Blind Guys Chat

Read transcriptJan is on hiatus this week, so it's a welcome return to Mr Stuart Lawler, a man who puts the “Hot” into Tango. It's 30 years since Stuart was on the Irish Eurovision Song Contest jury and boy are we happy they never asked him back. Secret Garden were the winners for Norway that year with a song that can only be described as: mostly violin! But what happened this year in Basel, Switzerland? Did Celine Dion turn up singing a medley of her hit? Did the Swedish businessmen get hot and sweaty in the sauna? Is Lithuania's guitar player just a U2 wanna-be? And did the UK get any votes at all? Let's find out as we join Kevin Sherwin live from his jacuzzi (he really just farts in the bath)! To find out how the Eurovision final went last Saturday, May 17th. Óran and Stuart are standing on their respective soapboxes as Sky TV don't seem to be doing a whole lot when it comes to providing AD services on Sky Stream or on their ‘On Demand' service. Is it time to throw Dave Nason under the bus (again) on this one!? (We love you Dave – a voice note would be very welcome - Clo) In TV corner, have you seen ‘Mad Men' with AD on Netflix? or Cassandra? or how about the new season of Black Mirror? Give us your views on the quality of the AD on these programmes, or on whatever you're watching, by emailing blindguyschat@gmail.com. At long last the Meta AI ‘look and describe' feature has come to Ireland! Woohoo!! Óran can't stop asking the glasses to describe his guide dog Larry. Apparently, he defecates on the grass. Larry that is, not Óran! Have you tried the look and tell feature? Let us know what you think: blindguyschat@gmail.com Stuart is heading off to Sight City in Frankfurt; are you going? Stuart talks to us about booking a sighted guide at the event, and the new remote assistance option for those attending. Finally, we have news on the Glide from Glidence. There will be a demo day at the Wayfinding Centre in Dublin on June 7, early booking is recommended, before Larry and his friends break it! So, strip off your sweat-drenched sauna suit; stop straddling that microphone - you could do yourself an injury; pour yourself a macchiato and settle in for a podcast full of enjoyment, with no jokes, sarcasm or any kind of wit at all! Yeah right!!!

It's a warm welcome back to our good friend Mohammed Laachir, who has literally just arrived home from Lyon - that's in France, don't ya know! And yes, he is just returning with his latest mail order bride. Did he use his Envision glasses to find her? Let's find out. Have you used the Chat GPT visual description feature? Share your thoughts with us about it: blindguyschat@gmail.com It seems Óran has found an ingenious way to solve his cooking issues. But Clodagh can no longer get into the kitchen... Clodagh has an update on the upcoming Seen - Unseen event in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin: it's happening on Friday June 6th at 14.30 GMT and Clare Mc Laughlin will be sending out free tactile packs next week. They will be exploring selected artworks from Ailbhe Ní Bhrian's exhibition "The Dream Pool Intervals". Register by WhatsApp, text or voice note to Clare Mc Laughlin on +353 (0)86 3091653. And the ever charming and delightful Blind Gordon has good news on Dundee United. So, forget about the tariffs for a moment, and settle down for a listen to the number 1 podcast as voted by the conclave: Blind Guys Chat - 7 out of 10 cardinals prefer it to blessing a congregation. Links for this show: · The Envision Companion app (previously called Envision Ally): https://www.letsenvision.com/companion · Chat GPT visual descriptions: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-LM6th5zM6-visual-description-pro-5-0 · Seeing AI: https://www.seeingai.com/ · Meta Ray-Ban glasses: https://www.ray-ban.com/ireland/ray-ban-meta-ai-glasses · Echovision glasses: https://echovision.agiga.ai/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, our stainless-steel saucepans and welcome to ep 122 of BGC. We hope you had a lovely Easter break, if that is something you do. A big shout-out to Jan's father, as he is in hospital having broken his hip trying to realign the TV satellite dish on the International Space Station. Our advice - just go with cable! Our guest this week is the wonderful Debra Erickson, all the way from Portland, Oregon. Debra might be better known to you from her InstaSpace handle 'The Blind Kitchen'. A fantastic cook, Debra is here to teach Óran a thing or two about making toast, boiling water, skinning a cat, and the proper way to cook lamb's balls. Ahem! Sorry meatballs. (Not a moment too soon, says Clodagh!) So, strip down to your cardinal vestments, stop waiting in line to take a selfie with Pope Francis, and get ready to listen to the number 1 podcast as listened to by Swiss Guards - Blind Guys Chat! 10 out of 15 potential future Popes prefer it to being a potential future Pope! Links for this show: · https://theblindkitchen.com/ · https://www.facebook.com/theblindkitchen/ · https://www.instagram.com/theblindkitchen1/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Read transcriptHello our spring flowers and welcome to BGC ep 121. We have a great show for you: Óran and Jan are talking about the new smart kid on the block when it comes to smart glasses: Echo Vision. Have you heard of these? Do you have a pair? Well, if you do let us know if you like them and are finding them of benefit in your daily life - email us at blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Our guest this week is Kevin Sherwin. Yes, it's a welcome back to the Eurovision song contest guru who is just back from a world wind tour of New York New York. Kevin has the latest news on all the latest musicals and plays on Broadway at the moment. He also gives us a rundown of the who's hot and who's not when it comes to Eurovision 2025! Will Ireland be sending Johnny Logan? Will Sweden bring snow? Will The Netherlands bring their bikes? And who is having a sauna on top of a microphone stand? Kevin will explain all, while Jan and Óran have a lie down. (Together?

Hello, our favourite animated friends, and welcome to the show. This week, Óran and Clodagh are just back from Dingle, County Kerry, where they and Larry attended the Animation Dingle Festival. Óran was thrilled because he got to touch the actual models used for the latest Wallace and Gromit movie 'Vengeance Most Fowl'. The film was made in stop-motion animation, which means amongst other things that it took a super-long time to produce. It's a welcome return for Stuart Lawler to the podcast. Stuart flew his private jet over to Anaheim in California to attend CSUN Assistive Tech Conference. What new toys are out there for the VI community? What is accessibility like at the event? Did Stuart fight any fires? How much does a beer cost? And where the hell is Anaheim? All these questions and not a lot more will be answered by the tech guru. Meta have announced AI is coming to Europe, but does that include the 'Look and describe' feature on the Meta Ray Ban glasses? So, stop drawing cartoons; put down your colouring pencils; and settle in for the number one best animated podcast in the land: Blind Guys Chat! 7 out of 10 pencils prefer it to being sharpened! Links for this show: Good Maps: https://goodmaps.com/ Glide: https://glidance.io/#:~:text=Glide%20is%20a%20pioneering%20AI-powered%20mobility%20aid%20designed,path%2C%20and%20helps%20you%20get%20to%20your%20destination New haptics: https://www.newhaptics.com/post/building-a-multiline-braille-display Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Top o' the mornin' to ye, our little leprechauns! Yes, it's Irish week all over the world and even the International Space Station is painted green this week! This week's guest is Sarah Boland from CHAT, Freedom Tech, and Saint John of God. Sarah will tell us about FreedomTech, which is dedicated to ensuring that everyone with any disability, at any age or stage of life, can access affordable, up-to-date, and appropriately helpful technology. CHAT (Community Hub for Accessible Technology) is a community of individuals and organisations passionate about the transformative effect of assistive technology, (AT). It facilitates peer learning and collaboration, using shared expertise. The next CHAT event will be on May 7th where the European Accessibility Act will be discussed. You can learn more about CHAT and Freedom Tech here: https://freedomtech.ie/ https://freedomtech.ie/chat-community-hub-for-accessible-technology/ And you can mail Sarah Boland at sarah@freedomtech.ie So, sit yourself down in a soft, cosy bed of shamrock, stop drinking that green pint of the black stuff, and settle in for the best podcast this side of a pot of gold: Blind Guys Chat! 7 out of 10 leprechauns prefer it to being typecast as little people of Ireland. Links for this episode: · Freedom Tech: https://freedomtech.ie/ · CHAT: https://freedomtech.ie/chat-community-hub-for-accessible-technology/ · AT passport: https://freedomtech.ie/assistivetechnologypaper/#_Toc467830788 · TEKenable: https://tekenable.com/ · sarah@freedomtech.ie Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, our little sand dunes, and welcome to episode 118. Jan is just back from building his own pyramid in Egypt for his new summer house, and will be giving tours for all who would like one. So please form a disorderly line behind Larry!   Clodagh is very excited to hear that in Jan's winter residence, there is an artificial ski slope called Snow World very nearby, and Óran is equally pleased that he can sit in a nice warm café, while Clodagh plays in the white stuff if they decide to visit.   Do you own a Tesla? Have you purchased your Bumper Sticker which says “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy” yet? Seriously! It is a real thing! See it here: https://www.amazon.com/Tesla-Bumper-Sticker-Bought-Accessories/dp/B0C4KHKN4S   We have no emails this week, but we do want to give a BGC shout out to Grant, in Scotland, and students in Towson University, Maryland, USA. Do email us if you can. Clodagh is very lonely.   So, brush the sand out of your shoes, stop building sand castles, and settle in for a relaxing chat with a nice cuppa Jo, and Blind Guys Chat!   3 out of 5 Pyramids prefer it to standing in the sand.   Email us at: blindguyschat@gmail.com Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our lovely movie stars, and welcome to another episode of “Jan, the movie star”. Yes we kinda sorta pick up where we left Jan last time, standing at the end of his massive driveway, waiting on his limo to take him to the premier of the film, ‘I will see”. ...well, he made it, and brought all the family, including Sjeff who was dressed up to the nines. Now the only question is, will there be a sequel, and will Jan be brought back for a reprieve of his role? (That's two questions!) Our guest this week is Karthik Mahadevan from Envision. Karthik is here to tell us all about Envision smart glasses. He describes all the functions and features such as reading short text or longer documents. These glasses can even summarise menus and they can tell you what bank note you are holding in your hand. They can even describe colours. Karthik also talks about the upcoming release of the 'Ally' app which Envision are calling a conversational assistant. It even has attitude! You can find out more about Envision at letsenvision.com and if you want to know more about Ally, or sign up for the beta program go to ally.me. So, forget about that idiot in America for a while, stick some popcorn in the microwave, and settle down to the most listened to podcast this side of the Superbowl: Blind Guys Chat! 11 out of 15 American football fans prefer it to silly shoulder pads and ridiculously long breaks between play. Links for this episode: Film: ‘I Will See': https://iffr.com/nl/iffr/2025/films/ik-zal-zien Envision glasses and the Ally app: https://www.letsenvision.com/ The Ally app beta programme: https://www.ally.me/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, grips and best boys (and girls!), and welcome to episode 116. We are chatting to Mercedes Stalenhoef, the director of a new movie called ‘I Shall See', the premier of which will be happening in Rotterdam on February 2nd 2025. Mercedes, traditionally a documentary maker, has written and directed this movie which tells the story of a young woman who has become blind after an accident. The film reveals how she copes with this massive change in her life. Our own Mr Jan Bloem also stars in this movie along with Sjeff, and from what we hear, Sjeff was a dream to work with, while Mr Bloem...? ...Well we will let Mercedes tell that story!   