Talking Technology with V I Labs

The International Association of Accessibility Professionals, in association with Vially, brought their EU conference to Dublin last week. David caught up with some of the speakers from the event to learn more.  

Vision Ireland’s group CEO, Chris White, calls for stronger leadership and enforcement of the European Accessibility Act, and explains why Vision Ireland made a complaint to the Irish Aviation Authority.

Susanna Laurin from the IAAP tells us about the organisation and its role, and gives her view on how the European Accessibility Act is working so far.

Shadi Abou-Zahra, from Amazon, tells us what it’s like leading accessibility for one of the world’s largest companies. How do you ensure accessibility across a company with such a wide variety of products? Shadi tells us more. 

We discuss Narrator, paper travel passes, and rodents in this week’s Tech News. And we tell you about a new course now available on Vision Academy.

All that and more on this week’s episode of Talking Technology.

Join the conversation with a WhatsApp voice note now. The number you need is +353 86 199 0011.

0:00 intro 
3:01 WhatsApp Voice Notes 
12:41 Chris White
21:40 Susanna Laurin
32:19 Shadi Abou-Zahra
42:43 Talking Technology News
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On this episode of Talking Technology, we’re discussing all things Braille.

Peter Claridge-Bowler tells us about the Brailliant BI 20 and BI 40 X Braille displays from Humanware. Are they any good?

Lina Kouzi from the Vision Ireland library and INBAF tells us about the new unified Irish Braille code, and what it means for those who have been using the Irish language Braille code previously.

And we catch up with Mairead O’Mahony to learn about the Vision Ireland Braille team and some of the services they provide.

It’s all buses and advertising in this week’s tech news, and we of course discuss the weather. It wouldn’t be an Irish podcast if we didn’t, now would it?

Send us a voice note with your thoughts now to +353 86 199 0011. 

0:00 intro (and a discussion on the weather)
2:48 Voice Notes
15:59 The V I Labs Braille team
18 53 Brailliant BI 20 and BI 40 x Braille displays
34:07 Unified Irish Braille
47:33 Talking Technology News
59:45 Outro
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On this packed episode of Talking Technology, we catch up with Rhonda Bassett-Spiers, the CEO of Jaws maker Vispero. We discuss what’s new in Jaws and Zoomtext, and we hear details of an entirely new product currently in development. 

We discuss Vispero accounts and changes to how Jaws and Zoomtext licences work, and could Vispero partner with or purchase Be My Eyes? We discuss all that and more.

Dereck Carolan joins us to share some of the services offered by V I Labs at Vision Ireland, also teasing some of the courses on the way this January.

We have coverage of the consumer electronics show in tech news, as well as discussion of major accessibility issues at Leinster House. 

Join the conversation with a WhatsApp voice note now. The number you need is +353 86 199 0011. 

0:00 Intro

3:14 Voice notes

22:18 An interview with the CEO of Vispero 

49:38 What is V I Labs?

1:02:52 Talking Technology News

1:18:29 Outro
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On this episode of Talking Technology with V I Labs, David and Joe discuss the Christmas movies and TV available with audio description. Is Frozen a Christmas movie? 

Santa joins us to discuss his master plan to move to the South Pole as a result of global warming, and shares the emotional moment when his Meta Glasses gave a beautiful description of Mrs Claus in the snow. 

Was Glide the lowlight of the year? And what on earth is happening at iRobot? 

Get the biscuits, chocolates, and perhaps a drink of your choice, and enjoy the 2025 Talking Technology Christmas special.  

Thank you very much for listening to our content this year. If you’ve found what we do of value, you can support the work of Vision Ireland with a donation by visiting vi.ie/donate. You can also tell them the podcast sent you in the comments section. 

We hope you have a super Christmas and New Year, and we’ll join you again in 2026. 

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On this episode of Talking Technology, we give you all the best bits from our Jaws and NVDA event which took place last week. What are the similarities and differences between these two popular screen readers? Peter and Brian put them to the test to find out.

David and Joe discuss the audio-described Toy Show, and it’s Android update time in tech news.

Send us a voice note with your thoughts now. The number you need is +353 86 199 0011 

0:00 Intro
2:33 Voice Notes
19:31 Jaws and NVDA Event
49:38 Talking Technology News
1:05:03 Outro 
Support the show