Blind Guys Chat

Oran O'Neill
  • 4.6 (8)
  • TECH NEWS
  • TWICE MONTHLY

Blind Guys chat is a biweekly podcast, produced by two blind guys, one in Ireland and one in the Netherlands. The show takes an easy and breezy approach to life, disability, technology, and just about anything else that the blind guys think of! We'd love to hear from you so get in touch by email to BlindGuysChat@gmail.com and follow BlindGuysChat on Twitter.

  1. 30 OCT

    #134: Jan: One, Mohammed: Nil

    This week we are chatting with Freek van Welsenis, the Director and CEO of Hable One. Freek is here to talk about the Hable One, a sleek Braille device that can be used to navigate your smart devices. He also tells us about the Hable Easy, a smartphone controller, and the Speechlabel, a handy device for labelling and subsequently identifying items around the house and in work.   Mohammed and Jan's date to Jan's local football club didn't go so well. It appears that Mohammed was left to fend for himself at the ticket gate! Well, Chantal was also with him, so he wasn’t completely abandoned, and Mo is famous for being independent, so we don’t think he was in any danger, but we’re not sure Jan will get a second date!   We have an email from Sarah from ‘down under’; she is wondering if smart speakers are useful, or are they really just small juke-boxes? What do you think? Do you still use your smart speaker for anything else but setting timers? email us: blindguyschat@gmail.com   So, strip down to your #25 Juho Kilo jersey and start your warmup for the best podcast this side of a stroopwafel: Blind Guys Chat. 9 out of 11 football supporters prefer it to watching grown men cry!   Links: ·       Hable One: https://www.iamhable.com/en-om/products/hable-one-keyboard ·       Hable Easy: https://www.iamhable.com/en-om/products/hable-easy ·       Hable Speechlabel: https://www.iamhable.com/en-om/pages/speechlabel ·       Juho Kilo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juho_Kilo Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    45 min

  2. 16 OCT

    #133: No ramble like a snarky ramble!

    This week we find out that Mohammed is building his fan base. Yes, it appears that he has at least one! It's a lovely woman who lives in Maynooth, County Kildare. Apparently, she drives a car that looks like a frog. Let's hope her husband doesn't find out! About Mo, not the car! He knows about the car, in fairness!   Óran has been having some issues with the WhatsApp desktop application for Windows, and also with WhatsApp video calling via his Meta Ray Ban smart glasses. It turns out a WhatsApp update is required for the video to work again on the Meta glasses. Bold boys WhatsApp!   Professor Mohammed has advice on updating iOS apps and gives us a detailed answer on why he thinks there have been so many accessibility issues with the latest iOS 26 update for iPhone.   Do you use a Freesat set-top box for your linear TV viewing? Óran would like to know if the latest Freesat boxes are accessible to blind users. Let us know via blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Jan is taking Mohammed on a date. Seriously. They’re heading off to Jan's local football club to watch a live game, complete with live audio description. Will Jan get a second date, or will Mo make a hasty exit?   Finally, we tell of Stuart Lawler's recent frustration when he was trying to cancel his SKY TV subscription.   So, forget about hanging scary skeletons outside your house and instead cosy up to your device of choice, and listen to the number 1 podcast as recently voted by hibernating squirrels: Blind Guys Chat - 7 out of 10 iOS updates prefer it to being a bunch of code. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    43 min

  3. 2 OCT

    #132: The rambling producer

    This week we’re talking to Professor Pieter Roelfsema from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. He is chatting with the lads about a research project looking at direct electrical stimulation of the brain via cortical visual neuroprostheses, which is a promising approach to restore basic sight for the visually impaired by inducing a percept of localised light called ‘phosphenes’. We are offering Jan as a guinea pig for this one! Meta are opening up an SDK (Software Development Kit, for those of us who are less technical) so external software developers can develop and add their applications’ functionality to the Meta glasses. Is this a good thing? What do you think? Let us know at blindguyschat@gmail.com. We've got an email from friend of the podcast, Rene Ludwig, who is a 'TravelEyes' user and thinks it's a great service. So, connect those electrodes directly into your ears and prepare to listen to Óran rambling on and on! Disclaimer: Ramble tags would like to disassociate themselves from any rambling producers. Links for this show: · Professor Roelfsema’s paper on his sight restoration research: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40578385/#:~:text=Direct%20electrical%20stimulation%20of%20the,localized%20light%20called%20'phosphenes · TravelEyes: https://www.traveleyes-international.com/ · Ramble Tags: https://rambletag.co.uk/ Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    49 min

