Amazon’s AI Alexa, Apple Invites & Microsoft’s Free App to Speed Up Your PC

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amazon is set to show off an AI inspired voice assistant.
Apple takes on Evite with a new app, the web
browser that wants you to take a break from the Internet.
Plus your tech questions answered. What's going on. I'm rich
Demiro and this is rich on Tech. This is the

(00:20):
show where I talk about the tech stuff I think
you should know about. It's also the place where I
answer your questions about technology. I believe that tech should
be interesting, useful, and fun. Let's open up those phone
lines at triple A rich one oh one. That's eight
eight eight seven four to two, four to one zero one.
Once again, triple a rich one oh one eight eight

(00:44):
eight seven four to two four one zero one. Give
me a call. If you have a question about technology.
Email is also an option. Just go to the website
rich on Tech dot tv and hit contact. We've got
some great guests this week. Joanna Stern, personal tech columnist
at The Wall Street Journal, will join me to discuss

(01:06):
the latest in technology, and later in the show, YouTuber
Jimmy is promo. He's going to share his thoughts on
the new Samsung Galaxy S twenty five series, plus give
all Samsung users some tips and tricks Oh, and we've
got a special guest, so stay tuned for that. Well,
I've got some news to share about this very show.

(01:28):
This is the last time we will be heard in
Los Angeles without also being heard in New York City.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Starting today, we are coast to coast, and I'd like
to give you a warm welcome thank you if you're
listening on our newest station seven to ten WOAR.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
In New York City.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Now, this is especially significant for me personally because I
grew up in New Jersey exit one point fifty three
for those of you wondering. And not only did I
grow up on New York City radio stations, I've long
loved every aspect of radio. In fact, you can even
see the New York City skyline from the top of

(02:11):
the street where I grew up. I have always loved
New York City. I still do. I will share more
about my journey throughout the show. We've been doing this
show now for two years, originating from Los Angeles, and
when I got this show, the very first question I
asked the powers that be is will I be on
in New York City? And they said no. So it

(02:32):
took a few years, but we made it here we
are now. You might be shocked as a new listener
and even surprised at how simple this show is. Yeah,
there's not much to it. It's just a tech show
that helps people. That's it. It's not sensational. We're not
filled with rumors and speculation. But I guarantee you it
is informative, it's consumer focused, and it is approachable with

(02:54):
practical advice, real reviews, helpful tips, and of course your questions.
You are the best part of this show, day in,
day out, So thank you for listening. Let's kick it
off this week with Amazon. The company announced an event
in New York City, happening on February twenty sixth, So fittingly,
I thought that was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
The day we're on in New York City.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
So my invite says, join Amazon Devices on February twenty
sixth in New York City and see what's next.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
So I thought that was pretty interesting. According to The Verge.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Though the website The Verge, they saw that there were
five different invite styles. They all said something a little
bit different. But if you string them all together, they
spell out Alexa.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Oops, I just said it. Whoops.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Apologies, They spell out alex A in the background.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
So what does that mean.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
That means that we are going to see smart home devices,
the next generation of Amazon's smart home devices, and get
a look at the next generation AI powered I'm gonna say,
alex A just to not activate all of your speakers
at home.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
This is a big moment for Amazon because they were
super early to the voice assistant game, right like everyone,
when they got one of those speakers, those echo speakers
in their home. The magic of being able to just
call something up, just saying, hey, play this song, or
play this radio station, or turn on those lights or
turn off that or answer this question.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
It was incredible.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
I mean I remember, I literally remember the first time
that I heard one of these echo speakers. Not to
mention the sound, the audio quality was excellent as well.
But this was a kind of a new moment in life.
But since then, alex A has remained mostly the same.
It still answers basic questions. It's mostly used to set
timers and control smart home devices. Meanwhile, the likes of Chat,

(04:47):
GBT and all these other assistants have really been taken
to the next level. So Amazon needs to get this right.
They've got millions of devices in people's homes, and they're
kind of walking a fine line here. They still need
those devices, even with the new AI to work properly
and the way that people know and love. So they
still need to be able to turn on and off

(05:07):
the lights, but they need to have that added magic
of AI that doesn't mess all of this up.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
Amazon actually first previewed the new ELECTSA there I go,
I said it again, the New Voice in twenty twenty three,
but it's been delayed and delayed and delayed ever since
then because they've been figuring out how to make this work.
Apparently it's not easy because AI has a mind of
its own and you say, hey, turn off the lights
in the backyard, it may have other things that it

(05:35):
wants to do. So again, it has to ride this
line of getting the core functionality right but also adding
new functionality that people are going to love. Now, there
are some rumors circulating out there that Amazon wants to
charge ten dollars a month or up to ten dollars
a month to use this new AI assistant.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
We'll see.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
So far, if history is our guide, every single AI
company has given folks a standard level of service for
free and then an added level of service for a
paid cost. So if you go on chat GBT, you
can use it as much as you want. You're getting
maybe not the best model out there, maybe you're not
getting the most usage that you can if you're paying

(06:19):
for chat gibt. And by the way, they're paid plans
or anywhere from twenty dollars to two hundred dollars a month.
Same thing with Claude, same thing with if you look
at Google, they've got Google Gemini. A lot of these
AI companies are still figuring out what's that nice mix
of paid and also free access. So again, February twenty sixth,

(06:40):
big event in New York City with Amazon. I will
be there and I will tell you all of the
updates that you need to know. In other news this week,
Apple taking on Evite. Can you believe that twenty five
years into evite they are still the king of party invites? Like,
when you get an invite to a party, chances are

(07:00):
it's arriving on Evite. And this thing looks like it
was locked in time, right, Like Evite still looks like
nineteen ninety eight is calling. And that's fine because it
does what you need, right, It gets you the information.
What do you need on a party invite? The address
and the date and an RSVP yes or no. That's
about it. There's not much we need from invites. So

(07:21):
evite you pick your little picture, you pick your little theme.
You know, we send out our Halloween party invite, you know,
through Evite. And the thing is, everyone has their information
in evite already, so you've got your contacts in there.
It's it's simple. You just put the names in and
you send out the invite. But now Apple said, you
know what, we see an opportunity here, so they came
out with the new app this week called Apple Invites. Fittingly,

(07:44):
it's very simple. You enter an event title, the date
and time, the location, and that's about it, and you
send it off. Now this looks much more modern, it's
much more slick looking. Of course it's iPhone only because
it's Apple. There's even a They did some smart thing
so for instance, when you put the date and time in,
it'll put the weather for that day. So if it's

(08:04):
an outdoor party or whatever, some people just like to
know what the weather is going to be, like how
to dress for the party. So they've got that built in.
There's even an option to create a shared album. This
is actually pretty smart because you know, with every party
there's always that issue of how do we share the
party picks and videos with all the other guests. So
now you can just upload them to this shared album
and people will see them. So the app makes a

(08:25):
lot of sense. You've already got your photos on your phone,
You've got your contacts on your phone, so it's nice
and easy to build an invite and send it through
this new app. They also did something kind of fun.
If your phone supports AI, you can use AI to
generate backgrounds for your invites, so that's kind of cool.
So it all works together, and Apple promises that this

(08:46):
will work with non Apple users, but we know the
process is not going to be perfect because they want
everyone to have an iPhone, right. So I tried sending
a link to myself and accessing it from a non
Apple device, and at first I couldn't really figure it out.
It kept like asking me to log in or verify
my address, So it seems like you have to confirm

(09:07):
your email address with a one time code before you
can RSVP to the invite. The other catch is that
you have to have a subscription. Yes, this is not
just anyone with an iPhone. You have to have a
subscription to iCloud Plus, which is basically if you're paying
for any sort of storage on the iPhone that will
get you access to this new app. And my pal

(09:28):
Jefferson Graham, he figured out that your iCloud storage cannot
be full or your invite won't go through, so that's another.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Little catch there. Now.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
I think the app is great, it's slick, it's nice
to have an option outside of Evite, and I'm sure
many folks who have an iPhone will use this. But
Apple Invites breaks one of my general rules in life,
and that is I prefer to use apps and services
that work equally well across every platform and the two

(09:59):
main platforms iPhone and Android. So for me personally, I
like to download apps that work on iPhone and work
on Android.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
I know we have this whole.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
Big divide between the blue bubble and the green bubble,
and it's gotten better, but why contribute to that? Right? Like,
this app is going to be used by so many
people that have iPhones. All the Android people that get
these invitations are going to feel like, ah, I'm a
little bit left out because I'm Android. So there are alternatives.
You can use something called party full. In fact, party
full made a big, kind of a big deal about

(10:30):
this online because they said that app will kind of
rip them off a little bit. So party full works
with green and blue bubbles, you've got punch bowl, you've
got paperless posts, and of course if you want to
use evite you still can. All right, Coming up on
today's show, I'm gonna tell you about another app. This
is a great app. You have to download this if
you have a Windows PC. It's a little sluggish, a

(10:51):
little weird. Download this free app. I'll tell you about that,
But first it is your turn. Your calls coming up
next at eight eight eight rich one oh one eight
eight seven four to two four one zero one. Give
me a call if you have a question about technology.
My name is rich DeMuro and you are listening to
rich on Tech.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Welcome back to rich on Tech.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you talking technology at
triple A rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight
seven four to two four one zero one. The website
for the show richon Tech dot TV. If you want
show notes, you can find them there. Just hit the
light bulb at the top of the page. Let's go
to Diana. Diana, you're on with Rich. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Hi Rich, thank you for taking my call.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (11:38):
The question is I'm very new to home security cams
and I recently bought a b Link Mini and set
it up, which was pretty simple, and so I guess
I expected it to be able to continuously stream, but
it seems like it streams for like five minutes and

(12:02):
then goes up and you have to keep clicking this
like a play button to have it stream five more minutes.
And I guess, So my question is I'd like to
have something that will just stream continuously that I don't
have to pay a monthly fee for. So are any
of the current popular home security cameras able to do that?

(12:28):
And then also I was wondering if there's any iOS
apps that will let you convert old iPhones into home
like security cameras.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Ooh there is, Oh gosh, I gotta get that. There
is a there is an app that lets you do that.
I got to find it here.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Let's see.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
So, okay, so your first question number one, the blink cameras,
those are really not meant to live stream. Those are
like out of all of the security cameras. Think of
the name Blink, right, So those those were invented for
quick clips. And the whole technology behind Blink is the
battery life. And so with a couple of double A

(13:15):
or triple A batteries whatever those little cameras take, those
cameras can last up to like two years without changing
the batteries.

Speaker 3 (13:23):
Oh, the cameras that I have is plug in, so
it's required.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well so yeah, I mean and still but the but
the idea behind Blink has always been it is not
a live streaming camera.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
It is a camera, okay.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
And I'm not too concerned with recording capability or.

Speaker 2 (13:39):
You just want to watch the camera.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
Mainly, I'm looking for a home security that will just
stream continuously that I can monitor.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, so I mean that's pretty much almost any camera
I would take a look at, Diane. I think the Diane,
I think the best one for you would be a
UFI eu f Y eu F Y. And what people
love about these cameras is that there's no monthly fees
associated with them. So and you can also have local storage,
so you can start with one. You can you know,

(14:08):
live stream it as much as you want, and you
can store stuff on a hard drive as well.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
They sell that.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
The other camera, if you want something that's a little
bit cheaper, is the Wysecam w y Z, Wisecam Wyze
and those are great and you can live stream those
as well. So now, some of these cameras sometimes will
have a timeout depending on the device you're looking at

(14:34):
them on, so it kind of depends on and also
the setup, so like some of the Ring cameras may
do that as well. But you know, I'm looking at
my wise cam right now and basically, yeah, you just
load it up and you can watch it now. There
were some limitations at one point when we were trying
to watch this through a Google Home device, But on

(14:54):
my on my phone right here, I can watch it
as much as I want. It's not it's not timing out.
So that's Those are the two brands I'd recommend for
that uf EU f Y and Wyse, and the Wyse
is going to be a little bit cheaper. They're known
for like pretty inexpensive cameras. Now, when it comes to
converting an old phone into a security camera, the app

(15:17):
that you want is called Alfred a l FR ed
Alfred Camera, and this is available for both Android and iPhone.
Now again, of course you want to you know, if
you're going to do this, you want to wipe the
phone clean, start over fresh, and then install just this
app on the phone, because you do need to leave
your phone plugged in and also on the whole time

(15:38):
if it's going to work that way. But this is
a popular app, it's got a lot going on. Let's
see if it's when the last time they were updated.
I always like, whenever I'm looking at an app to
see if it's a good app, you want to check
the last time it was updated. So if it was
updated in the last six months or something like that,
then great. Now this one was updated January sixteenth, twenty
twenty five, so that one's going to be great on

(15:59):
the androidd side, on the iPhone side January twenty third,
twenty twenty five. So again, this is the website Alfred
Alfried Dot Camera. The other thing I like to look
at is if there are any in app purchases. So
on Google they don't necessarily show you if there are
in app purchases, but if you look up the app

(16:21):
on the App Store and you scroll down, it will
tell you if there are any in app purchases. And
I'm looking at the Alfred it does say Alfred Premium
five ninety nine twelve months twenty nine ninety nine. So
that tells me that you'll get a free level of
usage out of this app, and then you have to
pay if you want something a little bit above and

(16:43):
beyond that.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
So but yeah, this is super easy to use.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
It says you can set it up in three minutes
and twenty four to seven livestream, watch the video from anywhere,
and you can change. You can convert an old iPhone
or an old Android phone into a security cam. This
great question, Diana, Thanks for kicking off the show with that.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Do appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Eight eight eight rich one O one eight eight eight
seven four to two four one zero one. The website
for the show richon Tech dot tv. If you want
links to anything I mentioned, just go there and look up.
This is show number one zero eight.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
Coming up, we will.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Talk to a special guest, plus I'll tell you about
the app you need to download if you have a
Windows PC. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro
here hanging out with you, talking technology at Triple A.
Rich one O one. That's eight eight eight seven four
to two four one zero one. The website for the
show rich on Tech dot TV. You can send me

(17:43):
an email there by hitting contact, And if you want
to follow me on social media, I am at rich
on Tech on Instagram.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
So did you know that.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Microsoft has a free PC optimization app? I downloaded this yesterday,
and you know, if your system is running kind of
messy or sluggish or whatever you think something's going on,
download this app. It's called Microsoft PC Manager. Now, don't
just go searching on Google for that, because if you do,

(18:12):
it's going to lead you to one hundred different programs
that may or may not be the right one. So
the website Pcmanager dot Microsoft dot com. There's many imposters
out there, but this basically is for Windows ten and eleven.
It's a free utility and it offers all kinds of
built in tools to improve the performance of your computer

(18:33):
and free upspace and it's it's quite good, so you
can boost PC performance. So there's like one click to
clean up and free UPRAM and disk space. You can
manage your storage by getting rid of big files. There's
a health checkup feature so you can find and fix issues,
scan for threats on your computer, and clear out junk files.
There's a pop up management toggle so you can reduce

(18:56):
ads and pop ups, and then there's a whole bunch
of stuff. There's a Internet speed monitoring in the taskbar
if you want to see how fast your internet is,
and some widgets as well. But I installed this yesterday.
It is free, it's simple, it's easy. It comes directly
from Microsoft. And again it's called Microsoft PC Manager, So
if your computer's acting a little wonky, you got Windows

(19:17):
ten or Windows eleven, download this app. The alternative is
called Sea Cleaner. That's been the one over the years
that a lot of folks like I think that was
just purchased by another company. But anyway, this one's right
for Microsoft and super easy to install. So there you
have it, rich on tech dot tv if you want
to link to that. All right, let's bring on special guest.

(19:37):
You know, I mentioned that this is the first show
that we are broadcasting in New York City, so I
figured i'd bring on a special guest who knows the
Tri State.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Area well, and it is none other than my mom.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Welcome to the show, Mom, Hi Richard, thank you.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
My mom is the only one who calls me Richard.

Speaker 1 (19:57):
By the way, after all these years, you are Jersey
born and you've lived there forever. First off, are you
excited that you can finally hear me on the airwaves
in New York City?

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (20:12):
Yes, I'm very excited. Yes, I really am.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Have you told any of your friends?

Speaker 5 (20:16):
I'm even more excited that because it was your dream.
But what's your question?

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Have you told any of your friends? More importantly, are
you spreading the word?

Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yes? Of course I did. I told a lot of
my friends. Of course I was bragging.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yes, okay, all.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Right, so I guess typically when I call you, I
ask how your tech is doing?

Speaker 2 (20:36):
So how is everything? Is everything working in your home?

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (20:43):
Everything is? What once in a while my phone doesn't
make a sound when I get a text or something.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
So, oh, look at the time we got to go
all right, Well, thank you mom for joining me. Appreciate that. No, well,
you know that happens.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
That good.

Speaker 5 (20:58):
But the good news is when I stilled an entire
cup of coffee on my laptop that's working.

Speaker 7 (21:07):
Oh you know, go figure.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
I've dropped coffee on my computer several times, and you
know you got to let it dry.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Out.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
My main advice is to let it dry out. So
now here's the other thing. I know your cellular service
because I help you with it. It costs like fifteen
bucks a month. Does it really cost that much?

Speaker 5 (21:30):
I don't know. I pay for the whole year, so
I don't really know what it costs a month.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
But I mean, you have service that's pretty you know,
it's like I think it's Mint Mobile, right, isn't that
what it is? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (21:39):
And you tell your friends that I only pay this much,
like under three hundred a year, and they don't believe you.

Speaker 5 (21:45):
Well, yeah, because they don't believe that I get everything
for that cost.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Well, you don't get everything.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
I think you only had like four gigs of data,
but you know, it's still only fifteen dollars a month.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
I've never used all the gigs.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
I'm surprised with all that scrolling on Facebook and Instagram.

Speaker 5 (22:03):
No, I've never used them all, so go figure. But no,
but I have everything. I mean, I have everything on
my phone. Everybody else does and it's fine.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Okay, here's my other question for you. Now, you were
a Netflix kling on for many years, so you were
you were in the sharing economy of your family member
mainly me and maybe some other siblings.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Netflix broke that functionality. They said no more, no more sharing.
So how long did you go without Netflix?

Speaker 2 (22:37):
And what was that like?

Speaker 5 (22:40):
I guess I won't about how it would be a year,
maybe maybe more. But the weird thing is Netflix would
would I would get Netflix every so often for about
a week and then they.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Would take it away.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (22:55):
Okay, so this kind of came and went, well, now
you have Netflix for real.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Do you know why?

Speaker 5 (23:04):
Excuse me?

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Do you know why you have Netflix for real right now?

Speaker 8 (23:08):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Because you got it for me.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1 (23:11):
I finally decided that my mom was worth nine dollars
a month for the added account that you can add
onto Netflix. So after all these months, I felt guilty
and I said, you know what, I think. I think
I could swing the nine dollars a month for my
mom to have Netflix. And are you have you watched
all of Netflix yet or what? Are you making your
way through it?

Speaker 5 (23:32):
I haven't watched all of it, No, but I mean
I do put it on usually at night.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
Yes, okay, Well, don't let it get in the in
the in the way of this show, all right, So
before you go. I do have a couple of questions
for you, like a little a little New York area
quiz for you. Okay, you ready?

Speaker 4 (23:51):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (23:52):
I hope I have the answers.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Yeah, okay, first question?

Speaker 1 (23:56):
What states are in the tri state area?

Speaker 5 (24:01):
New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
That's right? Okay, you got that right.

Speaker 8 (24:05):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (24:05):
Oh, I thank god?

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Bagel buttered or cream cheese for me?

Speaker 4 (24:12):
Buttered?

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Oh that's me too, okay. See, oh yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (24:16):
Don't really like cream cheese.

Speaker 7 (24:18):
I like butter.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
As a Jersey in, what do you think of Jersey Mikes?

Speaker 9 (24:25):
Pretty good?

Speaker 5 (24:26):
Actually, I have a gift card to Jersey Mics that
I won at work. I haven't used it yet because
I keep forgetting.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
We'll get that sub on.

Speaker 5 (24:34):
It's pretty good, okay.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
Uh? And uh Bruce Springsteen or bon Jovi?

Speaker 5 (24:42):
I was always more a bon Jovi girl.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
That's putting it lightly. Mom.

Speaker 9 (24:51):
Why Yeah, I.

Speaker 5 (24:52):
Like bon Jovi better than Bruce Springsteen Okay, mainly because
he's he's very good looking? Can I say that?

Speaker 1 (25:00):
And he Why couldn't you say that? You don't think
anyone's ever thought that?

Speaker 10 (25:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (25:06):
And I preferred music more than Christein but I also
like Bruce Springsteen, all.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Right, and favorite food from down the shore. That's what
we call it. By the way, New Jersey. You go
down the shore, up the lake, down the shore into
the city. So what do you what's your favorite food
growing up?

Speaker 5 (25:23):
My favorite food I don't know, maybe pizza and Core's
ice cream.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
I thought you're gonna say Core's light. I was like, whoa,
mom is getting a little sloppy.

Speaker 5 (25:35):
Now, no, that would be no, that would be a martini.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
But oha, oh, just going straight for the hard stuff. Okay,
all right.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Any advice for me as I embark on taking on
New York City with this show.

Speaker 5 (25:51):
Any advice I think, just be yourself because you're part Jersey,
you're part California, and I think you have the best
of world and I think you're going to do great.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Actually, all right, well, thank you mom, Love you have
a good day.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
Okay, love you.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
I hope that internet continues to work. Thank you, appreciate it.
Uh that is my mom. Thank you mom for joining me.
All right, coming up, we're going to talk more more
tech eight eight eight rich one O one eight eight
eight seven four to two four one zero one.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
I see your calls. I see on.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Hold, we'll get to those in just a moment. Welcome
back to Rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out
with you, talking technology at Triple eight. Rich one O
one eight eight eight seven four to two four one
zero one.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Let's go to Mark. Mark, you're on with Rich. Welcome
to the show.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
Hello Rich. We're very sad you're leading La just when
we really need you.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
I'm not leaving LA.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Everyone's saying that, I'm just it's it's an expansion. I'm
staying in LA. We are just now on in New
York City.

Speaker 2 (26:59):
So okay, just to be clear, Yeah, thank you. I
know I missed that.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
People got a little upset. I got a bunch of emails.
So no, I'm still here. What can I help you with?

Speaker 8 (27:09):
So?

Speaker 4 (27:09):
I have an orb Mesh system which was not cheap,
about two and a half years old, and I just
added a new satellite to it and it does not connect.
I called orb Tech support and they said that I
need to renew this is the security subscription for three
hundred and twenty nine dollars. Wow, So I did what

(27:34):
and it's not working?

Speaker 2 (27:35):
Oh? Come on, no way, that sounds like a scam.
Are you sure? You dialed the right phone number.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
Well, how did you get the number that you follow?
I mean they had my account, they had you know,
they they had access to the you know.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Orb app and three nine dollars for what for five years? Okay?
For five years? Okay?

Speaker 1 (28:00):
Uh divided by five okay, sixty five dollars a year?
What do you get for that?

Speaker 4 (28:05):
You get?

Speaker 6 (28:06):
You know?

Speaker 4 (28:06):
It's I guess that they're saying that the system doesn't
that MESH systems don't really work unless you actually have
their security package and then you get the.

Speaker 2 (28:16):
Whole text from Now this sounds bogus. I would I
would request a refund.

Speaker 4 (28:21):
Okay this, but the satellite's not working though.

Speaker 1 (28:24):
Well, okay, so there's two things going on here. First off,
I'm looking at the So is this like netgear armor?
Is that what is called?

Speaker 4 (28:30):
Okay, No, it's not the armor. They said, that's something different.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Okay, So what what did you subscribe to?

Speaker 4 (28:36):
They're calling it the security system that comes with it.
You get two years when you buy it, and they're
saying that it well, the whole system doesn't work unless
you have the security on it.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
M that's that sounds very I mean number one, I
would not I would not even the fact that this
little satellite is not working and connecting. That could be
related to maybe the age of the system, like the
because you have an older system that you're connecting a
new satellite to.

Speaker 4 (29:10):
But but it is the satellite that's made to connect
to that system, which they told me, you know, this
is the one if you buy it new, but it's
definitely made to connect to your satellite, your system.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Okay, well, there's no way that you need a subscription
to connect this satellite. I just I don't believe that.
I have to do some more research, but okay, I
have So I have the eurosystem, and yes, they also
sell a subscription yearly, and the subscription gives you some
added things like extra security, you know, malware and that
kind of stuff.

Speaker 4 (29:45):
Protection. It does all that. And I also do have
an Eero system at another place, and when I asked
them about it, they said, well, yeah, well the euro
comes with five years when you buy it, then you
have to add on years. You know, at that point
it's absolute all right, So you're saying that that's.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
I'm saying that this is all This all sounds bogus
to me, Like I think they just sold you on
this subscription that you I don't think you need it, Like,
I'll be honest, the only reason why I do the
subscription on my my ero is because it blocks ads
across the network and it gives me some parental controls
that I want for my kids.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
So does it.

Speaker 4 (30:23):
Give me actual you know, security?

Speaker 2 (30:26):
It it does?

Speaker 1 (30:27):
I mean, it says it does. So, I mean it
probably does scan the the URLs and things. But if
you're using like a modern browser like Chrome, that's doing
that anyway. So I mean I think that you know, look,
it's one of these things. I think there's two things
going on here. Do you want to pay the three
twenty nine for the five years? I don't like the
sales tactics that they gave you, that says, And I

(30:48):
think you need to figure out why this this satellite
device is not connecting to the network, Like why is
it not adding it?

Speaker 2 (30:54):
What?

Speaker 1 (30:55):
What's the hold up? Like does it see it and
then it doesn't connect or does it not even see
it when you're trying to connect?

Speaker 4 (31:02):
You know on the uh what's it called the network chart?
You know everything is green, that one is orange the
network map. And so but now they're working on it.
I mean, you know, they guy, they do call me
and they have someone assigned to it from Bangalore. But
I was suspicious when as soon as they did the network,

(31:24):
as soon as I paid, and they said that's going
to be it, and it didn't. And they said, well
it takes forty eight hours.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Oh come on, eight hours, Mark, I think I think
sold here. Did you check your credit card to see
where the charge came from?

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Oh? Okay? And then and then the reason I'm doing
is because I have an R Low doorbell camera and
I have a house on lots of levels which is
having image trouble. So I figured that it was having
image trouble because of the distance between the R Low
camera and this and this satellite I have on like
a three or four story house.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
That's probably true. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
You know when the when the ring doorbells first came out,
everyone thought they were horrible because they thought they didn't work.
But it really it's just a Wi Fi was not
ready for that level of streaming outside the house.

Speaker 8 (32:12):
Right.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
So here's what I here's what I do, Mark. I mean,
you've got a couple of things going on here. Number one,
I would check to make sure that this charge was legitimate.
It says that they saw your your account and all
that stuff. They could have been making that up. It
sounds a little suspicious to me. I'm trying to find
and this is another issue with their with their subscription.
It's like I can't even see on their website what
this subscription costs. I mean, it's like it's so hidden

(32:37):
that I don't even Okay, So Neckgear Armor and then
Neckgear Pro Support, so there's a there are three different
subscriptions they have here, and I'm looking at compare plans,
and even when I look at the plan, it still
doesn't tell me how much it is. So I don't
like that. That is not very transparent, and you know
I don't so I don't like that tactic. And then

(32:59):
the thing not working I would do. I would do
a factory. First off, here's here's the order in which
I would do things. Number One, I confirm that you
were actually talking to Orby and Neckgear and make sure
that that charge came from them, So I check your
credit card, make sure that it's a legitimate charge from
that company. Number two, look at the services that you

(33:19):
get for that subscription. If you feel like it's reasonable,
keep it whatever. Number three, you got to figure out
why this little satellite is not connecting to your network.
And what I would do now that you have this subscription,
I would make sure you update the software on that satellite.
If you can't do that, disconnect it, factory reset it,
update the software on your whole network, and then try

(33:41):
to reconnect that little satellite and hopefully it should come
back to life and be on your network. But this
whole business of your your system won't work if you're
not paying for this subscription. As far as I know,
none of the Mesh networks work that way. But of
course the way of the world right now, everything everyone
wants a subscription, and so I understand that they're trying

(34:03):
to sell you on that. I don't necessarily think you
need that to make this work. But thanks for the
call mark appreciate it. Eight A eight rich one O
one eight eight eight seven four to two four one
zero one. Well, speaking of free, the Windows Intelligence Newsletter
had a good spot on free VPNs. So I know

(34:24):
everyone's looking for a VPN and there's a whole bunch
of them out there. I mean, there's so many paid
and free. But Chris Hoffman writing in this newsletter, Windows
Intelligence Newsletter said there's two that he recommends that he likes,
and he says these are two solid free VPN options.
Win Scribe wind Scribe, no speed throttling, full VPN experience,

(34:45):
limited to ten gigs a month, so if you just
need ten gigs, Winscribe is your is your VPN, and
then Proton. Proton VPN has no data cap, but the
free servers, he says, can be a little bit slower.
So if you're looking for a VPN for your Windows
computer or even your mobile device, these are two solid

(35:06):
free options, Winscribe and Proton VPN. I'll put a link
to this on the website rich on tech dot tv
And if you like Windows tips like that, Chris does
a great job and his Intelligence newsletter of highlighting that stuff.
I mean, do you need a VPN? You know, My
advice on the VPN typically is don't be checking your
financial and secure accounts outside of the house if you're

(35:29):
not using one, right, use a cellular connection on your
home PC if you're at a hotel something like that.

Speaker 2 (35:34):
You know, there are times when you might want to
use a VPN.

Speaker 1 (35:37):
Eight to eight Rich one O one eight eight eight
seven four to two four one zero one. This is
rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich On Tech. Rich
DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology at Triple
eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four
to two four one zero one. Hope you're having a
great day. The website for the show is rich john

(36:00):
Tech dot tv. Go there, hit the light bulb, you
can get the show notes, or you can hit contact
to send me an email. Got a bunch of emails
people saying I'm no longer gonna have this show in
Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (36:14):
That's not true.

Speaker 1 (36:15):
I made a joke at the beginning of the show.
I said it was the last time you're gonna be
able to I said it was the last time you're
going to be able to listen to me in Los Angeles,
something like that, without it also being on in New
York anyway. So now we're on in both places and
other places as well. So but this is the first
day of New York City. So thanks for listening if
you're there, and if you're still with me in LA

(36:37):
which you should be hopefully, thank you for listening there
or anywhere else you might be.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Uh, let's see, let's go to the phones. Let's go
to Katie. Let's go to Katie. You're on with Rich. Katie.
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 8 (36:49):
Hi, Rich.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
How's it going.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
It is going fantastic?

Speaker 8 (36:53):
Oh good.

Speaker 9 (36:53):
You know I said I love your show. At first,
I wasn't, you know, I just I've been listening to
Leo forever and I was like, I don't know about
this guy, but I really enjoyed the show.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
Oh well, thank you. I've liked myself more over the
years too. I started out that way.

Speaker 9 (37:07):
Yeah, I mean I have a question. You know, my
fiance and I were getting married pretty Stone, and there
are two different songs I want to play walking to
the altar and having the bridesmaid walk to the altar,
and I want to the two songs. I want to
get like at least fifteen to thirty or fifteen to
thirty seconds of each song and combine them. Is there

(37:28):
a website that's free I could do that.

Speaker 6 (37:30):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Well, first off, congrats on getting married. That's exciting.

Speaker 9 (37:35):
Oh thank you, he's lucky.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
I like the way you think Bobo is just shaking
his head. He's like, oh that's funny. Yeah, So congratulations,
And so you want to combine a couple songs. There's many,
many ways you can do this. There's a website that
will let you do it for free. I mean, the
free app that will let you do it is called Audacity,

(37:58):
but I'll be honest, I never even use that because
that's so complicated, even for me. So when I edit
my video, I or sorry, when I edit audio, I
do it all on Final Cut, which makes life a
lot easier, even though that's meant for editing video, but
it still works with audio.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
But anyway, But the.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Website is audio mass dot co au d io mass
m a s S dot co. And this website you
can just drag and drop those songs in there dragon
you know, just go ahead and clip the parts that
you don't want. I'm just going through right now. It's
super super easy. It's all web based. It is like

(38:37):
the easiest possible thing. Even if you're a novice you
haven't used anything with audio editing. Just look at the waveforms,
clip the parts you want, drag the other one in
and then export it and you should be good to go.

Speaker 9 (38:48):
Oh perfect, that sounds good. I was looking at apps
last night. I don't want to spend fifteen dollars or
you know, noney.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
No, why spend money when you don't have to?

Speaker 1 (38:56):
I mean, I mean, look, there are other apps that
can do this, like do you have an iPhone or Android?

Speaker 9 (39:01):
An iPhone?

Speaker 1 (39:02):
Okay, I mean there's so many ways you can do this.
I mean you could you can also just use a
well I guess I'm trying to think if one of
these video editing apps would also let you export into
an MP three version, which I don't know.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Usually they're just audio video.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
But I would just use the website audiomass dot cou.
That's probably the easiest, simplest way to do it. So
I would do that. And if you if that doesn't, like,
if you need something that's more full featured, then I
would check out Audacity.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
And that's completely free as well. It's open source, so
it open source it maybe okay, perfect that may not
be open source, but it's you can get it for free.
So okay, all right, Katie, Well, very exciting. When's the
big date? When's the when's the wedding? February twenty second
this year?

Speaker 7 (39:50):
Yeah, this year?

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, my gosh, I think I have something on that day.
Oh my god. I'll clear everything out. It's fine, I'll
figure it out.

Speaker 9 (39:56):
Yeah, yeah, come on down.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
All right.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Well, congratulations, have a great wedding day, and please email
me to let me know if that worked for you.

Speaker 11 (40:04):
Okay, okay, thank you so much.

Speaker 10 (40:07):
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
All right, Thanks, have a great day.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Eighty eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven
four to two four one zero one. Skip from Aurora
writes in I'm looking to invest in headphones for commercial
flights and need some advice. Should I go with wired
or wireless? Also, do headphones typically come with adapters for
inflight entertainment or is that something I'd need to buy separately?

(40:32):
If so, what adapters do you recommend? Good question, Skip.
I do fly a decent amount, and I do have
one rule of flying, and that is I have never
watched a movie on the inflight entertainment ever, maybe once
in my entire life. But it's a rule of thumb
that I've done for so long that now I just refuse.

(40:54):
And I know I'm weird because of that, but I
like it because it's like one of those things where
you start and you can never stop, like you have
to keep doing it just so I can say this forever.
But if you must watch stuff, on the seat back,
and by the way, everyone else does except for me.
You should definitely get a good pair of noise canceling headphones,
and most of them are wireless, but a lot of

(41:16):
them do have a wired option. But I'm gonna give
you a couple of things that you should know. So
number one, Bluetooth headphones. I would get the noise canceling
and the Bluetooth because then you can use them with
everything else, right, you can use them with your smartphone,
your computer, whatever else you want to use these headphones with.
That's why I get the Bluetooth instead of a standard
pair of wired without Bluetooth. But most of the Bluetooth

(41:37):
actually come or a lot of them come with a
plug that you can plug them in as well. The
thing is to know is that some of them need
to be charged to actually work with the plug in.
So that's something to know. Like if you just bring
these things on the flight and they're the batteries dead,
you may not be able to listen, So always keep
them charged and the battery lasts forever for the most part.
But the two brands that I like are Bows and

(42:00):
so of course you know it's kind of a it's
a personal preference if you if you want those, you
know which one to get. But I think that those
two are known to be the best, and you know,
I've had both over the years, and I think they're
both excellent. I think that the bows are just so comfortable.
You pay a premium form obviously, but the Sony's you

(42:20):
can often find on sale. They might be a little
bit cheaper, and you know they're both gonna be great.
The other ones that I like that I would recommend
as well are the son Nos Ace And this is
our first pair of headphones from Sonos, but they are excellent.
Right now, they're even one hundred dollars off, they're three
hundred and fifty dollars, so they are expensive, probably more
than the Bow's and the Sony's, but they are really

(42:42):
comfortable and really good. And if you have a Sonos
system at home, they may work with that. So those
are my three choices for the headphones. Now, when it
comes to listening on the seatback, a lot of the
seatback entertainment systems still use a standard headphone jack instead
of Bluetooth. Some of the new planes do have bluetooth. Now,
I will tell you the one time I had a

(43:03):
plane that had the Bluetooth. I noticed there's something weird
about connecting AirPods to it. I don't know what it is,
but I notice people all the time have issues connecting
their AirPods to it. I don't know why. Even I did,
I could not get my AirPods to connect. Maybe they
came out with an update that fixes that. But the
thing I would recommend is called the Airfly adapter. So

(43:24):
Airfly from a company named twelve South. I think they
made their name on this Bluetooth transmitter device. It plugs
in matt It's a little tiny square box. It's tiny,
almost like a keychain dongle. You plug it into the
headphone jack on the seat pack, and that has a
Bluetooth transmitter that will now transmit that audio signal to

(43:45):
your headphone. So basically what I'm telling you is that,
for let's see, how much is this thing thirty five
to sixty bucks, you can use your headphones on any
plane no matter what.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
And this Airfly if you get.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
The the premium one, the Deluxe for sixty five bucks.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
It even comes to that little adapter.

Speaker 1 (44:04):
You know, sometimes the planes have that weird like two
prong headphone adapter. I don't know what that's all about,
but a lot of them do that. But that will
come with this Airfly as well. So again, Bose Sony
Sons for your headphones and then the Airfly adapter, and
you will be a frequent flyer skip and people will
think you are Yeah, they'll be asking you this question

(44:26):
next year. So good question, Thanks for the call, Thanks
for the email. Rather rich on tech dot tv. If
you want to send me an email, go to rich
on tech dot tv and up at the top you
can hit contact. If you want to send me an email,
you can hit the there's a light bulb icon if
you want show notes. This is episode one oh eight,
and if you hit the magnifying glass, that will actually

(44:48):
take you to a search function, which is really good.
If you can just remember one thing I said on
the show, type in that term and I'm telling you.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
It will come up. It's really really good. No surprise here.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
Security flaws found in deep Seek in their iOS app
now Secure, the mobile security firm found multiple critical security
and privacy vulnerabilities deep Seek. If you remember, is that
startup AI out of China. This was the top downloaded
app on both iPhone and Android millions of downloads. So

(45:21):
this came out about January twenty fifth, and you know,
people were trying it out seeing how it was compared
against chat GPT. I downloaded it, but you know, I
just did it mostly to test it out. I'm not
switching to deep Seek. I mostly wanted to see what
they were doing. But the findings from this now secure
mobile firm include unencrypted data transmission that means they're sending
whatever you write into this thing over the Internet without

(45:44):
encrypting it, weak encryption and other places insecure storage of
usernames and passwords, and extensive data collections. Some of the
data even went to byte Dance, which you know they
are the ones that own TikTok. So we knew that
this was going to be a problem with this app
deep Seek. I don't think necessarily they are an nefarious app.

(46:05):
But again, they put this thing together pretty quickly and
a lot of people started using it because wow, it's
the new thing, and how did they do this for
so cheap.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
Well, now we know they probably cut a few corners,
So just.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Be aware if you're gonna use deep seek on your
phone that you know there could be some data leaks
there eighty eight rich one O one eight eight eight
seven four to two four one zero one.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Coming up, we're gonna talk more tech, more of your calls,
and we've got.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Joanna Stern from the Wall Street Journal right here on
rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich
Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology at triple
eight rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven
four to two four one zero one. Well, thank you, Taylor,

(46:51):
you're so corney.

Speaker 12 (46:52):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (46:53):
We've got Bobo on the board. We've got Kim on
the phones. We've got me uh talking to you at
eight eight eight rich one on one. We've got the
website rich on Tech dot TV. This is the show
where I talk about the tech stuff I think you
should know about. So it's all the information throughout the
week that I distill and say this is the important stuff.

(47:13):
And then of course we have your questions. Uh, let's
get to one of those questions. Let's go to Adam.
Where are we Adam?

Speaker 2 (47:23):
Adam, You're on with rich.

Speaker 6 (47:26):
Hi, Rich Thanks for taking my call.

Speaker 7 (47:29):
I had a question about a flash drive. I use
different flash drives for different reasons, usually because some because.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Of my work.

Speaker 7 (47:42):
So if I have a client files, then I'm moving
from my home computer where I work from home to
a laptop if I'm on the road or whatever. I
use that flash drive for that client's file that I
work with. And so I have different flash drives that
I use, but one of my main one that I

(48:02):
used was to back up my old computer that died
a couple of years ago, and I took it to
Best Buy and they recovered the hard drive, but they
couldn't repair it. They put the hard drive, the contents
of that hard drive on the old computer onto a
flash drive, a PNY flash drive that they sold me

(48:25):
at Best Buys.

Speaker 6 (48:26):
So I brought it home.

Speaker 7 (48:27):
And it's been a couple of years and I still
had my old files on it, but I've transferred them
onto my new PC. However, I noticed that just a
couple of days ago, I was accessing something on that
pn Y flash drive and it said a Windows error

(48:48):
message came up that there was a problem with it,
and it asked me to repair it, and so I
said yes, I clicked yes, go repair it, and it did.
And I checked to see that the files were available,
and they were.

Speaker 6 (49:01):
But my question to you is.

Speaker 7 (49:05):
Should should I avoid p and Y flash drives. Should
I replace it or is it good now that Windows
fixed it? Or should I just get rid of it
and get a new one? Are they reliable?

Speaker 6 (49:17):
What do you think?

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Pn Y is fine?

Speaker 1 (49:19):
I use pn Y sand Disc obviously is the other
big brand out there, but I would say yes, get
a new one. I would not trust this drive anymore
because the fact that there was some sort of corruption
on it means that that may happen again, and the
next time it happens, you may not be able to
recover this stuff. Now it sounds like you have these
files in a different place. Is that what I understood?

Speaker 7 (49:42):
Yes, So it's interesting. The ones for the client files
that I keep on different flash drives to shuttle back
and forth. I do back them up on my PC,
but I keep them on their individual flash drives depending
on the client. And the funny thing is those I

(50:02):
got from Microcenter and I've never had a problem with them.
It was just the one that I had to back
up my computer at best Buy and the pn Y
they transfer onto my new computer. That's where I had
the problem with that.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
PNY Well that could just be a fluke. I mean,
you know these things they make millions of them.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
It could just be that you got a bad one,
or you know, maybe it got jostled around. There's some
sort of damage that that occurred there. But the bottom
line is, you know, we're talking about a fifty dollars
or less fix right to.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
Have peace of mind.

Speaker 1 (50:32):
And so I think that that's probably what I would do,
and I think I maybe go with you know, there's
if you're going to be moving this flash drive around
a lot, and most flash drives are kind of by
the nature of a flash drive, there's small and portable,
and people bring them around with them. I used to
keep on on my keychain. You know, I keep one
in my bag right here.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
Let's see, let's see see what brand I have on
mind that I keep jostling around in my bag.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Oh, I guess I took it off my keychain. Well,
I'm glad I don't have one anymore. But I do
have hard drive. I've got a one one terabyte sand
disc hard drive that I carry around.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
So I've got that.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
But you know the reality is, I think, Adam, I
would just get a new drive. I would go with
a you know, like a sand disc. How much storage
do you need on this thing like a terabyte or less,
no much less, okay. So I mean if you're talking,
you know, one hundred and twenty eight two fifty six gigs,
you we're talking thirty to forty dollars. So I would
just for the peace of mind, I would just get

(51:30):
a new one and you know, wipe that old one
and just get rid of it. But that's what I
would do. Or you know, if you have these files
safe and sound somewhere and you know you want to
take a little bit of a gamble on the drive,
you can just continue to leave them on the drive.
But if you're using this drive day in, day out
for anything, I would definitely get a new one because
you just don't want to take a risk with these things.

(51:52):
And when these flash drives fail, you know, they fail
usually to a larger degree than some of the standard
hard drives that were used to you might be able
to recover some of the data. So once these things go,
could put that's pretty much it. So I would just
go on and go on Amazon or go to your
local store and just grab something new. And micro Center
you mentioned love that place, great great place. I was

(52:14):
in there for a story the other day and just
spent so much time in there because it was so cool.
Thanks for the call today, Adam, appreciate it. But yeah,
get a new drive. That's what I would do.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
By the way.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
So, since there are some of you listening for the
first time, and you may not know exactly who I am,
I have been reporting on technology for about gosh, fifteen
plus years, most of it in Los Angeles. I actually
used to work in New York City at CNET for
a bit, came out to Los Angeles and on the

(52:47):
local news there, and I do tech reports for the
City of Los Angeles, you know, for the news station
I work for. So if you want to see some
of those, you can go to the website rich on
Tech dot TV. Cover all kinds of fun stuff and
it's great. So and I'm here as well. All right,
coming up, we're gonna talk to Joanna Stern, a fixture
in the Wall Street Journal. She's gonna talk about AI

(53:10):
and some of her favorite gadgets coming up right here
on rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you talking technology at
Triple eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven
four to two four one zero one did you know
that Google Maps turns twenty this year?

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (53:29):
Two decades of Google Maps now. By the way, I
know this our first day in New York City. When
I lived in New York City, well, I lived in
New Jersey, but I worked in New York for a
couple of years. There was no such thing as the
maps that we know and love now. So when I
was there, this is really dating myself. I had to
use something called like HopStop. I think you have to
print out maps when you want to go on the

(53:52):
subway to like figure out where you were going. Anyway,
Google did a whole blog about all the most reviewed restaurants.
Cats Delicatessen, Sherman's Deli, Barbecue, Terry Blacks in Austin, The
Salt Lick also in Austin. Most reviewed destinations Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Getty, Philadelphia Museum of Art, National Parks,

(54:15):
Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Zoos, San Diego Zoo, Smithsonian, and the
Bronx Zoo. World's largest attractions Superman Statue. Oh, I gotta
find out that one ball of twine that reminds me
of that movie Rocking Chair. Most photographed parks, Central Park,
Niagara Falls, Griffith Park and visitor attractions, Rockefeller Center, Statue

(54:37):
of Liberty, Navy Peer. Again, a lot of these things
in New York. I didn't plan it that way. I
just this is what Google said. But it makes sense,
right because so many people go there anyway, Google Maps
twenty if you can believe it.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Let's bring on our guest. Joanna Stern is the.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
Excellent personal tech columnist at The Wall Street Journal, and
I believe well I know lives in the New York area.

Speaker 2 (55:00):
Joanna, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 10 (55:02):
Hey, how are you rich?

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Good?

Speaker 4 (55:04):
Now?

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Were you born in New York, New Jersey or what?

Speaker 12 (55:07):
I was born in New Jersey, lived in New York
for a long time, and now back in New Jersey.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
So I love it. So how is my home state?

Speaker 10 (55:17):
It's it's it. I would say it's doing great, but
it's cold. I think it's gonna be great. Tomorrow is
supposed to snow.

Speaker 12 (55:24):
Okay, so yeah, we're gonna have some hopefully some weekend sledding.
But I can't say I'm not a little jealous.

Speaker 10 (55:31):
Of where you live.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Well, it's been raining, so it's you know, But I
will tell you when I sled when I was sledding.
As a kid, we sled down this hill that literally
just like went right into a highway like this. Obviously,
like nowadays there's probably a fence and all that stuff,
but like when we were kids, it was just hey,
there's like less rules. So but we had I love
sledding when there was a snow day. All right, So
explain first off, what you do for the Wall Street

(55:55):
Journal if if people are not familiar, you write a
great column, but you do videos and stuff. So what's
your approach to technology?

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Number one?

Speaker 10 (56:03):
Yeah, that's about That's about right.

Speaker 12 (56:06):
I write a column for the Wall Street Journal, but
I do not you know, my title is columnist, but
I would say I spend less time writing the column
and much more time out and about shooting videos and
doing some fun things on video.

Speaker 10 (56:18):
But my approach is really the consumer first.

Speaker 12 (56:21):
That I am out there testing and talking to the companies,
always advocating for the consumer, always thinking about do these
these tech products work well for us?

Speaker 10 (56:32):
Which are the best to use?

Speaker 12 (56:34):
Then often sometimes you know, investigating why things don't don't
work well. But that's where I enjoy this type of work.
It's just we're out there, we're using these things. And
the companies should give us more answers about the devices
and the products we're being given to use.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
What about the hype of AI?

Speaker 1 (56:51):
What do you make of AI at this point, because
now it's like, you know, everything is AI. I joke that,
you know, if you're coming, like it used to be
when you went to CES, the big consumer show, you know,
the big tech show in Las Vegas, I always joked
that they were in the process of adding Internet to everything,
including your coffee mug, which, by the way, this morning
I use an Ember mug, which does have, you know,
a connection to your phone. But now I joke that

(57:13):
everything has AI because it's just it has to. So
do you think there's too much hype on AI? And
do you think this is actually working for people?

Speaker 12 (57:22):
I think there's a ton of hype, But I do
think it's one of the biggest moments we've experienced in
the tech industry in a long time. And you lived
through and we kind of covered it through it together.
The advent of mobile and how quickly the iPhone got better,
and how quickly Samsung and all these devices got better,
and how that changed the way we live.

Speaker 10 (57:40):
I think that is absolutely where we're heading with AI.

Speaker 12 (57:43):
I think, given what happened with mobile and everyone, you
just jumped on that, let's make an app. I mean
remember these days, the early days of apps, people are
making apps. You have a lighter on your phone. I
mean were there were all these.

Speaker 10 (57:55):
Like yeah, nonsense whatever, nonsense type of things.

Speaker 12 (57:59):
I mean, that's where we are with AI, and so
everyone's trying to get in, try to get a piece.
But I'm writing a book right now about the impact
of AI on my life for the for the next year,
starting in what was starting in January, I said, I'm
going to do as much of my life, as much
of the people and the products and the things I
do in life, I'm going to try to figure out

(58:20):
where AI can replace or augment or help.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Wait, what does that mean? Hold on, explain that.

Speaker 10 (58:25):
I know.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
Wait, like when you're going to dinner, deciding between two restaurants,
you just ask AI or what sure?

Speaker 10 (58:31):
I'm doing stuff like that.

Speaker 12 (58:32):
But I really think the deeper stuff is going to
come in the places where we interact with humans and
where we start to realize, wow, those humans are either
going to be replaced by AI or really working deeply
with AI. And one of the examples that this is
my first month on the book has been all about healthcare,
all about doctors and the way they're using AI. I'm
doing some really interesting stuff or I've seen a lot

(58:54):
of really interesting stuff on that.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
You know.

Speaker 12 (58:55):
I think there's a day that's going to come as
we're all going to go to the doctor and we're
going to realize, Okay, I'm really seeing a human, but
I'm also seeing some sort of robot or some sort
of bot here. And so I'm exploring all those types
of ways that A is going to infiltrate our lives.
That isn't just sitting in front of a computer and
talking to a chatbot.

Speaker 2 (59:12):
I mean it's yeah, well that's the other thing.

Speaker 1 (59:13):
It's like already starting with the chatbots where they're screening
you right, like if you need customer service for something,
it's like, well here, they push you to the chatbot
first that's AI obviously now, and then maybe it'll flick
you to an actual person later on down the road.
And I feel like with medicine that's going to happen too.
It's like they screen you like here, put on all
your stuff, like your symptoms whatever, and now the doctor

(59:35):
comes in with like a little bit of knowledge and
baseline understanding of what's going on before they talk to
you for twenty minutes.

Speaker 10 (59:42):
Yeah, I mean, and.

Speaker 12 (59:42):
I'm like, part of this is, of course I'm seeing
human doctors this here, but every time I go to
the doctor, I get test results, I'm running those through AI.
Some of those those doctors are already doing that. They're
using it at radiology, they're using in these places.

Speaker 10 (59:55):
So I'm going all in. I'm using it in that way.

Speaker 12 (59:57):
I'm going to be doing transportation of course, self drive
in cars, all of that education. I'm just kind of
going all in for a year to see where we're at.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
And you had a chance to check out the Weaimos
self driving car, right, weren't you in La recently?

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
I was you tried that? Did you try the Weaimo
while you're out here?

Speaker 10 (01:00:16):
I did? I did.

Speaker 12 (01:00:17):
I spend quite a bit of time in Weimo's and
I'm going out to Phoenix soon to spend even more
time in them.

Speaker 10 (01:00:23):
I mean, I should ask you, what do you think
you live around them?

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
Well?

Speaker 1 (01:00:26):
I live around them, but yeah, so it's interesting they
don't necessarily work in my neighborhood, yet they work where
I work, and so I have taken one, but I
did take it in San Francisco, and the other day
I had the opportunity to take one, and I was
a little bit scared.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
I was like, I don't know if I actually want to.
I think I'm just gonna drive myself. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
I mean, I but I have my car drive itself
a lot. So it's it's this weird thing of it's
all software and I feel like it should be better,
but I'm not sure.

Speaker 10 (01:00:56):
So I'm with you.

Speaker 12 (01:00:57):
I think there's a lot of spectrum on this. Right,
there's the cars that drive yourself that you have either,
I don't know if you have a Tesla.

Speaker 10 (01:01:04):
Yeah, yeah, So look, you have.

Speaker 12 (01:01:06):
A good chunk of self driving car software and there
autonomous software, and that is probably going to work in
some really good situations.

Speaker 10 (01:01:13):
And of course we could get deep into that. But
then on the Waimo.

Speaker 12 (01:01:16):
Side, I think it is it is really fascinating and
it really I've been telling everyone if you have the
opportunity to get in one of these, you.

Speaker 10 (01:01:24):
Should do it.

Speaker 12 (01:01:25):
It does feel so incredibly safe, especially in these cities
where these cars have been trained and have done the
same roots over and over and over again. I mean,
I truly feel like this was the most safe driver
I've ever been with. I did say and I pieced
there that it felt at times like it was like
my mom, it got a little nervous. But I think

(01:01:46):
it's in a good way in the sense of like, Okay,
it is cautious. It is always cautious in the intersections
that will make you feel nervous, but then once you
do it enough times, you're like, oh, yeah, this is
just how it approaches an intersection.

Speaker 10 (01:01:58):
It wants to be incredibly safe.

Speaker 12 (01:02:00):
But why I asked you is I think that some
of the funnier stories are about people who are living
in these spaces and just like.

Speaker 10 (01:02:05):
Observing their odd behavior.

Speaker 12 (01:02:07):
I also heard a story in LA And I was
in Davas a few weeks ago, and I was talking
to the company Serve, the Serve robotics that have the
little robots.

Speaker 10 (01:02:17):
You've you've seen those around.

Speaker 2 (01:02:18):
Your yeah, your area, of course, the delivery robots.

Speaker 12 (01:02:21):
And I was asking him about this viral video of
the way moo that hit the serve robot.

Speaker 10 (01:02:27):
Did you see that?

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
I did not see that, But that's funny too.

Speaker 12 (01:02:30):
Hilarious because you're like, this is the future. The robots
just colliding in the streets.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
That's amazing.

Speaker 10 (01:02:38):
But yeah, I mean he.

Speaker 12 (01:02:38):
Had a good explanation of why it probably happened, but yeah,
you're living in the future there.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
In LA I'm amazed every time I see one of
those delivery robots that it's actually just working, and people
most of the time respect it. I mean, I know
they've been roughed up sometimes, but I mean it's just
it's like kind of sad.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
It's like, this is just a little robot. Okay, so
I do to New.

Speaker 12 (01:02:58):
York and New York here, and we're not going to
New York here because this is your your opening show.
But you know, we've still got regular grocery carts and
we're still yeah, we're.

Speaker 10 (01:03:08):
Like nineteen ninety five. I would say, we're not so
far behind.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
I'm wondering when, Yeah, like the self driving, if it
makes it to New York City, then we know it's
it's taken a it's reached a tipping point.

Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
Before we run out of time here, I do need
to ask you some some Jersey and New York questions. So,
first off, ever pumped your own gas?

Speaker 10 (01:03:27):
I live. I live in New Jersey. Of course I
grew up.

Speaker 12 (01:03:31):
I go to other states thinking I need to pump
my own gas.

Speaker 1 (01:03:36):
Well, you do pump in other states and New Jersey
you can't write, isn't it still illegal?

Speaker 4 (01:03:41):
Oh?

Speaker 10 (01:03:41):
Sorry, so you're asking.

Speaker 4 (01:03:43):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
Sorry, I was like, wait a second, are you just
breaking the rules here every day?

Speaker 10 (01:03:47):
I'm sorry, I've got it opposite there.

Speaker 12 (01:03:49):
Okay, yes, have pumped my own gas, but only learned
when I went to college and went to other states.

Speaker 2 (01:03:54):
Okay, that makes more sense.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
Okay, that makes much more sense, because yeah, like I
I jump out of my car when I get to
Jersey and I'm like, oh, hey, I can't do this,
but I love it. When it's freezing cold, you have
to you open your like window a tiny little slit
and like slip your credit card through it, and it's
like here, fill it up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Sorry okay.

Speaker 12 (01:04:12):
And I'm also thinking that when I go to other states,
same situation. I'll sometimes sit there now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
Waiting for someone to come to you, and it's just
like nope, not happening, right.

Speaker 12 (01:04:22):
But also I guess it's similar to you drive an
ev now and don't spend that much time at gas stations.

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
Yes, Times Square magical or a tourist trap.

Speaker 10 (01:04:35):
Somewhere in between.

Speaker 12 (01:04:36):
I still like to walk through Times Square every couple
of months to see some things that have changed. I live,
I work right in Times Square, so I have to
kind of trudge through it if I sometimes need to
get to the train station. But you know, it changes
every so often, and when of the changes are made,
it's fun to see them.

Speaker 2 (01:04:51):
And have you ever been to the top of the
Empire State Building or is that just for tourists?

Speaker 7 (01:04:56):
You know what?

Speaker 10 (01:04:56):
I never have been to the top of the Empire
State Building.

Speaker 12 (01:04:59):
I always wanted to because I grew up listening to
Z one hundred and.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
I was yester. Yes, but like they.

Speaker 10 (01:05:06):
Went I remember, I think it was like fourth grade,
like my school trip. They went on one and I
was sick that day.

Speaker 12 (01:05:11):
They went to the top of the Empire Statement and
I've never done it, so I guess I should take
my kids.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
Okay, quick story, I'm out of time. But so when
I was young, of course you one hundred from the
top of the Empire State Building. I finally make my
way up as a high schooler and I'm like, where's
this Z one hundred studio. They're like, kid, you got
to listen closely. They said broadcasting, not the studio. So
that's right. I that was like, oh my gosh, life lesson,

(01:05:35):
Joanna Stern, this has been so much fun.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Good luck with the book. What's it called?

Speaker 12 (01:05:40):
The working title is chat but like but with two
t's at the at the end. So if listeners like that,
tell me let me know, hit me up on social
let me know.

Speaker 10 (01:05:48):
If I should keep that or should keep thinking of
a new one.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
All right, Joanna Stern, Wall Street Journal, thanks so much
for joining me today. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:55):
Eight eight eight rich one oh one eight eight eight
seven four to two four one zero one. Welcome back
to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging out with you,
talking technology eight eight eight rich one O one eight
eight eight seven four two four one zero one. Find
me on social media. I am at rich on Tech
on Instagram. You could also go to the website rich

(01:06:17):
on Tech dot TV. Hit contact if you want to
get in touch. Let's go to Ron in Palm Springs. Ron,
welcome to the show.

Speaker 6 (01:06:26):
Hi, good after me a long time listener. First time I'm.

Speaker 2 (01:06:29):
Calling you, but uh well, thank you?

Speaker 6 (01:06:33):
Using I was using Yeah, I've been using Microsoft Word.

Speaker 4 (01:06:37):
We're writing. Writing a letter.

Speaker 6 (01:06:39):
Yesterday was fine. I opened up my computer this morning
and now the spelling checker is in Spanish. How do
I get it back to English?

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
Were you writing in Spanish or English?

Speaker 12 (01:06:49):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:06:50):
English? And it asked it starting to say all my
words in the first sentence where we're incorrect. They gave
me some Hispanic alternatives. So then I wrote burrito and
it was correct. So figure I'm in Spanish spelling checker.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
Oh okay, interesting, is burrito a Spanish? I guess it
is a Spanish word.

Speaker 6 (01:07:07):
It didn't say it was wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:07:11):
Okay, So here's the deal.

Speaker 1 (01:07:13):
I so I actually went on my Windows computer to
try to see how to set the language and my
version of Office is expired, which I'm embarrassed to say,
but I think that's pretty common with a lot of people.
It's like, oh wait a second, but I'm looking here,
and have you tried going to set the language preferences
in the options?

Speaker 2 (01:07:33):
Have you done that?

Speaker 6 (01:07:34):
I haven't found that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:07:36):
I just got home.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
So okay, now is this a new version or an
old version of Office?

Speaker 6 (01:07:44):
It's the new three sixty five co pilot version.

Speaker 1 (01:07:48):
Okay, so it looks like you can go into file
options and language and this will set the authoring, proofing
and display language. So file options language and that may
be set to Spanish, so you might want to just
make sure that's set to English and hopefully that should

(01:08:09):
fix it. The other thing you could do if that's
not working is I would you know, close it out,
reopen it, restart it and see if that you know,
and then go into the settings and make sure that
that's set. It's odd that it would just switch by
itself without exactly yeah, without but that, but that's the best.
You know, when tech does that, that's the best is
that you know, it just does things that we don't

(01:08:29):
understand why it does it. So try that. Yeah, and
do you see what what is it saying? Does it
say it's English?

Speaker 6 (01:08:39):
Prefer English? It says preferred English proofing initiated? Okay, the
United States General preferred.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Okay, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
So hopefully now when you write okay, when you when
you write click a word like when it gets a
little squigglies underneath, is it giving you suggestions in Spanish?

Speaker 6 (01:08:59):
Arning, Yes, it's giving me Okay, now that I've done this,
I'm going to go back to.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
So here's the other thing. So okay, so if you're
I mean every all the yeah, I mean all of
the options that I'm seeing are all under this uh
file options language. So the only thing I would say
is that perhaps you have you might have a global
option on your you know Windows PC that's uh this,
you know a similar option. So in that case, I

(01:09:30):
would go into your settings and search for language and
make sure that that's set to English, and are using
this through a web browser or through your or through an.

Speaker 6 (01:09:39):
Appu through on a web on a web browser. It's
one of my one of the apps that I have
on my I came with the computer and it just
switched me to co pilot two days ago. So maybe
it's something new. But my options are propeller, propel and
propeller for property.

Speaker 2 (01:10:00):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Okay, well yeah, this is quite the quite the situation here, okay.
And even if you so, have you tried restarting and
then setting English as your language.

Speaker 6 (01:10:11):
It happened last night and I said forget, I'm going
back to it this morning. It's still there.

Speaker 4 (01:10:16):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
Okay, that's interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
The only other thing I would check is in your
web browser there's there's a section called preferred languages. So
if you go into your settings on your web browser
settings and then search language, you should see the preferred
languages there and that should be English. But my greater
advice ron without being in front of the computer, is

(01:10:39):
all like I would start at the local level and
keep working up and make sure, uh to go into
settings and just search for language and make sure everything's
set to English if that's what you want to use,
and again set it start at the browser, then you
can go up to you know, word or actually I
would start at word and then go to the browser
and then go up to the computer at large and

(01:11:00):
just search language and make sure they're all set to English.
That's an interesting one.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
Eighty eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven
four to two four one zero one. Uh coming up
if your word is expired. I've got the Office Suite
that's free. It's the alternative that you can download for free.
This is rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich Demiro here hanging out with you talking technology at
eight eight eight rich one O one eight eight eight

(01:11:29):
seven four to two four one zero one. Website for
the show rich on Tech dot TV Jonas brothers from
New Jersey who who knew? I didn't until I was
coming up with today's playlist and uh picking some you know,
we didn't have any Connecticut. This is the Tri State area,

(01:11:50):
so probably should have had something Connecticut in there.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
A couple of.

Speaker 1 (01:11:53):
Headlines before we get to the phones. Rick, I see
you there. We'll get to you in just a moment.

Speaker 5 (01:11:58):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
Libra Office. Libra Office.

Speaker 1 (01:12:01):
This is a privacy focused alternative to sort of the
big you know, like the Microsoft Words of the world,
the Google docs of the world. So if you want
something that you can download that is completely free, they
have a brand new version of this Libra l I
b R Librale looks yeah, Libra, why can't I pronounce

(01:12:26):
this word anyway? Office twenty five point two now available
for Windows, mac Os, and Linux. It's got more polished UI,
better accessibility, and also works better with Microsoft documents. So
this is privacy focused. It's got an option, a new
option to remove all personal data from documents like time
stamps and author info. It's got a whole bunch It's

(01:12:50):
just a whole bunch of new stuff. So one thing
you do need to know. Support for Windows seven and
eight of this program is ending, so you got to
upgrade before version twenty five point eight, so that's coming soon.

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
I guess.

Speaker 6 (01:13:05):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
But Libraoffice remains free and open source, and it supports
the uh ODF files and the Microsoft formats. And I
downloaded this yesterday just to kind of try it out
before I talked about it, and it's great. I mean,
it just looks like Microsoft Word and Excel in the
spreadsheet program, So I mean, why not. I personally use

(01:13:28):
Google Docs, But I understand if you're, you know, more
privacy centric, or you don't like big tech or something
like that, and you want to use something that's a
little bit more open source, then I would check this out.
The website is uh libra l I b R eoffice
dot org slash download and I will put that on
the website rich on tech dot TV. Meanwhile, if you

(01:13:52):
had an iPhone seven with the loop disease, you are
you might have gotten a payout. So I guess Apple
pay out thirty five million dollars in a class action
settlement related to this loop disease. I guess the software
was making it. Boot Loop payments are around two hundred dollars,

(01:14:12):
so if you got like an email that said, hey,
claim your two hundred bucks or your payouts coming, like, yes,
you should do it, but you know, obviously you should
confirm that it's legitimate because you know, whenever something like
this happens, these other people they scam artists. They will
look at that and say, ooh, let's try to figure
out how we can scam people. So no matter what,
let me see if I can find something on this

(01:14:35):
iPhone loop disease. So it was oh sorry, it was
degraded audio and call quality and listening to music caused
by users applying pressure on a certain part of the phone.
I do not remember this when this happened, but that's interesting.
I was a while ago iPhone seven. That was a
real long time ago. Anyway, if you but here's the deal,

(01:14:58):
this this is over. So you had to make that
claim a long time ago. But up to three hundred
and forty nine dollars, that's pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:15:05):
All right, let's go to uh rick in uh Let's
see west Hill's Rick. You're on with Rich.

Speaker 11 (01:15:14):
Hey, Rich, thank you for taking my call. So I'll
try to be quick. I just want to know if
I should purchase more Apple storage or buy an app
to help clean up my photos or back up to
my computer. And then the second part of the question
is if I do back up to the computer, I
don't know how that works because it keeps adding the
same pictures over and over again, does it? Anyway, those

(01:15:35):
are that's the question.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
Okay, So first the first question is should you tell
me them again?

Speaker 11 (01:15:42):
Oh, purchase more Apple storage. I purchased the fifty gig plans,
but I've already used one hundred gigabytes, so I'm not
obviously my phone is not backing up now.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
Yeah, okay, So man, I so the thing about Apple
storage is so I'm on the I think I'm on
the five terabyte plan on Google. So I use Google Storage. Yeah,
I've got three I've got like three terabytes of photos.
So but you know, it's all my videos and stuff
from work. So it's like, I, you know, I'd rather
keep it than get rid of it. But the thing is,

(01:16:13):
so I would you could do two things. You could
either try to pare down the hundred gigs or you
said you have one hundred gigs on your phone, but
you have fifty available to you.

Speaker 11 (01:16:22):
Yeah, so I bought the two night I think it's
the two ninety nine plan, So it's like fifty gigabytes
and do you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
Know how much of that? Do you know how much
of that is photos?

Speaker 4 (01:16:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (01:16:30):
Photos is twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
Okay, so photos, So you're still like, even with that
twenty eight, that's a lot. I mean, you've got that's
a lot of you know, a lot of photos.

Speaker 11 (01:16:38):
So iPhone and iPhone and iPhone, so they add.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Up, right. So there's a couple of things you could do.
You could.

Speaker 1 (01:16:45):
You could try to pare down the twenty eight gigs
to get under the fifty with your backup of your phone,
but that's going to be really tough because you're going
to be spending a lot of time and it's just
going to be like, you know, you're just gonna be
pulling your hair out. The other thing you could do
is you could just not if money is not a problem, Like,
if you're not how much is the step up to
the next sire?

Speaker 11 (01:17:06):
I'll shoot, I knew I should have wrote that down.
It probably like three ninety nine a month or something
like that or something.

Speaker 4 (01:17:11):
It's that bad.

Speaker 1 (01:17:12):
Yeah, So if that feels fair to you, then that's
probably the easiest solution. But what I would do in
once you upgrade to that is, I would pare down
your camera roll, get get some of the big videos
out of there that you don't need, or duplicate pictures
and all that kind of stuff. So that's the second
thing I would do. As for offloading to your computer,
that's my least favorite option because it's the most labor intensive. Yes,

(01:17:35):
your computer can figure out which like when you plug
your phone into your computer, let's say of a Windows computer,
it can it can import just the new pictures or
on a Mac it'll do this. It'll it'll figure out
which ones it hasn't imported, so it can do that.
But now you have to make sure that those pictures
are backed up somehow on your computer.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
Right now.

Speaker 1 (01:17:55):
There is an argument there that you can say, well, rich,
I've got my photo, I've got one copy on my phone,
and now I've got one copy on my computer, so
I'm good. And typically we would say you'd want one
copy on your computer, one copy on your phone, and
one copy in the cloud somewhere right just to make
sure you've got you know, everything covered. So those are
kind of your options. What are you leaning towards? What

(01:18:17):
do you feel like you want to do.

Speaker 11 (01:18:19):
I'm leaning just buying that seems like the cheapest option.
But I don't know if the wife would like that.
She just she hates to spend money on things like that.

Speaker 2 (01:18:25):
Yeah, oh that's and so it's a I totally get that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:28):
And of course that's what Apple wants you to do, right,
I mean, that's why they that's why Apple does not
make it easy. Like if you told me, like if
you said, Rich, how do I find all the biggest
video files on my phone?

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
Right now? They don't make it easy to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:18:41):
Like you can't sort like on a Samsung device or
on a Google device, you could just go in and
literally sort my largest videos and just get rid of them,
right if you say, oh, I ran my camera for
twenty four hours and forgot about it. But like on
the iPhone, it's really tricky. So there are some there
are some apps that will do this for you. Clean

(01:19:01):
my Phone is one of them. You can check that
out and see. But again, you know, it's it's going
to take a while to figure this stuff out, to
get to get this to a place where it's under
the fifty gigs, including your backups. I think you're right, Rick,
The other thing you could do is if you're a
member or do you have Amazon Prime. I do, okay,
so they have a free photos app that as long

(01:19:22):
as you're an Amazon Prime member, you can download this
photos app from Amazon and it will back up all
of your photos for free and unlimited at full resolution.
But yeah, well the caveat is two things. Number One,
you have to be a Prime member, So if you
stop paying for Prime, you know, they'll give you a
certain amount of time where you have to download all

(01:19:44):
your stuff before they kick you out, you know, So
that's number one. Number two is they don't give you
any story. They give you a tiny bit of storage
for videos, so it's not a solution for your videos,
but if you want, you know, you can use this
as another way of offloading these pictures. So I use
it personally as like a secondary backup and I just

(01:20:05):
turn off the videos completely.

Speaker 2 (01:20:06):
I say, don't even back up videos. Which it's actually
nice that the app gives you that option.

Speaker 11 (01:20:11):
Yeah, okay, I didn't know about that, so thank you.

Speaker 4 (01:20:13):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
But yeah, I mean, look the photos. If you look
at the earnings reports of all the major companies, whether
it's Amazon, whether it is Apple and Google. The number
one growth for these companies right now is in what's
called their service and cloud divisions. And why do you
think that is all the stuff that we are uploading

(01:20:35):
from our phones? And why do you think these phones,
you know they keep they shoot in four K, they
shoot and you know higher megapixels, they're all taken up.
This is this is where it's at, Like, this is
money that these companies will make forever based on us
being unorganized.

Speaker 11 (01:20:51):
I was I was thinking Apple's not selling a phone,
They're selling storage.

Speaker 1 (01:20:54):
Yeah, that's that's really what it comes down to. They
sell the phone they make. You know, people are holding
their phones for thirty nine months now, so that that
money you spend on a phone, let's say you spend
eight hundred to one thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:21:04):
Do the math.

Speaker 1 (01:21:05):
But if you're spending I mean Apple iCloud storage starts
at ninety nine cents a month, three ninety nine, five,
ninety nine, ten dollars, I think I'm up to twenty.
I'm up to two hundred and fifty dollars a year
on my Google storage, Apple storage. I pay for the
ridiculous Apple one, which is another forty bucks a month
and then I pay for Dropbox. So I mean, you know,

(01:21:27):
but I don't want anything to go away. So I'm
I'm a little crazy in that way where I want
everything all at once, and you know, plus I test
this stuff out, so well.

Speaker 4 (01:21:35):
Thank you.

Speaker 11 (01:21:36):
I'm going to hopefully my wife Maria will allow me
just to get the cloud stuff and just fight the bullet.

Speaker 1 (01:21:41):
Yeah, I would sit down and uh, you know, like
I say to my wife, you know, if we're spending
over you know, a certain amount of money, usually like
over one hundred bucks, it's like family meeting time.

Speaker 2 (01:21:49):
We got to talk about this. We got to discuss
So sit.

Speaker 1 (01:21:53):
Down, you know, maybe pour some wine, you know, just
get everyone a little bit relaxed, and you know, we
talk about this cloud storage thing.

Speaker 11 (01:22:02):
Rick all right, say thanks for your time. I really
appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:05):
Thanks for the question. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
Just one more example of the fact that none of
us are organized when it comes to our photos. I
will tell you this, at the end of the day,
sit down and go through your photo role. Just take
ten minutes a day, because that is the best way
I found to get rid of a lot of the clutter,
a lot of the things you do during the day,
you don't necessarily need it long term eight eight eight

(01:22:27):
Rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to
two Poor one zero one. This is rich on Tech.
Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging
out with you, talking technology. You can find me online
at richon Tech dot tv. Coming up this hour, YouTuber
Jimmy is Promo is going to talk about the Samsung

(01:22:51):
Galaxy S twenty five and give some tips and tricks
if you have a Samsung device, and we'll get to
the phone lines in just a moment. But first couple
of items of no true caller. This app finally, finally,
finally brings real time caller ID to the iPhone and
I got my first call yesterday where I identified it

(01:23:12):
using this app. So iPhone for many many years has
had spam blockers and some level of caller ID, but
this is the first time that apps can take advantage
of a new feature in the latest version of the
iOS software eighteen I think eighteen point three or eighteen
point two rather and basically you can now see real

(01:23:33):
time caller ID for the first time. I'm not going
to get into it, but it used to be that
apps like True Caller were limited to like a small
database of phone numbers they stored on your phone, but
now it can actually look up using what's called live
caller ID when someone actually calls. So this is a
paid subscriber situation, so you do have to pay either

(01:23:54):
ten dollars a month or seventy five dollars for the year.
But if you've been looking for a solution on the
iPhone for actual caller ID and also spam blocking that
actually works, this might be the solution. And again, yesterday
I got my first call where the caller phone number
came up with the name and I was like, oh,
there it is. Wow, it works. So True Caller is

(01:24:16):
the app. They do have a level of free service,
but if you want this new premium real time caller ID,
you gotta get the paid Let's see what else here?
Oh this app I love. It's called Rosebud. This is
a journaling app and it uses AI. And I'm not
kidding you know, I'm not a huge journaling guy, but

(01:24:38):
this has made me journal because I love it. It's
so it's called Rosebud and basically you put an entry
into the app and then the app uses AI to
kind of read what you wrote and gives you either
questions back or insights on what you wrote. So if
you're having like a rough day at work, you write
in I keep having problems with gym at work. You know,

(01:25:00):
just it's on my case every day about this. It
will basically identify like how you think, patterns, and it
just learns about you over time. I mean, it's really good.
I don't want to call this therapy, but it feels
almost like a mix of like therapy and life coaching
all in one. And it's again, I can't tell you

(01:25:21):
how good this is now. I know it seems a
little scary to have AI kind of like reading what
you're writing. But the guys who made this app, they
tell me everything is private, everything's encrypted, nobody's reading your stuff.
But I love this app. You type something in, like
the other day, I had a little thing at work
and I was like, oh, let me type this into Rosebud.

(01:25:41):
And the insights that it gives you about your life
are just like wow, it figures out, like it'll say, Rich,
here's how you think. Here's the pattern we notice over
and over. Here's what we notice you do over and over.
You say, over and over or how you react to
this situation over and over and it's really spot on.
So if you're looking for more like self awareness, self reflection,

(01:26:04):
maybe you just want to start a journal in the
new year, I would.

Speaker 2 (01:26:07):
Check out this app. It's really really cool.

Speaker 1 (01:26:10):
The website rosebud Dot app rosebud Dot app. It's available
for iPhone and Android, and I think, you know, if
you're looking to improve your mental health, you want that
kind of Like I told my wife the other day,
she was stressed out about something.

Speaker 2 (01:26:26):
I said, did you journal about it?

Speaker 1 (01:26:28):
Now that I'm mister journal And she, by the way,
is into like counseling and all that stuff, so she's like, no,
I haven't. I'm like, all right, well try that. And
I'm telling it just feels better to like write something
out and just get it out of your head and
onto somewhere else and then to get that. It gives
you a weekly report of like all the stuff that
happened and even figures out your mood. It'll give you

(01:26:49):
like a weekly like here was your mood during the
week based on how you wrote. So I really really
like this app rosebud And yes it's freemium, so there
is a free level of things you can do on it,
and of course a paid level. Kathy and Pittsburgh, welcome
to the show.

Speaker 8 (01:27:04):
Hi. I'll warn you your listeners are going to be
bored and they're going to be laughing.

Speaker 2 (01:27:09):
Okay, well are they listening to just me? Or is
that including what you're going to say?

Speaker 8 (01:27:13):
No, that's what I'm going to say. First time. I
just heard you today, So thank you for taking my call.
Almost eighty years old, and I have been using Windows
eighty one on a desktop forever.

Speaker 4 (01:27:26):
I love it.

Speaker 8 (01:27:27):
But all of a sudden, I'm just getting delused with
must upgrade, you know, in order to access So I said, okay,
kicking and screaming. I'm trying to figure out what to get,
and I have to hardware everything in my house. But
here's two considerations. I recently was away from home for

(01:27:47):
a couple of weeks and had go to the library
to be able to access my emails, and such a
nice discuss to stop. So I'm looking for something that's portable,
and I don't know whether to go for a app
top tablet or what now. And I will mention because
I'm Wi Fi sensitive, I limit my use on my

(01:28:08):
cell phone. But I can put some protection and some
grounding to use.

Speaker 2 (01:28:13):
A laptop or right, you can use a connection like
a wire.

Speaker 1 (01:28:16):
I've got less than a minute, so I've got to Okay,
so here's my question for you, Kathy.

Speaker 8 (01:28:20):
But what could you recommend for an old person that
doesn't really use their computer for much but emails than routes.

Speaker 2 (01:28:26):
Okay, that's what I was going to ask you.

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
Do you want to accomplish work on this or you
just want to mostly consume?

Speaker 4 (01:28:31):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:28:32):
Okay, then I would say just get an iPad and
you can get you can get an adapter for Ethernet.
So if you want to, you know, a long cable
from your you know, your router, just connect it to
the bottom of the iPad. But that's the best thing
to get, because.

Speaker 8 (01:28:43):
Do you have something other than an Apple product?

Speaker 1 (01:28:45):
Oh yeah, go with the Samsung. Go with the Samsung
Tab S nine is their latest tablet. I would just
go with that. But you know, I will tell you
the apps are going to be way better on the iPad.
That's just the bottom line, because the iPad has the
most support for mobile apps.

Speaker 2 (01:29:03):
So but the.

Speaker 1 (01:29:04):
Tab, you know, the tab best nine will be great.
I think that it's gonna be a little bit more expensive,
but you know, it's gonna have a nice big screen.
It's gonna have all the Android apps, and you'll be
able to do all the stuff you want to do.
And then just get a little connector for the bottom
of the USB c to Ethernet to plug in your
Ethernet cable. Coming up, we're gonna talk to Jimmy is
Promo about Samsung right here on rich On tech Rich.

(01:29:27):
Welcome back to rich On tech Rich. DeMuro here hanging
out with you talking technology. What a show it's been.
First show in New York City. You know, don't forget
we're on other places and we're not going anywhere in LA.
We are staying put in LA as well. I know
I've gotten a lot of emails people saying, Rich, what
are you doing? No, No, we're We're now on both coasts.

Speaker 2 (01:29:48):
What do they say? Both coasts best coast right? No, No,
one says that.

Speaker 1 (01:29:55):
I've got a great guest here, YouTuber Jimmy is Promo,
always sharing tips and tricks and all things Samsung on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:30:05):
Jimmy, welcome to the show.

Speaker 13 (01:30:07):
Hey, thanks for having me, man, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:09):
So Jimmy and I see each other once or twice
a year at the tech events, and he every time,
I'm just like, hey, can you wait, you could do
that on your phone. Wait what He's like, don't you
watch the channel? I'm like yes, But every time I
always pick up something new. So first off, I guess,
how did you get into like doing Samsung tips and tricks?

Speaker 4 (01:30:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:30:31):
So it first originated quite a while ago. Was back
in twenty twelve. I was curious about, you know, what
is it like to upload a video? I was actually
in an AT and T store back then doing some
marketing and some promotions for what was brand new back
then was the original Note one Oh Wow, And so

(01:30:51):
I was showing off some of the tips on the
tricks and they're like, hey, take the phone home with you,
get used to it, play around with it, you know,
master that you're showing off, and I was like cool.
So I got home and pretty much at that time,
I was like, let's shoot a video. So I just
wanted to shoot something, and it was the same spiel
that I was doing in the stores, just showing off
all the brand new tips and tricks and the new features,

(01:31:14):
and basically I was curious of Okay, could I get
some views and where can it go? And so pretty
much it was mostly just based off of curiosity. So
I uploaded the first video. It actually did pretty well,
almost better than some of my videos today, but it
was I think that one got like a little over
three hundred and forty three hundred and fifty thousand views
pretty quick because there wasn't as many tech specific phone

(01:31:39):
related channels out there. Yeah, and so yeah, that's basically
how it started. So it came from the world of
marketing promotions showing customers how to use their phone, and
then it kind of moved into just doing it more
and more and more on YouTube. And then after I
figured out that it's actually a thing that I just
kept uploading. And then the name Jimmy is pro came

(01:32:01):
from the email that I created back way back in
the day doing promotional work tours promotions, and I was like,
I have to have an easy email that they would
go with and maybe something that's more professional than some
of the older emails that we had, and so Jimmy
is Promo just kind of stayed and that's just kind
of how I got that work. And then that's how

(01:32:23):
YouTube kept the name of Jimmy as promo. The only
change I did was put in the spaces between Jimmy
is promo.

Speaker 1 (01:32:30):
And as they say, the rest is history. So now,
of course you have a channel on YouTube and you
know very successful. What do you think about the new
S twenty five series. I've been loving it. I think
it is the best phone.

Speaker 2 (01:32:41):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:32:41):
I know you may have a different opinion because you
know the micro SD cards and the Bluetooth on the
you know, no Bluetooth on the stylist, But like, I
think this is overall the best Samsung phone I've ever used.

Speaker 13 (01:32:53):
I mean, I'd say it's the best well rounded phone
I think. I'm and I guess pun intended with the corners.
I mean, I love the flag that you know, with
the S twenty four it was a rectangular device and
if you use it without a case, it was just
in your palm. Yeah, and so this is a comfortable
phone to hold, a comfortable phone to use. So with
the rounded corners you have a little bit better performance

(01:33:15):
than even the S twenty four Ultra. I mean, I
can tell the difference between the camera as well as
the sound, Like I feel like it sounds much better
than the S twenty four and then also Samsung one
UY seven Yeah, which is basically the skin that Samsung
uses on top of Android. It just it gives you
a really good experience, a whole bunch of really fun,
you know, packed features, and yeah, so far, it's definitely

(01:33:42):
one that I could tell the difference between the S
twenty four and for anybody who was holding onto any
phone of like the S twenty, the S twenty one,
the S twenty two, the S twenty three, they'll see
a huge difference for upgrades.

Speaker 4 (01:33:54):
If you're maybe.

Speaker 13 (01:33:56):
Moving or thinking of moving from the S twenty four
series to the S twenty five series, those are mostly
those who love the latest and greatest, who wants the
highest trade and value for the most recent phone. But yeah,
anybody that moves into it, I think is going to have,
you know, a really good experience with the device.

Speaker 1 (01:34:12):
I'd say, even if you have the S twenty four
and you're thinking of it, go for it, because I
just think that just the design alone on the S
twenty five Ultra compared to the twenty four is like
it just feels perfect in your hand, like compared to
the old one, which was fine, but it wasn't as
easy to hold and manipulate as this one.

Speaker 2 (01:34:31):
So yeah, that's my thing. Who's going.

Speaker 13 (01:34:34):
I mean, you get a little bit better of a
camera set up like the Ultra wise a little bit better. Yeah,
and then even even the power efficiency is better, so you.

Speaker 1 (01:34:41):
Thel the cooling is way improved because it's like the
vape what I mean. I know this is nerdy and techy,
but like that vapor chamber, it's like bigger, so it
keeps the phone cooler. Like I'm not kidding, Jimmy, I
was using the pixel of was the pixel fold. The
heat that that thing puts out compared to the Samsung
that does not heat up at all, is just it's

(01:35:03):
just night and day.

Speaker 13 (01:35:04):
Yeah, I believe the vapor chamber, if I remember right,
they said it was forty percent larger in the S
twenty five Ultra versus the S twenty four Ultra.

Speaker 1 (01:35:12):
So that means that your phone when it's being used,
if you're playing games or just using it a lot,
or even charging it, it's just not going to get
hot compared to the older model. And it to me,
I've never even felt this phone warm. I know it's
not the summer right now, but it's still pretty pretty good. Okay,
So I wanted you to touch upon one thing before

(01:35:32):
we get to some of your tips and tricks. But
easy Mode this is a really this is like a
nice hidden gem on the Samsung side of things. Can
you explain what that is?

Speaker 13 (01:35:41):
Yeah, so easy Mode it's actually even easy to find.
So it just changes your display so you still have
a very powerful phone. But when you go inside your
display settings, you have an option for easy Mode. And
what it does is it makes it easier to use.
It is limiting basically what is shown on the screen.

(01:36:03):
It also has larger print. It only comes with three
home screens initially, so on the left hand side, if
you swipe to the left, that is where you're gonna
have all of your quick contacts. So like you have
I believe it's nine or twelve. I think it could
be nine contacts and you tap on them so in
this way you can either call them or text them.
Then you have your main home screen that you can

(01:36:23):
move your applications wherever you want them to go. You
have your camera, the Internet, and then your next screen
is just whatever you want there, like if you want
a couple of widgets, you know, on the right so
pretty much, it's like if you don't need all the
bells and whistles, but you still want it, you can
basically tone it down.

Speaker 2 (01:36:43):
And that's really what easy mode does.

Speaker 1 (01:36:45):
Yeah, it just makes the phone like just simpler. I mean,
look in general, like you if it's like someone that's
a little bit more elderly or a senior that you
know may not want everything or just want something simple,
or even the fact that I was looking at it
and it says it increases the touch and hold delay,
so that means that like you know, some people like
they may hold things or touch their screen longer and

(01:37:06):
like now they're like, oh, something just happened. I don't
know why I didn't do anything. Well, that's because you're
touching stuff randomly and it's activating stuff. So this actually
makes that delay longer so that you're not like triggering
random stuff all the time, which I know you know
is a common problem. So any tip you want to
offer for the Samsung phones, anything that you think people
should look into if they have one of these things.

Speaker 13 (01:37:29):
I mean, first off, when it comes down to you know,
let's say like the camera. Pretty much for the camera,
you're able to play with your Galaxy Log if you
want to create like a really nice video shot where
you're able to notice if you're shooting something that's overexposed,
so you'll have like just a really clean shot, so

(01:37:52):
you'll be able to play with the Galaxy Log a
couple of things too, Like one of the newer ones,
it's features called now bar, And if you're into sports,
if it's NBA or baseball, basketball, football, doesn't matter what
it is. They actually have a new now bar that
is called Live Sports and pretty much it's associated with
your Google and it's actually very easy to set up.

(01:38:14):
I've actually shown videos showing off like the best tips
in the tricks, some of the hidden features, some of
the settings can change immediately, you know, on my channel.
And also if you create, you know, some of the
simple stuff. If you create something on your calendar and
you notice it's on the wrong day, you can do
a simple drag and drop rather than editing, so you

(01:38:35):
can just drag it and drop it to the correct
date and then that's all you would have to do.
And then you can, if you want, fully customize your
lock screen and your home screen.

Speaker 1 (01:38:44):
Yeah, I mean that's I think that's the biggest I mean,
I guess I should ask you this, why do you
like Samsung and Android over iOS?

Speaker 6 (01:38:51):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:38:51):
So, I mean one of the reasons would be a
lot of the customizations. I mean, there's just so much
you can do with it. And actually, yesterday I played
with the new and upcoming Samsung Home Up application. It's
where you can fully free form set up your entire
home screen however you want. You can diagnoalize anything, make

(01:39:13):
any application bigger.

Speaker 2 (01:39:16):
You can also.

Speaker 13 (01:39:18):
Change your animation, so some people love the animations of
Samsung phones. You can actually completely change how the animation looks,
how it bounces, how fast or how slow it goes.
So I'd say the number one would be a customization.
Other than that, I mean, Samsung is you know, if
you're looked in that security reasons, Samsung is just as
you know, just as or more secure than Apple, Especially

(01:39:38):
when it.

Speaker 2 (01:39:38):
Comes down to Samsung Knox.

Speaker 13 (01:39:41):
I think personally, just because my home has so many
Samsung products that I feel they have a bigger ecosystem
because not only do they have you know, Samsung has
the phones, the watches, the tabs, the earbuds, they have
the TVs, the washers, the dryers, the refrigerators, the robot vacuums, everything,
so you can just connect everything together. And then lastly,

(01:40:01):
I'll say the camera. So I know that I have
a few friends that have Apple iPhone devices and if
I'm with them, they'll say, hey, Jimmy, just take the photo.
And it's sometimes just because they know that I can
sometimes create a better shot.

Speaker 2 (01:40:17):
Than what they can.

Speaker 13 (01:40:18):
So I don't know if it's a big main thing
out there, but in my world out here, some of
my iPhone friends asked me to take the photos. Which
is funny because within Samsung phones and Apple phones, they
both use sensors that are coming from either Sony or Samsung.
It just kind of depends on some of the processing
after the fact. Interesting, So I love the camera and

(01:40:41):
the security and the ecosystem and the customizable you know, customizability.

Speaker 2 (01:40:46):
Yeah, that's really what it comes down to. I mean,
obviously it's a personal preference, and you know there's always
till the end of the world there will be a
debate of iPhone versus Android.

Speaker 1 (01:40:53):
But that's what makes this stuff fun. Jimmy is promo
search them up on YouTube, subscribe to his chance if
you want to take your Samsung to the next level.
I mean, this stuff, it's just like you sit there
in like every little setting that you go through, every
little customization feature, it's all there and you do a
great job.

Speaker 2 (01:41:12):
Jimmy, thanks for joining me today. Thank you man, I
appreciate it.

Speaker 13 (01:41:16):
Thank you so much for having me on the show
and taking up some of your time.

Speaker 2 (01:41:20):
Absolutely all right.

Speaker 1 (01:41:21):
Coming up next, we're going to open up the feedback,
get into some of the emails this week, and I'll
tell you about the web browser that wants you to
take a break from the Internet. This is rich on Tech.
Welcome back to rich On Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging
out with you, talking technology. You know, I didn't think
that I would like a new web browser, but I

(01:41:43):
got to tell you this Opera Air. It's a brand
new web browser that I'm kind of loving. And it's
called Opera Air. It's made by Opera company out of
I think they're Scandinavian, and you know, Opera's been around forever.
But this new web browser is all about mindfulness and
well being. So a couple features that are really neat.

(01:42:05):
Not only does this web browser look really cool, it's
like very like nice like kind of a almost like
a I don't know if I want to say a
green design, but it just looks like very modern and
like fresh. But it's got two special modes take a
break mode, so it's got it reminds you to take
a break, so if you've been on the internet for
too long, it'll say, hey, take a break, and then
you can do these breathing exercises, meditation and body scans.

(01:42:29):
Then it's got this Boosts feature, which features binaural beats
to enhance relaxation, focus, and creativity. So they've got a
creativity boost and energized focus, deep relaxation, mental clarity, analytical thinking,
and peak concentration. Now I use the I wrote my newsletter, which,
by the way, you can subscribe to Rich on tech

(01:42:49):
dot tv. Sign up there for free. But I use
the energized focus yesterday while I wrote my newsletter. I'm
not kidding, it might be my best newsletter yet. Now
they go into these things. Theta six hurts, Alpha twelve hurts.
I don't know what that means, but it's like something
in the beat, the vibration. I don't know, but it's

(01:43:09):
just these are great and they're built in. It's like
background music. Then it also has CHATCHYBT in the sidebar,
so you can surf and got CHATCHYBT to your left.
It blocks ads and trackers in the settings. It's not
on by default, but you can toggle it on and
you can even get Chrome extensions. So I'm like, I'm
almost ready to switch to this web browser to try

(01:43:30):
it out because I'm trying to figure out what the
downside is. Oh, there's also a VPN built in, so
again it's called Opera Air. It's brand new. It's all
about mindfulness.

Speaker 2 (01:43:38):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:43:39):
I would check it out. It's pretty nice, all right,
Let's open up the feedbag. This is a feedback plus
the mail bag mixed into one. These emails, the comments
and the questions I've gotten from you. If you want
to submit yours, go to Rich on tech dot tv
hit contact. Jeff writes in about the language issues we
had with our earlier caller. He said, if you're having

(01:43:59):
trouble with the language on Windows, try pressing Windows key
plus space to quickly switch between languages. You said the
shortcut works if you have multiple languages installed, and of
course you also said settings time in language, language and region,
make sure the right language is set there hope that works.

Speaker 2 (01:44:16):
Thank you, Jeff.

Speaker 1 (01:44:18):
Jay writes in, I was listening to your podcast from
last week about the Samsung Galaxy S twenty five and
whether an mv and O would offer the satellite feature.
I just got a Samsung S twenty five and was
thinking about switching from Verizon to Visible, but Visible told
me they don't offer the feature, even though the phone
is capable, I'd have to stay with Verizon to use it.

Speaker 2 (01:44:36):
That is a great point.

Speaker 1 (01:44:38):
All these mv and o's that offer inexpensive coverage or
inexpensive monthly service, you may not get that new satellite
texting if your phone doesn't have that capability. Like with Apple,
it's built in with the pixel, it's built in. What
was Samsung? They are relying on the cellular carriers to
offer satellite, so I haven't heard a word about these

(01:44:58):
mv and os offering that great great point, Jay, let's see.
Eric writes in via Facebook, Facebook dot com slash rich
on tech, thanks for covering Netflix plans. The Netflix standard
with ADS plan at eight bucks a month does allow
downloads right now, Netflix is the only streaming service that
lets users download content on an AD supported plan. I
was surprised you didn't mention this. I appreciate the clarification, Eric,

(01:45:22):
I did not realize that Netflix added downloads to this plan.
When it first came out, it was streaming only. They
did not have offline viewing, so I'm glad they changed that.
And you know what, eight bucks a month?

Speaker 2 (01:45:36):
Why not? Let's see.

Speaker 1 (01:45:39):
Ferlan writes in just listening to your last show heard
you mentioned Michael and Kentucky asking about the car tablet Promax.
I bought the model from Amazon. Installation takes some work
if to mount the review mirror. I run the audio
through the auxport on my twenty twelve forward focus. I
really wanted a backup camera. I love it. CarPlay works great.
Then unit records constantly, which is great in case of

(01:45:59):
an accident. Great for an old car that doesn't have
car Player Android Otto. Okay, there you go, let's see.
Robert writes in bottom Line. I'm almost seventy. I'm not
tech savvy and still do most things manually, including running
my fifty year old business. I keep someone on retainer
for tech help. But you've always answered my questions, and
the way you explain things makes it easy.

Speaker 2 (01:46:18):
It always works.

Speaker 1 (01:46:19):
Your professional, straightforward and clearly passionate about what you do.

Speaker 2 (01:46:22):
Enjoy your growth. Thank you, Robert. You paid him for that,
didn't you. I did not. A couple of people wrote in.

Speaker 1 (01:46:28):
Forrest writes in, congratulations on the news that your show
will be broadcast in New York. I know you've got
to feel good. From the first time you filled in,
I knew you were going places here you are. I'm
so happy for you. You deserve it, and I don't
see anything standing in your way. Forrest, Thank you. Jane
writes in, I love listening while driving. You always seem
to cover something I've been wondering about or an issue

(01:46:48):
I've been dealing with at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:46:50):
Great timing.

Speaker 1 (01:46:51):
That's because, Jane, the listeners are my secret. They're the
ones that come up with these questions that you know
I may not think of. Andy writes in, as an
AI user, computer novice and someone over sixty, I find
you're writing and information very useful. I've been reading for
a while and enjoy what you share. Keep up the
good work.

Speaker 2 (01:47:10):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:47:10):
Andy always said everyone, no, it's just me. By the way,
there are some people that help on this show, but
all the other stuff is just me.

Speaker 2 (01:47:17):
Uh, including the newsletter.

Speaker 1 (01:47:19):
That's going to do it. For this episode of the show.
You can find links to everything I mentioned on my website.
Just go to richon tech dot tv. You can find
me on social media. I am at rich on Tech.
Next week we're going to talk to the points guy
and the muscle Man of technology. Yeah, he's a fun one.
Thanks so much for listening. There are so many ways
you can spend your time. I do appreciate you spending
it right here with me. Thanks to everyone who makes

(01:47:42):
this show possible, Bobo, Kim Bill, and of course you.

Speaker 2 (01:47:45):
My name is rich Dmiro. I will talk to you
real soon.

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