The websites to help you find coronavirus supplies, the best ways to clean your smartphone, plus as usual, your tech questions answered. What's going on? I'm Rich Dmiro and this is Rich on Tech, the podcast where we talk about the tech stuff I think you should know about and answer the questions that you send me. My name is Rich Demiro. I'm the tech reporter at KTLA Channel five in Los Angeles. Joining me is producer Megan, who is currently applying hand sanitizer. Welcome to the show.
I apply it every five minutes and that's how I'm combating coronavirus.
And I know we're not going to joke about this because it is very serious, although there may be some lighthearted moments, because it's unreal. What's happening in the world right now. Yeah, and you're listening, you're thinking about coronavirus on the news, it's on your social it's everywhere. There
are hundreds of new podcasts dedicated to coronavirus. And I think what's so odd about it is that we haven't really seen something like this kind of capture not only the minds of the world, but also like a physical result of something like we're seeing actual things happening. I mean, Tom Hanks, I saw that last night, and I'm like, what is going on in this world? I was at the grocery stores and they are the supplies are in such tight demand.
It's insane.
My dad's seventy two, and I asked him. I was like, have you ever seen anything like this before? Like, was there some sort of disease that was similar when you were younger? He said, no, this is this is crazy, Like this is a moment in history that will always remember.
One hundred percent, and there have been similar I call this. I was talking with someone here today and I was saying, I haven't felt this disoriented since September eleventh. You were a little young, were even born it was like six, okay, yeah, so you may not remember at all, Like I mean, I don't think.
Yeah, I remember like this.
I remember it, but in like a weird way, like you knew it a story. Yeah, I knew it happened when I was like older, but yeah, when I when it was happening, I don't think it was ever really explained.
Yeah, and that makes sense. As a parent, I can understand that my kid was watching like he turned on Apple TV last night and we don't have cable, but he tuned into uh, like a streaming newscast, and I was like, excuse me, what are you doing? And you know, he's eight, and he he is interested in what's happening. And I'm not keeping everything from him, but I don't think he needs to know everything on the play by
play of what's going on. And so we've explained and you know he understands, and even at school they've talked about it. But I'll be honest, this podcast, a lot of it is going to have to do with coronavirus. And you know, you can tune out if you'd like, but the reality is, I'm fascinated by this. I'm going
to take it all from the tech angle. We're gonna have regular questions from the viewers or in the listeners, so you have that, but we're just going to start with a couple of the things that are happening in the tech world. Number one E three twenty twenty canceled because of the coronavirus. This is the big video game show that's normally scheduled for June ninth to eleventh in
Los Angeles. I've been for many years. It's a show that kind of has all the latest and greatest when it comes to video games, So all the upcoming games the consoles this year, Sony was actually pieced out before this whole thing, so it was really like Microsoft, Nintendo and you know all the other games that are out there. But it's over and this the reality is. They said it was a difficult decision following increased and overwhelming concerns. We felt this was the best way to proceed during
such an unprecedented global situation. We know it's the right decision. They will be providing full refunds, and they're looking at ways to do an online experience. And again this is for June ninth to eleventh. Oh wow, so that's a ways out. But I think it's right now. People can't imagine even booking a flight right now to come to a show like that where it brings in people from all over I think that's concerned. Activision Blizzard Esports says
Overwatch League games are canceled. Sorry, the Overwatch League home stands. So I believe the home stands. Well, let's see, is.
That where people come and watch them?
I think so. But it says we are canceling all Overwatch League events scheduled from March and April. And these are overwatches kind of like the big esports gaming where they have all these people sitting in the center of the arena and a lot of people cheer them on and watch. Yeah, and again we heard the NBA is canceling the games. I mean, it's so widespread it's not
even funny. The one thing I thought was kind of interesting about their little press release, Blizzard Entertainment says, concurrently, we are working hand in hand with our teams to see that all matches are played when it's safe and logically feasible. And I would say not the best use of words hand in hand. Don't want to use that
right now. Come on, you want to be you want to be elbow to elbow right now, right And Google is saying if your business is affected by coronavirus, it might be a good time to update your business profile. And you may not know this, but if you own a small business, you can look for something called Google my Business and you can claim your business listing within Google. You know, when you search for a company on Google, like a small business, local retailer or a big retailer
has that little info box that shows up. It says if they're open, has like website directions, all this kind of stuff. Well, businesses can update that information and Google saying, look, if you're affected by coronavirus, let people know what's happening. Whether your business hours has changed, maybe you're staying open later or earlier, or are closing earlier, or you're closed, or you're just closed. Maybe you want to talk about
your business operations. You can share any precautions that your business take. Let's say you run a small gym and you can write in there, hey, we are sanitizing our equipment, deep cleansing every single night. Rest assured that when you Google that business, you're getting that information presented. Or if
you're experiencing delays, or you can create a post. And I don't think many businesses know this, but the Google Businesses has something similar to like Twitter, where you can create a little post or an Instagram post, but it shows up under your business when someone googles it, and that can be helpful for just giving updates. Maybe you've got sanitizer back in stock or probably not, you can put that on there. Yeah, all right, razy Megan, Okay, let's get a question.
