Oh My Gosh

Why the title? It feels like years ago when I applied for access to the beta test for Be My Eyes virtual assistant after seeing this video from Lucy Edwards (it’s actually about 4 or 5 months).

https://youtube.com/shorts/EF3lW2lRioY?si=x7hsNY0EkgJ0UBEj

Well I got an email yesterday morning (4 September 2023 at 9:12am) that I opened just before I planned go to bed at 1am last night to say I had access finally and got absolutely blown away by how well it worked. I didn’t get into bed until after 3am.

First thing I did this morning was try the virtual assistant again this morning resulting in the screen shot below to share what the app saw and the description copied from the app and pasted below the photo.

“The picture shows a wooden surface, possibly a table, with several fabric pieces on it. The fabric pieces are in the shape of hexagons and have different patterns. One of the patterns is of a zebra with black stripes on a white background, surrounded by small green plants. Another pattern is grey with yellow and white geometric designs. There is also a stack of fabric pieces on the left side of the picture. The person who took the picture is wearing orange clothing and yellow sandals with white stripes. There is also a part of a white object, possibly a cabinet, visible on the right side of the picture.”

Is it a perfect description?

No! Not at all.

But…

It’s a much better description than I expected. I can reply, asking for more details. Offering corrections. And though it’s confused by the shapes as it’s a hexagon in the middle with triangles around the sides and diamonds to fill in to form the big hexagon it had a good guess. The green plants it mentions are actually birds (on the triangles) that are in a stylised flying pose and placed so they face all directions as their bellies all face the central hexagon. And the “grey with yellow and white geometric designs” is on the diamond shapes and I would describe it as yellow hexagons framed by lines echoing the hexagons in a darker grey on a light grey background.

After noticing how much my “good eye” was deteriorating (as noted in a blogpost yesterday) this gives me hope that I will be able to enjoy my fabric as the deterioration gets to the point I have no useful sight left.

https://wasthatadinosaurcouk.wordpress.com/2023/09/04/so-why-do-i-do-it/

I’m off to see how it interprets some of my more complex fabric choices like will it see the bear face made from foliage on one fabric, and the hidden creatures on another.

Until next time I will be saying “Oh my gosh” a lot I think.