It's time for Tech Tuesday with Rich Tomorrow. Rich is heard Saturday's eleven am to two pm right here on KFI.
He's the kt LA tech reporter, heard.
Every day or seen every day Instagram at, Rich on tech website, Rich on tech dot TV.
Good morning Rich, Hey, good morning to you.
Bill.
I'm just checking to see if Apple Maps had changed the Gulf of America. Yet doesn't not on my phone Google Maps has I know that?
Yeah, I'm wondering. You know what. I guess it's going to go.
It's going to hit because, as I've often said, as America goes, there goes the world in many many instances financial and this one. It depends on how much pressure Trump puts on this. He may very well say that to a country, especially a small country, if you don't call it Gulf of America, we are going to invade you in what ype you out completely? So I think they're yeah, I know, I think it may be really serious. Okay, let's get to a couple of topics, and that is
T Mobile expanding, Starlink star Link satellite connectivity. And now we're going to see the majors Verizon AT and T users. I guess be able to use Starlink. I guess they move over. Hey, this is the I know Starlink is Elon Musk, and I'm assuming this is one of the profitable ventures. This is part of visionary of Musk. Tell me if I get this right. The satellites that are
going up are about the size of a shoebox. Matter of fact, I understand that after you buy shoes, he actually uses the actual shoe box, and they are all over the world. So he puts one of his spacecraft up. Out they go like, you know, little bugs, like a swarm of bees, and then they connect.
First of all, will you explain what's going on with that?
Yeah?
So, I mean traditionally we've had satellite connectivity for you know, many, many things, right news radio. You've even had satellite internet for many years, and satellite phone calls. The difference was those satellites were big and slow. So if you had something like Hughes, you know, via sat in your backyard, it was mostly reserved for people who are desperate because the connectivity was so slow and it was fixed by the way. So what Elon Musk did and what Starlink
did was they're launching many many tiny satellites. Like you said, so they're almost blanketing the Earth with these satellites, which gives you a faster, better signal everywhere. So right now I'm looking at t mobiles website. They've got four hundred and fifty one satellites launched so far, and just to give you an idea, they're going to keep going into
the thousands, because that's what Amazon's doing as well. This year they're going to start launching their first I think they said eighty three planned launches for this year and they're looking at like thirty five hundred satellite So this is big business. It keeps a lot of people employed. It's also connecting the world in an entirely new way.
So if you look at what you just said, with the profitability and all this stuff, we are just at the beginning where every single airline wants to have this connectivity on their planes because guess what, you can now stream full length movies, TV shows, downloads are just as fast as your house as they are up at thirty five thousand feet. Same thing with the smartphones. We've had this idea of the smartphone, it works, it doesn't work. Now, all of a sudden, starting now we have no more
dead zones. You could be on the top of the mountain anywhere in the US theoretically later on anywhere in the world and still have a signal. And right now it's starting out with just you know, texts and things like that, but soon it will be pictures. Later it'll be live video streaming wherever you want in the entire world. This is just unheard of, you know, in the past.
Now we're talking lower thorbid, which means I assume they have to act like cell phones, where the towers bounce signals off each other and then they go wherever they want.
That's number one and.
Number two. Aren't they going to run into each other? When we're talking about ten thousands.
Of these things?
I know someone clearly keeps a grid of where these things are. But if you look at like any animation of you know, what Starlink puts out or what Amazon's putting out with their project Kiper, I mean you just wonder, like, how the heck is there enough space up there for all of these satellites that they're blanking us or blanketing with us with. But somehow, Look, those are people much smarter than me, Bill that are figuring out how this
is all going to work. But at some point there's probably going to be talk about like how much space there is up there and how much room we have to put these things. I don't know. At this point. It's also new that I think that that's not really an issue.
Yeah, it's crazy stuff.
Maybe like the airline, there are certain altitudes that goes one way and then you go the other way.
Yeah, it's fascinating stuff.
And incidently, back to the first statement I made, and tell me.
If it's true or not, because I just this was just supposition.
It is profitable for SpaceX or whatever, the Starling Company, whatever he calls it.
I believe so, yes, it is profitable.
And because this is such a growing business, and by the way, so many of these airlines are I mean, there's just so many industries that want satellite connectivity in a fast way. So to me, the possibilities are endless. We were at CES this year and you know, by the way, every car is going to have this in the future, because already we're seeing some of the new car companies, like this car company Scout, they are building starlink into their new evs that are coming out in
a year or so. So again, I mean the money that is going to be flowing through this industry. This is why you see these launches every couple of day, you know, out of southern California or wherever they launch these things. Is because you know, and I've seen this. It's like ten or twelve little satellites all linked up together. It looks like Santa and It's reindeer up in the sky.
When they launch these things.
It's wild, it really is.
Okay, Rich, new cheap iPhone is expected this week, So tell me how you can connect the word cheap with iPhone, because I don't get it.
Well, considering the standard iPhone starts at about eight hundred dollars, this one is about half the price at four hundred, but this new one might be a little bit more. We're expecting maybe closer to that five hundred dollars price point. But this is the iPhone s. This has always been kind of their entry level phone, you know, but it's gotten better over the years. I mean, this one has
pretty much everything you need. It's got you know, oh well, it did have a home button until this time around. So now it's got the.
