Mini Guide Holder, MS and Apple updates

00:21S1

Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from April the 16th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley, great to have you with us. Wherever you're listening may be through Vision Australia Radio, Associated Stations of Australia or maybe 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 a canal come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask a 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 with our product minute. This is an item from the vision store of Vision Australia. And it's to do with mobility being out and about.

Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from April the 16th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolley, great to have you with us. Wherever you're listening may be through Vision Australia Radio, Associated Stations of Australia or maybe 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 a canal come usually on a Tuesday afternoon just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask a 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 with our product minute. This is an item from the vision store of Vision Australia. And it's to do with mobility being out and about.

01:18S2

It is so this is to attach your mini guide to your mobility cane. Now let me just backtrack a bit. So what this actually does, it's a holder, as the name suggests, to attach your handheld mini guide, sonar based orientation mobility device and what it is. It's a device that you normally hold in your hand and you point it forward. And because it has this high frequency ultrasound that hits objects and bounces back and makes the mini guide vibrate depending on what you've got it set to. So it might be to detect an object one meter away 1.52m, four meters up to a whopping eight meters away. That's fine if you've got a hand available to hold the mini guide, but if you don't, then what this holder does, it allows you to attach that mini guide to the cane. And then because it's got sort of this sort of rotating type screw device on the mechanism that holds it on, you can actually put the mini guide into what orientation you like, whether it's pointing straight ahead up a little bit, if you're going near trees or whatever else you might want to do. Now I just want to say something about the product description, which I'll hopefully let the guys know to correct. This week is on the description. It actually says that you've got to use cable ties to attach the holder to the cane. Now, when I got mine this week, what it is, is a little o ring. And this o ring has got a screw. So you undo the screw and it lets the O ring expand. And then you slide that o ring onto either your part of your metal part of, you know, your handle. I've done my handle. And then as you tighten the screw up, it tightens that o ring. So you get a very nice solid connection to your cane, and then you just pop the mini guide into the holder part, and then you adjust the angle with this little lever which way you want the mini guide pointing. So because it's got the O ring, then you don't need cable ties to attach the holder to the cane. That might have been on an original version, but this new version fits on very nicely. It's nice and snug. It holds the actual mini guide very nicely, and it really does work. So if you want to turn your cane into a bit of a smart sonic type cane, this works really nicely. So all you need is both the mini guide holder and of course the mini guide.

It is so this is to attach your mini guide to your mobility cane. Now let me just backtrack a bit. So what this actually does, it's a holder, as the name suggests, to attach your handheld mini guide, sonar based orientation mobility device and what it is. It's a device that you normally hold in your hand and you point it forward. And because it has this high frequency ultrasound that hits objects and bounces back and makes the mini guide vibrate depending on what you've got it set to. So it might be to detect an object one meter away 1.52m, four meters up to a whopping eight meters away. That's fine if you've got a hand available to hold the mini guide, but if you don't, then what this holder does, it allows you to attach that mini guide to the cane. And then because it's got sort of this sort of rotating type screw device on the mechanism that holds it on, you can actually put the mini guide into what orientation you like, whether it's pointing straight ahead up a little bit, if you're going near trees or whatever else you might want to do. Now I just want to say something about the product description, which I'll hopefully let the guys know to correct. This week is on the description. It actually says that you've got to use cable ties to attach the holder to the cane. Now, when I got mine this week, what it is, is a little o ring. And this o ring has got a screw. So you undo the screw and it lets the O ring expand. And then you slide that o ring onto either your part of your metal part of, you know, your handle. I've done my handle. And then as you tighten the screw up, it tightens that o ring. So you get a very nice solid connection to your cane, and then you just pop the mini guide into the holder part, and then you adjust the angle with this little lever which way you want the mini guide pointing. So because it's got the O ring, then you don't need cable ties to attach the holder to the cane. That might have been on an original version, but this new version fits on very nicely. It's nice and snug. It holds the actual mini guide very nicely, and it really does work. So if you want to turn your cane into a bit of a smart sonic type cane, this works really nicely. So all you need is both the mini guide holder and of course the mini guide.