  4. 18 SEPT

    #131: The Ninety Niners

    Time to bring out the slide projector again as Jan tells us about his recent holiday adventure in France and Spain. Thank all the gods he was with his wonderful wife and children or else he might have left a trail of destruction behind him! He tells us all. Our guest this week is eamonn linnane. For the last 25 years Eamonn has been organising the Mizen to Malin cycling event, in order to raise funds for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, in memory of his late father, Paddy. Eamonn tells us all about the cycle and even tries to persuade the Blind Guys to do it in 2026. The guys have agreed, but only if they can drive! Clodagh is very excited about this, as Óran looks great in cycle shorts. So, get ready to shave your chest, slap on your Oakley glasses, and start the most exhilarating ride you are ever going to experience - Blind Guys Chat. 9.6 out of 10 bicycle saddles prefer it to being sat on. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    39 min

  5. 4 SEPT

    #130: Stop drooling on me pants

    We're back after our summer break, and as we woke up to the sound of Autumn arriving, (it’s lashing rain here!) we were discouraged to hear that the new Glide is not coming to Europe! What!?! As the characters on South Park might say "You Ba***rds! You killed Kenny!" But are we really surprised to hear this news? The Blind Guys discuss. Guess who's just pre-ordered a new pair of Envision Ally Solos Glasses even though he already has a pair of the original ones? Yes, it's the Stephen Scott of Blind Guys Chat; Mohammed. So why has he decided to throw his €3,500 Envision smart glasses out with the rubbish and pay out for a new pair? And will it help him get lucky with the women? Speaking of meeting up with women, Mohammed also tells us of his trials and tribulations when he recently travelled to Berlin on his very own, with nobody to mind him. BGC understands that the German police are advising people to be on the lookout for a blind man accosting tourists and locals, and demanding they bring him around museums. They are also looking for a blind man seen running around parks seeking a running partner, waving his cane wildly. Wonder who that could be? So, pick up those fallen leaves from the front doorstep, make yourself a nice cup of hot chocolate, and settle in for the number one podcast this side of a ham sandwich: Blind Guys Chat! 8 out of 10 museums prefer it to storing old stuff! Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    37 min

  6. 31 JUL

    #129: Mind your P's and Q's!

    Hello and welcome to BCG129. Jan is off soaking up the rays with his family so Mo and Óran are home alone with Clodagh babysitting them. Mo is about to go on his own holidays, he is off to Berlin all on his own! Will he be ok? Will he be able to find the hotel all by himself? Do the German women need to lock their doors? And what is a museum island? None of these questions will be answered in this show! However, Mo is going to meet up with some of the local Berliners and run around their parks. Have you ever done a 'Park Run'? Let us know how you got on: blindguyschat@gmail.com.   Óran is banging on about useful GPS navigators for the blind and vision impaired, as usual. It seems that Larry and he went off on a walk into the unknown, solo, and could have benefited from a good navigation app, but Google Maps just wasn't up to the job, apparently.   Clodagh has an email from a brand-new listener to the podcast (you’re very welcome, Charles from Texas – we’re delighted to have you in the gang!). Then BGC regular, Blind Gordon, tells us to get down with the kids and be 'drip snatched'. (For those of us not in the know, in Gen Z slang, drip means clothes/accessories. It can also refer to a person's sense of style being sexy or cool. And snatched means amazingly good, very attractive, flawlessly styled, etc.)   So, switch off the telly now that the women’s Euros are over, launch your favourite podcast app, and take a listen to the number one podcast as recently voted by the New Yorker: Blind Guys Chat. 17 out of 20 country stone walls prefer it to being stone! Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    38 min

