Announcer:
Shaun of the Shed, an AMI original podcast.
Shaun Preece:
How do you do? And welcome back to Shaun of the Shed. I am that Shaun, this is my shed. And this is the tech show where I try and show people just how useful technology can be for everyone, but especially if you're blind or visually impaired like me. Nomophobia. Ah, you weren't expecting that, were you? That was a shocker. Nomophobia, it's not the fear of garden gnomes, it is in fact the fear of being separated from your smartphone. And I can totally relate to that as I'm sure most of you can. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, a smartphone is an essential tool if you're blind or visually impaired. There's no argument, it just is. Online shopping, online banking, the ability for it to read aloud printed text to you such as your mail or labels on packaging. I mean, is that can in your cupboard baked beans or is it dog food? These are important questions that you don't want to get wrong. Trust me, I know.
So a smartphone, it is essential. But I think there is one other thing which is also an essential piece of kit and that is a smart speaker. Ah, they are just so cool, amazing and so useful. So today I'm going to give you the top five reasons why you should have a smart speaker. But before we get there, let's cover some of the basics. I mean, what is a smart speaker? Well, it's a speaker that's smart. Well done, goodnight everyone. The simple explanation is a smart speaker, you can talk to it, you can ask it to do things and it will just do it. It's as simple as that. So you could ask it general knowledge questions, you could ask it to play your favourite radio station or your favourite music and so many other things, which we'll get into in just a minute and it will do it.
But because you use your voice to control a smart speaker and because it uses its own voice to talk back to you, it's also 100% accessible if you are blind. Now, when it comes to smart speakers, there's three brands available. There's smart speakers from Amazon, Google or Apple. Whichever one you buy, you're going to be perfectly happy with. And with all the features that I show you today, they all support them to some degree, but the one that I'm going to be using is an Amazon Echo Smart Speaker, specifically the Echo Dot 4th Gen. The Amazon Echo range is the smart speaker that I always recommend, it's just got the most features out there. Take that however you like. Also, some smart speakers have screens on them. Yeah, I know. What's that all about? Who cares about that? Well, it may be useful, obviously, if you have sighted family members, they can get some use out of it, they can watch YouTube and various other things using the screen on a smart speaker.
Also, we can use the smart screens on a smart speaker because they have a built-in screen reader, meaning that whenever we touch the screen it will read aloud whatever text or icon or button we have our finger on. So there you go, that is smart speakers. So here are the top five reasons why you should have one. Oh wait, no, before we start, let me quickly tell you this. Now, in order to let your smart speaker know that you are talking to it directly, you need to use a wake word to wake it up and make it listen. Now, the wake word that I'm using today is A-L-E-X-A. You know what I'm talking about? Now the trouble is that if I say that out loud, then anyone who's watching this with a smart speaker close by will get annoyed with me because I'll keep setting it off.
So for that reason, every time I use the wake word, I will lower the volume in this video so hopefully, it won't set off or trigger your smart speaker. Reason number five, answering questions. Oh, quite honestly, this is life-changing. No, I'm not exaggerating, it will change your life forever. The ability just to shout out a question and immediately get an answer from your smart speaker. It leads to a harmonious family life and the end to all arguments in your household. Well, okay, that bit isn't true, but honestly it is an amazing feature. You can ask it virtually anything and 99% of the time you'll get an answer. Let's give it a go. Alexa, what time is it?
Alexa:
It's 4:23 PM
Shaun Preece:
It is. Alexa, what's the capital of Brazil?
Alexa:
The capital of Brazil is Brasília.
Shaun Preece:
Probably right. Alexa, what's 276,000 X 3.27.
Alexa:
276,000 X 3.27 is 902,520.
Shaun Preece:
Yep, that's right. Yeah, like I'd know, but that's the point. The smart speaker always knows the answer. You can ask so many different things, wherever you can think of, just ask and it's so useful. Alexa, how do you spell hippopotamus?
Alexa:
Hippopotamus is spelled H-I-P-P-O-P-O-T-A-M-U-S.
Shaun Preece:
Cool. Alexa, what's the price of Ethereum?
Alexa:
One Ethereum is worth $1,270, up 3.4% over the last 24 hours.
Shaun Preece:
Ah, still not a millionaire. But as you can see, absolutely amazing, asking a question and getting a response, it's difficult to live without it. Anyway, next communications. Now, before I said the smartphone was an essential tool, turns out I may have been wrong, at least when it comes to making calls because if you have a smart speaker, you can place telephone calls. Just shout out a telephone number and it will connect you. It also supports Skype and Zoom. So there's only one telephone number that I know and that is the Double Tap listener feedback voicemail. Let's give it a go. Alexa, call 11877-803-4567.
Alexa:
1-877-803-4567.
Announcer:
Yeah, that's right, Mark. But don't go anywhere because we've got tiny monkeys riding cats like horses. Is it true? And if so, why? And then we'll-
Alexa:
Call from Shaun Preece.
Announcer:
Ah, nevermind. It's just one of those pesky spam callers. It's a good thing I've got this Amazon Echo smart speaker here to let me know who's calling, so I don't have to go running for my phone if I don't want to talk to them. All I have to do is this, Alexa, send call to voicemail.
Alexa:
Sent call to voicemail. I noticed you always send this caller to voicemail, would you like to permanently block this caller?
Announcer:
Absolutely.
Steven Scott:
Hi and thanks for calling Double Tap, I'm Steven Scott and if you would leave us a message that we will play on air, then please do. If you'd rather we didn't leave a message, let us know and thank you for listening to Double Tap.
