Blind Guys Chat
A place where the blind guys talk about the A to Z of life

#148: A Spineless Wet Towel!

1 day ago
Transcript
Speaker A:

Foreign.

Speaker B:

Welcome to blind guys chat, where oren o'.

Speaker C:

Neill.

Speaker B:

Hello. Jan bloom.

Speaker D:

Hello. And mohammed lashear. Hi there.

Speaker B:

Talk about the a to z of life.

Speaker A:

Well, hello, ladies and gentlemen. And you are very, very welcome to episode 148 of Blind Guys Chat.

Speaker D:

Have I been doing this for that long? Oh, oh, you're a blow.

Speaker A:

We have had a team meeting. Oh, yeah, it turns out that we have. We have decided to end the podcast.

Speaker B:

For God's sake.

Speaker A:

On episode 53,000.

Speaker D:

So. No, no, no, no, no. That's too early

Speaker C:

then. Then I'm still young, you know, I can. Still going on. Yeah. You know,

Speaker D:

I mean, at least 100,000 more.

Speaker C:

Hey, but guys, how is the weather in Ireland? Because here it is sunny, sunny days again.

Speaker A:

You know, air is wonderful.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that

Speaker B:

and I are sunburned.

Speaker A:

I do have to say, I cannot. Well, I can understand the French, to be honest. Oh, but most. Most of the week, most, very influential French.

Speaker D:

Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker A:

Yeah, but I can understand the French in this sense. All week, listening to the radio, I've been hearing about Roland Garrus and the French Open.

Speaker C:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker A:

And the 40 degree heat that those players are playing in to the point where One who was 20 years old, 6 foot 5, cannot remember the guy's name, collapsed at the end of a four hour match. Literally collapsed and had to be brought. Brought off the court in a wheelchair.

Speaker D:

What I can't understand, but yet I

Speaker A:

can understand is why the French just, just didn't go. Why don't we move these games a little later and bring them into the.

Speaker D:

Yeah, no, no,

Speaker B:

The French don't move for anybody.

Speaker C:

No,

Speaker D:

the weather moves for the French. Not the other way around.

Speaker C:

Exactly.

Speaker B:

To be run around in.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

They have sprinklers that they sprinkle that down the red clay and then they sprinkle the crowd, but they don't sprinkle the players.

Speaker C:

Oh, my God.

Speaker D:

And I mean, 40 degree heat sounds like horrible, but it can start much, much earlier. Like in Groningen today, they actually had to stop a half marathon because too many people got sick because of the heat. And they actually had to call up ambulances all throughout the region to help. And guess the temperature. It was 20 degrees. No, 20 degrees.

Speaker B:

Was it very humid or something?

Speaker D:

I think so. That's. I think that must be it because otherwise.

Speaker C:

Yeah, you know, I don't know. It was on the news.

Speaker D:

Yeah, it was.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker C:

Also, we had here also an accident, I think last month in Leiden that's also close by.

Speaker D:

And there was all the marathon story.

Speaker C:

Yeah. Also a young lady.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

15 year old girl.

Speaker C:

Girl, yeah.

Speaker D:

And she was very sporty. Like she died. Yeah, she died because of a heat stroke.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

During a marathon. She, she was extremely sporty. So it was not like she couldn't handle it normally. She could handle it just fine. And the sad thing is like the marathon was actually for people 16 and older.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

And she was like several weeks from becoming 16 so they thought, you know, we'll just sneak her through.

Speaker C:

Yeah. And also with her record, a proven record, you know, she was not really an single at trying. She was really well experienced. Yeah.

Speaker B:

God love her.

Speaker C:

It happens. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but, but this is. It sounds that you are surprised. Claudia and Oren, you. You don't have that in the news in UK or Ireland or.

Speaker A:

We didn't hear about that.

Speaker C:

Okay.

Speaker D:

No, but we mean like things like this happening like in the marathon of Cork or the marathon of Dundalk.

Speaker B:

The Irish are very Dublin so we don't tend to collapse and we do marathons. In fact. Wasn't there somebody that did a marathon?

Speaker A:

No, hang on.

Speaker C:

Sorry.

