Looks like this year started with very busy and productive meetings.
Well done on catching all topics Cearbhall!
Adrian
On 2024-01-13 17:02, Cearbhall O'Meadhra wrote:
Cork Exchange Club
Date: 13th Jan 2023
Participants: 13
We opened with a celebration of the first lady with a guide dog to receive the Golden Globe award. Her namesake, Jackie identified closely with the winner.
Jackie has read an astonishing 16 books since the beginning of January!
Ger needed help with the Voice Control in Audible. This is not to be confused with the screen reader, Talkback or Voiceover, but is a tool of the Audible app that speaks out any highlighted piece of text on the screen. In android, the symbol of a little man appears on the bottom right of the screen to show that the tool is turned on. A diagonal swipe over the desired piece of text highlights it and the app starts speaking that text immediately.
Helen had a great experience with VI in Cork in which she was shown various pieces of technology and visual aids by VI staff that encouraged her to manage her gradually disappearing vision.
Martin is hunting for a small grill device. The group felt that the Air Frier is ideal as anything can be cooked with it. Many models come with a built-in Grill that would allow what Martin is seeking.
Jackie circulated information during the week that illustrated the COSORI smart air frier .
Type the following into a Google search to reach a useful discussion of this device:
"COSORI" Smart Air Fryer Oven Dual Blaze 6.4L,
The actual link is too long to include here.
Ken told of a new feature of "Be My eyes" in which users can form a family group of close friends who have agreed to be called upon to give help with visual problems". This should relieve concerns about strangers accidentally encountering private or confidential material during a call with the public Be My Eyes team. The user setting up the group chooses the members and invites each individual to join the group if willing.
Seeing AI is still very popular but some embers like to use Envision AI instead.
The popular Voice dream Reader gives access to the Voice dream scanner from within the app. Originally, the Voice dream set of reader and scanner came as one package that could be purchased outright. New users must pay a monthly subscription to gain access to these apps.
Cearbhall told of the failure of the Scottish version of Soundscape to tell that an important junction had been reached on at least two occasions. This is most unusual and needs to be tracked in case it is going to become a problem. The meeting noted that there are two versions of Soundscape i.e. the Scottish Tech Army version and the Soundscape Community app. Both claim to be identical with the original Microsoft Soundscape app with recent additions. Soundscape is not available for Android users but Lazarillo is available and is very similar to Soundscape .
Chris wondered if Soundscape would allow its markers to be transferred to a later app. Nobody had an answer so he will have to investigate this question and report.
Adrian discovered a breakthrough in automatic personal assistance that is a sign of the future of electronics. He sends the following video description that is available on YouTube:
The Rabbit R1, priced at $199, is a groundbreaking Rabbit R1 device that revolutionizes our interaction with technology. Unlike traditional gadgets, it's powered by a natural-language operating system and is designed to replace the need for multiple apps. The core of the R1 is its "Large Action Model," an AI system that learns user interactions with apps and web interfaces, allowing it to perform tasks on a cloud platform called the "Rabbit hole."
It is a small hand-held device that sits in the parm of the hand and is operated by voice commands with limited touch gestures for confirmation of decisions. Unfortunately, the need for touch communication makes this device unusable by people with a severe visual impairment.
The meeting ended
All the best,
Cearbhall
m +353 (0)833323487 e: cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx
