Gemini Gets Smarter, Drones Drop Pies, and AI Fakes Fool a Newspaper (122, May 24, 2025)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Google reinvents search with a brand new AI mode and
it might change everything. A new app you need to
download right now, and the fan favorite that's shutting down forever.
And a simple charging cable that fixes one of tech's
most annoying problems. Plus your tech questions answered. What's going on?

(00:20):
I'm Richdmiro and this is Rich on Tech. This is
the show where I talk about the tech stuff I
think you should know about. It's also the place where
I answer your questions about technology. I believe that tech
should be interesting, useful, and fun. Let's open up those
phone lines on this Memorial Day weekend at triple eight
rich one O one.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
That's eight eight eight seven.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Four to two four one zero one, triple eight rich
one O one. Give me a call if you have
a question about technology. Email is also open. Just go
to richon Tech dot tv and hit contact. This week
on the show, we've got some great guests. Dave Citron,
senior director of product management for the Gemini app, that's

(01:07):
their AI app at Google, is going to talk about
how they're making the app even more intelligent with the
Gemini Live mode. We'll talk to him about all that,
and my former boss at KTLA TV. Jason Ball will
join us to talk about life after TV and how
he's using AI newsletters and off the tech, off the

(01:27):
shelf tech to reinvent himself as a creator. He's got
a new podcast that I listened to and it's very good.
So we'll talk to Jason Ball a bit later. Well,
I hope you're having a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. This
week I did a road trip in honor of Memorial
Day weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know everyone's driving. I went up.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
To Google headquarters for their big IO event. This is
the company's annual tech festival. Now it's mainly aimed at
developers and partners and anyone that works with Google or
makes something with products, but also the media is there
and there's a big keynote that lets you know about
all the cool things that Google has been working on. Now,

(02:08):
typically hear about search, Android and all these new features,
but this year it was basically one big AI showcase
from start to finish. You know, Google has been sort
of reinventing themselves with all this AI stuff, building it
into just about everything you can think of. If you
see that little sparkly icon it's in your Gmail, it's

(02:30):
in docs. It's everywhere I always held at the Shoreline,
Amphitheater and Mountain View. This is funny because it's like
a concert venue that they transform into like what I
call it, like a tech festival. It's almost like a
carnival or circus atmosphere. So of course they have that
major keynote and then there's demos of pretty much everything
that you can think of that they talk about, so

(02:51):
you get to go hands on with all of these tools.
And of course it's Google, so they do things in
like a fun way. There's like, you know, people driving
around like refreshment card and you know they've got little
snacks and things. I mean, it's really really cool. The
thing I love the most is that once the keynote
is over, you can sort of browse around and talk
to all the engineers and designers who really build this stuff,

(03:13):
whether it's the phones, whether it's the search tools, whether
it's the robots, whatever it is. So you can just
kind of get hands on with this stuff and ask
them like, hey, why did you do this or why
does this work this way? And you know I'll even
tell them be like hey, do you ever think about
this for Google Maps? Like all right, move on, but
don't let this festival vibe fool you. Google is under

(03:35):
a lot of pressure right now. And who is it
from chat gpt? You didn't hear that name once at
the Google event. But chat gbt has changed everything for Google,
and now Google is forced to sort of, you know,
reinvent itself like I said, and make itself an AI
first company. They've got the technology, they had it for
many years, but chat gbt forced their hand because why

(03:59):
change a good thing? Google search for many years was
the thing, and now they are forced to change it.
And they did something really interesting and you can try
this right now. It's called AI mode. I've talked about
it on this show before, but back then it was
just an experiment. Now it is becoming sort of the
premiere way to search Google. This is an entirely new
way to search. So it sort of blends that classic

(04:22):
Google search that you know and you love with chat
like responses. So the neat thing about this is that
you can ask really complicated questions, stuff that you could
never ask before to that standard search box, and instead
of getting a bunch of links back, you will get
the answer to your question back. Summarize with all kinds
of relevant information. And Google was very clear to say, look,

(04:45):
we've got the whole web indexed, plus we have real
time information, plus we have maps, information, place information. We've
got it all and now we're using this new AI
mode to bring it all together. So, for example, before
you might have asked to Google family friendly weekend trips
from LA and everything was sort of like a keyword.
Right now you might say family friendly weekend trips from

(05:09):
LA two hours away, good for kids ages ten and thirteen,
And it will use all that information to sort through
the web and find the answer for you and summarize it.
And I love that they added this new little feature
whereas it's searching, it will tell you how many websites
it's searching through to come up with the answer. I
just love that little so you get the understanding that, look,

(05:30):
we're doing this search for you. But the big question
is because this is so good, because the answers are
so succinct, and really you don't need to do much
more after that, even though you can't ask a follow
up question, how does Google make money on this?

Speaker 2 (05:42):
The old model was.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
All about clicking links at the top that were paid,
and you might click a few of those make some
money for Google, and then you might find your answer.
This new style is cleaner, it's faster, but less monetized,
and we don't even know how they're going to monetize this.
So from a user's perspective, it's awesome, but from Google's perspective,
it's like, uh, we're gonna lose a lot of money

(06:04):
on this. But if you want to try this out,
Google dot com slash AI mode, or when you just
go to the standard Google page, now you should see
a tab that says AI mode or a button that
says AI mode. Definitely check it out. Now. The other
big thing a universal AI assistant, So they're really pushing
this Gemini as a universal AI assistant that can help

(06:26):
you with everything. And Gemini Live is sort of the
live embodiment of AI with a voice that you can
talk to. And not only can you talk to it,
you've been able to do that for a while, but
now you can share your camera or screen with it.
So think about this. You can point your phone at
a landmark, your outfit, or even a broken device like

(06:47):
a car part that you don't even know how to
describe what that part is, and say, hey, what is
this and how do I fix it? And the AI
will take a look through your camera and give you
that information. So you can be at a museum with
a piece of art and say, hey, tell me about
the background of this artist, or just explain this portrait
to me. I mean, this is really interesting stuff, stuff

(07:08):
you might have been able to do before with your phone,
but now it is much more streamlined and just much
more interactive. So this Gemini Live feature used to be
Android only, but now it is on the iPhone as well.
So if you want to try this, and I think
you should open up the Gemini app on your phone,
tap the little button next to the microphone and then

(07:28):
you'll see it'll say you want to share your camera
or your screen. So the feature is rolling out like
every other tech feature I talk about. So it may
not be on your phone immediately. Don't send me an
angry email, but that's really going to change the way
that you interact with AI. Let's see what else did
I did a couple pieces of hardware up there. I
tried on two new things. A pair of augmented reality glasses.

(07:50):
These are a prototype. Google was very clear about that,
and then a new headset that they're coming out with
from Samsung. So the glasses were pretty incredible. They look
like regular glasses, but they've got a built in microphone.
They've got it built in speaker, built in camera, and
a built in screen, which is the really cool part.
So this little tiny screen on one of the lenses

(08:11):
let you see stuff. So they connect to your phone,
and again the idea is, now you can ditch your
phone that painting. I was saying that you can aim
your phone at. Now you can just look at that
painting and say, hey, tell me about this painting. You
can look at turn by turned directions that are projected
into your real worldview. So I saw notifications, I saw
the weather, and it was really clear. I was very

(08:32):
very impressed with the clarity. Even though these are just prototypes.
But they already said, look, they're coming out with these
things from WARB Parker and a couple of other I
think gentle Monster was the company. Those are very popular
glasses apparently, but they're gonna you know, Google's apparently not
gonna make these themselves, even though eventually they probably will,
but they're partnering with companies to say, hey, here's all
the tools you build the glasses. You know how to

(08:54):
build the glasses, we know the technology, so I think
that's going to be really really cool. We know how
popular the ray band metas are. Those do not have
a screen, although a new version may, but the fact
that these have a screen make them really really useful,
and hopefully the price is right. I think they're going
to open up a world of accessibility features too. Then

(09:14):
you've got this Samsung Project Mohan. This is their upcoming
XR headset Extended Reality. So it's kind of like a lighter,
cheaper take on the Apple Vision Pro. It's nothing we
haven't seen before, but this is Google and Samsung's version.
They've been talking about this thing forever. But I put
it on. It's like a helmet, you know. It's just
like the Apple Vision Pro. It's got What's neat about

(09:37):
it that I thought was interesting is it has the
Google apps built in, so Google Maps. I tried like
just kind of it was so weird. You're standing over
like the pyramids in Egypt, and then you would like
kind of just almost like swim through them and like
see like you can move around and just look through everything.
So it's like bringing together like all these three DViews
that Google has been collecting YouTube videos.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
I watch one of those. And then the coolest thing
is that you can.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Browse through your Google Photos collection, which is where I
have all my photos, So that would be really fun.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
So it's all cool, but it's not totally new.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
If you've seen what Apple has been doing, this doing
with this, but with Google apps built in and potentially
hopefully it's a lower price tag, this could be you know,
a good option for folks. And then there was more.
They talked about real time language translation and Google Meet
and also through the glasses. They tried demoing it on
the stage live. It kind of worked, it kind of didn't,

(10:31):
but you know, these are the things that will work
in the future. Then they also showed a new tool
where you can virtually try on clothes as you shop
on the internet, which we'll see we'll see if people
actually use that. And then they also have a new
three D video call system that they're going to launch
with businesses, sort of like a three D version of Zoom.
And then this was the kicker. They have a new

(10:52):
premium AI tier. You can now subscribe to all of
Google's AI features for two hundred and fifty dollars a month.
You really got to make some money on that stuff
to justify two hundred and fifty dollars a month. But overall,
my takeaway is that Google said, look, we are not
fooling around here. We are putting AI into everything, and
we're gonna make AI a part of your every day

(11:15):
life no matter what. That's the future, all right, coming
up your turn your calls eight eight eight rich one
O one eight eight eight seven four to two four
one zero one. Plus the beloved app that is shutting
down forever. 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 O one eight

(11:39):
eight eight seven four to two four one zero one.
Give me a call if you have a question about technology.
Operators are standing by. Actually, just Kim So gets you on.
Kim's here on phones, Bobo's there on the board. Yes,
we are running a live show this Memorial Day weekend,
so thanks for tuning in. Name is Rich Demiro and

(12:01):
the website for the show rich on Tech dot tv. There.
I've got a fresh newsletter, so if you're not subscribed,
definitely do that. This is a kind of a big
deal for me because this is an app that I use,
and I'm sure a lot of other people used it too.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
Pocket is shutting down.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
This is a popular read it later app that is
owned by Mozilla, the same company behind Firefox. They said,
that is it. It's the end of the line. We're
focusing on other things and not this. I don't know why.
I mean, this didn't seem like it was a lot
to maintain, but I guess it was. But this is
one of those apps that lets you bookmark an article

(12:42):
and save it for later. Now, for me, personally, I
love this. The idea was to read these articles at
some point, but I inevitably never would. But then I
got it into my system of like, hey, you know what,
I'm going to try opening up this app when I'm
bored on my phone instead of scrolling, and so I
put out on my home screen as of like a
couple weeks ago, and now it's going away. So if

(13:04):
you are using this app, you can export your saved
data until October eighth this year, but after that everything's
going to be deleted. If you have a premium subscription,
that will automatically be canceled. And then there is a
rumor from tech Crunch. They report that dig founder Kevin
Rose has offered to buy Pocket from Mozilla, so there

(13:26):
is a chance it could be saved, but we'll see.
And the thing I liked about Pocket versus all the
other read it later apps is they had this uncanny
way of uncovering the article no matter what, even if
it was paywalled, if you put it in Pocket, somehow
you were able to read it. The other ones don't
really do that. I don't know what magic they had
behind the scenes, but that was the best part about it,

(13:48):
So that's shutting down. If you're looking for an alternative.
I think the best alternative is probably an app called
insta Paper, and that was like one of the original
read it Later apps, but it's only on iOS for
a very long time. Now it's available across all platforms,
but insta Paper is probably your best bet. The other

(14:08):
one is some people like raindrop dot io that's more
of a bookmarking site, but you can use it to
save articles. Read Wise Reader is also very popular, but
the problem with that one is that they want you
to pay, so you're not really going to get a
free level there. As far as I can tell, and
then Safari and Chrome do have some built in reading
list tools. I don't like them. I mean, if you're

(14:31):
all Apple, sure, the Safari one might work, but the
Chrome one, I don't know. It's just not as good,
like it's not dedicated. So anyway, Pocket is shutting down,
you might want to look into an alternative before that
goes away. Google, on the flip side, has launched a
really useful app called Notebook LM. So Notebook LM I

(14:52):
talked about it on this show before. It's basically an
AI notebook that you can populate with your own data
and information and then ask questions about that. But the
real killer feature are these audio overviews that they do.
So as soon as anyone sends me a PDF or
a handbook or anything reviewers guide, I drop it into

(15:13):
Notebook LM and I get this audio overview, which is
basically a podcast about that topic. And so it can
really help you understand anything PDFs, web pages, YouTube videos,
whatever you want. Great for students, researchers, or anyone who
really wants to dig into all this information that they
have to sort through. And they have this really cool

(15:33):
feature on the app where you can join the conversation
to ask questions about the topic. So it's almost like
just asking the podcasters like calling in. So I think
that's really cool. It's a great app. It's available for
iOS and Android. They also have offline playback, which is
really cool. So for me, I was downloading all these

(15:53):
podcasts and then putting it into my podcast app. Now,
if you have this app installed, you can just save
it and listen on this sub way. Uh, let's go
to Brandon in Corona. Brandon, you're on.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
With Rich.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
Cat Rich.

Speaker 4 (16:08):
Do you think getting into coding now is absolute? Oh?

