Hands on with Google's new Pixel smartphones, details on the DNA website that was hacked. Ring We'll give you a cool million bucks if you catch an alien on their cameras, plus your tech questions answered.
What's going on?
Rich Demiro 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. And phone lines are open triple eight Rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two, four to one zero one. Give me a call if you have a question about technology. Email is
also an option. Just go to rich on tech dot tv. That's the website, hit the contact button and your email will make its way to my inbox immediately. All right, We got some great guests this week. Coming up on the show. Stephanie Scott from Google is going to discuss the new Pixel eight smartphones. We've got san Deep Warriach. He is the product manager for Google Wearables. He's going
to discuss the Pixel watch too. Sam Rubin KTLA Entertainment anchor is going to talk about his experience seeing you two at the Las Vegas Sphere, and we've got David Werta. This is a great guest to talk about how to pick the best VPN. I know I get a lot of questions about VPNs, whether you need one, when you should use one. David is going to explain all, welcome to another episode of the show. Hope you're having a great day. So my kid slept over his friend's house
last night. We did a swap, like one kid slept over my house. My kids slept over another kid's house. And so it's just a sign of the time how this stuff works. Number one, my kid he's over at the uh you know, his friend's house, sleeping over, and he's texting me, Dad, can I use Can I use my watch as a Wi Fi hotspot for my iPad? I'm like, what, Like, what do you mean? Just connect to their WiFi? He goes, it's not very good. I was like, oh, okay. And so this morning when he
came home, I said, how is a sleepover? And I kid you not? He said, eh, not so good. Their internet was only two bars. That is now the the delineation of how good a sleepover is how good the internet is at your friend's house. I was cracking up at that. And then my other kid, my older kid, who had his friend over. You know, I've had lots of sleepovers in my day, and we played. You'd go outside, you'd explore their house, you'd polish rocks, whatever you did, you know.
And these kids, I kid you not.
They had the door closed to the playroom and I kind of.
Like just sneak up a little bit.
Not that I was being sneaky, but I just kind of was listening a little bit to see what they're talking about.
Don't hear much.
I kind of opened the door quietly that the room is dark, there's nothing, no lights on in there.
I opened the door. What do I see?
One kid on the floor on his iPad with his screen lit up and or the screen lighting up his face. The other kid on the couch with the iPad lighting up his screen, and they're literally doing the exact same thing they'd be doing on a Friday night if they were not in the same room. They're just sitting there playing Rodblocks or I think it was Minecraft on their iPad,
And I'm just like, man, how times have changed? When we had sleepovers, like it was, you know, the best thing ever because you just you know, you're in person anyway.
I thought that was just wild. The sign of the times.
With today's youth, it's like they're literally doing the same thing except in person. It's there's really no difference whether they're in person or apart. All right, So this week I was back in New York for the launch of the Pixel eight smartphones. Google had an event at Pere fifty seven in New York's and I like to get real specific because I was there, so why not I can remember where I was.
It was fun.
I actually picked a hotel that was close to the event, and it was nowhere near the event. It was a half an hour walk from the event, which was fine. It just makes you realize that when a hotel says it's like Chelsea, it's really Chelsea adjacent sometimes. So that's the neighborhood that I guess Pure fifty seven was in. Anyway, you don't care about that. All you care about these
new phones. And I gotta say I've been using the Pixel eight pro ever since, and I will tell you that I think and I can't give you my full review yet. Because there's these things called embargoes. But I will tell you I think this is the best phones that Google has ever made. Now, I know Apple says that every time they make a new phone, but I will say, there's a thoughtfulness to this pixel that I feel like has been missing since the early days of the pixels. So what did you get? New Pixel eight?
New Pixel eight pro. Pixel eight has a six point two inch screen. Pixel eight pro has a six point seven inch screen. These are slightly smaller than last year, and so they actually the Pixel eight pro is much It just feels much better in the hand, like it's actually something that you can hold much easier, and so I got to give them credit for that because it's it's just so much easier. They also have the brightest displays yet on the pixels, and I haven't really noticed that,
but it does seem a little bit better. I've got to see it more outside because that's really where the pixel used to be not very good, was outside. They have this new temperature sensor on the phone, which is super super odd. I don't know why you'd ever need that. You can't take your temperature of humans, you can only take of things, So why do you need a thermometer
like we needed this during COVID maybe but not now. Anyway, it's on there and they ask the FDA if they can get approval for taking the temperature of things, not just objects. Kind of an odd inclusion. Cameras are upgraded on the standard Pixel eight, but they're really upgraded on the Pixel eight Pro. Better low light, better macro, better telephoto. It's got a five time zoom, and it's so far the camera and the photos on this phone are looking really,
really good. I in fact took it out against the iPhone fifteen PROX in New York City. I posted that to my Instagram at rich on Tech if you want to take a look at the side by side some cases the Pixel eight Pro one. I had people vote on these things and in some cases the iPhone fifteen Pro Max one. So but these are very very good cameras.
There's a new camera interface. They added pro camera I guess a pro camera mode that is for the first time on the pixel which is nice if you know how to do all those little things that I don't. I don't use a pro camera mode. I like just take the picture, snap and shoot, and that's at point and shoot and it's done. But they do have a couple of new features. One is called best Take, and
this is wild you take. You know if you have ever taken a group picture of people where one person since blinking, one person's looking off, one person's not smiling, but generally you take six or seven pictures of that group and you're like, one of these should turn out
good and one of them doesn't. So now it will look at all the faces in those six or seven pictures, you hit this best take and it will automatically just take the best head and the best expression on that person's head, and just automatically fix everyone's head in the picture.
So you don't even have to do anything.
Now if you want to, you can go through and actually pick the exact facial expression you want for each person in that picture.
It is a wild AI editing feature.
I put a video on Instagram, we demoed it on the KTLA Morning News and people are just even the anchors. I talk about technology every single day on KTLA and there's only a handful of times when the anchors are actually impressed with what I'm talking about. This was one of those times where it was like an aha, moment, they were just like, wow, that's wild, and so you can see that on my Instagram at rich On Tech. The other new feature is called audio Magic Eraser, and
this reduces background sounds in your videos. So I was in New York City. There was a police sirens in the background. I just tapped audio Magic Eraser and the sirens were erased. And it's not even just that simple, like you can do that and have Google do the audio edit for you, but if you're a little bit more like DIY, it will separate and identify all the different sounds in your videos and it will let you bring them down like almost as if you had an audio mixer.
So that's really cool.
Then they've got this new feature which is it's kind of like a video edit or sorry, a photo editing feature. And the name is evading me right now, but it's just basically like AI editing for your entire photo and it is really really cool. I've been playing with that, and so I just took a picture of a hamburger that I took and it not only can erase the hamburger in the picture, but also recreates the background. So you can see this on my Twitter. They whatever they
call it X but it's called magic editor. Okay, there, it is magic editor. So it not only can erase entire objects, but it recreates the background. You can drag and like move a person in a picture, you can zoom them in. I mean, it's pretty wild. So the three examples I did. I took a hamburger out of a picture and it recreated the background. I moved myself in a picture and made myself bigger. And then I had this cotton candy picture where it was a little
tiny cotton candy. I made the cotton candy giant. I mean, it's really really wild what you can do there. Then they have these new spam reducing features. Google says that people get fifty percent less spam calls because of the pixel and seven years of software and security updates. That means if you bought this pixel phone today, the Pixelate or the Pixelate Pro, you're gonna be able to use it until twenty thirty and the software is gonna be up to date.
That is new from Google.
We're gonna have to see how they do with that, because you know, Google has a history of kind of like giving up on things and kind of losing interest. Let's hope they don't do that with this, but seven years of security updates. Pre Orders are open now. These are available on October twelfth. The Pixel eight starts at six ninety nine. The Pixel eight Pro starts at nine to ninety nine, one hundred dollars more than last year.
They kind of snuck in a little price increase. I will tell you, I think the Pixel eight is a great phone. I think the Pixel eight Pro is really the phone to get here because you get more features, you get better zoom, you get a better display, you get more ram so it's gonna run faster. And also, I will tell you it just fits in your hand way better than some of these bigger phones these days, Like they just made this thing so it fits really nice.
And by the way, the case that Google made this year, there's their own silicone cases actually feel really good. I've never been able to use a Google case on my phone, and this is the first year which I've not ripped it off after using it for fifteen minutes. So that's the Pixel eight pixelate Pro. Bay blue is the color that everyone's talking about.
Not for me.
I'm not like a bright phone color person, so I didn't go with that one. But they also have a black and also a obsidian, which is pretty much white.
It's like a grayish white.
But that's the features on the Pixel eight Pixel a Pro. Coming up in the show, I'll talk more about the pixel watch too, but let's have some of your calls. Triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. My name is rich d'miro and 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. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. My kid loves this song, says it's so peaceful. Kids are so funny these days. Kids are just not like we were as kids. Like I don't think I knew one song when I was nine years old, and I was like, this is so peaceful, like it was just, you know, just different. Let's go to Michael and Long Beach. Michael, you're on with Writch.
Yes, Laguna Beach.
Uh Hi.
Yeah, I bought a I went to Google flights and bought an airplane ticket off of a of a site that came up there and put in my credit card information and uh, you know, everything they asked for, and then, you know, thought I had it booked, and then somebody sent me a text and said your card has been declined and called this number. So I called the number and very clearly he says what the guy says, Well, you'll have to rebook everything and we'll get you on
another flight or that flight. So I gave him all the information and I think it was including the last four of my social Security But anyway, I figured out finally because it happened, they wanted me to do it again. I said, something's wrong here, and the uh. But but anyway, I called the American Express and told them what had happened, and uh, you know, they they didn't seem to be very interested in the fraud.
Well, they hear it every day, they hear these stories. They just it's just another number for them, and they just, you know, it's funny because you think you have this like great story and you're gonna and they're gonna really be invested in it. When you call and I've had this happen to me, they just they don't care. It's just like a numbers, like they're like Okay, just do this, do this, do this, we'll send you a new card.
We're done.
Well, I guess I'm more concerned that the hackers now have possibly my fort last four of my social plus all the credit card information.
Uh.
I thought American Express would want to give me a new card, you know, say, okay, we'll cancel that card and you give you another one, And they didn't seem to even I didn't ask them for it, but they didn't seem to even want to do that.
