Facebook has a sneaky new way to track you. Sam Sung ready to show off their new phones. I'll tell you when do you still want a physical keyboard for the iPhone? A new gadget can help. Plus your tech questions answered. What's going on on richdmiro and this is Rich on Tech broadcasting live from Los Angeles coast to coast. This is the show where I talk about the tech stuff I think you should know about. It's also the
place where I answer your questions about technology. I believe that tech should be interesting, useful, and fun.
Let's open up the.
Phone line for the first time in twenty twenty four. Phone lines are now open at triple eight Rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. I can see Kim blowing the dust off of the board getting those phone calls back up and running for the first time.
Give me a call.
If you have a question about technology, email also open. Just go to Rich on Tech dot tv hit contact. We got some great guests this week. Brian Kamiski, futurist at CTA, is going to talk about what to expect from this year's CEES twenty twenty four in Las Vegas to Tana Jordan, author and founder of Parenting in a
Tech World and Bark Technologies Chief parent Officer. We'll talk about what parents need to know about child and teen safety online, especially if you got them some new gadgets over the holidays, and Chris Hoffman from the Windows Intelligence Newsletter is going to join to chat all things Windows, tips and Tricks.
Well, I hope you are having a happy new year.
This is the official kickoff to year number two of this show. They said it wouldn't happen. No, I'm just kidding. Nobody said that, but I'm sure some people wondered. But here we are, year number two. Very very exciting to be kicking off a whole another year of this show with you. I am It's been an amazing run so far, it really has. And honestly, I come in here every weekend just looking forward to this being over. No, I'm kidding, just I got a lot more jokes in the new year. No,
I look forward to this. You have no idea. I think about this show every day of the week, mostly because I'm wondering what I'm going to talk about for three hours. But it really goes fast, and I sit there and I told my wife yesterday, I said, you know, three hours sounds like a lot, but it goes really fast, and there's so much I've got a whole list of things I want to tell you about today. This week, as part of our New year, we did something different.
We got a dumpster at the house. Now, I know this sounds weird, but my wife got this idea from her sister to get a dumpster, literally, one of those like industrial dumpsters you see at like a job site. We got that outside of our house. No, we're not doing construction, not doing anything special. We just wanted a cleanse and we cleansed. We just threw out everything, all the stuff we had moved to our house years ago, and we had boxes we had still not opened.
We just tossed him into the dumpster.
Everything that, you know, all that stuff that you just say you'll figure out one of these days. You put it in the garage, you put it in the back of the closet. We just got rid of it. It's like, you know, what, if we haven't needed it at this point, we are never gonna need it.
So it was great.
We feel more accomplished at the beginning of this new year. Than we ever have in our lives. So I highly recommend the dumpster method. It really makes you feel good. And we were brutal. We threw out so much stuff. In fact, my wife just texted me and she said, Rich, you know, we threw out our kids karate shirt like his literally his karate shirt in the closet. So now they're going to karate and he has no shirt. He has to get anyone. So us throwing everything out has now cost me more money.
Very very exciting.
Well, I mentioned this is the kick off off to the new year, and right in the new year, what does it start with?
Every year?
Cees CS twenty twenty four is happening in Las Vegas. Many of my tech friends are flying there as we speak. I will be heading to Las Vegas to show you and talk to you about everything I will see in the next week. And it's pretty wild. I had to go back in my notes and check I've now been covering CES for sixteen years. Who I can't believe it's been that long. So I looked up my first video. I was working for c neet at the time my
first CS. I was in New York and I looked up my first video I did, and it was hit the ground running. I was there for eleven days in Las Vegas and it was wild. I mean, talk about being thrown into the fire. I mean it was just like NonStop. I did have a lot of help, which I think was great with c NET. They had a lot of producers that they assigned you and stuff like that, so it was really helpful. But I found my first CS video I was hosting with Veronica Belmont, a show
called Crave. Veronica was like one of the superstar personalities at CINAT and so just getting to do anything with her was like incredible for me because I was like the new guy and she was the person that was just she was like a superstar. She was there for a long time and ended up leaving and now I think she's at Adobe. But anyway, sixteen years ago, first CES. Then I kind of looked through all my videos that went viral over the years. I remember my very first
viral video from CS. It was in twenty nineteen. It was a fold of It was called the foldy Mate. This was a laundry folding machine and the video is only about I don't know, thirty or something seconds, but I remember posting this to my Instagram or my Facebook or I think it was Facebook back in the day, and I had never seen anything like this. The video is fifty four seconds and I was like, this looks interesting, and I just posted. I said, this is the laundry folding.
This is the laundry folding robot dreams are made of. And it went wild. I had never seen a video go that viral in my entire career thus far. And I just watched the numbers just go and go and go, and every single person, you know, it was shown on TV across the world, and the company that made it out of Israel, they were like, do you want to come to Israel, and like come to our factory and this and that, and I don't know what happened with the machine. I don't know if it ever like saw
the light of day, but that was pretty wild. In twenty twenty, it was a pizza making robot that went viral. So this was an AI pizza machine and it was called Picnic. And of course this was twenty twenty, so four years ago. AI and this machine. I watched it make the pizza. I got the video, I posted it and people went wild. I tried the pizza. It was actually pretty good, and it was fully automated from start
to finish, and so that was really interesting. Now, in twenty twenty one, it was a pandemic year and so CS actually called me to host. They were doing a virtual cs CS Digital and so I actually went up to Seattle and hosted the entire show, which was not in person, it was all virtual, and I hosted it with my friend Brian Tong and I Justine and we
went up there and it was so great. We had such a good time, and it was it was at the Microsoft campus, so we actually did it inside this cool studio that was fully.
Virtual and it was just it was wild.
And so that was CS twenty twenty one, and of course I had to get a lot of permissions to do that form my TV station, but it all worked out. They thought it was pretty awesome. In twenty twenty two, it was another robot. See the trend here they're all robots. This was a Mica and this was a robot that I couldn't tell if there was a person behind the scenes talking for the robot or if it was an actual real robot.
But it was so humanistic. Is that a word humanistic, and it just the way it moved, the way it flowed, the way.
It answered questions, and this thing went wild online. You can always tell a good viral video when everyone just steals your video and re uploads it to their website and it still goes viral, And so that was really an interesting one to watch as well. Now last year it was twenty twenty three, it was all about this color changing BMW. So BMW had this car that they covered in e ink display panels and so it didn't change. I don't think it was like physic like actual colors.
I think it was just like black and white, like shades of gray, right, and so I think that's as I remember it. But it was basically like a whole bunch of Kindle displays that they put on this car and it could just change from like you know, black to white to gray to like anything in between. And so the comments on that were just wild. You know, talk about car chases in LA. We've got a black car on chase. Oh no, we've got a white car on chase. Oh no, it's a gray BMW on chase.
So that was pretty wild. And there was two videos that went kind of viral, the Ring Carcam, which was the first ring cam for your car. It's like kind of like a dash cam. And then the ring drone, which is this little ring camera that flies around your house. And so that launched and I don't think it ever really did very well, but the carcam did. And by the way, I started this very radio show. So I remember I had to cut my CS short. Typically at
CS I will stay maybe an extra night. This last year, I had to come back so so nervous about starting this new radio show, but I was excited because I would have so much to talk about because it was a brand new show and I had just been to CS. So a little trip down memory lane, you know, I feel like anything before twenty nineteen. There's a big gap between two thousand and six and twenty nineteen. I'm sure there's more things that kind of went viral or that
were notable, but I couldn't find them very quickly. All right, coming up on today's show, a Verizon settlement. Did you get the email? It is very real. You might have up to one one hundred dollars coming your way, but first it is your turn.
Give me a call.
Your calls coming up at eight eight eight rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four two four one zero one. You can follow me online. I'm at rich on Tech. Give me a call if you have a question about technology. My name is rich Tamiro and you are listening to rich on tech Thurman in Winchester, Massachusetts.
You're on with Rich.
Yes, I guess good morning for you. Going for me. I was thinking about especially from Verismon where I've had some you know, signal drops the last few months to uh subby. I first I thought, I go AT and T, just try out that network, But then I understand there are things like pure Talk that use the AT and T network, and they've now added FOURIGN coverage, so that's good.
So I'm I'm tempted to make the punge, but I just wonder if you've had an opinions on these discount wild wireless carriers that are piggyback on the main network.
Great question, and I will tell you this off the bat. I trust one of these mv and o's to my mom, So if it's good enough for her, believe me, I think they are good enough for everyone. Now Here is the main difference. Okay, So with the main carriers like a Verizon, an AT and T or a T Mobile. They want you on one of their fancy unlimited plans which includes a lot of stuff. It includes Netflix, it includes mobile hotspot, it includes some sort of foreign roaming.
So it's all about getting you on that big unlimited plan. And also they have a lot of discounts with phones, and people get their phone through the carrier. I feel like the mv and o's are kind of a play on your budget, so you can get more for your money if you're bringing especially if you're bringing your.
Own phone to the table.
And a lot of these mv and o's have their own phone deals as well. Now, what's an mv and O mobile virtual network operator. There's only three networks in the US. That's AT and T, T Mobile, and Verizon. All of these other companies that you hear advertised are running on their networks. Now, the downsides of something like an mv and O is really you have to check out the plan to see what you get and what
you don't get. So there are some people that believe that AT and T or Verizon or T Mobile will prioritize their highest paying customers first and then so if you're in a really congested area, you may not get the top speed or the top service in that area. Now, I will tell you I have a test line for Mint Mobile, and I find that it is excellent. It really really works very nicely. And I've tested many other mv and o's over the years, and they're really good
as long as you know what you're getting. Some of them have limited minutes, some of them have limited data, some of them may not have you know, all the little perks of those unlimited plans, But if you know what you're getting for that price, it's a really good value. So Thurman, I have no problem recommending that you switch to one of these, and look, if you don't like it, you can always switch back. Some of these, you know, or almost every single one of them is month to month,
so you basically pay for it. You're kind of paying in advance, and that's it. They just billy every month with something like a Mint Mobile.
Some of them give you.
A bigger discount if you pay for more than one month at a time.
But it's a new year.