Speaker 1 (16:12):
Good question. You mean with all the AI coding tools
out there. Yeah, I mean it's a great question. I
think the idea is still that you have to have
a base knowledge of coding, right, I mean, to understand
what these tools are doing. So I think that maybe
the level of knowledge that you need might be a

(16:33):
little bit less, and you know, but I think at
the end of the day, it's kind of like anything,
you still need that base knowledge, even if AI is
helping you do it. So let's say you were writing,
you would still want to be a writer and understand
good writing, and then maybe you're using AI to polish
your writing. Same thing with coding. You still need a
base knowledge of coding and then use the app to

(16:55):
help you code. And I think that that's really what's
happening now. I think there's always going to be a
need for someone that understands the basics of this stuff
and also, uh, even further than that. So I don't
think it's a it's a bad thing to understand that.
But yes, coding has been really changed by AI because
these tools can literally you can describe what you want

(17:16):
and they can create it. Eighty 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 O one eight

(17:37):
eight eight seven four to two four one zero one.

Speaker 5 (17:44):
Let's go to.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Benny in Burbank. Benny, you're on with Rich.

Speaker 6 (17:49):
Oh okay, Hi Rich, Hi, Yes, my day, Benny. And
I'm blind and do wonder if if you knew if
you know anything a ball any dyviye for me to
be able to read newspaper or any coming to my apartment.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Oh, you mean like something where you can put the
paper underneath and it like reads it to you.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yes, please, Oh okay.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
I don't know off the top of my head the
name of the device, but I've seen them. I went
to the Season Accessibility Expo and they usually have these
devices that you can, you know, put there and read.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
But here's the deal.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
If you have a smartphone, you could probably do this
with AI if you just want to use like the
Gemini I was talking about earlier, or chat GBT, if
they can tap into your phone, you can just use
that to sort of aim it at the paper and
it will read it for you. So that's one aspect.
But there are document readers that I saw there. I'd

(18:53):
have to I need to look and see like kind
of what the names of those were. But it looks
like a almost like a thing where like the paper
goes underneath and then the cameras at the top and
it would just look down at it and read it
to you. So I'm going to look into that and
I'll figure that out. But the other thing is I
think definitely check out the you know, the AI apps

(19:14):
out there. The other thing is eleven Labs has an
app and it basically will read anything aloud to you.
And if you take a picture of something a document.
It can read that out loud to you. So that
is completely free and it wouldn't cost you anything. I
think if you, Benny, if you look at these things

(19:35):
I'm talking about, these accessibility gadgets, they're probably going to
be pretty expensive. So I think that something like this
would be a lot easier to use. So the eleven Labs,
let me just confirm. I'm going to open it up
on my phone. Here. This is like a startup and
AI startup and okay, so I'm opening the app and okay, yeah,

(19:55):
so literally I just pressed the plus sign at the
bottom of the app. It says scanned text and I'm
gonna just scan some text here and let's see if
it works. Okay, So it says eleven Labs would like
to access the camera. Okay, so I just did that.
I just scanned the text, and now a little button
that says listen, pops up. Let's see what happens. And

(20:16):
so it's importing the content and.

Speaker 5 (20:20):
Monto.

Speaker 7 (20:21):
Two sub guests this week Henria Dave Citron, Senior director
of product Management for the Gemini App at Google.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
Okay, that's pretty incredible. So I literally just scanned my
paper that has my guests this week, which I printed
out and it it's not perfect, but it's pretty good. So, Benny,
I would say, just download that app if you have
a smartphone, which you know, I'm sure you do, I
would just download that app eleven Reader, and it's completely free.

(20:52):
It's from eleven Labs elevenreader dot io. I mean, you
could just scan on newspaper article and have it read
to you for free. Why why spend any money to
do that? And this has a whole bunch of different voices. Oh,
it'll even create up an article. Oh interesting if they
call it jen FM. So that is basically their version

(21:14):
of what I was talking about with Google with notebook LM.
And here's all the voices you've got. Oh Burt Reynolds.
Look at that for the good old American life, for
the money, for the wow. So you could have Burt
Reynolds read you your stuff, Benny, that's cool.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Uh okay, So anyway, that is the way to do it.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
Don't worry about all the other stuff. I think that's
the way to do it, free and very very accessible.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
Thanks for the call.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Appreciated eighty eight rich one on one eight eight eight
seven four to two four, one zero one. This looks
like a quick one. Here Andrea in Seami Valley. Andrea,
you're on with Rich.

Speaker 8 (21:55):
Hi, how are you.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
I'm doing fantastic.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
I love that I hear myself in the background, which
means you're listening.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
That's okay, what's up? I?

Speaker 8 (22:06):
You were talking about an app where you could upload
a document like a PDF and then it'll just basically
summarize it back to you and read like an audio. Yes, well,
I didn't catch the name of that app.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
Note book LM. Note Book LM. It is free. It's
on iOS and Android, you know, like all apps that
I talk about, You know, every every app is like
almost like a freemium thing where like you'll get you know,
basic things for free, but if you really want to
use it for a lot more, you have to sometimes
pay or have some cloud storage on Google. So it's

(22:41):
tough because I subscribe to Google. So I know there
are some delineations on that app, like where you you know,
you might higher usage limits and things like that, but
the basic functionality is free, and so you can just
download that app and it's it's just brand new. What
are you trying to make information out of? Like a
little podcast out of.

Speaker 8 (23:01):
I'm not even trying to do a podcast. I'm a
licensed mortgage loan officer and so we have to do
continuing your education, and I really like to know the law.
So in my forty five minutes to an hour and
a half drive every day, i'd like to be listening
to it just so it could be playing in the background.

(23:22):
So that's what I'm trying to trying to get at. Yes,
I didn't want Yeah, I didn't want to use it
as a podcast.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Well, so what it'll do is it'll take that law.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
You can put the law into this notebook LM and
then it will create its own mini podcast out of that.
So it's not like but it uses the information in
that law. So for instance, this Take It Down Act,
which they just signed into law a couple this week,
I believe it was. I took that whole bill and

(23:52):
I put it into the notebook LM app and then
I made a podcast out of it, and it literally
went through the entire law and just explain every aspect
about it. And so it's like these two hosts that
are AI generated voices. They sound very real, but it is.
It's incredible. It's probably the best way to learn that
I've ever seen in my life because it's the way

(24:12):
that people like to learn, which is just through audio
and listening. And so I have now everything that I
want to learn that's like kind of dense material, you know,
like do I really want to read all this?

Speaker 2 (24:23):
You can put it in there and listen to it.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
And the thing is, since it's powered by just the
stuff that you're putting in there, there's not a lot
of hallucination. Like the hosts don't really make stuff up.
They try to grab just from what you put in there,
so it should stay factual.

Speaker 8 (24:40):
That's that's awesome, That's that's incredible. I appreciate the info,
so thank you so much. And we just started. I
just started listening to the AM channel and I appreciate
all them.

Speaker 1 (24:52):
So that you're sharing, well, thank you. I appreciate it.
I will continue to share because that's what I love
to do. I love those light bulb moments where you're
sitting and they're like, wait a second, that sounds like
something I could use. Now, I will say, Andrea, just
be a little patient with the app because it is
brand new, and I think Google got it out pretty
quickly because people wanted this so badly, but I have

(25:15):
noticed there. You know, there could be some quirks with it,
Like you know, when you press play on the audio overview,
it does take a couple seconds and sometimes it may
not work. But it's They've already had one update to
this app, so uh it is. It is happening quickly.
Thanks for the call. Eighty to eight rich one oh
one eight eight eight seven four to two four one
zero one.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Queen Ugly Duckling from Bronx, New York City writes in
I'm aware it's twenty twenty five, but in your opinion,
are there any chances a tech company will bring back
a quirty keyboard smartphone with all the modern bells and whistles.
I really missed the T Mobile sidekick. Nothing on the
market today, interests may Queen Ugly Duckling, You're not alone.

(25:56):
I think some people do miss the tactile feel of
a real keyboard. There is a product that came out
probably been around for a year or two now called
Clicks c l I Cks clicks and it is basically
a physical keyboard that you attached to a smartphone. So
it started with the iPhone. You would slip it in
there and it almost looks like a BlackBerry keyboard. They

(26:19):
would never say that, obviously, but I can. But they
also have now models for Samsung and Motorola, so it's
not like a sidekick per se. You know that was
the one who you flipped up. You know that thing
was so hot, that phone. But that phone you said,
modern smartphone. That was like, you know, proprietary software that
this is. You know, you can attach this to a
modern smartphone like an iPhone or a Samsung and get

(26:40):
all the benefit of that phone with this little quirdy keyboard,
So it's not you know, a phone that has it.
And yes, your phone's going to be a little bit
bigger because of this. But it's about one hundred, one
hundred and fifty dollars and the company says they've sold
over one hundred thousand of them, so clearly people like this.
We're actually going to have one of the founders of
the company on the show so soon, so we'll talk

(27:02):
to Clicks. Let's see what day, Oh here we go, uh, Saturday,
June seventh, So the weekend of June seventh, we will
have uh, let's see the CEO of Clicks on the show.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Eighty eight Rich one on one.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Remember everything I mentioned is linked up on the website.
So if you hear something I talk about and you
want to get a link richon tech dot TV. This
is episode one two. We'll be right back after this.
Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging
out with you, talking technology at Triple eight Rich one

(27:35):
O one eight eight eight seven four to two four
one zero one.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Uh, it is Memorial Day weekend.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
Uh. You know it's interesting we say Happy Memorial Day, right,
And I looked that up because I you know, I
write my newsletter. I'm like, is it is it appropriate
to say Happy Memorial Day? Because sometimes you forget, like
the true reason behind these holidays and Memorial Day is
to honor, you know, the men and women who died
while serving, you know, in the armed forces.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
And so it's a solemn day.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
But of course America we like to celebrate, you know,
and so you know, it's a barbecue, it's this, it's that.
So if I say Happy Memorial Day, obviously I am
thinking of all of the folks who have you know,
made sacrifices for this country and uh, to get us
to where we are today. So that is not lost
on me for any holiday. Fourth of July Memorial Day.

(28:27):
There are so many out there that we I think,
we work so hard that you know, these times that
we have off we just sort of enjoy. But there
are people out there that you know, have family members
and you think people that are much more connected to
this than some other people. So, uh, I am thinking
about that today. Eighty eight Rich one oh one is

(28:48):
the phone number eight eight eight seven four two four
one zero one if you want to hop on the
phone ask a question. Uh, let's see, let's go to
Diana in Orange County. She dialed up, Diana, you're on
with Rich.

Speaker 9 (29:02):
Thank you. Rich. Should be a quick question here. I
was subjected to identity thefts and I'm in the process
of recovering. Among the recommendations I received was to only
use my cell phone or an iPad when I'm making
purchases and accessing any of my financial accounts, not to

(29:24):
use my laptop, and I wanted to know they were
told me that it's more secure, and I wanted to
know if you agree with that or if you have
another recommendation.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Who's telling you this?

Speaker 9 (29:38):
Tell me that, oh, the computer place where I took
my laptop to be cleaned.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
So did you have malware on your laptop?

Speaker 9 (29:50):
I don't. Well, yeah, they showed me three or four
different sites that they that the criminals loaded onto my laptop.

Speaker 1 (29:59):
Okay, and did you so did you fall for like
some sort of tech support scam where they said, hey,
we need to install it?

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Okay?

Speaker 1 (30:06):
All right, So there there is a bit of truth
to what they're saying. But if your computer does not
have malware or a key logger on it, you'll be okay.
But in general, I think what they're trying to say
is that because your smartphone, did you have an iPhone?

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Or it's okay?

Speaker 1 (30:26):
So I mean, in general, you know, smartphones are less
susceptible to spywear than a desktop computer. And so I
think what they're trying to say is you're probably safer
if you're on your phone because chances are nobody can
see what you're doing or intercept your information. And so

(30:46):
especially on the iPad, I mean, the the iOS operating
system is pretty rock solid when it comes to what
people can do or how they can spire or monitor
anything you're doing, Like it's almost like non existent unless
you are you know, a head of state, or you
are sort of targeted in attack that they install malware
on your phone, but most regular people are not. With

(31:09):
that said, I think, you know, common sense kind of
prevails in this case.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
So I have a rule with.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
My debit card versus my credit card, So and then
bank account, you got to be really really careful with
giving access to that, like that's almost like non existent
because you don't want to do that. But when it
comes to credit card versus debit card, if you're using
your credit card to shop online, I mean number one,
if someone gets your credit card number, it's not the
end of the world. You're gonna it's gonna be a headache.

(31:38):
But you call your credit card company, you say, hey,
this was fraud. I'm not paying and they say yeah,
and they just stop the charges. Now if it's your
debit card, it's a little more annoying because that's connected
directly to your bank account and so the money's gonna
come out. Now you've got to deal with this headache
of getting in touch with your bank and you got
to kind of fight them on it because you know
it's real money that has already gone out somewhere, so

(31:58):
it is it could be a little trick here to
recover that. So my rule of thumb in life and
online is, if my card is leaving my hand, I
use a credit card. If my card is staying in
my hand, I'm using my debit card. So if you
think about the internet, my card is pretty much leaving
my hand. So I'm going to use my credit card.