  7. 17 JUL

    #128: Eyjafjallajökull

    Don't worry folks, Unlike the Icelandic volcano 'Eyjafjallajökull', we have not erupted, but we are quite hot and sweaty in the BGC office. Jan is just back from Washington DC where Abraham Lincon and his mates were sweltering in 35-degree heat (95 degrees in old money). Jan was a bit peeved, as his ‘Look and Tell’ feature on his Meta Ray Ban glasses is still not working. Oh dear! However, perhaps he might purchase a pair of the new Oakley smart glasses, or as Jan calls them, the new UGLY glasses! (Oakley will not be pleased at being called that – as they’re a very proud fashion brand!) Do you plan on spending your hard-earned cash on the limited edition gold Oakleys? Let us know: BlindGuysChat@gmail.com. Mohammed has been slaving over a hot soldering iron and has just released the latest update for JAWS and Fusion. Apparently, you can now have JAWS run off to the cloud when you encounter an unlabelled button in an app, pdf or webpage – it will find the correct label for you. All you do is press the keystroke JAWS key (insert or caps lock), with the letter G, and JAWS will label that button for you. How cool is that?! You can even save these labelled buttons on webpages that you frequently use. Woohoo!! And there's more. When using Vispero's FS Companion you can now get Google help. You can search for shortcuts for Google Docs, Google Sheets etc. But can it find Mo's underpants? (Óran! Don’t be bold! -Clodagh) We chat about the emotional rollercoaster that is deciding whether to apply for a new guide dog or not. Please let us know your stories around this. It will help us, and more importantly, other listeners through their decision-making processes. And if you would like to hear Óran talking about writing for the TV series ‘Maddie + Triggs’, you can listen to him (link below) on the 'In Touch' podcast produced by the BBC, where he and producer Colm Tobin and lyricist/writer Deena Diamond talk about the show with Peter White. So, strip down to your ugly nethers, take a cold one out of the fridge, and lie back for a listen to the sultry, ice creamly voices of: Blind Guys Chat! 55 out of 65 thunderstorms prefer it to making scary crackly/banging noises! Links for this week’s show: BBC In Touch: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002fjp9 (starts after 8 minutes) Email us at BlindGuysChat@gmail.com Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    40 min

  8. 3 JUL

    #127: Slimy but hard!

    The Blind Guys get berated by Clodagh this week as they appear to be just messing around and having a chat. Is it because of the good weather? Maybe. Tesla’s autonomous (driverless) cars in Austin Texas appear to have thrown caution to the wind and are driving around breaking the speed limits, but hard breaking when they see the cops! Could it be those little rascals The Minions are being naughty perhaps? Clodagh and Óran had a great laugh last weekend when in County Cork, where a local tried to convince them that a 50-kilowatt charging station is a 'superfast' charger! You're not pulling the wool over Clodagh's eyes, Mr Man!! Mohammed has recently been paint balling. Did he hit anything? Let's find out. And Óran has been trying his cooking skills, yes, he made a pizza! Or did he? (No. No he didn’t. He just took it out of the oven! – Clodagh) In TV Corner, we are talking about 'The Long Way Home' on Apple TV. In the second episode, Ewan McGregor and Charlie Bowman are travelling through the Netherlands on their vintage motorbikes. They taste a local delicacy, raw herring. Apparently, it tastes like uncooked salmon fillet - YUCK!!! They also visit a village up north where people jump onto a pole in the middle of a river and try to get to the other side. Jan and Mo get quite excited about this activity! But wouldn’t it be easier if they just walked?! Meta have launched their newest smart glasses. They have teamed up with Oakley, the fashion brand. Will you be buying the latest trendy specs? Let us know at blindguyschat@gmail.com. And Mohammed says Meta glasses might be getting a software upgrade in September, yay! So, pitch your tent in the kitchen, fire up the camping stove, and get ready for the sizzling sound of Blind Guys Chat: 9 out of 10 herrings prefer it to being eaten raw. Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

    42 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Blind Guys chat is a biweekly podcast, produced by two blind guys, one in Ireland and one in the Netherlands. The show takes an easy and breezy approach to life, disability, technology, and just about anything else that the blind guys think of! We'd love to hear from you so get in touch by email to BlindGuysChat@gmail.com and follow BlindGuysChat on Twitter.

Information

  • Creator
    Oran O'Neill
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    136
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Blind Guys Chat 2020
  • Show Website
    Blind Guys Chat

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