Hello, and welcome to the Life After Blindness
podcast. I'm your host, Tim Schwartz, and
a couple of special guests with me that,
regular listeners should at least know one. And,
well, if you followed me anywhere else around
the interwebs on other podcast and radio shows,
you should also be familiar with the others.
So we are here today as the first
in
kind of an updated
new channel version of what was formerly known
as the Saturday edition of Blind Guy Talks
Tech. If any of that sounds ridiculous or
strange to you, well, we're gonna bring you
up to speed right now. So
joining me on the show, first of all,
we have Robin Kristofferson. Robin, welcome to the
show. Oh, thank you very much. I'm looking
forward to this.
Me too. And, our returning champion because, well,
as longtime listeners know, he was on the
very first episode of Life After Blindness and,
has been back many, many, many a time
since then. Sean Preece. Sean, welcome.
Hello, Tim. Where have you been?
Oh, wow.
Well It's like being embraced in a warm,
gorgeous hug. As we all know, Tim is
a Man Mountain,
seven foot four, and, eight
hundred pounds.
But, Tim, you've been missed. You've been away
too long. I have been away well, technically,
away from my life after blindness family for
way, way, way too long.
Yes. But, yeah, as we're gonna talk about
where we've been and what we've been doing,
yeah, Sean, you're not wrong because, well, with
the pandemic and then
things with my daughter in school, and then
I got the the dreaded COVID myself,
And, things have just been
ridiculous as far as me trying to get
my show going and and back up again.
But it's here. It's back, and I am
so happy and so excited to be doing
it. It is so awesome. Tryouts for winter.
Have you, redecorated this studio? It's very nice
in here, I must say. Very nice. I
I was gonna ask. You you you guys
should like the the new feel of the
studio. It's nice and, yeah, refreshed and and
posh as you say. And, yeah, it's nice
and Comforting conditions.
Cozy. Yeah. Too many flowers for water. Not
too cold, although I know it's sparkling water.
You are. Mhmm. One moment. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, I I once had some sparkling
water that I didn't know before I took
a sip that it was sparkling water.
Boy, that was a surprise.
Wow.
Sparkling water. I mean, what a awful concept
that is. Why why make it fizzy? It's
water. What's the point? Yeah. Somebody had poured
some Perrier water, and, I didn't know. I
thought it was just regular just, you know,
like, filtered water from the fridge or or,
you know, tap water. And that yeah. And
that that first sip
oh my god. That was that was frightening.
Just because especially when you don't know. I
did that once with, with soft drinks. My
my wife got me a can of of
I think it was a can of root
beer from the refrigerator, and I thought it
was gonna be Mountain Dew.
I know you guys have root beer even
though Oh, you're so American right now. I
have no idea what you're talking about. Have
either of those. Yes. You do. I have
done research. You guys absolutely have root beer
over there. You may not have Mountain Dew
or at least not something called Mountain Dew,
but you definitely have root beer. I've looked
it up after Sean told me that he
doesn't know what it is. Is it made
out of roots? Beetroot. No. What? No. Anyway
Beetroot. Okay. No. But, anyway, no. I thought
she got me a Mountain Dew, and I
took a sip, and I said, that is
the worst tasting Mountain Dew I've ever had.
She goes, that's because it's root beer. So
that that would have explained it. Blind problems.
Anyway Yes.
But, no, it has it has been way
too long, since I have been behind the
microphone, at least, again, for Life After Blindness.
But
I I've been places. I've been around. All
all of us actually have, collectively,
between the RNIB Tech Talk Show where, Robin
and I stepped in, and,
Robin had actually fill in for you and
I, Sean, after we left to go to
Double Tap and was holding the fort down.
And then, well, after I left Double Tap,
I said, so, Steven,
you you want a third seat over there
back on on Tech Talk again? He's like,
yes. Please come. Yeah. That would be great.
You said just the two of us. Please
come.
So I I went back over there, and
then we transitioned after Steven.
Do we call it a midlife crisis? No.
We don't.
No. I'm not sure how long he's gonna
live, so let's not call it a midlife
crisis. Please not say that. That's exactly right.
You know, he, he made the what I
think is the proper decision to, move on
from his work, obligations in RNIB and and
has gone into a lot of self employment
stuff for himself and, started the Blind Guy
Talks Tech Show, which was fantastic,
but five days a week with a weekend
edition,
attached to it. And, we've all been there
helping out and doing things, and now well,
that's moving on. So that kinda brings us
into what I wanna start off with because
it's not like we've been totally gone and
disappeared. We have been around, but I've just
not been here.
So, Sean,
talk to me about this. The Blind Guy
Talks Tech Show was five days a week
with technology and then the weekend
ranting banter edition
that we we had good intentions for in
the beginning. Yes. We actually Yes. We did.
We actually did have real serious deep diving
topics that we covered and even had some,
spirited
discussions.
And then after a while, it just kind
of became
just a bunch of friends hanging out on
the weekend and just having a chat.
So we're we're gonna try to reel that
back in a little bit here as we
take it over here on Life After Blindness.
And, Steven has given me the reins to
do so. Although you notice, he does that.
In the first one, he's not here.
So I see how that is. And and
our friend, Sally Clay, for anybody wondering if
if they came from the Blind Guy Talks
Tech Show. First of all, welcome. Thanks for
coming over here. But, Sally has actually got
a lot going on. So we will hopefully
get her on,
in the coming months. But, it might it
might be a while because she is a
busy, busy bee. Just like it was before
on Blind Guy. You know, on the Saturday
edition, whoever could make it at that time
made it. So, you made it insane? Yeah.
Exactly. So we will we will do our
best to, to, you know, find that happy
balance, but get as many of us as
we can if we can. So so, Sean,
the five day a week blind guy, that's
no longer happening
and, is being shifted, isn't it?
It is. That's right. Yeah. So,
as as listeners may know, we've got the
other show, Double Tap,
that was once a week.
And we decided to just merge it under
sort of one brand. Instead of having Blind
Guys Talks Tech over here and Double Tap
over there, we thought, you know what? Let's
just make Double Tap the daily
podcast and bring it in house and have
it all under the one brand of Double
Tap because, you know, it does
you you kind of split in your audience,
and it just made more sense for us
as a workflow as well. So, yes. BGT,
Blind Guy Talks Tech,
has really just shifted
over. So you can still tune in,
to Double Tap every day.
Just search your favorite podcast. Sorry. I'm doing
the plug already, Tim. Search your favorite podcast
catcher for Double Tap by,
from AMI Audio, and you should, find us
there. And,
yeah. So if you want your daily dose
of tech news and,
a little bit of banter between Steven and
I, the usual the usual mix, then, yeah,
definitely check us out. But,
like I said, really, it just made more
sense to instead of splitting us up all
into
a podcast here and a podcast there for
us, it just made sense to bring it
all in house. So, yeah, it's just basically
now called Double Tap. And it definitely does
make sense. I I I kinda wish we
did have Steven here because he and I
have been talking about this transition for a
while. I mean, we've all kinda known it
was coming, and he and I behind the
scenes even before the rest of you guys
knew, you know, he and I were talking
about, okay. This is what's gonna happen with
Blind Guy, the the weekly edition going to
Double Tap. And he came right out and
said, so, you know,
those weekend conversations, at least when we were
trying to be a little bit more on,
you know, topic and and on point,
you know, there is a really great place
where that could reside, and I'm happy to,
you know, have the reins be passed along.
And I'm like, so what are you trying
to say here, Steven? Just come right out
and say it, buddy. You know?
And so do it, Tim. Yeah. Basically, you
do it because I'm gonna be way too
darn busy to do it, I think is
what he was trying to say.
But, no, I think it I think it
works out really nicely because, you know, Blind
Guy Talks Tech served a purpose. It was
a great home for all of us to
go to after RNIB,
Tech Talk, after Steven had left the RNIB,
and it gave us a great platform
to really kinda test out the possibility of
doing five days a week because I remember,
you know, this, Sean. I think even, Robin,
you were in on this conversation where, you
know, Steven said, I'm never doing five days
a week. There's no content for five days
a week. When we were talking to him
about doing
Amazon Echo,
you know,
what is it called? The the news thing,
the news flash.
He he was like, there's no way. There's
not enough stuff to cover every day on
a news flash. And I know you can
do it once a week, but
I would wanna do it every day. There's
nothing to do every day. And I'm like,
yeah. Fast forward to blind guy talks tech,
and he's doing it every day. Exactly. But
it but it does make sense, and and
it does give, you know, more tech, you
know, to double tap and give it a
home there. And like I said, we we
now have, you know, more ability to give,
roundtable discussions here and just kinda take that,
take that over. So, Robin, you, as I
mentioned, had
stepped in after Sean and I left.
Tiny shoes to fill. I was gonna say
big shoes to fill, but, no, I don't
know. I don't know about that. But, I
think my, shoes are smaller than yours. But
yeah. Well, probably according to to Sean. I'm
seven foot four. So Four can canoe feet.
But As to the stems come. Gosh.
But, but, yeah, you you stepped in and
and took over for us, quite fiercely and
and and, boldly.
And that's not the only place you do
stuff. You you've been on Maxis the Maxisability
Roundtable podcast with, friends of the show, you
know, Holly Anderson and, Darcy Bernard.
And then you've got dot to dot, which
is your daily,
echo skill show, as well as the both
of you doing the echo show, which we'll
talk more about here in just a few
minutes. But,
Robin, talk to me about this. So so
you're you're on accessibility. You're doing your own
shows for years. Step in the tech talk,
then that goes away, then you're a blind
guy, then that goes away. Now you're you
know, you and I are are being asked
to step in occasionally as contributors for Double
Tap, and now you're here on Life After
Blindness. I mean, this is
wow. Like,
are are you dizzy? Or do you do
you I'm exhausted. Whiplash? I mean, wow. And
he's got a full fledged job. Yes. And
that's in addition to oh, yeah. That's right.
In addition to AbilityNet that, that he he
basically runs for, you know, all of The
UK over there.
That's true. I do actually have a second
company that I'm a director of as well.
Just throw that in there too. Oh. Oh,
gosh. Wow. I mean, is there anything this
man can't do? You know what we did
forget? Of course. This is Lord Doctor Robin
Kristofferson. This is true. Yeah. Lord Doctor Robin
Kristofferson.
Sir Sir Robin. Yes. Yeah. Firstly, what I
want to say is what a brilliant move
over to life after blindness. A really good,
a really safe pair of hands. I'm so
glad that we haven't lost it. The show,
the Saturday.
Yeah. Big hands.
But safe. So, yeah. Really looking forward to
picking up the the chit chat, the roaming,
discussions
with you at the helm because,
I'm sure, you know, we're gonna be steered
successfully through some
interesting topics, some really engaging topics. And we
had so much good feedback, didn't we, on
BGTT
about the sort of things we covered. And
I'm sure we're just gonna carry on doing
that. I know you've got lots of topics,
in your pocket, whether we'll stick with them
or not as we do these shows going
forward together. We will endeavor to begin every
show with some sort of topic. I mean,
not this episode because I wanted to catch
people up a little bit before we get
into
semi sort of a kind of a topic.
But but you're right. Yeah. I'm I'm hoping
to at least have the idea of starting
each episode with a good topic that we
can dive into and really get into.
And, yeah, you're right. The the feedback that
we got on blind guy for the weekend
edition
was mixed, but for the most part, it
seemed like people just enjoyed
listening to the conversation. And because we were
talking about things
that really a lot of other places aren't
talking about. I mean, they might touch on
here and there and things like that, but
we really just kinda, you know, ripped the
the Band Aid off the scab and and
pulled back the curtain and you know what
I mean? We just Beautiful way to put
it, Dickens? I mean, that was lovely, mister
Shakespearean. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank
you. But Is it just me that can't
resist
picking at you know what? Right. Please stop.
So let's carry on. There will be no
discussion from this point over this point going
forward about scabs or scars or,
other other medical
ailments that may have occurred to people on
this show currently. No more. Okay. Yeah. No
more. Laying down the the house rules here.
That's good. Carry on. Yeah. I like it.
Because I'm not gonna I because I like
Cadbury Creme Eggs, and now I can't eat
them anymore the rest of my life. Oh,
god. It's wet my thighs. Okay. If
if if that if that is something that
the listeners don't know about, you don't want
to. And if you really want to, go
listen to blind guy talk stuck and find
it there. Anyway,
yeah. So, Robin, I appreciate that. Thank you.
And, yeah, that's what we're hoping to do
here. But,
but but,
you know, you have been
everywhere. I mean, you you are this consummate,
you know, podcast traveler.
Talk to me about
kind of, like because this is your first
time really being heard on a Life After
Blindness show. I mean, we do have a
recorded
conversation
that, honestly, we recorded several months ago,
that is edited and ready to go and
is gonna come out soon because it's still
very valid. It's still a conversation that we
had a long time ago that's, that's still
very relevant.
And, so it's gonna be coming out. But
this technically is the first time people have
heard you at least on my show. So
talk to me about all these endeavors, Robin.
Well, I mean, I think the first one
was definitely Doctor. Dots. That's up to episode
2,030
something now.
Why? So, yeah, it's a daily one. It's
around five to ten minutes, so it actually
does exist as a flash briefing on the
Echo as well.
So if people want to add that to
their flash briefing they can just say enable
the five minute skill demo show. That's what
the skill is called, but it will play
dot to dot every single day. Or you
could just ask your smart speaker to play
dot to dot or your phone or whatever.
If you do it on the A Lady
or on your,
Google
Home Nest thing,
then make sure you put a tiny pause
between the words because otherwise you'll get a
doctor something,
you know, podcast or something. Oh, I see.
So you can say dot
to
dot. Like that? Yeah. Thank you. Well done.
Kinda like when we did RNA in When
we did RNA b tech talk, if you
said RNA b too fast, you got all
kinds of crazy things. Yes. That's right. Yeah.
Yeah. Just a tiny pause. So yeah. That
I mean, that's a labor of love. And
actually, it is getting, a little bit tougher
to find decent things That's better. Whatever.
And I sure I'm sure that Sean can
appreciate that because we do the Echo Show
together each week.
Oh. I'm not It's punishing. I'll tell you
that much. Oh. Trying to find skills in
oh. The Amazon app is awful. Sorry. Carry
on. Yeah. No.
So I mean, listeners are kind. They often
send in suggestions and occasionally a demo as
well, particularly David Ward. Shout out to the
brilliant David Ward of Goodwill Valleys over in
The States
on your, you know, side of the pond
who has the Echo Tips podcast, which I
would thoroughly recommend.
And yeah. So we, you know, we have
a good community and I still love doing
that. It's easy to chuck out one of
those episodes compared That's why you like it.
It's so easy. Easy. Well, easy once you
find a skill
to talk about. Yeah. It's all relative compared
to, say, an hour long daily
show, perhaps.
Yes. Tell me about it. It's always we
love talking. Alright. Let's not pretend this is
hard work. This is, we're all here. Enjoy.
So we're we're all here because we we
like to talk or connect.
So
so dot to dot, and then that,
like I said, you you were on our
tech talk for for quite some time. And,
during all that somewhere, you and Sean, as
you just mentioned, did the Echo Show, which
isn't just a clever name, but it is
actually about the Echo Show and other Echo
devices,
that you can get with your Amazon a
lady. So it's kind of a progression of
dot to dot.
Yeah. So we're up to episode 97
will be coming out this week,
and that means ninety seven weeks' worth.
So, yeah, it's been going a while, hasn't
it, Sean? Probably seems to be 97
already. Yeah. Well, the the point was that
we'd have a conversation and and bring both
of us would bring skills to it. The
dot to dot is very much a, well,
as the name says, a five minute demo.
Right? But we wanted to have a little
bit of a conversation about the skills and,
you know, discuss what worked. Yes. Just having
a chitchat. Yes. The the the joke is
that, like, it's funny really because all of
our podcast seem to sort of,
they dissolve down to just us talking rubbish
and, you know, talking about us falling over
or whatever for forty minutes of the show.
Really. But Tim, that's not gonna happen here.
I know you've got a firm hand on
the, tiller.
So, yes, it's not gonna happen. But, yeah,
absolutely. The echo show was just, you know
what? We we're a fan of this stuff,
so we wanted to just have a conversation
about it.
But, yeah, as as Robin said and as
I say to him every week, it's getting
harder and harder to find those skills. Yep.
Absolutely. But, the chit the chit chat's still
as top quality as ever.
Yeah. You say top quality.
I say incredibly tedious. But, hey, you know,
why not give it a go? You can
find it in your favorite podcast, Catcher App.
So incredibly incredibly tedious. You you came up
with that rather quickly. Is that something your
partner talks to you about all the time?
Yes. Absolutely.
Oh, see? No. No. Tim's doing it already.
He's taking us down a different tune. It's
your fault because you you and Steven started
this years and years ago,
made me do this. I I didn't corrupt
it in this way. You did absolutely corrupted
me.
I completely blame you and Steven. And, yeah,
speaking of Steven, as I said at the
top of the show, I mean, you notice
he's not here because, well, he's doing this
deep dive into, you know, double tap five
days a week and,
you know, other things and responsibilities that he's
he's taken on over there at AMI. But
you're here, Sean, despite the fact that
you have a new show other than the
echo show, other than five day a week
Double Tap.
Talk talk to people about Shaun of the
Shed because I don't know that we've talked
about that for my listeners at least.
Oh, well, I'm so glad you gave me
the name because I was thinking, do I?
What what's that, man? But, yes, you're absolutely
right. You're you're involved with so many things
that you you've forgotten them. I was panicking
for a second. Yes. I do. And I
promise this is gonna be the last plug.
People keep listening. But I do I do
Shaun of the Shed,
it's once a month. So, ah, it's such
a bliss just doing a podcast once a
month. But it is for,
people new to technology or new to, you
know, vision loss and coming to technology. So
it's very much,
hey. Did you know? You know? You can.
It's it's trying to take the the the
the scariness away from technology. The, you know,
so many people,
in organizations
I've been to, and you're dealing with people
who have just lost their sight or whatever,
they they just say, I I can't do
it. I, you know, I can no. I
can't use that. And it's just
we we all know, you know, we've all
gone through that sight loss thing. We and,
you know, it's it's just taking the time,
and you're more than capable. If if I
can do it, then anyone can do it.
So it's just it's just me trying to
take a
I don't know. A simpler look at technology
and show it's not that frightening. So, yes,
that's Shaun of the Shed. Thank you very
much.
I see that highly produced
immersive audio.
Yeah. Well,
that's Production.
Let's keep that on the down low because,
you know, that was the first few episodes.
Let's not let's not heighten,
expectations here, I believe. I mean, after all,
he does have a month in between each
one to get it edited and I do.
Care of. I mean, although Unbelievable.
You say that though, once a month. I
mean, your
occasional
random
audio pizza or as I used to call
it, apple pizza. Do you remember when I
used to mess that up, Sean? I called
it apple pizza. Yes. You did. And you
got to correct me every time. Actually, although
you you used to say, you know, that's
actually a better name.
But Mister trick there. Yeah. But, but I
mean, that comes out, what, once every three
months, six months.
Oh, well, that's Whenever. Yeah. That's that's just
the feed we've got where someone jumps on
when they've fallen over a bush or
the what is the last one? I bought
some Tibetan singing bowls, you know. If it's
just falling into a bush, then, why isn't
there an episode from you almost, like, every
day? Okay. That's enough. Alright. Bye bye. Tim.
Now Alright. So let's let's get to something
that can actually be helpful. Now that we've
explained kind of what we've been up to,
where I've been, where you guys have been,
what's going on, and, caught everybody up if
if they haven't been along the ride with
us, these last many months,
let let's try to help people a little
bit in the time that we've got left.
So I've established, I I hope, that, these
two guys know what they're talking about when
it comes not just to technology, but to,
smart devices, Amazon Echo specifically,
with It's a lie. It's a lie? It's
a lie. They have no idea what they're
talking about with all this echo conversation.
So so let's let's kinda look at that
in a in a bigger sense then.
And and I think we know kind of
the answer to this because I've always said
it's
accessibility by accident.
But, Robin, talk to me about
I I mean, you could be specific to
the echo, but kind of in general,
what makes something like an echo
so important and specifically important to someone who
might be visually impaired or blind?
Cool. Okay.
When people talk about accessibility,
in the VI context, obviously, we're talking about,
you know,
for people with low or no vision,
you know, accessibility is about can you bump
up the text size or can you, you
know, use speech on it or whatever it
might be. Just to let you know for
me accessibility
always equals pan disability because that's who I
work for AbilityNet. So when people say, you
know, why are smart speakers, you know, inherently
accessible?
Certainly from a VI point of view, a
visual impairment point of view, it's absolutely perfect
for us
because
you can just talk to it, there's no
screen involved, you don't have to read a
manual,
the bar is very low with regards you
know, all you need is a WiFi connection
and
a few dollars really or pounds to be
able to buy a device that is fully
functional.
And you have got this world, this wealth
of skills and built in functionality that we
could talk about until the cows come home.
But,
yeah, because it's inherently, you know, easy to
use, cheap,
voice operated, and gives you speech output for
people like us with a vision impairment or
no vision at all. Like, I think well,
we're pretty much all in that camp now,
aren't we? Yeah. Yeah.
After blindness, we are looking at these speakers
and thinking how brilliant they are for us.
The broader picture
didn't really happen until much later on. And
we could talk about echoes with a screen
and how brilliantly accessible they are and some
of the features for other disabilities if you
like, but that's kind of not this show.
But I just wanted to flag that as
well.
Because often,
disabilities don't just fit into neat boxes, do
they? So, you know, some people might have
does it? What a shed shape?
No. No. Shed shape.
Big Mac box shape, actually. Thank you very
much. Yeah. KFC bucket shape.
Yeah. It has curry in it. Yeah. Yes.
Anyway, please continue, Robin.
Yeah. So,
we could talk about the broader accessibility features.
And, you know, I would point people at
the,
Alady
accessibility hub if you just search for that.
Alady obviously being a l e x a.
Then you'll get all of the lowdown of
the brilliant features across all the different disabilities.
So, yeah, I just wanted to get that
out there that
the echoes that Amazon have produced
are really accessible in in the broadest sense.
They really, really are. But, yeah, for people
like ourselves,
how brilliant is it to just be able
to talk to the air and get really
useful information?
Because, I don't know about you guys, but,
you know, computers absolutely
open doors and are brilliant,
but really, really
complicated. And, you know, a desktop app or
the amount of information that's in, you know,
on a on a web page on the
desktop, there's just so much there. And whether
that's with low vision or with speech output,
it's a really complicated thing to navigate around.
Then with the advent of smartphones, much smaller
screen,
much more
distilled down
UI, you know, user interface for us to
to contend with.
And that was a godsend because you've just
got far less
information,
there's much less clutter and all that sort
of thing. So anyone that's managed to get
to grips with a smartphone for example
has really benefited from that. But the smart
speaker is like the distillation down to its
pure essence, isn't it? I often talk about
the age of ambient computing
where, you know, you can just talk to
the air and get, you know, useful information
back.
And often, as we know now, you can
get tailored information as well because it can
recognize your voice, it can pull from your
calendar,
your skills,
you know, give you the
the news briefing that you want, that sort
of thing. So, yeah, hugely
empowering. And as soon as I got a
first gen echo dot, I thought, okay, I've
got to start telling people about this because,
it was relatively unknown,
five or six years ago. You know? It's
crazy to to believe, but, yeah, it was
Where we've come to. Yeah. Yeah. I can't
believe it's been that long. And and you're
absolutely right. And I think that doing a
a wider kind of, you know, broad discussion
about this is something that maybe we should
do for a future episode, but I just
wanted to to
let people in on the idea of what
the
something like an Amazon Echo or or or
Google Home Nest, whatever they're calling it now.
Yeah. What they can rely to be some
favoritism here. I I don't want to point
it out at both of you, but each
of you gave the Google Nest y thingy,
that
thing. As you just did. Yes. No. I'm
just
He was telling us how phrasing you. I'm
quoting yourself back, but I I I absolutely
have no idea what it's called either. I
don't think Google do anymore. I think it's
officially the Nest home now, but but It
is. That's right. The point is, I think,
though, the the reason why and you guys
correct me if I'm wrong because you guys
are the ones that literally do the show
on this thing. We even specifically as as
blind or visually impaired people, we kinda gravitate
to the echo more because of the skills
and and what it can offer. Because the
Google Nest Home
really isn't as robust when it comes to
something like that. Right?
They have I think they're called actions.
Yeah. And the last time it looked, there
was about 10,000
actions in Oh, is it that many now?
Okay. Good. I thought you were gonna say
10 for a second. So did I.
Right. If it's anything like
the A Lady store,
there's a real mixed bag there. You know,
5% of those will be,
how can I put this, wind expulsion
simulation?
Well, that's that's too nice, sweetie, but that's
so posh. He is. Wow.
And other things of a similar kind of,
you know, caliber. But, many of them are,
you know, fantastically useful. But, yeah, I think
in the skill store at the moment for
the A Lady, it's over a 120,000.
So, you know, probably that's a much lower
figure than the last time I looked. It
was around there. So You've only covered how
many of those on dot the dot? You
still have plenty to go. I know. Yeah.
Well, as I say, though, a lot of
Wind expulsion.
Yeah. Plenty of wind expulsion skills to talk
about. You know what? My my my point
though is is that, yes, they both are
very viable, but I think that there seems
to be
kind of a a gravitational pull towards the
Amazon Echoes,
for whatever reason. Maybe because they were first,
maybe because there's more skills and seemingly
feels like more more that you can do.
But but you're right, Sean. I mean,
that makes me sick to say that out
loud. I I hate you. Well done. But,
but I try not I try not to
say that to my wife. I don't wanna
say it to you either. But, but but
no. Like, the the Nest Home does have
its fair share of of good things to
have for it. And so, especially because it's
built with Google Search, and we know how
good, you know, good Google Search is. Oh,
it's amazing. For answering questions, it it beats
Lady a all over the room. So it's
fantastic for that. And in Canada, where the,
Google smart speaker was out first, it is
more popular. Yeah. You know, it's got that
head start. So there is that very much
whoever got to, you know, at the gate
first does tend to hold most of the
market share. It's kinda like the idea of
if you used an iPhone first, you're probably
more prone to wanna use an iPhone. If
you use an Android first, that's where you
wanna be as well. So it's it is
kind of that adoption, you know, mentality of
it. But I do feel it's shifting slightly,
though, in in in Canada as well because,
Google
do have a reputation of just dropping things,
you know. And it it does feel like
Amazon are so committed that I mean, they
had such a roaring success
with their, smart speaker,
and and with the addition of so many
smart,
devices as well in the,
not that they're not in the Google as
well, but it just seems like Amazon really
have put it all in for smart speakers.
And Google, there's still that slight, you know,
we're changing the name now as they did
the Google
Nest Hub or whatever.
And there's always that slight feeling that are
Google really that committed or is there a
chance they could just drop it tomorrow?
And also Google don't have the infrastructure behind
pushing
their devices. You know, we all use Amazon.
I'm sure we do. You know, we've all
got Amazon's accounts. We've we're
probably Prime members.
And, you know You're a sheep, Robin. Sheeple.
That's your problem. Fight the power. I think
Oh, next day delivery. Thank you very much,
sir. Sometime same day delivery. Yeah. Yes. But,
you know, they can push,
sales on Black Friday and other Amazon Prime
Days and stuff like that. You know, their
devices are always at the top of the
list, aren't they?
Super cheap.
Really cheap as chips, aren't they? And very,
very functional. So, you know, Google doesn't I
mean, they could push stuff on Google search
result pages, I suppose, but, you know, just
the utility of getting,
Prime delivery,
so cheap. I don't know how much
entry level
home nest
thing. Sorry.
What the Come on, Robin. They well, look.
They're very comparable.
It it will be close.
Yeah. It's it's around yeah. Yeah. We're talking
not in sell and whatever. So they're all
about $50, aren't they? So the starting point.
So they are really competitively
priced when it comes to the Amazon side.
And when you can find either of them
on sale, you're talking $20.25 dollars. I mean,
it's Absolutely. Ridiculous item. Wrong. Voice is brilliant.
I mean, voice choice is brilliant. Well, the
voices are brilliant too, but, yes, voice is
brilliant. Yes. Yeah. There's so many different varieties
and and shapes and sizes and and voices,
as as it were. But but, no. Like,
I had talked to you guys about on
Amazon Prime Day. I traded in an old
echo one, the the original, you know, Pringles
canister echo one, you know, regular edition,
whatever you wanna call it. And I Yeah.
But they're selling them on eBay now for
a thousand dollars. Have you seen it? Say
what? Don't tell me that. No. Stop. Stop.
I know I'm joking. Stop it. I know
you are. I've known you long enough. I
know when you're joking. At least I think
I do. Anyway, so no. I I traded
it in because they give you, you know,
$25
towards another purchase,
of an Echo device plus 25%
off,
and I
was basically paid to get a Echo Dot
four.
Yeah. I I didn't actually I actually ended
up having $4 left over, and that was
after,
buying something else with with the money that
I had. So the sale was so good,
and my trade in, you know, made it
even better. I mean, it was $20, I
think, on sale. And then after the, you
know, the discount plus the, you know, the
the money back, and and Yeah. It's ridiculous.
So, yeah, I mean, it's such an easy,
inexpensive thing to get and to be able
to just speak to it. And as you
alluded to, Robin,
there are things that it offers that they
offer for more than just somebody who's who's,
you know, partially sighted or or blind because
even like with the Echo Show, you know,
you can sign language to the camera.
You can hold up things if you're visually
impaired and and have the camera scan the
barcode or tell you what the product is.
So similar to what you can do, you
know, with your phone,
you know, you can do that with an
Echo Show. So, I mean, so many things
that are available for not just us, but
but as you said, Robin, many different types
of disabilities that they're thinking about, and they're
integrating things in there to help different people.
So, I mean, it it really becomes
a big game changer because,
excuse me, for, you know, anywhere from $25,
we'll say, up to $50 to just get
you in the door of a device like
this.
You've got this amazing accessibility right out of
the box. You can use it to check-in
on, you know, your loved ones, you know,
drop in, say, you know, when my grandma
was still living on her own before she
moved in with my parents, we had an
echo you know, couple echoes set up in
her house so that we could drop in,
make sure she was okay, or if she
needed to call out to call emergency services
if she fell.
Yeah. You know, it was it it's such
a,
you know, wonderful thing to know that you
you have that ability to do that. So
if you try calling them on the phone
and you can't get them, you can just
drop in and be like, hello? Are you
okay? What's going on? You know? Yeah. And
scare scare the living daylights out of them.
I'm sure. But,
but, no. So I mean, there's so many
different things that not just for for, you
know, daily, just like you said, you know,
before about checking your calendar or checking
the news or listening to podcasts and music.
I mean, there's all those basic things, but
the fact that you can do them,
you know, just speaking to the air, all
the Star Trek, you know, the future is
now, you know, and be able to get
that information.
I don't know how I mean, I don't
know how many times a day we use
it in our household to
ask math questions. Although, we have to stop
doing that because my 10 year old keeps
going, see, I don't need to learn math.
You guys just ask the echo anyway.
She's absolutely right. I mean, she's correct. She's
don't tell her that she's not wrong, but
still No. Absolutely. To learn her math. Thank
you. But, but no. So, I mean, just
to be able to do that, to listen
to audiobooks, to to you know, just whatever
it is, to be able to do it
just by calling out to the air
is is amazing. I mean, a friend of
mine got the, Amazon Echo,
well, the Amazon, microwave
where the Echo is not built in, but
it works with your Echo. Mhmm. And so
he could just put something in the microwave,
close the door, and then talk to lady
a
to make the, you know, the microwave do
what he wants it to do.
I mean, that used to cost us,
you know, $5.06, $700
to do that, and now you can do
it with the smart home. Microwaves. Yeah. Totally.
Right. Yeah. For a talking microwave. Right. I
mean, we should talk about smart home. We
absolutely will in a second.
But I wanna flag for to go on
after that conversation, which is how you can
make other devices smart that you can,
you know, with a remote control, for example.
So we'll talk about that in a sec.
But, yeah, let's talk about smart. Let's talk
about connected home and that sort of thing.
Well, I mean, why not? Let's just go
right into it then, Robin, because you're right.
The Echo devices, the the, Nest Home devices
really open up not just, like, everything we
were just talking about, just asking simple questions
or even very specific questions and getting that
accessibility for us, you know,
so easily. But it does open up a
lot of things that you can have it
help you do around the house, making your
house smarter, which
is another byproduct of making your house accessible
in a way, especially if maybe you're in
a wheelchair or you have Parkinson's and it's
hard for you to maybe, you know, reach
out to to grab a switch or to,
you know, pull the blinds or, you know,
you know, whatever it might be, whatever, you
know, is going on. Or even if, you
know, for for people that might be deaf
that that have it connected to a doorbell
and they can get announcements and things,
you know, coming up on their Echo Show,
etcetera. I mean, those are
not just useful, helpful things for everybody, but,
again, adds another layer of accessibility,
when when you start utilizing these devices for
smart home. Right, Robin?
Totally. Yeah. And Sean's got most of those,
and I've got none of those. I've got
a smart light bulb.
And what else have I got?
I think that's about it. Nothing Robin. You're
such a luddite.
Okay. I'm gonna tell you about this guy.
Right? He's called the Bioneer. I might have
mentioned it on another show. But the Bioneer
is basically saying
push back against convenience.
You know, reach up on that shelf to
get something even if you don't need it.
Bend down, crawl around the room if you
want to.
Just
go extreme when it comes to
doing physical things, okay,
and that's kind of the antithesis of smart
home. But as you were saying Tim, you
know, if you've got an impairment like my
sister who's bedbound
then the smart home is absolutely brilliant and
she does have all that stuff.
So that's really, really important. But,
as far as making our home smarter, I'm
kind of pushing back on that
because I, you know, they say sitting is
the new smoking. Oh, you're such a hippie,
Robin. Oh, you annoy me. What are you
talking about? I do have the full time
sitting at my desk scenario that I need
to push back on. I mean, he's he's
maybe half not wrong. I mean, because no.
I I know what he's saying, and I
and I do agree to an extent. However
No. You don't. The, I mean,
I don't practice it. I didn't say I
practice it. I just said that I I
agree to an extent. But, no, I mean,
I I get the point both sides. I
I can see both sides without seeing. Well
done.