Our first question comes from Wilmer. I shattered the screen of my Apple Watch Series three, and I'm devastated. He knows that they're not cheap, and he was going to save up and just repurchase the series three again, and he's wondering if he should spring for the series five at this point, since it's two years old or three years old.
I would agree go with the series five. And the reason why he's not mentioning the series four is because you can't really find it. The series five replace the series four. Apple does this weird thing sometimes where they keep kind of the oldest version of something or an older version and the newer one, and they leave out the one in between, and you're like, why would they
do that? Well, because the older one they can drop the price and not truly have it cut into the sales of the newer one because the features are kind of different. So on Apple Watch Series three versus five. With the series five, you're going to get the always on display, which may or may not be something you want. You may want to turn it off because it does
use more battery. You're also going to get the compass, which could be handy if you're out and about in the wilderness, or if you just like the idea of the compass, and you're also going to get a slightly larger display I believe, and also ekg oh, so those are four pretty solid things that you might want over the Series three. Oh, you're also gonna get a faster processor. Okay, so it's been a couple of years, like he said. And the Series four or sorry, Series five is I
believe three ninety nine. Oh for the I believe for the cellular version. Let me see how much this is. Let's see. We're going to click the website and I will show you the price. Three ninety nine. Yeah, so three ninety nine for the regular and then four ninety nine for the cellular. So it's a little bit more expensive than the other one. But you know, I think that you're getting three years of technology.
Yeah, I think it's probably worth it.
Yeah, and you still won an Apple Watch, right?
Yes?
Are you still? Well?
You know I've actually like searched for the Series.
Four and you can find that you can find it, yes, not from Apple officially, right, it's a best buy, Yeah, best buy or like Coals or something. Yeah, but my advice is, and I tell this to a lot of people that email me these questions about this. Whenever you're buying one of these Apple devices, look outside the Apple Store because you don't necessarily have to get it from Apple Store. Apple store doesn't really run any deals or sales.
But for so, if I was buying the apple Watch Series five today, I would search apple Watch five deals and then in Google you type in you go to news, and that way you find the bloggers that blog about this, okay, And the reason why bloggers blog about it is because they get what's called an affiliate link to that thing. So if you buy it through their click or through their blog posts, they'll get a little tiny cut of that.
So it's in their best interest to keep these things updated with like the latest deals because it entices people to buy. So if I looked at apple Watch five is not going to have any deals right now, but apple Watch three is in stock and on sale at one ninety nine for best buy. Wow, now you may not. You may be able to find apple Watch four. Let's see if there's any four deals. So it looks like yes, six days ago, Series four GPS returns to Black Friday price,
So there you go. Two ninety nine. So again, if you don't need all those features, you can do that.
He also mentions that the Series three that he's looking at is at Apple and it's two thirty.
Oh.
He doesn't even realize that if he was going to get the Series three.
He could get it for one thirty bucks less past by at a bunch of places in the side. But I think, yeah, exactly, very so a good question, all right, speaking of your digital gadgets, the best ways to clean and disinfect your dirty smartphone. This is the story that we did on KTLA. We talked to a professor of chemical engineering at USC, Andrea Armani, and she said that cell phones are actually one of the dirtiest things that
we handle every day, no surprise there. And we talked about several of the ways to clean your phone, and the number one is a damp microfibercloth. You can find microfibercloths on Amazon. I've got a bunch of them around the house. That's what I use most of the time. I really like little wipes, and in the past I've used the eyeglass wipes, but now Zeis actually has a specific mobile screen wipe. I also like Whoosh, which is
a spray and they have a good stuff. Now most of these some people will tell you that these are good enough on your phone because it's such a smooth surface that you will wipe off the bacteria and grime and even the bad stuff like you know what, coronavirus. I can't guarantee that with these methods, but that's what I've read online. Now, if you want something a little more industrial strength. What's interesting is that a lot of people recommended a mix of rubbing alcohol or you know,
alcohol with water and put that. Always put it on the device, on the wipe, by the way, like the microfiber not you't you don't pour it exactly, don't pour it on your device.