(32:20):
And I have shopped online for years. I've done my
online banking for years. The main thing we have to
be concerned about is other humans tricking us.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
This idea of.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
You know, just wandering around the web and something stealing
your information, is it happens, but it's it's mostly people
being tricked into giving up their information in some way.
You're on a site that might not be legitimate because
you find a great deal, but I think that that's
really what we're up against the most. So long story short, Diana,

(32:50):
I think at the end of the day, if you
are practicing good hygiene when it comes to protecting your
personal information online, I think you should be okay. Now,
the other thing I would say is if you are
out and about, if you are traveling, if you're doing anything,
if you're going to be accessing your bank account, information,
like if you're logging into your bank or your credit

(33:11):
card or any sort of private financial stuff. You always
want to be on a secure connection, so not a
public Wi Fi connection. And if you're out and about
with your phone, make sure you're on your cellular connection,
not the Wi Fi at the hotel. Now, Wi Fi
is pretty secure, but there are still more ways that
people can get into that than the cellular connection. So

(33:33):
whenever I'm checking my bank, whenever I'm doing this stuff,
I usually switch to my cellular connection, and that is
very private. It's very secure, and you should be okay
with that.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Does that help?

Speaker 9 (33:43):
Is that true for an iPad as well?

Speaker 2 (33:47):
iPad?

Speaker 1 (33:47):
If you're look, if you're on the Wi Fi on
the iPad at home, you're fine. If you're on the
Wi Fi at the hotel, you know, you're probably fine
if you're using your bank account app. But you just
have to be a little bit more cautious because there
could what's called a man in the middle attack where
someone has physically connected something to that router or the
hotel Wi Fi that they can intercept your information. Now,

(34:09):
most of the time it's encrypted anyway, but the reality
is I'm just giving you the very broad strokes here
of when you're you're truly secure and when you're less secure.
People are checking their bank accounts on these on these
public Wi Fi connections all day every day. Is everyone
getting hacked? No, but there could be a bigger chance
of that if you're doing that. So again, if you

(34:31):
want to be truly secure, truly safe, I think number
one is not falling victim to any sort of trickery
that we are approached with on a daily basis. And
if you if you follow me on Instagram, Diana, you
know that I am posting all of these scams that
people send me on a daily basis, and.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
They are brutal.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
I mean I just posted this one a couple days
ago where it's like Amazon, and it's an email that says, hey,
you have to update your payment and method to continue Prime.
This email is so perfect, there's not a spelling error,
the graphics are perfect, and then when you actually click,
it's incredibly detailed and perfect down to.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yeah, when it's asking for your social and your mother's
made a name and your phone number and your date
of birth, you should be on high alert.

Speaker 2 (35:18):
Don't ever give that information.

Speaker 1 (35:20):
But then when you go to the if you made
it to the Verify payment page, this website is so good,
this fake website trying to steal your information that when
you put in your credit card number, if it's it
validates it instantly, and if it's not a valid number,
you just type in some random stuff it says invalid,
and then when you type in a number that works,
it even changes the icon to the current logo of

(35:41):
AMX Visa Masterpart eighty to eight rich one oh one.

Speaker 2 (35:45):
This is what we're up against. Welcome back to rich
on Tech.

Speaker 1 (35:50):
Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you on this Memorial
Day weekend, talking technology at Triple eight rich one oh
one eight eight eight seven four to two for one
zero one. The website for the show is rich on
Tech dot tv. This is episode one twenty two. If
you want notes to anything I mentioned, it is there

(36:12):
on the website. Also, be sure to check out my
latest newsletter. You can see it on the website. Sign
up for free put your email address in. Every weekend
I send a new newsletter. It is free and packed
with information. A lot of the stuff that becomes part
of this show is first in the newsletter, so the

(36:32):
people that know get a little heads up. This hour,
we've got Dave Citron. He is with Google. He's going
to talk about all the new features of Gemini, their
AI app. If you haven't downloaded it, it's worth a try.
Even if you use chat GBT. This is Google's version
of that, and they continue to evolve it. It's interesting

(36:54):
all these AI companies. Every week they say they have
a new model. The model is sort of like the
the programming of the like the knowledge base of the AI.
And every week they're like, our model has gotten so
much better. It can do this and this and this
and that. And it's like it's like, okay, we get it.
You got a new model. It's like, just tell me
when it can do this, tell me when it can

(37:16):
do that. And these things are good, but they're not perfect.
They're not flawless. They still make mistakes, and they're still
a work in progress. Let's put it that way.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
Let's go to Shane in Colorado. Shane, what's up?

Speaker 10 (37:31):
Hi?

Speaker 4 (37:32):
Yeah, longtime fan, Thank you. Going back to dapoor. Oh wow, hey,
I really enjoy watching my screen saver on the computer
in my kitchen, seeing pictures of friends, family and uh.
And it comes from a big file, big photo file,

(37:53):
and quite often I'll see a picture of it's oh gosh,
I want to put that picture out or send that
picture to somebody, And of course the minute you click
on the photo with the screen saver shutsdown. This is
on Windows, the built in screensaver, and I'm wondering, is
there either a third party screensaver or is there a

(38:14):
way to get Windows to tell me where I can
find that particular file.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
I don't think Windows will show you where that file is.
It's interesting because if you look at what Microsoft does
with the bing in the background, like if you set
your background to like the bang photo of the day
or whatever, it gives you, like you know where you
can click and get more information about it. I don't
see that functionality with the built in screen saver. So
I think your best bet is to probably get a

(38:41):
third party screen saver that will show the file name.
They're all in the same folder. I'm guessing right right, Yes,
you just basically need like a program that will show,
like embed the file name sort of in like the
lower right hand corner or something.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
I know that on my.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
TV use I use the Google Photos screensaver, and even
on my Google Home like the little devices I have,
and it puts like the the day and the location
of the photo, so it gives me like an idea
of when that photo was taken and where.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
Okay, so there's a Google Photos screensaver.

Speaker 1 (39:16):
Well not not that I know of for Windows. Well,
now that I'm saying that that'd be, that'd be pretty
pretty handy. Actually, I'm looking up some screensaver third party
screensaver software. Let's see. There is one called g photoshow
dot com. Gphotoshow dot com and it says that it

(39:38):
will show the exif data of your picture, so customizable
captions with EXIF support. So I'm guessing that you can
have the file name display on that picture. So I'd
be that would be good. I would I would check
that one out. Let's see here, let's see here screensaver creator.

(40:00):
Let's see Uh yeah, so let's see file. Yeah, it
looks like you can customize what it's going to show
on the on the screen, so that would probably be
the best way to do it. Yeah, display displays information
about the images, so there you go. Uh, let's see
if does this have a cost. So by now it
looks like you can download it try it out for free,

(40:22):
and then the license is sixteen euros, so I mean
for sixteen bucks. If you like this stuff, you know
it might be worth it. The other thing.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
That's for Screensaver Creator or G photo.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Show gphotoshow dot com. So okay, now, the other thing
I would do is let me just see one thing,
because there's usually a way to uh, I go to
this website called alternative two dot net. Have you heard
of that one? And this one will tell you all
the alternatives for the screen saver or for that software.

(40:56):
Let's see, there is one called wallpaper Slideshow LT. I
don't know how old that is though. So what I
do is, whenever I'm kind of sizing up some new
software that I might Oh it's funny, it's the same company.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Okay, so same thing.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
So I think that's the best bet at this point
is check out gphotoshow dot com.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
That is probably gonna do it. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Or I mean, look, if you want kind of a
free method of this, Shane, you can just use a
website that watermarks the photo and every time you want
to add a photo to that folder that you're making
with all of your screensaver photos, and maybe you already
have like one hundred of the men there and you don't
want to do this. But for the moving forward pictures,
you can run it through that website to put a
little watermark on it with the name of the photo

(41:38):
in the lower right hand corner, like the file name,
and then that's that's a cheap and free way of
doing this. So that's another option, and you can use
like Canva dot com to do that for free. I'm
sure there are plenty of photo watermarking websites that can
do that as well. So those are some options.

Speaker 4 (41:55):
Alrighty, well great, this has been dragging me crazy for
many years now.

Speaker 5 (42:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
I mean, look, you you would think they would just
put a little a little clickable area in the lower
right hand corner that would take you right to that
to that photo file, right, I mean, that makes a
lot of sense.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
So you know what my workaround has been is to
grab my phone and take a photo of the photo, yeah,
which isn't very clean and you know, you lose a lot,
but that's been my only out. So yeah, so this
will definitely be good.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
Well, it sounds like you've got your homework and I
expect a full report on what works thanks for the call, Shane,
appreciate it. Eighty eight rich one oh one eight eight
eight seven four to two four one zero one. We
have a new law that bans deep fakes and non
consensual images if you're sharing these. This is the Take
It Down Act ban's non consensual sharing of intimate images,

(42:51):
including AI generated deep fakes. Violators can face fines, jail time,
and mandatory restitution. The other interesting thing about is that
the law requires online platforms if you shared these, you know,
like a Twitter or x I guess, to remove this
content within forty eight hours if it's reported, and there

(43:11):
are stricter penalties if this involves minors. The FTC is
tasked with enforcing this law. The service providers, the online
platforms have until twenty twenty six to come up with
a way to let people report these things and also
a system to help take them down. Now, of course,
this is not without its criticism. Some people worry about

(43:32):
the impact on free speech, privacy, and also encrypted messages
because people find a way around this stuff. And then
there's concerns from digital rights groups over how they're going
to enforce this and also abuse of this. So is
this automatic? Is it? But apparently from everything I read,
this was got a lot of support from both sides.

(43:53):
I think people knew we needed something like this because
this is becoming such a problem in schools especially. I
mean for adults it's a problem, but for for minors.
These kids they're sharing these photos, sometimes not even realizing
that you shouldn't be doing this, and a lot of
times they don't realize the implications of doing something to
this extent. So this is going to be interesting because

(44:16):
federal crime is pretty serious, and the fact that these
online platforms have to come up with a way to
remove this content, that's that's interesting too. So that's something
to follow. The other big news this week, and a
lighter kind of turn of events, Johnny Ive is joining
open Ai in a six billion dollar deal. This is wild.

(44:40):
So Johnny Ive, if you're not familiar with the name,
a legendary Apple designer. He was at Apple for like
thirty years and he was credited with designing the iPhone
and so many of the products, the look and feel
of the products that Apple came out with over the
past couple decades. And he left a couple of years
ago start his own sort of hardware and design company.

(45:03):
Open Eye is opening opening open Ai is acquiring his
hardware startup, which is called Io in that deal that's
worth six billion dollars. He still has his design company
thing it's called love Form. But this is just wild
and Sam Altman and Johnny Ive they came out this video.
It's like a love letter. It's like they're just gushing

(45:24):
over each other. It's really funny if you watch it, it's
very over the top. They meet at this coffee place
in San Francisco and they just chat about how much
they love each other, how excited they are for this.
So what they're planning on launching is a new AI
device or devices that will use chat ebt, and they're
saying it's probably not a phone, although it could be

(45:45):
you never know, maybe not glasses, but something that's going
to be compact and elegant. And this is all rumor
and speculation at this point because they have not said
what they are going to launch, but they said it's
going to be some sort of accessory. And we've seen
some of these AIS estuaries, like the pins and the
little Rabbit device with a tiny screen. None of them
have worked so far. Right now, the phone still seems

(46:07):
to be the best form factor. But I think glasses
could be a really interesting one. Some sort of tiny
device that you talk to, but you don't always want
to talk to a device. Maybe it could be earbuds.
Who knows, but we'll see. But Johnny, I've hitting quite
the jackpot. I mean, this guy's already rich. I mean,
let's be honest. You worked at Apple for thirty years.

(46:28):
If you designed the iPhone, you're you're doing okay to
begin with. Now you just sold a company for six
billion dollars. Probably ordered a double espresso at that place.
The bar that they went to, the little coffee shop
was something was a Copola place. It's like cafe. I
think it was called zop zotrope z o e t

(46:50):
r o p e zoa trope And that refers to
the old school way they did film, like that thing
that would spin around. You look at the film in
there like anyway, it's all, oh yeah, it's a Francis
Ford Coppola's cafe. There you go eighty eight rich one
on one eighty eight seven four to two four one
zero one. You got a question about technology, give me

(47:10):
a call. Phone lines are open. We'll be reckoning welcome
back to rich on Tech Rich DeMuro here hanging out
with you talking technology triple eight Rich one O one
eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one.
If you don't want to hop on the phone, you
can hop online. The website is rich on Tech dot TV.

(47:33):
Once you're there, just hit contact. You can send me
an email that way. Yes, it does make its way
to my inbox. And yes, the email address is feedback
not feedback. If you listen to the show, you know
why it's called feedback. That's a combination of feedback and
mail bag.

Speaker 4 (47:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
I came up with it one of the early shows
and it just sort of stuck. Uh, Lisa wrote in
I caught the tail end of your last show where
you mentioned a coinbase scam. Unfortunately, my elderly brother fell
for it and lost thousands of dollars. I didn't get
to write down the details. Could you share what people
should do if they've been scammed? So, yeah, they came

(48:13):
out this week. So last week they said they were
they were hit with a Basically, hackers tricked their customer
service representatives into handing over information or actually bribed them.
I guess not tricked and bribed them, and then they
used that information to access customer data and trick the
customers into sort of sending them money. And so, I'm

(48:34):
sorry this happened to your brother. It's very unfortunate. And yeah,
I guess this week they came out and said that
the breach affected sixty nine, four hundred and sixty one
customers at least. So now that doesn't say that every
one of them got tricked, but that means that's how
much customer data was taken in this heist. And this

(48:57):
started December twenty sixth, twenty twenty four. It was not
detected until May of this year. The hackers made off
of names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, government IDs, account balances,
transaction data, and some information about the accounts, but not
all of it was like clear. And then the hackers

(49:18):
went to coinbase and said, look, we did this pas
us twenty million dollars and this will all go away.
And Coinbase said, nah, we're not going to do that.
We're going to actually make good for these customers if
they get in touch with us, we're gonna well, we're
gonna get in touch with them. Number one. So to
answer your question Coinbase sent out an email directly to
the customers that were affected by this, So your brother

(49:41):
should have gotten one if he did lose money. Now,
if he didn't, I would still get in touch with Coinbase,
and they've got a blog post on their website coinbase
dot com to explain what to do. But the blog
post is like protecting our customers and standing up to extortionists.
That's what it is titled. So I would have him
do that. But the main thing they're concerned about is that,

(50:04):
you know, people with a lot of money in these
accounts could be targeted because now they know how much
people have in these Coinbase accounts, or at least some
of them. So scary stuff, I mean, really, Again, the
thing that I talk about a lot in this show
is we have this idea of hackers like working to
get our information twenty four to seven, right, like actively
trying to like get into our computers, get into our phones.