But, no, I I I do get it
that it it does kinda make us,
I don't wanna use the word lazy because
that sounds harsh.
The the that sounds savage as the children
say. Do they still say that?
But,
I I don't know. I think maybe they
do. But, anyway but but, no, I mean,
we we we do get,
resigned to the couch a bit and can
just call out, and that and that that
that could be an issue. But It's a
great thing. Don't send me a big guy
like it's a bad thing. But but no.
No. No. See, that that's what I was
gonna say. Like, it's it's amazing for convenience
and for the ability of what it does.
And as we mentioned, for for people that
might have a certain type of impairment, it
opens up doors, possibly even literally, that, or
unlocks them at least that,
I try. I try. I'll be here all
week or maybe.
But, no, like, it it does,
you know, provide availability to a person that
maybe would have not had that at all.
Now in your house,
Sean, as as Robin said,
I mean, I've lost count how many Echo
ish devices you've got. I think it was,
like, I don't know, nine, twelve, 15. I
don't know.
With all your different smart things. I mean
in each room? Yeah. In each yeah. Nine
of them in each room. Exactly. I mean
Still fit. You've actually carved like, when you
redid the the shed, for Sean of the
shed, I mean, you actually put one embedded
into the wall, I I believe, and and
mounted one. So so, I mean, like, you
you you are the master of the smart
home here. So so what are what are
you using, Sean?
Well, see, Robin says that because he has
literally one single light bulb,
and he, as I said, a Luddite. But,
the one more than that is a lot
to him is what you're saying. Yeah. Exactly
right. So I I haven't gone all in
because there's still
look. I love the smart home. I love
the technology of it. I just think it's,
you know, aside from
the accessibility
angle from it, which of course is incredibly
import important. I'm just a bit of a
geek at heart, and I just think this
stuff is cool as well. So, you know,
trying to convince my partner that is a
totally different matter. But That you're cool or
that you need all this? Yeah. Both of
those things. Okay. So but
It's an old thing better. Yeah. There's The
partner, the kids, the neighbors. Yeah. Trying to
Yes. Exactly. Realize you're cool. I think it's
still
even though we're a few good few years
into this, I still think it's early days
because even though the price price of light
bulbs to to kit out my house in
light bulbs is costing hundreds and hundreds of
dollars. And I'm sorry. I'm just not prepared.
I don't think it's justified.
I I do have smart bulbs in certain
rooms, and and then that's fine, but
I still think that some of these devices
are you're you're still paying for that cool
and wow factor when it comes to smart
homes. Now there's other areas such as smart
plugs, smart power strips,
the smart vacuums even. I mean, the price
of smart vacuums has really come down, and
they can be incredibly useful. I was a
bit dismissive. I thought they were a bit
of a gimmick, but you know what? I've
had a Roomba for a while now, and
it
it does a really good job. No. Wait.
No. No. Tell the people. Do you do
you still have the the googly eye stickers
on it?
I do. Yes. Yeah. It's only it's only
got one. It's lost one along the way.
I think the dogs Hushy.
It's a pro wheel. Yes.
So it's no, a Cyclops
googly eye, vacuum cleaner. But,
look, the thing is, it's and it's it's
the key of why this smart speaker
tech has become so
amazingly popular. It's it it it's crossed the
line. People
the the the term ambient computing actually
fits, you know, because Mhmm. There was a
time where any technology is just me, Just
being the nerd of the house using it.
And oh, you should use this so much.
But
everyone in my family uses a smart speaker,
you know, sets timers and asks the weather
and gets whatever how long it takes to
get to the tram and when the next
trams coming. And, you know, turn the turn
the, the the
smart vacuum on, clean the kitchen, clean wherever.
Everyone uses it. It's not seen
as tech anymore.
It's just seen as, you know, a tool
of the house. And for that reason, it's
absolutely amazing. But when it comes to the
smart home for me, it's more about the
smart plugs and the smart power strips. I
that's where I've started. I think that's where
most people will start because it it is
incredibly useful for, like, in this in my
shed here where I do all my recording.
When I leave here in probably four hours,
if Tim has this way. Yeah. If when
I leave here My name is not Stephen
Scott. Sorry, Stephen.
I will just say, you know, Lady a
closed down the studio, and it turns off
my monitors. It turns off my speakers, my
mixers, my computers.
It turns everything off, and, I know it's
off. You know? It's it's so handy. It's
so
easy to do. And,
yeah,
I still think we're at the very early
stages of the smart home, and I think
that things are only gonna get better. When
we start seeing new builds with all these
smart sockets built into the wall and smart
lights and everything, That's where you're gonna see
it. When you see
the the the Ironman
walking into your home and, you know, what's
his name? Benson or Jensen or whatever is
the the the computer greets you as you
walk in and puts the TV on and
starts the dinner or anything.
That's the dream that we've all been fed
on for so long with sci fi movies.
And I think, you know what? I can
see it actually in the future. It's not
that far in front of us anymore.
I completely agree with that. I think that
we are to a point where
talking to these devices is becoming just
normal
and the the ability to control everything within
our house or even outside of our house.
I know there's actually devices you can put
inside your mailbox so that when the postman,
pulls the mailbox, you know, down and back
up again, put your mail in, it'll alert
you inside your house.
Yeah. It shoots it. Yeah. That's it. No.
It sends the dog after him. Boy, wow.
It got dark. Wow. Red cone. We don't
have mailboxes, so we don't know what you're
talking about. Oh. We have letter boxes in
our door. Our postmen do a proper job.
They push it to your house. Through your
front door. Yes. I know. We have those
two. There are people that have mail slots
or, you know, mailboxes in their in their
doors, but Letterbox.
Yes. Or letter box. Excuse me. Letterboxes.
Slots. But,
don't start, priests. But, but you can pick
him up on math. So, you know, we're
all Yeah. I know.
Yeah.
But, but no. So, I mean, you can
you can have it do that and have
sensors in your driveway to tell you, you
know, if somebody has pulled into your drive
or, you know, of course, we talked about
the ring doorbells,
which is funny now because you talk to
people on the phone or hear somebody on
the Internet, you know, with audio, you know,
in their vocal, and you hear their doorbells
going off. That's like the new the new
thing, though, is hearing everybody's doorbells going off.
I mean, you can answer your door from
another country. You know? Oh, absolutely.
Yeah. Oh, it's amazing. Right? And you can
answer your door using your echo, by the
way. You just say answer front door and
boom. You're talking to your front door. And
that's another safety, security, and even something, I
think, for accessibility purposes because, again, what if
you are somebody who can't get to the
door very quickly or, you know, in a
wheelchair or what have you, or you're somebody
who lives alone or maybe somebody who's older
that that lives alone and and you're, you
know, maybe just not sure who, you know,
who is at my door and you're you
might be nervous to open the door.
You know, and and so you know, because
you are alone or or what have you.