Clodagh has emails from Nora Nagle regarding her Meta glasses and Blind Gordon has a list of the new names for the gritters and snow ploughs in Scotland. Óran wonders if there will be one called 'SnowPatrol'.   So, make your way to the food truck, push your best boy into a nearby hedge, and settle in for the best drama, action, romantic comedy, period podcast this studio has ever produced: Blind Guys Chat!   8 out of 10 movie cameras prefer it to being on location.   Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our fancy AI bots, and welcome to episode 115. This week we are talking about AI, and we have a fantastic panel of experts to bring us through the topic of AI and accessibility. We will be talking about Meta Ray Bans, Envision glasses, Apple Intelligence and even some existential questions. The panel (Brian Dalton, David Renstrom, Jesse Weinholt, Josh O'Connor and Mohammed Laachir) are well-placed to give their own views on current products, future products, and you never know, you might get some ideas on dinner if we can work out how to get our smart glasses to read a menu. So, strip down to your Cyborg inner self, and prepare for judgement day by listening to the number 1 podcast from the future: Blind Guys Chat! 11 out of 15 AI bots prefer it to a slap in the face. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hey folks! Don't worry, we'll be back on January 16th, when we will be talking about everything AI. In the meantime, stay warm! The Blind Guys Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Happy Christmas to one and all! We hope you have an enjoyable break this Christmas holiday season. This show is our annual, twice yearly, every 4 years BGC Christmas Quiz featuring some of our BGC listeners and guests. We have contestants from St. Louis, Boston, Scotland, Dublin and even County Clare in the West of Ireland. So, put the leftover turkey in the fridge, throw away those yucky sprouts, and settle in for some festive mayhem on the show that keeps giving you Christmas all year round: Blind Guys Chat! 12 out of 16 Christmas movies prefer it to being Christmas movies! Links in this show: Things Gay People Like Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/02N4vAlIPR6NWTrIM6iTAt?uid=null&uri=spotify:episode:2hRdnGHjgHQIcRfuRI3nyG Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our favourite sight capitalists, and welcome to episode 112 of BGC. We are honoured to be joined by Mr David Renstrom who has kindly agreed to leave the comfort of his North Swedish igloo to chat about the newest craze everyone is talking about: Meta Smart Glasses! David takes us through the design and functions of the glasses, and even gives us a tour of his fridge. Are these the Christmas present you've been waiting for? Do you need to amend your letter to Santa? Stay tuned and find out. We do have to issue a health warning and say that the A.I. part of 'Meta Glasses' may not work in your location straight out of the box. This is mainly an issue in Europe and is due to very strict EU data protection laws. However, there is a workaround: You can subscribe to a VPN service which means you can tell the 'Meta View App' your location is in the USA or Canada and then the A.I. will work fine. See links below to VPN services, some of which have very good subscription offers for the next few weeks. It turns out that in between shows, Jan has also purchased these Meta glasses and is getting some "Looking cute and cool dad" comments from his daughter Rosalie. But is she trying to butter him up for a special request that only daughters can ask their dad!?! Sucker!!! We've got an email from Blind Gordon which Mohamed will be pleased about as he was very worried about the weather in Scotland. We are delighted to say Gordon is all good, but we'd suggest staying away from Inverness; as it's feckin' FREEZIN' there!! And now, for the most important bit: Would you like to be a contestant in the Annual BGC Christmas Quiz? It's on December 23rd and will be lots of fun – full of madness and mayhem! We may even have some special guests. Send us an email expressing your interest to blindguyschat@gmail.com. Even if you just want to attend, and not take part in the quiz – let us know, and we'll send you on the joining details. So, stick your shades on; strip down to your Christmas reindeer socks; pour yourself a glass of eggnog (yuck!) and settle in to listen to the number 1 podcast as rated by Christmas films: Blind Guys Chat - 7 out of 8 Reindeers prefer it to falling off the roof! Links for this show: Meta: https://www.meta.com/ie/smart-glasses/ VPNs: · SurfShark: https://surfshark.com/download/windows · ZoogVPN: https://zoogvpn.com/ · ExpressVPN: https://www.expressvpn.com/vpn-download/vpn-windows And don't forget to email blindguyschat@gmail.com if you want to join us for the BGC Christmas quiz! Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, our lovely election canvassers and welcome to Episode 111. Did you manage to survive Storm Bert last weekend? And did you know the storm was named by our weather colleagues in The Netherlands? Lucky it wasn't called Storm 'Sjef' - Woof!! Mohammed Laachir is back with us again and it appears he has been on a kind of holiday since he was last on the show. Yes, he is just back from pilgrimage to Medina and Mecca, and managed to survive in 34 degree Celsius heat (92 point something Fahrenheit) by availing of a very clever piece of clothing. It's election time here in Ireland. Are you ready to vote on Friday November 29 (the day after we publish this episode)? Vote early and often as Óran exclaims!! And if you need information on accessible voting, visit here: https://www.electoralcommission.ie/accessible-voting/ Clodagh has a great email from Patty Murphy. It has 2 images, and Patty wants to know how an AI engine will describe them. So Óran decides to put Jan and Mo to a test and see if they can work out which one is using “Picture Smart AI for JAWS”, and which one is using the “Describe with Be My Eyes” function. A little tip: Don't forget if you want Picture Smart AI for JAWS to give you more detail of an image you can use the keystroke 'Shift + applications key' and then select "Picture Smart with JAWS. And you can even ask questions about the image after the description is complete. The results of our AI descriptions were interesting. Also, the pictures are interesting - one of them features a 1957 BMW Isetta which is a really cool car. (Clodagh was wrong – there were 3-wheel versions built. Also 2 people could fit in the front. The back was for stowage.) You can read more about the BMW Isetta: here: https://journal.classiccars.com/2024/03/30/pick-of-the-day-1957-bmw-isetta/ So, chuck away your voting cards, take off your shoes and kneel to pay homage to the only podcast worth listening to this side of a force 12 gale: Blind Guys Chat. 8 out of 10 hibernating squirrels prefer it to sleeping. • Accessible voting: https://www.electoralcommission.ie/accessible-voting/ • 1957 BMW Isetta: https://journal.classiccars.com/2024/03/30/pick-of-the-day-1957-bmw-isetta/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our wobbly hospital trolleys, and welcome to Episode 110 of BGC. It's a welcome back to Óran, fresh from his travels to the nearby hospital, all of 5 minutes away. Yes, it seems Óran is maintaining his hobby of having near death experiences every few years, much to Clodagh's distress. But anyway, all is good now and he is back steering the HMS BGC directly into a cliff! Poor Jan is in bed and on the tablets again as he can't believe the US presidential election result, but then again neither can Clodagh, Óran, or most of the world for that matter. Our guest this week is Fanny Bui. Fanny is here to chat about a fantastic blind and visually impaired event happening in Chemnitz, Germany next year. Chemnitz is the European Capital of Culture 2025. The organising team are blind people who live in Chemnitz who want to introduce you to their city. You can stay in a blind host family, who will guide from arrival to departure. You really don't need to bring a sighted person if you don't want to – you know how pesky they can be! The program includes a sound and touch city tour, a visit to the museum of archaeology, a visit to the blind school and training centre. There is also an option of a small hike in the nearby forest, climbing, or tandem biking. You can also try ‘Showdown' (we don't know – it's some kind of game), and the highlight of the weekend will be a concert organised by the ‘Low Vision Charts'. For more details visit: tinyurl.com/BGCchemnitz or email info@connectingblind.org. In TV Corner we are talking about two shows on Netflix: ‘The Lincoln Lawyer season 3' and season 2 of ‘The Diplomat'. Check them out. Clodagh has an email from Laurent, who writes from Belgium asking about the pros and cons of travelling through Europe as a blind individual. If any of you lovely listeners would like to share your positive and negative European travel experiences, you know who to email – Ghostbu… no, blindguyschat@gmail.com. It will help us plan our holidays for next year – keep the stories coming! So, pull off that oxygen mask, don't worry about your collapsed lung, and throw caution to the wind as you walk up the hospital corridor listening to BGC, forgetting that your rear end is fully exposed for all to admire!! Blind Guys Chat: 16 out of 20 saline drips prefer it to being in someone's arm. Links for this episode: • Chemnitz, European Capital of Culture 2025: https://tinyurl.com/BGCchemnitz, or email info@connectingblind.org. • Email us about your European travel experiences, good, bad and ugly, to blindguyschat@gmail.com. • The Access Card – for cheaper access to various venues when travelling in the UK and parts of the rest of the world: https://www.thenationalcareline.org/Lifestyle/AccessCard. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, our little Halloween horrors, or maybe that's just the hosts?! We're back again for a show with a slight twist, and we're not talking spooky goings-on - or maybe we are, because, Óran, our producer in residence, is missing in action for the first time in the history of this podcast! Is he OK? You'll have to listen to find out. Hector, our beloved HR Director, has been busy arranging a new temporary contract for Stuart. Yes, he's returning, at least for this show, to help out Jan and one of our regular guest hosts, Mohammed Laachir, as they delve into topics including Jan's upcoming trip to Dublin; Braille 200 celebrations; the Glide device at Sight Village London; ChatGPT's new advanced voice mode; Stuart's issues with the iOS 18 calendar; and of course, the weather! If that's not enough to keep you from your trick or treating, we end the episode live from a central Dublin boozer, where Jan is on the hard stuff! So, ease up on the tricks and treat yourself to the Blind Guys Chat podcast, because you never know, you just might learn something! 8 out of 10 pumpkins prefer it to having their eyes gauged out. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, our little delivery drones, and welcome to episode 108. This week Jan and Óran welcome back Mohamed Laachair and invite him to sit into the comfortable and fluffy guest-host seat. We think he really likes it. We kick off with news of the new AI companion from JAWS which is currently available on the web: https://fscompanion.freedomscientific.com. This new feature will also become available directly from within JAWS 2025 (JAWS Key+spacebar+F1 to access it) and is a gold mine of information. You can drop your question about JAWS and some other Vispero products into the edit box and it will have a little think and then come back with an answer. Try it! Have you tried ElevenReader App? The ElevenLabs' ElevenReader App lets you listen to any text content, with ElevenLabs voices. This expands your library of audio content to any article, PDF, ePub, newsletter, or any other text on your phone. Get more info here: https://elevenlabs.io/text-reader Do you remember Maura Moore-McCune? She's the young woman we interviewed back in episode 105 (link here: https://tinyurl.com/BGC105) who is developing VIPMOD - Vision Impaired Person's Moving Object. Well, she has just won a gold medal at the annual prestigious Eskom Expo for Young Scientists in South Africa. Students from 35 Expo Regions in South Africa compete against each other, and then compete against the best young scientists from around the world. Maura won gold in the biomedical and medical sciences category and was joint overall senior winner too. Congratulations Maura – we're thrilled for you! Back to JAWS - Freedom Scientific now have an automatic language translator using AI. Mohamed tells us more about this fantastic feature which is available in JAWS 2025. Derry Lawlor lets us know about the cameras on the Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses, and we have news of a possible contender to Meta Smart Glasses which are the Meta Orion Smart Glasses? Huh?! Read more about them here: https://about.fb.com/news/2024/09/introducing-orion-our-first-true-augmented-reality-glasses/ So, stop getting confused about the October weather, cool the jets on the Halloween costume shopping, and get ready to listen to the most informative podcast this side of a town hall meeting: Blind Guys Chat. 8 out of 10 AI companions prefer it to being artificial. Links in this podcast: • The new AI companion from JAWS - FS companion: https://fscompanion.freedomscientific.com • ElevenReader App: https://elevenlabs.io/blog/introducing-elevenlabs-reader-app and https://elevenlabs.io/text-reader • BGC ep 105 with Maura Moore-McCune: https://tinyurl.com/BGC105 • Project Orion: https://about.fb.com/news/2024/09/introducing-orion-our-first-true-augmented-reality-glasses/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello, our autumn leaves, and welcome to episode 107 of BGC. We begin this show with some interesting news from Be My Eyes and Meta. It appears that the Be My Eyes application will soon become available via Meta Ray Ban SmartGlasses. This means when calling a volunteer using the app, the volunteer will now see the image from your Meta specs. Is this a cool and clever collaboration? Will this be a game changer due to the reduced cost? We discuss! Have you downloaded and installed IOS 18? Are you as disappointed with this upgrade as Jan is? Let us know: blindguyschat@gmail.com. Also, Jan has a question for experienced iPhone users and has no shame throwing our beloved listeners and part-time collaborators, Derry, Brian and Mohamed, under the bus in order to get the answer. Our guest this time is Rocio Casati. Rocio works as a language localisation specialist for Vispero's products in Spain. She is also a classical pianist and loves all things Braille, and also guide dogs of course. The guys feel like they are in heaven with this conversation. We have news on the arrival of the new Glide mobility aid in the UK; a webinar on MS Teams is coming up in November; there's Sharkvember with Vispero, and an assistive technology day being held by Sight and Sound in Technological University Dublin's Grangegorman campus. So, forget about the floods and power-cuts for a little while, crack open that only-slightly-expired tin of hot chocolate, and chisel out a tablespoon for yourself. Kick the cat off the armchair and settle in for a listen to the number 1 podcast voted by the Strictly Come Dancing professional dancers: Blind Guys Chat! 8.2 out of 10 orchestras prefer it to playing music! Links mentioned in this podcast: Next big thing: https://www.freedomscientific.com/nextbigthing/ RayBan/Meta collaboration: https://mashable.com/article/meta-rayban-smart-glasses-be-my-eyes-accessibility Ray Ban Smart Glasses: https://www.ray-ban.com/ireland/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses Glide: https://glidance.io/ Sight and Sound assistive technology event on November 9th: https://www.sightandsound.co.uk/event/assistive-technology-exhibition-ireland/ And don't forget to send us your comments, questions, ideas, hopes and dreams: blindguyschat@gmail.com Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our lovely loyal listeners, and welcome to ep 106. We kick off this show with the latest hot topic in The Netherlands: FatBikes! Yes, it seems that Jan has imported 16,000 electric bikes to sell them and make his fortune. But they appear to be a little dodgy as they have big wide tyres and are as low slung as Sjef's harness. Jan's mother-in-law also has something to say about these bikes so hold on to your hats.   Most of our show is devoted to our interview with Amos Miller, the founder and CEO of Glidance. Amos is here to tell us all about the 'Glide', an innovative self-guided mobility device for blind and low vision people. Amos is a blind developer with a background in computer science and engineering, and among other things was part of the developing team at Microsoft who created Soundscape. Now he's working on bringing this new mobility device to market and by all accounts, this could be a game-changer when it comes to moving around unassisted. Mohamed is also with us to share his experience of using the Glide at the recent NFB event. But will it do away with guide dogs? Let's find out...   Now that we are officially in Autumn, or Fall, as our US listeners would say, we have some suggestions for TV shows to while away these longer evenings. Óran is recommending the new season of ‘Only Murders in the Building' on Disney+, along with ‘The Perfect Couple', a new show on Netflix, and his returning favourite, ‘Slow Horses' season 4 on Apple TV. Let us know what you've been watching – we're dying to know! Email us on BlindGuysChat@gmail.com.   So, throw your electric bike on the charger. Mind the leaves as you enter your home and tune into the best podcast this side of a Mexican taco: Blind Guys Chat. 20 out of 20 Haitians living in Springfield Ohio prefer it to Trumpy MacGrumpy Trump! Links in this show: Glidance: https://glidance.io/about-us/ Only Murders in the Building: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11691774/ The Perfect Couple: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11514868/ Slow Horses: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5875444/   And of course, our email address: BlindGuysChat@gmail.com Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our favourite tech geniuses! We start with some good news. Yes, Mali, the Bernese Mountain dog who was missing for 2 weeks, has been rescued from a 61-metre-high cliff edge on an island off the coast of Donegal. She ran off during a storm but now she has been reunited with her humans and went home for a big dinner and a snooze - yaaaay!!   Óran has had enough of the terrible Irish summer and has decided to move to The Netherlands where it always seems to be warm. Clodagh has her patient face on. Meanwhile, we've got news on Seeing AI's object detector. (Maybe it'll help Óran find the sun?) And Jan is looking forward to IOS 18. Will Siri be any better...? We sure hope so, cos she's pretty useless right now!   Our guest this week is a talented young woman named Maura Moore-McCune from County Meath in Ireland. Maura is here to tell us about a mobile app she is developing called Vision Impaired Person's Moving Object Detector (VIPMOD) which can detect nearby moving vehicles. This will be especially handy if you want to check it's safe to cross at a junction, or if you are not sure if you can hear an approaching electric vehicle. Maura was invited to present her work on VIPMOD at the ‘MIT AI & Education Summit' in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, where she won the top prize for Community Impact – congratulations Maura! If you would like to be a beta tester for this app, email: vipmod.info@gmail.com with your details. Maura would be delighted to have you involved when beta testing starts.   Clodagh has news on some calendar dates worth noting, like Colour Blindness Awareness Day on September 6th, and a 24-hour inclusive design event on September 12th.   So, enjoy hanging out in Belfast while your cruise ship gets serviced, don't tell that Russian spy whale where you hide the chocolate, and instead make your way safely to the sunny side of the street while listening to Blind Guys Chat. 17 out of 20 electric scooters prefer it to being in stealth mode.   Links in this show: Email to become a beta tester for the VIPMOD app: vipmod.info@gmail.com MIT App Inventor coding system: https://appinventor.mit.edu/ SciFest: https://scifest.ie/ CYTI at DCU: https://www.dcu.ie/ctyi Colour Blindness: http://www.colourblindnessawareness.org/ Inclusive Design event: https://inclusivedesign24.org/2024/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our Bermuda hurricanes and welcome to a blowy episode. We begin this episode reminiscing of cars long gone. Do you remember the Renault 4 or the Citroen BX or even the older Citroen DS? Yes, they might have been rust buckets and as unreliable as summer in Ireland but, at least they were quirky and fun to drive. Speaking of quirky and unreliable things, have you watched ‘Clarkson's Farm' on Amazon Prime? Give it a go. It has brought farmers to tears, not to mention the sheep!! Óran has a question for Jan and our listeners who have guide dogs. Have you ever found your doggy a little reluctant to put on their harness? Well Larry is becoming a little uncooperative when Óran wants him to work. Is Larry faking because there are no couches on his walk? Or is he showing signs of wanting to retire with his feet up, smoking a pipe and watching old reruns of Oprah on the TV? We discuss. We've got an email from Sarah in Brantford Ontario, Canada who is inviting BGC to come visit. Nora Nagle has been on to tell us that Donald Trumpy now has a 'Superstore' and if anyone knows what that is, please get in touch (blindguyschat@gmail.com). And speaking of that muppet, apparently, he now has his own winery! The guys would rather push a Fiat 500 up a 35-degree mountain than buy any of that stuff. So, forget about Henry the hurricane for a while. Strip off your wind breaker, turn the volume up to 11, and get ready for the greatest podcast this side of an electric car parked at a petrol pump: Blind Guys Chat. 19 out of 20 grapes prefer it to being in a Trump wine bottle. Links: Clarkson's Farm promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k9NMbQe0C4 Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our fast and furious Olympians, and welcome to ep 103 of BGC. We have a full house this week as Jan is back from his 11th holiday of the year, and Mohammed Laachir is back with us again fresh from NFB in Florida, having enjoyed their all you can eat buffet.   Yes, Jan handed the car keys over to Tycho while he, Chantal and Princess Rosalie sat in the back seat of their lovely electric vehicle. After a 63-hour trip taking in the Norwegian fjords, St Paul's Cathedral and the Brandenburg Gate, they eventually arrived in Camp Nou, Barcelona's famous stadium, where fistfuls of money changed hands in order to purchase a Barca t-shirt and a can of coke. Oh, and Princess Rosalie bought some rather expensive makeup in a big international cosmetics and skincare store, or at least that's what Jan said.   Mohammed has just returned from NFB 2024 where he was demonstrating the new Picture Smart AI with JAWS. This is a cool new feature built right into JAWS allowing a user to scan a picture and hear what its contents are. Fair play to Mo for helping with the development of this feature.   While he was at NFB, Mohammed took the opportunity to take his hoover for a walk. Ahem... sorry, we mean the new Glide guide dog thingy from Glidance. Will Mohammed be purchasing? Tune in to find out!   So, jump off your pommel horse with a perfect 10; stay away from the Olympic cauldron – it's not a BBQ! Put down that shotput before your do yourself some damage, and get ready to listen to the best podcast in the world: Blind Guys Chat - 10 out of 15 boxing gloves prefer it to boxing.   Links for this show:   ·       National Federation of the Blind (NFB): https://nfb.org/ ·       NFB National Convention: https://nfb.org/get-involved/national-convention ·       Picture Smart AI with Jaws: https://www.freedomscientific.com/training/jaws/new-and-improved-features/ ·       Glide from Glidance: https://tinyurl.com/Glidance Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our favourite funny people, and welcome to episode 102 of BGC. Since Jan is off on another holiday (we're not at all jealous!) we devote the entire episode to our wonderful guest, Sydney May. Sydney lives in Brighton and works for the Thomas Pocklington Trust. But that's not all! Sydney is also a comedian and plays bass in her band - Torrid (A love affair). Check them out on Spotify (link here). Sydney is also an accessibility tester, and an inspirational speaker, and will be giving presentations around the UK during all the Sight Village events this year. And if all that is not enough, she's also a football fan and a big supporter of Arsenal. It's a fun interview and Óran and Clodagh thoroughly enjoyed their chat with Sydney.   