03:48S1

And what's the cost of the mini guide holder?

And what's the cost of the mini guide holder?

03:51S2

It's about $99, which I originally thought. Wait, that's a bit pricey, but when I got it, it's so well designed and so well built that I thought, yeah, sometimes when you get things that are made very well and good quality, you think, yep, that's fine, that's worth the price.

It's about $99, which I originally thought. Wait, that's a bit pricey, but when I got it, it's so well designed and so well built that I thought, yeah, sometimes when you get things that are made very well and good quality, you think, yep, that's fine, that's worth the price.

04:05S1

Excellent. We talked last week about the BT Speak Pro, which is the device from Blazey Technology with the little Braille keypad on it. Um, let's talk about its availability.

Excellent. We talked last week about the BT Speak Pro, which is the device from Blazey Technology with the little Braille keypad on it. Um, let's talk about its availability.

04:18S2

So Virgin Australia has received quite a few inquiries about the BT Sport Pro from Blades Technologies, and I don't know if we've made it extremely clear in the last episode that it's currently only available in the United States from Laser Technologies themselves, because they're only been shipping this new product since March 1st. At the moment, I think they just want to maintain control over servicing and support and supply and those sort of things. I did contact them last week and asked them about what their plans are for international distributorship, and they said, look, for the moment, we'd much prefer to have control over the whole way to go process because we want to maintain great consumer support and so on. Um, so as soon as available internationally and or at Virgin Australia, I will definitely let people know. But for the moment you would need to purchase it from the United States and of course pay shipping for it.

So Virgin Australia has received quite a few inquiries about the BT Sport Pro from Blades Technologies, and I don't know if we've made it extremely clear in the last episode that it's currently only available in the United States from Laser Technologies themselves, because they're only been shipping this new product since March 1st. At the moment, I think they just want to maintain control over servicing and support and supply and those sort of things. I did contact them last week and asked them about what their plans are for international distributorship, and they said, look, for the moment, we'd much prefer to have control over the whole way to go process because we want to maintain great consumer support and so on. Um, so as soon as available internationally and or at Virgin Australia, I will definitely let people know. But for the moment you would need to purchase it from the United States and of course pay shipping for it.

05:19S1

Microsoft. Looking at the idea of having ads right up front.

Microsoft. Looking at the idea of having ads right up front.

05:25S2

Yes. I was just completely startled by this particular one. So what they're doing is on the current Windows Insider build, which is like a predevelopment version of windows. This is for Windows 11, uh, in the United States. What Microsoft is apparently testing are putting ads in your start menu, which of course you can go into settings and turn off. But I just thought, is this turning into some sort of TV set operating system wise? Because why on earth. And I know why I know if you'd want to do it. Um, but why on earth, from a consumer point of view, would you want to have to navigate past ads on your start menu? Yes. It's a great way, from a commercial point of view to raise revenue and, you know, get people to pay ads on windows in general. But I just thought this is just getting really, really ridiculous. It's an operating system. It's not an application. It's not a web page. It's not a television set. I just think this is a really bad way for even Microsoft even think about doing in the first place.

Yes. I was just completely startled by this particular one. So what they're doing is on the current Windows Insider build, which is like a predevelopment version of windows. This is for Windows 11, uh, in the United States. What Microsoft is apparently testing are putting ads in your start menu, which of course you can go into settings and turn off. But I just thought, is this turning into some sort of TV set operating system wise? Because why on earth. And I know why I know if you'd want to do it. Um, but why on earth, from a consumer point of view, would you want to have to navigate past ads on your start menu? Yes. It's a great way, from a commercial point of view to raise revenue and, you know, get people to pay ads on windows in general. But I just thought this is just getting really, really ridiculous. It's an operating system. It's not an application. It's not a web page. It's not a television set. I just think this is a really bad way for even Microsoft even think about doing in the first place.

06:29S1

Let's talk about SD cards now, those secure digital storage things that are so small about thumbnail size, I think they're likely to even grow more in capacity in the next year or so.

Let's talk about SD cards now, those secure digital storage things that are so small about thumbnail size, I think they're likely to even grow more in capacity in the next year or so.

06:45S2

Indeed. So apparently next year they're going to be hitting four terabytes of space, which is enormous. Now, one could be misled on thinking that this is a really great thing, because in one way it is, but in the other way, people need to be reminded by the fact that any memory card or flash stick or USB stick, we used to call them a thumb drive. They're only meant to be temporary storage, because if I had something that was four terabytes, I'd go, oh, well, look, I'll just keep my podcasts on there or I'll just keep all my karate notes on there, or I'll keep my life story on there, and I won't need to worry about it. But that's a really dangerous thing to do, because as I keep saying, it's temporary storage. It's meant to be used to transfer information from one device to another. Um, if you can't do it via a Wi-Fi network, or us Apple users use AirDrop and so on. So I think it's it's great, particularly if you want to have something that produces very large files. But otherwise I think it's a little bit on the dangerous side.

Indeed. So apparently next year they're going to be hitting four terabytes of space, which is enormous. Now, one could be misled on thinking that this is a really great thing, because in one way it is, but in the other way, people need to be reminded by the fact that any memory card or flash stick or USB stick, we used to call them a thumb drive. They're only meant to be temporary storage, because if I had something that was four terabytes, I'd go, oh, well, look, I'll just keep my podcasts on there or I'll just keep all my karate notes on there, or I'll keep my life story on there, and I won't need to worry about it. But that's a really dangerous thing to do, because as I keep saying, it's temporary storage. It's meant to be used to transfer information from one device to another. Um, if you can't do it via a Wi-Fi network, or us Apple users use AirDrop and so on. So I think it's it's great, particularly if you want to have something that produces very large files. But otherwise I think it's a little bit on the dangerous side.

07:51S1

Let's talk about Apple now. They continue to see eight gigs as the default size for Ram.

Let's talk about Apple now. They continue to see eight gigs as the default size for Ram.

07:58S2

They've been doing this now for a good I want to say a good decade. Um, and I don't know why because yes, you can definitely get away with using eight gigabytes of Ram in your Mac. Um, with voiceover, if you want to do basic functions like mail, web browsing, word processing, as soon as you start doing large amounts of data crunching and processing like video editing, number crunching and so on, you do need more memory. And because Apple's memory is traditionally very, very expensive, then you might as well buy it up front. So on windows I always say 16 gigs of Ram. So what I'm really going to start saying these days to protect yourself in the future, not get ripped off by having to pay for extra memory from Apple, then you might as well just bite the bullet and get 16 gigs, same as you do with windows.

They've been doing this now for a good I want to say a good decade. Um, and I don't know why because yes, you can definitely get away with using eight gigabytes of Ram in your Mac. Um, with voiceover, if you want to do basic functions like mail, web browsing, word processing, as soon as you start doing large amounts of data crunching and processing like video editing, number crunching and so on, you do need more memory. And because Apple's memory is traditionally very, very expensive, then you might as well buy it up front. So on windows I always say 16 gigs of Ram. So what I'm really going to start saying these days to protect yourself in the future, not get ripped off by having to pay for extra memory from Apple, then you might as well just bite the bullet and get 16 gigs, same as you do with windows.

08:49S1

If you've got an iPhone 12. Anyone in that family? Um, is there really a need to go up to 1415 at this stage?

If you've got an iPhone 12. Anyone in that family? Um, is there really a need to go up to 1415 at this stage?

09:00S2

No, particularly if you've got a 12 pro, which is the course when the lidar stuff came in for us doing, you know, people detection or detection, all that sort of cool stuff in the magnifier app within iOS itself. Uh, because I saw an article last week about apparently Apple and I haven't seen this personally. I've only read the article about the link on Apple's website trying to convince people to update from the 12, in particular on the 12 Pro to the current version. And what they were saying was, you know, it's better camera, it's more storage, it's built to last. Well, if your existing phone's already got a camera that meets your own needs, your storage when you bought it meets your own needs and it's built to last i.e. it's still going after a number of years, then the arguments for upgrading aren't really valid. So what I would say to people is that if there's a new specific software function that will only run on the, let's say, the iPhone 16 this year, or there's a particular hardware feature that you're really, really, really looking for. That's the reason to upgrade. It's not the fact that it's got a better camera, a bit of this, bit of that, more of this, more of that. It's the fact that it's giving you extra functionality that you might need for your specific reasons. So don't match up an update if you don't have to.

No, particularly if you've got a 12 pro, which is the course when the lidar stuff came in for us doing, you know, people detection or detection, all that sort of cool stuff in the magnifier app within iOS itself. Uh, because I saw an article last week about apparently Apple and I haven't seen this personally. I've only read the article about the link on Apple's website trying to convince people to update from the 12, in particular on the 12 Pro to the current version. And what they were saying was, you know, it's better camera, it's more storage, it's built to last. Well, if your existing phone's already got a camera that meets your own needs, your storage when you bought it meets your own needs and it's built to last i.e. it's still going after a number of years, then the arguments for upgrading aren't really valid. So what I would say to people is that if there's a new specific software function that will only run on the, let's say, the iPhone 16 this year, or there's a particular hardware feature that you're really, really, really looking for. That's the reason to upgrade. It's not the fact that it's got a better camera, a bit of this, bit of that, more of this, more of that. It's the fact that it's giving you extra functionality that you might need for your specific reasons. So don't match up an update if you don't have to.

10:17S1

Yeah, we might see more iPads and MacBooks. This year with another chip, the M4.

Yeah, we might see more iPads and MacBooks. This year with another chip, the M4.

10:24S2

Yes, the M3 only came out five months ago and all the gossip is at the moment is that Apple is going to be releasing the M4 chip, probably in the next. Well, I don't know, but maybe in the next six months or so. Particularly for the Mac. But of course, because it's sharing the same chip if you like to do with the iPads and so on, we're probably going to see it in the iPads coming up as well. And of course, this is all about artificial intelligence. So it's making all the neural engines and the other processing stuff that goes on the chip to make using AI much more efficient. So I wouldn't be surprised this year if we see not only Macs with M4 chips, but also iPads as well.

Yes, the M3 only came out five months ago and all the gossip is at the moment is that Apple is going to be releasing the M4 chip, probably in the next. Well, I don't know, but maybe in the next six months or so. Particularly for the Mac. But of course, because it's sharing the same chip if you like to do with the iPads and so on, we're probably going to see it in the iPads coming up as well. And of course, this is all about artificial intelligence. So it's making all the neural engines and the other processing stuff that goes on the chip to make using AI much more efficient. So I wouldn't be surprised this year if we see not only Macs with M4 chips, but also iPads as well.

11:03S1

An AI seems to be embedding itself into lots of applications and devices. Seeing AI. Tell us what's happening there.

An AI seems to be embedding itself into lots of applications and devices. Seeing AI. Tell us what's happening there.

11:14S2

Just to remind people briefly, what's seeing AI is it's a application that has different options in it, which they call channels to do different functions with your camera, such as optical character recognition. So reading print off a menu in a restaurant, barcode reading, face recognition, scene detection, all that sort of cool stuff. And there's a category in there or the channel that's called world. Now, what world traditionally does is allow you to do scene detection or people detection around you. What Microsoft has actually just done, because it is a Microsoft app, is added this function called Find My Item in the world channel, which means rather than just telling you specifically that you've got a couple of bags around you, for example, or a couple of sets of keys, you can say, I want to identify my keys or my bag, or in my case, my coffee cup, so that when I put it down and I can't find it, I can go to the world channel, select Find My Item, select in my case David's coffee cup, and it will only look for David's coffee cup. And of course, the reason why that works so well is because initially when I go to find my item, I then say add item. It then wants me to take a picture in different situations of my coffee cup. And then that's what it looks for when you actually do it. And just a warning when you do this because it says to you to start doing initial photos or images on a table, make sure you've got room behind you, because it will actually ask you to step backwards up to about two meters away. So that's just the tip for using the application in this particular function.

Just to remind people briefly, what's seeing AI is it's a application that has different options in it, which they call channels to do different functions with your camera, such as optical character recognition. So reading print off a menu in a restaurant, barcode reading, face recognition, scene detection, all that sort of cool stuff. And there's a category in there or the channel that's called world. Now, what world traditionally does is allow you to do scene detection or people detection around you. What Microsoft has actually just done, because it is a Microsoft app, is added this function called Find My Item in the world channel, which means rather than just telling you specifically that you've got a couple of bags around you, for example, or a couple of sets of keys, you can say, I want to identify my keys or my bag, or in my case, my coffee cup, so that when I put it down and I can't find it, I can go to the world channel, select Find My Item, select in my case David's coffee cup, and it will only look for David's coffee cup. And of course, the reason why that works so well is because initially when I go to find my item, I then say add item. It then wants me to take a picture in different situations of my coffee cup. And then that's what it looks for when you actually do it. And just a warning when you do this because it says to you to start doing initial photos or images on a table, make sure you've got room behind you, because it will actually ask you to step backwards up to about two meters away. So that's just the tip for using the application in this particular function.

12:55S1

There are these apps that have been around for some time, like seeing AI, and they just evolve. And you've got to be careful to keep on top of all the exciting new features, haven't you?

There are these apps that have been around for some time, like seeing AI, and they just evolve. And you've got to be careful to keep on top of all the exciting new features, haven't you?

13:05S2

You do. And one way of doing that is two ways that I always do is when you go in and update your apps within the App Store app itself. Have a look at the what's being updated just below where it's got, you know, update for this app, or go and look in the history for each application. Again within the App Store app. And that will tell you because I sometimes forget when I go and use an application or you hear on the internet that there's a function in this particular that we think, oh no, I remember that one. I used to use that when it first came out last year or something. So that's a good way to keep up to date with what's changing, because these apps add new functions all the time. And yeah, if you haven't visited your full functionality of your app for a while, I'd go and just double check to see what's changed.

You do. And one way of doing that is two ways that I always do is when you go in and update your apps within the App Store app itself. Have a look at the what's being updated just below where it's got, you know, update for this app, or go and look in the history for each application. Again within the App Store app. And that will tell you because I sometimes forget when I go and use an application or you hear on the internet that there's a function in this particular that we think, oh no, I remember that one. I used to use that when it first came out last year or something. So that's a good way to keep up to date with what's changing, because these apps add new functions all the time. And yeah, if you haven't visited your full functionality of your app for a while, I'd go and just double check to see what's changed.

13:48S1

With apps updating, there are two options. You can have it so that it automatically happens behind the scenes, and there's when where you explicitly go and check whether there are updates and then download those updates. Now that's a very good reason for using that second option rather than it just all happening behind you.

With apps updating, there are two options. You can have it so that it automatically happens behind the scenes, and there's when where you explicitly go and check whether there are updates and then download those updates. Now that's a very good reason for using that second option rather than it just all happening behind you.

14:11S2

Correct. And that's exactly why I've got my automatic app updating turned off, because I want to see what's being changed as I update apps.

Correct. And that's exactly why I've got my automatic app updating turned off, because I want to see what's being changed as I update apps.

14:17S1

Before we go, a reminder of where there are details of what we've been talking about in this. And previous editions of the program.

Before we go, a reminder of where there are details of what we've been talking about in this. And previous editions of the program.

14:24S2

As always, you can check out my blog site, which is David would be our podbean podbean.

As always, you can check out my blog site, which is David would be our podbean podbean.

14:31S1

Com David would be our podbean podbean. Com to write to the program, you.

Com David would be our podbean podbean. Com to write to the program, you.

14:37S2

Can write to me at Vision Australia where I work which is David Dot Woodbridge at Vision australia.org.

Can write to me at Vision Australia where I work which is David Dot Woodbridge at Vision australia.org.

14:43S1

David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia. 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.