So what what can I help you with? You just want to make sure you're not going to be hacked again.
And yeah, how can I protect myself?
So why didn't MX give you a new card?
They didn't offer it. I mean I didn't ask for it, but they didn't offer it.
Did they find any charges on the card that were fraudulent? Did they reverse any or dispute any.
They did find the They did find the It was very interesting. The base flight information was in there. The flight I was going from Honolulu to La Hui and the flight costs seventy nine dollars, and then they said we need to charge you an excise tax and that was like eighty nine dollars. And they said, there's going
to be two separate charges on your card. There's going to be one for the uh, you know, seventy nine dollars and another one for the excise tax, which American Express saw, so they saw the charge made to the excise tax.
Okay, Well, here's here's the thing. I think that the I feel like the two things maybe unrelated. Like I think that you got a legitimate ticket through Google Flights, and perhaps this text came in at the right time to grab your information and that's why you were, you know, willing to hand it over because you had just booked this flight. So that's kind of my initial thought. But I think there's a couple of key things to learn from this. Number One, I would ask AMX for a
new card. And I think I typically don't recommend credit cards, but I do think in the in terms of travel, they are helpful because when stuff like this happens, it puts a little buffer between you and your money. So if you had used a debit card with this, now you'd be fighting to get back your own information. And also it would be a problem because now they have your debit card information, when they have your credit card information,
like who really cares. I mean Amex, They're all Amex is going to do is they're going to cut off you know, this card number, which they should do anyway, and then they're going to reverse any sort of charges that this card, you know, any fraudulent charges. They're just not going to pay on those. So whoever has that account that was placing those fraudulent charges, they're just not
going to get paid. And if it was a scam anyway, then it's not that big of a deal for the company because they they're just not paying out.
So I think the main things.
Here is that you did give out your personal information, which I think we need to be very very careful, especially when we give out our social I have said that you pretty much never need to give that out unless you are applying for some kind of financial product. But any sort of business that asks you for it, doctors, you know, airline, I mean, there's just not a reason. So I would ask for a new card, and I
would be careful. I might sign up for some sort of credit monitoring, you know, you can look at something like these free ones like credit Karma or wallet hub. They will do some level of free credit monitoring for you. So Michael, that's probably what I'd recommend for you to do is monitor your credit. Just make sure nothing is weird, and just be aware if you're getting text messages that ask for your personal information or any sort of emails, just be on guard because you did give out that
level of information. So please protect your personal data. That is the most important thing you can do. Be on guard all the time. Coming up next, we're going to talk to Stephanie Scott of Google about the Pixel eight and the Pixel eight Pro.
Welcome back to rich On Tech.
Rich Demiro here on location in New York City where Google has just announced their latest Pixel eight smartphones. You've got the Pixel eight and the Pixel eight Pro. Joining me now to talk about them is Stephanie Scott with Google, and you are the product manager for Pixel.
Yes, I lead the Pixel eight and the Pixel eight Pro lines.
So pixel phones to me have always been all about the camera, all about AI. Are you really sort of doubling down on those two areas this year?
I would say we have amazing advancements in both of those areas this year. For the camera, we've upgraded all of the hardware on the Pixel eight Pro. So you're going to see huge leaps and improvements there, as well as bringing amazing new post capture and editing tools, things like Audio Magic Eraser that let you take out unwanted
noise in your videos. We have things like best take that will let you help select images of faces where people really look their best, and brand new features like Magic Editor that let you reimagine a shot maybe a little bit more like how you remembered it. And then for helpful AI, we have a number of new features
there as well. New features like Summarize that can help sort of read a web page and synthesize it for you, or even things like direct my Call where you actually have more ambient or helpful, helpful tips and tricks for answering a phone call.
So I will say, every time I use the Pixel devices, I truly feel like it is a smart phone, like it puts the smart in phone because it almost thinks for you. And with these AI editions you almost feel like you have super control over a lot of your photos and videos and things like that.
Let's break down some of these features.
Okay, so first off, you mentioned a new one which is the audio eraser.
Explain that.
Yeah, so Audio Magic Eraser is an amazing new feature that we've added for videos. And when you take videos, a lot of times you're trying to capture the sound from a subject. So maybe it's a musician or a child doing a performance, but there could be unwanted background noise.
So if you're recording in New York City, there could be you know, sirens or an ice cream trucks that goes by, or a bird chirping, And the feature intelligently separates those sounds out into layers and then lets you have the ability to turn those those unwanted noises down so you can really listen to the intended subject.
Yeah.
I was playing with this feature and it really separated out like the voice versus the background noise, and you can adjust each of them like its own level, like almost as if you recorded them independently.
Yeah.
No, it's really great, and it's great because it makes it so easy. It really gives you those three options in the UI and lets you have complete control over all of them.
Now, this next feature I think is going to be the most controversial when it hits the you know, the open marketplace. The best take because it's so unique and it's it's stuff that you could do before if you are a photo editor, but now anyone can do this in the palm of their hand. This best Take feature. You take a group picture or you take even a selfie, and it will let you it's like, you know, change the way the face looks.
It can give a smile. Will you explain it?
Yeah, yeah, so I can explain.
So this feature is really built for those group shots where you're taking a picture, you know, with a group of friends or maybe family. And I don't know about you and your friends, but with me, a lot of times someone's blinking, someone's looking away from the camera, and so you end up with a shot where most people look good, but someone's not looking at the camera. So it's taking from that series of photos that you took at that time.
And helping you actually choose from the.
Faces in that that series or group of photos, another face where someone maybe looks a little bit better, or is looking at the camera or has their eyes open, to create one amazing shot where everyone looks their best.
Yeah.
So you take six or seven photos and you go through them, you swipe, and every single one you analyze, you zoom in on the person's face. There's always something a little bit off, and so now it's taking the best of all those photos merging them into one great picture.
Yeah, and it gives you again a lot of control, so you can go in and choose the smile maybe you like, because not everyone wants that big goofy smile, you know, maybe someone wants a little more muted expression. So I can't wait personally to use this for my holiday card this year. We take it with my cat. It's always a little chaotic, and so it's just nice to be able to have a little bit more editing control.
There.
Will it work on animal faces?
No, it does not work on animal faces.
But I can choose a picture where my cat is looking good and then correct my face.
Ah, okay, got it. Well, maybe next year the upgrade for the dogs. People love the dog and cat features. These like photo apps. All right, So let's talk about the operating system updates because Google announced that they will do seven.
Years of updates for the Pixel. Explain what that means.
Yeah, so for Pixel, we've you know, we've offered you know, multiple years of feature updates in the past. We also have featured drops, which brings newer features to people that may.
Have a Pixel that's several years old.
But this year we have a new offering that's really meaningful, which is seven years of OS security and feature drops, so offering users and sort of for Pixel eight and eight pro a guarantee that we will be supporting these devices for that time.
I mean that's a really long time, so this phone will pretty much be good to go for that long.
Yeah.
We're excited to have this exciting announcement for users and being able to support them as if they're planning on using the device even longer.
Yeah.
They also announced on stage that if you're kind of the tinkering per you can fix your own phone.
Tell me about that.
Yeah, So we have a partnership with I fix it and so where we make parts.
And repair manuals available.
So looking to again help support users that are looking for longevity in their devices.
I may have to try to just replace a screen, because the last time I did that was many many years ago with an iPod. I replaced the battery and I was so proud of myself, But that was like many many years ago.
Yeah, I would say it's definitely an area that's progressing and worth trying.
Again. What about people that have the current Pixel phones.
Are there any features you announced that they can see on their phones now?
I think the.
Only one we announced today was the new Fold feature that provides translation using taking a capability of the two screens, so being able to do an interpreter mode and use the dual screens on the Fold display to be able to more easily do a translation between two people having a conversation.
What's been the response on the Fold I.
Am honestly, I think it's a really innovative product. It's a sort of a cutting edge and we're really bringing and taking advantage of the larger screen to do even more in terms of you know, photo editing or camera features, So a really amazing space to innovate.
AI is a huge part of the Pixel devices. I feel like it's always been a big part with Google Assistant and all the photo features.
But now you've got these call screening features.
You say that people with Pixel phones get like fifty percent less spam calls.
Tell me about some of those features that you announced today.
Yeah, I absolutely love our calling features. So we have a number of different features, everything from you know, direct my Call, which helps you when you're calling a business for example, to be able to navigate phone trees, to things like Crystal Clear Calling that remove background noise using AI, to things like Hold for Me that literally save you hours of your day by not having to wait on hold.
The new one we announced today is in advancement to direct My Call and call screen, where you actually have more intelligent response suggestions, so you don't even have.
To pick up a call to respond to a call.
So if you imagine, for example, a UPS driver is calling and.
Asks where should I leave the package? Or can I leave the package?
You'll actually get suggested responses and you can say things like leave it by the door, you know, and not even have to pick up the phone to give them that instruction, which is great.
So you work with this phone on a daily basis, I imagine you're pretty much invested in the pixel lineup and you feel like it's probably one of the best phones out there. If someone is thinking about switching to this phone, that is a really tough thing for the average smartphone user to do because they've got a big life in their previous phone.
What's your advice for them?
My advice is to give it a go. I think there's a lot of new features here, amazing cameras to try all the new helpful calling features and smart features on board. So it's a really great time to try a pixel all right.
So you've got Pixel eight startup at six hundred ninety nine dollars. You've got Pixel eight Pro starting at nine hundred ninety nine dollars. Also there's a deal I saw if you pre order, you might get a free watch.
I think we have some amazing pre order promotions going on right now, so definitely worth giving those a try.
And when are these available?
These are available October twelfth.
Okay, October twelfth. There you go.
Uh Stephanie Scott with Google, thanks so much for joining me today.
Thank you so much.
Rich.
Okay, I'll have more about the Pixel eight and Pixel eight Pro my website. Just go to richon Tech dot TV. We'll take more of your calls after this. Give me a call Triple eight Rich one O one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. You are listening to Rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here talking technology at triple eight Rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. You can follow me
on social media. I am at rich on tech, I'm on in, I'm on Facebook X and am I still on Threads? I'm not sure. I haven't really logged into that one in a while. It's been a bit, but I know they're trying, but I feel like Twitter is still there and Threads is like, I don't know, it's just tough to like try to be everywhere all at once, and Threads just doesn't feel alive enough for me at this point. So I'm there, but it's just not like I'm not putting a lot of effort into it. Mary
wrote in on the website rich on tech dot TV. Hey, Rich I have an iPhone fourteen and there's one little glitch that drives me crazy. I like to keep the brightness at its highest level. On its own, the brightness will decrease. I've read message boards and watch YouTube videos followed various directions, and yet no matter what I do in settings, the brightness diminishes with no direction from me, all on its own. Any ideas, Thanks?
Mary?
I enjoy your radio show on KFI. Mary, you should have just emailed me first. You would have saved yourself a lot of time. So yeah, yes, the iPhone on its own will adjust the brightness the brightness that you have. That slider is kind of a suggestion, and the iPhone learns kind of like do you like it brighter?
Do you like it dimmer?
And at the same time you can always adjust it, but the iPhone's going to do it at the end of the day by itself. But there is in the accessibility settings a way to override this. So Mary, I hope you're still listening. Go into these settings app tap accessibility and then tap display and text size and scroll
to auto brightness. So again settings, go to settings Accessibility, Display and text Size, scroll all the way down and at the bottom it says auto brightness and you can toggle that off and whatever you set the brightness to be, that's where it will stay. Now, keep in mind the iPhone does the brightness on its own because it manages the battery and the power, and so if you set your brightness at a level that's really high, you're going to eat through your battery a lot faster. So great question,
and thanks for emailing and thanks for listening. So to Robert in Seal Beach, Robert, you're.
On with Rich.
Hello, Rich, good to you. I know you have a guest coming up, or maybe you already had it and I admitted it about VPNs.
Correct, hasn't hasn't been on yet?
Okay, good, I'll look forward to hearing it then. So my question is this on my iPhone, on my iPad, on my MacBook. I installed VPN several years ago, and I use it word even if I'm at home. I use the VPN, and my friend said that I shouldn't do that because it's not necessary. Number one, And he thinks his interference with my if I'm engaging with Best Buys or I'm engaging with Staples, he thinks that using my VPN can alter my my information with those companies.
But I think that. I mean, I can scroll. I see all these different Wi Fi addresses of my neighbors, so therefore I think they can see mine. So I just try to I don't know, mask it or hide it, or I just don't want somebody trying to hack in because they know I'm living next door or I'm met this at the dinner table next to them. Is there such thing as overusing a VPN.
Well, let's put it this way. It's funny.
I was just having this conversation with my wife last night. Because I travel, and you know that, you hear so many ads for VPNs, and so many people are promoting VPNs because there's a lot of money in VPNs. So wherever there's money, there's going to be a lot of promotion. And so people love to talk about why you need a VPN. Now I will tell you that I don't.
And look, we have this guest coming up, David Werta is going to talk to us about this, so I think he's more of an expert in this than I am, but I'll get his take on when you should use one. But I think in general, if you're at home, I don't think you need a VPN. You are on your home network, you are secured. Just because someone could see your Wi Fi network name does not mean they're able to hack into your network, and there are ways of
actually hiding that as well. On your router settings, you can turn off what's called broadcast SSID, which means when you go on there, you will not see your home Wi Fi network. So if you want to add a layer of mystery and cloak your WiFi, no one else could see that if you turn off broadcast SSID. So most people do not do that. It makes life a
little bit more complicated. But to connect to your Wi Fi network, all you'd have to do is manually type in your network ID and your password, and it would still find it and log in obviously if you're within range. But other people would not be able to see that. So that's one kind of barrier between you and someone that's trying to get in on your network. Now, most of the time people are not trying to get into
your Wi Fi network at home. If you live in a place with a lot of networks, sure, I get it, you don't want your stuff. Also, I was just helping my sister set up her network, and her Wi Fi name was a combination of her and her kid, and then the password was something that was also similar, And I said, look, no, no, no, no, no, you never want to set your home Wi Fi as something that identifies who you are. Don't put in your name, don't put in your address, don't put in your pets name, because
those are all signals. So if someone's driving across your street and oh gosh, there used to be a term for this that I'm trying to remember. Oh it was like Wi Fi warring or something, But I kind of remember what that term was. But you know, people used to do this when Wi Fi first came out. They'd have a little fun with it and try to figure out the network and the password and all that stuff.
And they still do.
But my point is, please use a nondescript Wi Fi name and a nondescript Wi Fi password that is very strong, because, yeah, if someone gets into your password on your Wi Fi network, they're going to be able to access all of those things that are on your network, which is, you know, your smart home stuff. They can sniff on your network see what you're you know, trying to pass by on there. So yes, you want to lock down your network. But to answer your question, Robert, when do I think you
need a VPN. I think you need a VPN when you are on a public Wi Fi network and you are accessing a sensitive website like your banking information, your credit card, things like not even your credit card really just your banking you know, your personal bank, And so that's when I think you need it. I travel a lot, I'm on different Wi Fi networks all the time, and ninety nine percent of the time websites are encrypted to begin with, the connection between you and that website is locked.
And so most of the time what you're passing through those websites is secured. But if you want that extra level of security, go ahead use the VPN. It's not going to mess things up. In fact, when I tried to log into my bank using my VPN on a mobile network, they wouldn't let me. I had to actually turn off the the VPN to get in. So again, if you're on a cellular connection, you do not need a VPN. That connection is very, very secure. If you're on your home Wi Fi network, I don't think you
need it. If you're on a public Wi Fi network and you're accessing something that's very sensitive, that's when I think it kicks in. But again, we're gonna have a VPN expert a little bit later on in the show. We will ask him this exact question and he will give us some information about that.
Good question.
Robert, thanks for calling the show at triple eight rich one oh one. That's eighty eight seven four to two for one zero one. Speaking of hacking, this is the way people get hacked. So twenty three and meters has confirmed that user data is being sold on hacker forms following a attack on their website. And how did these hackers get into their website? They didn't sit there and try one thousand different combinations of user name and passwords.
What did they do?
They went on the web. They found a whole bunch of leaked usernames and passwords for other websites, and they tried them on twenty three and Me and guess what, a bunch of them worked. A bunch of them gave them the login. Because what happens. People reuse the same username and the same password across a whole bunch of different websites thinking it'll be fine, nobody's targeting them, and guess what, this is what happens. So the initial leak
was one million lines of ancestry data. Now they're selling this twenty three in me account data for a dollar to ten dollars per profile. The data includes names, usernames, photos, sex, birth date, ancestry results, and location. That's a lot of information. So if you did the swab for twenty three and Me and a lot of you have, and you reused your password and user name somewhere else, your information could be out there. Twenty three in me says affected accounts
had opted into the DNA relatives feature. What do they say to protect yourself in the future. Encourage two factor use two factor authentication, and use a unique password. Good advice for any website that you sign up for. You are listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out talking technology at triple eight rich one O one eighty eight seven four to two four one zero one. Give me a call if you have a question about technology, you need a recommendation.
Something's troubling you with technology, whatever it is, give me a call eight eight eight rich one O one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four.
One zero one.
You could also go to the website. It is rich on Tech dot tv. Up at the top it says contact you hit that and you can put in your name, email, and your message and it arrives right to my inbox. So this week, you know, we are in the slide to the holidays. I called the slide because it is just like a slippery slope. You know, it's like Halloween's
coming up, Thanksgiving then the Holidays. I know, I don't want to rush it, but for me, when it comes to technology, this is kind of the busiest time because people want to know about gifts. All the tech companies have new phones coming out and new gadgets coming out because there is money to be made on selling this stuff. So this week we got the new Pixel phones and the new Pixel Watch, which are in stores next week. I've also noticed a new trend too with all of
this technology. It's getting announced and then available a lot quicker than before. Used to be like they would announce it and then it was available in like a couple of weeks. Now it's becoming like a week to two weeks. And by the way, if you bought one of those new iPhone fifteens recently that were hot, you know, if you went on a ski trip, you wouldn't need to bring anything except an iPhone fifteen as your handwarmer because
they were getting that warm. So if you had that problem and update your phone to iOS seventeen point zero point three, and this supposedly fixes the iPhone fifteen overheating bug. I mean, I guess it's running less warm than it was before, but seventeen point zero point three fixes the bugs that were causing the models to run hot. Lots of people were complaining about overheating iPhones after the launch, Apple said it was not a hardware or design flaw.
Some people said it was due to the titanium. Apple says it was just software related and this should resolve it. They actually blame some third party apps like Instagram and Uber for overloading the processor. Come on, really, like Instagram's been around forever, Uber's been around forever. You're telling me that this phone is like made running hot because of that. I don't know whatever, whatever it was, they seem to have fixed it. We'll see in a week or so
if people are still complaining now. The thing is, anytime you set up a new phone, it's always gonna run a little bit hotter. You're using it more because you're trying to like get all the apps downloaded, try out the new features, all that stuff. But Apple says, in stall this and hopefully it should fix any overheating issues.
It's weird.
There were like three updates for the brand new iPhone within two weeks. That's pretty rare with Apple. Let's see what else we got. An email from Jennifer says, Hey, Rich, I've got an iPhone thirteen Pro and a one year old iPad. I'm at a campground in Tennessee with great WiFi. However, my devices will not stay logged in. You can imagine how annoying it is to re enter the password multiple times each day. I have the network saved with both auto join and auto login. My phone is running iOS
sixteen point six point one. We stayed here last year, same devices didn't have this problem. Do you have any suggestions for additional settings I should try? Do you think this is something with the provider's Wi Fi. I always value your input and look forward to listening to you on your show via the app while I'm on the road. Jennifer, I had this same exact problem at my hotel in New York City, and I don't understand what the deal is, but I think I may have something you can try.
But yes, I was logged into the hotel Wi Fi and every single day, even though I selected like two or three days for the Wi Fi connection, it kept making me log in. Now, maybe that's because I have like fifteen devices that I log in on the Wi Fi and most people don't. And I've also noticed that hotels are now kind of making you pay if you have more than two devices on your WiFi in the room, so watch out for that. But here's the only thing
I can think of. On the new versions of iOS, and this may be different than last year, they do have this like private Wi Fi address, So sometimes the iPhone will generate a different address that makes your phone look like it might be a different device. And so when it does that, it does that to protect your privacy so they can't track you as much. But the Wi Fi network may see that and it may say, oh, this is a new device, so we need to log
in again. So you can try this, go into the once you're kind of it's to the Wi Fi network on your iPhone, tap the I next to the Wi Fi network's name, and there's a setting that says private Wi Fi address. Turn that off and see if that helps with the reconnection. That's really the only thing I can think of that's causing the reconnection unless you're using a VPN and it's cloaking your phone and your iPad's information and that's why it's wanting to reconnect.