So, forget about stripping down to your diving trunks for now, and instead have a listen to the only Olympic gold medal event worth shouting for: Blind Guys Chat.   8 and a half out of 10 Olympic judo doers prefer it to two judo dojos.     Links mentioned in this show: The Thomas Pocklington Trust: https://www.pocklington.org.uk/ SeeingAI: https://www.seeingai.com/ Be my AI: https://www.bemyeyes.com/blog/introducing-be-my-ai InVideo AI: https://invideo.io/ Torrid (A love affair) on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/TorridAloveAffair Torrid (A love affair)'s album 'Poems from Mars': https://tinyurl.com/PoemsFromMars Sydney's social handle is @sydmaycoach on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/sydmaycoach/; on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/sydmaycoach; and on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW7n-Il5BR4PbDGIZ8u3BEA Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our favourite A.I. bots! We hope you are well, and are looking forward to another fantastic episode of Blind Guys Chat. We begin this week's show with a health warning, or should that be a sandwich warning!?! Yes, it seems that Sjef was a bit of a bold doggy during the week, as he managed to get his mouth around a sandwich belonging to one of Jan's colleagues. However, it looks like Sjef won't be imprisoned any time soon as there was no evidence of a crime having been committed. Yes, Sjef is keeping his mouth shut on this mystery. Clever boy! Not even Sherlock Holmes could solve this one! Our guest this week is Jesse Wienholts. Jesse works for Royal Dutch Visio in the Netherlands. He brings the Guys up to speed on upcoming innovations for blind and vision impaired people. He has tested out many new products, including 'Glidance' a prototype guide dog; this one doesn't eat sandwiches apparently! He also talks about the multiline braille display 'Monarch', as well as the upcoming Envision Assistant and a new GPS app called 'Voice Vision'. He has also been playing a game called 'Top Speed' and we ask, are video games for blind players really just about pressing buttons with no real sense of immersion? It's a welcome return to our former co-host Mr Stuart Lawler who is back on the show fresh from his bed because he has been burning the candle at both ends due to the International Conference on English Braille being held in New Zealand. Thanks for staying up late Stuart, now give us the skinny on this year's ICEB. And for those of you looking for an assistive tech bargain - Humanware and Sight and Sound currently have a sale on. So, forget about the fact the longest day of the year is behind us. Forget that fact that you still don't have a holiday booked, and instead remember all you really need is to sit down with a cuppa joe and listen to the most informative podcast this side of a polar bear sliding down a glacier: Blind Guys Chat. 6 out of 10 robot guide dogs prefer it to eating electrodes! Links for this show: · Royal Dutch Visio: https://enviter.eu/members/royal-dutch-visio/ · Glidance: https://glidance.io/ · Monarch: https://www.humanware.com/en-usa/monarch · Envision Assistant: https://envision-assistant.com/ · Voice Vision in Apple Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/voicevista/id6450388413 · Top Speed: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tbegames.and.top_speed_racing&hl=en_IE&pli=1 · Humanware sale: https://store.humanware.com/heu/promotion Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our little party poppers, and welcome to episode 100 of BGC! Yes, can you believe it's been 100 years since we first started? ...Ahem, that doesn't seem correct... Anyway, let's carry on. To help us celebrate this historic show we are joined by our own Scottish kilt: Blind Gordon, the Bambi Thug of the podcasting world: Kevin Sherwin, and our own personal Accessibility Discovery Centre: Brian Dalton, not to mention the wonderful Clodagh O'Donovan, about whom we can't think of anything to say that won't get us in trouble! It's a show of reminiscing, with a little sprinkling of Euro football and Dutch politics on top. Clodagh kicks it all off with her favourite topic; Christmas! And believe it or not, she actually got to meet Santa recently and they had a robust conversation regarding the non-delivery of long-promised snow over the past few Christmases. Poor Santa

Hello little bumblebees and welcome to episode 99. This week we welcome back guest host Brian Dalton. Brian joined the Blind Guys on a school trip to the Dublin Royal Convention Centre last Saturday. Yes, we've hit the big time - BGC were invited to speak at the Retina International World Congress 2024 about assistive technology and how it helps us in our daily lives. What a thrill it must have been for those 6 million attendees to see us in real life, eh?! Ah no, seriously, we had a wonderful time at this excellent event, and it was an honour to be involved. You can hear our presentation on this week's show where you will hear us talk about IBM's Apollo screen reader, the EmBraille, Cobolt air fryers, and much more. A special thanks to Fighting Blindness who hosted RIWC24, AV Partners who allowed Clodagh behind the velvet rope to monitor the tech end of things, and to all the fab volunteers who worked at the event across the 4 days. Also, on the show we talk about another field trip we took recently to Google's new Accessible Discovery Centre in Dublin. Brian, Clodagh, Óran and Larry went to have a look at all the cool stuff they have. Óran was particularly impressed with a low-tech device called a social barometer pin, while Larry was happy to see another doggy in the building. It was a great experience and the people at Google were fantastic. The guys thoroughly recommend you visit ADC Dublin. You can book your tour via this email address: adc-dublin@google.com. Tell them Blind Guys Chat sent you! So, take an ice cream out of the freezer, pop out to the garden and soak up the wonderfully refreshing UV rays from the best podcast of the summer: Blind Guys Chat! 17 out of 20 conference centres prefer it to providing catering. Links for items we talked about: Google ADC: adc-dublin@google.com Freedom Scientific training: freedomscientific.com/training Cobolt air fryer: https://cobolt.co.uk/products/talking-air-fryer Envision: https://www.letsenvision.com/glasses/home Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little flu germs and welcome to the show. This week Jan and Óran have been left doing the show unsupervised with no responsible adult to keep them in check so prepare for any kind of conversations. We get the chat going with football/soccer. It appears that Jan's local team have not been doing so well in the last few games, losing 2-1 and 7-1 in their last 2 games. To celebrate this, some of the fans decided to offer the players their scarves and hats in an attempt to keep them warm out on the pitch. No, literally warm! They set fire to hats and scarves. After this fantastic display of sportsmanship, Jan decided to take our good friend Mohamed down to Frankfurt for Sight City 2024. But they did manage to break the train before they arrived. Naughty boys! While in Frankfurt the 2 fellas were wined and dined on a menu of German cheese which apparently tasted worse than a wet sheep. Yuck!! Are you interested in becoming the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands? Well, throw your hat in the ring because it appears that after 6 months of debate, no politician wants to become PM. Óran, Clodagh and Larry recently travelled on a “vomit commit” - a plane so small that Larry had to be given his own seat because he couldn't fit between the rows of seats. Larry rose to the challenge and is now a black belt in the call button, the air-con twisty nozzle thing, window watching on both sides of the plane, and getting attention from everyone, including the captain and co-pilot. Óran tells us what it is like to walk under and into Concord, and what a Bristol 450 racing car feels like. So, fasten your seatbelts. lift up that pointy nose, taxi out to the runway and enjoy the caviar of podcasts: Blind Guys Chat. 7 out of 10 prop-engine planes prefer it to supersonic flight. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our favourite little musical notes, and welcome to this episode of BGC. This week we are straight into it! Yes, back by popular demand and also because he's a cheap guest, we are chatting again with Kevin Sherwin; or as we like to call him "Mr Eurovision"! So, settle in and listen to us rant, rave, applaud and appraise, and generally share our thoughts on this year's Eurovision song contest, which was held in Sweden last weekend.   It'll be a rip roaring, barn burning, parrot singing, dog crying, rabbit sunbathing show you won't want to miss.   Blind guys chat: 8 out of 10 non qualifying acts prefer it to watching the actual show.   Email us at: blindguyschat@gmail.com – oh and speaking of email – Clodagh has a new jingle at long last! Let us know what you think, ok?! Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little teardrops and welcome to episode 96. It's Eurovision Song Contest time again so do watch out for the odd Eurovision song title in the show notes and also during the show. Óran is asking listeners to email in with the total number of Eurovision song titles that are mentioned during the show and in the show notes and podcast chapters. You'd never know – there might be a prize – so get emailing! And yes, we have "All Kinds of Everything" on this show - so let your "Love Shine a Light" on our 3 presenters for this week, Clodagh, Jan and Óran.   Jan has been celebrating the King's birthday as it was King's Day in The Netherlands during the week, and His Majesty took his whole family on a day trip to visit the common people of Holland. He even brought his security detail with him and apparently, they have bullet proof suitcases, just in case any ne'er-do-well tries to shoot the King's underpants - "Ding a Dong!!!" Also, apparently the king's daughters are "lookers" as we would say here in Ireland, and this has not gone unnoticed in the Bloem household. Will Jan need to buy a hat for a special day out!?!   It's a welcome back to our own "Rock and Roll Kid", Kevin Sherwin, back on the show to tell us all about this year's Eurovision Song Contest entries. Will Ireland make it past the semi-finals? Will Norway get any points? Will the eastern bloc countries all vote for Australia? Will there be "Euphoria" when it's over? Listen in to hear what our wonderful Eurovision correspondent thinks.   Óran's got another pain in his hoop. This time it's about the poor quality audio description on the Netflix series "Ripley" starring Andrew Scott. Have you watched the show? What do you think of the audio description. Let us know at blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Clodagh has an email from a confused person regarding Braille. Maybe they need to "Make their mind up"?!   So don't be a "Diva", leave the "Arcade" for a while and listen to the number 1 podcast as voted by the Tahitian Foreign Minister for Dolphins: Blind Guys Chat! 17 and a half out of 20 European countries prefer it to the Eurovision Song Contest. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little Galway girls and welcome to 'De Chat' as some of our listeners are calling it. We hope you are well, dry, and safe. This week it's a welcome back to Gordon Anthony aka Blind Gordon, who guest hosts again. Gordon has been a busy boy while not on the air - it seems he managed to break his arm from signing autographs on the way to see Dundee United lose another football match. But luckily, he had set up 'fall detection' on his Apple watch and the device proceeded to call the cops, ambulance service, his daughter, the pope, the prime minister of Japan and Dominos pizza. There was some good news from his accident however as Dundee United managed to win the game that day; in fact, they haven't lost a game since!! Sadly, Jan can't say the same for his local team "Ado Den Haag".   While Gordon was recuperating, he managed to find a new A.I. tool called “Pi” which apparently is very good and well worth a go.   Jan has been doing some research of his own and recently attended the Dutch version of ‘Sight Village' - does that make it “Ziezo Villagen”?