A lot of these companies are giving deals right now, and so I think you'll be fine. And if you want to try an AT and T, you can actually go to a website called whistle Out Whistle whistle out dot com and they will help you compare all of the different sell plans out there. The website again whistle out dot com, and you can say if you want it to run on the AT and T network, or the Verizon network or the T Mobile network. A lot of the mv and os run on T Mobile. That's
probably the most common one. AT and T is probably the second most common, and then Verizon is probably the least common for mv and os. The main one that they've run is their own, which is called Visible, and that's basically you know, when Visible first came out, I interviewed the CEO Visible, and I couldn't even believe it. I said, how are you offering Verizon's network at a fraction of the price.
I think it was like thirty bucks a month.
And the big thing was that it was limited in your speed, So your speed was download limited to about five megabits per second. They've since done away with that, but that was kind of like the delineation. If you want the fastest Verizon network speed, you got to go with Verizon. If you don't really care, and you want to save a bunch of money and pay thirty dollars a month, go with visible. So great question, Thurman to kick off the show for the new year.
Appreciate the call, all right.
Speaking of these different cell phone companies, Verizon, a lot of people have emailed me saying, I got this class action settlement email.
Is it legitimate? Yes, it is legitimate.
If you get this in your email, you do need to file a claim by April fifteenth. You can get up to one hundred dollars from Verizon if you were a customer between January first, twenty sixteen and November eighth, twenty twenty three. And the whole lawsuit is related to these administrative charges on their wireless accounts.
These were accounts that they.
Charge fees that someone said, I don't think these fees we were good or they weren't legitimate whatever. All of these class action settlements. The company is not saying they did anything wrong. They're just saying, look, we don't want to deal with this. We're just going to put a whole bunch of money towards this. We're going to give everyone a hundred bucks and you don't get to file a claim personally against this. That's how class action works.
I'm not a lawyer, but that's how I understand it. So when you get this one hundred dollars, you're giving up your right to file a bigger claim against Verizon for these administrative charges. Happens all the time. There's another one right now with Visio. I'll talk about that a little bit later in the show. But again, if you got this email from Verizon that was about this class action settlement, oh, I can't believe it as I'm speaking. I just got this email in my inbox for myself.
So I had an account with them, I guess during this timeframe, and I just got it. The email comes from do not Reply at Verizon Administrative Charge Settlement dot com. So if you haven't gotten it, it clearly seems like this is rolling out because I got a bunch of emails about it yesterday from people asking me. Now, I just got one myself. Richontech dot tv is the website. I'll put all the links that I talk about right there.
Coming up, Brian Kamiski, futurist at CTA, is going to talk about what to expect from this year CS twenty twenty four happening in Las Vegas this week.
Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich dam So here hanging out with you, talking technology and guess what. CEES twenty twenty four is just around the corner. It happens in Las Vegas January ninth through twelfth, and of course I will be there. Joining me now is Brian komiskey futurist at the Consumer Technology Association. They put on CS in Las Vegas every year. Brian, thanks so much for joining me.
Of course, thank you so much, Rich for having me. It's a pleasure to be here.
So tell me about CES and CTA. What's the relationship between those two, Yeah.
Of course.
So the Consumer Technology Association, we're not for profit trade association. We're the largest North America representing tech companies from your startups all the way to your global multinationals right representing cross the United States and Canada, just everything that is consumer technology. Beyond that, I probably most people know us best as the owners and producers of CEES, which is one of the largest in the world for technology.
So that's the relationship there between CTA and CES.
Okay, So CS is happening January ninth through twelfth this year. It's actually a little bit later than in previous years, which I kind of.
Like explain CS for someone.
Who has not been. I mean, I've been for many years. It is kind of like a tech circus, if you might.
The way I describe it is when you think about technology and gathering a lot of companies or exhibitors and innovation together, it's very nostalgic.
For me.
It reminds me a lot of like what one would read about from the World's Fair back in the day in Chicago, or another more.
Modern example is EPCOT.
Right, EPCOT stands for Experimental pro type Community of Tomorrow is what it actually was at Disney. So in many ways it has always felt like this big tent and I'm god, you said circus, like this big tent of every innovation you can think of, and it's not just consumer gadgets, it is also enterprise technologies.
We're also we're one.
Of the largest car shows in the world, but we're actually large mobility show because we include boats and even flying cars as well.
There.
So it's really this sort of every facet of innovation, from a spark of an idea all the way to a proven concept and product comes to CEES.
I mean I get some of my best story ideas for the entire year from the week that I spend in Las Vegas, and not just like the stuff I'm gonna show, but it's also like an understanding of you know, what are these companies kind of focusing on this year. Some of this stuff is early stage, so you attrack it throughout the year and maybe even into the next year.
Of course, it's a great way to meet people and to you know, meet people in person from around the world because a lot of these startups and different companies bring everyone in. How do you determine what sort of themes you are going to.
Have for that year's CES.
I don't think it will be surprised where you'll see every industry vertical, but the three technology trends that will really kind of act horizontally and cut across every industry vertical, so cut across gaming, digital, health, mobility, and others will be things like artificial intelligence, sustainability, and then accessible or inclusive tech design. Right, the idea of it's about addition, not subtracting, adding more people who can use your product regardless of either disability or to.
Make sure that you're representing people in your tech design.
Let's start with the AI aspect.
AI.
It's kind of like the Internet.
Back in the day when I went to CS, the Internet was built into every product that you could imagine.
You saw a mug, it has Internet for better or for worse for some products. So what do you see as being kind of interesting about AI at CES this year?
Yeah, of course, And so when you think about AI, I think it's important to start with, well, why has it been so exciting this year? A lot of that has been driven by generative AI and chat GPT. Right, it's a tangible way. I think a lot of consumers got to experience AI responding to them in real time and it's incredible technology. But it's just a slice of the overall ecosystem. So at CS you're going to see the entire ecosystem, and we have historically shown this in AI,
and that starts with chips. So what's the AI hardware that's going to power the AI innovations that you'll see, Think industrial metaverses to control factory floors, or even living represent our virtual representations of the human heart, to advance research on cardiological diseases, so that has so many applications out of its own right, we'll also see platforms, and what that means is more advanced chatbots or even digital humans that can serve in a kiosk and be responsive
in real time to any questions that you have if you're at an office or at an amusement park or something like that. Finally, we'll even see it in robotics, right, and that will range from those consumer robotics like your vacuums, or robotic baristas or countertop robots for your food, all the way to industrial robots for logistics. So it's going to be really every sort of underpinning. And then of course AI is going to appear in some unexpected ways.
You'll see it in your TV sets more and more displaced. A wireless TV provider will have AI shopping on board their TV sets, and you'll even see an AI electronic healthcare monitoring to reduce infection after surgery. So it's applications that are not just beneficial to make your life more fun, but also to benefit your life directly by maybe you know, reducing a hospital stay. So it's pretty impressive how AI is going to come about at CES.
What do you make of this drive, we've seen towards sustainability from the major tech companies that have been putting products into the world for many years, and increasingly they are thinking more about the materials they're using and also how those products can be recycled when they're done.
Yeah, of course, and I think that's been a consideration for quite some time if you actually look at it. The Paris Agreement was signed back in twenty sixteen and the target dates for for twenty thirty. We're actually past the halfway point now, so you're starting to see an acceleration of some concepts companies were already doing. You mentioned sort of packaging recyclable materials. That's always been part of
the consumer technology story, and you'll see that cs. In fact, one of the examples that I'm really excited to see person is power Foiled by Exeger. This is a flexible or customizable solar cell that you can put on everyday consumer electronics like headphones that have partnership with Urbanista. You can put it on GPS tracker enabled dog harnesses, and it's basically just solar empowering every.
Consumer gadget you have in your life.
That's one facet, right but we also see at CEES alternative power source innovation, whether that's green hydrogen from big players like sk or some of your changes in electric vehicle models on the show for at West Hall.
And then you'll even see more novel.
And experimental ways where there's a company that's going to showcase how do you harvest sound waves from ambient noise into electrical energy. So it's this larger story, all hands on deck towards this more greener tomorrow.
Let's talk about some of the accessibility kind of initiatives by these companies. We're seeing technology really enable so many amazing things for people of varying abilities. What can we expect to see at CS this year?
Innovation comes in two ways, right, see the revolutionary where you take these moonshot leaps in one place for a technology category, or it's evolutionary, it's iterative. Last year we saw some great advancements from Loril actually with their Hapta device which allows you to apply lipstick if you have limited mobility. Another story is Sony introduced their all Access
controller concept last year. It's on the market as of a few weeks ago, and this is a modular controller that allows anyone with limited mobility to be able to play a game. So this year where we're going to see it is you're going to see that continued advancement. So Garman is bringing their Venue three, which has a wheelchair mode on their wearable watch. When you think about wearing a wearable you kind of take for granted that tracks your steps, your physical activity if you're able to walk.
Now if you're in a wheelchair, you'll get those same stats.
We'll also see a rig that attaches to treadmills that a lot of people in wheelchairs that also be able to compete in esports or do physical activities in a sort of metaverse like environment. Beyond that, though, again it's sort of leveling up this concept of accessibility to think about getting more people included in the technology in terms of who's designing and how this is that inclusive nature.
These stories really about how do you add and build to your market and you know what it actually improves the bottom line. There's some recent report showing that you increase your revenue by one point six times if you focus on accessible inclusive design in your product.
So it actually has paysed dividends quite literally.
CS has certainly evolved over the years.
Can you give me some numbers to expect, like how many people attend CS, how many exhibitors are there?
Right now?
We're tracking for about one hundred and thirty thousand attendees right now, which we're really excited about. Last year was about one hundred and eighteen or so. But if you're going, you're also going to see more than four thousand exhibit companies as well as within that category, about twelve hundred of them are going to be startups.
And I hate to be the bearer of bad news for someone that's listening that wants to go, but you have to be in the industry.
It's not open to the public. Will they ever change that?
I mean, that's always a good question.
I wish I sent in the research apartment, so I can't speak to if they change the attendance policy.
But yes, it is industry for now.
Brian kamiskey futurist at the Consumer Technology Association.
Thanks so much for joining me today.