And so you can talk to them whether
you're even home or not and and make
it seem like you're home. And so I
think What do you want? Yeah. What do
you want? Yeah. Can I yeah? Exactly. When
do you want it?
Right. Going back to going back to what
Sean was saying about,
you know,
automatically turning on and off, you know, when
he leaves the shed and that sort of
thing. And,
when I'm last up
on an evening, I have to go around
the house using a light detector app to
see if all the lights are off. But
you can query that either by asking the
a lady for the status of all your
smart things or checking in the in the
app. So that's really useful as well. Kind
of peace of mind
to know that the We'll buy some light
bulbs then, Robin. What's the matter with you?
Going around with you, like, wee willy winky.
What's the matter with you? Switching lights off
in his case.
Unbelievable.
I've got two smart light bulbs and they're
still in the box because I haven't decided
where I'm at. Hold on. I won't admit
that mine was sent to me by
a a supplier for a I get a
lot of free stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Getting that in there.
Yeah. So, Lauren, going back to what Sean
was saying about these power blocks, these smart
plugs,
is part of what I wanted to mention.
So, you know, you don't have to buy
the smart thing.
You could actually make a dumb thing smart
like a table lamp or,
yeah, a power block with lots of other
things plugged in that you wanted to make
sure were powered off overnight, you know, rather
than sucking what is it called? Vampire
electricity overnight. Vampire. Everything's on standby.
That was clever. Okay. Well done. That's good.
Well done. Thank you. And the other thing
that I want to do today
is
if you have something like a TV or
a VCR,
that's American by the way, what would we
call it? A
a video Video recorder. Recorder.
Because we speak proper English. Yeah. DVD player
also. The V and the R in VCR
is video recorder. But anyway, I know. We
what what you in such a rush for,
you Americans. It's the same video cassette recorder
if you're gonna say it. Yeah. VCR. I
don't know who you think you are.
We don't believe in, yeah, energy saving here.
You can
get something like the,
Logitech is it Logitech? Harmony Hub? Yep.
Which is like a programmable
universal remote control that is ALAD
enabled.
So then, you can teach it
how what you're by using your well, either
by searching on the Harmony Home Hub app
for your particular, say, VCR model or, you
know, flat screen TV model. Video recorder.
Yeah. And,
it will automatically
emulate that or you can, if it's not
in the list, you can point your remote
control at the thing, at this little Harmony
Hub thing
and press a certain button. I think it's
the play, I can't remember. Then it will
recognize
what your
what that device is, hopefully. And then you
can control all those things that you would
otherwise,
only be able to control with a physical
remote. And so that's how my sister controls
her TV, her,
VCR and stuff like that. So, yeah. That's
really good. And that's like £60 or something.
So What I'm trying to figure out is
all this teasing about Americans and their VCRs,
and yet you Brits are still using VCRs.
I mean
Actually, no. It's the best quality.
Pass pass up DVD. I mean, are you
still using laser discs as well? I mean,
yes. Come into the streaming for heaven's sakes.
We're we're streaming now in America.
Can I just say when it comes to
the Harmony node, the app is an accessibility
nightmare? No. You gotta get someone else to
You need site assistance. But there is other
options as well. There are cheaper options. There's
I believe it's from Broadcom.
They do IR blasters as well. So what
you're looking for is a a smart infrared
blaster.
So there may be other options out there.
I haven't looked into this in a in
a while, but they are particularly handy for
some, you know, things like fans, for example,
which may not be
smart accessible, but you got a little remote
control with them, then you can control them
using, you know, like Robin said. Aircon unit,
maybe? Aircon. Yep. Yeah. And at this point,
pretty much, the sky's the limit. Anything that
you have in your house that runs on
power
can be made smart. If it's a ceiling
fan or or, you know, floor fan or
desk lamp, as you said, you know, you
know, portable air, you know, those air conditioners
that you plug in, you know, anything like
that absolutely can be made smart. I mean,
I've even,
Amazon had the the answer for this as
well. You guys remember stuff a couple years
ago, I got the Amazon Fire Cube, the
TV Cube.
And You hated it. No. Well, in the
beginning, I was frustrated because I was having
trouble getting it set up. But once I
kinda figured that all out, it's actually fantastic
because
I can
talking to it, I can control the volume
of the TV. I can switch between inputs,
so I can switch between my Apple TV
or the cable or the actual just, you
know, the television, the smart TV itself.
I can change the channel. I I can,
you know, get information about what's on a
particular channel and get the program guide. So
we have so many things that I can
do just talking to that Fire TV Cube
that,
just you talk about opening up, you know,
something for, you know, someone, you know, trying
to watch television. I mean, it's it's fantastic
of what it can do. So, yeah, literally,
I I I think the the big picture,
you know, point here is that, as I
said, anything and everything in your home can
be made accessible, can be made
smart
as it were. And, you know, it it
it really if especially if you get them
on sale, if you look for the deals,
you know, Amazon Prime Day or, you know,
Black Friday or whatever, you can get smart
plugs for
very, very little money. You can get Yeah.
$5. Yeah. $5, $10. Yeah. You know, get
light bulbs. I think at Prime Day, I
got two light bulbs for, like, $10.
And they were the multicolored
you know, they can do different colors and
things like that. I love those. Used. I
don't know what it is. Game mode. Yeah.
Exactly. Never use it, but it's gotta be
an RGB. If they say here's a, you
know, just just a white smart light bulb,
Don't want it, mate. I don't want it.
I want the one that I can turn
blue, green, or red. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. Yeah.
I've got two questions for Sean. Sorry, Tim.
Yeah. So what? Question number one. Wait. What?
What's this? A pop quiz? What's going on?
Yes.
Why replace your lights in your house with
smart ones
if you could
replace it a smart you know, the light
switch on the wall with a smart switch
could that could then control all,
you know, six down lighters or something.
Yeah. Yeah. You're right. But you're missing you're
missing a couple of points here, Robin. As
I just mentioned, look look, thirty seconds ago
Oh, okay. I want the RGB
capability.
I want to if I'm in the mood
for love, I want to switch the room
to a a a red tone, for example.
Or if I'm meditating, then a nice green
to calm me down. You see?
RGB.
Now the other reason is for a,
changing the light switch, I need to get
an electrician, a proper man in who can
do this sort of thing. Whereas, I obviously
can't. So I just simply unscrew a light
bulb and screw another one in. That's within
my talent. That's within my range and ability.
So, there you go. Is that Oh, brilliant.
Sufficient? Well, I would
give that a 10 and a half out
of 10 for that answer. Thank you. Plus
Thank you. Especially since long time listeners of
other shows know what happens when Sean puts
any of his extremities anywhere near electrical outlets.
It's scary, especially when you're on the other
side of that Zoom call when it happens.
It's very scary.
I've got a second question. Everything blows up.
Yes. Go ahead, Ron. Question number two.
Trams,
are they in Manchester, have they got like
a fake noise?
It
sounded fake to me.
No. Why? Why are you saying that?
