![SoCal Fire Resources, Amazon on Apple TV & Wikibuy Savings Extension [209] - podcast episode cover](https://assets.metacast.app/images/episode/artwork/pe3JSCvG)
What's going on? Rich Demiro here Rich on tech dot tv. This is the podcast where we talk about technology, helping you get the most out of your gadgets, the coolest new websites, the best new apps, and all the things that happened in the tech world in the last week. I will discuss and hopefully make you a smarter tech person. And that's the goal of the show, is to really
just make tech a bigger part of your life. And you know, look, we all have a smartphone, we all have a computer, or many of us do, and some of us have an iPad, and all this tech that's crowding up our lives. Why not make the most of it. That's really what I try to do in this show. So if you're listening on the podcast, thanks so much for downloading the show. If you're watching on Facebook Live, which a lot of you are behind the scenes, thanks so much for tuning in on the Facebook page Facebook
dot com slash on tech. I take your calls as well, so you can call me if you have a tech question. Three one zero five nine four three zero zero three. And you know, this week in Los Angeles has been a very very tough week. This has been probably one of the craziest weeks that I've ever experienced in my time here in LA and I've been here for a while. We've had fires all over the place. I mean literally
just surrounded. And the weird thing about this city is that it's so large that if you're in an area where the fires are nearby, it truly affects your day to day life. But you could be an hour away and still live in Los Angeles and you know, not be affected at all. So there are a lot of people. My in laws were super affected by some of the fires in West LA. They didn't have to evacuate, but
they got pretty close. And we're not out of the woods just yet as I tape this, So to everyone that's been affected, definitely, my heart goes out to you. Stay safe out there, and all the people that have volunteered and helped out throughout these fires. You've been amazing. So those firefighters out there on the front lines, and even the reporters I work with who had to go out there. Even where I live, I could smell the smoke and the soot everywhere. I mean, there's just ash
in the air, ash covering our cars here. So it's definitely been an interesting one and we're not out of the woods just yet because the winds are still pretty high. So we've got a lot of talk about so many things happened this week in technology. I think probably the biggest story of the week is that Amazon is now on Apple TV. And that's a big deal because now Apple TV has basically become the platform that offers everything.
So there's only two platforms that pretty much have it all at this point, and that is Roku and Apple TV. So Amazon Prime Video has arrived on Apple TV. The app arrived, so you can download Amazon Prime Video, and what you can do with this is access the Prime original series and movies. So basically, if there's a show on Amazon that you like, like The Big Sick is a movie that's out, and you can get that for
free now on Apple TV. If you're a Prime subscriber, you can kind of keep track of shows that you want to watch. You can basically you can finally access Amazon's videos for free on Apple TV. If you're a Prime Video or if you're a Prime customer. This is a big deal because now they pretty much have everything. And I'm seeing in the chat room that Chris is saying they don't have Spotify, and that's a very good point.
I was thinking all of the video things that they do offer, and you're right, Apple really likes to direct you towards their products. And actually, you know what Apple TV failed me last night. I will tell you this because I bought this movie for the kids. It was ten bucks. It was the Trolls Holiday Movie. And all these services what they're trying to do is tell you where these movies are playing for free. And so you know,
I saw the new Trolls thing. It was on the front screen whatever, it was on the iTunes store, and I said, oh, that's cool, ten bucks whatever, And next thing you know, I bought it and I'm looking at my phone today and it's free on Netflix. And the weird thing about Apple TV, depending on how you search it, sometimes you will see basically there's a secret way to search on Apple TV that you need to know about.
You have to search using your voice, and that's the way that it's going to take you to a special screen that tells you where everything is playing or inside the TV app. If you go direct to iTunes on Apple TV, you're only going to get what's available on iTunes and you're only you're gonna pay for anything that's on there. So long story short, two things that you can't get now with the Amazon Prime Video on Apple TV.
And this might take you a little bit to kind of realize, but once you realize, you're like, oh, yeah, you cannot buy movies through Amazon Prime Video, nor can you rent movies through Amazon Prime Video. So that's kind of weird. And the reason for that is that Apple takes a thirty percent cut of basically anything that has purchased through their platform, and Amazon is like, nope, we're not giving that up. So that means that they just take that functionality out of it. It's the same reason
why you can't buy any ebooks on the Kindle. You sit there, on the Kindle app on the iPad, you sit there and you're like, wait a second, what's missing here? I can't buy a book. Well, yeah, because they want you to buy it through Eyebooks. So that's the difference, and it's not really it's not Apple doing that. Apple saying sure, Amazon, do whatever you want, but Amazon's like, no, we're not giving away thirty percent of our revenue because you control a huge part of the market. But there
you have it. I mean, I personally have not found a show that I want to watch on Amazon Prime Video. I've tried a bunch of them, and I've just not seen any that I like. You know, all their rich programming now for the kids, I think it's fantastic. Lots of great shows for the kids, and I think they have a decent amount of movies. But when it comes to the original series, I guess, let's see what original series. Okay, the tick, I don't know. I haven't watched that, the
Grand Tour that arrives on December eighth. Let's see what else do they mentioned here? They don't even have any They can't even mention, like more than they don't even mention that many of them in here because they know that nobody really cares about their shows, which is sad. I hope that people do. Man in the High Castle someone mentioned I tried watching that. My friend was an editor on that, and I didn't even really like that one. I kind of got into it for like two episodes
and then I just lost interest. Anyway, at the end of the day, Amazon Prime Video is still an amazing thing to have on the Apple TV, And let's see which ones does it work on. Let me make sure so that you guys know, because some of you might have older models of the Apple TV. So let's see which one does it say? Does it say okay, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video? It does not say which one it's on. Oh, well, you're just going to figure it out. Just look. Just
look on your Apple TV and see if it's available. So, yeah, it is online. But there you have it. This is kind of cool. Look at this. Look what they sent me. This is Super Mario Cereal. Well, if you're listening to the podcast, you can't see it, but this is the new Sereal I've been playing. You guys know if you've listened to this podcast that I've been playing a lot of Super Mario Odyssey. Well this is the new Super
Mario Cereal. And it is also an amebo, so you can scan the box and get you know, like a I guess a couple like an extra life or some power ups whatever it does. So that's kind of cool. Nintendo, thanks for sending that to me before everyone else. It's in stores on December eleventh. If you want to call in and talk about tech, it is three one zero five nine four three zero zero three three one zero five nine four three zero zero three. That is the
phone number that's going to get you in. And if, by the way, you don't know who I am, if you've been listening this long and you still don't know, on the Tech Reporter at KTLA five News in Los Angeles, So normally you'll see me on there early in the morning talking about technology and all kinds of fun stuff because to me, this is very exciting. It's very exciting to see, like literally, Apple TV did not have that functionality yesterday of Prime Video, and all of a sudden,
now it does. I love that. I mean, how cool is that that basically everything we're getting now is becoming software based and everything that you have can basically get new functionality overnight. And I love that. So everyone that bought an Apple TV over the holidays or got one, you know now they if you didn't have Amazon for the longest time and now you have it. So I find that really interesting and that's why I really love
this stuff. Same thing with our phones. I mean, you just keep getting new little features out at your phone us on a weekly basis, like Apple Pay and what is it called not Apple Pay, Apple Pay Cash that's the new name. I'll talk about that in just a moment. You're listening to rich on tech Live. This is the podcast where we talk technology. More of your phone calls or I'll take my first phone call after the break at three one zero five to nine four three zero zero three.
Back with you in just a minute.
What's going on? Welcome back to rich on tech On rich DeMuro and we are talking technology and taking your calls at three one zero five to nine four three zero zero three, three one zero five to nine four three zero zero three. The phone lines are open, so give me a call and you can talk about whatever
you want. If you have a tech issue, if you have something you're trying to decide to buy for the holiday season, something that just isn't working for I can answer, well, you know what, I can't answer everything, but I will definitely give you an answer. How about that Apple Pay This is now launching on Apple iPhones obviously, and Apple pay is uh this is a new part of Apple Pay. It's Apple pay Cash. So you're probably already familiar with Apple Pay. You can use it to you know, use
your credit card to pay stuff. Well, now you can use apple Pay to send and receive money to friends and family. And this is kind of a killer thing. I know. We already have PayPal, we already have Venmo, we have my personal favorite, which is square Cash, but now we have Apple doing it. And guess what when Apple does something, what does that mean? It means that is it is now the best for Apple users. And
I'm not saying that. I'm kind of saying that facetiously because everyone that's an Apple user could have used Square cash. But the other day when I asked someone if they accept square cast, They're like, no, I'll just take a check, thank you, And I'm like, why why not use Square cash. I'm not a fan of but everyone uses it, and you know, I just don't like it. I don't. I
don't need my my payments public with everyone. You know, they put they put whatever you buy for someone, they put it like in a feed, Like why does someone need to know that I pay them back forty bucks for something I don't. I don't get that. But a lot of people use it, especially in the schools, So I am signed up with that one as well. Apple pay Cash basically uses the credit or debit card that you already have on file with Apple Pay and now
you can just pay your friends. And I'm assuming it's free because I don't think that they charge you money to send to your friends.