Of course, Thank you so much.
Rich All right, more Rich on tech coming your way right after this.
If you have a question about technology, give me a call triple eight Rich one oh one, that's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. This is episode fifty three of the rich on Tech Radio Show, celebrating our first show of the second year.
Pretty pretty cool.
If you go to the website richontech Dot, you can see everything I talk about. If you want to see what I'm talking about in real time, if you're listening live, you can go to rich on tech dot tv slash wiki. By the way, it's kind of cool, and you know, this is pretty standard with any website, but you know, you can see where people are coming in from. And as we speak, we've got people from Oliver, California, Oregon, Wyoming, Canada, Minnesota, Missouri, Chicago, Ohio, Washington, Virginia,
South Carolina, Georgia. So it is pretty incredible when you think about how this whole thing works. I sit here, I talk, and it just goes everywhere. It's it's amazing and I love the fact that what keeps me going on this show is the response I get from you. There is not a day that goes by that someone doesn't say, rich that thing you mentioned it worked out really well.
You helped me out.
I traveled here, I did that, and that's what it's all about. I don't know everything there is to know, but I can figure out the way to find the right answers. And what I love is getting these questions from you that helped me understand, you know, what's vexing people like, what is really challenging people out there in the world of tech.
Let's go to David in your Belinda. David, you're on with Rich.
Well, Hi, Rich, we're a long time We're longtime fans from Channel five and now on the radio, so thank you. I am looking to get a good camera phone and because on vacations I have a carried the camera and the phone, and I'm thinking, well, I want your opinion. I'm not that tanky, so you know, a point and shoot and good quality is what I'm.
Looking for for a cell phone.
Yeah, and I'm just looking at the Pixel Pro eight and the.
Fifteen Pro.
Okay, so iPhone fifteen Pro and then the Pixel eight Pro. Those are probably two of the top choices out there. I would throw in a third the Samsung Galaxy S twenty three Ultra, but I wouldn't get a Samsung at this point just because and I haven't talked about this yet on the show, but their event is happening in a couple of weeks where they're going to launch their
new smartphone. So I would actually tell you, David, right now as we speak, I probably wouldn't make any decisions right now until about maybe the end of January, if you can wait that long. Because Samsung's gonna announce their
phones on January seventeenth. That means they probably will come out, you know, a week or two after that, and I think that'll give reviewers like myself enough time to come up with a strong opinion on whether that is a contender for the best photos and videos outside of the Pixel or the iPhone. But let me tell you where I stand right now and the two phones that I carry on, well, I carry three, but.
They're you know, it's three I just mentioned.
But I will tell you that the iPhone overall, iPhone fifteen Pro overall takes the best.
Photos and videos. Especially when it comes to videos.
There is not a phone out there that can take a better video than the iPhone fifteen Pro. And that is not just my opinion. It is everyone I run with, everyone I talk to. It is just one hundred percent the way it is. So yes, it's an opinion, but it's kind of like agreed with by everyone. Now when it comes to photos, that is where there is a bit of a divide. So I will say after using the iPhone fifteen Pro, the Pixel eight Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S twenty three Ultra, they all have their
strong and weak points when it comes to photos. For just standard point and shoot, I really like the way the Pixel eight Pro looks, and I think that your photos pretty much every time nail it, you know, they just look really really good. I think the selfies look not so good. I think the iPhone really gets those. And when it comes to overall, the S twenty three Ultra is a really good camera for pictures, but there are some places where it lags a little bit. And
I would say for people they look really good. I mean just the skin tones and all that kind of stuff just look really nice and well done on the S twenty three. But sometimes people think that the S twenty three or the Samsung pictures in general, they look a little bit too saturated, a little bit too fake. So I think if you want something now, then maybe go with the iPhone fifteen Pro, and that's going to be a good mix of kind of everything.
You need. So if you want to wait though, until you.
Know mid January, end of January, that might be the best time to buy, just because we already know what the Pixel does, We already know what the iPhone does, but we don't know what that new Samsung does. And let's be honest, smartphone sales are kind of in the tank right now. They're not doing doing very well, and so I feel like Samsung really needs to bring it with this new phone to make it something that people want to go out and buy. And I know there's
gonna be a lot of AI built into it. That's kind of like the big selling point. And I'm just looking at the notes that you have right here. You'll currently have a Samsung A thirteen, So anything you get is going to be a very very big upgrade from that. Thanks for the call, David in your Belinda, and thanks for watching on KTLA and finding me here on the radio.
Eighty eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one.
If you want to hop on the phone and give me a call if you have a question about technology, So let me just mention this Samsung just kind of to finish that up. Samsung put out their invitation for Galaxy Unpacked twenty twenty four. It's gonna happen January seventeenth in San Jose.
I will be there. This is where we will see the new S twenty four Ultra on veiled. And again this is just stuff I'm going by. We don't know for sure that it's gonna be called that, but we pretty much do.
So this is gonna happen at ten am, and they said it's gonna usher in a new era of mobile AI.
So this is all about AI.
Of course, AI is the big buzzword both at CS and of course with every product that's gonna come out in the next couple of years. So the S series, S twenty four, S twenty four plus S twenty four Ultra will all have a dose of AI.
And what does that mean.
Well, they're promoting this new AI zoom functionality, so I guess your pictures will look better and you can also edit with AI as well. It's kind of very similar to what we've seen with the pixel But again I'm looking forward to it because I think Samsung really brings it with their phones and they kind of have like the best hardware out there.
I think the software for me leaves a little bit to be desired. It's like a little bit, a little bit too much, but we'll see. So there you go.
Samsung Unpacked twenty twenty four. All right, if you have Spectrum TV, you now get Disney Plus for free.
That's right.
If you have Spectrum TV, if you're paying Spectrum TV customer, you get Disney Plus for free. This is traditional TV. You have to have the Spectrum TV Select package and this is not something that you just have.
You know, you have to sign up for this. It's something you have to activate, but it is a free perk.
So if you have Spectrum TV Select, you can go to this website Spectrum dot com slash Disney Plus and you have to log in with your Spectrum account and then you can activate a free Disney Plus Basic subscription. That is the Disney Plus that has ads. I think it's about I don't know, six to nine dollars a month value. And you are going to get ESPN Plus as well for free in the next couple of months.
So if you have Spectrum TV, you're paying for standard you know TV that comes in through cable for your house or I guess even through the Internet. If you're doing the Zumo box, you now can activate a free Disney Plus subscription. You can find more information about that on my Instagram. I've got the step by step Instagram I am at rich On Tech. Just look for the
Disney Ears and you can find out more information. All right, Coming up, we have a great guest, uh, Titanya Jordan, just gonna talk about what parents need to know about child and teen safety. Plus, I'll tell you how to stop Facebook from tracking your web browsing. You are listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging out with you talking technology at Triple eight Rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. I hope you're
having a fantastic day. This is the show where I talk about the tech stuff I think you should know about. It's also the place where I answer your questions about technology. Coming up this hour Titanya Jordan, author and founder of Parenting in a Tech World and Bark Technology's Chief Parent Officer. T Tanya we've had on the show before. She has a great resource. She's going to talk about what parents
need to know about child and teens safety online. He's going to talk about incognito mode on the web browser too, because there's a lot of misconceptions about what that does and does not hide.
So we'll talk to Titanya in just a little bit.
Later on in the show, Chris Hoffman from the Windows Intelligence Newsletter is going to join to chat about.
Windows tips and tricks.
Plus I'm going to tell you how to stop Facebook from tracking your web browsing. They have a new feature that looks like it's helpful, but may not be depending on you know where you stand on that whole tracking thing.
Let's go to Fred in Pasadena, Fred Aron with Rich.
Hi.
Happy New Year.
Rich.
I have a question regarding communication platforms in the workplace. During the pandemic, my team organization, we transition to using platforms like Slack in particular, and it's been working very well and using it for over three years now. But I'm curious outside of that one, are there any others that you would recomen that had the same functionality, you know, so that I can use with my teams.
What what don't you like about Slack? What's it not doing?
I actually like everything about Slack. I like Flack, but my organization is also looking at other options like teams, even like hangouts, things like that. Yeah, I want to be sure that you know that I am in position to advocate for the one I'm using, or if there's another one out there that has other bells and whistles that I'm not aware of, that I can also take a look at those good question.
I think.
I mean Slack obviously kind of they created the market here. Before Slack, it was texting, email, It wasn't this unified platform for messaging that workplace is used. And Slack really started out with startups they would use it, and then I think corporations caught on later on, and you know, it's decently priced, it does all the stuff you want. And I think I personally don't use Slack, but I
think the appeal to me. And now it's owned by Salesforce, by the way, But I think the beauty of Slack is that it is it was created to solve a problem and it solved that problem really well.
And what's that problem.
Well, you know communication in the workplace, Email gets too crowded, chatting and text messaging is not really on the company, so it's it's kind of like outside of the company realm with this, you can search with this, you can have you know, company directories integrated, and all that kind of stuff, video meetings, audio meetings. I think what you're talking about the two biggest competitors are Microsoft Teams and
then of course Google Workspace. Now, I think what it really come down to is what you're using for the rest of your company. So if you are a Microsoft Office three sixty five company, you may want to look into Teams because Teams is going to do a lot of the same things that Slack does, but it's going to be more tightly integrated with all of the Microsoft products.
And the same thing goes with Google. If you want to use Google Chat and all the stuff that Google has to offer inside Google Workspace, that might be a better fit because again it's everything all in one place. And so I think that's what it really comes down to. What I've seen with companies is that they're sort of siding with whatever they use, whether it's Google, whether it's
Microsoft or some sort of third party solution. You know, Slack fits into those, but if you're using Microsoft or Google, you kind of want to stay in line with that because everything's going to be all in one place, So I think those are the three that are the main, you know, the main ones that I see people using. Of course, there's probably a thousand other ones out there.
But if you like and it's working, I don't see a reason to change it, because as an employee of a company, you know who wants change.
No one really wants to change things up.