Because
they're electric and they should be silent. But
they have this kind of artificial
acceleration and deceleration
sound, which sounds a bit I don't know
if that is artificial, but that's a very
good point. I mean, considering they weigh fifth
they do they do weigh 50 tons, Robin.
So there is some sort of friction noise
there. I have heard that there were some,
incident have been many many incidences here.
Where people didn't hear them coming or didn't
see them or whatever on their phones probably.
But yeah. Alright. Listeners for listeners. Best chance.
Listeners to know. I was in Sean's neck
of the woods the other day. I'm near
Stone's throwaway, but I disdained
visiting him.
Yeah. Disdained. That's what it was. Disdained?
Why do you thought that is awful? That
wasn't a word you meant to use, Robin?
Are you sure?
Disdained to visit him. I wanted to catch
him in his, Incredible Hulk,
trousers, but Well, I'm sorry. You had your
chance. You missed out.
Yeah. It's interesting you say that though because
there is, quite a few electric cars around
here. And I was caught walking in the
middle of the road with a car right
behind me, and I had no idea.
But he was a lovely fellow and didn't
beep or anything. It's just I suddenly oh,
there is a car behind me. Yes.
Yes. But there is one that makes this
weird
noise and it's obviously artificial. It's it's very,
I don't know. It's it's it's weird but
it sounds so futuristic and cool. I quite
like it. I listened to a radio four
program
about sound engineering and the future of electric
vehicles. And, yeah, there's a lot of thought
that goes into them and they are as
kind of,
as much about the brand as the actual
kind of make of the car. So, you
know, Porsche and BMW and all of these
are gonna be having
distinctive kind of signatures.
Like a futuristic
growl. Yes. Yeah. But obviously, it has to
be simulated because it has to go up
and down with the acceleration and stuff. I
thought the tram sounded like that. That's all.
But yeah. Thanks. Alright. Well, I'm not in
charge of the trams, Robin. I I What
can I tell you? I don't know. I'm
not a tram engineer. But, I'll take the
exam and I'll get back to you. But
Yeah. Well, next time you hear one, let
me know. Feedback in a future show. Okay.
Yeah. I'm just glad that Robin brought it
back around again to prove our point, Sean,
when we talk about how posh he is,
and and the first two vehicles he talks
about are are, you know, BMW Porsche. Porsche.
Yeah. Yeah. That's right. You know? That's how
he rolls.
I remember a couple years ago, this is
way, way off topic, but I think we've
already passed that point, Yes. With with this
conversation. But, I remember when when you guys
were investigating,
your your benefits so you can get there
in The UK and vehicle reimbursement.
And I believe, if I remember correctly, the
first couple vehicles Robin was looking at was,
I can get a BMW.
I can I really? I could do this.
Oh, Robin. I do recall that actually, Robin.
So, you know Robin, what car have you
got?
We had we had, for the longest time,
an UGA five.
Oh, right. Okay. Which
a very long time ago, when we first
bought it, half price because it was a
couple years old, it was a Peugeot five
double o eight.
Massive seven seater with a big boot space.
But then the letters kept on dropping off.
And it's a good one while. It was
an UGA five. It's where I'm at. At
this time in my life, I have a
big boot space as well.
Now it's a completely anonymous. It's like a
stealth car.
Have you not updated?
No. Are we are we We're gonna drive
you guys really talking about cars.
Yeah. And I still need a seven seater
from time to time. But, yeah, at one
point, we'll just go with the I don't
know what what's a Ferrari electric one
with gold gold knobs. That's what I'll go
for.
Gold knobs. There we go. There's the episode
as well. Well, thank you. I think I
think we're done. Note, I think we're finished.
Wow. Okay.
So I didn't lose control as badly as
I, feared that I might.
Excellent job. All the way. We Ending on
that start. Start.
Yes. Exactly. So no. I I Good luck
when Steven's on. Yeah. Well, that's the thing,
isn't it? I'm already being teased on the
Internet and getting emails saying, so how are
you gonna do that when Steven's on the
show? What what's that gonna be like? I'm
like, I don't know. But, I've done it
before. I have hosted a show with Steven
as a guest before.
Excuse me. But it has been a while,
so we'll we'll see how that goes when
he is available. Because right now, he is
he is, like, neck deep in in stuff
at AMI audio, I think, right now and,
trying to get things going with He's juggling.
All kinds of shows and things. So we'll
talk about that whenever we can get him
on the show. And Sally Clay too. Shout
out to Sally Clay. She's gonna be doing
a master's program and,
is is gonna be at uni and, as
she says, and,
going to be, yeah. She's gonna be busy.
What are you saying? That's what it's called.
Well, that it's well, I mean What do
you call it? As she says, because she
said it. Well, I mean, I call it
uni or university or Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait.
No. Let's let's let's nail this down. Oh,
no. In America I'm trying to uni this
thing. Yes. I know. Do you call it
university
or do you do you ever use the
shortening of uni?
Now the question is
Tim. Don't lie.
Now,
see, I'm of two minds of this, and
you guys know this because it's a pet
peeve of mine that
some Americans
aren't,
familiar with certain terminologies from other countries. And
and you guys know I I try to
be,
somebody who's aware of of things. So I
have said it personally a few times just
saying it.
But, generally, is it said
No. It's not. He's doing it for us,
Sean. No. Yeah. Thank you. Sean can tell
you. I was like that before you people,
actually. I I what most of the shows
I people. That's it. I'm off. That's it.
Wow. See what you've done to me? Now
you're you're turning me into Steven is what
it is. Now I know how Steven
gets the way he feels sometimes. No.
Jeez.
No. But well, you know what? Never mind.
We're just gonna end it right there. Yeah.
Before I get in any kind of trouble
that you guys cause.
Anyway,
I think I'd like to thank you both
for being on the show. I I I
think I do. Yeah. I do. I I'll
thank you for being on the show. Thank
you, Tim. It was a pleasure.
Fantastic.
If anybody so much. Oh, I appreciate it.
Thank you guys for being here again. And
if anybody hasn't already, go check out Double
Tap. Go check out the echoshow..dot,
Sean of the Shed.
My gosh. I'm accessible to round table.
The the the random,
audio pieces. We are? I mean, yeah, where
wherever you can find us, just find us.
If I if I can list them all,
I'll try to put them all in the
show notes. We'll see.
Oh, that reminds me. Sorry. Shaun of the
Shed, you'll find under the name AMI
Accessible,
Audio, I think.
AMI Exclusives. Accessible. Exclusives. Thank you. Thank you.
Sorry. Thank you. Yes.
Edit point.
Or not. Maybe maybe I'll leave that in.
But,
yes. But, anyway, no. But, yeah, thank you
guys so much. And, definitely, everybody out there
listening, try to find these guys wherever you
can. You'll definitely,
you know, feel better for it, and, you'll
you'll Well, no guarantees. You'll get a lot
out of it. But, no. Thanks again, guys,
for being here, and I look forward to
getting us all back together
again in the future.
Thanks, Tim. Gorgeous Tim. Thank you. Bye. Where's
the actual music? Play it. Hit the button.
No. I'm I'm not no.
First of all.