(50:26):
And yes, that does happen, but most often, more often
than not for the average person, it's not necessarily that
it's really being tricked into giving up your information, or
they have some of your information and they somehow trick
you into giving up the rest so because there's so
much information about us floating around online, these hackers can

(50:46):
build sort of a profile of us. So they may
have a password but not the website that it works for,
and they may just try it on some major websites.
Or they may have, you know, a key piece of
information and they try that somewhere else. Or they may
contact you directly because they have your phone number and
they know you have a Bank of America account, and
they may even have the account number, and they trick

(51:08):
you into giving up more information about how to access
that account. So realistically, when people email me and say, hey,
I've been hacked. My Facebook was hacked, my Instagram was hacked,
most of the time you're not necessarily hacked. You're being
tricked into giving up that information or giving up access
to that account. So be aware of the ways that
these hackers do this and you can really just be

(51:30):
better off. Let's see, speaking of being hacked, Gerald writes
in and see this stuff happens all the time. If
someone accidentally gives a scammer remote access to their computer,
something that always happens, does that scammer now have access
to all the saved passwords and a password manager I
had the person change their email and banking passwords, should
they also change the master password and regenerate all their

(51:53):
saved passwords? Great question. If the scammer had full access
to their system and the password manager was unlocked, it
is possible that these scam artists could have downloaded all
of those passwords and the safe logins in that password manager,
And if they did this quickly and without them knowing, yes,

(52:14):
this could have happened. So what I would do is yes,
I would definitely change the master password on that password
manager immediately. I'd turn on two factor authentication if you can.
I would go into the password manager security settings and
log out of all other devices, so if they somehow
logged in from another device with that information, they can

(52:34):
no longer access that. But I would definitely update the
passwords on any high risk accounts. It sounds like you
already did that with the email and banking. I would
continue to do that, especially for social media. It's probably
better to be overly cautious here than to not. But yeah,
you have to be very careful with these password managers.
Don't leave them where they stay unlocked forever, like you
want them to lock out after ten fifteen minutes. It's

(52:57):
a pain that you have to keep unlocking them for
a reason. And also I don't recommend mixing your password
manager with your two factor authentication code generator. A lot
of these password managers can also generate two factor authentication codes.
Problem with that they get into your password manager, they've
got your code as well, so use a secondary app
for that. All right, Coming up, we're gonna talk Dave

(53:19):
Citron of Google about new features in Gemini AI.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
This is rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich On Tech.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
Rich DeMuro 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. Hope you
are having a fantastic day. I know I am. Just
being here with you is exciting to me, so thanks
for listening. Earlier I was talking about Google Io. By

(53:48):
the way, we're gonna get back to the phone lines
in just a moment. I've got a great interview. We
were talking about Google Io earlier. Obviously, Google's putting a
lot of emphasis on Gemini, which is their aim, and
live brings it to iPhone and Android where you can
show your camera to AI and also share your screen.
They're bringing it into Chrome so it can summarize web pages.

(54:11):
And then obviously they're wearables Android XR the glasses they
showed off, and also a headset. So let's hear from
Dave Citron. He's with Google. He's going to talk all
about the new features in Gemini, their AI assistant. So
let's talk Gemini. This is Google's big AI product. What
is Gemini? I mean, Gemini is many things.

Speaker 11 (54:34):
First and foremost, it's a set of foundation models, and
we're really excited about our latest two point five pro model.
And then you probably heard today, but we announced a
kind of a high end version of that model that
we call you'd think that'll be available to our new
Ultra plan that basically is at the top of the
game with respect to benchmarks across kind of all measures.

(54:56):
Jemini also represents an app, and so that's the that
I'm on. We work on the Gemini app, which is
really Google's vision of what the future of assistance looks
like with respect to how AI can be a truly great, personal,
proactive and powerful personal assistant.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
When it comes to Gemini, what do you think people
need to know about what that is? Exactly? Yeah, what
we do for you. Yeah, it's a great question.

Speaker 11 (55:19):
I mean, ultimately, we are really excited about Gemini as
your personal AI assistant. We want Gemini app to be
the best assistant that's personal, proactive and powerful and really
the best place to try Google's latest and greatest AI models.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
So if I haven't tried Gemini yet, what can I
do with it? Yeah?

Speaker 11 (55:39):
So, I mean a lot of people use it just
to really understand the world a little bit better, whether
that's asking civil questions about things. We just launched a
new amazing feature where you can bring video.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
Sharing into Gemini Live.

Speaker 11 (55:52):
So Gemini Live is the ability for you to actually
talk to Gemini like you would another human and it
really sounds human like.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
It's really interactive and quite delightful.

Speaker 11 (56:02):
So we see a lot of our users just using
it to chat about really nothing in particular, or maybe
they're trying to ask about a topic or you know,
deep dive on something, maybe role play for an interview.
We just brought this new video sharing capability to that future.
So while you're having a conversation with Gemini, you can
turn on your camera and just point to anything and
have a conversation about what you're seeing. It's almost like

(56:23):
giving vision to Gemini as your assistant, and it's really
really exciting. One example, just the other day, I was
using it to play a board game with some family
and they really stuck on the instructions.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
There was like five pages of instructions.

Speaker 11 (56:38):
No one wanted to read it, so I just turned
it on camera mode in Gemini Live, showed it the instructions,
and then basically to set it on the table and
we all use it as kind of a you know,
let's talk to an expert on how to play this game.
I can even pick it up and show it the
board during the game and it would help me kind
of understand what I should do next and answer questions
that I didn't even know as someone who played the

(56:58):
game before. And that's a great example of an everyday
use case where you can bring Gemini with this through
camera future and really have it help you kind of
assist through everyday types of interactions. And we're rolling it
out now to everyone on both Android and iOS, so
if you haven't tried to definitely recommend it.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
So it's almost like tapping into like this smart wealth
of knowledge almost embodied in like a humanistic voice.

Speaker 11 (57:23):
Absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, And you know, because you're interacting with
it with voice, you know, it's almost like it can
and here, and then now with the camera future, it's
like it can see.

Speaker 1 (57:33):
So, you know, it really is the closest we've ever.

Speaker 11 (57:35):
Had in terms of a Google product of being like
a real assistant.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
So you're in this every day, you're you know, leading
the product on this and understanding it. What do you
think the average person should sort of start with when
it comes to Gemini.