And I think, you know, it's funny because we saw Zoom really take off during the pandemic and it's great. But then of course we saw some companies go to teams and then of course Google with Google Meet if they're using Google Workspace. So there's a lot of ways to do this, but it really comes down to how much grief do you want from your employees by making a major change in the way they message. And also, what are the other products you're using? Uh, does that
fit in with them? And are you paying extra? So if you're paying extra for Slack and you're paying for Google or Microsoft, it's probably better to just streamline it all and pay one price every month per user. Thanks for the question, Fred in Pasadena, appreciate it. Triple eight rich one on one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. Let's go to Karen in Charter Oak, California. Karen, you're on with Rich.
Hi.
Thank you, Hi?
What can I help you with?
Thank you so much for sharing all your new tech stuff over the years, and also, I mean everything from new tech to scams. I appreciate it.
Yeah, thank you.
I also want to tell you you and your family are quite adorable.
Ah, well, thank you.
You're welcome.
Okay, So we've had a book. We had a bunch of old computers in the garage. Before we got rid of them. My nephew removed all the hard drives. So I have a pile of hard drives. What can I do with those?
Now?
Can I get information off of those?
Uh?
Yeah you can.
It's uh it's going to require a cable or a doc. So if you go on Amazon and you look up let's see what can you look up? Hard drive to USB adapter? So if you look up what kind of computer do you have? Like a macor PC?
I have that?
No, not an I have. So if the brand is SA, B R, E.
And T okay, and what it's not working?
It's two point five to USB three point zero. No it doesn't. There's no like when you plug it in you have, like, no, what.
Would you call like, it doesn't mount the drive.
Yeah, and there's no graphical of anything.
To go on, like, it doesn't show that the drive is there, right, Oh? Interesting? How old are these drives?
Oh they are, some are fifteen years old.
Oh wow, Okay, that that could be it. They could be in a format that your new computer doesn't read. And if they're not showing up, do none of them show up?
I've tried. I don't know if I tried all of them, but I tried most of them. Yeah, and they do not show up.
None of them show up. Okay.
In that case, if they're not showing up, you might need the help of what's called a data doctor, And you can go on Yelp and search, you know, data doctor in your area and find one, you know.
Call.
What I usually recommend with Yelp is like call the top two and see which one you feel better about when you call and talk to them. If one of them gives you a better vibe, go with that person. But yeah, if they're not showing up on your computer, then it's it could be an invalid file format. It could be just that they're not you know, they're so old that it's just not working anymore. I'm not really sure. I've got a couple of old drives in the garage that I've been meaning.
To get rid of.
But if you don't need the data on these, then I would just recommend bringing them to a shredding company. So like you can look up an e waste company that has a drive shredder. And I know a lot of people keep these old drives around the house because they have personal data on them. They don't want to get rid of them, they want to erase them.
But you can.
I mean, you could drill a whole through them too if you want, or maybe take a hammer to them. Be careful with that that part of it. But if the if the drive doesn't work, or the DOC doesn't work, or the USB cable doesn't work, then maybe just get rid of these if the data is unnecessary, that's probably your second best bet after the data doctor. If you want this stuff off of them, you know, you got to go to a data doctor and see if they can reclaim that stuff. Good question, Karen, Thank you for
calling today from Charter Oak, California. Sounds like a school, Charter Oak. My kids go to Charter Oak.
It's very nice. It's among the wilderness. It's got some nice trees there.
All right, coming up, I'm gonna tell you how to do I have time to talk about Facebook?
No?
Right, I don't think so, Okay, I got time. Okay, So let me tell you about this because I thought this was a pretty big story this week. Facebook now has this new thing called link history. So the next time you open up a link on your Facebook mobile app on your phone, you might be presented with this new option that says, hey, do you want us to track the links that you have that you click on Facebook? And we'll put them in this link history for thirty days and that way you can easily go back and
find the stuff that you clicked on in Facebook. It sounds great, Okay, it could be helpful. But the other side of this is that they're using your link history to quote improve your ads across meta technologies.
What does that mean.
Well, they look at the websites that you visit and they sell ads based on that information. So if you're visiting a lot of sneaker websites or a lot of travel websites, they will then use that data to sell ads to you for sneakers and travel and so you can turn this off.
Now.
Facebook tells me that this is off by default, and so if you don't do anything, it's off. But it's kind of weird because the first time that you click a link, it'll say never lose a link again, and there's a little toggle switch that says allow link history and then the confirm button. Now on my phone, the allow link history was lit up, toggled on right, it was highlighted in blue, so that means it's on, and I would have to toggle the turn the toggle off,
and then press confirm to turn this feature off. So no matter what, you can turn this off if you don't like it by opening up the Facebook app, going into the menu, going into settings and Privacy, then settings and then browser and then toggling the switch next to allow link History off or on if you want to keep it on. I've got those instructions on my Instagram
at rich On Tech. Look for the It looks like a post with a click like an icon for a pointer, and also it says Facebook found a sneaky new way to track you.
Here's how to disable it.
So if you want to disable it, you can, but it's one of those things where if you don't mind the more targeted ads, then leave it on. But if you don't like the idea of someone tracking you more than they need to, you can turn it off. But again, it's called Facebook link history. You will likely see it the next time you click a link on your mobile Facebook app. This is only on mobile right now, So if you're on iPhone Android, then that's how you have to access this and turn it on or off. The
desktop it's not on there at this point. So anyway, now you know what that's all about, the next time you see it. All right, coming up, we're going to talk to Titanya Jordan about what you need to know about child and teen safety. Plus we'll take more of your calls at triple eight rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. If you want to link to something I mentioned, go
to rich on tech dot tv slash wiki wiki. Everything I talk about is posted in real time right there. My name is rich Dmiro. Back after this, Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology. I love data like this rideshare data from Lyft says where we went on New Year's Eve. Cities with colder winters and January tend to have a higher percentage of riders going out On Year's Eve. Buffalo, New York had the most four point three percent of all
yearly rides. Most popular destinations bars, restaurants, hotels, and clubs. Okay, no surprise there. But then they say some of the top places in various cities, which again, these lyft drivers and of course uber iwo, they know where people are going. They know popular places before we know popular places because they can look at the data. People stayed out about an hour later on New Year's Eve across the US, with Miami having fifty one percent of rides after three am.
Times Square partiers stayed out almost an hour later than last year. Maybe it was warmer in Times Square than it was last year. That looks miserable to me to stand in those like those pens they have for people in New York City like no thank you, Virginia Beach, Phoenix, and Indianapolis most likely to be hungover based on very short rides on January first, people didn't want to go anywhere.
I don't know what that correlation is, but whatever, and only zero point three percent of rides on January first were to gym's.
So I guess people lift says people postpone.
Their New Year's resolutions. Now, I don't know how many people are taking a lift to the gym on Your's day. I mean, aren't Jim's like near you and you drive?
But I don't know.
What do I know?
Anyway, Lyft always comes out with these like data points, which I think are pretty fun.
So that's why I shared.
We did take uber on New Year's Eve this year, and it was actually the easiest year it was to get it. In the last four or five years, we've been going to the same place and it always takes a while, you know, cars cancel on you. This year, but I think we went earlier than midnight, and that's probably why. Let's go to Eddie in Temple City, California. Eddie, you're on with Rich. Welcome to the show.
Hi Rick, Happy New Year, Happy New Year.
What can I help you with?
Stray with a problem?
Listen?
I have an iPhone ten, which is the ex YEP. When I go to the settings, it tells me that I still have like twenty or thirty gigabytes of storage.
Right okay, but.
Apple keeps bugging me, sending me messages telling me that I'm running out of space. I'm asking me to pay a monthly fee, which I refuse because I don't want my pictures on the in the cloud.
Okay, So.
The main question is maybe two questions. The first one, if I switch to Samsung, would they be bothering me with the same thing no? Or what can I do with iPhones to download my pictures like every I don't know, like every month somewhere.
Yeah, okay, so I mean you could do that if I mean the thing I recommend for that is called the I expand And at this point you can really plug any hard drive into the iPhone. But I think the sand disk eye that's the letter I, X, P, A and D. I think they have the best software for downloading your photos from the phone. If you're an Amazon Prime member, you can sorry you didn't want the cloud.
So okay, that makes sense. But you know, iPhone seems to have this weird thing with like the storage situation where people are getting that message that you're out of storage, and you know, they really just try to push people to getting cloud storage because the way the iPhone is set up, you can't really access the files that are on your phone, so you can't really know like what's going on, where things are, what's taking up space, what's
not taking up space. But the thing I would do before you make any changes, Eddie is go into your settings, go into your Apple ID. I'm assuming you have some sort of iCloud on your account, maybe not, but there's this thing called recommended for you, and there are a couple of ways to free up storage on there, so you can look at that under your recommendations.
But if you want to see the storage that's on your.
Phone, you can go to iPhone settings and then general and then storage.
Where is that? I just saw it there?
Why can't I find it about? And then it will tell your storage how much things are taken up. But let's see, I thought there was a storage on here. I just saw it, but I can't seem to find it at this point. Well anyway, so it's in there, and you know, I find the iPhone to be really
complicated with the storage situation. And believe me, it's just like you know, they just they want people to go to the cloud because they make it confusing on purpose, it seems now I don't know that for a fact, but on Android, I feel like it's very much more straightforward. You can look at the storage on your phone, you can see where things are stored, you can plug in
a drive, you can move things around. And you know, Samsung, they're in the hardware business mostly where if you look at Apple, yes they're in the hardware business, but increasingly services and software are a huge part of their revenue, and so they're looking to get people to upgrade to these you know, higher iCloud plans and all the other things they offer that are monthly subscriptions. So download the pictures to a flash drive. Make sure they're backed up.
That's the main thing. Make sure they are backed up. Thanks for the question.
Coming up next, we'll talk about child and teen safety online.
You are listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich Demiro here talking technology, hanging out with you at triple eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven.
Four to two four one zero one.
Joining me now, it's Titanya Jordan, author and founder of Parenting in a Tech World and Bark Technology's Chief parent Officer. Welcome to the show, Titanya, Hi, thank you so much.
For having me.
I should say, welcome back to the show. You were one of the early guests last year, so thanks for joining me again. Uh so you post all about child and teen safety online, So first off, tell me what Bark is all about? The company that you work for.