Now.
Usually that's kind of weird because if you pay you know what, I bet you with the credit card. I haven't tried this, but I bet you with a credit card it does cost money. I'm not sure though, but let's see Apple pay send and receive money. Yeah, it doesn't say how much it costs. Maybe if you guys have tried it in the chat room, you can tell me if they charge for Apple pay cash when you're using your credit card, usually with your debit card, it's
free like on Square cash. And then if you use your credit card to pay someone, they'll charge you like I think a three percent transaction fee, which is not a ton of money. If you're paying someone twenty dollars two times three, I mean that's not that you know, what is that sixty cents? I don't know. It's not that much. So there you have it, and now it's
just an I message. So I think it's gonna do one of those things where if you say, hey, you owe me thirty dollars, the I message will be like Hey, do you want to pay this person with Apple Pay so smart idea. I personally like you know third party options better, but I know this is built into every iPhone in the world, so all of a sudden it's going to become very, very popular. Three one zero five nine four, three zero zero three is the phone number.
I know you guys have been calling. I haven't been able to answer because a couple of you guys are coming in all at the same time. So three one zero five nine four three zeros or three. Oh you know what, here we go. We got a regular on. We got Mike from a Ventura.
Mic It's my friend.
How are you good?
Are you?
Uh?
Now you're in ventur I know, so, are you near the fires or what?
The fire is currently burning in Santa Paula, which is about twelve or fifteen mins where I live. We're in no immediate danger right now where I live. However, this focus unbearable times. It's hard to breathe. But the last report is it was headed northward Santa Barbara, which is kind of a nerving for them out there. I have relatips up there.
Yeah, man, this has been bad. How long have you lived out here?
I've lived in California all my life, originally from Santa Barbara, but I moved to Venture in nineteen eighty six.
And what do you think? Do you think this is the worst you've seen or is it right up there? Or what give us some perspective?
I think a good question. That's a good question. A lot of people have asked me that. You know, I do a lot of volunteer work with Ventura County Fire, so I've been in touch with them personally on a personal level. I remember in nineteen sixty four in Santa Barbara we have something called the California Fire and you look from one rich top to the other end of the city and the whole hillside would just go on fire.
So this is nowhere near that. But Monday night has stepped outside I live up there's a step outside and looked and it was the same routine all over again. So one hill side to the other, it's pure fire. And I posted a lot of this on my Facebook page. Anyways, I have a question for you. You're asking about fire and about my safety. Google YouTube video service from Google they pulled out from Amazon's fire TV and Echo show. Why that would be my question?
It's like it's like two it's like two spoiled brats fighting, you know what I mean. That's what it is. I mean. So, yeah, Mike brings up a good, good question. So basically this week this happened once before where Amazon Echo Show they have YouTube on there, and Amazon or yeah YouTube, Google basically said oh, we don't like how you're using YouTube on here. We're just going to pull it off of there, and so they did, but it came back a couple
of months later. Okay, well now they apparently, So here's what's happened now. So now YouTube is going to be pulled off the Echo Show as of today. This was a couple of days ago. And then if if you have a fireTV, Amazon is kind of amplifying it a little bit more. YouTube is going to be off of there as of January first, two thousand and eight, twenty eighteen. Rather so it's tough to know. Okay, so here's what it says Amazon. Let's say a YouTube spoke, so it
looks like Google is doing this. Google is kind of the perpetrator here, and Google said, we've been trying to reach an agreement with Amazon to give customers, consumers access to each other's products and services. But Amazon does not carry Google products like Chromecast or Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users. Last month, stops
selling some of Nest's latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, reciprocity reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo show on fireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon. So what does this mean, Mike? This means that it's a bargaining chip. And here's the worst part. All the consumers that bought a fireTV for the holidays lose out. I mean, amaz sound YouTube is
one of the best apps on there. You know, you get access to everything, and it's just not there anymore, so or it's not going to be there.
