Your very welcome for them Eamon, it can definitely be tricky sometimes to
catch everything.
Regards
Stuart
Sent from my iPhone
On 8 Jan 2024, at 20:55, Eamonn O Connor <eamooconnor@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear note taker!
Hi Stuart, I very seldom reply to the Minutes of the Monday meetings.
However, on this occasion I simply had to! Your account of the meeting was
absolutely outstanding. It must be very difficult to follow a meeting
in-depth, knowing you have to take notes; and write a report afterwards.
Very many thanks for this service. I think all the notetakers do a really
good job, and it is nice to read their individual styles.
Eamonn
On 8 Jan 2024, at 19:54, Mary Lavelle <marylavelle58@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sent from my iPhone
On 8 Jan 2024, at 4:16 p.m., Stuart Haxell <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Dublin technology club notes 8th January 2024
Good morning everyone and a happy new year. These are the notes of the
first Dublin Technology Club for 2024. So sit back pull out what's left of
the Christmas chocolate and enjoy the read.
12 participants.
5 eager people joined the meeting early for some technology help. Everyone
wished each other a happy new year and discussed the weather and how their
Christmas went. A brief discussion about whether peaked caps or sunglasses
works best for handling the glare of the sun commenced for a while. The
majority of participants came down on the side of caps. The participants
also talked about any technology presents they got for Christmas.
Adrian said that he was considering buying a new phone, but he is still not
convinced to buy an iPhone sadly. He would prefer an Android phone without
an e-sim card as opposed to a physical card. A e-SIM card is a digital
card. It works by the network company providing you a code to show the
phone that you have a sim card installed. For more information on this
topic: https://n.vodafone.ie/support/mobile/esim-support-faqs.html ;
The audio described Hugh Lane' show takes place on the 16th of January at
12 midday according to Martin.
Martin asked about WhatsApp. He sometimes calls people, he says they cannot
hearhim sometimes. He can hear them perfectly. Cearbhall asked if he was
covering the sensor. This led to a discussion on the topic, but the group
was not sure. Albert brought up that hearing aids are causing problems when
connecting to iPhones. He specifically mentioned that music recognition
with Siri is badly impaired when they are connected. It was concluded that
it may be a bug with iOS.
Albert also raised the new feature on the iPhone that enhances
conversations that are hard to hear. To activate the setting do the
following: settings, accessibility, audio visual, headphone accommodation,,
transparency mode and conversation boost.
The conversation returned to hearing aids and how the iPhone automatically
adjust volume. The group discussed the frustration of how hard it can be to
hear people when you are outdoors sometimes. Cearbhall feels that there
are three audio channels present in the iPhone. Adrian said that on Android
he can control all the channels on his Android if he wants.
Mary also said that like Martin people have found it hard for some people
to hear her on calls on her iPhone. She has no problem when she is using
her headphones. Adrian feels that it could be an issue on the other
person's side. Eamon suggested turning off Bluetooth on the iPhone may fix
the issue. Albert said that you can go to settings, Bluetooth select your
headphones and select forget this device to disconnect, other participants
suggested disconnecting instead or turning off Bluetooth altogether. You
can also disable Bluetooth in the control centre of the iPhone. Albert said
there was a setting that automatically choose your speaker, to find the
setting do the following: settings, accessibility, touch and call audio
routing.
Albert suggested a podcast from Apple vis podcast discussing volume. The
link to it is:
https://www.applevis.com/sites/default/files/podcasts/AppleVisPodcast1193_0.mp3
Mary said she has recently gotten addicted to a new word game called
Zanagrams, it is like a crossword puzzle-type game. It was developed by a
blind American developer for the iPhone. The link to the game is:
https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/zanagrams/id6444921132
This led to a discussion of blind-friendly Rubix cubes and how they are
engraved so that blind people can feel the colours. Some of the shapes
include triangles. Mary also provided a more in-depth description of how
zanagrams work. The app description says:
Winner of the 2023 Apple Vis Game of the Year award.
Exercise your brain during your downtime with this new unique twist on
word-puzzles you've come to know and love.
Each puzzle contains six clues you'll aim to find the one-word answers for.
Each answer is broken-up into groups of two or three letters, presented as
buttons in the lower portion of your screen, and jumbled for your
brain-teasing enjoyment. Try to spell out each of the answers in the puzzle
by tapping buttons to add them to your spelling.
Zanagrams will automatically detect if you've spelled any of the answers in
the puzzle you're working on, and any of the buttons you used to spell that
answer will be permanently-disabled to narrow-down your choices. By the
time you finish a puzzle, you'll have used every button once.