Sure, so Bark launched the safest smartphone for kids within the past year, which is incredible, and what's so incredible about it is that it has our tech baked into the smartphone. And so in twenty fifteen, Bark launched as an AI based software solution that alerted parents and caregivers to dangers happening in their children's social media, text and email. So we started with an app and then we moved to a smartphone.
Okay, now, now when parents think about you know, like I get this question like how do I monitor what my kids are doing on their phone?
Right?
So what can Bark do?
And I know with iOS and Android things are a little bit different, right, like what you can search and what you can scant? Can you explain the difference? Like what if a parent has if a kid has an iPhone, which of course a lot of kids want the iPhone, Like what can parents monitor on that?
Oh?
Great question?
So yeah, I will say, if you're listening to this and you have not yet bought your child a smartphone, please avoid the iPhone. That's the equivalent of giving your child a Ferrari when they turn sixteen instead of a very sensible Honda or Toyota. Apple is great for adults who need privacy, but it's very cumbersome for parents to
try to manage that. Said, Bark can monitor your children's iPhones and iPads and Apple watches to an extent, whether it's text, message, email, social media, camera, roll video, all
kinds of things, we can monitor it. I will say one of the most popular apps that children eventually want is Snapchat, and Bark isn't able to really monitor Snapchat on an iPhone, not because of Bark's limitations, because Snapchat has decided it doesn't want to open its API to a platform that could help keep kids safer on the platform.
The good news is that with Android phones and the Bark smartphone, we can connect to and monitor Snapchat, which is just one more reason why androids and the Bark phone are a better.
Option for parents.
My wife works with teens and she was telling me that Snapchat is everything. I mean, text messaging is not even they don't even care anymore. Like I thought it was all about, you know, for adults, this whole blue bubble, green bubble I message thing. But for teens it is all about Snapchat. And I think it's because of I'm guessing the fleeting nature of the chats, which I'm laughing, but it's really serious. It's like they you know, they like it because things disappear, right.
It's very serious. They do like it because things apparently disappear. But you know, one thing that we've really got to get across to everybody that uses tech is that anything you do online, even if the platform tells you it disappears, doesn't actually disappear. It lives on a server somewhere. You know, if you recycle your phone to get a new like, there's still data that lives on that phone, even if you wiped it clean. So it's important to get that
message across. Also, you know, kids love Snapchat not only because it has purported disappearing messages, but it also has for my eyes only, So if a parent does go into the app to try to see what's going on, they might not be able to access certain things that the child has hidden in the my eyes only vault.
Snapchat also has snap maps, which essentially gives anyone that you're connected to your real time location, which is not a problem if your child is only connected to three of their friends that they know and who are good people. It's a bigger problem if your kid has two hundred contacts and they only know twenty of them.
Wow. Yeah, that's an interesting one too.
What do you think is the most pressing kind of situation affecting teens and children right now when it comes to technology?
Ooh, that's ah, we need a lot more where we start.
Yeah.
Right.
Overall, it's the fact that parents and caregivers and educators and physicians and legislators currently cannot help protect kids digitally like they can in real life with seat belts and sunscreens and healthy diets, et cetera. There's a world of danger living deep in children's digital signal, and it is harming them, not at low rates, but at frequent rates. And it's the worst of the worst. Whether it's exposure to extreme violence, graphic sexual content, suicidal ideation, disordered eating,
you name it. Kids are encountering it at a much younger age and a much more frequent rate, and parents who care about them have no idea. So that's that's the problem, and it's not getting better.
Do we have a solution or do you you know what what is a solution?
Because parents, you know, they want and like you said, we do all these things for our kids, you know, teach them how to you know, walk and ride their bikes safely and all this stuff. But when it comes to the phones and tablets, most of the kids are actually more advanced than the parents they are.
And that's why it's a multifaceted approach. While the Bark app and the Bark smartphone are one key component to it, right because at least we're giving you insights and helping you help your child have a healthier relationship with tech, it's not the total solution. It starts with education and awareness. As parents and caregivers, we need to know what is
happening and the rate at which it's happening. We need to have multiple, candid conversations with our children much earlier than we might think, at a more frequent rate, because it's all about that relationship that you have with your child that will help you navigate these rocky waters as they grow. Up, So using tech like bark, having that conversation and those relationships, understanding you know, just the new
and then advocating for change. Right now, the laws aren't set up to protect children from the harms that social media causes them, and so reaching out to your local legislator to advocate for change and reform that will hold social media companies more accountable. I mean, just over the past year, social media has generated over eleven billion dollars in revenue off of minors children under the age of eighteen.
So they do not have a vested interest in minimizing the amount of time children are spending on their platforms.
It starts with us, Wow, that's a lot of money. Okay, you posted something the other day about incognito mode. There's been Was there something that kind of bubbled up about it that made you post that or is it just in general because you know, people think that they're protected or private.
Tell me what we need to know about incognito mode.
You know, I'm always looking to cover topics that will cut through the clutter everybody scrolling and there's a you know, we've got to fight for people's eyeballs and attention, right, And I thought you know what, a lot of people don't use incognito mode or don't get it, or think it's more private than it is. So let me make a reel about this and see, you know, see.
How it lands.
And it landed. It got a lot of attention. And essentially children are using incognito mode because they think it's completely anonymous, when in fact, this goes back to the snapchat conversation. We just had that information lifts somewhere just because your parent can't get on that computer and see your browser history, the internet service provider, the websites.
And apps that you visited.
You know, they know where you went, and if needed, that information can be shared with your parent or let's say, employer when you get older. So it's an important and misunderstood concept that does get abused. Certainly, it's a very cool aspect if you're trying to, you know, hide search history when you're trying to shop for a present for somebody, but it's obviously used for more nefarious purposes.
All right, we've got to run, but I just want to take away for parents, like all these new gadgets they just got, you know, the xboxes, the PlayStations, all the different things. The kids set them up, the kids get them running, the kids play on them. The parents are in a different room. What's your advice to parents about the safety tools that are built into some of these products.
Oh my gosh, Well cut me off at any time, but here we go, lightning round. Don't give your kid unfettered, unmonitored access to the Internet. Keep connected tech and common areas at the home, not in their bedrooms. Don't let them access it overnight. Don't let your child have access to things that you have not spent time on yourself.
Make sure that you just take them, like one minute literally to google whatever your child can access, plus the term parental controls and see what free built in options you have right at your disposal that you might not even know about.
And then finally, just talk to your kids.
Let them know that they are loved unconditionally and they can talk to you about anything and you won't freak out.
To Tanya Jordan, author and founder of Parenting in a Tech World and Bark Technologies Chief Parent Officer, thanks so much.
For joining me today. Thank you for having me. Happy New Year, Happy New Year.
I love having you on the show. Please follow it to Tanya on Instagram. T I T A n I A Jordan on Instagram, she posts great rules about all this stuff that you need to know. At least it'll get you thinking. At least it'll remind you that you have to do this stuff. I know it's tough as a parent, Believe me. It is so easy to hand our kids our phone or their phone, or let them play these games for half an hour an hour, and
it just continues to go and go and go. So please, we're all on this together, trying to do the best thing for our kids. Again, Thanks so much for joining me. Rich on Tech dot tv is the website. Phone lines are open eight eight eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one more rich on Tech.
Come your way right after this. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich DeMuro here talking technology at Triple eight Rich one O one eight eight eight seven four two four one zero one. Hope is in a Hemmett, California. Hope you're on with Rich.
Hi there, Hi, I'm calling because I was contacted by a large company that's trying to get me to change my TV service, et cetera, et cetera. They said they could provide me with a landline plus all this other stuff for a specific amount of money. When I questioned them about what they meant by landline, I even talked to their technical department, and they're talking about because I need to have the router, et cetera. And I said, well, you're talking about voice, not a landline, and they don't
seem to know the difference. Am I right?
Well, if it's a cable company, is it a cable company?
Yeah, basically yeah, I don't.
I mean unless it's like AT and T.
They're not doing a You're you're talking about copper cable versus voice over IP.
I don't want voice, you don't want I have a real lineline, Okay, I need it my business, So, uh.
Why do you? I'm just curious, why do you.
Why I have to be able to fax documents over voice?
Interesting?
You can't fax over internet anything?
Well, I mean you can if you use like an e fact service.
Well why should I pay for it?
When I myself, Yeah, if you already have it and you've got it and you're doing it, I mean why, Yeah, I would say you don't need to worry about it, But I get it.
You want the cost savings of the bundle.
Right, Well, I was looking at that. Yeah, but uh, when they're when they're technical depart and couldn't tell me the difference between voice and a landline. Yeah, it makes me very nervous that they don't know what they're talking about and most of them are just reading out of a manual anyway.
Yeah, well, hope you you seem to have a little bit more knowledge than the average bear here, and I think that some of these people that are getting jobs and you know, they're getting trained on this, and to be quite honest, you know, landlines are something that is not it's not something that's offered or readily available at this point anymore. I mean, voipe has been around for
a long time. The cable companies when they got into it, they would have a much cheaper price because they were just literally sending these calls and voice over the Internet.
And so basically yeah, I mean well, yeah, yeah exactly, I mean cell phones, look, it all works a little bit differently, but at this point, yes, I would say about probably ninety nine percent of voice traffic is running through the Internet and not through an action like old school copper cable or even with cellular Back in the day, it was like cell phones were running voice in a different way than they are now. Now it's mostly just voiceover IP as well. But it's gotten so good that
we don't really know the difference. But I would agree with you. If they don't know the difference, it's not a good sign. But I also I can't fault them because I would say ninety percent of people probably don't need an actual Copper cable landline, but.
I would I would feel more.
You know, you're like me, You feel more comfortable when someone speaks your language, right, It's like, okay, you know what I'm talking about. And when they don't, or they're even fighting you on it. They're saying, no, it's a landline, but it's not a landline.
It is, but it's not.
And I'm looking at some of the websites for you know, these cable companies, and it says reliable home phone services, but it doesn't necessarily say it is a Let's see if the word landline appears on their website at all. I don't hope does it. Nope, it doesn't seem like it does anyway. So are you gonna stick with your your Copper cable?
Oh?