Now, that's good.
I think it was pretty smart that they said let's let's do this as of January first, because I think that they're trying to give the two companies some time to work things out. That's what I'm guessing. So do you have one of these? Do you have a fire TV?
No? Actually don't I have the rokup. I was going to ask you if I would be able to access it on rokup.
You should be able to. Roku is like the the Switzerland. They have everything. I mean, as far as I know, Roku has basically every app without without exception, I mean, I think except iTunes. Obviously nobody has that except Apple, But yeah, I.
Think it'll be I'll check it out, y'all check it out on ro crue. Well, listen, it's been a pleasure talking to you. I'm glad to get back on the show and become a regular again.
Yeah, I'm glad. You're glad you're back on. And I'm glad you're safe out there. Stay safe and uh don't breathe into too much because uh man, we're I'm smelling it out here in LA and you know, from West l An.
Yeah, okay, Rich, thanks to.
Talk to you, everybody, all right, Mike, have a good one, Speaking of Roku. The most popular searches on roku. So let's see Roku's end of year search data twenty seventeen. Most search TV shows Ready number one, Game of Thrones, number two, Paw Patrol. That's probably me searching for that. Number three, This is Us number four, Walking Dead number five, Big Bang Theory, and most search movies number one, Mowana, and I just recently watched that. That was a fantastic
little movie. Number two, Guardians of the Galaxy, number three, Trolls, number four John Wick. I did not see that one, and number five is sing. So I've seen all of these, basically all these movies except John Wick. I'm not familiar with that one. I think that was like an action movie, right, But Guardians of the Galaxy was good, and Mohana was great. Trolls was one of my favorites. Sing Ever since my kids watched that, they keep saying that line, the uh,
what's the butt line in that movie. It's like Baby's got back or something like that, and they just love that anything that has to do with, you know, butt lines, Like what's the other one they watch? Yeah, a Captain Underpants and there's like all kinds of potty humor in that one, and yeah, you let your kids watch that and next thing, you know, they learn a couple of things. But yeah, Roku is they they have all the streaming services on there. I mean, Roku is really good when
it comes to that stuff. And I think that they've they've done that on purpose because if you see all these fights, we're seeing with the various service providers. Roku's like, you know what, we don't care. We just want to have everyone on here. And they've done a really good job at having that. So when you look on their web page, you see, okay, see what's on. I mean, let's just see what they have here, Direct TV now right up on there, YouTube, Pandora, PlayStation View, CBS News, Pluto,
ced W ABC. Wow, they kind of leave some of the big ones out of here.
Huh.
That's kind of weird. You would think they would have like Netflix and all those right at the beginning, but I guess they don't really. I guess everyone Netflix is like A that's like A that's like rst l n E. If you're on if you're on Wheel of Fortune, everyone has Netflix, all right? Your phone calls after this at three one zero five nine four three zero zero three,
you're listening to Rich on Tech. More of your questions after this, Welcome back to Rich on Tech Live three one zero three one zero You're on with Rich Who am I speaking with?
Hello?
Hi Patty, how you doing.
Fine?
What's on your mind?
My twist? Oh well, Hi, Rich, I watch you on Channel five all the time.
Oh, thank you love you.
A long time ago when I was, you know, on your chat on the you know, in the mornings, you said that there was a place to fix uh computers or laptops for free.
Okay, yes, I believe you're well okay, so not really fix them they Okay, So what I was talking, I think what you're referring to is when I said, uh, the Microsoft Store will kind of clean out your computer of viruses and all that stuff. Is that what you mean? Yes, okay, yes, So here are the details Microsoft Store. You have to
go to a official Microsoft store. So if it's there's one, you know, if you go to like Microsoft Microsoft store, you have to go to like their official website, okay, and find where they are.
Now.
I know there's a store at the There used to be one at the West Side Pavilion. I think they're still there. I think there's one in the Valley somewhere, and I think there's one in like Coasta, Mesa. So go on there look for a official store like Microsoft store locations. I'm looking here, and let's see what area do you live in.
I live in the South Bay, Lowndale, Redondo, b.
Okay, so I think the closest one to you is going to be at Los Ciritos. Is that nearby.
Well it's a kind of a ride, but I could get down there.
Well, it's not really a problem.
They've got a couple. I mean, they've got the closest one after that would probably be Santa Monica, and then they also have one in Glendale Galleria. So anyway, my point is, you have to go to a real store, You bring your computer in, you make an appointment with them online and they will basically kind of clear out your computer, look for any viruses on there, get the viruses off, clear out malware, and they do it all
for free. And it is actually for free. So I know, we got a ton of response from that story when we did it, And believe me, I had to call Microsoft like fifteen times after the story because people kept telling me I went there and they wouldn't do it for free. And I said, are you sure you went to a real Microsoft store because I've these people so many times, you know, and they do do it. So what's wrong with your computer?
It won't it won't connect to my internet in the house. Interesting and I, yeah, it's really weird. I don't know it did it and then all of a sudden. I mean I've had it for a couple I have had it for about three or four years, so you know it's you can try it anyway. Thank you, Yeah, thank you for the information. I do watch you in the mornings. I love Channel five. I love everybody on there.
Well, thank you so much. It's a great family we have. And definitely bring your computer in. See what they say. Tell them rich On Tech sent you and I'm sure they'll love you for it. Eight eight you are on with rich eight When eight you're on with rich.
Hello?
Hi, who am I speaking with?
Hi?
This is Marie Marie.
What's going on? Marie?
Hey?
I was wondering. I'm in the More Park area and as you know, there's a lot of fires going on and I'm hearing a lot of I don't know what to think and when to be biser an app that is more real time with as far as fire alerts or a lot of like urgencies and things like that that I could download onto my phone. It's more real time as far as you know, emergency type.
Yeah.
I mean, here's the thing. So this is the problem with like our internet you know nowadays is like there's so much information that you're just like, we're overwhelmed, And I agree. It's like, especially with something like the fires, there's been there's been a ton of stuff that's out there,
a couple of resources that I think are decent. I haven't, you know, because I've been following these two for you know, kind of the the news and kind of seeing what I can bring to the you know, ad to the reporting coverage that we've had for KTLA, and it's it's tough. I mean, there's a lot of stuff on Twitter. Are you on Twitter at all?
Not at all?
Okay? So I mean that is that is a very good place to start if you want to do that. You don't, you know, you can join without having to like, you know, tweet or whatever. But on Twitter, I've been following a lot of the a lot of the even if you just go to their Twitter pages you can see you don't have to even join to look at these. But let me just tell you some of that I've been that I've been following in the last couple of days.
So LA Department of Transportation is on there. County of La official Twitter for the National Weather Service for Los Angeles notify la ready la. Those are all some of h some of the people that I followed, and South Coast let's see aq MD Air Quality Management Division, I think that's called. And those have all been really good. The other thing, do you have an Android or an iPhone Android? Okay? Try have you tried searching southern California fires? Okay?
If you search that on Google, it actually brings up kind of a special wildfire section in Google. And even if I search it on my computer, it does the same thing. And it gives you a whole bunch of updates, official updates, It gives you a map of the affected areas. It gives you a whole bunch of stuff from there. Now that's some of the some of the best stuff I found. I didn't find there was that one, like, you know, perfect app that gives you all this information. Yeah,
but that's those are the resources that I found. I know. Are you how close are you to these fires?
Well?
Right now, let's just say everything is packed in my car.
Oh gosh, yeah, my in laws were right there with you. They're same thing.
You know.
It's like what I wish is I wish we had like our personal helicopter that you can just literally look over, you know, and see everything. Right, that's what you want to see, is like that aerial.
View of the whole time, right, well at not you just see it right there on the ridge. And when the winds pick up, deaths where we're more at a risk.
So oh man, well we're just waiting. Well, stay safe and make sure you have those alerts on your phone too. I talked about those those safety alerts. Did you get one last night?
Yes? I did.
I also saw you this morning. Yeah, that definitely woke me up out of my bed.
Yeah.
I know a lot of people got those, but I would check for those and just you know, just I think the TV and the radio are going to help you as well, because they're going to do they're going to do the updates as well. So stay safe out there. Thank you so much for calling in. I do appreciate it.
And again, now you just see that there are real people that are affected by these fires, and it's scary when you're home, like my in laws, they are sitting there with everything packed up in their car and just wondering what's going to happen, you know, do they have to evacuate do they not? And it's really crazy when you're going through your house. Not that I've had to do this, but when you're going through deciding what you're
going to keep and what you're going to save. I mean, that's really a weird feeling to have, knowing that you can come back to an empty place and nothing there. And I think I showed this video today on Channel five, this YouTuber who basically lost his house in the fire. Yeah, it's the number thirty video on YouTube. It's called my House Burned Down And if you want to google that to watch, it's pretty all right. Uh, here we go. You're on with Rich?
Hi?
Rich?
How are you? This is Deborah?
Hey Deborah? Can you turn down the little podcast behind you?
Yes?
I just did.
Thank you?
What's going on? The reason?
Well, first, I want to say, Rich, you are so intelligent. It's amazing to watch you on Channel five with your co anchors. You guys are just beyond fabulous.
Thank you.
You give us so much information. So I want to thank you so much for you know, having that that kindness and caring about us as individuals only goal you okay, and you do quite well. Wish it. Thank you. The reason why I'm calling you is I live in Whitewater. I don't know if you're familiar with it. It's a rural area out here near Morongo Casino. Okay, we have mountains all around us, and thank the Lord, we don't have any fires at this point, thank God, and old
not to. But the reason I'm calling you is what where can I get the best app for my area because all the fires are down near Los Angeles, and unfortunately we are a fire alert because it's we we kind of live in a tunnel of airwaves because of all the mountains around us. On the mountain like, yeah, oh absolutely, I mean sometimes their gusts are just unbelievable. U But and we've been having them really very strongly right now in the last couple of days too as well.
So it concerns me because I'm not sleeping real well because I'm scared that we're going to get caught on fire out there. And there's only one way out and one way in where I live on White Water. So how can I how can I like just you know, make sure we're going to be okay, you know, and if something does happen, my phone is always with me at night. If I could get an alert or what can I go to up here?
Well, I think I mean, I'm looking at who responds for you guys, it looks like CalFire Riverside is the responding party Riverside County Fire Department. Does that sound right?
Okay?
Okay, So the first thing I would do is I would follow them on Twitter and look on their Twitter page because they've got CalFire r Are you? CalFire R?
Are you?
And they actually they actually follow me, So I would follow them, and then here's the thing. And then once you follow them, you'll actually get a couple of suggestions for other places to follow. Are you on Twitter at all?
You know what? I have a Twitter account, honestly, don't use it.
Well, this might be the time, Okay, Yeah, I mean Facebook is probably They're going to probably have some stuff on there too, but I think Twitter is a little bit more immediate. But I would follow them. And then once you follow them, there's a little there's a way on Twitter when you follow someone, they're on your phone. There is a way to get notifications, so whenever they tweet, they will actually send it to your phone, almost like
a text message. So that will be handy because you don't have to sit there and check all the time. So when you're on your phone and you follow someone and I'll just look at my phone to see. So if I go on my phone and I follow, let's say this person, there's a little a little it looks like a bell next to their name. When you say follow, you press that bell, and every time that that person tweets, you will get that scent as a text, basically a
notification to your phone. So I would start with the CalFire Riverside and then I would probably go into the San Bernardino one as well, CalFire News and CalFire. Those are going to start you with some of that stuff, and I think that's going to be your best bet to start. And then of course you can get with hashtags. Right now, I'm seeing they're talking about a Liberty fire. Is that that looks like it's in sort of Temecula area, So that's not really nearby?
Oh yeah, and that's no, No, it's not nearby that the other side on past Paris and all that. But the thing is is we're so barnable out here, which we really are because of the way we're surrounded by mountains and my particular home on Cowsman behind us. There are no houses because I believe that Edison either owns it, there's leasing that land, and it's only about a half
a mile away from the actual mountains. Oh wow, right, so if it takes place, it's only going to take a matter of minutes to get to our home, I mean, because there's nothing to block it.
Wow.
So I just I'm so concerned.
You know, that's scary. Yeah, And then you know, there's other things you can do. There's like some apps that have scanners on them. If you really think you're in danger, you know you can you can download some of these scanner apps they have for iPhone as well, kind of like listening to a police scanner, which is what we do in the newsroom as well. So you could search for those in the app store. But Deborah, stay safe out there. I know it's it's some crazy times here.
The winds seeing here in Los Angeles are just insane and all around. So thanks so much for calling in and stay safe, okay.
Okay, Thank you Rich so much for your time, and thank you for being on TV for us.
Thank you call me next week so I know you're okay, Okay, Thank you okay, bye bye, all right, Uh wow, there you have it. I mean, it's just this is craziness, these fires, and it's and it's just interesting how it's just it's just interesting how real it is, you know, to people that are affected, and it's it's a lot of people in a lot of different areas here in Los Angeles. So you're listening to Rich Demiro. This is rich on Tech. I'll be back with more after this.
Welcome back to rich Contech Live. Rich Demiro here with Sam on the line. Sam in the nine O nine. What's up?
Hey. I don't know if you remember, but I talked to you on Black Friday. I was over at Sam's Club, of course. Yeah, anyway, I want to buy in a Note eight because they gave it three hundred dollars gift card. Best deal I could find.
Wow, that's ee dollars gift card to which one Sam's Club?
Sam's Club?
Ye, that's awesome.
Oh yeah. And then I took it over to the closest Verizon store. I walked in and they said, oh, you qualify for the three dollars tenants tablet for thirty.
Bucks and you got that too, huh.
I hooked it up and you know that's great.
So you've got the phone, you've got the tablet, and you're loving your new digital life.
Huh.
Absolutely.
What's your favorite part about the Note eight so far?
Just the speed? I mean the fact that I've loaded it up with all the apps that I had to delete out of my other notes because it was going so slow. I mean, with six gigs a RAM, this thing is a monster.
Yeah, that's it's a It literally has every single feature that you can have on a smartphone. Like, there isn't one feature that it doesn't have. It's got the dual cameras, it's got the large battery, it's got the memory card, it's got the the big screen, it's got the edgeless screen, it's got the wireless charging, it's got the water runner resistance. I mean, there's nothing it doesn't have.
Right, Oh, absolutely, I mean I am, I am. You know, like any new phone, you know, you gotta get used to all the new features. But I mean it's been great, of course.
Well I love it. I'm glad you upgraded and you got it. Sounds like you made out like a bandit. Three hundred bucks for a gift card is pretty good. Have you spent that yet now.
Well no, But what I did do is, after I bought the Google Home Mini, I went back the Best Buys and I don't want to say it was a mistake, because you always wanted up spend a lot of money when you go back in, of course. But the guy sold me. Guys sold me the three pack of Google Wi Fi, which normally goes for about three hundred bucks. Evidently somebody online that they match had it for one hundred and nineteen dollars. So I got that for one hundred and nineteen dollars.
For a three pack. For a three pack, Oh wow, that's a great deal. I saw for like one hundred nineteen bucks for a one pack the other day, So that's amazing. All right. So you've got the best online, you've got the best WiFi, you've got the best phone, and Sam, I think I think you're all hooked up now.
Absolutely. What can you tell me about Google Chrome though, I bought that too.
The Chrome Cast a little Chrome cast thing, yeah, so yeah. Chrome Cast is basically it's a you hook it up to the HDMI port on the back of your TV and now you can cast things from your phone. So you basically use your phone as remote, and the video does not actually stream and the media does not stream from your phone. What it's doing is it's making that
connection on the back end. So the Chrome cast is really just kind of going onto the Internet and pulling whatever video or audio or content that you're asking it to pull. So it's a pretty brilliant little device, and it's great and I love using it. My favorite is to set up my pictures as my backdrop, So definitely check that out. Sam, set that up and I will talk to you next week. All right, very cool? All right. I want to tell you guys about this cool, this
neat little Chrome extension. I found that they sent me a thing about it, and I didn't really believe it because I thought I found out about all the extensions that helped me save money. But this one is actually pretty good. The last couple times I kind of forgot that. I installed it on my computer and it really works well. It's called wiki by Wiki b Uy, and you install it. It's a Chrome extension and when you're shopping online, it automatically finds a better price of the item that you're
shopping for and also coupon codes. So I was booking something and I kind of forgot that this app was on there. Didn't even think it would work on this website, And next thing, you know, it saved me like sixteen bucks, and on a Toya was wanting to buy, it was like ten dollars. So again, it's called wiki by Wiki
Buy and it's all automated. So I watched it try like five different coupon codes when I was shopping on this website, and one of them, you know, it picks the one that has the best price, the one that gives you the biggest, the biggest deal. So I thought that was pretty cool. Check it out Wiki by Wiki Buy. It takes a lot for me to not buy something