Speaker A:

Well, only this, this week now it was an inquest. It was the result of an inquest. Actually about two years ago there was a triathlon held in Cork.

Speaker B:

Oh yeah, that was different.

Speaker A:

One of the swimmers appeared to. Well, he did pass away while swimming.

Speaker B:

But they sent them out in a storm.

Speaker A:

But they sent them out in a storm.

Speaker C:

That's also not nice.

Speaker A:

And neither of the organizations have been fined or nothing has happened to them.

Speaker C:

Oh.

Speaker A:

At the inquest deemed it to be purely accidental.

Speaker B:

Yeah. I mean there was an actual storm happening and somebody, they were swimming and they got into trouble and I think that guy went to help the. The person who was in trouble and they died.

Speaker C:

Oh.

Speaker D:

Oh.

Speaker B:

As far as I understand. But like it was, it was, it was in a heart. It was. It wasn't in a harbor. It was on. It was just off the coast.

Speaker C:

On the sea.

Speaker A:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

And so it was salty water. Salty water.

Speaker B:

Salty water. But also very, very, very choppy, very windy.

Speaker C:

Streaming or something.

Speaker B:

Yeah, a lot, A lot of. I don't know if it's raining, but it certainly was. Yeah. So I don't know.

Speaker D:

There's no messing with the scene during. No, no messing with the sea.

Speaker C:

But also when I came back yesterday or on Friday with batswacher, you know, from the Dutch and then we drove by, drove from Ben's place to, to our. And then we passed. There was a really tough rain, hail, lightning and. And oh yeah. Thunderstorms were crossing over the. The west.

Speaker D:

That was on Friday.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that was on Friday night.

Speaker D:

Oh no, that wasn't the west part only. Oh no. Oh that was the whole country.

Speaker B:

Oh really?

Speaker C:

Here it was. And then we passed by and on. On the. On the motorway and then there was an traffic jam on the other side because trees were cut over fell over the. The A13MO between Den Hague and Rotterdam and it was a two and a half hour traffic jam. Oh yeah. And we were lucky. We could pass by on the other side without any problem. But. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker A:

Wow.

Speaker D:

I think the hill was worst actually in Belgium. Oh they had hill the size of golf balls. That did not happen here. But yeah, that was. That's rough.

Speaker A:

We have had a couple of fires this week in the mountains. What they call gorse fires. And the fires.

Speaker C:

What is that?

Speaker B:

So gorse is a plant that grows. It's a wild plant that grows on the side of mountains here and it flowers yellow in the summer and it's quite dry. So if there's a fire it just goes up and it's like Tinder, you know, just.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker B:

Fires can get out of control very quickly.

Speaker C:

Ah, that reminds me Mo. We had also, I think was it a couple of weeks ago that we had also these fire. You know, after a military exercise. Yeah.

Speaker D:

We had a massive fire like it was dry for weeks and the military decided to blow up something.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

In the middle of something

Speaker C:

there.

Speaker D:

The whole woods went.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

Oh my God.

Speaker A:

Well, speaking of military precision, tell us about Sight City, Mr. Bloom.

Speaker C:

Sure. My God, that's an intro. Yeah, yeah. Oh my God. Well a lot of AI man. A lot of AI was there Guy, guy, guy. And also. But now to be honest it was nice to you know, in a way for. For me working as a international sales manager there it is always a kind of. Yeah. Reunion. Those three days you meet each other, you see each other face by face and what I think what a lot of people will recognize that it is one big family. Of course we have competitors, there's competition. But in a way we all heading for the same direction to get more independence for visually impaired, to optimize technology, to innovate, etc. And to. Yeah. To improve our lives in a way. And what I learned from the floor is that there was not really news to we understand what in braille display world ahead. It was the humanware was there with the evolve. That was already old news for us then we had yeah. Nothing really for the multi line Braille Displays all the same. I met with Adi Kushner for the Optima. I saw it. Yeah, and, and, and the strata from Orbit.

Speaker A:

What's the story? The latest on that?

Speaker C:

Yeah, they will like like all the time. What, what in Double Tap also was say or said. You know it is. They always have nice good news, it will be released soon. Etc. And then yeah, last time at season they were already meant prices meant mentioned for the. The new braille displays. And yeah, who knows, you know from out our corner that the. The. We released the Focus 6640 cells. So it was quite good. So that is a new. Yeah, looking a lot. Yeah. Or looking at it. It has similarities with the Focus 5. It has an improved internal architecture with all that stuff and it has some new keys left and right from the Braille cells. It has. And what do you call this chip Mo again? NFC chip or something?

Speaker D:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker C:

The NFC chip is built in.

Speaker B:

Oh, so you can transfer data from your phone to the thing or something.

Speaker D:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Okay, very cool.

Speaker C:

Yeah, so that's nice. And the built in scratchpad is getting optimized, etc. The SD card has been removed. There is internal hardware drive, so. So you cannot remove it anymore.

Speaker A:

Oh, okay.

Speaker C:

So that is all better, I would say. And then for the software we had also some. Some news I can say. Mo, isn't it?

Speaker D:

Well, I mean we talked about this during CSUN already. My colleagues Sean Ryan and Omar Wabi and Liz as well. Elizabeth Whitaker talked about this during csun, which is the Fusion AI mode. The Fusion AI mode will essentially be an agent that will help people get things done that are normally harder to get done. And we will produce some nice demos about this as vispero and share what it can do in more detail. But essentially you'll be able to ask it things to do for you in natural language and it will do them for you. And it will focus particularly on explaining to you what it's doing. And it will work seamlessly and really well with jaws.

Speaker A:

Are you able to give us an example?

Speaker D:

Yeah. So one of the examples that they showed at CSUN was to ask for a particular thing on Amazon, right? Find me a male white ski jacket in this size. And it went and found them, gave you three options and then added the one that you wanted to your cart. So that's one of them. It will also be able to handle inaccessible apps. So if you just need that one button click, rather than having to call someone who can see or having to call Aira, you can just ask Fusion AI and it will do it for you.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

Wow.

Speaker C:

Oren, when you encounter, for example, most of the times date fields on. On websites, they are very inaccessible.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

And then you can ask. Well, because it will be on the fly available. So then you in. In invoke it and then you can say, hey, bring me or set the date. Yeah. On so and so. And then it will do that. And it has. Yeah. So it's really a nice way of. Of. Of using AI, I would say it's

Speaker D:

just meant to make those like tiny parts of friction in your normal computer operation to make those go away.

Speaker C:

And then we had also some nice things, I must say, with the kiosk world. You know that you have accessible payment devices when you are in a restaurant or in a taxi, for example, and you need to fulfill your payment and then you are offered this touch or only touchscreen, you know, where you need to fill in your PIN code or you put in the. The tip or whatever. And yeah, Jaws for Kiosk is now available also on these Android devices. And they've create. Or. Yeah. Released or. Or. Or released. Yeah. Some for. With some companies they have released. Yeah. Thousands of units already working with Jos. That you can enter your PIN code and they've developed a very neat way of not, of course, hearing also your PIN code.

Speaker D:

Yeah. So that. So that it doesn't shout out your pink. Nine seven bullseye.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Wow.

Speaker C:

But that is quite. Yeah, it was a neat way of doing that. And then also we have these, you know, we heard that McDonald's will roll out or start rolling out their accessible kiosk. What? They have already more than 15,000 units in the U.S. they also start rolling it out in Europe this year. So that is really nice. So, yeah, we need to be keen on the fact. Yeah, yeah. Where the first one is, I'm not aware.

Speaker D:

This is very exciting actually, because we've been working with them and I mean, I couldn't talk about it, obviously, but we've been working with them on the Europe rollout for a little while now.

Speaker C:

Great.

Speaker D:

So very looking forward to seeing that in the wild.

Speaker A:

Can I ask a stupid question about kiosk?

Speaker D:

Yeah, go ahead.

Speaker A:

Everybody is kind of moving away from wired headphones.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And they're using, you know, Bluetooth headphones.

Speaker D:

How.

Speaker A:

And also moving away from the 3 1/2 millimeter jack. Are we expected. Being expected now to go out and purchase a pair of headphones with a 3 1/2 millimeter jack? Because that's the only type of headphone that Will work in kiosk, which. With one of these jaws kiosk units.

Speaker D:

So there are two answers to that question. A, for the payment device. No, because it will speak most of everything you need through speakers. And there's a very nice way of inputting your pin code so it doesn't shut it out. But the rest of it can be spoken and is relatively harmless to be spoken in a restaurant where everyone else is speaking as well. I do believe, and Jan, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that there are actual Bluetooth dongles.

Speaker C:

Yep, they are available.

Speaker D:

You can plop them into those 3.5 millimeter jacks and then connect your headphones to the dongle instead.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

And that way you can use that Bluetooth rather than a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack. Headphone. And the dongle is fairly small, so it's like a USB device almost. It's tiny. So that thing I think you can carry with you easily. I didn't buy it either, but I probably will because also, like ADM, ATMs now are more accessible if you have. If you can plug it in. So I think, I think having a Bluetooth dongle like that would be extremely useful.

Speaker A:

Okay. I woke up to an ATM that I've never. Or a kiosk in a McDonald's that I've never been at before. And I've heard through this podcast or I've read it somewhere else that these are great. You can use your own headphones or maybe your meta AI glasses with this if you have a dongle. So I've gone off. I bought my dongle. This is brilliant. Now I'm in front of my kiosk or my atm. How do I find the dongle? The dongle location, the hole.

Speaker C:

That is. Yeah, that's.

Speaker D:

Oh.

Speaker C:

Because those accessible kiosk systems, for example, when you're at an. An airport, or they have, for example, the storm keypad or another keypad, and then they are always positioned on the left hand side. So on the left down corner and there you can find it. Yeah.

Speaker B:

So bottom left.

Speaker D:

I'm very disappointed they didn't put it in. In a random location on every kiosk.

Speaker C:

Yeah, that's a big.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

Well, there is no standard, and I think we do need a standard for it. But we do know that the partner that we work with most, that supplies those accessible keyboards, we don't work with them exclusively. I mean, we'll put jaws on and connected.

Speaker C:

Yeah, we are. We can do it with everyone.

Speaker D:

Yeah, with everyone. But, but the, the. The specific company that sells accessible keyboards, they will put the headphone jack always at the same place.

Speaker A:

That's progress but I would like to see it in. And it's nothing to do with us or, or Vespera or anybody, but I would like to see that in the eaa. I hate to hear the idea that you're working with an accessible. A company that is believing in accessibility and has decided okay, we'll put the unit, the plug in thing bottom left hand side. But then you say we'll work with anybody else and anybody else could decide well let's just put it over in the top right.

Speaker C:

But then also Oren, I like to have perhaps Claude, you've seen it moa as well. I posted the LinkedIn post, it was last week and it was incredible. My God, how many thousands of likes and whatever likes not but so tell

Speaker A:

us, tell us about the LinkedIn posts.

Speaker C:

Well, that is a little bit naming or showing also the bad experience because we. I was with Mark Statham at the airport in Denmark and even also at Schiphol and in Stockholm. It turned out that they. You have. When you enter the check in area for your flight then you can find 1 out of 10 units are accessible. They. They are equipped with this accessible storm keyboard device, you know, with this jack plug, keys to navigate etc. Up, down, left, right and the selector button to make the selection. And so we were few. Well, we were so happy, you know. Hey guys, you know this is wonderful. Da da da da da. Now then I went up, you know, with my jack plug because we were prepared Oren, we were prepar was there. Well in Amsterdam they say welcome at Schipple and then it got off. And then in Denmark, in Stockholm it kept silent. It didn't say anything. N. Can you imagine? So you have a wonderful hardware and then everything thinks, you know, that. That it's all accessible. But yeah, what do you have when you have a nice Lamborghini for example and no engine? Yeah or no.

Speaker B:

Basically they didn't design it for accessibility. So the. The hardware was designed for accessibility but whoever designed the software didn't think about it at all.

Speaker D:

Or, or they are still building it, but they put it there not thinking that anyone would notice. Because of the eaa. Right.

Speaker B:

And yeah,

Speaker D:

because of the eaa they're like oh no, we need to be, you know what put the units there. Nobody was. Those blind people won't see them. And then you know, and then I was. I was still building.

Speaker C:

Yeah, we need to inform Your brother Mo, because he was part of this association, you know, in the Netherlands together with Angela and, and, and they were also working on the airport. And. And so they have really done a good job in really creating awareness. So they did something. But yeah, they.

Speaker D:

Yeah, but they need to do better.

Speaker C:

We need to stand up also as a community, you know, to that. That positive things need to be. Yeah. Also have embraced and. Yeah. And. And, yeah, yeah. Reach out.

Speaker D:

But also negative things.

Speaker C:

Negative things. Yeah.

Speaker B:

I think it's no harm in a way, just so that people know.

Speaker A:

Well, that's what I want to ask you, Jan. What happened then?

Speaker C:

Nothing yet. It is so it shows.

Speaker A:

You contacted.

Speaker C:

Who have you. We tried to get in touch with Paul Hastings. He is our kiosk sales guy in the UK or he. That internationally. He is now chasing, trying to get in touch with all those people, you know, because they are hiding each other, you know, because. No. Oh, no, no, it is not. It is. It is the company who is providing the software or he is the company who is doing that, you know, so it is so difficult to get really to the right people.

Speaker D:

This is the ultimate bureaucratic and technocratic defense, which is. It's the guy, the other in the other office, like two doors over.

Speaker A:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

And then you go there and he's like, well, no, it's the other guy two doors over. And then you keep on running in circles until you're persistent enough or you find someone who thinks, you know what, I'm just. I'm just going to take this and make it happen. Right. We're all humans and I think we can all just only focus on a couple of things at once. And you just need to hit someone who is actually willing to pick this up and move this forward or else you're going to run into the bureaucratic, technocratic defense, which is it's the other guy and not me. And there'll be a circle of infinite other guys that you run to.

Speaker A:

I must say, from, from a personal perspective, it's really. For. I have found this really frustrating since the EAA came into play and we had our talk with Adela Bullyman.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

About the. I suppose what we maybe call them, the caveats that the government put in before accepting, before bringing the EA into law, is that every single complaint that I have made to the. What's called the CCPC here, the Consumer Complaints and Protection Commission, has been rejected because it falls inside those caveats that the government put in place, which is basically to help or companies not to have to be accessible if you know what I mean.

Speaker B:

So giving them a get out of jail free card.

Speaker A:

They've given them a get out of jail free card. And that's really, really. For me, I did think the EAA was going to be a lot more

Speaker C:

of a force, but it has no teeth.

Speaker A:

It has absolutely no teeth right now.

Speaker C:

But also we lack the organizations like NFB or AFB who will take them to court, you know. Come on. What the fuck? Sorry. Well, why?

Speaker D:

Come on. Remember that even in the US where everybody says, you know, the ADA is the next best, next best thing after sliced bread, right? The ADA is fantastic. Look what it did for us. It took a society, an organization field like the nfb, ACB that are willing to enforce it and that are willing to fight for their rights. A law alone is never enough. Allah is just words, right? It becomes a problem or it becomes something that has power in the world when the government, but also the people that make up the country are willing to work for it to be enforced. Yeah, that's the.

Speaker C:

By the way, I remember I'm a member here in the Netherlands of the Oak Reinering.

Speaker D:

You know, they are like a spineless wet towel. I'm sorry, I'm also a member of them, but they are just the most awful, weak, weak minded, loser organization. And I'm a member, don't you forget.

Speaker C:

Me too. Yeah, but I will. I will get them. I will inform them.

Speaker D:

I will call Ehab, I will call my brother and let.

Speaker C:

He should be there as well.

Speaker D:

No, he's disgusted by them and he should be. It's awful. These people are stuck in the mindset of the 80s.

Speaker C:

Yeah, but he helps you also.

Speaker A:

Hang on, lads, hang on, hang on. For our listeners. Will you please explain who you're talking about?

Speaker C:

Association for the Flight in the Netherlands.

Speaker D:

They are, they are. I told you. They're a spineless wet towel. They are. So it means. It means they are the organization for sort of support for people with visual impairments. And they're not there to. They are basically a members organization that is supposed to sort of almost play the NFB role. It's not quite the same. It's not a consumer organization, but it's supposed to be the same thing. Yeah, but like I said, they're stuck in the mindset of the 80s where you had to be happy that a sighted person would even look at you, let alone, you know, do anything for

Speaker B:

you and grateful for what you guess kind of thing.

Speaker D:

From what I see now, they are starting to change a little bit. But it's still very bland soup that

Speaker C:

they're serving because they did also something with. About guide dogs that guide dogs were. Were refused in public areas, restaurants.

Speaker D:

I mean they do all sorts of things. But it's so soft that me as a member, I'm not hearing anything about them. No, as a member, mind you. I get publications from them in the mail and I'm. I just can't be bothered to look. And also I just. They just. Because the. The times that I looked at them, it just meant nothing to me and.

Speaker C:

Yeah, but I will give them another choice or. Or option. I will. I will send them my. My LinkedIn post and ask Tom. What. What is it? Yeah. If they can work on that. Because this experience in Denmark is exact the same like at Schiphol Airport. Yeah.

Speaker D:

The one thing I think that they do that is nice is they do have like a sort of a trade show where they get all the companies together. It's almost like a side village type thing. And I think that is actually pretty well organized and very informative for a lot of people. So kudos to them for that. Anything else, like anything on the advocacy front, it's just weak sauce. It's.

Speaker A:

It's nothing I have never heard in 148 podcasts. Jan and Mo be so animated.

Speaker C:

Now let me. Shall we end this recording then? You know, Questions Blind guys chat Answering your questions Yanmo Oren they're bringing the facts Hit us with your wisdom or your wisecrack attack.

Speaker D:

What you got to say Blind guys

Speaker C:

chat at Gmail Send it our way

Speaker D:

BGC email We're ready to reply Claudette

Speaker C:

reads it out loud no message too sly so hit that key let your fingers tap we're waiting on your voice in this funky rap

Speaker B:

still cracks me up I did that back in November. I don't think we started using it for a good. A good while, but I still don't know.

Speaker A:

We have to ease ourselves into it.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker C:

It's really good.

Speaker A:

Hello, cl.

Speaker C:

Hey, cl. How are you?

Speaker B:

I've been here all along, you know.

Speaker D:

Oh, yeah.

Speaker C:

Oh, sorry. Don't worry.

Speaker A:

Well, just in case, just in case you've joined us, folks. The. The two guys from the Netherlands have been extremely animated in the last 10 minutes. So we're gonna. We're gonna cool them down by listening some emails from Claudia. Thank you.

Speaker D:

Thank you. I need it.

Speaker C:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. I go to the toilet everywhere.

Speaker B:

Yeah, you guys are funny. Okay, so. Yes, we got a mail from. I don't know if they're A new listener or what. But the subject line is.

Speaker C:

That's good.

Speaker B:

It might be. I don't know.

Speaker D:

I haven't.

Speaker B:

I don't know them kitchen devices boys. I know this is going to be high up in your list of important things, right? Especially Oren, because he's so into kitchens and what happens in kitchens. Yes.

Speaker D:

Well, let's go.

Speaker A:

Here we go.

Speaker B:

Okay. So it says, dear Blind men's and Lady Claudia. I'm Claudia, but I'll answer to anything. So thank you for that. My name is Bense. I looked this up because I wasn't sure how to pronounce it, and it is Bense, I think, and I live just outside Budapest. I am. Please ask if you know of some accessible devices for cooking. Question mark. I am looking for accessible microwave with speak and also oven and coffee machine. Do you know of any products in Europe? I like your podcast very much and think you were all very funny. We're hilarious, Spencer. And also very fun. Some funny sometimes when Claudia has to keep eyes on you. Yes, well, it happens a lot. I feel like they're mammy sometimes. Hank's Spencer, so he's looking for microwave oven and coffee machine that's accessible. Can you guys help?

Speaker D:

To be honest, my coffee machine is just one with buttons and it doesn't talk or anything, but I know which buttons to press. It grounds beans and it's very good coffee.

Speaker A:

So you've got a proper coffee machine.

Speaker D:

Yeah, yeah, me too. I got it for my birthday and I forgot the brand right now, but I might be able to look it up. It should be available in all of Europe then for the microwave, I. This is. I use Chat GPT Live mode, actually, because I bought the simplest combo oven microwave I could find that had like a. One of those, like, turning buttons.

Speaker B:

A knob that turns a knob head.

Speaker D:

I forgot that word. Sorry. Thank you. A knob. Cut that out. Oren. I have this. I have this microwave oven with a knob. I. I knew that. I knew that word from the start.

Speaker C:

And what is the word again? Turning, but something.

Speaker D:

Ye. No, no, no. It's a knob. Can you spell?

Speaker C:

How do you spell that?

Speaker D:

Don't spell on an audio podcast.

Speaker B:

It means something else in some. In some context, but we won't go there.

Speaker C:

Oh, my God.

Speaker D:

Anyway, today. Can you please proceed?

Speaker C:

Come on.

Speaker D:

And I just use ChatGPT and shout it regularly. Like, what does it say now? What does it say now?

Speaker B:

It's sort of.

Speaker D:

It sort of works out. My food is warm by the end,

Speaker A:

so I'm just imagining Mo saying what's it say now? What's to say now? And your. Your apartment next door or above you or just in a psycho. That poor woman, she puts up with so much. She's always shouting at us.

Speaker C:

Hilarious. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's funny.

Speaker A:

Your coffee machine, which is interesting me just has buttons. Jan, your coffee mach is also just a button.

Speaker C:

Yeah, it's also been. It's from Jira and. But I am using a light indicator because this one, it will beep when it. It is recognizing light. So I place some bumpons on the location where a light indicator should indicate that it is on that choice. So I'm holding down with this light detector on that bump on. And then I turn also this button

Speaker D:

or knob, whatever and then turning knob. Yeah, turning it. That's it.

Speaker C:

So then when you turn it then it will then beep or then the light indicator will then give. Yeah. Give feedback. That's also what I did with the microwave. I also put it put a bump on underneath the. Or above the start button. That's the only touch what I need to do. And then I could also select with buttons if I want to do the 1,000 megawatt or the watt change. The wattage. Yeah, or 800 or whatever.

Speaker D:

I do know that there are speaking microwaves and speaking. And what I would recommend you do. Bense, actually. And I know you wanted to ask a question, Claudia, but what I would recommend you do is actually go to those trade shows that we just mentioned. One of them here in the Netherlands is actually organized by the. That we talked about. But there should be one in. In Hungary. It should for sure. I would be very surprised if there isn't one in Budapest actually that you can go to where you'll have a Hungary specific answer. So you'll have a mic. They'll have a microwave there and a washing machine and a dryer and all of those things that actually speak speaking and they'll be preset to your language to Hungarian.

Speaker B:

We have a coffee machine that was given to us by my sister and it's an espresso one. So it's pods which I'm not potty about really. But it's working okay.

Speaker A:

The only reason we have it. I'm really interested to hear this conversation is because all the other coffee machines that you put beans into are all. All have of displays, you know, touch screens.

Speaker C:

Yeah.

Speaker A:

And that's the only reason we didn't.

Speaker C:

Because I'm also aware that some of these. Some brands have buttons also here in the Netherlands.

Speaker D:

Yeah, there is. There is one, I think sold here in the Netherlands by a specific accessible shop and I forgot which one it is. There's a bunch of them. Yeah. It's probably the Edith's House or one of those others. But. And, and they have like this bean

Speaker B:

grinding machine with buttons, the rnib, which

Speaker A:

is what, the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

Speaker B:

Okay. That's in the uk. They have a really good shop that's online. I think it's shop.rnib.org.uk I'll put the link in the show notes. But they have a microwave, a talking microwave, which is really simple. It's got one knob and it's got three buttons and it has a display, a timer display, but I'm guessing it calls out the timer for you as well. And it. They also have. So that's a microwave and then they also have an oven. Sorry, no, a hob. An induction hob. So it's one. So you could put a saucepan on it, you know, or a frying pan or something. But it's only one ring and they're. That one is like. It's like 144 quid pounds.

Speaker A:

It talks to you.

Speaker B:

Does talks to you. Yeah.

Speaker A:

Too hot.

Speaker D:

Too hot. Yeah,

Speaker B:

yeah. The thing about an induction hob is it doesn't stay hot like a regular. Like we have a gas hub.

Speaker D:

Mine doesn't stay hot.

Speaker B:

Yeah. So you take your.

Speaker C:

And also, because mo. You have an induction cooker with buttons, I think that you can.

Speaker D:

Well, no, no, they're actually. Wait for it. Knobs. They're knobs.

Speaker C:

Oh, okay.

Speaker D:

And you turn them and. And one of those, like one of those. One of those circles lights up, but only if there's a pan on it. So it won't get hot without one. It will actually start beeping at me if I turn the wrong one. So that's very useful, actually. And I love the one that I have. I. It's not very sleek. It looks old and kind of. I mean, it's new. Right. But it looks like it was made somewhere in the 80s or 70s. But it's okay. I mean, it works well for me, so I'm not complaining.

Speaker B:

Yeah.

Speaker D:

And that's actually what I asked for when I bought my kitchen.

Speaker C:

Yeah. And when you have a fancy one like Chantal that didn't want to have these buttons, you know, looks ugly, etc, you know, whatever.

Speaker D:

Exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker C:

Then. But, but then I will say, hey, I'm free from cooking, you know. No, no cooking for me anymore. And then.

Speaker D:

Right.

Speaker C:

She's so clever, these women, you know. Oh my God. It's too clever.

Speaker B:

This is why.

Speaker C:

So she created a template, you know what I. So we put an old carpet in a way what is soft on the bottom under part and, and more tough on the, on the upper part. So and then she carved out on the right places a hole or a, you know, a bunch of that you could indicate that you level one, level two, level nine or whatever and then you can put your finger in that hole, in the carved out hole on the template and then yeah, you're up and running. So yeah, I'm. Yeah, she's too clever so I'm cool.

Speaker D:

She doesn't let you get away with anything.

Speaker C:

Exactly.

Speaker B:

I need to talk to her.

Speaker A:

That's all we have time for the end of the show. Don't forget the email address is blind gu chat gmail.com and we will see you for episode 149.

Speaker B:

Check the show notes.

In what can only be described as a robust conversation, this week's show has it all! The Blind Guys begin by talking about the weather and then we move smoothly into Jan telling us about this year’s Sight Village, from which he has just returned. The conversation then meanders along the road as the guys talk about the new Focus 46 and also the introduction of JAWS Kiosk as it rolls into Europe; it seems that there are some bumps along the way for this new accessibility feature at airports and other locations. The show tour bus then appears to take a sharp right and heads straight for a wall so thick, not even the US military could break through it. However, the Blind Guys, 2 in particular, manage to drive headfirst through this wall as if it is a knife cutting through butter!

On the calmer side of the street, Clodagh has an email from Bence, who has a question about accessible coffee makers and Microwaves etcetera.

So, we suggest you buckle up multiple times, if you can, and settle in for what we describe as the Grand Theft Auto of a nice sedate Sunday drive in the countryside: Blind Guys Chat - 8 out of 10 spineless, weak-minded wet towels prefer it to a men's smelly locker room!

Links for this show:

·       Storm Keypad: https://www.storm-interface.com/

·       LinkedIn post from Jan: https://tinyurl.com/JanLinkedInPost

·       RNIB website: https://tinyurl.com/RNIBshop

·       Light indicator: https://tinyurl.com/LightIdent

·       Accessible coffee machine, De'Longhi Magnifica S: https://tinyurl.com/AccessibleCoffee

·       Another one that’s voice activated but we haven’t tried it personally: https://www.lavazza.com/en/coffee-machines/a-modo-mio-voicy

·       RNIB talking microwave and induction hob: https://shop.rnib.org.uk/collections/microwaves-and-hobs

Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Blind Guys Chat 2020