Because I believe with a setup it's all fixed.

04:21 S3

Thanks, David. Yes, so you may have seen some news about the 3G mobile network being shut down by Telstra. And the impact that may have on phones that are not compatible with 4G and in particular the Vo LTE component. Now, what's going to happen is that phones that currently use 3G for emergency dialing, they won't be able to use 3G when the network shuts down. And only phones that are 4G VoLTE compatible will automatically switch to emergency dialling. Plus all the other 4G facilities. So the BlindShell Classic 2 is 4G compatible. It's very important, though, that people do perform a system update. Compatibility was ensured from February of this year. That's for all of the networks. That's for Vodafone, Telstra, Optus and so on. 

But you do need to make sure that you have updated your phone to the latest version. That's why I have put out some instructions about how to do that to our customers, but also through the various networks like the VIP list and so on. And our website has got step by step instructions, how to do that.

05:37 S2

Yeah, I'll put that in the show notes as well. And it's you know, it sounds a bit scary, but it's it's very straightforward. And like Peter said, we've both got the instructions and there's a video on there as well if you do need sighted assistance set up. So... moving on to our main topic, Peter, and I've loved the Mountbatten itself since 1991, which I think when it first came out. What's the main new whizzbang thing happening with the Mountbatten Tutor now?

06:02 S3

Well, the Mountbatten Tutor, which is manufactured by Harpo in Poland... we used to manufacture that in Rydalmere in in Sydney for many, many years after the LSE version, Harpo made the Whisperer, the Mountbatten Whisperer and now this new model, the Mountbatten Tutor. The essential purpose is much the same as it's always been, which is really focused around early Braille learning, usually for children, but not always. And that purpose still remains. And in fact, all of the features and commands that people might have known previously for the other models also in the Mountbatten tutor. 

I guess one of the things that the new model does do is tries to put those sorts of commands and and settings into a menu system that's a bit more intuitive. You don't have to remember the commands. You can just go through a spoken menu system, which is just a conventional menu system to adjust margins and translation formats and so on. And that is also shown on a liquid crystal display actually on the body of the machine. So that's integrated into the Mountbatten Tutor. And that means that a teacher aide or a parent, they can actually navigate that. It also has spoken output of course, and to more intuitively make changes to settings to Braille, translation grade and that sort of thing. Whereas before they would have to remember a particular command which they would input through the keyboard. 

The keyboard has been modified, so on the older models they had various keys that perhaps are not so recognizable on a conventional keyboard, whereas with the Mountbatten Tudor keyboard it actually follows the pattern of a conventional keyboard with an escape key, a backspace key and enter key, a spacebar, and so on. Plus, of course, the traditional what we call the Perkins keys for typing Braille. And that keyboard is also detachable from the body of the Mountbatten Tutor, which gives just a lot more options for different configurations where perhaps... a child couldn't actually line up as they straight on, they might want to have the keyboard at a slight angle, or perhaps it might be easier to operate if the child was in a wheelchair or something like that.

08:34 S2

So, Peter, I've got a few quick questions, I guess. Number one is, if you know how to use the earlier versions of the Mountbatten, which to me is a electronic Brailler, which was actually very, very cool. I'm assuming if you know that, then you know how to basically use the new Mountbatten Tutor.

08:50 S3

Yes, David, that's absolutely right. If you ever operated a previous model, there'll be absolutely no difficulty operating this one. It could be that you had remembered some of the commands like RFA command or something like that. And you can type that straight in and away you go. You can also plug in a regular keyboard as well. David. So just a regular Qwerty keyboard, USB... and operate it through the regular QWERTY keyboard.

09:16 S2

That was funny, because that was going to be my second question. You beat me to it. So my third question then is, I remember in the old days we had the Mimic, which was a little plug in, little LCD display. I'm assuming the LCD display in the Mountbatten Tutor. Now that's also effectively your Mimic, so you can see what's being Brailled as well from a sighted person point of view.

09:35 S3

Absolutely. It has a Mimic function. So a sighted person can actually review what's being typed in regular text. In addition to that, it also shows the menus in print so you can actually operate it with no knowledge of Braille through that LCD display. So yes, it's it is actually putting the Mimic into the case. But in addition making it a display. Yeah, far more superior.