So can you put it on a cotton ball?
Yeah?
I think so, I've done that.
Yeah, And so long story short. After we did our story on TV, a couple of days later, Apple comes out and says, you know what, you can actually go ahead and use Clorox wipes on your phone, even though previously they did not recommend any sort of like household chemicals. Yeah, but now with the whole coronavirus thing, people want their stuff really disinfected. They said, go ahead, use a Clorox wipe, or use a combination of seventy percent isopropyl alcohol along
with some water. Okay, and that should take care of it. Now, if you really want to get heavy duty on your phone, which I have started to do, I've had one of these phone soap disinfectant things in my house for a year. I got it for Christmas last year for my in laws, and I never set it up. I was like, give me a break, and now I am a believer. I put my phone in there, not every night, but a couple times a week. It turns on the UV light,
it disinfects the phone. And if you're wondering how it works, well, I talked to the CEO of the company's name is Dan Barnes, and here's what he had to say.
So, phone soaps technology is built on UVC light. UVC is a short wavelength that can penetrate the cell wall and effectively fuse the DNA together, which kills it. It's no longer operable. It can't harm you, and it can't reproduce, so it's really the safest way to clean your phone. There's no harsh chemicals like alcohol, it won't void your warranty. And it's effective at ninety nine point nine nine percent in killing this bacteria and virus every time.
Okay, So the big question is will it kill the coronavirus? So I asked him that specifically.
While we have not been able to test the coronavirus specifically, you know it's being held by organizations like the CDC, only we do know that it's an envelope virus similar to bacteria that we have tested. Phone soap's been clinically proven to kill ninety nine point nine nine percent of influenza,
which is an envelope virus similar to coronavirus. We have tested against rhinovirus, staff ecoli, Salmonila, mursa, and phone soap is always designed to do a three hundred and sixty degree clean on your entire phone or any item you put in there. So, while we haven't been able to test this novel strain of coronavirus specifically, we have tested a wide range of viruses in bacteria that in some degrees or other are similar to it.
Okay, I'm going to take that as I think we're okay.
I think he knows what he's doing.
I think he knows what he's doing. And so I've been putting my phone in this little device. The model I have, I believe it's about eighty dollars. That's how much it looks like it is on Amazon. Of course they're sold out. It's impossible to get one of these things. But I'm kind of in love with it because I love the idea that it not only sanitizes my phone, but it kind of sanitizes everything, like all the little
nooks and crannies, all everything. It's like a three sixty clean And the one thing it doesn't do is wipe down your phone. So I wish it was more like a little mini car wash for your phone, where it actually sanitized with the UV light and then it kind of scrubbed it with like bubbles. But well, I don't know. I guess that'd be kind of tricky because.
You know, I know, things could get a little messed up.
Yeah, So anyway, keep your phone clean, and those are some of the ways you can do it. And I think that everyone is sort of looking at their phone these days wondering just how dirty is this thing? And should I be cleaning it? Yes, you should be, yes.
All the time.
This next question comes from Joe Months ago you introduced a new phone company plan that was forty dollars a month on limited unlimited by some new company. At the time, my phone didn't qualify. Anyways, I need to do phone now. Should I wait for the Samsung twenty? What was the network? I live in Orange County?
My gosh. Those are a lot of questions.
You know, But the main thing is.
The main thing is what you know? The answer to this yes, Visible Visible. We've got a lot of questions about Visible because it's forty dollars a month and it runs on the Verizon network. It doesn't just run on Verizon, it is owned by Verizon. Yeah, and it is a
fantastic deal. And the other cool thing about Visible And by the way, they offer the s twenty, So when they first came out, it was it was iPhone only and so it excluded When we first did our story about this on KTLA, it excluded a lot of people because they had Android and they're like, Rich, I can't switch. You just told me about this amazing thing. And it's a legit plan. It is everything you need on Verizon unlimited, everything for forty bucks a month. Now. The one catch
is the speed limit. It is it is limited to five megabits per second, which you remember, this was one of your first stories you did. We tested it, remember, outside, and we saw if like YouTube worked, if snapchat work, and it worked.
Yeah, and it was the difference of like maybe two seconds.
Yeah, it was a little you know, a little bit. Sometimes it could be a little bit slower. But they and I'm also kicking myself for this for my wife because I wanted to switch her to it and I didn't. They actually had a promotion where they were giving you unlimited speed and everyone who signed up during that time gets unlimited speed for the rest of their time. Remember that, And I should have signed up because forty bucks a month is such a deal. And they do this thing.
They don't do family plans, but they do like a something like I think it's a party plan. Yeah, visible party pay and you actually just get like up to how many friends up to I don't know, three or four friends and yeah two, three or four friends and every friend you join in on, they you each get five bucks off. So if you and I did a party play plan, yeah, so we would pay thirty five each. So and it's the party you are, it's just your linked up kind of just online. It has nothing to
do with your bill. You still get your bill separately and so do I.
But it's just one month.
No, no, it's every month.
Oh it's thirty five moving forward. Yeah, oh I thought it was a month that you sign up.
No, as long as you link in, that's amazing.
So you could have like three friends and it could be like twenty dollars ars.
So they're trying to get you to like tell your friends about it and join with you, which makes sense. Yeah, it's like a spin on. I think everything with Visible is kind of like a spin on, you know, the normal, typical plan, right, And the only major catch besides the speed limit, is really the fact that everything is sort of done online. You activate your phone online customer service. There's no store to walk into if you need help.
But that's the one. The other weird thing is they just started a version of Visible now called Yahoo Mobile, and it is identical. It's basically Visible because think about it, Verizon owns Yahoo. Oh, Okayon owns Visible Now. We have Yahoo Mobile, and I think they're just playing upon the Yahoo brand selling it to all the millions of email. It's I can't see a difference between Visible and Mobile and Yahoo Mobile.
I wonder, like it's the website.
The website's different, No websites different.
You sign up through an app, different audience.
It's just different audience exactly. I personal would go at Visible. It seems like a cooler little thing than Yahoo.
But it's funny. Does Yahoo just have like a bad rep?
Oh yeah, really, don't you think? I mean, Yahoo used to be the coolest thing ever.
I used to search.
I remember searching on Yahoo, yeah, way back when, Like now.
You just use Google.
Oh yeah, Yahoo doesn't even I don't think they do search anymore. I think it's run through Microsoft like.
They used to have like the top searches.
Oh yeah, Yahoo was they still do probably, Oh, I'm sure they still. I think still the number one. It is kind of funny though, and I don't think I do this anymore. But it used to be when I was testing a device or going to like a web page for something, just to see if the Internet worked, you would always go to Yahoo. It's just like the first thing that comes to mind, you think Internet, you know, And now to me, Yahoo is just so like.
It's stated they have the same layouts.
Yeah, it hasn't changed. I actually was offered a job by Yahoo many years ago, and when they send you your job offer, it was a big box that they overnight to your house and when you open the box, it goes Yahoo. Yeah, and it would welcome you to Yahoo. And it had a T shirt which I still wear. I still wear it to be how long were you there? No, No, I got a job offered, got a job offer. I did not take the job. Got it Okay, if I took the job, I would not have to have worked
for the rest of my life. No, I'm just kidding. But it didn't have a lot of stock options. I didn't really understand what those war back then. Really No, I had no idea. So I was like, They're like, here, we'll give you all this, and I was like, I have no idea what this means. But anyway, I didn't take the job, and the value went down right eventually.
I mean, I don't know, it wouldn't be worth me.
Well, I guess now they'd be Verizon stock. I don't know. Oh, I don't really know. I don't really know because the two times in my life when I had stock options from the companies I worked for, I lost them both because I left the companies. So well, yeahoo, I never joined.
You can't get the money out.
It depends if you're vested. So here's the way they work. So let's say this one company I worked at a couple years ago, they gave me a bunch of I think they were called options or stocks or whatever it was. But they give it to you, but you don't get it unless you stay there for three more years and then they're actually transferred to you. So that's an incentive for you to stay at that company. That makes sense, and you get kind of a bonus for.
Staying there, right, Okay, it makes sense.
It's that bonus because there must be.
People that go and then they're like, I got these stock options and then they try to take it out and they're like, no, you've just stayed in it three years.
What do you give you? Those just fun?
I had fifty dollars.
So I don't know if you've been a store lately, but they are actually bananas. I went to five different stores yesterday. I went to Ralph's, I went to Vonn's, I went to CVS, I went to Office Depot ninety nine cent stores, and then I went to Ralphs again.
You went to the ninety nine cent store?
Yeah, first time I've never been to one. Really yeah, actually I lied, second time I've ever been in one.
Not everything's ninety nine cent.
No, I didn't understand that, Like, no, I don't either. A lot of things are. But they had water at the door that was nine ninety nine. I'm like, wait, what now? Maybe they play upon nine nine nine if that's part of their.