Face ID, it's got the latest chips that you got, you know, all the.
Apple Intelligence features. It's got USB Sport so that's nice, which.
You know all the modern phones have.
And again this is just this is Apple's device that when you go into the store and you think everything else is too expensive, and they say, well we do have this one, and you go, what's the what's the problem with it?
Like that does everything you need and you say, okay, we'll get that.
So what's the difference you have?
What's what's the differen thing eleven dollars phone and a five hundred dollars phone.
Well, really it comes down to the screen quality, you know, the really.
The quality of the device.
So the features that you you know, the higher end features that you get. So for me personally, you know, comes down to the screen. It comes down to It used to come down to the processor, but they fix that as well. So and now of course you're getting the Apple Intelligence which is interesting. So without seeing the actual device just yet, I can't tell you like what you're not getting, but at this point it's it's just
your basic phone. They've added so much to this entry level, entry level model that it's a really good value for the price. And unless you are a super super duper power user that needs all of the lenses on the camera.
You know you'll be fine with just this.
Yeah, I mean it's I'm looking I'm getting a new phone.
Of course i am.
Because one of the things I love about Apple is when the battery goes south, the battery goes south, and you have a deal with T Mobile and they have a deal where you're not paying interest.
They add twenty eight cents to.
Your bill and before you know it, your fifty six you own the phone or whatever the hell they do.
So they make it very easy to buy a phone.
But the way you describe it is what am I doing with an eleven hundred dollars phone when I can get everything there.
I don't care about pictures.
I'm not looking at broadcast quality video or commercial photos. You know, it makes no sense for me to spend eleven when I can spend five. Boy, I feel like I'm more on Thank you for this segment.
Well look, I mean, look, we'll see when this phone comes out, but yes, this is I think there's pressure on Apple from the Android side of things, where there are so many devices out there in a wide range of price tags that they have to compete and put this out. And by the way, it's still a great phone. It's you know, if you look at the real nerds like myself, we would you know, we would be like, nah,
this is not for us. But for the average person that's just you know, needing their phone to check their messages, you know, take a picture or two. Again, it's really not going to be that bad. And especially with all these features they're expecting to add to this phone, it's you know, it's really you're giving up the camera quality.
That's the main thing here.
Yeah, so the speed, for example, you're browsing, the speed is going to be.
Just as fast.
It's a all the features, I guess I and I just don't care about pictures.
I mean, I just don't. There's no one I want to picture of.
Well, it's also smaller screen, so it depends, you know, it's not the screen's not as big as the standard phone.
So that's another side of it.
Okay, okay, I'll buy that.
I think Apple has a lot of success with this phone.
Now.
One of the reasons I pay a premium for iPhones and I don't go to Android is because I'm just used to the iPhone, much like that PC. People don't go to Mac because they don't want to relearn how to deal with a computer. Is that one of the reasons that iPhone is one of the most valuable companies on the planet because people are just used to iPhones.
Yeah, I think inertia is part of it. But I think that the what Apple has done really well is the ecosystem. And I'm not talking all the accessories and cases and things like that, but you know, you've got I don't know, five hundred Apple stores, three hundred to five hundred Apple stores around the world where you can go into and you know, get help. I mean, that's
that's invaluable. I mean I remember I was in Japan and I had a problem with my hard drive on my computer, and I made an appointment with an Apple you know, genius bar person. Not even thinking if English would be spoken there, I just assumed and sure enough the person they give me it's like, you know, perfect English. So it's again it's like that level of service and
seamless service around the world. I think that keeps people with Apple and also knowing that their friends can you know, if you have a problem with it, you can ask your friends, but you know, you can learn the other operating system. It's really I go back and forth all the time. I try both, so it's it's a learned but that's you.
Here's our one last question, and that is how do you feel about buying those protection plans on and computers? Uh?
You know, I I typically do not buy protection plans because you're paying in advance for insurance on something that you don't know is going to go wrong or not. And so and I will tell you I carry every phone that I get, you know, sent and I don't you know, I usually.
Put cases on them. But I think if you have a good.
Case on your phone, you know, the chances are these things are much more durable than they ever have been. So the crack screen, you can, you know, it's less of a chance that that's going to happen. But I think it really comes down to it's a personal choice of are you willing to pay this premium for something that you may or may not need and you're adding you know, ten twenty percent onto the price of these things.
And these companies love them, by the way, because it's pure profit.
So I personally do not recommend them typically, But if you have money to burn and you don't care and you just want that peace of mind. I mean many many people do that.
Yeah, because and the reason is they all have money to burn and they just don't care.
Yeah, that's as it's a.
Peace of mind, Bill, I mean, that's really I mean.
Yeah, I understand you're talking about a peace of mind. I get that. I get that. That's why I've.
Always ridiculous less leave, paid off my mortgage on my home as quickly as I could, just to wake up in the morning, and I own my home, and it makes no sense, no sense.
I'm all about that. So I'm I'm I'm with you there, but I agree. It's like it's nobody nobody else.
Yeah, it's peace of mind.
All right, Rich We'll catch you on Saturday and again next week.
Have a good one.
Thanks Bill,