Reviews

The battery, for real this time Let me start with what works: battery life. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses Gen 2 claims up to 2× the battery life over Gen 1. In my use — a few photos, a video, message readouts, a couple of calls — I got through most of the day without panic about dying power. For someone with a disability who depends on the glasses to stay connected, that’s a game-changer: on Gen 1, if the battery died mid-day and I couldn’t swap or charge the glasses myself, all communication would fall silent. Now, that risk is much lower. Video capture has also been boosted: the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses Gen 2 supports 3K Ultra HD video capture (though photos remain largely unchanged). That’s a meaningful step forward for content capture use cases, whether for vlogging, POV clips, or s...

When Wall Street Journal tech columnist Joanna Stern remarked on Threads that the iPhone Air might be the perfect “bed phone,” it wasn’t just a throwaway comment. It captured something millions of us do every day — using our phones in bed. Whether it’s late-night doomscrolling, a quick YouTube binge, or simply setting an alarm, phones have become bedtime companions. The iPhone Air itself is Apple’s brand-new addition to the lineup — a model that’s significantly lighter and thinner than any iPhone the company has ever made, yet still carries over many of the Pro-level features. It represents Apple’s boldest attempt yet to rethink what an iPhone can feel like in the hand. For me, with severe muscle weakness, Stern’s phrase resonated even more. Because of the fatiguing effects of my muscle-wa...

Dictation on the Mac has often felt like a leap of faith. Apple’s native Dictation and Voice Control offer a path to speech-to-text, but accuracy issues, sluggish input, and awkward editing frequently interrupt productivity. Aqua Voice, a third-party, AI-powered dictation tool, aims to redress these shortcomings—and largely succeeds. How Aqua Voice elevates Mac Dictation Aqua Voice presents as a floating text box on your desktop. Trigger dictation using a pre-configured keystroke, speak, and see live transcribed text. When you’re satisfied, another keypress pastes the text into any application—whether that’s Mail, Notes, Slack, Word, or iMessage. At first glance, it’s remarkably straightforward. But under the hood, Aqua Voice runs on advanced AI models that achieve near real-time transcrip...

When Sainsbury’s Chop Chop launched across the UK in 2020, it promised convenience: groceries delivered within an hour for smaller, urgent orders. But my recent experience with the service was anything but convenient. Missing items, an overdue refund, a broken customer service system, and unhelpful overseas call centres left me wondering how such a big-name retailer could get it so wrong. Sadly, this isn’t just a Sainsbury’s problem—it reflects a growing crisis in customer service across the retail industry. What is Sainsbury’s Chop Chop? Sainsbury’s Chop Chop is a rapid delivery service designed to bring groceries to your doorstep within 60 minutes. Unlike Sainsbury’s traditional grocery delivery, which offers scheduled slots and a wider range of products, Chop Chop focuses on smaller, ur...

The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses launched last October and succeeded the first-generation Ray-Ban Stories. They are a collaboration between Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, and Ray-Ban, the iconic eyewear brand. They are designed to offer a range of features, such as camera, audio, and AI, in a stylish and comfortable form factor. They come in two styles: Wayfarer and Headliner, and various colours and lenses. They cost from £299 and are available in selected countries. While Meta does not explicitly market the smart spectacles’ accessibility potential, what sets these glasses apart from other smart wearables is their capacity to enhance accessibility and improve the quality of life for disabled people. This blog post reviews the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and explores how...

In today’s digital world, talking instead of typing has become a game-changer. With voice dictation, you can easily turn your spoken words into written text, making tasks like sending emails and messages super easy. And what makes this magic happen? Microphones! These little gadgets aren’t just extras; they’re the heroes behind clear communication. A good voice dictation microphone is like the secret sauce that makes talking to your computer more accurate and efficient.

When it comes to home security, there are a lot of options out there. From traditional alarm systems to smart video doorbells, it can be hard to know what’s right for you. One product that has recently caught my attention is the Ring Intercom. A major reason this smart tech product interested me is because of upper limb disability I have never been able to pick up and use the communal intercom in my block of flats. In the 32 years I have lived here it has been a constant source of frustration, and security concern, that I can’t have two-way conversations with people who ring my doorbell from the front entrance. So when the Amazon-owned company Ring announced in September it was launching a new intercom that works with the Alexa smart assistant I couldn’t wait to try it out. Rin...

Freedom: the ability to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, with the minimum of fuss. It’s what I value most in life. And Speechware’s TwistMike means I get to enjoy a lot more freedom. I have muscular dystrophy, which means I can’t take to the keyboard to type emails, Facebook updates, or WhatsApp messages – things we all take for granted these days. Instead, I use speech recognition software like Nuance’s Dragon Professional, and Apple’s Voice Control app, to get things done. Whilst I have been using the TwistMike as a table microphone plugged into SpeechWare’s 9 in 1 TableMike base you can also use it around your neck, or even clamped to a wheelchair. It offers freedom and comfort because you don’t have to wear anything on your head and in your ears, no battery to charge, ...

Last year I reviewed the TwistMike by SpeechWare, a company with a strong reputation for professional microphones in the speech recognition industry. I was amazed at the accuracy of my voice dictation when using the company’s longest and most flexible microphone boom. The TwistMike solved a problem I’d been experiencing for a long time; being unable to sit comfortably close enough to the microphone capsule to help with accurate voice dictation when using speech recognition applications like Dragon Professional, and Apple’s Voice Control. However, whilst the TwistMike certainly helps with getting close, it does come with one fairly major compromise – and that’s the amount of deskspace it takes up. It’s a large beast at 30 inches long and takes up quite a lot of...

After three months of beta testing over the summer Apple has released iOS 14 to the public. It includes a range of new features, including widgets on the Home screen, an all-new App Library, and much more. Having tried the software over the past couple of weeks this is my take on the good, the bad and the work still to do to make iOS 14 and the iPhone accessible for people that have a difficult or impossible time using their iPhone with their hands. I have a severe physical disability, muscular dystrophy – a muscle-wasting disease which leaves me effectively quadriplegic, unable to do much with either arms or legs. I rely on my voice to control and interact with my Apple iOS gear. Phone calls iOS 14 introduces a minimised phone call pop up that doesn’t take over the entire screen, wh...

SpeechWare is a Belgian company with a great reputation in the speech recognition industry for professional microphones that are regarded as among the very best you can get. I have been using the company’s USB 9-in-1 TableMike for about three years and have always been impressed with the accuracy of dictation when using it with Nuance’s Dragon Professional Individual 15 speech recognition software. You can read more about the USB 9-in-1 TableMike in this excellent online review. Before I discovered the TableMike I had used many different kinds of microphones, including wired and wireless Bluetooth headsets, with fairly mediocre results when it comes to dictation accuracy. Few consistently delivered the 98 per cent plus accuracy, which should be the minimum acceptable for speech...

Echo Frames are an Amazon Day 1 product released earlier this year. Day 1 products are pilot products for testing that may or may not get released to consumers. In autumn 2019 Amazon announced it would be launching smart glasses with Alexa built in called Echo Frames as a Day 1 product. The company invited people to register their interest to get the glasses at a lower price than what the full price will be if they get released to the public. As a early tech adopter I couldn’t wait to get hold of them so I registered for an invitation on the Amazon website but didn’t receive an invite to purchase the device at a reduced $179.99 preview price until mid July. I am based in the UK and was surprised that despite making my location known, when I registered my interest in testing the...