Maybe that's their stick.
But I was impressed. I mean there had a lot of selections. Have you ever been in one? Yeah? I have?
Yeah, what what is that look on your face?
Nothing?
And I used to babysit or like when I had like a little kids camp when I was younger, I would go and get like arts and crass.
Yeah, like two dollars. It's all like ninety nine cents.
Yeah.
Lindsay's obsessed with the dollar tree because everything's a dollar and she gets like all this stuff that's you know, a little things like holidays and stuff, and it's it's
it's great, it's a dollar. But I had just hadn't been in one, so it was really cool first time for everything, But I did not find what I was looking for which I was on a I was trying to see what the supply levels were like for everything that people are looking for, like toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, wipes and sprays like lysol and that kind of stuff. And I will tell you, Megan, it was really bad. I mean, I'm talking, I don't want to raise I mean, as we record this on our air
right now, they're talking about panic buying. Yeah, and it was It's unlike anything I've ever seen. And I've worked through hurricanes, I've worked through natural disasters, and I've never really seen anything like this.
So weird.
And so with that in mind, and by the way, Amazon is also sold out of all this stuff. When was the last time you searched Amazon It was out of stock of like a large majority of things. Yeah, so I'm gonna go over some of the things that can maybe help you find some of these products, and in my experience, they're not going to be much help,
but at least you know about them. And the first one is now in stock dot net And this is a website that well, it's mainly made for the holidays when you're trying to get the tickle Me Elmo or the Nintendo Classic whatever, and they have a whole bunch of hot products and it will tell you which retailers have them in stock online. And they've added hand sanitizer and also household cleaning, which is crazy because they probably
never had that before in their lifetime. And you can click hand sanitizers and it gives you a list of all of the different things that you can get and if they're available, and I'm actually seeing that, yeah, currently unavailable. But I did notice also on Amazon that you can for certain items if they're out of stock. They will have a links, a little button show up that says email me when it's in stock, and so you can
do that. But now in stock dot Net is the first one, and then the second one is Google Shopping. So if you go to shopping dot Google dot com and you type in what you want, you can search and see if things are available locally. And I had some luck, but it's one of these things where unless you're getting it delivered, I wouldn't really trust it to know if it's in stock. So, for instance, if I put paper towels, which I was able to find last night, just very slim pickens. But if I look here paper
towels and I go compare prices. It's just not it's just really tough to find. So again, Google shopping is another one, but they some of these, you know, like Google Shopping is linked up on the back end to like targets inventory and best buys inventory, like certain big retailers, maybe Walmart, probably not Walmart and Google probably hate each other, but they have some sort of inroads into like what their inventory stock is showing that's not always right, okay.
And if you've ever tried to find like a hot video game when they're really and you go online and it's like, oh, GameStop has it available, and you go there and they're like, oh no, dude, that that's not always right. You've experienced that.
All the time.
Brickseek dot com is another website. Now. This launched as a website to help lego collectors find popular sets, and they have expanded to have inventory an inventory search function, and so if you go to inventory checker, they've got Walmart, Target, Lowe's Office depot, Macy's Home depot, CVS, Staples, and BJS all listed on there. Oh wow, and I tried. This one's a little trickier because it's not just a search.
You have to go to like Target's website, get the skew number and then type it in and it does it through that. But still one more resource. And finally, this is more local. This is an LA based startup called Mark m akk mark App. And I don't see a whole bunch of people using.
This m akk m a r kkh mark.
I believe, okay. And this mark app is a it's kind of like an Instagram Stories, but for places you go. So instead of writing like a big review on a restaurant that you went to, you would just market and you would put like a little photo and be like, oh, just date at Benny Hannah. It's so good, you know, like flaming onion or whatever, or what is that thing? The onion is bloomin onion at that's at Uh, what's that restaurant? Blooming onion is at steakhouse?
Onion steakhouse? What's the steakhouse?
Oh? Oh on the border? Lowry's No, the other one, the Australian one out back, out back, outback. So so what they've done is the Mark app has done the emergency Supply finder and it lets people report live availabilities of essentials as stores like Costco, CVS, Target, and they plot it on a map so you can make better decisions before you head out. But the reality is, even if someone posts that they have some stock, you'd have to be searching this and looking at this like religiously.
But here's the thing. I'm telling you this because I don't think a lot of people are using it right now. According to Mark, they told me that nineteen hundred users reported in their beta version in one week, and ten thousand views have been seen globally. But I'm telling you this because if more people use it, the better it gets, the better it is for everyone.
And we know.
Okay, this next question comes from Lisa.
The subject is Whole Food app.
I have a phone, but it's not a smartphone and I only use it as my cell phone. I use it for emergencies and I hardly turned it on. Okay, so she doesn't really use her phone. Isn't is there some way that I could connect the Whole Food app to my phone? Because she goes to Whole food to shop and she wants to be able to get I guess some sort of point system that Whole Foods has.
She can't. I can't use my Amazon card.
Okay. I think what she is asking about is hold on one second. I'm ordering some hand sanitizer right now. Uh literally. Okay. So as we said that, I just got an alert on my computer that Purel was in stock at Amazon you got from that website now in stock dot net. And I just ordered it.
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna go.
And now Clorox wipes them getting a message that those are in stock. Oh they're not though, anyway, So there you go. I just got a I got a Purel Advanced Little Mini Mini pack. See it right there.
I just bought that nice.
I should have bought more than one for me.
It's as currently unavailable.
Well that's probably because I just purchased it.
Oh by now in stock nineteen dollars.
Yeah, should I get it? Yeah, of course it's I mean, but is that So there you go. So we just that's a that's a that's good for now in stock dot net.
I just did it.
Let's see if it actually works. We'll we'll update you on the next podcast.
But don't touch my hand. Yeah, okay, okay.
So what were we talking about now? You were talking about Amazon.
Okay, yeah, so is there some way that she can still get points goes?
So here's what she's asking, I believe. Okay, so you don't shop at Whole Foods, but if you did, they have this thing with Amazon because they're owned by Amazon, where you show them this little code inside your app, kind of like a club card at the grocery store. Yeah, well they have their own version, except there's no card and there's really no club.
No phone number.
Well that's what she's asking. So she's saying she doesn't have a smartphone, but she still wants to be able to because you have to scan this little QR code from your phone.
Got it?
You bring up the Amazon app and inside the card is like it says Whole Foods code. So you bring it up on your phone and they scan it at the register and you purportedly save money. It's never saved me more than like seventy five cents, but theoretically you're supposed to save money. And that's what she's asking. So she's saying, I don't have a smartphone. How do I do that? Well, you can link up your mobile number, just like you can at a grocery store like Ralph's.
Or Albertson's or any of these stores. You have to go to Amazon dot com slash Prime Savings, and once you go there, you'll see right on the home screen it says Prime members save more at Whole Foods market and it says choose how to get your savings. Number one scan your Whole Foods code inside the app, or number two use your mobile number and you can click update settings. You pop in your mobile phone number, and then at the register you tell them your phone number.
They can type it in. I believe you can type it in yourself, as some of them, but that's it. That's how it works, so pretty easy. I did that because I used to not always have my phone and it kind of sometimes would take a long time. So I was like, this is easier to just do a phone number, you know, although I always had my phone, I was gonna say, I think the thing was that sometimes it just would be a long time to like find it in the app. So it's just easier to use your thing.
Don't you remember on like keychains, people would have like cards for like Costco or Peco.
Now it's like that's not a thing.
My thing is I have nothing on my keychain, which I love. I have one thing.
I've a list that I just got rid of all that.
Actually, and I think I told this story on the podcast because I have an electronic lock for my front door. I actually was not carrying around a key at all except for my car.
Oh wow.
And so I had no house key. But then I got burned about twice when it gets in Yeah, when it gets really cold for some reason, it doesn't work, it doesn't respond the keypad, and so that's a little concerning. So now I keep a key on my keychain just in case, because you still have the manual option. But it's only it's only It hasn't burned me where I wasn't where I had to sit outside my house. But the two times that happened, once was outside. Yeah, well
that happens sometimes if you're married. Yeah, gotta do that sometimes. But no, my wife was. She had her key and so she was able to open it. But yeah, it's it's kind of a concern if you go all electronic. Yeah. Wow, Okay, coronavirus. What's YouTube doing about it? Well, YouTube's doing a couple of things. Number One, you think about coronavirus and misinformation
lots of misinformation. Anyone with a webcam or a phone can sit there and tell you their thoughts on coronavirus or a podcast and just spout out all kinds of coronavirus stuff. But you want to make sure the information you're getting is reliable and reputable. And so what YouTube is doing they are promoting authoritative sources in their search,
and they're also showing information panels on relevant videos. But videos that are flagged, like videos with misinformation, videos that say you can you don't have to seek medical treatment, or they claim that these harmful substances will have health benefits, they will demote those. So when you look for those, they're not going to come up. So even if a video sort of goes viral because it's like here's the
cure to coronavirus. Take this, take apple side or vinegar, you know that YouTube, a bunch of people will flag that and YouTube will demote it. So even if it's gone kind of viral, YouTube is like no more. Yeah, we're not letting this thing get out of control. That's the idea. Now does that always work? Who knows? And I think this is why news organizations like ours are important in these times because you can search, you can
scroll through social media, and myself included. I posted a whole bunch of pictures on my Instagram of all the empty shelves at stores, and you can sit there and be like, oh, that's the reality. But this is why we have news organizations that vet stories. That's just my personal experience.
My mom just sent me a picture of speaking the Devil.
There's not that your mom's a devil, but you know what I.
Mean, that's a phrase like absolutely no toil.
Absolutely nothing nothing. It's it's funny because yesterday when I went to a bunch of the stores, specifically with the toilet paper, and I joked about this on my Instagram, all the good stuff was gone, like the main brands, but.
There was the bad ones.
Yeah, like Scott.
I don't even know what Scott.
Scott is like, you know, it's like the thin like one ply, like what it's like the stuff that's just like generic, you know, not knocking Scott, but like that was the brand. Like all My point is, people still have preferences, even in times of dire straits. They're like, we're not gonna we'll buy that. Well, maybe I'll find it another place.
What about Cleenex If you can't find any they had clean X, they didn't you use clean X.
I know, h that's a personal thing. That's you've had.
This conversation toilet paper.
Oh god, no, no, no, okay, I think it goes this way. I think Kleenex and toilet paper can go one way, right, they both can't go the other way. Bring the toilet paper to But.
Basically, if there's nothing and you've gone to five stores and there's no more toilet paper, ye CLEANX.
Yeah, I guess it's probably not good to flush though that. I don't think they break up the same way as toilet I think toilet paper was like specifically made to break up in the toilet.
You know in other countries you have to put toilet paper in a trash can.
Yeah. I always found that really disgusting. Yeah. Anyway, well that's the first and last time we'll talk about this conversation on this podcast. Hey, are you eating lunch or dinner? Yeah, or having your morning coffee? So you to He was doing a whole bunch of stuff to combat misinformation. And now one aspect of this is for creators, because if you think about it, there's a lot of opportunity here to make money on videos about coronavirus because people are
looking for information. And what happens is YouTube has what's called a sensitive Events policy, and this means when a sensitive event happens, they basically flag videos dealing with that event so that they can't be monetized, So that people can't capitalize on tragedy, on a natural disaster, on something that's really important. People can't say, oh, let me just make a video that's crazy and a lot of people
will watch it and I'll make a million bucks. So this little sensitive events policy gets, you know, it goes into place, and then next thing you know, you're not making money on your video. So YouTube is aware of that, and they said that they're going to help some creators get some money off these videos by re enabling ads as long as creators have self certified and are and or are a news partner. So really interesting this this thing. Just as you can tell, I'm fascinated by this.
Yeah, it is fascinating and kind of scary. This next question comes from Carol. What are some of the best fitness slash health trackers.
HM fitness slash health trackers. Well, if you're on the Apple Watch. I'm sorry the iPhone. If you're on the iPhone, I think it's pretty clear that the Apple Watch is your number one. And yeah, for many many reasons, but I that's what I personally use. And when I'm testing a different phone and I'm not with my Apple Watch or it's not working properly, it's like really sad because I've gotten so used how good the fitness tracking is.
And I have been doing Orange Theory as well, and I've been comparing my Apple Watch against with that dedicated tracker I had to buy. I had to buy their tracker, which is like one hundred and twenty dollars what, which is ridiculous because I already have an Apple Watch which tracks my heart rate.
Yeah, why would you need to even because.
To connect to their sort of system you have to have their specific But even.
When you're sweating and working out, doesn't your Apple Watch tell you how many calories you're brain?
Yes, but I don't. I'm not even sure you can work it. Maybe you could work out there without their tracker, but it's kind of like the whole system. It's like all on the screen. It tells you how you're doing, and you really would. You probably wouldn't get as much out of the class without it.
Oh interesting.
So anyway, and the annoying thing is I bought this and they have an Apple Watch one coming out that connects your Apple Watch. It goes on your Apple Watch band. But it's not ready. And I think it's because of coronavirus. Because China, everything's delayed.
I mean workout classes are I not that I go to a lot, but i'd be if you did be a little sketched out to go to work a class or a gym.
Yeah, I feel like, oh no, I just.
Wait, like you like, it's the same thing as going like to.
Work or sketched out about going to work or.
Going to school.
Well, I'm saying like in general, like people are staying home and not working, they're like working from home.
Yeah, it's you're still exposed.
I agree, And I think I mean, I didn't feel unsafe the gym, but I'm a.
Matter feeling safe. Well it is, I.
Mean, it's like, how do I feel? I mean, I don't know like it it? Of course it crossed my mind, like am I putting myself more at risk by being here?
I would think like I'm touching equipment.
That like someone who's sick, like that basketball player who touched all the mic.
That's true, I guess. And but is it is it contracted through touch? I'm not licking the orange theory equipment sweat, but sweat is one way. What like, I'm not like. I don't know. Is it absorbed through sweat? I don't know. I mean, I think there's too many unknowns for me. Yeah, and so I've been going to the gym as normal. I went to the gym yesterday, I went on Monday, I went. You know, I've been going regularly.
I can't tell you're fine, keep on going.
But it's I agree, it's definitely every At this point, everything is up for debate. Yeah, when someone sneezes or coughs, it's up.
For Except a sneeze doesn't mean something like sneezing. Isn't a symptom?
Oh it's not. Oh that's good to know. It's coughing.
Okay, So if someone coughs, you can get out.
The girl next to me at Arn's Theory was coughing a lot, and.
She coughs on you or in the air, and you're in that room.
I actually did think about that you've said.
Into your nose.
Sorry, Like if you could see like the n trails of like you know, like the like going from her mouth like literally like a smoke vapor and it's just like I take like a deep breath in and I'm like, and it just goes right into me. Oh, why are we talking about this?
For a run?
Okay? So the best fitness tracker. So if she's on if she's on iPhone, I would say Apple Watch bar nun. If she's not, I would say on the on the Google. On the Android side, I would recommend the Fitbit. And there's a lot of models. I think that if you want sort of a smart watch, I'd go at the Fitbit versa two. If you want just a standard tracker, I'd go with the Fipbit. I think it's a charge three maybe, and you know any of those, any of
the fhipbits. I do think Fippit's gonna get a lot better because Google has purchased them and they're in the process of buying them, and I think that we're going to see a lot more from fip it very soon.
So do you have the Apple Watch five?
Yes?
Oh you do?
I do, yes, And I will say that the battery life not as good as the four, the three or the four, so it's it's definitely not as In fact, it ran out of battery yesterday. And I think that's because I started using Apple Maps, and Apple Maps I think keeps the screen. Oh, I guess the screen is always I don't know anyway, Okay, final story Instagram. I don't know if you saw these on Instagram, but you shouldn't look for them. They are coronavirus filters and on Instagram.
I was not really aware that people could make their own filters on Instagram, but clearly they can. And there's a whole bunch. So when I've read this story, I said, let me go look at this, and sure enough, a whole bunch of filters that put a mask on your face, like a virtual mask. It'll have the germs swirling around your head. It will have one of them is a test.
Have you seen that thing where it says like what Disney character are you like where it rips on your forehead, Well, this one says if you're gonna die from the coronavirus. It like says text that flashes between no, I'm safe for now and yes, goodbye. So obviously these are in poor taste. But these are user generated filters. But are they approved by Instagram. I'm not sure, but they're getting a lot of heat because you know, it's I get it.
You have a lot of different people with a lot of different kind of thoughts and the way they feel about things. But to me, I saw these things and it's kind of like.
Icky, yeah, poor taste.
Yeah, poor taste. And some people are saying like, well, well wait a second, we are We're showing like one person who used one of these coronavirus filters and this is by the way, from the standard dot co dot UK. They said, I'm using the technology of augmented reality. He said, he's making a filter that helps people be aware of the origins of coronavirus and prevent how it's spread out.
So he's saying it was for a good thing, which I could see that, Like if it was a virtual filter where when you coughed, it would show like where the where the you know, germs go or the viruses, like I could see that could actually be useful. Yeah, I could see that, But I don't think that's what these things were made for. I think they were made for fun yeah, and not really education.
Yeah, it's just good.
I think as we see things progress, like who knows in a month, like we might be like, this is just not funny anymore. You know, the more serious it gets, the more it affects you, then you start to kind of stop making jokes.
Agreed, that's going to do it for this episode of the show. For links to what we talked about, take a look at the show notes. If you have a question for me, just go to my Instagram at rich on tech and hit the email button. It is right there, and we would love it if you would rate and review this podcast. That way other people can discover it. Just go to rate this podcast dot com, slash rich on tech, or you can text the link of this show to a friend to let them know what you're
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