Read transcriptHello our little spring butterflies and welcome to episode 94 of BGC. Our guest host on this show is our good friend Nora Nagle, who joins us all the way from Boston, Massachusetts. Nora's retired guide dog, Larry, is also making an appearance every now and again with woofs and pleas for treats. Nora has just returned from a world tour of Miami beach where her husband was able to give her a very detailed review of the local wildlife and their different coloured thongs. Jan and Óran may need a minute or two here for a short break. We move swiftly onto this year's CSUN conference which was in Anaheim, California. Óran is intrigued by 'JAWS Kiosk' which is already rolling out in the USA. This development allows blind and low vision customers to interact with the ordering stations in, for example a MacDonald's outlet, simply by plugging in their headset where a screen reader will provide feedback just like using an Apple or Android smartphone. Brilliant! Jan is very interested in a prototype product called Glide, a self-guided mobility aid: the device uses "real-time data from an array of advanced sensors, and autonomously steers the way. It maps the best routes, identifies targets of interest, and avoids obstacles to get you safely to your destination." Apparently, it looks a little like a vacuum cleaner so you can vacuum up the pavements while you are walking to your location. Óran is also interested in the Orbit Q20 and Q40 Braille displays which offer 20 or 40 braille cells with a QWERTY keypad. Come on Vispero... get with the program! Ever heard of "Birding by ear"? Ever wanted to know what birds are keeping you awake in the morning? Well then try this app Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University. Nora and Larry highly recommend it. Our guest this week is Marcel Janssen from The Netherlands. Marcel is the Director of Education at Royal Visio, the Dutch centre of expertise for blind and low vision people. Marcel has been working in education for 40 years and is responsible for the education of 2500 visually impaired students and 5 schools in the Netherlands. Unfortunately for Marcel, he was responsible for looking after Jan during their 2 trips to Nigeria in the early and mid 2000's. Marcel is also involved with the organising of the tactile reading and graphics conference which is being held in Amsterdam in June 2025. The conference brings together people within the tactile reading field, academics, and practitioners, to share knowledge and ideas, and provides a forum for international collaboration. And if that wasn't enough, Marcel is also responsible for creating Braille chocolate letters in the Netherlands. Nora has a tip for Mohamed regarding dates and Clodagh has emails from Olivia who is not very happy with Óran, and another email from " RuPatrick". So strip down to your flooded thongs, throw your towel on a deckchair, and get ready to soak up the wonderful nontoxic rays of the coolest podcast this side of a jewel-encrusted Miami drug dealer's wife: Blind Guys Chat 5 out of 10 turkeys prefer it to slamming into buildings. Gobble, gobble! Links for items in this show: CSUM: https://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/sessions/ Glide: https://glidance.io/ Orbit Q20 & Q40: https://www.orbitresearch.com/product/orbit-reader-q40/#content Birding by ear: https://tinyurl.com/MerlinBirdID Tactile reading conference: https://tactilereading.yellenge.nl/ American Braille challenge: https://brailleinstitute.org/braille-challenge/ Braille chocolate: https://www.purdys.com/assorted-chocolate-braille-gift-box-18-pc Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our bouncy little spring lambs and welcome to episode 93 of BGC. Unfortunately, Óran is not feeling too well this week as he has a pain in his hoop! Yes, he has had an altercation with a grocery collection and in particular with the bags the goods are packed in. Do you sympathise with him? Listen to his story and email us: blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Clodagh has ordered a cup of coffee and a cake from the local café and is awaiting its arrival via a drone. Jan and Óran are somewhat sceptical and decided traditional transport i.e. getting Sjef and Larry to collect it and bring it back home is a more sensible method. But if you want to give drone delivery a go, check to see if Manna drone delivery is available in your area. (www.manna.aero)   Our guests this week are Berni Warren and Melanie Prichard from The Braillists Foundation (www.braillists.org). Berni is responsible for setting up the Braillists Book Club (www.braillists.org/uncategorised/join-us-in-the-book-club) which Óran is potty about. Melanie runs the Braille for beginners course which also is an initiative of The Braillists Foundation. Jan and Óran have a great time talking to the ladies about Braille, sight loss, and everything in between. If you would like more information on the book club or Braille for beginners, then go to www.braillists.org and check out the site.   In TV Corner the guys are promoting, ‘Loudermilk' and ‘The Gentlemen' on Netflix. And before we go, Jan gives us a rendition of the Dutch entry for this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Can he do it justice? Good question!   Clodagh has an email from Gary Hough who is not looking forward to the winter months heading his way. Also Mohammed Laachir has an audio message for the Blind Guys. Apparently, he is under a bus...   So, open up your Braille books to page 1 and settle in for the most thrilling of podcasts: Blind Guys Chat   33 out of 40 hardcopy Braille books prefer it to reading print.   Links for this episode: www.manna.aero www.braillists.org www.braillists.org/uncategorised/join-us-in-the-book-clubEpisode Notes Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chatRead transcript

Hello our little snow ploughs! Welcome to this episode of BGC. This week, we are joined by our guest host, Brian Dalton. Brian has had a very interesting life, as you will find out right from the start. Jan and Óran finally discover the answer to a burning question: if blind from birth, do you see in your dreams? Brian and one other have the answer. Have you ever experienced Non-24? Well, Brian has, and he's got some very strange tales to tell when he eventually falls asleep. Not on the show of course!! Jan has a new addition to the household, or shall we say, he managed to open his wallet using a crowbar and spend the cash inside on a new vacuum cleaner called a Roomba. He can use his Google Home to set it off to do chores, and it can even go under his bed. Watch out little dust mites! Our guest this week is Christopher Patnoe, Head of Accessibility and Disability Inclusion, EMEA @ Google. He tells us how he got started in accessibility and all about the Accessibility Discovery Center (ADC) in London. It's a cool place and open to the public; all you have to do is send an email to adclondon@gmail.com to make a booking. Brian briefly shoves Óran off his soapbox as he wants to talk about the lack of audio description in cinemas. Are you experiencing this? Let us know at blindguyschat@gmail.com. Clodagh's got an email from Darragh who is looking for some advice on kitchen accessories. Brian suggests a Cobalt air fryer, and Jan has a cool light meter that helps him when making coffee. Finally, if you want to hear more from Brian, tune in to Team FM for his 'Welcome to the Weekend' radio show. So, put your rabbit on the Hoover and watch it spin round and round with excitement. Tell Google Home to make you a coffee and settle down to be mystified by Blind Guys Chat. 19 out of 20 robots on the moon prefer it to lying on their sides after landing. Links in this show: Google ADC: adclondon@google.com Roomba: https://www.amazon.co.uk/iRobot%C2%AE-j7-connected-Automatic-Disposal/dp/B09CCNQDJS/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1ZYLWGKRNIHNY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.dZFfpBUuN1qX49gI85jcLNgkvAbdiY1-fFLaORdXyvEgwyRZ5KcqPZ_WZZo-pqK5ESTSjEj4wxomDI3LEqhdxfm2AkJm-uHuGKnQ4s_Isy6uWv1YeY96iSlWpM3NpJALP-cVYJlIeOoVdcHgZ26e2lJPt9Q3x9Y50PirUiX3b66XDA6LT7zNl1QFAbhu4Zu5kI-J6yWsQz3goLvwnYd30qEKRWLKUgk4KSfCl29lBkw.VFNFqtWmd9L3KWDZ1Ck8NuysIQc9qRxFQ8ONRWbCu3g&dib_tag=se&keywords=roomba&qid=1709802700&sprefix=roomba%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-2-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.d7e5a2de-8759-4da3-993c-d11b6e3d217f&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 Non 24: https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/non-24hour-sleep-wake-disorder Cobalt: https://cobolt.co.uk/products/talking-air-fryer Team FM: https://www.team-fm.com/briandalton Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our newborn Robins. We hope you are well and ready for another exciting and delightful episode of your favourite podcast. On this show our guest host is Mohammed Laachir. Mohammed lives in the Netherlands, and is one of the people in Vispero who brought us the fantastic split sound feature in JAWS, and also worked on the split Braille function for Braille displays. Have you ever tried skiing? Well Jan has, but apparently, he has problems hearing his instructors and has ended up in the trees a few times. No such issues for Mohammed as he snowboards on the baby slopes, ahem… indoors!! Have you ever lost your balls? No; not those balls! The roller ball from your cane? Well, Mohammed has, and apparently not even a Jesus-loving preacher could find it for him. Oh, and Mo has a cool cane called the All-Terrain Cane (ATC) from AwareWolfGear.com. Do you have one? Let us know what you think: email us on blindguyschat@gmail.com. Mohammed is also doing great things for our demographic as he is down with the kids. Yes, he has played video games and also uses dating apps like Bumble. But the poor fella has had some bad experiences. Can you believe this - sometimes his date leaves because they realise he is blind. How rude! However, Jan and Óran come to the rescue; they suggest he gets a guide dog because that'll get him into a relationship quicker than a formula 1 car on 3 wheels trying to get into the pit lane. Have you heard of the Google Accessible Discovery Centre? Well Jan has been to London recently to visit the Centre. It's a space where engineers, researchers, product teams and partners can build new kinds of accessible technologies to help remove barriers that people with disabilities face every day. We are going to be chatting to Christopher Patnoe from Google in a couple of weeks, so keep your ears peeled for that, but in the meantime let's find out from Jan what it's all about. Clodagh's got an email from Etta who is informing the guys that it's snowdrops that are white and beginning to blossom and that daffodils are yellow. Get it right lads! And we have an audio message from some bloke called Stuart. Then Clodagh has a bone to pick with her husband. Oh nohhhhh, duck for cover! So why not take a city break this weekend in Alaska, and as you sit snuggled in your igloo, let the warm and sultry voices of Blind Guys Chat distract you from the wolves trying to eat your face off. Blind Guys Chat: 7 and a half out of 10 skiers prefer it to slamming into trees. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our refreshing Braille cells, and welcome to another episode of BGC: the show everyone is talking about. Our guest host this week is Marc Wijnhoven, who lives in the Netherlands not too far from our Jan. Marc is chomping at the bit to get going and of course his favourite topic, just like Jan and Óran, is the weather. Marc has a lot of strings to his bow - he is a fluent Norwegian speaker which might be handy as he tries to decipher what Jan and Óran talk about.   Marc has recently bought a Google Chromebook and he talks us through its capabilities when connecting a Braille display. Do you have a Chromebook, or are you considering purchasing one? Let us know at blindguyschat@gmail.com. Also, Óran asks the guys if they are finding the new “split Braille” option with JAWS and Braille displays useful? Speaking of Braille, Óran has joined the Braillists Book Club and is loving it. You can find out more about the Braillists Book Club here: https://www.braillists.org/testevents/book-club-143/   In TV Corner, Jan has gossip on a new Dutch version of 'The Crown'. Will it have juicy storylines? Maybe...   Clodagh has an email praising the last episode's guest host, and another all the way from Slovakia, apparently a listener there is using the podcast to learn English! Cool! …though it may lead to an odd balance of vocabulary on weather and assistive technology, and very little else. Be warned Bruno!   So, if you are looking for a moment of pure relaxation that's as smooth as a bar of Swiss chocolate; then look no further than your favourite podcast: Blind Guys Chat. 16 out of 20 Norwegians prefer it to the Norwegian language.   Links for this podcast: Braillists Book Club: https://www.braillists.org/testevents/book-club-143/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little windswept listeners and welcome to episode 89. This is an exciting show for Jan, Óran and Clodagh as we welcome our first guest host to the podcast. Let's say hello to Gordon Anthony, aka Blind Gordon who joins us all the way from Livingston in Scotland. Gordon, a former Miss World (who knew!) is literally taking this one lying down. Wait until Mrs Blind Gordon finds out!   Have you ever used Aira? (Yes, that's the correct spelling – we double-checked!) Aira is a visual interpreting service for people who are blind or have low vision. Well Gordon has used it, and he thinks it is great, especially when he is heading to a football match. Unfortunately Aira can't help Dundee United win matches, but at least it can get Gordon home safely afterwards.   Our guest this week is Maeve McCluskey from Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Maeve is the Breeding Programme Supervisor and Jan and Óran have a great conversation with her all about how to breed super guide dogs.   Gordon has a TV Corner tip: he has been watching Criminal Record on Apple TV and thinks it is great. Clodagh has fallen for the Scottish fleet of gritting trucks, and we have an email from Ciara Mac. You know how much we love hearing from our listeners so keep your emails coming in: BlindGuysChat@gmail.com.   So, hop into your favourite cozy pyjamas, tuck yourself into your snuggly bed, and get ready to be soothed by the only guys worth listening to: Blind Guys Chat. 6 out of 10 storms prefer it to being fierce windy.   Links for this podcast: Aira: https://aira.io/ Scottish gritters truck names: https://swtrunkroads.scot/winter-service/meet-our-gritter-fleet/ Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind: https://www.guidedogs.ie/. If you love Irish Guide Dogs and their work as much as we do, you can donate here: https://www.guidedogs.ie/ways-to-help/donate Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little frozen hibernating hedgehogs and welcome to episode 88 of the podcast. What is the weather like in your part of the world? Well, it's feckin' freezin' here in Europe and the Blind Guys cannot wait for spring.   Have you heard of 11 Labs? It's a text to speech and AI voice generator and Stuart has been playing around with it to try to clone his voice. Does it work? Hmmmm... yes and no, we'll hear more from Stuart on it. (Link: elevenlabs.io/)   Óran is asking the guys if it is time to think about a qwerty refreshable Braille display. He reckons his typing on a qwerty keyboard is faster than typing on a Perkins-style keyboard but Stuart is not too sure, what do you think? perhaps you have a Humanware Mantis Q40 or a Helptek Activator display. Let us know what you think at blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Our guest is the lovely Nora Nagle from Boston; south Boston to be precise. Nora talks to us about what it's like having a guide dog in the US and she shares lots of stories including one about an unpleasant experience when a security guard tried to remove her and her guide dog out of a building. It's a great interview so do have a listen.   We have information on events you might like to sign up for: ·       The first is happening this evening, January 11th at 5pm (Irish) 6pm (CET) or 12pm (EST) and is called ‘Celebrate Braille Literacy with Focus'. This webinar hosted by Freedom Scientific will demonstrate how to set up "split braille'" on Focus Braille displays, how to connect more than 1 device to your display, and how to improve braille literacy with a refreshable braille display. Register here for this event: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XoFHxDqWTQ6jkWuiWy-LVg#/registration ·       If you are interested in joining a Braille book club, then look no further than the Braillists Foundation. The book club happens every Thursday and caters for all levels of braille reading including speed and which braille code you prefer to read in. More information about the Braillists Foundation book club is available here: www.braillists.org/uncategorised/join-us-in-the-book-club/ or you can register for it directly here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ucuqqrDsjHtMzH4ytq2NPV0rUpYAGRXEm   Clodagh has an email from Anna Cody who is as succinct as ever! And we finish up with an announcement from Stuart.   So, strip down to your thermals, and bathe yourself in the revitalising warm, silky-smooth, dulcet tones of a Blind Guys Chat podcast.   4 out of 6 newborn puppies prefer it to play-fighting! Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Welcome to another of our BGC bites. In this podcast we are talking to some more service providers who had stands at Sight Village Southeast recently. You will hear from Greg Hargraves from Paige Braille who will talk about Paige Connect, a Bluetooth circuit board that connects to old-school Perkins Braillers allowing the text to be displayed on a PC, which is a pretty cool trick. Clodagh is busy on this podcast as she is talking with Andy Farrell from Guide Dogs UK, Richard Black from the Talking News Federation, and Rose Woodall from Queen Alexander College So, forget about the long dark nights for a moment and tune in for some relaxed chat from Sight Village 2023.   Links to organisations in this podcast:   Paige Braille: https://paigebraille.com/buy Guide Dogs UK: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/about-us/ Talking News Federation: tnf.org.uk Queen Alexander College: https://www.queenalex.co.uk/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Welcome to our BGC bites. In this podcast we are talking to some more service providers who had stands at Sight Village Southeast in London during November.   Óran talks with Michelle Young from The Braillists Foundation about all its services. Then Clodagh chats with Kate Arkell from Retina UK which, to quote Kate, is "a charity supporting people affected by inherited sight loss and investing in medical research to help make their challenges a thing of the past."   So, take a quick break from building that bridge across the Indian Ocean and chill out with Blind Guys Chat for a few minutes.   Links to organisations in this podcast:   The Braillists Foundation: https://www.braillists.org/ Retina UK: https://retinauk.org.uk/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our tired little elves, and welcome to the BGC Christmas Quiz 2023 Extravaganza Special! We hope you are managing to get through the festive season unscathed, and are enjoying lots of time to relax, play, walk, run, jog, swim, or just lay about the house and chill.   This show is devoted to our Christmas Quiz which we recorded with some of our most loyal listeners just before Santa started delivering goodies around the world. We have teams from as far west as Saint Louis and as far east as Italy. Who will win the coveted prize of a pre-loved 1982 BMW 3 Series complete with fluffy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror? Listen to find out! So, why not strip down to your sleigh bells in front of the roaring fire, cuddle into your purring pussy, polish off your second box of chocolates, and settle in for the only quiz worth listening to this crimbo: The Blind Guys Chat Christmas Quiz 2023 Extravaganza Special!   9 out of 10 New Year's resolutions prefer it to turning over a new leaf. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little blown away leaves and welcome to episode 86 of the show. Are you sorted for Christmas? Well, in case you're not, we've got the perfect festive gift for you. Why not join us for the Blind Guys Chat Christmas Quiz which we are broadcasting live on December 21st at 8pm Irish time? That's 3pm in the EST, 10pm in South Africa and 11am in the North Pole!   If you want to be part of a quiz team and answer some easy but fun questions, then let us know by no later than end of day on Monday December 18th. (Clodagh says that deadline is too tight, so you can tell us by end of day on Tuesday December 19th!) Click on this link which will take you to a simple Microsoft form to fill out: http://tinyurl.com/BGC-Quiz-2022-entry-form. Even if you just want to listen to the show live, but not compete, please complete the form, otherwise you won't get a special link for the show.   Go on - give it a go!! You never know, you might win a prize and be crowned Quiziest Blind Guys Chatter 2023!   Our guest this week is the wonderful Veronika Hyks. Veronika is here to talk to us about her 7 years of audio describing Netflix's The Crown. It has been a mammoth task and an admirable body of work that Veronika has created, so why not sit back and listen to her story. She might even divulge some secrets.   Has Jan gone over to the Dark Side? Has he just purchased an Android device!! Let's fine out, eh?   It seems Sky Stream is not going to well for Stuart and for blindies in general. It looks like a software update has broken audio description playout. Is this an action for Dave Nason?   Óran is not wild about the AI service Microsoft are now providing within Be My Eyes app. Have you used it? What do you think? Also, what do you think of Chat GPT Voice? Let us know: send an email to blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Have you been watching All The Light We Cannot See on Netflix? Well Veronika Hyks and the Blind Guys would like to hear from you if you have. What is your view on the audio description for the show, and what do you think of Aria Mia Loberti's introduction to the show? Have a listen here: https://web-anycast.prod.ftl.netflix.com/tudum/articles/all-the-light-we-cannot-see-aria-mia-lorbeti-audio-introduction We also want to know what you think of the AD level on the show Obliterated, which is also on Netflix. And it seems Óran has gone potty for the 2 cockney brothers on Amazon Prime's 007 Road to a Million, not to mention Gary Oldman in the new series of Slow Horses on Apple TV.   