Or it could just.
Be that this Wi Fi is set up on the network side to ask you to reconnect every twelve hours, every twenty four hours, so that may be what's happening here. But that's the only thing I can think of is go into your Wi Fi settings, tap the I next to the network that you're connected to, and disable the private Wi Fi address and see if that helps. Jennifer, thanks for listening to the show from the road. Let's see what else do I want to talk about. I wanted to talk about the new pixel Watch too, so
I've been it for just a day now. It looks a lot like the first pixel Watch. This is Google's new pixel Watch that is upgraded last year's pixel Watch.
I honestly, I didn't.
Even review it because I wore it for a week and I just was not impressed. It was kind of underpowered, kind of felt like a glorified Fitbit. It just was not something that I think i'd recommend to my audience. So I just kind of like didn't really do much on it. I talked about it that it's there, but I didn't really recommend it. This year, they say everything
has changed. We'll have an interview with the product manager for Google Wearables coming up later this hour, so he'll talk more about it, but I'll just give you the basics. Better performance. Got a new quad core cpu. They went out to Qualcom this time instead of their own, and so it's faster, they said. The battery life is greatly improved. Now it's twenty four hours and it's always on by default.
Last year it wasn't you could toggle it on, but they took that feature, you know, they made it so it was just the screen would go dark when you weren't using it because the battery wasn't that good, and they knew that. This year, always on is on by default, which of course is shit. Be new health sensors for the health rate, heart rate, stress. I love that it tracks your stress and also sleep tracking, so I wore
it to bed last night tracked my sleep. I got very very good sleep last night, so thank you fitbit for telling me that, although my rating was only eighty one out of one hundred. So that is the reason why I don't like wearing these things to bed, because you wake up, you feel great, and then you look at your score and it's horrible, and I'm like, wait a second, what could I do better?
Stress? I think is awesome.
It will actually tell you when you're stressed out, so you may not want to wear this new watch to work. It also now has fall detection, emergency SOS, and safety check. Those are really important features because obviously, if you take a fall, it can call for help. Emergency SOS can call your friends in the event of an emergency, and safety check you can set like an hour and say hey, if I don't respond in an hour or do something, please tell people that they need to check on me.
Comes with six months of free Fitbit Premium.
It works with a Fitbit at it is this app.
It sort of is still like a glorified Fitbit, but this watch definitely feels better, has some new watch faces. It's three hundred and fifty dollars. It's available October twelfth, and it's just it's overall seeming like it's better. I still think that the Apple Watch is the king of smart watches, but I think if you don't need something that robust, I actually really enjoy this watch, especially because it has a lot of the googlely things built in.
So it's got Google Assistant, it's got Google Maps, it's got Google YouTube Music if you like that.
It's got Spotify if you like that.
So it's got a lot of little things that the Apple Watch has some of those things, But if you really like Google. I think that this watch is a nice thing that if you don't expect too much from your watch, it's not a bad device. By the way, I talk about my wife lock because we chat about this stuff at home. I know, I always say, I know you don't care about this stuff, but I'm telling
you anyway because it's my life. But we were talking about the different watches, and she was like, isn't it funny that people always want an iPhone but they use so many Google products, Like they use Gmail, they use Google Chrome, they use you know what, Google maps, they use YouTube, but yet everyone wants an iPhone. I said, hold on, are you punking me right now? Because this is Google's advertisements. Did you watch an ad for this? Because Google's new ad for the Pixel phones is kind
of riffing on that. They say, oh, you want a brand you can trust because you want the iPhone and maybe they don't name Apple, but they say they go, but you also use Google, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube. You're already using so many Google products. Why not make your phone a Google product? And so I thought that was really funny that she picked up on their entire marketing without seeing that ad, which is kind of true.
But I will say I'm not knocking the iPhone. I still think that the iPhone software and hardware is incredible. I think that for a lot of people, it's just kind of the default. It's the one that people get because their friends have it. They want to be on I message, they just want to be part of the crowd.
And I totally understand all of that stuff. Have you ever been in a crowd where you say, oh, let me share that picture with you and they say, oh cool, let me air drop it, and You're just like, wait, not everyone on this earth has air drop.
They just assume you have an iPhone.
I mean, it's really gotten to the point where we just, you know, people just assume everyone else has one, and it's not always the case. And yes, iPhone is amazing, and I think the ecosystem is really incredible, the fact that they have all these things that work really well with it. But again it's all sort of like Apple telling you what to do, Apple telling you what to have. But then again, on the flip side, the accessories for
the iPhone are also amazing. I was saying that, you know, just the amount of accessories that I get sent on a monthly basis that deal with the iPhone. They're all really fun. Like I was using this little mofed Moft. This is a company that makes like magnetic stands, like magnetic accessories for the iPhone, and they're just really cool. They like unfold and it's like a little tablet stand for my, uh my iPhone in the plane. I mean, it was just so cool and I was like, oh,
this is so cool. But it doesn't work on anything Android. Because these companies know they sell so many iPhones every year. If they can just tap into a little bit of that magic, they can sell a whole bunch of accessories for them as well. All Right, we got some calls lined up at Triple eight. Rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. My name is Richdimiro. You are listening to Rich on tech. Welcome back to Rich on Tech. Let's go to Elsa in Plia del Rey, California.
Elsa, you're on with Rich.
Hey, Rich, how you doing today?
I'm doing fantastic. Hope you can hear it my voice?
Yes, yes, okay, So I had an email forever I was married, I got divorced, and I want to create a new one with my with my going back to my dad name in any event I want to. I'm in social media. I try to stay away from all
that stuff because I don't want to expose myself. So I'm just wondering what's a good email of email company or whatever provides that I have MS in right now, and I was looking at Max, but I don't want to do Gmail because I know they get a lot of your information and like I said, I try to minimize getting my information out. There is there one email provider that's better than another?
Well, I think Gmail is the best, but and actually they don't get your information, so Google does, but Gmail. So when Gmail first started, they actually used to scan your emails to serve up ads.
They no longer do that. They stop doing that years ago.
So I think Gmail is still one of the best, one of the most secure. But with that said, if you don't want it, there are plenty of options out there. So some of the other popular ones are something like Outlook, and a lot of these are connected to other service So to use something like Outlook, you got to sign up for a Microsoft account. To use Gmail, you got to sign up for a Google account to use Yahoo.
You got to have a Yahoo account.
So to me, if you want something that's sort of by itself and just kind of independent of anything else, then maybe you want to go with one of these smaller providers that is kind of independent. So if you want something that's really secure in private, which elsa sounds like you do, I would check out proton Mail. So proton mail is they're known for security, they're known for privacy, and so that's a provider that is going to be end to end encrypted, and it's just it's a really
kind of more secure email. Now, the downside to it is that you can use it for free, but it depends how much storage you're going to get. You're only gonna get one gigabyte of storage for free, and once you go above that, if you want a little bit more, you're gonna have to pay three ninety nine a month
or about fifty bucks for the year. So I feel like with email, unless you have a reason to go with a paid account, it's kind of nice to have something that's free because you don't really want to think about it. But even Google and all of the free email providers typically give you about fifteen gigabytes of storage for free, so proton mail is something i'd check out.
The other one is iCloud. If you already have an iPhone and you already have kind of like all that stuff set up, you can just go onto your iPhone and set up a free iCloud email account. So if you want to go do that, all you have to do is go to your Apple ID and then go to iCloud and right there it'll say, let's see where is it iCloud mail, and you just tap set up, and we'll ask you for your email name and you just type that in and your email address would be
something aticloud dot com. So those are a few of the popular ones. Obviously, things like AOL are still around, but I can't really wholeheartedly recommend that one. Yahoo who even though it's old, it actually they still work on it and they still do a lot with it. So Yahoo's not a bad way to go. But I think those are some of the providers that I would look at.
And if you have an iPhone, I think the iCloud one's pretty simple, but again that does kind of lock you into all things Apple, so if you don't, I personally prefer third party, independent platforms for everything. I do, so I personally do not use that one, but I know a lot of people do if they just want to stick to Apple stuff.
So good question, Elsa.
And you know, no matter what you do, when you set up your account, please use a unique password and immediately turn on two factor authentication and you will be good to go. Thanks for the call, Triple eight rich one on one eighty eight seven four to two four one zero one, coming up on October tenth. Oh you thought I was gonna say, coming up on the show, coming up on October tenth. This is Amazon. I'm Big Deal Days. How many Prime Days can we have in
a year? We just got through Prime Day that was a dud. Now we've got the new Prime big Deal Days. I don't know about you, but here's what I bought on Prime Day last time. I think I bought like those phizzy tablets, like those Electrolyte tablets. Like how boring is it when you're buying like a Gatorade tablet for your Prime Day? But maybe this won will be better.
This one starts on October tenth, and it seems like Amazon has to keep reminding us of reasons why we should pay this one hundred and thirty nine dollars a year to keep our Prime memberships, which I'm pretty sure I use a lot of forty eight hour shopping event. This is happening before Black Friday. They're trying to get a head start on the holiday shopping season. Again, this is for Amazon Prime members only. Deals will start at three am Eastern on October tenth. Of course, like they
always say, there's gonna be millions of discounted items. Deals on electronics, toys, home fashions, sixty five Amazon devices, and bundles. That's where you really save money Amazon stuff. The one thing I thought was very interesting this year. Gift cards are going to be up to twenty percent off for different brands, and they have this new buy Again feature, so they're trying to help you figure out the stuff you've purchased in the past, is it going to be
on sale this time around. So now they're going to put that front and center on Prime Day. So all the stuff you've purchased in the past, if it's on sale, your towels, your you know whatever, it'll say, Hey, this is on sale again, buy it again. Amazon Prime Big Deal Days happening October tenth.
More rich On Tech.
Right after this, Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here on location once again in New York City to talk all things Google products. Google had their big pixel launch event here and I was in the audience.
It was very fun. We got to go hands on with the new products.
Joining me now is san Deep Barach, product manager for the pixel Watch.
Thanks for joining me. Thanks Rich.
So let's talk about pixel Watch too. This is the follow up to last year's model. What are some of the biggest improvements to the watch this time around?
Yeah, overall upgraded insight and out. So the big things. Starting with the performance itself. It's a quad core processor giving you really smooth performance. It's a display that is always on. Combined with our core processor, it gives you all day battery life with always on display. So that's a pretty big improvement both in terms of performance and
battery life. Moving to the health sensors, we are bringing three new health sensors overall, a skin temperature which gives you a lot of insights around your night temperature and how your body kind of changes the changes in skin temperature, continue, stress monitoring, which is a pretty big overall wellness feature, and capability which can both detect stressful events during the day and give you some interventions suggest some interventions both
on the watch and on the fitbit app on the phone. You're also bringing personal safety features that make the watch a really good companion for a peace of mind when you're on a trail or walking alone. These are features where we are bringing emergency SOS, emergency location sharing with your loved ones, but all the also things like safety check,
which is like a timer for your safety. So let's say you go on a run for an hour, you can put that timer and then after one hour, if you're in a bind and can't respond back to your watch that you're all good. It will then send your location and the right details to risk first responders and do your loved ones.
So let's start with some of the things that you mentioned about the battery life. So you always on display means that the display is always on, but you're still going to get a full day's worth of use out of the watch.
That is right.
So that is in a way, what that really brings compared to first generation is you don't have to compromise on it being a watch. So at a glance, you still have this watch which has very expressive watch faces, and with always on display, it is your primary watch and then when you turn it around, it activates with just detecting your tilt of the wrist and then can give you a lot more information on the watch face
itself and you can interact with that. That's a pretty big feature because generally it takes away a lot from the battery life, but we wanted to have this peace of mind that you can go through the day, through the night of sleep tracking and still have battery left.
Ah through this sleep tracking as well.
So when do you think that people should charge this when they wake up in the morning, when they're getting ready for work.
I can tell how I use it and how we have found lots of our users use it in our trusted testing. There are two primary ways in which charging, which is faster by the way, so I forgot to mention that it's a faster charging mechanism too. So in thirty minutes of charging, you're going to get fifty percent of battery, so that equates to about twelve hours. So I go through the day and then when I'm having dinner with my family, that's when I please check my watch.
So I have about thirty minutes, I put it on the charger, I'm ready for the full night of sleep tracking, and then full day as well, and then right around the evening I repeat that cycle. Or conversely, you can go through the day, sleep track through the night, and in the morning, while maybe showering or brushing, you can just put it on the charger and very quickly get ready for the day.
Okay, there you go.
Two good ways to charge if you're trying to get your sleep tracking in. And what I like about this watch is it's so minimal. It's minimalistic so you can wear it comfortably to bed and track your sleep without it feeling like it's a big clunky watch.
That is exactly right, that's really well captured. It doesn't snag on the jackets like winter season is coming, will be wearing like long sleeves all so it's very low profile in that regard our design principle and this was for it to be fussed a good watch, and I think we have succeeded with that.
Let's talk about the improved heart rate sensor. If you look on the back of the device, it's a much more it's kind of a bigger sensor like there's more going on there.
Maybe not larger, but there's a lot more to it. So explain that.
Yeah, So on the sensor there are the two sensors I talked about, the skin temperature and the stress monitoring. So that's on the electrodes on the back that you see are new compared to the previous generation. You also see more number of LEDs and photodiodes. That's for the heart rate monitoring. Our architecture now is what we call
multipath optics architecture. What that means is that we have ten times the number of LEDs and photodiodes and essentially they're sending a signal into the skin and getting that signal back and computing the changes in the physiology to then detect heart rate with very high accuracy. And why that architecture works in that, as you called out, like more things going on in the back, is it has more points on the wrist to detect that. It's not now relying on a single point of failure because your
watch moves in a very microway. When you're running or doing any hit like exercises, your watch is slightly moving and we want to have as asshured a signal across multiple points on the risk to get a very clean signal and.
Tell you about is stress tracking because I'm very interested in this. I think there's a whole new world of people kind of realizing their wellness and their kind of mental and also physical wellness.
So tell you about the stress tracking future.
Yeah. So the CDA sensor electrodermal sensor at a subcutaneous skin level mid detect changes and can then detect if there are any events of stress that you're having. It could be excitement too, which is great, and then that's where the intervention it can suggest is either to go to the Relaxed app to just breathe and have a couple of minutes of rest time, and or go to
the fitbit app and log that event. So for me, for example, sometimes it's just excitement that is detected as which is also a very good thing for me to log, which is I'm super excited right now, and it could be because we had a really good time as a family, or like we just achieved something as a team, or conversely it's just a stressful event and it then gives me a time series for me to see and then correlate today obviously you can see in the future things
could look very different today. I can manually correlate that to my sleep score and my heart rate variability. If I'm having too many stressful events, I can then correlate maybe my sleep score is going down. So these are very helpful insights for me to know about my broader wellness.
Now there's a cellular version of this watch which is sort of independent, and then a version that does not have cellulars that right, That is right.
So we have a Wi Fi which is Wi Fi GPS, and then we have Wi Fi GPS and LT which is that cellular connected?
And what do you recommend people choose the cellular version for? Like what you know?
Sometimes you get a lot of questions, people say, why would I get the cellular versus the standard Wi Fi? What do you think makes that delineation worth it?
Yeah, So there are a few times where you feel like it's okay to be without your phone, and that's where the cellular connected watch comes and to still have that peace of mind that you're connected and you can connect to the things you care about. So a few examples of that. From a personal standpoint, I generally walk
with my kids in the evening. During weekdays and certainly weekends, where I feel that it's a twenty thirty minute walk around the neighborhood, I probably don't want to carry my phone, and I'm fully in the present with them. But then I also know that my wife can reach me anytime or any other person because I'm fully connected. Conversely, I can connect with them too if needed. Same thing, if I'm going on a run, likely I'm not going to carry my phone. It's a thing that probably just adds
to my bulk. And same thing with weekend excursions or hike. So there are all these things in our daily lives where we feel that we would like to have that freedom for a few moments where we are with our loved ones or with ourselves, and then still having that peace of mind that you're connected.
All right.
There you have it Google pixel Watch too forty nine And when's it available?
And is available enough of pre order and it'll be available on shelf on twelfth o' October.
Sandy Barach, product manager for pixel Watch, thanks so much.
For joining me today. Thanks Rich, that was pleasure, all right, More Rich on Tech coming your way right after this. What's going on?
Rich, Demiro here rich on tech. This is one of those songs that just screams wedding. Like you are at a wedding if you're listening to this song like this September like there are certain like you have to have these songs at your wedding. This is one of them, and I'm there for I love it. Eight to eight rich one oh one eighty eight seven four to two four one zero one. You know, the song that really gets me going at weddings is the one that you jump up.
What's it called?
Jump around? Jump up, jump up and get down. Yeah, if you see me, I'm not kidding. I am the highest jumper in the room every time. My wife hates it so much. She is so embarrassed because I'm like, oh, they're playing this song. I drop whatever I'm doing and I run to the dance floor and I go watch this. I will be the highest jumper in this entire room. And I am most of the time. People are very surprised, and uh yeah, jump around, House of Pain, stupid shuffle?
What's that? I got it? I know it by audio.
We gotta play it, Okay, you you find it and I'll and then uh, let's take Kevin in San Diego. I feel bad for the people on the podcast because they don't hear the music, so they get this part. They get one side of the conversation. Here, Kevin, you're on with.
Rich Any white man can't chap you know that?
Well, this one can so much to my wife's chagrin, right.
Uh, it's all of it. Yeah, my ex girlfriend hacked my iPhone. Uh, and she's just wreaking havoc every day on my life with this. We we're so connected to our phone and every way at work and just banking and everything. She she probably got my passwords back in the day when I used to spend the night at her house and I used to keep them in a book in my overnight bag, and she just started hacking all my accounts and so I've been locking it down
since we broke up, changed all my passwords. But she knows where I'm at, how much money I spend when I go shopping.
Sounds like you're still married.
I know we were never married.
Okay, so I was gonna say it just sounds like marriage, right, Okay, So.
I was able to break up with her, but uh, yeah, I've been I've been on the phone with Apple for two hours at a time, with their tech support, Verizon tech support. Nobody seems to be able to help me. She's gotten into my phone, I got she hacked my email.
I've got a private email. She acted that even when I was on tech support with my private email company and they were mirroring my phone seeing what I was doing, and I would block her, go out of that page and go back, and she was unblocked, and they're like, oh, I've never seen that before.
I'm like, thought, great, well, it sounds go ahead.
It sounds like she has access to your passwords from that book and she got them all and now she is using them to her advantage. So I think that the main thing that you need to do is that you have to regain control of your accounts. And so what that requires is a lot Number one. You're using an iPhone, you said, so you've got to change your Apple ID password immediately. That is going to be the
number one thing. So the other thing I'd recommend before you even do that is go into your settings and tap your Apple ID and then go on that list of devices. And so if you look at the main page of your Apple ID, it'll give you a list of all of the devices that are on your Apple account, and I'm looking at mine. I've got my iPhone, I've got my computer, I've got an iPad, I've got another iPhone, which actually now that you remind me, I need to get rid of.
I've got an Apple TV, I've got a watch, and.
So all of these things are they all have access to your account. So her phone may be on there because at one point she may have logged in and gotten access to your Apple ID that way. So that's number one. You can tap one of these devices and it will say, let me just tap one of these and it will say remove from account. And so then you can remove that from account now because she has access to that. There's also another place to look. It's
called find my. So if you go in to find my, you'll see all the devices on your account and find my. If there's one that you don't recognize there, you definitely want to remove that item. So she could have put an air tag on your account, and that air tag is tracking your location, and because it's on your account, your phone is not telling you about it, and so that's another way that she could potentially see where you're at so I think that whatever she has done is
clean up a ble. You can clean this mess up by changing your Apple ID. As soon as you change your Apple ID, you want to enable two factor authentication on your Apple account if you don't have that already enabled, and that is going to make sure that if she had even if she figured out your new password, which by the way, it should be a strong password, she will not be able to use that to log in
because she's not going to get that secondary code. And even if her device was set up as a trusted device on her account, which is your account, because you got rid of any devices that are not recognizable, her device would no longer get that secondary security code. Now, once you do that, I would actually take a third step and I would go through and format your phone and restart everything, relog in from fresh from the basics. So go through and just download all the apps you
have and relog into those. Now, when it comes to things like your email, what you want to do is you want to log out of other locations. So pretty much every app nowadays has some sort of setting in the account settings that lets you log out of all active sessions. And what that means is and I was looking at this on my phone today. When you log into things, they stay for a long time until you
log out. So she may have an old phone or an old computer, or an old web browser that's still logged into your Facebook, or that's still logged into your Gmail, and so she can still access that, and unless you get rid of those, she's still going to be able to access those.
If that's what's happening here.
Now, if you look on the bottom of Gmail, it should say where you're logged in. And if you want to log out of other accounts, just Google, you know, Google log out of all active devices or Spotify log out of all active devices. All these accounts typically have a way to log out of all the different places that you've logged in. Instagram has it, Facebook has it. Now you're going to have to re log in, so you better know your new password or maybe change the
password before you do this. But Kevin, these are all things that I know that you're getting the messages from, you know, your cellular company and Apple. But these are the steps you have to take, and once you take these steps, you will be cleaned from her existence on your devices. There's no reason why someone should be able to continue to have access once you do these things. Now, when it comes to your cell phone carrier, if she has access to that on the backside, you're log in
and password for that. Go into where whether it's Verizon, whether it's AT and T T Mobile, go in, change your password there, and also set up a PIN on your account. So if you set up a PIN on your account, she's not gonna be able to log in unless she has that pin or change anything because of that. And also set up two factor there too. So those are the steps to take. I think that this is easily fixable. It just takes a little bit of work.
You've got to change those passwords. You've got to log out of the active sessions anywhere else and make sure that no other devices accept the one that you want is logged into your account. So thanks Kevin for the question, appreciate it. Sorry for the breakup, but it sounds like if she's really doing this stuff, you're avoiding a big nightmare there by not getting married. Chrome book. Let me
just quickly talk about chromebooks. You know, chromebooks are known for being really simple, easy, they run software, they don't really have viruses, but they've been underpowered, and Google knows that a lot of you know, schools use them and things like that. People get these chromebooks, they spend a couple hundred bucks on them, and they get them, and they're kind of slow and like sluggish. And so now
Google has this new spec called Chromebook Plus. And so this is a signifier that tells you this chromebook is actually pretty decent. And so what does a Chromebook Plus have. It's got a starting price of three hundred and ninety nine dollars, it's got double the performance, memory, and storage compared to regular chromebooks, guaranteed hardware specs including Intel Core I three, AMD rise In three, eight gigabytes of RAM and one hundred and twenty eight gigabytes of storage, a
ten ADP webcam. And because it's got these specs, it can have new AI features that Google says they will build into these things. These are available starting October eighth, and some existing chromebooks, if they have these specs, we'll get that Chromebook Plus software update.
So it just means that it's going to be a higher end system.
So if you want the best chromebook you can get, look for a Chromebook Plus in the future.
I think this was a smart move by Google. Triple A rich.
One O one eighty eight seven four to two four.
One zero one. You are listening to rich on Tech all right?
Now we have a new song I can shuffle to at the next wedding.
I go to.
Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging out with you talking technology at Triple eight rich one oh one.
You got plenty more in the show.
Sam Rubin KTLA entertainment anchor is going to join me to discuss his experience seeing you two at the Las Vegas Sphere and then ate, By the way, I don't like that word sphere. Isn't it really really tough to say sphere? Like it's just one of those words that I'd rather not say. Globe, Yeah, so much easier globe. It just rolls off the tongue. Sphere is like you have to actually sit there and think about how to say it. David Huerta is the senior digital security trainer
at Freedom of the Press Foundation. He is going to join us for a very important conversation later this hour about how to pick the best VPN and some of the stories I'll still talk about ring they're giving away a million bucks if you catch an alien on your ring camera. And Samsung actually has some new products. These are the Fan Addition products, and I'll tell you about them because they're actually really good and they're inexpensive. But
first let's go to Jim and Costa Mesa. Jim, you're on with Rich?
Yeah, how you doing? I have a question. I I'm seventy four years old, but for my age, I think I'm pretty good with technology. And early on I had an iPhone and was into the Mac, you know, the Apple vironment, but business kind of had me transfer to PC because that's just what most of the companies used. Well, when smartphones came out, I went to androids. So to me, the Androids it's just a better open system. What I love to do is put my documents, photos and music
all on an SD card. And so when I get a new phone, I simply log into my Gmail account and my Microsoft account, put the SIM card in and SD card. I'm ready to go. I never have to go to a genius bar or you spend a lot of time anywhere. I do it all at home. So my question is what am I missing by not having an iPhone? Because I'm very happy with the Android system. I know I save a lot of money by staying on Android, but what do I really miss? I don't FaceTime. I just wonder the features that would.
Me to want to move good question.
I think it's a question that a lot of people wonder that are Android users because you hear about the iPhone so much, and I kind of talked about this a little bit earlier, but there's this like there's this kind of it's almost like a social construct in America, at least not so much for the rest of the world, but in America, the iPhone is kind of like the
top device. And so not just the iPhone, but also I message and FaceTime to a lesser extent, I don't really I think I've done like three FaceTime calls in my entire life.
I don't really use FaceTime.
And again I'm prefacing all of this with the fact that I like third party platforms that work across both sides. So when I choose a product, I choose something that works on both iPhone and Android, because A I'm switching between both all the time, and B I just don't want one company to have that much control in my life. And when you go iPhone, You're pretty much like seating a lot of control to Apple. And I think that's what it really comes down to. When you meet certain
people like that are a little bit more techy. A lot of times they like Android because they have full control, Jim, Like you said, they like to control their own destiny. They like to do things the way they want. I mean, just look at the way you have to arrange icons on the home screen on the iPhone versus Android. Android you can place an icon wherever you want. iPhone you cannot do that. And that may surprise some of you
Android folks. You're like, wait, what, Yes, you have to place the icon where Apple wants you to do it. Now on the flip side, So what does iPhone offer? I think iPhone offers that I message world, where you know, you can text easily and it's simple and you can send big videos. And that's just something that Apple has constructed as a it's almost fake. It's like Apple made that barrier itself. So everyone else in the world uses something like WhatsApp or you know, a different messaging program,
or even SMS, which is rcs now. Apple also has, you know, they have new stuff every year. They've got an ecosystem that just works, so it's very simple. Their software updates work on the same day for every device, so you don't have to weigh or you don't have to say, oh, i'm running this phone, i haven't gotten my software update yet because I'm on Samsung, I'm on OnePlus, I'm on Google, I'm on Motorola. All those manufacturers do
software updates at different times. So some people just like the fact that Apple just works the same for everyone all the time. Now, what's the advantage of Android? Well, number one, you control your own destiny with Android. It works the way you want it to work. There's a lot of little things on iPhone that don't work the way they work on Android. Because Android is a little bit more open, it's a little bit more user friendly when it comes to customizing how you want things to work.
You want a different keyboard for a long time, you couldn't do that on iPhone. And by the way, if you do that on iPhone, it still doesn't work as well as it doesn't Android. You know, when it comes to voice assistance, you can choose which one you want to work on your Android phone, and on iPhone you've got Siri and so now all of these things are getting a little bit better on iPhone.
Over the years.
You used to not be able to set your own mail application or your own default browser. Apple has made it easier to do that, although I argue that sometimes those don't work as well as the built in native applications like Safari or by the way, tried navigating with anything using except Apple Maps on the iPhone doesn't work if you're clicking any sort of link, and I don't want to This is getting a little bit too in depth, but you know, developers have found ways around Apple's weird rules,
and a lot of Apple's weird rules come down to security, and they they've engineered this phone so everything sort of runs in its own sandbox. So when you run an app on the iPhone, it's not really interacting with other apps like it is on the Android side. And so what does that do that protects the user from things like spam or sorry, viruses Like there's really not a
virus for the iPhone because it wouldn't really work. And all those systems that say they've got anti virus for the iPhone, those are all bogus because they can't even scan. They can't even get access to the iPhone system to be able to scan for viruses. And so if you're getting those kind of programs on your iPhone, you don't need them. So my point is, I think it really comes down to what you want. Jim, I don't think you're losing anything on Android versus iOS. It sounds like
you're very happy with what you've got. It sounds like you like the system that you have set up. And when it comes to things like the Genius Bar and the iPhone, the Apple stores and all the costs associated with being an Apple fan, some people like that because, for instance, when I was in Japan and I had a problem with my laptop, I made an appointment at the Genius Bar and I brought it in without even thinking if the genius spoke English or Japanese.
It just worked.
The person spoke English. And so again Apple has built something that's really interesting, that's really the customer friendly and simple, and a lot of people like that, and that's just absolutely fine. I'm not faulting them for that, but I am going to point out the differences between what you get on iPhone and what you get on Android, and everyone has a different thing that they like a different
way to run their life, and that's fine. Now on Android, you know, there are things that you can do that you can't do on iPhone. On iPhone, there are apps that you know, a lot of developers develop first for iPhone and then maybe they'll develop for Android later on. And again, people like to be able to bring in their phone to the Apple Store if they have a problem, or they like to ask a friend if they have an issue. If you have this really unique Android phone
that you love. Let's say you have the Nothing phone too. It's a cool phone, it's a great phone. But who are you going to ask if you have a problem with that phone, because your friends probably don't have it. As with iPhone, you're gonna say, hey, do you know how to do this on the iPhone? They say, oh yeah, sure, here're going to this setting. So Jim, those are just a few of the reasons. But at the end of the day, I think that it's great that we have competition.
I think it's great to have choice, and I think it's great if you like iPhone, fine, if you like Android, that's absolutely fine. I don't think you're missing out in either way. Apple's marketing is just a little bit stronger. So it feels like there's a little bit more going on with the iPhone, which you know in some cases there is. Thanks for the question. Speaking of Android, Samsung introduced three new products this week. We call this introduction
via press release. They didn't have a big event or anything, but they did put out three new products. One is the Galaxy S twenty three FE. This starts at six hundred dollars and this is basically a FE means Fan Edition. It's kind of a less expensive version of their flagship device, and it's probably really good. I haven't gotten the phone in yet, but I have gotten the tablet and the earbuds, and so far it took a run.
With the earbuds, they are excellent.
The Galaxy S twenty three FE has three cameras, it's got all the features that you need, it's got a bunch of fun colors, and it's just a little bit cheaper, so it doesn't have like the best specs like the Samsung Galaxy S twenty three Ultra, but it has really good specs and it's like a really good device if you want to spend half the price and still get something that's really good compared to the S twenty three Ultra.
Then they've got the Galaxy tab S nine FE and this is a tablet that starts at four hundred and fifty dollars. It's got up to twenty hours of video playback. It's available in a bunch of different colors as well. I personally think that the iPhone is the way to go when it comes to a tablet or sorry, the iPad, But I will test this out, put it through its paces.
But I just think that the tablet apps on the iPad are the best in class and Android really needs to step things up when it comes to that, and then maybe I'll recommend Android tablets. When it comes to these Galaxy buds, FI put them in my ears today, took with them.
They are excellent.
So ninety nine bucks gives you thirty hours of audio playback. They've got three microphones, they've got active noise cancelation. They've got ambient sound, which lets you hear what's going on around you. They don't feel like you're underwater with a lot of the cheap noise canceling headphones. They feel like you're underwater and your nose is clogged up. These sound perfect. They fit in my ears great, they did not fall out.
They're wireless earbuds. They start at ninety nine bucks. I think if you have Samsung specific phone, these are a great companion. The Galaxy Buds FE again, will be available online on October fifth, so that's already passed. So is the tablet and the Galaxy S twenty three FE. The phone is going to be available on October twenty six. So again look into this Galaxy Fan Edition products. They skipped a couple of years. They had them a couple
of years ago, they skipped and now they're back. And I think that they're back because people are spending a lot of money and they're kind of sick of it, and so Samsung realizes, hey, you know what, people want an alternative to these ultra premium devices, but they still want something that has a lot of these top tier features in a lower price point.
You're listening to rich on Tech.
Coming up next, we'll talk to Sam Rubin about the sphere in Las Vegas. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Talk in technology with you.
Coming up.
Towards the end of the show, we're going to talk to David Huerta, who is going to talk about VPNs and when you need one. Now, one of the things that's going on in Las Vegas. Las Vegas always looking for like new attractions, and they've got one. It's called the MSG Sphere. This is a giant I'm sure you've seen the videos online. It's this giant like ground building that is going to house concerts and also video performances
and like all kinds of stuff. Like the entertainment that they're creating for is brand new because it's a whole new format. So I went into this thing when it was being built and got like a behind the scenes tour before it was finished. Now it is finished, and they had the opening concert, which was you two. Last night they had the opening I guess experience it was
like a taped experience. I could not make that, unfortunately, but I did talk to my pal Sam Rubin at KTLA about his experience with you two at the Sphere. Sam Rubin is the entertainment reporter for KTLA, and you were at the very first show at the Sphere, you two.
It was really remarkable.
It's one of those rare circumstances and rich you may experience this more than I do at tech shows and things where it is a genuine jaw drop where collectively eighteen thousand people are like, oh wow, so it really is something.
I think a lot of people have.
Seen the exterior, which is, you know, a giant billboard, and it is cool and inside what is surprising is once you go into the lobby level and by the way, one thing which I think is an advantage of a Vegas location. I walked from my hotel easy. You just walk through the back of the Venetian. There you are, and once inside in the lobby part, it was kind of all futury. It's black and red and you know,
not wildly distinct from many other venues. Then you go through kind of curtains to the seats, and a lot of people have suggested there's an analogy to the Soaring Over California ride that you feel it's not a dissimilar circumstance, but maybe like Soaring in California, it's very it's big and very wide, super duper wide, nine stories tall. And what I sat in my seat, what I was looking at I thought was.
Like you're in the middle of a cement cylinder.
I saw the stage and then behind it what looked to me just like cement, and then when you two takes the stage that cement starts to crack and that was a video effect, leading to a parade.
Of video effects.
Some are absolutely stunning and spectacular. I think it's a very interesting place for people to play. I'm not convinced how many artists would really succeed there. Do they have the degree of artistic ambition that you need. But it's you know, you got to see it.
It's remarkable.
So is the venue too big? Is it?
Like?
Can you just place a standard concert in this venue? I know they're also going to do shows and sort of like movies and three D effects.
This is the thing the thought that I had, and I really you know, the phrases that had been bandied.
About, and it's mind boggling, it's insane.
And the thought that I had is just because you have a Lamborghini and you can drive it one hundred and eighty miles an hour, should you drive it one hundred and eighty miles.
An hour all the time?
And they just sang and played on stage and those moments, to me were my favorite moments. That's what I liked best. And somehow, you know, it's ten thirty at night in Las Vegas. You're out in the middle of the desert, and between the video screen and the manipulation of the house lights, all of us are outside. And that was unbelievably cool. But again, how many people can do all that?
I think there are few.
How are the acoustics, Because the sound is supposed to be incredible inside this sphere.
I was extremely sensitive to that, and that was the reason primarily I wanted to go.
I almost would have gone with my eyes closed.
And I sat next to a woman from the Hollywood Reporter who was their technical reporter, and I was because I felt recent shows that I've been lucky to attend Taylor at SOFI, Beyonce at Sofi.
Frankly, I thought the sound was terrible. I thought the sound was muddy and not good so Fi, I would agree, Yeah, really super disappointing.
You know sometimes when they turn things up really loud and it gets over modulated.
None of that happened.
I thought the acoustics were really good, and this woman, who has more of an expertise than me, I was lucky. I had a very good seat.
She said. She walked all over and the sound was good everywhere.
Okay.
So because it's a new stadium, I feel like every time we have a new opening of a venue, the prices get higher for everything.
Did you notice any of that.
Well, here's the good thing. It's Vegas, so you can walk.
Parking was one hundred dollars, so obviously I wouldn't park there.
The concessions, you know, seven.
Dollars, bottle of water, you know, ten dollars, so to that kind of thing. But the same kind of SOFI principles come in with nothing cashless. If you carry a bag, it can only be a clear plastic bag of a certain dimension. And the tickets anywhere for you too, anywhere from ninety to five hundred dollars.
Again, these three figure concert tickets. That's a kind of a shock and a surprise to me.
Oh yeah, you're going to a concert. It is very expensive. One hundred dollars for parking. What, Oh my gosh, David where to senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press is coming up next to talk about how to pick the best VPN. Thanks Sam Rubin, Welcome back to rich On Tech. Rich Demiro here are going to get right into it because we've got a great guest David where To, senior digital security trainer at the Freedom of
the Press Foundation. We get so many questions about VPNs, and David is a great resource to explain when you need one, why you might need one, and maybe even give us some recommendations about what to look for.
David, Thanks for joining me today.
Thanks Rich.
So, first off, let's talk about what a VPN is. Can you explain what that is?
Sure things?
So VPN just work for virtual private network. Is a way for you to use someone else's Internet connection to access things on the Internet like websites, apps, et cetera.
And so what's why would you need that? Like, what's the main benefit of using that for the average consumer?
So what's interesting is that VPNs, you know, weren't really designed for things like privacy originally, but they became really useful as ad networks started to track people's as sort of like movements across the Internet. You may have noticed, for example, if you, you know, do a search for
specific things, you may see ads for it following. There's a lot of different sort of like things that go into figuring out how to present you those ads, one of which is what is called an IP address, which is basically a little bit like a phone number, Like
every computer network in the world has one. So if you're, you know, browsing for shoes, for example, online on your home network, suddenly people also on your home network are going to see ads for shoes and VPNs in this case, let you use somebody else's ipidras, somebody else's Internet connection basically, so that things like advertiser's another other concerns that you might have around privacy are a little bit more obfuscated.
So what's the downside? I mean, so that's the positive. It sounds like it protects your privacy. What's the downside of using a VPN?
The downside in this case is that they are blocked by a lot of websites. In many cases, some of the most popular apps and websites that you might use day to day. For example, Yelp will generally block VPN connections. A lot of streaming services will do the same thing, and it does kind of change the way you see you experience the Internet because websites sometimes look at vp and connections with a little bit of suspicion.
It's interesting. I was trying to log into one of my financial websites. The other day and it would not let me and I could not figure out, like what is going on here? And I realized that I had a VPN on and it would not let me do that connection if I had a VPN. Because on the flip side, if you, let's say you had a nefarious VPN that you didn't really know about on your phone, I guess it could be, you know, because they the VPN sort of has access to all of the stuff that you're doing, right.
Yeah, And that's a really good point, is that in this case, when you use a VPN, you're changing the direction of your trust from your ant service provider over to the VPN company. So the trustworthiness of that VPN company is paramount.
Hmm.
Okay, So I guess that brings me to the million dollar question, what should you look for if you're use if you're you know, trying to find a VPN, because there's so many ads for VPNs, becausere's a lot of money in this because anytime you talk privacy, people are like, I want to protect my privacy, so I'll pay for that. And I guess, you know, how do you pick one that's good?
Yeah, it's definitely a challenge there's many, many, many VPNs companies out there. Some of them are a little bit better advertising than others, but some of them are also better at protecting your privacy than others. The things that I always look out for in this case are a combination of two sort of areas, policy and technology. On the privot privacy policy side, you want to look for things like a no logging policy or a low logging policy,
where they're not keeping records of your online movements. Sometimes this is verified with a no logging certification done by a third party auditor, sometimes going even further than that with a third party security audit done by a cybersecurity company. Which goes into the technology side of things, is that it's important that whatever VPN company you use, that they be incredibly transparent about the types of technologies they're using.
There's a lot of nuance to running a VPN from the back end, and if you have lots and lots of technical documentation available to you, that's probably a good side that they know what they're doing. Generally, though, you want to look for things like WireGuard, which is a faster and more modern sort of way to connect to a VPN, But then also if they do have things like open VPN for example, that that also is fine.
Okay, So everyone likes free and of course people are going to gravitate towards free VPNs. I know, like Opera, I think has like a free VPN built in. I know, I get a free VPN with Google. I get like Google one VPN. So tell me about free VPNs and those specifically, like are some better than others when it comes to my privacy and also trust?
Yeah, I would say that, you know, as a general rule of them, I generally avoid or recommend avoiding free VPNs, mostly because if their business model is not to you know, take money from you every day, they have to be making money by some other way to get to that, to you know, pay their their server builds, and you know, Google in this case has plenty of its own money. Opera I'm less familiar with in this case of what
their particular business model is. But in many cases, like the sort of like default setting for business models on the Internet is basically your data and monetizing that. And when you think of the amount of trust that you have to put into a VPN, that becomes a very important question. It's like, okay, is this VPN free for reasons? Is that reason because I am the product here that is actually being sold and that can be, you know, a very precarious situation.
So are there any VPNs that you recommend? Can you recommend any that you like?
Sure?
So you know, I did a lot of research for vp how to basically pick a VPN a while ago, and using sort of those rubrics that I mentioned of like looking at a good privacy policy, looking at sort of competency on the tech side. There is a short list that comes to mind and that keeps kind of coming back in this case, tunnel Bear, IVPN, moll Bad.
Not all of these companies are very good at advertising, but from my research, at least from what I can tell for my research, they seem to be pretty competent on the tech and privacy side of things.
Okay, so I'm just gonna go through those one more time. You said tunnel Bear, and so that one. Let's see. So I'm looking at the pricing, and it's a cute website, so it's got to it does have a free level, so you can actually try it for free unlimited.
Is looks like it's about three thirty three a month, then you've got IPVN.
Is that what you said, ivpn ivpn ivpn IVPN. Okay, so I'm looking up that one and this one. Oh wow, they're really like a little bit not as cute. This is more like resist online surveillance. And so they've got you can generate an account with no email required, they've got their ethics right on the homepage, and they've got a standard plan that's about six dollars a month or sixty dollars a year. And then the final one you said was Molevad.
Yes, so mole AD's kind of always been sort of the perennial sort of always doing exactly what I look for sort of option, and that's been the case so far. We'll see if that changes, but so far, so good. They've consistently being been consistent basically on the tech side as well as the policy side. And they have a fun animal mascot just like tim ol Bear.
And that's spelled Mullvad. And it looks like it's a European based company because the prices are in euros, so it's about five dollars and twenty four cents a month. And what I like about them is that it's the same price every month. They don't do like pricing game, so I also appreciate that. So we've got a couple of recommendations. The million I guess the other million dollar question is when do you recommend the average person uses
a VPN. Should we be using this on our Wi Fi network at home, when we're in a hotel all the time. Sometimes when do we need to use one of these?
It kind of depends on your own sort of personal comfort level with ad surveillance. One of the things that people like to use to mitigate that risk in addition to a VPN is things like an ad blocker like privacy Badger. When it comes to using a VPN for security reasons, you don't really need it as much as you used to. The good news is like things like
your bank connection. You know, when you do banking stuff online or other kind of like basically most other websites, you'll have a secure, encrypted connection between you and that website, So you don't really need a VPN to protect your financial data for example, generally, but if you are looking to minimize your sort of IP address data your location data from online advertising, then a VPN is very useful for.
That all right, David Wuerta, we'll leave it there.
Senior digital security trainer at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, thanks so much for joining me today. Some really great advice here, and I think it cleared up a lot of misconceptions about these things.
Appreciate it. Thanks.
Coming up next, it's the feedback segment. We'll get to some of the emails that you sent me throughout the week. We'll close out the show. My name is rich Demiro, and you are listening to rich on Tech. By the way, I'll put all the links on the website rich on tech dot tv, So all those VPNs we just mentioned, Welcome back to rich on Tech. Closing out the show with the feedback segment. But first let me tell you
about this Ring extra Terrestrial Search Contest. Ring is offering a one one million dollar prize grand prize if you capture scientific evidence of a real extraterrestrial on a ring device. So this ain't like you know, kids pressed up as et for Halloween. You capture it, That's not what they're talking about here. This is like real alien stuff on
your ring. Any device doesn't have to be The Video Doorbell Contest runs from October fourth to November three, you can submit creative videos of extraterrestrial sightings for a chance to win a five hundred dollars gift card. I feel like that's what more people are gonna win. Submissions are gonna be reviewed by a space and extraterrestrial expert, and you are encouraged to get creative. Okay, so this is really like a big ad for all these different you
know ring features. So, by the way, and the one feature I do like is called the quick reply. If you're not using that on your ring doorbell, go into the settings and choose your quick reply. They usually have fun ones for Halloween. You can make your video chime the doorbell chime sound like a fun Halloween sound. It's really really cool. So if you haven't looked at the
ring settings lately, they're really fun for the holidays. And also quick replies, you can say, like I have mine set up where when a solicitor rings the doorbell, it just says, sorry, we're not interested. It's so cold, but it's like it works. You can hashtag ring million dollar sighting.
But you know, I always say this, I always say look because people and I get I'm not going to get into the whole debate whether there's you know, UFOs and all this stuff, but like Bigfoot, let's be real, we have had cell phones with cameras in our world now for twenty plus years, and somehow we have yet to see any evidence of this other stuff that people somehow see all the time. But yet there's never video evidence.
Come on, any anything happens to anyone, and there's tons of video of it, but somehow UFOs, aliens, Bigfoot never gets captured, and if it does get captured, it's the worst video you've ever seen in your life. Like, I think that could be an alien? Or is that just a big rat? Bobo says they're aliens. I want to believe. Oh, don't get me wrong. I want to believe, because there's no way that we are the only things in this entire universe.
Come on. But still, all right, let's get to the feedback segment. Uh EV suck rights, b I can't say the other word.
If the FORTYV is great, why did why did I don't know, Leon Kaplan Motorman take his Mustang back after a few weeks and said it was terrible, just awful. Why are major USA car makers losing money making these cars that people don't want. Why are they so expensive that government US has to offer incentives for the elite to purchase one? Why is there not enough electricity in the grid for our households to run during peak hours while EV's get a pass to charge twenty four to seven.
I thought, so, oh, you got me.
You're right.
We should just stop all all all ev work. Just stop. We don't need them. Yeah, let's just go back to gas.
Albert says, I mainly subscribe to Amazon Prime for shipping. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I accessed the Prime Video app, referring to the three dollars charge that Amazon Prime will now have for.
Ad freeviewing.
I am actually watching a video series on Amazon Prime, if you can believe it. I was on a plane a lot this month, so I was like, you know what, And by the way, I'll tell you why. It's because Netflix would not let me download anything and YouTube would not because I'm logged into so many different devices and family members I guess that are latching onto my account that I can no longer download. I am paying for my own stuff and I can't download it. So YouTube said, sorry,
can't download? Netflix said sorry, you can't download.
So what I do?
I went to the next best. I just said, okay, let me see. Amazon Prime doesn't seem to care. So I was able to download a whole show and I can't even tell you the title because I can't remember what it's called. It's called uh oh, my gosh, uh Wilderness and it's not that good all the Amazon shows, and I don't want to knock Amazon. I don't know if you've watched them, but they're lacking like a certain like oomph, you know what I mean. Like it feels
like a show that nobody's watching except you. That's like a really bad quality of a show. Uh.
Neil says.
My wife has been using Samsung, but in the past few months she's been aggravated by frequent updates without asking each one, generating notifications for tens of messages from people she has blocked, and changing her settings. She's also frustrating and trying to get large type in her various apps and browsers. Finally, as her lease neared its end, she got a great trade and offer and jumped to the iPhone fifteen promacs. She likes the large screen and text
and while she is still learning the Apple way. She was immediately impressed and pleased with these settings slash accessibility, slash text size, slider miles to go with all the app settings. But fingers crossed that she stays happy, have a great day, and thanks for serving the community. Yep, she switched iPhone and she likes it, so good for her. That is great, Bob says, regarding your last radio show, you had a call about an old device that a person could not get Windows ten or eleven to see
the files. It's probably because by default Windows ten eleven has SMB one the old SMB turned off. I had an old nass that I wanted to connect to my Windows ten computer and I had to turn on SMB one. Here's a website that will walk you through how to turn on SMB one. Oh, there you go. So this was a caller last week about the little old device he had that he couldn't connect to his computer and get the files off. So Bob is saying that if you turn on SMB one, maybe you'll be able to
access them. Bob says, keep up the great work. Even though I'm a tech guy, I enjoy listening to your show. I always learned something Well, I like that you listen even though you're a tech guy. And yes, this show is definitely aimed at folks who have varying tech abilities, and so I'm glad that you do find the enjoyment. Matt says, Hey, rich, short and sweet. I'm hard of hearing for eleven years hearing aids, and with this new iPhone fifteen the update volume level seems to have gone
down dramatically. I don't mind paying for a good volume booster if it's a reasonable amount that will work on music, audiobooks, podcasts, and other apps downloaded more than I can remember. That seemed to be outrageously expensive. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I feel like Apple has a burr under the saddle about this issue. It seems like I should be able to get an Audie just to show them that I really haven't hearing problem. The big issues if I'm in
the shower, I can't hear my hearing aids. I can't turn up the volume on the phone loud enough to hear over the shower. Thanks again, love the show, Matt, Well. I think if you update to iOS, the latest iOS, maybe they fix some of those problems. Because there's definitely a lot of sound issues with the first release, and Rita says rich I love watching and listening to all your shows. The online information and of course your videos traveling to trade shows, etc.
Make it easy to keep up with.
All things tech related. I even sound knowledgeable to my friends when I share some tidbits I've heard from you. You make it easy to understand. Love your Saturday radio show. Great job, very smooth, beautiful family, Rita. Can I invite you to my family with all the nice stuff you say about me? My gosh, I think this is the Is this from someone in my family? No, they would never be that nice to me, she says.
Ps.
I'm eighty and I love my Apple Watch, my iPhone, my iPad, and the encyclopedia and World Book.
Do you remember those held right in our hands? Yes? I do, because my family had them.
The World Book encyclopedia person came to our house and my dad bought it. It was like six hundred dollars, so expensive. Can you believe that we used to buy an encyclopedia of knowledge from someone that came to our front door.
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, and if you want to be like Rita and follow me online, you can find me on social media at rich on on tech.
Next week, more of your.
Calls, more of your questions, more great guests.
Thanks so much for listening.
There are so many ways you can spend your time.
I really appreciate you spending it right here with me.
Thanks to everyone who makes this show possible, Kim Bobo, Bill.
And many many more. My name is Richdmiro. I will talk to you real soon.