10:00 S2

Can you link it up to anything like a PC or an iPad and iPhone or an Android phone?

10:06 S3

Yes, in a couple of ways. You can look it up via USB to a laptop and run a program called MLB.com as we could on our previous models. That's for file transfer, and also to act as a basically an embosser from your computer... but in addition to that, and I think perhaps in a more valuable way, you can connect an iPad or an Android device to the Mountbatten tutor just using a Bluetooth connection. And that will allow file transfer and embossing and that sort of stuff. 

But more importantly, it allows a non-Braille person to be able to type on the iPad, just tap on onto the iPad and have it immediately embossed in a proper grade your chosen grade on the Mountbatten tutor and vice versa. When the Brailler is brailling, it will back translate into regular print on the iPad. And so you can have those back and forth conversations. You can study a particular article from on your iPad, and you can just paste it into the chat area and it will emboss on the on the Mountbatten tutor.

11:11 S2

Sounds fantastic... now, if people are interested in finding out more about the Mountbatten or getting their hands on it, what's the best way to contact quantum?

11:20 S3

There's a couple of ways. Uh, ways. One would be to contact quantum and we can demonstrate we can also trial the unit. We have people who apply through it, through ND... through NDIS. And they'll need to trial that of course to compare it to other options. And of course Vision Australia through the Vision Australia ATS teams and their occupational therapy teams. They can also demonstrate and assess people for the Mountbatten Tutor.

11:45 S2

Okay. And... cost wise, how much is the cost outright?

11:49 S3

It's... 7990. I should just say, David, that we are due for a price increase across the board, so it may may go around about 8000. Yeah. 

12:01 S2

OK. Is there a landing page on the Quantum website that people could type in a direct link to jump to information about Mountbatten, or is it just easier to search for Mountbatten on the Quantum website?

12:11 S3

It's easier to search for Mountbatten on the Quantum website. Yes, we do have it under the Our Blindness section, under Braille writers. Yes, we also sell the Tetrapoint as well, which is a mechanical Braille writer...

12:24 S2

Indeed. Yeah, love that little thing as well. All right, Steve, back to you.

12:28 S1

Thank you. David. David speaking there with Peter Cracknell from Quantum Reading learning Vision. David, just while we've got a few moments, the long-awaited Apple Vision Pro has arrived in Australia.

12:41 S2

The Vision Pro was released last Friday as we go to air this week. It's basically a spatial computer, so it's very vision related, so if you're low vision, you're going to get some benefit out of it. If you're blind perhaps not. But let's just see what happens down the track. If you want a demo and you want to look at all the accessibility functions in it, make an appointment at your local Apple reseller or Apple Store that sell the Vision Pro, and you can have a bit of a demo in a play.

13:08 S1

That's the Apple Vision Pro. And Samsung had an event last week.

13:12 S2

They did. So they had their Unpacked event. We've now got the new Flip and Fold version six. Towards the end of July, we have a new Galaxy Watch Ultra, which looks very much like an Apple Watch. We have the new buds three version for the Galaxy Buds, which looks very much like an AirPod. The only thing that's different this time, which is coming out into this year or early next year in Australia, is the Galaxy Ring. So rather than having a Fitbit or an Apple Watch on your wrist, you wear this ring on your finger.

13:44 S1

Sounds fascinating. Before we go, a reminder of whether our details of what we've been talking about in this and previous editions of the program.

13:52 S2

You can check out my website, which is David Woodbury Podbean pod Cbn.com.

13:58 S1

David Woodbury Podbean pod b e a N.com to right to the program.

14:04 S2

You can write to me at Vision Australia where I work, which is David Woodbridge - how it sounds - at Vision Australia dot org.

14:10 S1

david.woodbridge@visionaustralia.org ... This has been Talking Tech. Our guest has been Peter Cracknell from Quantum reading learning vision, talking about the Mountbatten Tutor Braille device. With me has been Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology David Woodbridge. I'm Stephen Jolley. Stay safe. We'll talk more tech next week. See you.