So, put down that bottle of Baileys. Throw your Android phones in the fire, start brushing up on your general knowledge and don't forget to sign up to the Christmas quiz for the best podcast this side of cold turkey: Blind Guys Chat. 7 out of 10 Squid game viewers prefer it to Jeopardy Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little frozen icicles, and welcome to Part 2 of Sight Village South East. This week we have more interviews with product manufacturers and developers from the recent Sight Village event which took place in London a few weeks ago. We are talking to: Bruno Vollmer from biped.ai who tells us about his great product that straps over your shoulders and helps detect obstacles in the area so you can avoid collisions. The harness uses autonomous driving technology to detect obstacles in the wearer's path. You can read more about the product here: https://www.biped.ai/ Ben Andrews tells us about his book “Nicky and Candy's Street (Better Places)”. Ben wrote this book to highlight the issues disabled people currently face so that children, parents and educators can raise awareness of these issues while providing an outlet to take positive action. Ben believes introducing these concepts at an early age will increase these children's understanding of the difficulties encountered by people with vision impairments so that they grow into adults who are better able to build a more accessible and inclusive future. You can read more about Ben's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nicky-Candys-Street-Better-Places/dp/1913230325 Daniel from Sensotec talks to us about their magnification tool for smartboards in the classroom. Read more about this product here: https://www.pro.sensotec.com/my-board-buddy-air. Óran catches up with Mike Page from Touchpoint Vision to talk about the latest developments in OrCam and OrCam Read. These wireless smart cameras which, when attached outside eyeglass frames, can read and verbalize text, and also product barcodes. This information is converted to spoken words and entered " into the user's ear". Face-recognition is also part of OrCam's feature set. You can read more about OrCam here:  https://touchpointvision.co.uk/ Clodagh chats with Alex Ward from Seeing Solutions who tells her about MiniGuide, a smart navigation aid and also an update to the wearable headset Mercury ViewPoint SmartVisor which you can use for magnification or text to speech. Read more about Seeing Solutions products here: https://pamtrad.co.uk/seeing-solutions/. Alan Davis from Humanware talks to Óran about Annie, a new product for teaching young children Braille in a fun way. Humanware also have the Monarch coming out in 2024. This is a multi-line Braille display. Is this the future of Braille displays? We discuss. You can read more about Humanware products here: https://www.humanware.com, and watch a video about the Monarch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=I5JLDkWGkF0&ab_channel=HumanWare. Julie Davis and Geoff Madge talk to us about the Ultracane, which uses ultrasound to detect obstacles in your path, enabling you to navigate around them. Find out more about Ultracane here: https://www.ultracane.com ..and finally we speak to 2 of the sighted guide volunteers about their experiences at the event. It's a packed show folks, so load some paper into your Perkins, type in that email address and start writing your letter to Santa, cos we have no doubt there is something here for everyone's list. Blind Guys Chat: 12 out of 14 British royals prefer it to The Crown TV series Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little winter snowflakes and welcome to a very special show. The Blind Guys have just returned from London where 2 major events happened... well, 3 if you count the King opening parliament! Yes, all 3 Blind Guys were in the same room for the first time since the dinosaurs walked the earth. Ironically, Jan, Stuart and Óran lined up their wormholes to coincide with the opening day (only day really) of Sight Village South East. It was a momentous occasion with streamers, fireworks, a 29-gun salute, and cake, although it seems only Jan knew about the cake

Hello our little hibernating hedgehogs. We hope you are well and remembered to put the clocks back last Sunday.   We start this week's show off with some exercise, as after the recording our own Jonas Vingegaard A.K.A., Jan was setting off cycling in preparation for his participation in the first ever Tour de Underwater Volcanos. Let's hope he can find Nemo, eh?!   Stuart has news about the new Windows 11 update. Apparently one of the cool new things will be the ability to set audio levels per application and there is also a new feature called Windows co-pilot. It seems this pilot can fly you anywhere it wants to go. Sadly, that might not be the location where you actually want to go, but hey, it's the thought that counts.   Also, there's a new update to Chat GPT which means that it should be capable of integration into Siri, which could mean you can pretty much replace Siri on iPhone if you desire. You can read more about it by clicking on this link: https://bgr.com/tech/you-can-replace-siri-with-chatgpt-on-your-iphone-heres-how/   Will you be upgrading to JAWS 2024? Jan has news on the latest version which includes a new cool feature called "Face in View" which means people will no longer see your bald patch or the dirty laundry behind you during an online meeting. To activate Face in View (only for Jaws 2024 users), press the layered keystroke, INSERT+SPACEBAR, followed by F, and then O.   We continue our series on guide dogs this week and are joined by Cliodhna Ni Laoghaire from Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. Cliodhna (pronounced Cliona) has been a guide dog instructor and trainer in IGD for 17 years so there is very little she doesn't know about training guide dogs. Cliodhna talks us through the process of training these little superheroes from puppies through to adulthood. Sjef & Larry, listen up: Cliodhna might have some tips for you. No TIPS not TREATS silly billies!   ..and don't forget you can make a donation here: https://www.guidedogs.ie/ways-to-help/donate and find out more about guide dogs at : https://www.guidedogs.ie/   In TV corner we are recommending ‘Lessons in Chemistry' on Apple TV, and Clodagh has become rather fond of 'Bodies' on Netflix. And in a change to our scheduled programming, Mr Jan Bloem is recommending 'Beckham'. Can you believe that! Jan actually watched a TV programme! We also have news on the upcoming last series of ‘The Crown', part 1 of season 6 will air on Netflix on November 16 with part 2 publishing on December 14.   Finally, if you are heading to Sight Village South East on November 7, keep a lookout, or should that be an ear out!?! for Blind Guys Chat – the whole cast will be there, and Óran or Clodagh might point a microphone in your general direction for a quick word.   So, finish up your bath and shake yourself off like a wet dog of a Thursday evening. Head down to the fire and get nice and toastie - ready for the number one podcast on Wimbledon Common: Blind Guys Chat. 38 out of 40 chopper bikes prefer it to wheelies. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello, our favourite little squirrels, and welcome to Episode 82 of Blind Guys Chat. We begin this week with tales from Nairobi. Our own travelling wilbury, Jan, has just returned from South Africa where he was introduced to every person living on the continent - because he's so famous don't ya know! Yes, Jan has been in the region for the last week selling his wares and wearables, and is very impressed with how much knowledge blind and low vision people in Nairobi have about assistive technology, especially compared to 15 years ago. But it wasn't all work and no play for Jan. No, no, folks. He managed a little play time with some of the local pets in the surrounding areas of this modern city. Do you take taxis? It appears that Óran has had some trouble recently with taxis refusing to collect himself and Larry (the very best guide dog in the world ever). And before you say it's because Óran is so grumpy, it isn't that, we promise. We want to hear from you: have you had any bad experiences recently and more importantly, did you report the incident to your local taxi regulator? Let us know: blindguyschat@gmail.com. Tell us all your taxi-related stories! Before Clodagh gets readin' those emails, she wants to tell you about RNIB's campaign. It's called ‘See the person not the sightloss', and apparently it is very good. You can check it out here: https://www.rnib.org.uk/our-campaigns/see-differently-see-the-person/. In emails this week, it appears that Dave Nason and Sky are potty for Stuart's latest parody song, much to Jan and Óran's astonishment. Dave also wants to know if you can help him with his upcoming trip to London. The Blind Guys are recommending he avails himself of an Access Card which, among other things, offers discounts on some of the main attractions in London. You can check it out here: www.accesscard.online. You can even skip some queues if you have one of these – yay! We have an audio message from Tim Dixon. Tim has recorded a wonderful report on navigating Sight Village where he recently met Stuart and lived to tell the tale. So, stop lighting fireworks and bangers. Strip down to your "I hate halloween sox, Throw on your "I got married in Vegas" dressing gown and settle in for the best entertainment this side of a bread roll: Blind Guys Chat. 12 out of 16 Unicorns prefer it to being imaginary! Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little autumn leaves and welcome to the show. Have you been watching or listening to the Rugby World Cup matches? Óran is delighted that Ireland managed to win victory over South Africa, aka The Springboks (sorry Gary Hough like cough). Óran is also hoping that the Scots cry like little girls once Ireland trash them this coming Saturday (sorry Blind Gordon). …Anyway on with the show: U2 are back on the scene folks! And instead of losing their money on the slots in Las Vegas like normal people they apparently found a huge football, called it The Sphere, set up the band gear and started playing some of their ancient songs. But! Here is Óran's question: did they even think about accessibility? Or read his guidelines for sign language and audio description at rock events? Well let's find out. Our guest this week is Jakoline from the Netherlands. Jakoline is a guide dog puppy raiser and was the first person to introduce Jan to a guide dog. She talks to us about the puppy raising process in The Netherlands and why she does it. Perhaps after listening to Deirdre from episode 79 and Jakoline on this show, some of you might consider puppy raising a guide dog, even if just for a short while. Clodagh's email inbox is full to the brim and this week she has pulled out some gems for us. We have a query from Patty Murphy about accessing the podcast now that Google podcasts are shutting up shop; Pete Torkington has some lovely comments about the show (thanks Pete!) and he even gets a special blessing from Fr Stuart; Dave Nason has some comments and corrections about the new iPhone 15 and Sky Stream; and we find out if Derry Lawlor has written to Santa asking for a new iPhone. Finally, Stuart has a little treat he would like to share with the whole world and he can find no better way, literally no better way