Shaun Preece:
Hello. I think that Shaun is particularly interesting and a valuable host on your show and I really like him. Thank you so much. Goodbye. Alexa, hang up. How amazing is that? So you can call long distance, you can call local. Now if you have a smart speaker in other rooms in your house, you can use the smart speakers like an intercom. So for example, I'm in the studio and if I want to drop in and talk to someone in the living room of the house, I can simply say, drop in living room, and I'll be connected and we can talk back and forth like we're on an intercom. That honestly is probably one of the most used features of the smart speakers in our house. Anyway, that was communications.
Next, games. We all like to kill some time, there's nothing wrong with that and the smart speaker has some great games on there. And as I said, because it's audio only, it's truly accessible to us as visually impaired people. Amazing. You can play a crossword or you could play an adventure game, go through an interactive novel, there's just so many out there, there's so many available. Now, one of my particular favourites is called Knight Manager. It's where you are managing a knight and you battle and go on adventures and quests and try and beat other players in the game. It's fantastic. So let's have a quick taste of it now. Alexa, ask knight manager for a battle.
Alexa:
Legionnaire Shaun of the Shed, rank D15 versus Legionnaire Bick Bardi from Germany, rank D25.
Shaun Preece:
That's somebody else.
Alexa:
The two opponents start. Bick. Bardi hefts is Blade and launches the first attack. Bick Bardi has stepped into level three, trap that Shaun of the Shed set. 17,177 damage. Bick Bardi is trapped.
Shaun Preece:
And I win.
Alexa:
Bick Bardi [inaudible 00:09:36].
Shaun Preece:
Alexa, stop. Now, the thing is that that's just an example of one game, no matter what you are into, they'll be a game for you. And as someone who lost their sight later on in life, the ability to go back and play games, which is something I thought I'd never be able to do again, man, there's nothing like it. And as I said, the range of games that are available is truly amazing. So there you go, that was gaming. Next, entertainment. Now, do you remember when digital radios were released? DAB radios, it's the future I tells you. Well, it turns out they weren't, they were actually terrible. Well, never fear, the smart speaker is here because it is truly amazing when it comes to, well, media playback, be it music, radio or even podcasts. Simply ask it whatever you want it to play and the chances are it'll do it.
It does support Spotify or Apple Music or Amazon Music and when it comes to radio, there's millions of those supported as well, be it local, national, international or online only. Just ask it to play whatever radio station you want, such as AMI Audio, for example, and Bob's your uncle, it'll start playing. Now sadly, due to YouTube copyright issues, I can't really demonstrate playing music or even radio station here, but what I can do is demonstrate the podcast playback. And of course, there's only a couple I really want to play. Alexa, play Shaun of the Shed Podcast.
Alexa:
Here's Shaun of the Shed from Apple Podcasts.
Announcer:
Shaun of the Shed, an AMI original podcast.
Shaun Preece:
I like the sound of that.
Woo, is this YouTube? Unlike that, there sneezing panda. How cool is this?
Who is that idiot? Alexa, stop. Or of course you could say, Alexa, play Double Tap podcast.
Alexa:
Here's Double Tap from Apple Podcast.
Steven Scott:
Hey guys, welcome along to another episode of Double Tap on Monday, the 4th of November.
Shaun Preece:
Alexa, stop. Now, you can obviously adjust a volume by voice as well, you can skip through, jump 10 minutes, jump an hour, whatever you want to do. You can pause, you can next track, previous track, you can shuffle and again, all controlled using your voice. It is, as I said, the most accessible media player, the most accessible radio, the most accessible music player you will ever own. Anyway, that was entertainment. Next, yes, reason number one, controlling the smart home. What? That's a controversial decision there, surely. I must admit it was a close call because I do use my smart speakers to listen to radio and music all the time. But when it comes down to it, I think the ability to control devices and certain aspects of your home is far more useful. For example, Alexa, turn the heating on.
Alexa:
It's set to heat.
Shaun Preece:
Alexa, set heating to 20 degrees.
Alexa:
The heat's set to 20.
Shaun Preece:
Alexa, turn the heating off.
Alexa:
It's off.
Shaun Preece:
There you go. How easy was that? And I can't tell you the amount of thermostats that I've had in the past where I've had to put bits of Sellotape on or cut grooves into the casing so I know where to set it. It's just been totally inaccessible. Yet, the smart thermostat I have connected to my boiler and being able to control that using the smart speaker, is just so accessible and so easy. And it's not just things like that, there's also smart light bulbs and as I demoed in the last episode, smart plugs so I can control, turn off or on TVs or wherever it may be, simply using my voice and a smart speaker. It truly is amazing. And it's not just about blindness or visual impairment, if you have other maybe motor disabilities or just difficulties with mobility or arthritis, then being able to use things like light switches or wall sockets could be difficult. And using a smart speaker to control all that truly is amazing.
Anyway, that was controlling the smart home. We're done. There you go you gorgeous people, you, that's the five reasons you should own a smart speaker. Now, if you are tempted, there's a couple of things you need to know. Firstly, in order to use a smart speaker, you will need a Wi-Fi internet connection in your home. Secondly, you'll need a smartphone or a tablet in order to set the smart speaker up. But once that's done, it's all plain sailing, baby. Thank you so much for watching. If you like this video, please click on the like button and if you want to subscribe so you never miss an episode, click on subscribe. If you want to get in touch and tell me what you feel, please make it nice, then you can email Feedback@ami.ca. Thanks again and I will see you next time. God bless you.