Yeah, my house is copper table wired and.
They're not trying, and the phone company is not trying to take it away from you.
Oh they tried.
I thought so, because that you know, it costs them money to to maintain those lines at this How are things in heaven? Everything else good over there?
Yes, it's not blowing, the wind is not blowing, and it's a beautiful blue sky.
Well, what more can you ask for? Hope, love the name, Happy New Year, Thanks for calling today, Thank you? All right, take care.
Uh let's go. How long do we have We have a couple of minutes here. If we have time for one more call, let's go to Uh, let's go to John in Palm Springs. John, you're on with Rich?
Hi, Rich, Happy New Year, Happy New Year.
How's it going? How can I help?
I bought a new twenty three phone, and when they copied everything off of the old phone, I am missing hundreds of photos. I still have the old phone and they are missing there now as well. And so I read that they are probably still there and I can hire somebody to retrieve them. But if true, I have no idea who that would be.
Okay, where do you store these photos? Are they just on like your phone, or they go to the cloud somewhere.
No, they're just on the phone.
Unfortunately, I am the most illiterate tech guy in the world.
So, okay, and you're sure you're not using because on Samsung devices they like to send these to one drive. Are you sure they're not sync to one drive in some way?
Well, they could be.
I see one drive on my phone, okay, but I never knew what it was. I didn't never even clicked on it.
Okay, well click on it, and and uh, there's a there's a there's a section of the Samsung phone in the settings that is called I'm trying to look here, accounts and backup. And if you look there, let's see backup data. So so in here it's it says where these things are backed up. I'm trying to find this while we talk live. I know it's tricky, but there's a couple of places. A couple of places I would look. Number one, I would on a website. I would do
use Google at all, I I guess. Okay, so if you have a Google account, I would try going to photos dot Google dot com on a website on your computer, so on a desktop browser and see and log in with your Google and see if any of the photos made their way there. Then I would go to one drive dot com again from a computer and log in with either your Samsung account or your usually it's linked to a Microsoft account if you you have that, and
see if they're there. Otherwise, on your old phone, I would go into the files app and uh, there's a there's like a an app on the old on the Samsung that is lets you see all the files on that phone. And so I would go in there and look for one a folder that says camera and see if you can find them in there. If not, I recommended this earlier, but there's someone called a data doctor, and that's who you probably want to talk to. But the file, the folder is called my files on the Samsung.
Look for that, and in there it says images, videos, audio files, documents, downloads, and it also shows the storage areas I was talking about, including one drive.
You're listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich Demiro here hanging out with you talking technology at triple eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. The website for the show rich on Tech dot TV. There you can peruse all of the segments I do for television. Got a great segment on cybersecurity tips, how to turn off Facebook's latest way to track you, how to make your old computer run like new again. And then if you go to my Instagram, I've got some good information as well at rich on Tech.
Please follow me there. I post a lot of helpful.
Information, especially on my stories, because most of this stuff, I'll be quite honest, comes from you. You email me something and I say, huh, that's interesting, and I make a post about it. So, for instance, we've had a couple of earthquakes here in Los Angeles lately, and so I figured I would tell people how to make sure they get the earthquake alerts on their phone and on Android it's built into the operating system, and on iPhone to download an app called my Shake if you want
to get those. And then of course I have an infographic about how to disable that Facebook tracking. Got a fun video of the Scotty vest which holds like what is a whole twenty six pockets for gadgets, a post about the spectrum free Disney, and you know, of course intersparsed with some pictures of my family that I post from, you know, all the little adventures we take.
Oh.
One of my fun posts I did was of the Moto Q smartphone. I was in my garage and I found my smartphone that I loved from two thousand and six and it was like kind of Motorola's answer to the BlackBerry.
So that was pretty fun. Let's see, Carol is in summer Land. Carol, what's your comment?
Hi, hi, yees a comment? You had just spoken with the lady regarding the landline. Yes, and my Well, first of all, I learned gosh years ago when I bundled mine with Cox back when I lived in Golita, and all of the utilities are buried at least in the area that we lived, and anytime we had heavy rain, the cable went out and therefore the phone went out because the yeah, and so I went back to a real landline. And so when I moved here to Summerland,
the same thing I got, you know, the landline. And when the back to back disasters have at the top, excuse me, the Thomas fire and then the debris flow, we were just an island, you know, we had no contact, we had no electricity, uh, nothing, you know, cable everything was down, and luckily I had a landline, and and my daughter who lives up in the Bay Area, would stream on her iPad the four o'clock what do you call it, news, disaster report whatever, Yeah, and then you know,
put her iPhone up to it. I would take notes, and then I go down to the center of town and tell people what was going on. Oh wow, fairly a mile away, you.
Were, like the town caller.
I was.
So it's just the.
Necessity for especially here in California, for a real landline. And most people think that they have a landline when they actually have cable.
Yeah, if it's coming from your cable company, most of the time it is. It is voiceover IP. But you know, with that said, you know, these these traditional phone companies do not want the landlines because they're expensive and.
So exactly, and they've had to come out here several times to repair right.
Yeah.
Well, I agree it is the most reliable form of communication. But I will say, you know, and I tweeted about this the other day. You know, Apple has that satellite built into the iPhone and right now you can use it to call their call center, which is really great. If there's an emergency and you need help, and even in a natural disaster, you will still be able to get that connection to the satellite because it's going from
your iPhone literally to outer space. But I said, it would be kind of neat if Apple, and I'm sure they'll do this at some point, is they'll let you go from your phone to another iPhone via satellite to
message someone else. Because in a real, true emergency, when you know, things really get bad and if the infrastructure is you know, taking a hit, you know, you would not be able to let's say you lived in California, Los Angeles, whatever, you would find it really hard to get a message out to someone somewhere else or check on someone because there's no real way to do that. Now. I think with the Internet, you know, there's you know, with Facebook doing the crisis check in all this stuff.
We are getting better, but it's still it's one of those things where like you just kind of don't want to think about it too much because it is a concern and it is like we're not really sure.
But anyway, thanks for the call, Carol in Summerlin. Today let's go. We're kind of going.
This is almost like the feedback section here. Victor quick comment about what.
Well. Earlier today you spoke about this Facebook link that saves your links of things that you're looking for. Sure, and I do very much understand that if I'm looking for luggage or if I'm looking for a specific brand or something, that the little lads will show up as I'm as I'm browsing through the internet data completely understand. Sure,
But we played a little game. I run it. I run a small sale team, and I go, we have theory in that particular office and where we play music on and so forth, and the series very much like Alexa right, And I said, I bet you you guys, why don't we start We're from La, So I was like, why don't we start talking about the Disneyland resort in Orlando? Would you like to go there? And then she raised up, I would love to go to Disneyland Resort Orlando. And I go, but what about you? And he goes, yeah,
Disneyland Resort in Thelando sounds great to me. And it really was less than three minutes. Then we all started receiving little Hey, there's a deal at the Disneyland Resort in Lando, and I'm like a weird beat, and I'm not a huge conspiracy.
You're in sales.
Come on, you know that Disney's always advertising. They're they're reaching every I see a Disney ad.
Once a day.
Yeah, but is is the words that we're saying relaying back to a database saying, hey, she just asks for a pair of sow from so and so. Hey this guy just asked for Southwest Airlines the cheapest ticket, right, Hey that I'm a fair first.
Yep.
My conspiracy thing is are they they Well?
I know, I know it seems that way.
And it's funny you say that because when I told my wife about the link history. Because I'll be quite honest, I got I got a phone call from Facebook last night about my post because they were unhappy with it. They were like, hey, what's your deal? What do you have against this? Why are you posting about this? And you know, we literally like, I this is what these big companies do, and this is why I am on your side. I had literally, at six o'clock last night,
had to speak with someone from Facebook corporate. They called my cell phone to say, dude, like, tell me about this post.
What do you you know?
What do you make of this feature?
And I was literally fighting with them, saying, no, here's how I see it, here's why I'm going to tell people about it, and yes, I'm going to talk about in the radio tomorrow. So this is the kind of stuff that go in the background that I don't normally bring up, but you know, I just figured I would.
But it's funny.
When I got off the phone with my you know, my wife was on the couch and she goes, ah, I'm not concerned about the link history, sho, I'm concerned about Facebook listening to my conversations. And I said, no, no, no, let's not get into that because we know that's not really happening if you search online and look, people have been debating this since the beginning of mankind with the smartphone. Is Facebook and Instagram listening to your conversations? They one hundred percent say they do not.
And I get it.
We have all had the experience where you're at a party, you talk to someone about the mattress they just purchased, and next thing you know, you see the ad for that mattress on your Facebook account. I get it, it happens, but they say they're not listening. It's other indicators that they're using. And I'll just give you one example. Someone shops for a mattress your best friend. They search for it on their phone, and then you go and hang out with them. Facebook may see that they search for
that in some of their you know whatever. However, they track and they say, Okay, well maybe this person mentioned this mattress too rich because they just bought it, and so we're going to show them an ad for that just to remind them.
That's just one idea of how this might work.
People have done many, many tests of you know, saying something in a closed room with the phone nearby, to see if those ads show up. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's not a guarantee, but yes, we have all casually observed this phenomenon.
Believe me, I have. Everyone has.
Okay, let's see. I guess we'll just stick on the privacy. Tom is in Riverside.
Tom, you got a question, oh, Rich, Yeah, I wanted to ask about Apple seventeen. I got a fourteen pro right now and I like it, okay, but I you know, I had it two years now. One to see is the seventeen next? Or what's coming up for Apple?
For I for the model number or the software?
Now the phone, the phone, the phone?
Okay, and what's the question? Just what's coming up?
Well?
Yeah, is it seventeen?
Is the next Apple?
Or is it?
I mean it's on fifteen right now? Is it going to be sixteen or is it going to be seventeen or what is it going to be?
Well right now, only Apple knows, but uh, it's I'm guessing it's going to be sixteen because Apple, I don't did they skip a number in the I gotta think about that, five, six, seven, eight nine. Then they went X eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Yeah, I don't think they've skipped. I know, I know Samsung skipped. They went from the uh like the I think it was like the ten to the twenty, so but no, Apple has kept them in order.
But what is that?
Is that all you need to know?
Uh?
Yeah, well yeah, the whether it's gona come up? And then I wanted to ask a couple of questions about AI and a couple questions.
Tom, how much time do you think I have on this show? I wish I wish I had more. Believe me, it's I feel like they're always pushing me to break they're like, you gotta go, you gotta go. But yes, here's my advice. I know that's what I feel like. But here's the thing. Look AI, all this stuff, the privacy stuff, this is the stuff I talk about every week, day and day out on the show. And believe me, I understand it's a lot. I understand. You know this
show is for the average person. It's not even for techies, and it's a lot to kind of manage. So believe me, keep listening. I will talk about this stuff. I will address again in the beginning of the show.
Here's what I say.
This is a show where I talk about the tech stuff I think you should know about, and that's really what it's all about. There's a ton of stuff that I come across every single week. I try to direct it to the stuff that I think is the most important, and that's that's really what it comes down to.
All Right.
You can find me on the website rich on tech, dot TV, social media at rich on Tech. Coming up, we'll talk the new keyboard for the iPhone, Wow, and the new app from Microsoft that you might want to install on your phone because it gives you free access to the best chat GPT you are listening to Rich on tech. Let's see, we got an email from Marcy. Marcy says, hey, Rich, just an FYI anyone with a copper landline and wishes to keep it for emergency needs, earthquake, power outage.
When voipe would go down.
Just know that if you switch to a cable voipeline, your copper line will be cut and you can never get it back. Happen to me now. I keep my Internet and router on a battery backup. Love your show, Thanks for your expertise, Marcy. Yeah, Marcy, Like I said, these companies they will rip out these lines. I think they take the copper cable and they take it directly to the scrapshop and like cash it in because it's so valuable. I literally think the copper cable is worth more than the monthly fee.
All right.
The iPhone is getting a new physical keyboard, not from Apple, but from a new company called Clicks Technology.
The device is called Clicks.
It's a physical keyboard accessory for the iPhone, provides a techtile typing experience, and it says you get twice the screen real estate because there's no keyboard on your screen like the on screen keyboard. It attaches to your phone directly using lightning or USBC. It has no battery. It uses the phone for power and data transfer. You can also use shortcut keys, has a backlight for typing in
low conditions. And it was created by a team of mobile experts, including the guy behind the website that's very popular called Crackberry, and YouTube tech reviewer mister Mobile, Michael Fisher. It can be pre ordered now. It's one hundred and thirty nine dollars. It ships February first. It's got a whole bunch of fun color. It's going to be on display at CS in January, which is next week, so I will see it, and I find that very fascinating.
There was a keyboard made or backed by Ryan Seacrest many many years ago called Typo Typo, and it was that CS. I found my old picture from the iPhone five it connected to that. It's very similar to what we have now. So if you still want that keyboard on your iPhone, you're gonna have an option. And if you want the best of chat GBT on your iPhone or Android, there's a web an app that you might want to download. It's called Microsoft Copilot. This is. It's
basically an AI chatbot. Lets you do all kinds of stuff AI conversations. It can draft messages and emails, it can draw pictures. The big thing about this is that it includes GPT four for free. If you're on chat GBT, you got to pay twenty bucks for access to that, so you basically get it for free. But this also includes bing so it's got access to the web. So you might have heard me talk about bing ai in
the past. Microsoft is rebranding bing ai to what's called Copilot, and so if you want to download this, it's a little tricky to find it in the app stores because you search Copilot, there's some other things that come up. So I put the direct links on my wiki for the show Rich on tech dot tv slash wiki. And finally, Google is eliminating third party cookies from Chrome. You might hear about this. The advertising industry does not like this.
Third party cookies are those cookies that travel from site to site. When you go to one website, they tell another website that you were just there. So let's say you go to a sneaker website and then you go to a newspaper website and you see an ad for that sneaker that you just looked at. That's a third party cookie. Google says they're getting rid of these. They're eliminating them by the end of twenty twenty four, and this is throwing the whole tech advertising world into upheaval,
but of course it's better for our privacy. Coming up next, we're going to talk to Chris Hoffman from the Windows Intelligence Newsletter.
He's going to share some Windows tips and tricks with us. You are listening to rich on Tech.
Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology. Very excited for my next guest. I subscribe to his newsletter all of one issue, and I invited him on the show because it was so good. Chris Hoffman writes the Windows Intelligence Newsletter, welcome.
To the show.
Thanks for having me.
So the websites I know you're gonna want it is the Intelligence dot Com slash Windows. So the way the newsletter is written is it's for anyone to understand. So it's it's kind of like this show where it is very approachable and I appreciate that about what you're doing.
Chris, Thank you absolutely.
Okay, so let's talk about First off, the number one question I get, and this one, actually I think gets kind of complicated because you addressed it in a recent newsletter. But the question I get all the time, can you still upgrade to Windows eleven for free?
So the easy answer is yes. The simple answer is yes. We can get into the weeds in a second, but the simple answer is if Window If Microsoft says Windows eleven is compatible with your computer, if you have Windows ten, you can just open the settings up on your Windows
ten PC. You can look at Windows Update in settings and it will tell you right there, you know if it's if it's available, it'll say yes, you can upgrade to Windows eleven now, and you can click right there and it's good and it's free, and you know you're done now. It may say it's not compatible. Now you might assume that means it's not compatible, because that's the definition of the word. But actually, really you really get into the weeds here. There are ways to kind of
get around that, depending on your PC's hardware. It really gets into kind of the weeds here. Of there's kind of three tiers of computer. One is really compatible within Windows eleven. One can't run Windows eleven at all, and in the middle there's this gray zone of these Windows ten PCs that they technically can run Windows eleven if you go through a little bit of a backdoor, but Microsoft says Microsoft doesn't want to offer them the upgrades.
So you know, for the average person, I would say, just go to Windows Update and if it says it is not compatible, just don't worry about it, because you know, your Windows Time PC is still getting free security updates until October twenty twenty five. That's nearly two years, right, So that's not bad, and your compare will work fine. But if you're a geek like me, you know, if you want to get into this stuff, you can, and
you can look into it. There's a tool called rufous that I just recommended, and it has it will let you create a Windows eleven installer that has a bit of a bypass, and it's little bypass requirements, like you know, we get into the weeds here, right TPM two point zero with TPM one point two instead, and but it ultimately, you know, there are tools you can look at it.
You can see why is your computer not compatible? And if you can kind of look into it, and it actually isn't too hard to install, you know, Windows level with RUFUS if you want. But for the average person, you know, don't worry about it. But if you are a geek like you can, you know, dig into this and some sometimes you'd be surprised, like you may be able to just change once any of your computers like
bios or u UE five firmware. Because strangely enough, like there are computers that have TPM two point out but they were shipped with it disabled and you actually have to go into bias and enable it and then it can stall Windows leven. So it's really complicated upgrade processes time around. But the good news is that Windows ten is still supported for a nearly two more years.
Okay, so so I think, I think for the average user. And by the way, the website is r U f U S dot I E.
But that's it. That's only if you're advanced. Don't don't go to that.
If you're not, you know, if you don't know your way around BIOS and all that stuff and bootable USB drives and you know, don't you know, don't mess with your computer if you don't know that stuff. But here's my question for you, Chris, if a person's running Windows ten, do they need to upgrade to eleven because obviously they're probably getting that push notification on their system, Oh update Update, but you're saying it's you still have two years to make this decision, right.
Yeah, so the upgrade will still be free up until you know, I mean, unless Microsoft changes his mind, which I doubt, the upgrade will still be free, you know, in October twenty twenty five, nearly two years from now. So if you're not, if you don't upgrade, there's don't upgrade. You can click the button to upgrade in like a year for now and sixteen months from now, so that'll that'll be that's free now, and that'll be free then if it's available, so there's no rush to upgrade.
Is there a benefit to upgrading?
You know?
Yeah, you know, you know, you know Windows eleven is good. There's some things, you know, the taskbar, you can't move the taskbar to other edges of your screen. Then there's some stuff that's different, not naturally better, but different. And one of the big things that Microsoft is pushing on now is AI and AIPCS and oh you get copilot Windows level. Well, actually, Microsoft just changed their minds and they're actually going to be delivering Copilot to Windows ten.
So if you have Windows ten and you're really interested in this copilot thing, like in a few months, it's just going to be in your taskbar, just like Windows level.
Ah, that's interesting.
And if you're thinking, oh no, I don't want down on my PC, don't worry.
You can turn it off.
But but some of these, like you know, the big premier features coming to Windows ten anyway, so you know, if you're not passionate about Windows eleven, your computer's fine, then great, you know, keep using Windows ten until October twenty twenty five.
Okay, the other question I have, Uh, there's a new Outlook coming soon for Windows computers.
People are getting messages about that and what we need to know about that.
Yeah.
So so this is such a confusing topic because you know, basically Microsoft has a ton of different email clients and services, right, so you know, I'll just rattle some off, right. So we have you know, Microsoft Outlook, which is you know, the traditional desktop email Windows in Mac and so many businesses use it. And now there's something called I'll Look on the web, and that used to be called I'll look Web Access and that's actually just kind of the
desktop application on the web. But then you know, you have a Luk dot com, which actually isn't you know, there isn't microloft that look, that's just what you know, it was hotmail and out outload dot com. And then there's an Outlook mobile app on phones and it's actually a whole different thing Microsoft by the startup in twenty fourteen.
And then there's also a mail app on Windows and that just comes on all Windows PCs for free, and that's different from you know, mic shot Outlook, and it's all you know, it's all a mess, it's all confusing. There are too many outlooks, there are too many email products there, and then that's that's one big problem mic Slot has. Ther Microsoft problem mic Slot has is that they don't really like the old Outlook. They don't like
the old business e outlook. It's this ancient kind of you know, I know a lot of people have it, so I shouldn't. It's this old code base, it's this complicated program that is just a deptop program has all these features. So Microsoft, long term we like to get rid of that. They want to have something more modern that is the same on every platform and everything. So there's something called the New Outlook and this is going to be the modern application that kind of brings everything together.
So it's already out there in preview form and for now it's really just replacing the Mail app on Windows and it's you know, pretty similar to the Mail up and know this is pretty simple. And actually, this is another kind of weird confusing thing is the actually the New Outlook is based on the the code for outlook dot com, like the web web interface for outlet dot com.
But it's it's a desktop.
Application and it can also kind of to other email services because as you know, we may know, like modern desktop applications are becoming kind of very web based in general. So so Microsoft wants to kind of bring everything together. And you know, if you're using mail on the Mail app on Windows, you'll eventually be moved to, you know,
the New Outlook. But the big thing is is that long term, Microsoft would actually love to like to move everyone to the New New Outlook, even people using the classic traditional desktop application Outlook you know, in business, and that that's going to be a while though, because like the the there's so many ad ins, there's so many weird feature, weird features, so many you know, even in
Word or Excel. There's so many options that have built up in these applications for you know, twenty years, and it's going to take a while from Microsoft to bring the new Ella to a point where Microsoft can push it on you know, businesses. But Microsoft, you know, I spoke to people from Microsoft and they absolutely want to do that. So the old Outlook is on its way out.
How many years it will be, I don't know. It might be quite a few years, so I wouldn't panic, but I wouldn't panic if you love the old outlook. But you know, eventually Microsoft just bring everything into this new kind of simplified, modern web based kind of Outlook application, including the Classic Outlook.
Okay, we're chatting with Chris Hoffman from the Windows Intelligence newsletter. Give me a popular tip or trick for Windows that you know, maybe you shared in one of your newsletters and people seem to like it.
What do we need to know?
You know, I really love and recommend Microsoft Power Toys to people. It's this free package of utilities provided by Microsoft themselves, is packed with all kinds of cool stuff that you can change any key on your keyboard to functions any other key, or you can make any window always on top of other windows, or you can battery name a ton of files at once and do all kind of cool things like that. And it's the kind of stuff that you would normally have to hunt down,
like twenty different prouns for online. You have to do your research, like what's the best way program for this?
And that.
It's twenty things and it takes forever, right, But this is just this big prepackage of tools provided by Microsoft themselves. You know, they're all fresh, they're modern, they're they don't have ads, they don't have other drunks. So I would really go look for microshoft Power Toys and you can find it in the Microsoft Store app on Windows ten or Windows eleven, Windows ten, definitely Windows eleven, and you know, or you can download it from the web.
But I really love power Toys. I recommend it to everyone.
Yeah, I'm looking at all the little things you can do.
There's like all these like you can keep your computer awake, you can and there's just so many like fun little tweaks.
Why don't they just build this stuff into into Windows?
Is it?
It kind of reminds me of I don't know if you use Samsung, but they have this thing.
Called like what is it good luck or something where it's like, yeah, they have all these like extra tools that are like for power users.
I guess. I guess it's power toys.
Yeah, exactly, And there was power toys back in the Windows XP days two, which I think is where the name comes from. But why isn't the Windows, I mean, answer a good question. You know, the fact that it's not in Windows means that microshoft kind of keep it updated, updating it separately, and I think in general Microsoft would like to kind of have you know, Windows have fewer things than they can kind of be updated separately more through the store anyway, So this is plus this way.
You know, I bet there's all kinds of support reasons, like if it's including Windows, and if it's the business has a support contract, it's included component and microshift that support it on a business level, and you know it's just you know, it's just a free package of stuff that Microsoft provides and they don't really you know, it works, but.
There's no guarantees like yeah, you're at you're running these at your own risk. I guess all right, Chrish Hoffman, we're gonna leave it there. Thanks so much for joining me today. I appreciate it.
All right, thanks so much.
All right, Windows Intelligence Newsletter it's the Intelligence dot Com slash Windows. If you want to get some tips and tricks about Windows and just keep up to date, it's a great resource for that. All right.
Coming up, we're gonna do the feedback segment.
Plus, uh, let's see, we're going to talk about Oh, these are some fighting words. The best way to listen to a podcast is actually faster than you might think. And the thirteen year old that beat Tetris, I'm so jealous. You are listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Time to close out the show, Let's get through a few stories I wanted to mention before we get to the feedback. Amazon Prime Video we'll start having ads on January twenty ninth. Amazon Prime Video is
included with your Prime membership. There will be no cost change to Prime memberships. You don't need to do anything special, but you will have ads starting January twenty ninth, so reads the email from Amazon. If you don't want ads on your Amazon Prime videos and movies, you can pay an extra three dollars a month to go back to what you already had for free. See that three dollars to get back to what's had Visio. This is just for my California listeners. Three million dollars in a settlement
over misleading alleged misleading refresh rate claims. This is from a twenty eighteen class action lawsuit. Visio sether TVs had one hundred and twenty to two hundred and forty effective hurts effective refresh rates and someone said there were really only sixty, but software was making them one hundred and twenty or two forty. So if you're a California resident, you purchase a Visio TV after April thirtieth, twenty fourteen, you can get I think it's up to fifty bucks.
But you do have to put a claim in. You do have to show proof of purchase like a receipt or a serial number. You have until March thirtieth to do that again. Visio three million bucks for California consumers over alleged misleading refresh rate claims. You know, higher refresh rates sell TVs because it sounds better. And Fitness Plus
from Apple, you know this is our fitness offering. They've got a couple of new things for twenty twenty four, a new sound meditation theme called Sound featuring soothing tones and rhythms. They've got some new workout programs, including Yoga for Golfers, Yoga Strength and Core for Golfers, and Time to Walk.
This is fun. If you haven't tried this, try it.
Time to Walk is basically they interview like a celebrity for a walking workout, like they walk with the celebrity, but for the first time. You can get this for free through Apple Podcasts. So if you want to listen to you some Time to Walk episodes, they're going to be for free on Apple Podcasts. It's kind of nice. It makes the walk go by. I personally listen to this show, but you know that's just me.
And Katie No.
Topolists writing for Business Insider says the ideal speed for listening to podcasts and.
Audiobooks is one point two x.
Listening at one point two speed is fast enough to save time, but not so fast that you lose track of the content. You listen to audiobooks faster, and anything faster than one point two is too just too fast. She says, really you got to pay attention really close. But if you're doing one point two, it's just fast enough where you can get through the content faster, but you can still understand it. And I tried this last night with my own show, and I talked pretty fast already.
I'm working on that, by the way, but one point two X I was easily able to understand what I was saying. So next time you see that little indicator on your YouTube or your podcast app, try one point two X see what happens. And a thirteen year old boy first to beat Tetris. First human, Willis Gibson, thirteen year old from Oklahoma, got so far on the original Nintendo game of Tetris that the game froze. This is known as reaching the kill screen. Previously only artificial intelligence
could do this. He got through one hundred and fifty seven levels of Tetris using a new rolling technique.
I love me some Tetris feedback.
Now, Charles says. I listen every weekend via iHeart from Rochester, New York. Enjoy it very much. Thank you Charles for listening. Debbie says, Happy New Year. I saw your post regarding Google Maps. We just got back from England.
And Ireland.
I downloaded maps of London and basically we could not use walking directions offline.
I did not know that.
Apparently it says transit, bicycling or walking directions are unavailable offline on Google Maps, so good to know if you're trying to save your data on an international trip iPhone. Apple Maps just added offline maps so you can try that. I believe walking directions will work, and I actually kind of prefer the walking directions on Apple Maps for international maps. They work really, really well if you have an Apple Watch. It's kind of fun.
Tony from New Jersey says rich I just saw you on New York's Picks eleven. I didn't know you're on there. I love it.
Thanks for all the tech info you give us. Have a happy and healthy New Year to you and your family. Tony from New Jersey The Taylor harm Ham part of the state. Taylor Ham loved it as a kid, can't really have it.
As much as an adult. You know the whole like, you know, just just tougher to have that stuff.
Wes says, well done. For the first year, every episode has something helpful. Thank you for the time you put into the show. Each and every week.
Wes.
Thank you, Wes. Good mix to the feedback. If you want to submit something for the show, just go to the website. It is rich on tech dot tv and there is a contact button. Oh, here we go, Michael. Michael said, I'm sure someone has told you by now there's no iPhone nine.
Uh, here we go. Let's see Michael. Oh, Michael's not being nice.
Michael says, I give a lot of inaccurate answers, a lot in bold. I don't say that to be a jerk, but seriously, a lot. Hope this lands as intended. And Michael, if you want to host the show, be my guest. You can come over here and answer the questions anytime you want. You know, people answer questions. I'm answering these things on the fly using the knowledge that is in my brain. And of course I know there's no iPhone nine if I go back and think about it, but
on the fly, as I'm counting, okay, iPhone eight. You're right, they skipped iPhone nine. They went directly to iPhone ten. So if that's enough to never listen to this show again for you, Michael, but clearly you're listening, so I guess you like something about it, right, But he wants me to change my tagline. I think he says, taking your tech questions implies you're an expert. I describe you as an enthusiast, but not an expert. And Michael, you
happened upon something that is very important. I have never ever called myself an expert. I am not a tech expert. In fact, I am a tech enthusiast. And that's what I think ninety nine percent of people want. Because an expert talks an expert terms. I talk in terms that every single person can understand, and that is the entire point of this show. And so I'm not an expert. People call me an expert in tech. I don't correct them, but I never call myself a tech expert. That's just
the way it is. All right, Well, thank you Michael for the feedback. It's you know, it's been fifty fifty two shows. This is fifty three, so and I take the good and the bad.
Believe me, you know I have.
I don't ever pretend to know everything about this stuff. And quite honestly, off the top of my head, forgetting that there is no iPhone nine, I am sad about that because I've been to every single iPhone launched since I think like the fourth iPhone or third iPhone, whatever, it was all right, if you.
Can believe it, that's going to do it.
For this episode of the show, you can find links to everything I mentioned on my website. Just go to rich on tech dot tv for the show notes. You can find me on social media. I am at rich on tech.
Next week we.
Will talk Cees twenty twenty four in Las Vegas.
I cannot wait. Thanks so much for listening.
There are so many ways you can spend your time. I do appreciate you spending it right here with me. Thanks to everyone who makes this show possible. My name is rich Demiro. I will talk to you real soon.