Google shows off new features and a great new phone. At Io twenty nineteen, Samsung says the Fold will live, the popular photo app that was doing something not so nice, and another app I'm currently obsessed with right now. Plus your questions. What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech, the podcast where I talk about this stuff I think you should know about happening in the tech world. Plus we answer your tech questions. Joining me as usual is producer Megan.
Hello, Rich, how are you.
We've had quite the morning here. We've been testing new equipment.
It's been pretty intense.
We've been trying to figure out how to use the audio board or new audio board, and also how to live stream.
Yeah, it seems like they are mutually exclusive at this point because we can do the audio board just fine. We can take calls, but as soon as we try to put it into Facebook Live, it just conks out on us. So we will go back to the drawing board on that. But don't worry about it. We still have lots of questions, and we actually did a successful test earlier today on my Facebook page. But now we're actually going to get just into the podcast. So I just got back from Google Io, which is the company's
big developers conference up in Mountain View. By the way, one of my favorite events of the year because I love Google. I love what they do, I love their approach to things. I think they're a really smart company, and I love just seeing kind of what they're doing on stage. Now, I'll admit this year was not the most exciting year, but they did have a bunch of things I think you guys should know about. And I think the first one is basically the theme that they
always go after is using AI. They just use AI to kind of solve every problem in the world, and these are not necessarily problems, but they're just kind of fun stuff. So if you know about Google Lens, that's their product where you can kind of aim your camera at things it can identify stuff. Well, now they're using that in search, so they're bringing augmented reality to search. And the example they showed, which is kind of cool, is let's say you're a kid doing a report on
a great white shark. You can aim your phone kind of in your kitchen and see how big the shark is, like super imposed over your kitchen, which is kind of cool. That's cool, you know, like to get to understand like the size of something, like here's what going to use that? Yeah,
that's really fun, or like if you're buying sneakers. You know, obviously everything with Google has some sort of financial slant eventually, you know, or hopefully not really they do a lot of stuff that doesn't make the money, but you know, if you want a pair of sneakers, you can see how they look in your room or with an outfit or something. So that was kind of interesting too. Little
fun things with Google lens. You can point your camera at a restaurant menu and it will highlight the most popular things on that menu, and then the other one was what was the other one? It was the restaurant menu, and it was also the tip at the end, Like if you get your bill, you aim your lens at the bill and you can divide up like it gives you a virtual calculator on the screen. So that was
kind of cool like that. You can also read things out loud, so you can, let's say you're in like a foreign country and you see a sign, you can literally aim your phone there and it will read the sign out loud in whatever language that you want. So that's kind of cool. Then they talked about Google Duplex. I talked about this on earlier podcasts how I used it to make a restaurant reservation. Now they're expanding it to the web. So let's say the example they shown
they showed was booking a rental car. So you have to go through all these screens, put in all your information. Well with the assistant. It kind of knows when you've planned your trip because you've already booked your ticket and it's in Gmail, so it knows the dates. It knows what kind of rental car you like because you're previous rental cars, and it basically fills in the web form for you. And this is not like one of those autofill things you've seen with like a password manager or
just like any autofill. This is actually intelligent autofill, where it's looking at what it needs to fill in, finding that information and placing it there for you and you're always in control. By the way, the other announcement from Google was the Pixel phones, and they came out with two phones, the Pixel three A and the Pixel three AXL.
And I will tell you right off the bat, I played with these things just a little bit at Google Io, and they're forced to be reckoned with Now you're talking four hundred dollars for one of the best smartphones on the market. That's incredible, it is, and it has the best camera, one of the best cameras. Actually, I think it is the best camera you can get on a smartphone. So now you're talking four hundred bucks for a smartphone camera that's really good.
Better you said best camera on a smartphone. Yeah, better than iPhone?
Oh yeah, yeah, Okay, Now I wouldn't say in every single situation, I think the iPhone is a good overall camera and an excellent overall camera. The Pixel excels at taking pictures in a way that like every picture you get is like amazing, no matter what it is of So anyway, that's kind of like that puts a lot of pressure on other companies at this point, because you know, there's a lot of phones out there that are more
expensive than that. And i'd probably recommend if someone doesn't care about like the whole phone, like, oh my god, I need like the fastest processor. The things you don't get with the Pixel are the fastest processor. It's like a processor that's at least a year old. You don't get water resistance, you don't get wireless charging, you get a plastic back instead of like this, you know, pretty
glass phone. But for the average person who literally emails me all the time saying like, hey, Rich, I just want a phone that's really good. It'd be nice if hat a good camera, this is like an easy no brainer. So all right, Megan, do you have a let me just try one of these sound effects out here. Okay, okay, that's that's your intro music transition. Do you have a question for us?
I do, and it's from Twitter. It has to do with Google. This is from at NJ Neer. I think he's trying to say engineer.
Oh, which is that's a good one.
Clever.
Rich. Having seen the Pixel three A, would you pick the three A or the S ten E if price was equal?
Wow? Good segue. Megan, do the clapping? Oh, I should have done the clapping. So that's a great question. So the the S ten E is kind of Samsung's low end phone. It's really not a I shouldn't say low end, I should say it's their least expensive phone. It's kind of like the S ten You have the S ten plus and then you have the S ten e. I believe it starts at seven hundred and fifty dollars for that phone, which now seems like it used to seem
like a little bit of money. Now it seems like a crazy amount of money because if you think about it, I think that the Pixel three A is a better value because you're getting a better camera overall the Samsung S ten e. It's got a fingerprint reader kind of in I think in a weird place. I think the Pixel engineer, you go with the Pixel and the S ten e is I think that Samsung excels in the high end phones, and I wouldn't go for for seven hundred and fifty bucks. I think you're better served for
four hundred dollars with the smaller phone from Google. And they're about the same size. When I say smaller, I mean like the you know, the budget model or whatever you want to call it. But that is that's going to be the question that a lot of people are going to wonder because the S ten e was sort of like the phone that was like the entry level kind of like the the iPhone ten are those are kind of like right now the entry level devices, And now we've got this pixel at four hundred. That just
kind of messes with everything. You have to rethink everything exactly. I like it, though, I agree it was definitely necessary, and I'm glad that Google it took Google to do something like that. Speaking of Google, they also announced the new product at Io called the Nest Hub Max. Now this I did get some extensive hands on time with, so I will tell you everything you need to know about this. If you're familiar with the Google Home Hub, that was a little product they introduced last year that
has the screen and it's also Google Assistant. It's also a speaker. It also shows off your pictures that did not have a camera. It also had a tiny screen, seven inch screen. It's great, great for the kitchen, great for like maybe bedside, but probably not. But I mean, I guess you could put it there. But I'd like to remember at CES we saw that little tiny clock, that Lenovo smart clock, yeah, which never came out on it, Like they said, spring is spring still here?
It's so summer?
Okay, thank you? Yeah, So they need to either come out with that or what that was eighty bucks that would be perfect for the bedside. But this one is the neb the Nest Hub Max. And if you notice they've rebranded this to Nest, it's no longer Google Home. It's now called Nest Hub, so, which is kind of I don't know, I mean I So the reason why they're renaming it Nest is kind of, you know, I
bring things in line across all their products. And this has a Nest camera in it, so there is a security camera in this device, or a camera that could be used as a security camera. Plus it could be used for video chat. It could also recognize you, so it does have facial recognition, so when you walk up to this thing, it gives you your notification. So if you share your house with a couple people, only when you walk up to it, does it say, oh, here's
what's on your calendar next, just for you. So that's interesting.
Yeah, what if you're a twin that it would.
Have some problems. Good question, Megan, good question. Okay, So the camera is a wide angle camera. It also follows you around the room, so when you're video chatting, you can kind of be like cooking or moving around it follows you, which is kind of cool. And then they have this thing called quick gestures, So when you're let's say you're playing music with your Google Home Hub. Before you have to go up to the screen and press
the pause button. Now you can just look at the screen and hold your hand up kind of like that. Talk to the hand motion, and it will pause the music or start playing it. Yeah, I know, just don't talk to the hand. Rich So it's gonna be two hundred and twenty nine dollars. They say it's going to be available this summer. My Intel tells me sometime in July, so we'll see.
Present.
Yeah. I'm excited for this one because I love that it's multifunctional, like you can have this in your living room. It acts as a security camera. It also acts as a video chat device. And I'll be honest, what I think is missing in the home is a way to video chat easily with people in a fixed way. So I know you probably use FaceTime with folks. FaceTime is great, but the problem with FaceTime is people are moving around too much and they're always kind of like moving and
sometimes you have to prop your phone up. With this, it's like the device is there, you can kind of it's steady, so it's like a much more calm experience in my for my taste. Like with tablets and stuff, you're always trying to either prop it up or you're moving around, and it's just like you want to be done video chatting to me quicker because it's too much movement a laptop. I don't ever video chat on a laptop ever, Like I've never I don't think I've ever
done that. Okay, Well you're the new generation, so maybe that's maybe that's why are you a millennial? Yeah? Oh you are.
Yeah, I'm right on the cuss.
I thought you were too young to be millennial, not.
A gen Z or whatever there.
Yeah, all right, do you have another question for me? Yes? I do.
This is a little different. This is an email from Chris. He said a while ago, you shared and a vacation booking app Best Deals in Hotels.
Thank you.
That's it. Yeah, that's the email. Oh is there a question? Does you want to know what it is?
What the share?
You shared a vacation booking app.
That's the vacation booking app.
So I think he's talking about Ernie. Yeah, so that's what I'm guessing. So I talked about Ernie, but I feel like I talked about something else. Oh I did I talked about the other one too. Okay, so Ernie E ar and Y this is an app that is a great app for refunds. Well, it used to be. They've kind of the service has The service has not changed, but the retailers have gotten really hip to what they
did and they kind of changed everything. So when I first signed up with Ernie, my credit card would give me a refund anytime a price dropped on Amazon. Well, my credit card basically took that functionality away because so many people started doing claims. So they're like, oh, never mind, we don't give you that anymore. So the only reason they had it on the credit card was when people didn't use it, which is so dumb. Then when people started using it, they're like, oh never mind, we're not
going to give you that feature anymore. So Ernie went and they said, okay, we'll try it through. Anyway. Long story short, they still get you refunds, but only if like the retailer can support it, and if you're there are certain credit cards that still do it. Mind does not, so that's the number one. They've added hotels to the mix, so if you book a hotel and the price drops, they will find you a better price. Now, I'll be honest. I did book a couple hotels in the past couple
months since we did this story. They never even showed up in my Earni app. So I'm not sure if they're not parsing my data correctly or if maybe Hilton is not part of this. But that's why I book primarily. But I've never seen in the app saying like here's your Hilton, here's how much you pay two twenty four to night, and we're watching that price like that never happened, so I'm not sure I can't really vouch for how
good that service is. Got it now. The other app that I talked about was Google one, and so Google one is basically if you have Google storage with Google, you're paying That means you're paying for storage through Google, Google Drive, something like that. They have a hotel benefit. So if you go to one dot Google dot com,
they have special Google one member pricing on hotels. So there is a link, there's not I don't think there's a direct link to get to it, but you tap that link and next thing you know, you'll be taken to a hotel search. And if you if they have like a deal from Google like a special deal, special rate. You will see that show up. Now I'm looking in Los Angeles, I don't see any. So I usually go to Orlando because that has a lot of hotels and deals. So let's see. So if I go to Orlando, member price.
So the Crown Plaza Orlando is normally one hundred and one dollars, but Google one members get it for ninety one dollars, so you're saving ten bucks.
What's the membership? Is it free?
No, it's you have to be paying for storage through Google. It's so weird. I mean, what a random like side thing, right, you know, like, oh, I pay for storage on Google Drive, so I get hotel rates that are better than the average person. Makes no sense? Yeah, all right, but that answers this question. So Ernie and also one dot Google dot com fair member, and you know you've got travel happening. Google Maps I love. Do you love Google Maps? Do you use them? I know your iPhone? You just default.
Well, but I was trying to use Google Maps for a while and then to be honest, I prefer Apple Maps.
Really. I think I prefer the look of Apple Maps. I think it's like simpler. Yeah, but I like the functionality of Google Maps better. Well, now Google is bringing incognito mode to Google Maps. So incognito mode is basically a private mode where Google does not track what you're doing.
They introduced it, I believe, on Chrome. Then they brought it to YouTube, which is handy for my kids because when they're watching their Disney videos, it doesn't go into my algorithm of like basically, when my kids started watching videos on my phone, all my videos would be changed to Mickey Mouse and gamers that are doing like walkthroughs on games. So it's kind of like that's annoying, you know.
And now you can pop it in incognito mode. They can search and do all their stuff and it doesn't like kind of count towards your account, which is kind of cool. So now they're doing this with Google Maps, and once you turn this on, it will not save the data that you're searching, like any places that you
search for, any places that you route to. And of course what comes to mind, what like cheating couples basically oh yeah, like someone's like, oh I don't want to you know, let's just make sure I'm going to navigate this.
Does the map turn kind of gray?
It doesn't turn gray.
What happens when you go incogast.
They showed, Yeah, they showed that would.
Be kind of weird, like turned really dark.
They know what did turn dark though, is normally there's a blue little icon that lights up on Google Maps that did turn gray, so you know, signifying that like we know your location, but we're not sharing that, we're not tracking. So anyway, it's interesting. I mean, it's one of those things that, like, I believe in privacy we should have with all these things that are tracking us,
it should be easier to like pause that tracking. But of course what comes to mind is like people using this for like, you know, like to get around you know.
And your significant on others be able to see you.
Well, it's a whole other topic. We're just talking. We're just telling that. We're telling you about the technology. We're not telling you how to use it, right, all right? So, uh, Megan, do you have another question?
I have a Actually it's not really your question, it's more like a statement, but I just wanted.
To include it.
Is this something you wrote?
It's not from me, it's from someone named Tito, and it's regarding the latest Samsung Galaxy system update.
And he's kind of kind of upset about it.
I smell a rant coming out.
Yeah, pretty much.
Let's hear it.
Hi, Rich, have you experienced the latest Samsung Galaxy system update?
I have an S.
Eight and I absolutely hate the update. I chatted with someone at Samsung the other day who was of no help. Do you have an inside contact to tell them how much we hate what they did? Can you ask them to change it back? I lost some features I use religiously, and the icons look as if they belong on a Fisher Price phone.
Ugh, that's it. Yeah, do you say like necessarily, Tito? Well, what he's talking about is the Samsung one. And I'll be honest, I've gotten a bunch of emails about this, because anytime something changes on a phone, people get up in arms. Right. You get used to how like remember
when like iOS changed. You know, it's like you you kind of like get used to how something works, and then it changes and you're like, all of a sudden, ah, this is really obnoxious, right, Like I knew how to send a text, or I knew how to get to this part of the menu, and it all changes. So I understand where you're coming from, Tito, but it's not changing back. I'll tell you that they've I've been using
the one UI. I was kind of a beta tester for like the past year before they launched it like on all their new phones, And it's kind of one of those things that like, yeah, it is kind of candy colored and candy icons and stuff, but it's they're trying to be simple, they're trying to be a friendlier interface, and that's what they decided to do. So there's not much you can do about it. You can't really go back as far as I know. I mean, you could
probably find the software online, but you don't. You're not going to do that.
Well, were the features that were lost?
People have said that there were like certain little weird things, Like people have told me they're not able to sign assign specific ring tones to contacts anymore. That was like one thing that like someone emailed me about and I kind of like looked and I looked on my phone and I was like, oh, yeah, I think they're right, Like that was something you used to be able to do. Maybe it's back. Here's the other thing. On a lot of these kind of big software updates, it takes them
a while to like figure out. Oh shoot, we forgot to include that. We need to you know, or that people kind of liked how that worked and we need to go back. So and the other thing about being human that's awesome is that we adapt to a lot of stuff. So Tito, I have no worry or no doubt in my mind that eventually you will get used to it and you'll kind of forget the way things used to be. I mean, if you give me like an old iPhone from like five years ago, you would
not even buil. You'd be like, this is disgusting, Like I can't even believe people use this. But back in the day, we thought it was amazing. So that kind of happens with tech. Well I'm gonna segue speaking of Samsung, since you brought up Samsung, I want to do like a oh a segue. Well, now that can't be segue, I have to do there we.
Go, Oh do that okay.
So Samsung says, actually, this is it is mysterious because the Fold wow just blow out everyone's ear drums. So the Galaxy Fold, you know, was supposed to launch on April twenty sixth in the US. It did not because a bunch of reviewers had problems with little gunk or something getting into the screen and it disabled the phone. And this happened to at least I think there was
four reports. Two people pulled off the protective screen, which stupid, don't do that, like that messed up their phone obviously. The other two people were legit, like their phone was messed up because a piece of lint or something got behind the screen, which should not happen. Right. Yeah, Now, if you saw the Galaxy fold like I had, I had the opportunity to go hands on before this thing was recalled it there was like sort of a gap because the screen folds, so I can understand how stuff
can get behind there and really mess it up. So, according to the Korea Herald, the phone will launch. The South Korean tech giant Samsung told them that they're going to reach a conclusion in the next couple of days on when they're going to launch this. So now they didn't say they didn't say they're going to reach a conclusion on the launch date. They said we're going to reach a conclusion. So does that mean maybe they're not going to launch it? I don't know. That's what a lot of the rumors.
Say, right now, what's the headline.
Well, the headline says Samsung CEO confirms imminent launch of Galaxy Fold after fixing flaws. But this can be interpreted in a couple of ways because the only quote they have is the company has reviewed the defect caused from substances that entered the device, and we will reach a conclusion in a couple of days on the launch. That could go both ways. That could go they're gonna say, okay, here's the date, or they can say, you know what, we're gonna scrap this like failure to launch. Right.
I think last week I said that they're going to scrap it.
You think they're going to scrap it now you think now?
I feel like they're using it to their advance.
No, there's no advantage here. This is sad. This is like really, it's bad for their image.
It's really sad.
And who's gonna buy this? I mean, really, would you go into a store and buy this phone after you knew all these problems with it? No way?
Even I was really rich, would I am rich?
I mean that's my name, you are? And I still wouldn't buy it. So they said that they figured out that yes, it was stuff that got into the phone behind the screen. So what they're going to do is they're going to strengthen the durability of the exposed areas of the hinge. They're just going to minimize the tiny little gap behind the protective layer and the main displace
that nothing can get in there. I don't know. I can't imagine except for the only person I can think that's gonna buy this in my head is like I just imagine like an eighties business person, like a high powered businessman in like Dallas, Texas and like the high like office building, right.
Like, this is so specific.
Well, it's in my mind. It's that. No, it's kind of like it's in my mind. It's that AMC show Catching Halt Fire, Catching What was that? Oh my gosh, Okay, now I'm totally off topic. Yeah, Catching hal Fire. That was the AMC show. That's that's what I have, Halt and Catch Fire. That's what I have in my head of the person who's gonna buy this is one of the people from that show.
Anyway, I'm going to buy it.
Okay, let's just have you do another question on Okay.
This next question is from Twitter from Jorge Alvarez. He says, good morning, Rich. Quick question, if you had to pick between Ero and Google Wi.
Fi, which would you choose?
I don't know which one to get yet, Thanks as always for all your awesome advice.
All right, good question is this is you know what these things are. These are the whole home Wi Fi networks, right, and so they're both great. I think that either one will do the job in a fantastic way. If you don't, if you haven't upgraded your WiFi to the Mesh networking system or the Mesh Wi Fi, go ahead and do it.
You will. Like I say, I pay sixty five dollars month for Internet, I get every penny's worth because it reaches every corner of my home before, like we all know, you're in a one part of your house another part of your house and it doesn't work right. So this I think, Jorge, either of these will work perfectly in your home to give you nice, solid internet everywhere. My
personal choice is Eero. Now. The reason why I liked Eero or still my like is like halfway down now because they were bought by Amazon and so I'm kind of like I used to like them when they were a startup because their entire job was to create a Wi Fi system, right google wi Fi. Google has about seventy five thousand other things going on. Google wi Fi is just a tiny portion of that. And also Google gets very distracted. They start something, they never finish it.
They start something, they forget about it. They start something, they forget to update it. So again, Eero was a company that was started just to do this, just to solve this problem of making great Wi Fi. So that's why I love them. Now. Background on that. The original mesh wi Fi system I ever purchased was called Luma, and the reason I purchased it is because Amazon invested like one hundred and twenty million whatever it was. I'm
maybe twelve million dollars whatever it was. They invested in this little startup, and I said, Ah, that's the one that's going to succeed because they've got Google backing them. Well guess what they bought them? Yeah, they Google?
No they oh sorrying.
Amazon gave them all that money and the company I don't even know if it's around anymore. So basically, my first inclination did not work. And so now Amazon went and bought euro which turned out to be the market leader, So hopefully, I'm assuming they're going to do good stuff with them. Amazon's got a lot of purchases. They did Ring, they did Blink, they did Eero. But there's so many products right now in the Amazon Electronics portfolio. They need
to kind of unify this stuff very quickly. They have the cloud Cam, they have a lot of different brands that they need to like get together make work. Yeah.
That's interesting though, because you just you basically feel like it'll get ignored if you were to buy from let's say Amazon or Google. You'd rather buy from a smaller company.
H of course, because they know that's their job, like that, that's their world.
Exactly, gotcha?
All right, So this is I'm gonna call this a naughty little app because man, this was not nice to me.
Oh wait, I was gonna press the clapping.
Oh that sounds clapping. H This is a naughty app. This is called Ever, and NBC News out with a big story that says EVER, which is a This is an app that was kind of an alternative to Google Photos. Still is. They're still around and the bottom line is that they were using all the photos that you uploaded to this app to train their facial recognition without really you knowing, right, and then they were selling this artificial
intelligence to private companies, law enforcement, in the military. So basically they're using all the faces in your pictures to train their AI systems and people had no idea and so now, oh yeah, so there's nothing you could really do. Like, here's the bottom line. And I've talked about this before on the show. If you're getting something for free, clearly there is a reason why you don't just get stuff
for free. In this case, if you're getting a free photo service that has unlimited storage just like Google Photos or looking at your pictures, they're looking at your picture, so they're using your pictures to train stuff. And that's what they were doing. Now I'm not saying that for Google yah, which although they probably are, but the reality is this company was using it to basically profit by I mean, how do you get tens of millions of pictures really fast that you can use to train your system.
You tell people, hey, upload all your pictures here for free. So NBC News kind of reached out, and obviously users were very surprised to know that's so much. It is kind of sketchy, and so I don't even know where to go with this, but the company said that it's mentioned in the apps privacy policy. Who reads the privacy policy of anything?
The terms?
But again, if you're listening to the rich On to Have podcast, you rich On Tech podcast, you know that I've said this before. If you're getting something for free, something's happening in the background. All those apps on your phone, what do you how do you think they're surviving? They're collecting your data. If they're free, they're collecting your data and using it in some way. Now does it mean it's bad? Like I mean the fact that your your
friend's photos were you know, training their facial recognition. It doesn't really affect you in life, but it's just kind of one of those things where it feels icky, right, Yeah, But if.
You get added on Facebook from some random person that like for some reasons related to this company, like that's I don't know, that's where my brain goes.
Okay, I see what you're saying thinking, Yeah, I can see that.
Yeah, it's creepy.
It is creepy. It's just it's just one of those things where it doesn't feel right, you know, like you have to be I think let's put it this way. Let me put it this way. Let's say Megan producer, Megan, you sign up for this app and it's like, hey, you can upload all your pictures here. Just fyi, we're going to use them to train our algorithms to recognize faces.
Are you cool with that? You'd probably be like, well, you'd probably take a second thought, right, Whereas if it just says hey, free photo upload, go ahead, you'd be like, oh fine, right. So it's one of those things where like they know they were doing something wrong because they didn't present it to you very clearly, right, yeah.
So and even on like the iPhone, how it like recognizes faces, that's all like just on your phone.
Exactly, that's on device, Apple, Exactly, it's on device. And that's that's what we heard, by the way at the Google event, is Google's trying to do more on device because Google's big thing back in the day, it was always like we have such great computers that we can and they're so fast, and your phone is so powerful that we can like send data back and forth really quickly and your phone doesn't even have to be that
powerful and we can still do our magic. Now they're kind of taken back from that, they're saying, you know what, We're going to try to do more on your phone so that less of your data leaves your phone and more of it's processed on your phone, which is kind of what Apple's been doing for a long time. Yeah,
so two different approaches. But now Google's kind of coming into the approach of like, yeah, we understand people want privacy, and so if you feel like your pictures can be categorized to trees and beaches and parks and people's faces all happening on your device and there's not some database of that stuff elsewhere, people feel better about that. Right. Yeah, So basically that ever company said that you can opt out.
There is a way to opt out in the settings, and you can also say in your settings that you don't want to have your photos used to train models. Those options are available to consumers today and have always been. That's what they told NBC.
Okay, all right, all right, next next question transition, that's fine, Okay. Next question is from Instagram from Debbie Cohen. She says, I need your opinion. I'm currently subscribed to Kaspersky Total Security for our computers. Is this the best one? My renewal is approaching and wanted to see if there is a better company to go with. It's for two desktop PCs and some laptops too, Mac and pc.
A Kespersky. I mean that's fine. I mean it's that's a lot of people use that. It's for how many things? She's just wow, two desktop PCs and laptops mage, Okay, she's got a mix of things. Yeah, so I my recommendation is probably go at malware Bytes. That's the big company that makes this, and people seem to like it. Kespercy is fine. I think that I'm I know, I'm kind of like use I use something called silance. I don't use anything on my phones because I don't believe
that you need it. Definitely iPhone, you don't need antivirus. There's no unless you're really doing something weird with your phone, like basically downloading apps outside of the app store on iPhone, there's no need.
For dark Well.
I don't even know if it's maybe I know it sounds great, the dark that's the dark Web. But the point is that, you know, iPhone, you just don't need antivirus. Don't even download it, don't even think about it. Just don't Android. I don't think you need it either, honestly, And there are things you can do much more on your on your Android than you can on iPhone, like you can you have access to a lot more of
your device. But it's still again, unless you're downloading like super malware ridden stuff, which like what are you doing exactly, you really can't. It's like almost impossible, like unless you're you're trying, you're trying. So I think for the average person that's just going on normal websites and normal apps that they're downloading from Google Play, you really don't need it. But with that said, if you want to get it,
malware bytes very reputable. People really like them. They win a lot of accolades, so go with that and you'll pay now. Silance, the one that I use, was actually purchased by BlackBerry, so I don't know what their future is, but we did a story with them a couple of years ago and I fell in love because it uses AI. So unlike typical virus antivirus software that has this giant list of definitions of here's everything we think is a is a virus, this one literally just recognizes what files
are doing on your computer. And when they try to do bad things, it will stop them. Oh kind of a little cop. Just stop, yo, don't do that. Why are you trying to access all riches private stuff? Stop? I'm gonna have to ask you to stop right there. It's like a mall cop on your computer. They roll up in the little segue. Do we have any Do we have any police?
That's that doesn't what happens that doesn't?
Yeah, oh that's not okay, okay, Oh my god. I feel like we're literally onlike public access right now with like the you know, I just fell on the soundboard. Oh that that's crickets. That reminds me.
I've been pressing this the entire fair.
That's the fairy us.
Oh.
I love the crickets because it reminds me of that ride in Disney.
The next time you make a joke, I'm gonna.
Yeah, thanks. It's the ride that what's the one where you can eat outside but or it's like in the Yeah, that's the best.
That's the best place to make out Disneyland rides and.
That's the best place to eat. You know that.
I've never eaten there.
It's like blue buyou, blue buy you. No, you just know you're talking about Club thirty three eating. Oh you've eaten.
There, but you haven't.
You haven't the Underground Okay, I haven't eaten the one that opened to public, but you've eaten it. The one that's the other one's vip. Okay. So an app that I'm in love with right now is called Otter, and this is really cool. It's fantastic. If you are ever in a meeting and you just want a transcript of everything that's being said in the meeting, this app you literally just press one button. It records everything and transcribes
everything that's being said in real time. Not just that, it divides up the speakers, so when Megan talks, it'll put it under yours. When I talk, it'll put under mind. Yeah. And it does it for free, by the way, for free. Yeah, so clearly they're taking all your data.
And sorry, but you mentioned I think a similar kind of app a couple of weeks ago, and that wasn't free.
That was like for recording.
Oh no, we did mention it. No, we did mention it. I've already oh yeah, never mind. Okay, So I guess after I mentioned it last week, I started using it more. No, it wasn't it's free. Oh yeah, well it's free up to six hundred minutes a month. Okay, So basically I took my own advice, so I basically listened to my own podcast. That sounds good, Okay, Well anyway, so yeah, that's totally worthless. So anyway, if you listen to the podcast.
I already talked about this, but it's called Otter Voice Notes, works on Android and iOS, and it's phenomenal. And once you link it to your calendar, every time you have a meeting in your calendar, it'll be like, do you want us to start recording? So from now on, you just press that one thing and you've got a list of like everything that was said. So I do like a lot of briefings for like tech products, and I just turned this on. Now, yeah I've done two since
I started. I do a lot of and I do do a lot of briefings, but you've done two but since I did this, So anyway, six hundred minutes a month are totally free.
There you go, Do we have time for one more?
I think you have one more?
I can?
Yeah, go ahead, Okay, be crazy, Okay, can I have the Okay, So this next question is from Peter Castillanos. This he emailed you. It's very simple, but I like it. Roku or firestick.
That's it.
You're Roku person. You love Roku.
I mean I don't love it.
I just I have a TCL Roku and I just accept what I know.
If you have a TCL Roku, you gotta get the speakers for the back like I have those. No, yeah, because it will change your life. Put the two speakers are wireless. You plug them in if you have a TCL Roku, it works with them. Doesn't work with a regular like Roku box just yet. But if you have a TCL Roku TV, you plug them in the back and boom, your sound is like amazing, so much easier to hear things.
Right because TV them in the back of the TV.
No, sorry, you just they plug in the back of the room. Yeah, they're just wireless, so they once you plug them in, they connect to your TV and all your sound is piped through them and it sounds a lot better.
Oh wow.
So yeah, we did a demo with it, and it's just it's kind of a must have. But my pick is, here's the thing. I'm a hater of Roku. I don't know why I don't. I'm such a hater and I don't understand why because I used to love Roku. I feel like their stuff is Oh God, I'm gonna offend so many people here. I just feel like there's not a premium feel to Roku.
You're reminding me of someone gosh who my sister and her hatred of Android okay, because she's.
Like, I love Apple well okay, and she.
Just won't even listen to me try to explain.
I'm not like that with Roku. Like I'm fine with the road. I love what Roku is doing. They have a nice platform, they have every app available. It's nice. It's just to me, it doesn't have that premium feel like Apple TV is super premium. Yes, Fire TV it really doesn't have that premium feel either, but it's like I like it. It's just like it's nice. Too much advertising on there, but you know, Roku's biggest business is advertising.
Like they literally are like a huge advertiser. Somehow they get all these companies like they get a little bit of money, like every time someone like signs up for one of their services, you know, like sling. If you see like you know how the apps come pre installed. Yeah, and then you like activate one. But they get a little cut from that. They get a cut from like all their free you know shows they're showing. They get like ad revenue. So Roku wants just a lot of
people on there to be watching stuff at all times. Yeah, and they don't really care what app you're using. They I mean, they'd like you to do their billboard kind of yeah. Okay, even don't they even have ads on the.
On the screen, say on screen all the time. But I just don't even I just go to Hulu or I go to Netflix.
Yeah whatever, okay. Yeah, And as as a conduit for those things, it's fine. Yeah, I mean, and Roku's great. I mean, don't get me wrong, don't send me hate mail about Roku. I'm just he asked my preference, right right, And so if you're asking my preference, my preference out of those is fire TV. I like that platform. I
don't think it's the best. I actually think Amazon does a terrible job of showing you, like simple information like what are the top movie rentals right now, or what are the top movies across all you know, like across that you can buy something that I just think is so basic. They do a really bad job at But I like the remote so basic. It is very basic. I like the remote, I like I just like a lot of little things about the Amazon fire Stick and or the fire TV platform. And you know that's just me.
You asked, Peter asked for my opinion.
Right, are the prices the same?
See, that's the thing. The prices are pretty much the same. They're they're pretty cheap. You can get a fire stick, yeah, like you can start at like twenty five dollars. But here's okay, this is the reason why I don't like Roku as well, because they get people to buy these super cheap Roku sticks right like twenty five dollars, and they're super underpowered, and I just feel like, you got you know, you're you're trying to pump four K video through these things. It's just not gonna you know, it's
like it's it's slow when you first get it. You know, like it's one of those things where it's like laggy and fire. Amazon does the same thing. Their entry level Firestick is like unusable to me because it's got like a super slow processor. You've got to go with the four K version and get like a decent one. Right, So all these companies do the same. They play little games with the pricing and they try to get you to get in on their platform in any way, shape
or form. But again, and if I had to rank them, obviously Apple TV is the best. It's the premium and they're when you see what they're doing next, it's gonna be even better. And then Fire and then Roku to me again, this is rich on Tech. This is not you know, everyone the world's opinion. Roku is doing just fine, all right. Finally, before we go, website called Eskimo. This
is really weird. Okay, website called eskimo. Eskimo. I don't know, let's see if they have the actual Eskimo what the website is, but basically you can send a let's see how I can know what the actual website is. You can send an anonymous email to anyone through this website eskimo dot com. Okay, and it's uh, oh weird, esk I am oh oh weird. The website is eskiimo dot com, but it's called eskimo. But basically it's literally a website that you just type in two and then you're from.
You know, you can say a friend, coworker, family member, friend of a friend or someone, and you put your message in there, they send it off anonymously. Now this does not mean that the website is anonymous, because I think Eskimo can see anything that you send. So before you get any funny ideas of doing crazy stuff through this,
don't because Eskimo will know. Anyway. I got an email from the founder, twenty five year old tech lover and creator from Sydney, Australia, and he said he built this over the weekend that lets you send emails to that special or maybe not that special person. So I think he came up with it from like a nice standpoint of like you're in love with someone or you want you know, secret admyer kind of thing, right. He said the project in just over forty eight hours has had
over ten thousand eskimos sent. Thanks so anyway, and then he says you should see the eskimos being sent. It's really something, so I.
Think, oh he's reading it.
Yeah, well okay, And at the bottom it says receive the best Eskimos of the week every Monday in your inbox. So I think they are kind of parsing these things.
So it's like sending out creepy or funny.
Okay, yeah, we don't know. We don't know how it's being used. Sign. I don't think I would. I mean, it's not really something for me too. I mean, if I was in like high school, I think it'd be funny to send like an email to your crush, you know what I mean? Like that, that's what comes to mind.
I hope to your friend and make him think he has well.
See, that's mean, that's you're much meaner than I am, so you thought you immediately went to like the meanest possible.
That's not mean, it's me. It's funny.
It's funny. What a funny way to end the show. That's going to do it for the show today. Thanks so much for listening. Please subscribe If you haven't done so already, just search Rich on Tech in your favorite podcasting app. That's Apple Podcasts, pocket Casts, and Overcast. Those are some good ones if you need one to find it on. Also, if you're on Apple podcast, rate and review the show. Why not? I used to tell people I don't care about that. You know what I do care?
I care rate and review Us because we've gotten good reviews. I feel like maybe it helps Apple show the show to more people because it's like, oh, this is getting a lot of reviews. Maybe it bumps it up. I don't know. My book is called one hundred and one Handy Tech Tips for the iPhone. It's available on Amazon and paperback. I also have a newsletter. It's every basically every week, I send out a newsletter of it's kind of like this podcast The Interesting Things I think you
should know. It's a lot of the stories I did for KTLA. You can watch the videos. Just a little Tidbit's just a round up of all that. I'm the newsletter Megan. Producer Megan is not on the newsletter, but she is on Twitter.
Yeah at producer Megan within.
H and oh now you got to say that.
Because and everyone should send Rich and Eskimo this weekend.
Oh my gosh, please don't send me eskimos that's going to do it for the show. I'm Rich Demiro. Have a great day. We'll talk to you real soon.