Hello our little ducklings and welcome. First things first: Some of you did not believe that Stuart did in fact climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Well... we have proof! For those of you who have not seen this picture of Stuart standing at the top click on this link and you will have your proof. (Before you scold us – there is alt text, don't worry!)   Now, on with the show. Yes, it is number 80 which in numerology terms is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. “If you have been working hard towards your goals, the universe is letting you know that your efforts will be rewarded.” So that means the Blind Guys are stuffed, because as you know, we're a bunch of slackers.   Jan and Óran have recently experienced some issues with taxis - we want to know if there is government legislation in your country which prevents a taxi driver from refusing you and your guide dog? Let us know: blindguyschat@gmail.com   Do you look forward to autumn? Well, someone on the team thinks Óran is too cynical, and especially about autumn. Yes he hates autumn and winter almost as much as he hates the fact that iPhones have the best screen reader available for smartphones. Talking about poxy iPhones, will you be purchasing a new iPhone 15 or are you like the Blind Guys and are completely fed up with the lack of innovation from Apple lately?   Stuart has ordered a Sky Stream box, but will it live up to all the hype? And how does Stuart feel about not being able to record content? Mr Cynical is querying if Stuart will be able to watch the content he wants with audio description via the 'on demand' section. Stuart has also hinted that he might record a demo of setting up the box etc but Jan and Óran reckon he will make some excuse for not doing this for the next show, probably something like having to sack his pool boy for not cleaning the pool correctly...   BTW, don't forget that you can now use the Be My Eyes app to get in direct contact with a Sky rep to get real time video assistance if you ever need help.   Our guests this week are Peter O'Toole and Eleanor Martha Burke who are here to talk about “forest bathing”. Peter is Head of Counselling at NCBI and has recently started this “Role of Nature in Health and Wellbeing Series” so that people with vision impairments can get the benefits of being outdoors and bonding with nature. Eleanor gives us her views on a recent event that Peter hosted in Co. Wicklow. Mr Cynical-pants was not overly enthusiastic, but Clodagh highly recommends it. If you are interested in attending the next event in October you can find out more, and register your place here: www.ncbi.ie/event/the-role-of-nature-in-health-and-wellbeing-series-final-in-person-event-for-2023/   We have emails from Ana Cody who thinks our guest from ep 73 has a yummy voice and also has strong opinions on beer slushies at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. We have Axel in Sweden (cool name, Axel!) who liked our chat with Tim Dixon, and would like to know about any upcoming assistive technology events. Well Axel, you can check out www.qac.ac.uk - you can find all the info within the “exhibitions” and “news/events” sections; and you never know, you might see the Blind Guys at some of these events. Also, Ms Cavendish sends in a request/threat to spank Óran. Ooh la la!   So, strip down to your birthday suit and lie on the forest bath floor, ignore the swarm of midges going to town on your nether regions, and bask in the petrichor that is: Blind Guys Chat.   4 out of 5 trees prefer it to bark.   Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little sweltering lemmings and welcome to this episode of the podcast. We begin this week's show with very special birthday wishes to Rosalie Bloem; Jan's wonderful princess daughter, which is swiftly followed by a hook up with Sherpa Radi, one of the 2 very patient Sherpas who helped Stuart to summit Mount Kilimanjaro recently. Radi gives us a blow-by-blow account of his journey and explains the extreme difficulties in not only carrying Mr “big-bottomed” Lawler, but also his beer. Jan and Óran were not afraid to ask the hard questions, which included: How do you open a bottle of beer when the temperature is 5 gazillion degrees below freezing? Did Stuart eat the yellow snow? Did Stuart make the yellow snow? Were Stuart and Radi snuggle buddies? After hearing these answers, Jan and Óran visited their psychiatrist and hypnotist to erase those images from their brains, we continued with the show. It seems here in Ireland we are experiencing a heatwave but not so much in The Netherlands, but fear not dear Jan, we are sure very soon the cold weather will bite our butts. Have you subscribed to the JAWS beta program? Jan is telling us about a nice new feature called “Face in View” which should help all of us ensure your laptop camera is not pointing at the ceiling when you are in an online meeting. This new feature tells you about key visual details like: Is my face centred in the view? Am I looking directly at the camera? Is the lighting adequate? Are there additional people or items in the picture? Unfortunately, it won't tell you if you've spinach in your teeth. We've decided we're going to devote some shows over the next few months to learning more about guide dogs. We'll talk to a variety of guests about the whole process which might help you understand more about being a guide dog user, and maybe help you decide if you would like a guide dog. Our first guest for this series is the wonderful Deirdre Fahy. Deirdre has puppy raised more than 10 dogs for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, and is also a brood holder. We're big fans of Deirdre around here. Listen to find out why. We reckon you'll love her too after listening to our chat. Clodagh has emails from Roisin Lenehan who has a question for Jan about trains in the Netherlands, and Blind Gordon has raised a complaint for which the Blind Guys need to apologise, but not Clodagh for some reason… So, strip down to your odd socks, slather on your out-of-date suntan lotion and let yourself melt into that wobbly plastic garden chair while listening to the only podcast still audible after a nuclear attack: Blind Guys Chat. 6.8 out of 10 guide dog puppies prefer it to going to the vets. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little butterflies and thank you for tuning into this week's show. At long last we are a family again as Stuart managed to bribe his sherpas to come back up the mountain and rescue him from the flagpole. They then drop kicked him all the way over to the BGC studio just in time to record this episode with us.   As usual the guys are talking about the weather and in particular storm ‘Betty' which roared through Ireland over the weekend. Have you any weather stories? Let us know by emailing blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Stuart has purchased a new iPhone 12 SE and is loving the return of a home button. But is it an upgrade or downgrade and is Jan tempted to make a purchase also?   Are passwords about to become a thing of the past? Apparently, Microsoft, Apple and Google are all working together on an alternative to pesky passwords. What do you think? Will it ever happen? Óran really hopes so, cos he hates Microsoft Authenticator for its lack of proper accessibility.   Does your guide doggy get distracted? Well Jade McCormack, Jan and Óran have a chat about this topic and would be very interested to hear from anyone who is having similar problems. It would be great to hear any good ideas around how to deal with distracted doggies, and the people/things who distract them. Share your stories here: blindguyschat@gmail.com.   In TV corner, Stuart and Óran are talking about ‘Hijack' on Apple TV and ‘The 6th Commandment' on BBC.   Clodagh has news on Braille gift cards available from Marks and Spencers: https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/ms-rolls-out-braille-range-including-industry-first-gift-card.   The guys are in trouble with a new listener, as we forgot to post the link to Nora Casey's Van de Graaff yokey in the last episode's show notes, so here it is: https://www.mos.org/live-presentations/lightning. Sorry listeners, but better late than never, right?!   Kevin Farrell is wondering if the Blind Guys are being head hunted by RTÉ? In case you didn't hear there was a bit of trouble recently involving a presenter and it seems the Blind Guys could be taking over a radio slot, and maybe even a major chat show -  woohoo!   Finally, do you want a laugh? Have a listen to this very funny air traffic controller's after dinner speech that Óran mentioned during the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqm73DLtwD0&ab_channel=twan1945   So, strip off your radioactive suit; stop pumping plutonium into the Yellow Sea; and get ready for the most listened to podcast on the moon: Blind Guys Chat!   17 out of 20 Russian space probes prefer it to crashing and burning on the moon's surface.   Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello our little hatchlings and welcome to a shiny new episode of Blind Guys Chat. We begin our show this week with some almost-but-not-really upsetting news: It appears that Stuart's adventure to Mount Kilimanjaro has hit a little bump in the road; apparently his sherpas have had enough of lugging his beer supply up the mountain, so instead of raising the Blind Guys Chat flag at the summit, they decided to mount Stuart on the flagpole, possibly by his very attractive thermal underjocks. But don't despair - Jan, Óran, and Clodagh are considering the possibility of creating a crowd-funding site where you can donate to get Stu down again. Unfortunately, our next management meeting is not until December 4th, so Stuart will have to wait for that decision to be made. However, Jan and Óran have realised there is a bright side to this. Since they retrofitted lightbulbs into Stuart's prosthetic eyes, he has now effectively become a beacon for aircraft flying in the area, warning them to steer away from the high mountains and thus Jan and Óran are actually saving lives, So, as you can see, it's not all bad news. But , Clodagh brought up the fact that they won't work when Stuart has his eyes closed. We may need to rethink this... Jan is back from his sixth holiday of the year. He has been fighting the French in Normandy. We say French but really we mean fighting his deck chair because he has been spending his time visiting World War 2 historic sites with his family while camping in a forest and living the life of a well-mannered Frenchman, (is that an oxymoron?). Yes, the Bloem family jumped into the Tesla and took a spin to France. Apparently, their campsite even has a treehouse you can stay in. And the Bloem family were not alone - oh no! There were loads of Irish campers there too: sorry about that Jan. Jan also shares some other recent dramas – be sure to listen out for that scary story. Talking about the Irish, Óran has a story from a work colleague who has just come back from Greece, a place where you could fry an egg on a stone at the moment. Clodagh has an email from Nora Casey who in the interests of science has taken one for the team and entered a big science yoki-thingymajig in order to experience lightning. Did it smell like barbecue chicken? Nora explains all… Aaron Linson also emailed in to tell us about his new job. We wish you the very best Aaron. So, strip down to your furry outer coat, dump the wet gear in a stinky pile inside the door, and get ready to be a hero on the beaches of Normandy, cos it's time for the French to get used to the sound of Blind Guys Chat - 8 out of 10 Frenchmen prefer it to having a bad attitude. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat

Hello dear listeners and welcome to the most funlyest podcast in the world ever (and yes, we know that's not a real word. We make up our own words around here. Don't you?). In a change to our regular programme schedule and because the 2 messers (Jan & Stuart) are on holiday, we have had to invoke the “wheel of stand-ins” to help us fairly select a listener who has offered to guest-host, so let's give it a whirl and see who comes out a winner!   Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat