Welcome to the sixth episode of Access On, the National Federation of the Blind's Technology podcast.
Episode
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Timestamps
The show is segmented by chapter, making it easy to move between segments of the podcast if you have an app or player that supports chapters. Below is what's on the show this week, and when you can hear it.
- Introduction 0:00
- A look at iOS 18.2 1:30
- Why isn't Siri's ChatGPT integration on all iPhones? 41:59
- Assistance with purchasing access technology 46:15
- AudibleSync doesn't work for all Victor Reader Stream 3 users 50:29
- Thunderbird accessibility 53:28
- Creating tables in Pages for Mac 54:16
- Tech Tip, accessing the classic Windows sound settings 55:24
- Closing and contact info 56:58
Transcript
Jonathan Mosen: Welcome to Access On the technology podcast of the National Federation of the Blind. Apple has released iOS 18.2 with an expanded set of Apple Intelligence features. While Apple Intelligence requires a lot of power, should ChatGPT integration be available on all iPhones? While audible support for the Victor Reader Stream 3 works for many, it does not for everybody. And in our tech tip, how to get the classic Windows user interface for configuring audio properties.
Good to be back with you. I'm Jonathan Mosen, and this is episode 6. Yes, we've managed to get half a dozen episodes of this new podcast initiative in, from the National Federation of the Blind, before we take a quick break over the Christmas and New Year period. And we will be back in early January for Access On, episode 7. 2025 is going to be a great year for Access On. We have all sorts of interactive ideas planned, some comparative reviews, and we'll continue to keep you on the cutting edge of technology. We also appreciate how quickly people have made Access On a part of their weekly listening experience. We have plenty of listener contributions coming in, far more than we'll have time for today, but we will keep some of these until January, when we return.
Apple has recently released iOS 18.2. This is quite a significant update, given where in the iOS cycle we are. There are a lot of new features in this update. And in this episode of Access On we're going to have a look at just some of them. There is so much of substance here that we may not be able to cover everything, but this will certainly be enough to get you going and exploring with iOS 18.2. Most of the new features in this release relate to Apple Intelligence. And if you want to use the Apple Intelligence related features of iOS, you'll need an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, or anything iPhone 16. This is because of the RAM and processor requirements of Apple Intelligence. They're doing a lot on device, which Apple says is safer from a privacy point of view, but it does mean that it ends up excluding people with older iPhones because of those stringent requirements.
Before we get started on the Apple Intelligence, which is the focus of this episode, there are a couple of VoiceOver changes that Apple has introduced to iOS 18.2. One relates to a change of heart about the audio ducking interface. In iOS 18 we saw quite a different way of doing audio ducking, where you had a slider that went all the way up to 200%. And the higher you got on that slider, the more ducking there was. A bit of speculation on my part, but it does seem likely that there was quite a lot of adverse feedback about that increased tech support traffic, because Apple has reverted, to some degree, the way audio ducking works in iOS 18.2. So let's take a quick look at this. And to do so, we will double tap Settings, and then Accessibility, and then VoiceOver, and then Audio. If you are using an external keyboard, you can also press VO with F8 to get straight into VoiceOver settings.
Speaker 1: Audio ducking. When speaking, button-
Jonathan Mosen: I'll double tap.
Speaker 1: Audio ducking. Heading.
Jonathan Mosen: Let's flick right through these options
Speaker 1: Off. Selected when speaking.
Jonathan Mosen: No change here. This determines whether you have audio ducking on at all, and if so, how it behaves. Audio ducking, just to remind you, is the way that something you're listening to just turns down a little bit whenever VoiceOver's talking. And by default, when VoiceOver's finished talking, the audio turns back up to its previous level, although you can change that behavior here. So the options are-
Speaker 1: Off.
Jonathan Mosen: Off means that there is no audio ducking going to occur at all.
Speaker 1: Selected, when speaking.
Jonathan Mosen: That's the default.
Speaker 1: Always.
Jonathan Mosen: And always, which means that there is going to be a discrepancy in the volume between VoiceOver and the audio that you are listening to, whether that's a piece of music or an audiobook or a TV show, or whatever, something on your device. So you can always have the audio from those sources quieter than VoiceOver if you prefer. Now let's flick right.
Speaker 1: The volume of media and calls will be reduced when VoiceOver is speaking. Ducking amount. Heading. Ducking amount, 80% adjustable.
Jonathan Mosen: I think this is much more intuitive than the way that earlier versions of iOS were displaying this. The ducking amount will reduce the volume of the audio that's being ducked to this level. So the way that I have it set, it will take it down to 80% whenever VoiceOver is talking. This is a slider, so I can just flick up and down.
Speaker 1: 85%, 90%
Jonathan Mosen: I'll go down.
Speaker 1: Ducking 85%. Ducking amount, 85%. 80%. Ducking amount, 80%. Adjustable.
Jonathan Mosen: If you want to get a feel for the effect that this change has, you can place something in the background while you adjust this audio ducking volume. Now if I flick right.
Speaker 1: Adjust the volume of other audio compared to VoiceOver on your iPhone.
Jonathan Mosen: And that's an explanation of the slider that we just saw. And that's all there is now on the audio ducking screen, so I think it is much more straightforward. Another feature that's new in VoiceOver, in iOS 18.2, can be found under VoiceOver Settings, and then we go to...
Speaker 1: Braille, Mantis Q40.
Jonathan Mosen: I'll double tap.
Speaker 1: 650. Match input and output tables. Switch button On.
Jonathan Mosen: Here's a set of standard settings that we've all become familiar with in iOS 18, but there is one new thing here.
Speaker 1: Enter Braille chords on keyboard. Switch button Off.
Jonathan Mosen: There's an explanation of this feature, if I flick right.
Speaker 1: The F-D-S-J-K-L-A and the semicolon keys in the QWERTY layout will work as dots 1 through 8 when pressed with the space key to enter Braille chords.
Jonathan Mosen: And this does work. It's another way of using the Braille interface on other devices if you have a Bluetooth keyboard, such as Apple's own keyboard, or something from Logitech, or for that matter, the Mantis. If you want to do this, then you can use the QWERTY keyboard as a way of entering chord commands with VoiceOver. Just note the parameters of this feature though, you cannot input Braille using this method, kind of perky duck style, if you're familiar with that technology. You can only use chord commands, at least at this stage. So now let's talk about some of the Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.2. Apple is continuing to fulfill the commitments it made at the Worldwide Developers Conference, all the way back in June of last year, when it announced Apple Intelligence, it indicated quite a comprehensive platform of initiatives that would roll out throughout the iOS 18 cycle.
We got a little hint of some features in 18.1, but 18.2 was a comprehensive release for Apple Intelligence, for those with compatible devices. Let's talk about some of these Apple Intelligence features. And one that may be of interest to some of our listeners, is called Image Playground. Image Playground enables users to craft unique images based on textual descriptions or existing photos. It offers various styles, like animation and sketch, allowing creative expression from anywhere directly in the device. You may need to request access to these features, although I think Apple is rolling it out steadily. There was a wait list for a while. And in fact if I go into the settings app on my iPhone, so just double tap Settings. You'll see right at the top of the screen, at least on my device, I've got this.
Speaker 1: Image creation tools are here. Genmoji, Image Playground and Image Wand are now available for your iPhone. Heading. Open Image Playground. Button.
Jonathan Mosen: If you double tap this, it will open an app called Playground, which is on your phone, if you have a compatible device. It is accessible, you can give it a description. When I was playing with this, for example, I talked about Santa holding a long white candy cane and using it like a blind person might use a cane. And you can accessorize Santa with whatever you want. It's kind of fun to play with. And of course, then the trick is, once you've done your image, you might well want to put it through one of the AI services that you trust, to describe some of these images, for example, Be My AI or Aira’s AI Explorer. This is not a particularly unique feature, there are other places you can go where you can generate images like this. So you might want to play with them if this is the sort of thing that you like to do. You can play with them and work out which one you find easiest to work with.
And also perhaps, with a bit of trial and error or maybe some sighted assistance on hand, you can gain a view about which one is going to give you the best outcomes. In a similar vein, there is another feature called Genmoji and that allows you to make your very own emojis. These are a fun way to add some life to your more informal communications. I wouldn't recommend using these in a more formal capacity, unless you're in some place where the culture lends itself to that. But it's kind of fun for texting and other more informal communication. And there is a set of standard emojis that most of your devices will come equipped with, but now with this Genmoji feature, you can create your own. This is a little bit like Image Playground, but the images are much smaller. They're designed to be used in an emoji kind of context.
One way to get to this and generate your own Genmoji is to go into the Messages app and start composing a message. And you will find that little button for Apps, which most of us, I think, do not have expanded because it creates a lot of clutter on the screen when you do. But you can double tap the apps button to expand the message apps and you should be able to find the Genmoji app in there and generate your own Genmoji, if you want to do that. And you can use pictures of people, you can do all sorts of innovative things with that. One feature that many people are appreciating is email summaries in iOS 18.2, using Apple Intelligence. In the past, when you've received a notification of an email, you would get the first few lines of the email, which may or may not give you the gist of what the email is about. And that's also the way it worked in the mail app itself, when you were flicking through your emails and previewing them. Now you can opt to have email summarized.
Here's a really good example of where this is quite helpful. I've got a tech publication that I get every week from the Wall Street Journal in my email at the moment, and in the past, I would've just got the first few lines of the email, which wouldn't have given me an overview of what that email contained. So I would've had to open the email, find out if there were any articles of interest, and then go on my merry way. In this case, I've got a lot more useful information before I even open the email.
Speaker 1: Messages. Unread. Dana Marioli. WSJ, WSJ Tech Weekly. Tech Titans spend the need to Trump. 5:05 AM updates. Summary. Tech Titans spend the need to Trump. Viral cookies. The new AI on your iPhone. Phone call phobia, and more.
Jonathan Mosen: That is actually very helpful. There are times when the Apple Intelligence summaries get it wrong, and this is just the nature of AI. I mentioned this in one of the tech tips actually, with respect to LinkedIn notifications. Sometimes you are going to get a summary that simply does not reflect, in any way at all, what the email actually is trying to convey. You do want to be a bit careful, but most of the time I find that this is giving me pretty good results. There are also new ways of working with email now, and having used email for a very long time, I prefer to manage my own email and not rely on algorithms to try and prioritize what I should and shouldn't be reading. For the same reason, I turn the Focus Inbox feature off in Microsoft Outlook, when it's offered. But some people view it differently, and if you want to have Apple Intelligence do some work for you to prioritize email, you can do that. I'm going to go to the top of the screen-
Speaker 1: Mailboxes. Back button.
Jonathan Mosen: ... and click right.
Speaker 1: All inboxes. Heading. Select button. More button.
Jonathan Mosen: And it's the More button that I'm interested in.
Speaker 1: Categories.
Jonathan Mosen: If I double tap this button, it will completely change the view of the email inbox.
Speaker 1: Messages unread. Bruce, promotions, updates, transactions. Selected Primary. Dictate button.
Jonathan Mosen: So at the moment the primary email is selected. What Apple Intelligence is trying to do at this point, is to filter out or de-prioritize what it considers to be less important email. So Primary is selected, and I've got just a fraction of the email that I do have in my inbox at the moment. Typically, these are unread emails or they're emails that are deemed important because of who has sent them. Or maybe I have flagged them in some way, marked them as important. It's using a range of criteria to say, "These are the most important emails that you have." And now-
Speaker 1: Messages. Primary. Selected, Transactions.
Jonathan Mosen: ... we've got transactions selected, and if I flick right...
Speaker 1: Promote. Receipts. Close receipts. Orders and deliveries.
Jonathan Mosen: And if I flick right again...
Speaker 1: Close button, keep track of your orders, including shipping and delivery notices, bundled by sender. New messages. Transfer now. Unread. Saturday. Bullet RJD 981.
Jonathan Mosen: That's a Mushroom FM related email. I wouldn't call that a transaction, but I can sort of understand why Apple Intelligence has concluded that it is.
Speaker 1: Ellen Febriss. Saturday. Bullet. Invoice INV 0975 from Mavis Cleaning Service Limited.
Jonathan Mosen: And that's our cleaning company, and that is indeed a relevant invoice to put into transactions.
Speaker 1: Toolbar. Updated message.
Jonathan Mosen: And that's what I have here at the moment. I've got a relatively empty inbox, I'm delighted to say, right now. But one of those two is a transaction, no question. If I go back to the top...
Speaker 1: All inboxes. Select More. Buck search. Dictate. Buck messages. Selected. Transactions. Updates.
Jonathan Mosen: Now we've got updates. We'll double tap this one.
Speaker 1: Selected. Updates.
Jonathan Mosen: And flick right.
Speaker 1: Promotions. News. Close button. Stay updated with a place for everything including newsletters and alerts. New messages. Dana Marioli. WSJ. Unread.
Jonathan Mosen: Okay, that's right on point there. This is the Wall Street Journal newsletter that I showed you before, that Apple Intelligence summarized so well. This absolutely does belong in the Updates category.
Speaker 1: Gracie Manning. Unread. 12:23 AM. Bullet. Mantis Chameleon
Jonathan Mosen: Now this one is from the Mantis Chameleon email list, which is very busy at the moment because the Mantis, in recent times, has come out with a version of its firmware that makes speech available via Bluetooth audio devices. And I guess I get why Apple has decided this should be in the Updates category, because it is talking actually about something new that has happened.
Speaker 1: Calm Radio. Yesterday. Bullet action required.
Jonathan Mosen: Now that one is about a password breach at a service I use, called Calm Radio, so that absolutely should be here.
Speaker 1: Shane Popplestone. Unread. Yesterday. Bullet. Mantis-
Jonathan Mosen: Another one from the Mantis list.
Speaker 1: Eric Brinkman. Unread. Yesterday.
Jonathan Mosen: And again the Mantis list. And there are quite a few actually from that list, which does make sense, as I say. So we'll go back up to the top.
Speaker 1: Mailbox. Select More. Search. Dictate messages. Transact selected. Updates. Promotions.
Jonathan Mosen: After updates, we have promotions. I'll double tap this.
Speaker 1: Selected.
Jonathan Mosen: We'll get a little description of what this category does.
Speaker 1: Special offers, deals and more.
Jonathan Mosen: Wow, that was a very handy one to have around the whole Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday type thing.
Speaker 1: Close button. See what's new from businesses and organizations you recognize. Older messages. Trade Me 19/11/2020.
Jonathan Mosen: And I haven't got a lot of promotions actually. I have been expressly unsubscribing from a lot of New Zealand sites that send me promotions that I won't be using anymore, on account of not living there anymore. And actually, it's quite useful to do that with this system, because you can bring up all of your promotional messages in one place. It normally does a pretty good job of identifying those. And if you do need to do a wholesale unsubscribing, such as what I've been doing, it is actually pretty nice. The other advantage of this obviously is that if you choose the Primary category, it is going to try and make sure that if you're on a time crunch, you will see the email that's important to you.
Now clearly this is not a flawless system, it's a machine making these choices. It is not you, so don't rely too heavily on it, but it can be a great user interface. Some people just prefer their email the way it has always worked, and you can switch this off. If this Apple Intelligence is on and you don't like the way it is grouping your email, then let's go to the top.
Speaker 1: Mailboxes. Back button.
Jonathan Mosen: And I'll flick right-
Speaker 1: All inboxes. Select button. More button.
Jonathan Mosen: ... and I'll choose More. And I believe, by the way, that you can set this up based on each mailbox. So if you want these features disabled, you may have to do it more than once. But that gives you maximum flexibility, because there may be one email box, maybe for your work, where you want this prioritization on, this categorization on, and maybe in your personal life you don't, or vice versa. So it's good to have that choice. Now we're going to flick right.
Speaker 1: Search. Search more button.
Jonathan Mosen: To the More button, and I'll double tap it.
Speaker 1: Categories. List view.
Jonathan Mosen: And if I double tap List View-
Speaker 1: Messages. Unread.
Jonathan Mosen: ... we are popped out of that More screen. And now we have a very conventional looking email box, the way Apple has always done it, without the categorization features from Apple Intelligence. One of the much anticipated features in iOS 18.2 is that Siri is finally starting to get smarter, thanks to some work that Apple is doing behind the scenes. And I think there's plenty more where that came from, in terms of what Apple is doing. But also thanks to Siri's integration with ChatGPT. One of the things that you will appreciate is that in iOS 18.2, Siri can be quite helpful in terms of providing you with advice about how to use your iPhone. Let's try this as an example. I will invoke Siri using the side button and ask it a question. How do I configure Smart Reply for email on my iPhone?
Speaker 3: Here's how to customize the Smart Reply suggestions in mail on your iPhone. First go to Settings, second tap Mail, then tap Smart Reply. And third, turn on or off the suggestions you want to see.
Jonathan Mosen: Makes a pleasant change from, "I found this on the web. Take a look." Right? That was actually a very helpful reply about Smart Replies, another new Apple Intelligence feature in iOS 18.2, which you can investigate if you wish. The ChatGPT integration means that you are far more likely to get a detailed answer from Siri now. For example, let's ask this question. Tell me about the Beatles album, Abbey Road.
Speaker 3: Abbey Road is the 11th studio album by the Beatles. Released on September 26th, 1969, it features iconic tracks, such as Come Together, Something, and Here Comes the Sun. The album is notable for its innovative use of the recording studio, with complex harmonies and instrumentation. The cover photo, showing the band crossing a zebra crossing near Abbey Road Studios in London, is one of the most famous images in music history. Abbey Road is often praised for its polished production, and is considered one of the Beatles' greatest works. That was from ChatGPT. Check important info for mistakes.
Jonathan Mosen: Tremendous, isn't it? Now, to get this experience, there are some things that you might want to do. We'll go into this section of settings.
Speaker 1: Apple Intelligence and Siri button.
Jonathan Mosen: We'll double tap that.
Speaker 1: Beta.
Jonathan Mosen: And this is navigable by heading. I'm just going to navigate by heading to get to the one I want.
Speaker 1: Apple Intelligence and Siri. Heading. Siri requests. Heading. Extensions. Heading.
Jonathan Mosen: This is where the ChatGPT magic happens. And Apple's clearly architected this in a way that might permit access to other large language models in the future, because it is under Extensions.
Speaker 1: ChatGPT button.
Jonathan Mosen: I'll double tap this.
Speaker 1: Selected. ChatGPT. You'll have-
Jonathan Mosen: Now it started talking there. I'm just going to go to the top of the screen though and review this.
Speaker 1: Back button.
Jonathan Mosen: And flick right.
Speaker 1: ChatGPT extension. Heading. Use ChatGPT. Switch button on.
Jonathan Mosen: If you want to, you can turn this off. In fact, there is even a master switch on the Apple Intelligence and Siri screen to turn all of Apple Intelligence off, if you want. I know there are some people who still feel a bit skeptical about AI, or they're just not interested in it. You can switch it all off with that master switch on the Apple Intelligence and Siri screen, if you want to. But I'm going to continue to flick right.
Speaker 1: ChatGPT can help you write text, create an image, answer questions, and more. Open AI terms of use.
Jonathan Mosen: I'll flick right.
Speaker 1: Chat account. Heading. Sign in button.
Jonathan Mosen: Now for some reason my ChatGPT account has been signed out during the Apple beta process. I've only just realized this. If you don't have a ChatGPT account of your own, or you don't pay for a ChatGPT Plus account, then you can just leave this alone. And I believe that the screen does explain all that, if I flick right.
Speaker 1: If you sign in, ChatGPT can keep a record of your requests. About ChatGPT extension and privacy. Advanced capabilities. Heading. Daily limit. Under limit. You'll have access to ChatGPT's advanced capabilities until you reach your daily limit. Additional requests. Will use the basic version for up to 24 hours. Siri. Heading. Confirm ChatGPT requests. Switch button off.
Jonathan Mosen: Now this is the thing you might want to change, because by default, Siri is going to ask if you want to use ChatGPT to get an answer, and it just adds a little bit more friction. If you have a little bit of nervousness about sending stuff to ChatGPT, then leave this on, obviously. And Apple is very privacy focused, so it's decided that, by default, it wants you to confirm that it's okay to send your query off your Apple device, and send it out into the big wide world via the cloud, to ChatGPT. I'm perfectly relaxed about the things that I ask Siri going to ChatGPT, if I can get a good answer. So I've opted to turn this prompting off. While I'm on the screen, I'm going to pause the recording and take the opportunity to sign back into my ChatGPT account.
I have ChatGPT Plus. I personally find it incredibly useful. I am using ChatGPT an awful lot, and it does assist me greatly, particularly now that it is doing such a good job of searching the web. In iOS 18.2, there have been some changes to writing tools, which were first introduced in a limited form in iOS 18.1, when we first saw Apple Intelligence. Writing tools allow you to modify a document that you've already written. You can change its style, you can give it a proofread and clean up any grammatical errors that it finds. You can also now in iOS 18.2, start from scratch. None of these features are particularly revolutionary, except it is all happening on device with Apple Intelligence, with the exception of the ChatGPT feature, where you can start composing something from scratch. So it is very fast and it's also very private, which does matter to some people.
For the sake of this part of the demonstration, I'm in the Drafts app. Drafts is the place where text starts, that's their little slogan. And you can write in the Drafts app. It just sits on my dock, and the moment that I double tap it, I'm in a blank document and I can start to write. And if you really want to go to town with Drafts, and you get the professional version, you can do things like assign shortcut keys to send what you're writing in Drafts to other applications. For example, if I've written something, I can press a hotkey and it will send it directly to my personal Mastodon account. I also have another one that does the same for the Access On account, the account for this podcast and our technology initiatives at the National Federation of the Blind.
So I'm in Drafts now. And I've actually got a draft open that I wrote, and I sent this onto Mastodon about my exciting excursions relating to finding a US mobile carrier. And I've actually found one that I really like. And I've been quite surprised by how many people don't know that this carrier exists, and the sheer variety of things that it offers. So I wrote all of this down onMastodon. And if I flick through, you'll hear-
Speaker 1: Text field is editing. Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts about American cellular carriers in response to my question. From those initial answers, I was able to do some additional research.
Jonathan Mosen: Now this is quite a long article that I posted toMastodon, but you get the gist. Now, we can do a number of things with writing tools. To find them, I'm going to use the rotor gesture to move to edit, so I'm going to twist to my left.
Speaker 1: Misspelled words. Edit.
Jonathan Mosen: And there it is. I'll flick up.
Speaker 1: Scan text. Writing tools.
Jonathan Mosen: And here are the writing tools. I'll double tap this.
Speaker 1: Drafts. Sheet grabber button.
Jonathan Mosen: I suppose it's fair to say that we all have a writing style, and what you heard there is clearly mine. If I want to change the writing style, that's easily achieved. I'll flick right.
Speaker 1: Writing tools. Heading. Close button. Text field. Describe your change.
Jonathan Mosen: This is new in iOS 18.2. In 18.1 there were a set of presets that you could activate to make things more informal or more formal. And those things are still there, as we'll see in just a moment. But if you want to give it a very clear instruction, you can do so, and then submit the instruction. You might say, for example, "If you see me using an acronym and you know what I'm trying to say, please expand the acronym." There's all sorts of things that you can add here. If I click right though.
Speaker 1: Submit button. Proofread button. Rewrite button. Friendly button. Professional button. Concise button. Summary button.
Jonathan Mosen: Let's double tap the Summary button, in case you're curious about what I discovered with respect to cellular carriers. So I'll double tap.
Speaker 1: Copy. Dimmed button.
Jonathan Mosen: And if I flick right, we would eventually get to the summary.
Speaker 1: Replace button. Share button. US mobile. An MVNO with access to all three major US networks is praised for its customer service and flexible plans. The ability to switch between networks, though requiring website use, is a significant advantage, especially for those prioritizing coverage. While the iOS app could be more user-friendly, the overall experience has been positive, and the referral link offers a thirty-day free trial.
Jonathan Mosen: Okay, it did a very nice job of summarizing that post that is about 4,500 characters long. That has definitely got the key points there. The carrier that I found is called US Mobile. If you pay up front, you can get 100 gigs of full-speed data, 50 gigs of hotspot data, an Apple Watch Plan, international calling. A lot of things to like at a very good price. And it works with all of the three major carriers, Horizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. And you can change your carrier anytime you want on that plan. So if you're going to a particular part of the United States where you know that one particular network is stronger than another, just switch over to that network. You can keep your number, whatever, and then you can switch back to the carrier you prefer in your home base, whenever you want. It's a really cool system, and as that summary said, some accessibility problems, but nothing completely insurmountable.
I would observe that there's a fair amount of passive voice in that summary, and passive voice is one of my pet peeves. Many of us have grammatical pet peeves, don't we? So I don't like the passive voice, but nonetheless, it did a very nice job of summarizing it. I'm not going to insert that though. I'm going to perform a two-finger scrub. And now I'm out of the writing tools.
Speaker 1: Text field is editing.
Jonathan Mosen: And I'm back in the text that I wrote. Let's see what happens if we try and make this more friendly.
Speaker 1: Misspelled words. Edit. Select scan. Text writing tools. Sheet grabber button. Carrier. And have access to goes. There are two reads. Write a quote. Text describe. Submit button. Proofread. Rewrite. Friendly button. Friendly.
Jonathan Mosen: There's Friendly, so we'll double-tap that-
Speaker 1: Copy button.
Jonathan Mosen: ... and it's gone away to think about it, and we'll see what it's come back with.
Speaker 1: Replace. Dim. Share. Dim. Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts about American cellular carriers when I asked about them. From those initial answers, I did some more research. I've always been into all things phone-related, so this has been fun. I thought I'd pay it forward by posting here about my conclusions in case there are-
Jonathan Mosen: Okay, so that's a very different style from the way I would normally write, if you've ever read anything I've written. So it does the trick, it comes up with a completely different writing style. And it's worth noting that these writing tools are available pretty much anywhere that there is a text edit field. So you should be able to use the rotor gesture in anything, whether it's an email message, a text message, some other tool you use, like Ulysses, which is a fantastic word processor for iOS. The Notes app, itself, in iOS, has become increasingly more capable. So if you haven't checked out Notes for a few years, it's pretty much a fully fledged word processor now, and it does some very nice things. And writing tools are available in all of those. I am now in a blank draft, which means...
Speaker 1: Text field is editing. Character mode. Insertion pointed start.
Jonathan Mosen: ... a nice empty document. So we'll rotate to the edit menu...
Speaker 1: Misspelled words. Edit.
Jonathan Mosen: ... and flick up.
Speaker 1: Scan text. Writing tools. Sheet grabber button. Writing tools. Heading. Close button. Text field. Describe your change. Submit button. Proofread button. Rewrite button. Friendly button. Professional button. Concise button. Summary button. Key points button. List button. Table button. Compose button.
Jonathan Mosen: Now I'm going to double tap the Compose button.
Speaker 1: Text field.
Jonathan Mosen: And in this Compose edit field, I can type something that will go to ChatGPT. So I can, "Write an essay on how the old timey version of Christmas Tree Farm, by Taylor Swift, was recorded." Tremendous song there. Tremendous. All right, let's have a listen.
Speaker 1: Write an essay on how the old timey version of Christmas Tree Farm, by Taylor Swift, was recorded.
Jonathan Mosen: I'll flick right.
Speaker 1: Add button. Submit button.
Jonathan Mosen: And submit it.
Speaker 1: Copy. Dimmed button.
Jonathan Mosen: Now I will flick right.
Speaker 1: Insert. Dimmed button. Share. Dimmed button.
Jonathan Mosen: So because this is all dimmed at the moment, it suggests that the query to ChatGPT is taking a while. On occasion it can.
Speaker 1: Insert button.
Jonathan Mosen: Now it's ungreyed itself, which means that the work is done.
Speaker 1: Share button. An insight into the recording of the old timey version of Christmas Tree Farm, by Taylor Swift.
Jonathan Mosen: Okay.
Speaker 1: In December 2023, Taylor Swift, delighted fans with a new old timey version of her beloved holiday song, Christmas Tree Farm. This rendition, unlike the original upbeat pop version released in 2019, embraced a vintage sound reminiscent of earlier decades. The transformation of the song into this nostalgic version provided a unique glimpse into Taylor Swift's creative process, and her ability to reinvent her music while maintaining its original charm. Conceptualization of the old timey sound.
Jonathan Mosen: Okay, it's going to go on and on. So it's quite interesting actually. So I'll flip back.
Speaker 1: Share. Copy. Insert button.
Jonathan Mosen: Double tap the insert button, and now...
Speaker 1: Add tags. Text field is editing. An insight into the recording of the old timey version of Christmas Tree Farm, by Taylor Swift. In December-
Jonathan Mosen: And there's the familiar text now inserted into drafts. And again, just to emphasize, this will work in many writing apps that you might be using on your iPhone. So the writing tools are pretty accessible now and offer a lot of good functionality. Now let's talk about Visual Intelligence, which has come to iOS 18.2. And as we do that, I'm going to demonstrate once again how much more helpful Siri is becoming, by actually asking Siri to describe to us what this feature does, and how you use it. How do I use Visual Intelligence on my iPhone?
Speaker 3: Here's how to use the Visual Intelligence feature on your iPhone camera. Click and hold the camera Control button to get information about a place, interact with text, ask ChatGPT for information, or search Google for images. Direct your iPhone camera at the subject, then click the camera Control button or tap the name of the business at the top of the screen to get more information. Tap the Summarize button to get a short summary of the text, or tap the Translate button to translate the text. And tap the Ask button to ask ChatGPT for information about the object, or tap the Search button to search Google for similar images. iOS 18.2 or later required. Not supported in all regions.
Jonathan Mosen: Thank you, Siri. Now I haven't done too much with Visual Intelligence, mainly because I have so many dedicated apps on my phone that are targeted specifically at the blind community, that perform similar functions. But we'll have a look at some of this Visual Intelligence now. And to do that I'm going to hold down the Camera button on my iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Speaker 1: Open Visual Intelligence with camera control.
Jonathan Mosen: We're in Visual Intelligence now, and if I go to the top of the screen...
Speaker 1: Location. Location.
Jonathan Mosen: Let's just see if we can find it.
Speaker 1: A 578. Capture photo. Ask button.
Jonathan Mosen: Now we've got an Ask button there, and if I just point the camera at the audio interface that I have here in the studio, which has a bunch of USB cables and things extending from it, we'll double tap this, and this will cause ChatGPT to give a description of what it's seeing.
Speaker 1: Ask. Asking ChatGPT. Bullet. Check important info for mistakes.
Jonathan Mosen: All right, well, I think something's there. So we'll go to the top of the screen.
Speaker 1: This looks like a control board and a keyboard, possibly used for audio mixing or recording. The setup suggests an environment for sound editing or production work. Copy button.
Jonathan Mosen: We can copy that description.
Speaker 1: Oppenay logo. ChatGPT. Bullet. Check important info for mistakes. Ask about details. Text field.
Jonathan Mosen: And we can now query, as if we were typing into something like Be My AI or Aira’s Access AI. We can ask additional questions.
Speaker 1: Dismiss button.
Jonathan Mosen: And we can dismiss this. So this is a very similar experience to one that blind people are well-used to. I'll double tap Dismiss.
Speaker 1: Dismissed. Capture photo button.
Jonathan Mosen: That's the next item on here. So if I double tap that
Speaker 1: 1.4 times. Ask button.
Jonathan Mosen: ... we can ask a question about the photo that we've just taken-
Speaker 1: Search button
Jonathan Mosen: ... or we can search. So if for example, you are by a building and you take a photo of something, you may be able to perform a search which will help you get information about the business, opening hours, that kind of stuff. So if I go left to...
Speaker 1: Ask button.
Jonathan Mosen: And double tap.
Speaker 1: Ask. Asking ChatGPT.
Jonathan Mosen: And now that's another way of getting information.
Speaker 1: Ask about details. Text field. Insertion point at end.
Jonathan Mosen: I can simply type-
Speaker 1: Ask about detail.
Jonathan Mosen: "What do you see?"
Speaker 1: Working with ChatGPT. Ellipsis.
Jonathan Mosen: And when that photo was taken, I just extended the camera somewhere out into the wild, in the studio. Is it still working with ChatGPT?
Speaker 1: Working with ChatGPT. Working with ChatGPT. Ellipsis.
Jonathan Mosen: So it may take some time to come back with an answer, but I presume it eventually will. So some of these things are things that we have access to in other apps, and those other apps do have information about the fact that you are a blind person. I'm going to get out of this, because I'm sure it will come up eventually.
Speaker 1: Working with Chat-
Jonathan Mosen: It's taking a while.
Speaker 1: Messages.
Jonathan Mosen: Oh, now it's taken me all the way back out of Visual Intelligence altogether. But you can also do a Google search here as well. There is another feature that I want to show you, that is pretty nice. I have paused the recording. And I found a photo that I took at the Madame Tussauds Wax museum in London, when Bonnie, my wife, and my youngest daughter, Nicola, and I, went over there for the ABBA Voyage concert in 2022, and we did a whole bunch of touristy things. And since we were talking about Christmas Tree Farm before, because you can never talk too much about that song, especially the old timey version, I thought I'd find this photo. It's on the screen now, and I can just say to Siri, "Describe this photo."
Speaker 3: To answer that, I'll need to send this photo to ChatGPT. Should I go ahead?
Jonathan Mosen: Yes.
Speaker 3: The image features two figures. On the left is an older man wearing a brown sweater and holding a book. He has a cheerful expression. On the right is a female figure in a sparkly blue outfit, holding a microphone with her mouth open, as if singing or speaking. The background is vibrant with pink and purple tones, including large tropical leaf patterns, and a sequined backdrop on the right side. There's neon lighting that adds to the lively atmosphere of the scene. That was from ChatGPT. Check important info for mistakes.
Jonathan Mosen: And that's the long and the short of it. Literally, she's way taller than me. That is the description of me with the Madame Tussauds Taylor Swift Wax work in London. And you can invoke this from anywhere. So for example, let's say that you were shopping for a Bluetooth speaker and you had one on the screen, and you wanted to find out more about this. You could simply say, "Describe the screen."
Speaker 3: Do you want me to send the screenshot to ChatGPT?
Jonathan Mosen: Yes.
Speaker 3: The screen displays an Amazon product listing for the Ultimate Ears Megaboom 4, portable, waterproof Bluetooth speaker. The product has a 4.2 star rating, based on 111 reviews. The listing highlights features, such as powerful 360 degree sound, thundering bass, 20 hour battery life, and a 147 feet 45 amp range. The speaker is shown in blue. The page also notes the product's sustainability rating, and mentions that over 1,000 units were bought in the past month. Above the product description there's a mention of a related item, a co2CREA hard travel case replacement, priced at 16 dollars and 99 cents. That was from ChatGPT. Check important info for mistakes.
Jonathan Mosen: Describe what the speaker looks like.
Speaker 3: The Ultimate Ears Megaboom 4 speaker is cylindrical in shape, with a predominantly blue color. It features a textured exterior, likely for grip and durability. The speaker has a large prominent plus sign in light blue on its front, which serves as a volume control button. The overall design is sleek and modern, emphasizing portability, with its compact and cylindrical form. That was from ChatGPT.
Jonathan Mosen: I've owned a Megaboom or two in my time and I can confirm that that is an accurate description of the product. So this can enhance your shopping experience. It can also help with describing things on social media. And that, broadly speaking, is an overview of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.2. Some significant additions added there, and some more to come. How are you finding Apple Intelligence? If you are using this, by all means be in touch and let us know your experiences. You can email us [email protected]. That's all joined together, all one word, no dashes or anything like that. You can attach an audio clip to the email if you want, or write the email down, [email protected]. And of course, if you're coming in from an NFB chapter, do feel free to give it a shout-out, so that we can give it a shout-out in return.
Let's go to our joyously bulging email box. And related to that piece, "Hello, Jonathan, this is Kyla Golden, and I'm writing to you today as a concerned member of the Apple and blind community, deeply troubled by Apple's recent decision to restrict ChatGPT integration and writing tools to newer devices. As a strong advocate for accessibility and inclusivity, I believe these restrictions create a significant barrier for VoiceOver users and undermine Apple's claims of commitment to inclusive design. Here's why these restrictions are particularly harmful to the blind community. ChatGPT and information access. Currently, when a VoiceOver user asks Siri a question that triggers a web search, Siri responds that she found something on the web, and the results appear briefly on the screen and then vanish. This forces us to either scramble to interact with the screen or repeat the search, disrupting our workflow and hindering research tasks.
Deep ChatGPT integration with Siri would allow for seamless auditory responses, making information access far more efficient and independent. Writing tools and equal opportunity. While most writing tools are currently available offline, community members have discovered that others don't appear in the menu when airplane mode is on, and therefore require an internet connection, creating an inconsistent and confusing experience for VoiceOver users. Restricting advanced AI powered writing assistance to newer devices, rather than making all of the writing tools accessible over the internet, puts blind students and professionals at a disadvantage. Limiting our ability to receive assistance in producing high quality and professional sounding written work, without downloading one more third party app onto our iPhones. These restrictions contradict Apple's claims of prioritizing accessibility. Siri can already verbalize some web results to general questions, access personal data and interact with third party services, like Uber, Lyft, or Aira, on older devices.
Why then is ChatGPT integration any different? This appears to be a strategic business decision to push sales of new devices, rather than a genuine technical limitation. I urge you, and any members of the community within the sound of this email, to use your platform to raise awareness about this issue, and pressure Apple to reconsider its approach. Accessibility should be a right, not a privilege reserved for those who can afford the latest devices. Thank you for your time and consideration. And Merry Christmas." Well, Merry Christmas to you as well, Kyla. Kyla is from Eagle, Idaho, by the way, where I'm sure the potatoes are tremendous. Which is a problem for me because I'm supposed to be keeping keto, but I am a bit partial to a good Idaho baked potato. Whatever will I do? Anyway, Kyla, it is a thought-provoking thing that you raise. Apple has said in all of its communication on this, that when it comes to a lot of the on-device things, they need the ram, they need the newer processors for this to work, and that's why Apple Intelligence is restricted to newer devices.
But I get the point that you're making, ChatGPT is obviously going out to the cloud, and for that particular feature, no such restriction applies. I suppose Apple's counter-argument could be that ChatGPT is just a minor part of Apple Intelligence, and that it would be a fairly major decoupling just to get ChatGPT on its own. And that you can download the ChatGPT app if you need to. I understand your desire to have it integrated with Siri, and I'm certainly not necessarily defending the position, just potentially offering what the counter-argument might be. But a good thought-provoking email, very well reasoned, and I appreciate you taking the time to send it. In last week's episode of Access On, we were talking about options for purchasing assistive technology, and it was my suspicion that there would be a little bit of variation from state to state. It seems that this is the case, and we've got some very interesting contributions on this topic. If you have anything to add to this, [email protected] is how you can be in touch. Remember to shout out to your NFB chapter if you're a member of one.
Melissa Kane, thank you for your email. She says, "In Missouri, the TAP program runs, what they call, ShowMe loans. They are low-interest and low-payment loans that people can get to purchase assistive technology. I'm not sure," she says, "if other TAP programs around the country offer a similar loan program or not. TAP stands for Telecommunications Access Program." And let's go to Samanthia Farthing for this email. She says, "Hi, Jonathan. I am a rehabilitation counselor in the blind services division of the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. I wanted to provide you with some information about programs that are available in Kentucky to help individuals with disabilities obtain assistive technology. If the person needs the technology for work, they should apply for services with their state Office of Vocational Rehabilitation. This is available in every state. We can help with purchasing assistive technology, paying for training programs, providing orientation and mobility training, providing independent living training, Braille instruction, and so much more.
Many states also have a low interest loan program for purchasing assistive technology. Here's some information, and the website for Kentucky's program. The Kentucky Assistive Technology Loan Corporation, KATLC, offers low interest loans for qualified applicants with disabilities, who need assistive technology. Working with its lending partner, KATLC can provide loans for modified vehicles, hearing aids, adapted computers, mobility devices, augmentative communication devices, or any other type of equipment or home modification that will improve the quality of life, or increase the independence of Kentuckians with disabilities. The above list is not a comprehensive list of assistive technology devices considered by KATLC. If you have questions about a specific device, please contact the program, Mini Loan. KATLC can provide 0% interest and no application fee.
Mini loans, for assistive technology to qualified applicants, through our partner, the Appalachian Assistive Technology Loan Corporation. The loans can range from 100 dollars to 7,000 dollars for assistive technology. The maximum repayment term is four years. The flyer, FAQ, and application are available under the Mini Loan tab. Established by State Statute in 1996, KATLC is governed by a seven member board of directors, four of whom must have disabilities, that review all applications. KATLC made its first loan in the summer of 2000 and now has provided more than 10 million dollars in loans to Kentuckians with disabilities, to enable them to obtain the assistive technology they need, making it one of the most active assistive technology alternative financing programs in the nation. And if you want to find out more about that and you happen to be in Kentucky, you can go to katlc.ky.gov. That's katlc.ky.gov. I hope that information is helpful to your listeners.
I always enjoyed Living Blindfully, and got a lot of good information from listening. So far, the new podcast seems like it will be just as good, so thank you for all that you do and keep up the amazing work." Thank so much, Samanthia. I really appreciate that. A couple of episodes ago we were talking to Mathieu Paquette about the Victor Reader Stream, third generation, and now we have a response from Curtis Chong. He says, "Hello, Jonathan. I very much enjoyed the interview you had with Mathieu Paquette about the Victor Reader Stream 3, in episode 4 of Access On. While many Victor Reader Stream 3 users have been able to register their units with Audible, using the Audible Sync program, there are some customers, like me, who have not been able to register our units with the Audible Sync software, because our otherwise valid Amazon credentials are not enough to achieve a successful sign-in through Audible Sync.
We can sign in with our valid Amazon credentials through the audible.com website, but for a reason, which none of us have yet been able to fathom, these valid credentials do not enable us to achieve the valid sign-in that is required through Audible Sync, before we can even attempt to register our Victor Reader Stream 3 units. I personally have made at least four different phone calls over the past few months to Audible customer support, and have even chosen the options set aside for customers who are "visually impaired". During each call I am promised that the next level support person will get back to me, but I never receive a follow-up phone call or email. I will acknowledge at this point that I purchased a perfectly legal program to convert books in my Audible library to MP3, but while I can definitely read Audible books in this format, I do not have the ability to move quickly from one chapter to the next, hence my desire to achieve a valid registration of my Victor Stream 3 through Audible Sync.
I'm hoping that you will hear from other members of our community who are experiencing this issue. At a minimum, Access On listeners should know that there are some audible users, like me, who are still struggling to get our Victor Stream 3s registered with Audible." Thank you, Curtis. This is something that we will add to our list of things to raise with Amazon. We do meet with them, from time to time. They're always very forthcoming in getting the right people in the room. So if we can't make any progress with this by simply calling frontline tech support, and getting it noticed, we may be able to, that way. And this is obviously one of the reasons why hearing things like this can be so useful for me as I start to prioritize what we will be working on in 2025, with some of these big tech companies.
So if you are experiencing this too, it would be useful to hear from you. [email protected], with an audio attachment or a written email is how you can get in touch. Already I'm enjoying the helpful collaborative culture that we are developing around Access On. And John Wesley Smith, you may remember, asked us a few episodes ago about the accessibility of the latest Thunderbird. If you've not used this before, it is an open source email client. And John has been in touch, and he said, 'Thank you for sharing the responses you've received about accessibility in Thunderbird. I confess, a few days ago I got over having cold feet and took the plunge. I expected the upgrade to be drastically different. It wasn't, at least for how I use the program. I don't use all of the features, such as the calendar." I'm glad it was a successful upgrade for you, John, and that you're now on the latest and greatest, and may the emails continue from you. And let's go to Mackland for our final listener contribution for 2024.
It comes from Rich Yamamoto. He says, "Hi, Jonathan. I'm having quite the battle with pages at the moment. And I was wondering if anyone would have any information on interacting with, and editing tables on the Mac side of the program. I can't get it to work properly, and I keep accidentally adding columns and rows that I can't figure out how to delete. I'd use my PC, if not for the unfortunate circumstance that it is now dead beyond repair." You need to be talking to Santa right now, Rich. "It was quite old," he says. "Any info that anyone has, would be quite helpful indeed. A lot of my future college assignments will have tables that need to be completed and filled out, and I'd much rather figure this out now than when something is actually due." Very proactive. "Thanks in advance," says Rich. Let's open this up. If you've got any comments on this for Rich, [email protected] is how to be in touch.
Now, one thing that we could use a few more of, is tech tips from you. Little handy things that may even seem really obvious to you, but maybe you find out that not everybody knows these things that you know. I'll keep supplying them, but I'm sure that we have a wealth of information out there from listeners, that could be great tech tips. So please feel free to send them in to [email protected]. And you could put Tech Tip in the subject line so that I know that you are intending the email to be for the tech tip, when we resume in early 2025. This little tech tip is another Windows related thing, and it's about getting back the traditional user interface for configuring audio devices and sound properties, that many of us know and love, that's now got a bit buried. If you want to get the classic Windows interface so that you can look at all your audio devices, you can set the ones that are default for recording and for communications, you can set your default playback device. The easiest way actually, is to commit this to memory.
Just press Windows with R, for the run dialog, and type mmsys.cpl. I know it sounds a bit obscure, but it's something I do so often now that I just have that committed to memory. So go to the Run dialog, then type mmsys.cpl. You will get that lovely classic Windows audio configuration dialog back again, and it's a joy to use. That's what it is. That is where we're going to wrap it up for Access On for this episode, and also for 2024. I want to thank, particularly, members of the National Federation of the Blind for making me feel so welcome over this last little while. A lot has gone on, and if you'd have told me this time last year that I'd be here this time next year, I would not have believed you. I look forward to serving you in this capacity, as host of Access On, but also making a difference with all of the members of the National Federation of the Blind in 2025. Have a wonderful holiday season.
Speaker 4: That concludes this edition of Access On, the Technology Podcast of the National Federation of the Blind. If you'd like to know more about the NFB, visit our website at nfb.org. You can phone us on (410) 659-9314. And be sure to check out The Nation's Blind podcast, right from where you heard this podcast. To send in a contribution for possible inclusion for a future episode of Access On, email us. You can attach an audio clip to the email or you can just write the email down. The address is [email protected]. That's accesson, all joined together, @nfb.org. And always remember, it's the organized blind movement that puts Access On the agenda.