on Amazon, so it's got to be a really good deal. Like, even if it's like two or three dollars more on a different website, I'll probably just stick to Amazon because I have my credit card and all that stuff saved there, Plus I have the prime shipping, all right. Dog question from social media. This comes via email from Janella Mooney. She says, my family has always had iPhones. This Christmas, we're gonna upgrade all them to iPhone eight, but my
son doesn't want an iPhone. He wants a Google Pixel And the main reason we have iPhones is an app called Find My Friends that let us know where our kids are at all times. My question to you is there a similar app on Google Pixel that will be compatible with iPhone to help keep a tabs on my kid ps looking for free or reasonably yearly cost? And yes there is. To answer your question, Janella, it is called Trusted Contacts. So this is from Google and it's
called Trusted Contacts. And what you do is you just install it on both of your phones. You sign in. Your son will grant you his location permission. You trust him basically, or he trusts you, vice versa, and now you can see where he is on a map at all times. I do this with my wife. She can go on her Google Maps. I show right up as a little dot. It's probably more information than she needs, but there you have it. I mean, I was testing this out. I set it up and I forgot to
turn it off, so she always gets my location. I don't have hers. She never reciprocated him. I shall look into that, but that's what it is. It's called Trusted Contacts. There's other ways to do it. But why pay for something when this does it for free and it works pretty darn well. So check out Trusted Contacts. All right, We've got just a little bit left in the show, so I'm gonna do a fast questions from you. This
is the fire, the rapid fire segment. So if you have a question or a comment, I will read them on the on the comments right now. So Lelana says, please help. I need to start doing uber. I want to buy a good GPS with Bluetooth, but I can't spend more than one hundred dollars. What are your suggestions for like a GPS or a phone? I think you I don't know if you need a phone or a GPS. I don't know about the GPS is anymore. I don't I haven't bought a standalone GPS in so long, but
I would look at maybe something like Tom Tom. I don't know. I don't really man standalone GPS. I don't think people really buy I didn't even know they sold those anymore. But let's see if we find one Garman, I mean, Garmin's a good one. I would just look for something that's cheap, but I would go with an app on a phone because you probably want the up to date directions. Now, if you want a phone that's under one hundred dollars, I would recommend looking at the
Amazon Prime phones. And if I had to pick one that was under one hundred dollars, I will tell you which one I would get. Let's see. I would go for the Moto E. The Moto E which is ninety nine to ninety nine if you are an Amazon Prime subscriber. Let's see. Nancy says, Carbonite is ending its mobile device backup? Can you recommend an alternate service for photos and videos on our phones and tablets? Nancy, I would just go with Google Photos. It's totally free and you won't have
to worry about it going out of business. Carbonite was good, but yeah, the fact that they're going out is kind of a bummer. And Brian says, got my Note eight and I love it without at the stylust is the best part. Also, just received my Gear three sixty camera and yeah the Note day. Like I said, I mean, what a great device. So I understand why you like that so much. Man, already we're it's over. The show is done, so thanks so much for joining me this week.
It was fun, I know, we talked a lot about the fires here in southern California, but that is on the top of everyone's mind right now. So everyone that's affected by that, please stay safe, please listen to you know, the authorities, the news, all that good stuff, because those we saw up in northern California, how quickly things can change. So you can find me at Richontech dot tv. Can find the show notes for this show on the website
as well. I kind of go through the whole show in a day or so and I will make it so that you can find everything we talked about. So if you heard me mention something, all you have to do is look on my website. This will be show number two zero nine, So look for rich on Tech two zero nine. Download the podcast. Just search rich on Tech in your favorite podcasting app. If you have an iPhone,
I love Overcast. If you're on Android, check out pocket Casts. Otherwise, take a screenshot of the show, let people know that you're watching it, and share that on your social media. Don't keep me a secret. If we want to make this show bigger, you want to help me out, definitely let people know about me and the show, and that way I know you want to get through on the phone calls, but we want a lot of people watching as well listening. All right, that's gonna do it for me.
My name is rich Demiro. I'll see you on KTLA channel five. Have a great weekend and see you next time.
Go bye.