- Compete against friends by seeing who gets the best score for each puzzle
in its Official mode.
- Play randomized versions of puzzles you've already completed for endless
fun!
- Use hints to reveal the next group of letters in a word when you get
stuck.
- Zanagrams contains 20 free puzzles, spread across two Puzzle Packs,
totalling 120 anagrams you can play as many times as you like.
- Once you've fallen in-love with the game, you can purchase more Puzzle
Packs, choosing from our huge selection of both themed and unthemed Puzzle
Packs.
- 100% accessible with Voiceover.
- High-contrast color options available for low-vision users.
The game is free with optional in-app purchases such as free hints and more
games.
Marti brought up that she finds the quick-fire quiz on Alexa to be great
fun. Albert also brought up an older game called Bop It. It is a device
that you pass around to play. It has a number of physical buttons you need
to interact within a particular way.Some of the things it asks you to do
include spin it, flick it twist it and press it. You have to do these
commands as quickly as possible. It can be single or multi-player. To
purchase it see here:
https://www.smythstoys.com/ie/en-ie/toys/games-puzzles-and-books/board-games/family-board-games/bop-it/p/180164
The group briefly discussed audiobooks they had listened to recently. These
included profit song by Paul Linch and beesting by Paul Murray.
Eamon said he recently downloaded two manuals to his downloads folder on
his PC but cannot get them to play on his Sense player. The sense player is
the following: https://hims-inc.com/product/senseplayer/
It costs approximately 800 euros. The reason to go for it over an iPhone
according to Michael is that it has a better battery life than the iPhone.
Michael said he prefers not to do everything on his phone. It has its own
voice system. He also said that it is a very easy device to use. You can
navigate it very quickly. It is based on Android. It has no screen only
buttons to navigate and audio. Some demonstrations of the HIMS Sense player
can be seen at the following links:
https://youtu.be/fP95_vfr0pE
https://youtu.be/8dlsCHcCQKM
Martin asked if it is easy to download WhatsApp on a PC. Adrian said that
you go to https://www.whatsapp.com/ and download the Windows version. It ;
brings up a QR code you take your phone and scan it. to connect the PC
version to your account, you cannot use it without having it on your phone
according to Adrian. You can also download a whats app application to your
desktop as well according to Adrian. Revolute also works similarly to
WhatsApp when you want to connect the accounts on your PC with a QR code
according to Brian.
Adrian provided a number of shortcuts to help with zooming and controlling
the pc these were:
ctrl + alt + space = temporarly zoom out
hold ctrl + alt + move scroll wheel on mouse = quick zoom in and out
windows key + escape = exit magnifier
win key + plus sign = start magnifier
win key + plus sign = zoom in
Adrian asked if anyone had tried the new microsoft co-pilot app. According
to him you can send a picture alongside a question unlike be my eyes which
requires you to take the picture and then ask the question. The co-pilot
app: https://apps.apple.com/ie/app/microsoft-copilot/id6472538445
Marti asked how to automatically switch your phone to the loudspeaker, to
do this do the following: "Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Call Audio
Routing"
Eamon asked how to use a virtual card on Revolute. He asked what the
difference is between a virtual and a disposable card. A disposable card
can be used for a one-use purchase. Adrian said that this is if you are not
sure of the seller of the product you are purchasing. To obtain one select
cards in the Revolute app and select disposible cards to get one. Follow
the in-app instructions to to finish the process. Virtual cards can be
added to Apple Wallet to enable card payments with your phone and online
purchasing with Apple Pay.
Eamon asked what the trust pilot website was. Adrian said that it is for
gauging the trustworthiness of certain websites. It is highly rated. Adrian
said that he uses Google Maps to see the rating of stores you purchase from.
Eamon asked if anyone had used Google Translate before and if it was easy
to use. Ger said that he has and it is easy to use. Mary also said that it
is easy to use. Adrian said that there are self-contained devices that do
the same as Google Translate. You can also add it to the new action button
on the iPhone 15 to quickly engage it.
The meeting started to slow down at this point. Hope you enjoyed the notes
today.
Regards
The note taker.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone very well done Stuart. It was an exceptionally busy
discussion group this morning.
Just to add to the already copious notes, there is a zoom meeting tomorrow
with the Hugh Lane Gallery for the final part of the of the Andy Warhol
exhibition I just received the email this afternoon. It will take place
tomorrow at 12 noon. This is not to be confused with the in person meet at
the Hugh Lane Gallery on the 16th of January at 12 noon. hope as many of you
can zoom in tomorrow, Best wishes, Mary
