Monarch, White Cane Day and AT Guys

S1 (Speaker 1)

Hello everyone! Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from October 17th, 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have you with us. Wherever you're listening, perhaps through Virgin Australia Radio, Associated Stations of Australia, or maybe the Community Radio Network. There is also the podcast, if you haven't caught up with that yet. All you need to do is search for the two words. Talking tech and Diana 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, did you have a good White Cane day last Sunday?

S2

I actually did have a good white cane day because I actually do have a little ID cane, so it's not a proper mobility, cancer toning or cane that I've got in my over the shoulder bag or my tech bag, as I like to call it. And it's just a just in case type cane if I need sort of a bit of a, I think the take out and have a look at what's around me, so to speak, via touch. And the reason why I mentioned that particular bit is because the couple of key words for International White Cane Day, that was October 15th, was about clearing the way. 

And of course, if you're a traditional cane user, you know what it's like when you walk down a footpath, particularly in any city area, and you've got people who have tables and chairs and people sitting around and they've got their bags on the ground, then you've got the signage outside of some shops, you've got people that park the cars across the driveway, you've got overhanging branches on footpaths, etcetera, etcetera. 

And I think it's a really good reminder, particularly on the Guide Dogs website, which I referenced in the show notes. It's a good reminder for the general public to start thinking about what sort of things they may be able to do to clear the way a little bit better for people that are actually using a cane. 

So, you know, one of the things that I hate about using a white cane is the fact that you're still going to hit your head or contact branches above you. There's nothing worse than, you know, walking up behind a car that's parked on a footpath or across the driveway and, you know, trying to get past a cafe that's really busy with people sitting out on the footpath, it's almost impossible. You really almost feel like thinking, oh, well, I must just go and walk on the road and play up the traffic. 

So but I think it was a really good in mind because I had this little quiz on the page that is basically take this quiz and give yourself a bit of a point system on how good you are at maybe thinking about clearing the way. So I quite liked this idea, and it really brings it home to me and hopefully the general community about making life that just a little bit easier from, you know, being a bit more conscious of what you're doing.

S1

And on the flip side, it's a great celebration of our capacity to be able to get out there in the world, move around independently with dog or cane, and do lots of other things independently, too.

03:48

S2

Quite right, Stephen. I mean, it's the cane for such a simple tool. Makes our lives hugely independent these days, as always.

S1

Last week we started talking about tactile braille graphics devices, in particular the monarch. You've had to play with one. So let's go back and just explain exactly what it is physically and functionally and what your experience has been.

S2

So I've literally got the monarch right in front of me on the table here. What it is, it's a Braille graphics tablet with a Braille Perkins style input keyboard. So that's literally what it looks like. And for size wise, if you know how big a 15 inch laptop is and if you can imagine, it's probably about, I'd say about five five centimetres thick, then that's the sort of the size of the actual monarch. So what you have to think about the fact that is on the top face of the monarch taking up most of the area. You've got the the multi line braille display if you like, which is really a graphics tablets made up of lots and lots of little dots called braille when they raise up. And so I can produce both braille because it's a tactile thing and of course graphics. 

Now at the moment I've got the main menu for the monarch on the screen. And then of course, when I go into one of the functions, I can have diagrams showing and so on. Now what they've done, which I think is really cool with the monarch, is they've got these really cool controls for you to move, say, by ten lines at a time. So if you're reading a multi-line braille document, which I've got it in front of me as well, then when you get to the bottom of it, you want to press your your advanced key if you'd like to jump. Another ten lines or jump ten lines back, which is really cool. And then they've got another function which is basically using your arrow keys. And in that way you can go left, right, up or down, either when you're in a braille graphics or tactile graphic or when you're on one of the multi-line documents and so on. 

And then what's really cool, Stephen, are these keys down the bottom. And a lot of these keys, they're the zoom in and zoom out keys, which is if you're familiar with pictures, you zoom in or you zoom out to make a picture smaller or larger. So what you can do is if you go into the Braille tactile graphics library and you bring up a tactile image, you go, oh, that looks like an atomic cell with your protons and electrons and that sort of stuff. And then if you have a zoom in out, you can look into the actual atomic structure of an atom. And you can with again, those arrow keys, you can go left, right, up or down. You can again zoom in and zoom out. Another great example that I love to use with the monarch is I've got a thing called moon phases, and it's the phases of the moon. 

So you've got like a waxing gibbous and a full moon and so on. Now when you bring the default tactile up, it's sort of like thumbnail images. And as soon as you hit the zoom out button, you've got these really, really cool shapes of the moon. And they're all labeled in Braille. So you've got like full moon and like I said, Waxing gibbous and so on. But of course, that's not all going to fit on this bra display. So that's why you have to zoom around with the arrow keys as well. 

And of course, one of the things I haven't mentioned that I mentioned briefly in the beginning, I said it's got a perk and style keyboard. So right in front of me on the bottom of the top face, I've got my traditional one, two, three, four, five six bar keys, spacebar, and of course your dot seven and dot eight. And then right at the front of the display on the front face facing me. So it's the same side facing me is your traditional back home and recent buttons because this tablet is actually based on Android and I left this to the last is it's actually based on key soft. 

So if you know how to use key soft on your brilliant Braille display or on your Braille note touch, then I'm going to say that you're very quickly be able to pick up the monarch, because if I read down the list here, I've got the brow editor for doing multiline Braille editing, the tactile viewer. If you're viewing tactile graphics, the word processor for plugging in or using the keyboard to do your standard documents and so on. So really amazing. And then port wise I can plug this into a HDMI monitor. So anything that's on the on the monarch comes up on monitor. 

Like I just said, I can plug it in a standard USB A or a USB C keyboard. I can also plug in a USB stick if I also want. And I've got also got volume keys because this thing also talks to me as well. And of course, if you've got volume with internal speakers, you've also got an external headphone jack. Battery wise, this thing lasts for. Well, I think at the moment they're saying about ten hours. I get about 20 hours out of this thing at the moment. 

And just to note, this thing is still in private beta amongst organizations around the world, which is why Virgin Australia has got one. And we're still looking at a release date towards the end of 2024. So that's the monarch.

09:10

S1

That's going to be available from human wear, isn't it, in Australia.

S2

And it's going to be available from Humera in Australia. Yes, I probably will probably be also available from from Virgin Australia, but we haven't got that far yet on our planning stage.

S1

What sort of money are we looking at and where are these devices going to live? Because they're not going to live in people's homes.

S2

The price in US dollars is floating somewhere between 20,000 to 30,000 US. So where these where these things are going to end up, I would imagine, Stephen. It's going to be like the original Kers while reading machine that we saw originally appear in the state libraries in different states of Australia. So I would assume that these are going to appear in. So those sort of places like libraries, higher education, so universities, tafes and hopefully with schools that I guess would want to share one from a main office, those sort of situation, particularly if people want to do science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

S1

Well, it'll be interesting to see how that one plays out over the next few years, really. Now you've got a little bit of advice for people who are purchasing their cane, their long cane online.

S2

I didn't actually realize this because by accident, I've been getting a cane that I've ordered online with a tip already on it. So I've always assumed, as I don't know if most people do, that. When you buy a white cane, it actually comes with a tip. But. They don't. So depending on the certain brand of cane you get and because there's a few of them, I won't go into the into the different brands because I'll confuse people. But so the thing is, when you buy your 54 inch or your 56 inch cane, whatever it might be, make sure in the description that it actually says it comes with a tip, because I think about two thirds of our canes don't. So that means that you'll have to also order a tip. 

Now, the tricky bit about that is, and if you're not sure about this, is why you need an old person orientation mobility instructor, or talk to the person face to face in their shop because I don't know myself what's what. Be available for a like a cane that maybe had as a hook tip a screw on one and so on. So just be careful. If you're a traditional cane, you and you think, oh, look, I don't know, to go into a shop or talk to anybody, I order one online. Well, that's all hunky dory, but just make sure that you get one that has a tip on it, or go into your local Vision Australia office and say, I'd like to buy a replacement cane. I'm going to buy a new one. Do I need to buy a tip? 

And quite most of the time is that the person will also be able to assist you in fitting the tip onto the cane. So at least that way when you walk out of the shop door, you know the canes up and running ready to go.

S1

A very interesting provider of technology from the United States, but their products are available all around the world is at guys. Tell us about the Versus slate.

S2

I love the IT guys because they're always bringing in interesting and new technology for people who are blind. So the versus slate is for people that know what a hand slate is. And that's of course, where you use your stylus to push up pins onto a piece of paper and you take it apart, flip the flip the thing over, and then you can read the braille.

S1

Sometimes called a braille frame. Yeah.

S2

Apparently we call a Braille frame in Australia. Apparently the US and Europe are a bit more trendy and they call it the slate. But when you use this one, they're actually magnetic pins. So you push the pins out again with a stylus, but there's no paper involved. So when you flip it over on the back of the versus, like the bra comes up. And then of course when you're finished, you can just flatten all the pins with your hand or your fingers, flip it back over and effectively start Braille again with a stylus.

S1

Very interesting. And how much are those?

S2

There are about $170 Australian. I've got mine. It's always next to my desk because sometimes I don't have access to my my smartphone or my computer in particular. I'm just taking down a reference number or a phone number. I just grab it and start, you know, browsing on the versus like, so to speak.

S1

Of that product from 80 guys, the cable one.

S2

We have mentioned this on the show before. This is the eight dot braille input keyboard. So if you think of a braille cell with dots one, two, three down, left hand side, four, five, six down the other, and then normally dot seven would be on the left hand side next to dot three, and dot eight would be on the right hand side next to dot six. And that is your Braille input keyboard. 

So not only can you use a combination of those keys to actually produce Braille letters and so on, but you can also use combinations to navigate around your smartphone. So, you know, smartphone or tablet. And because it is such a tiny device, you can simply basically hold it in your hand when you finish with it, pop up back in your pocket and off you go. So it's such a nice little device to use that every time I see it, or a different organization, bring it on board for sale. We always like to mention it.

14:10

S1

Just before we go, a reminder of where there are details of what you've been talking about in this and previous editions of the program.

S2

As always, the information is on my blog site, which is David. Would it be a dot podbean pad be a incom?

S1

David would be dot podbean Podbean to write to the program.

S2

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

S1

David Dot Woodbridge at Vision Australia-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.