Blind Guys Chat

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’...

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 fu...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Blind Guys Chat would like to formally announce and warmly welcome Mohammed Laachir as our new permanent co-host. Mohammed brings a wealth of experience and gravity to this role - he is a former Martian Astronaut and a previous winner of the 2022 IDF swimsuit competition. Sjef and Larry (the BGC guide dogs) are pleased that there is now a responsible adult in the house. In other news, we are talki...

This week we’re delighted to have Stuart Lawler and Mohammed Laachir back with us. Mohamed has recently written an article for his LinkedIn page entitled "When the lights go out, an account of vision loss". It's a wonderfully insightful read and we highly recommend all our listeners check it out, whether they have a vision impairment or not. Check it out here: www.linkedin.com/pulse/when...

Read transcript Jan is on hiatus this week, so it’s a welcome return to Mr Stuart Lawler, a man who puts the “Hot” into Tango. It’s 30 years since Stuart was on the Irish Eurovision Song Contest jury and boy are we happy they never asked him back. Secret Garden were the winners for Norway that year with a song that can only be described as: mostly violin! But what happened this year in Basel, Swit...

It's a warm welcome back to our good friend Mohammed Laachir, who has literally just arrived home from Lyon - that's in France, don't ya know! And yes, he is just returning with his latest mail order bride. Did he use his Envision glasses to find her? Let's find out. Have you used the Chat GPT visual description feature? Share your thoughts with us about it: blindguyschat@gmail.com It seems Óran h...

Hello, our stainless-steel saucepans and welcome to ep 122 of BGC. We hope you had a lovely Easter break, if that is something you do. A big shout-out to Jan's father, as he is in hospital having broken his hip trying to realign the TV satellite dish on the International Space Station. Our advice - just go with cable! Our guest this week is the wonderful Debra Erickson, all the way from Portland,...

Read transcript Hello our spring flowers and welcome to BGC ep 121. We have a great show for you: Óran and Jan are talking about the new smart kid on the block when it comes to smart glasses: Echo Vision. Have you heard of these? Do you have a pair? Well, if you do let us know if you like them and are finding them of benefit in your daily life - email us at blindguyschat@gmail.com .   Our guest th...

Hello, our favourite animated friends, and welcome to the show. This week, Óran and Clodagh are just back from Dingle, County Kerry, where they and Larry attended the Animation Dingle Festival. Óran was thrilled because he got to touch the actual models used for the latest Wallace and Gromit movie 'Vengeance Most Fowl'. The film was made in stop-motion animation, which means amongst other things t...

Top o’ the mornin' to ye, our little leprechauns! Yes, it's Irish week all over the world and even the International Space Station is painted green this week! This week’s guest is Sarah Boland from CHAT, Freedom Tech, and Saint John of God. Sarah will tell us about FreedomTech, which is dedicated to ensuring that everyone with any disability, at any age or stage of life, can access affordable, up-...

Hello, our little sand dunes, and welcome to episode 118. Jan is just back from building his own pyramid in Egypt for his new summer house, and will be giving tours for all who would like one. So please form a disorderly line behind Larry!   Clodagh is very excited to hear that in Jan’s winter residence, there is an artificial ski slope called Snow World very nearby, and Óran is equally pleased th...

Hello our lovely movie stars, and welcome to another episode of “Jan, the movie star”. Yes we kinda sorta pick up where we left Jan last time, standing at the end of his massive driveway, waiting on his limo to take him to the premier of the film, ‘ I will see ”. ...well, he made it, and brought all the family, including Sjeff who was dressed up to the nines. Now the only question is, will there b...

Hello, grips and best boys (and girls!), and welcome to episode 116. We are chatting to Mercedes Stalenhoef, the director of a new movie called ‘ I Shall See ’, the premier of which will be happening in Rotterdam on February 2nd 2025. Mercedes, traditionally a documentary maker, has written and directed this movie which tells the story of a young woman who has become blind after an accident. The f...

Hello our fancy AI bots, and welcome to episode 115. This week we are talking about AI, and we have a fantastic panel of experts to bring us through the topic of AI and accessibility. We will be talking about Meta Ray Bans, Envision glasses, Apple Intelligence and even some existential questions. The panel (Brian Dalton, David Renstrom, Jesse Weinholt, Josh O'Connor and Mohammed Laachir) are well-...

Hey folks! Don't worry, we'll be back on January 16th, when we will be talking about everything AI. In the meantime, stay warm! The Blind Guys Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat Read transcript

Happy Christmas to one and all! We hope you have an enjoyable break this Christmas holiday season. This show is our annual, twice yearly, every 4 years BGC Christmas Quiz featuring some of our BGC listeners and guests. We have contestants from St. Louis, Boston, Scotland, Dublin and even County Clare in the West of Ireland. So, put the leftover turkey in the fridge, throw away those yucky sprouts,...

Hello our favourite sight capitalists, and welcome to episode 112 of BGC. We are honoured to be joined by Mr David Renstrom who has kindly agreed to leave the comfort of his North Swedish igloo to chat about the newest craze everyone is talking about: Meta Smart Glasses! David takes us through the design and functions of the glasses, and even gives us a tour of his fridge. Are these the Christmas...

Hello, our lovely election canvassers and welcome to Episode 111. Did you manage to survive Storm Bert last weekend? And did you know the storm was named by our weather colleagues in The Netherlands? Lucky it wasn't called Storm 'Sjef' - Woof!! Mohammed Laachir is back with us again and it appears he has been on a kind of holiday since he was last on the show. Yes, he is just back from pilgrimage...

Hello our wobbly hospital trolleys, and welcome to Episode 110 of BGC. It's a welcome back to Óran, fresh from his travels to the nearby hospital, all of 5 minutes away. Yes, it seems Óran is maintaining his hobby of having near death experiences every few years, much to Clodagh’s distress. But anyway, all is good now and he is back steering the HMS BGC directly into a cliff! Poor Jan is in bed an...

Hello, our little Halloween horrors, or maybe that’s just the hosts?! We’re back again for a show with a slight twist, and we’re not talking spooky goings-on - or maybe we are, because, Óran, our producer in residence, is missing in action for the first time in the history of this podcast! Is he OK? You’ll have to listen to find out. Hector, our beloved HR Director, has been busy arranging a new t...

Hello, our little delivery drones, and welcome to episode 108. This week Jan and Óran welcome back Mohamed Laachair and invite him to sit into the comfortable and fluffy guest-host seat. We think he really likes it. We kick off with news of the new AI companion from JAWS which is currently available on the web: https://fscompanion.freedomscientific.com . This new feature will also become available...