Speaker 11 (57:50):
Yeah, I think some of our most favorable interactions where
you know, our users are telling us they love this product.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
Is that deeper understanding about the world.

Speaker 11 (57:59):
You know, Gemini can tap into Google's you know, trillions
of data points about everything that's going on in the web,
all of our maps data, you know, and all of
the data that you have in Gmail and Drive. You know,
with the user's permission, you can give all of that
access to Gemini as well. So once it has access
to all that information, you can now ask it any

(58:21):
sort of questions.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
It never, you know, gets gets bored.

Speaker 11 (58:25):
It never you know, criticizes you for asking, you know,
questions that it might find basic. You can do, you know,
any sort of questioning you want for as long as
you want. In fact, Gemini live that voice interaction I
was talking about. What we're seeing is users who when
they switch into that voice mode have five times longer
conversations because it's such a great way to actually like
probe about a topic, whether it's you know, something that's

(58:46):
going on in the world or something that's happening in
your Gmail. So I think that's maybe the best place
to start, and then from there start experimenting with these
you know, media generation features like Imagine four where you
can create these stunning images, whether it's just for fun
or that you want to share with others.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
There's so much information and it feels like this person
is so genius. It almost to me feels like cheating
on like the world, where you're like tapping into this
knowledge base that you never really were able to do before.
Did you feel that way with like the board game?
Or should we feel guilty leaning on this resource that
feels so like superhuman? It's a really good question.

Speaker 11 (59:24):
I mean, in general, you know, Google for the last
you know, ten plus years, has been incorporating AI into
its products, and you know, all these AI innovations even
before Jenai and large language models were about bringing these
superpowers to users at scale. You know, I think if
any one of our products stagnated and stopped innovating with

(59:44):
new futures, you know, you would never hear about these
products anymore. But the reason why we have so many
fans of Google products is because we're constantly delivering these
types of innovations. I think large language models maybe are
such a big breakthrough that it can feel like cheating,
you know, in a way, it's just like it's always been.
It's delivering these kind of breakthrough algorithms inside of our

(01:00:05):
products in a magic way that just makes your life easier.
It solves problems that you know, you didn't think technology
could solve for you, but now can. So I don't
think anyone should feel guilty. I think they should feel
excited about having these superpowers.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
And what's fun about this for you? What do you
like about all this stuff?

Speaker 11 (01:00:21):
I mean, I've always been in the product space because
I like taking the cutting edge technology and delivering it
in really magical, easy to use products and product experiences.
And I think, as we were just describing, large language
models are maybe one of the biggest breakthroughs we've had
as an industry for you know, maybe in my career
and so being at the forefront of trying to harness

(01:00:42):
that technology and deliver it in a way that's easy
to use. Again, not to continue talking about Gemini live
again and again, but it's maybe one of it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:50):
It's a big thing. I mean, it's a paradigm shift
in our world. So how we you know, I aimed
it at something the other day and like explain the
whole thing. I mean it's just like, wait, what, Yeah,
I don't even know about that thing.

Speaker 11 (01:01:01):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean it's basically like having a real
assistant and giving everyone an assistant again who has ears
and eyes and can actually help you with your world.
I mean we didn't even talk about the screen sharing
capability on the phone, but you know, any kind of
troubleshooting issue you're having on the phone where you're stuck
and maybe you might need to go ask a tech
friend how to fix something, now you can just open

(01:01:21):
Gemini share your screen and get help yourself in a
very conversational kind of intuitive way. Again, you can talk
to it with any form of expertise. You know, you
can be a novice. It's something or a deep expert
and it will match you. So it's pretty incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:01:35):
So we're sharing our screen, we're sharing it looking at
is there. How is Google protecting user privacy throughout all
of this? Yeah, yeah, it's.

Speaker 11 (01:01:44):
A super important question and something we take seriously across
you know, all of the ways we're integrating Gemini across
all of Google products, not just the Gemini app, but
in particular, you know, we kind of respect all of
Google's existing zero trust cloud security paradigms. In fact, Google
has been industry leading in terms of how it thinks
about a zero trust posture to all the data that

(01:02:05):
we store in Google's cloud, and Gemini is no exception
to that. In terms of the types of data that
you share with Gemini, all of that is within your control.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
So by default nothing is shared.

Speaker 11 (01:02:16):
And actually if you want to share things like your Gmail,
you have to turn it on and you can turn
it off at any time. And you know all the
different data sets that you can share, Google Calendar, Google Keep,
et cetera. Each of those have controls so that you
feel in control the entire time. You can also at
any time delete any of the conversation history you have
and even turn conversation history off completely if you want
a complete kind of no history type of experience. So

(01:02:40):
you know, we're always innovating in ways of making the
user feel in control of the entire experience.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
All right, Once again, that was Dave Citron at Google
talking about Gemini, the company's AI assistant. So they are
really building something that is quite incredible with the idea
that you can use your phone screen or your camera
to show the AI what you need help with. And
again just think about the implications of that. So the

(01:03:08):
other day, I was trying to program my sprinkler system.
I literally just took a picture of the sprinkler and said, hey,
can you tell me how to program this? And I
gave it the zones around my house and it did
it down to the zones, I mean, step by step
without me doing anything. That used to require going online,
finding a PDF the instructions reading them. Now I just

(01:03:29):
got the step by step instructions from AI. So I've
got Gemini live on my phone right here. And so
what's interesting is that, I mean the accessibility idea behind
this is incredible, Like what this opens up for people
that may be a vision impaired or something like that.

(01:03:49):
I mean, I'm just showing it right now. I've got it,
and I'm showing it something. Hey, Gemini, what am I
showing you right now?

Speaker 7 (01:03:56):
You're showing me a teal highlighter marker? Are you looking
to highlights some thing on your screen?

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
I mean, so I just showed it a highlighter. It
told me what color it is. And then what do
you know about this protein bar that I'm showing you?
Does it look like it's good for me?

Speaker 7 (01:04:11):
Okay, that's the Misfits caramel Fudge protein bar. It's plant based,
gluten free and has fifteen grams of protein. Is there
anything specific you're looking for in a protein bar?

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
Yeah, I mean just this kind of information that it's
like you're unlocking. It's like imagine just having the world's
smartest friend at your disposal at all times. And the
fact that they made this for free is also really impressive.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
So again, that's the Gemini app.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
iOS Android, download it, try it, just play with it.
Eighty eight rich one O one will be back after this.
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

(01:04:58):
one zero one. You know when I'm doing the finger dancing,
I like the song Bobo just shakes his head. Finger dancing,
you know, you just put your fingers in the air.
You kind of dance with your fingers off rhythm, off rhythm. Well,
nobody ever said I had rhythm.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Yeah, you're right, no.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
One did ever hear in the history, no one has
ever said that let your fingers do the walking. Do
you remember that Boboju does that ring a bell? It
sounds bou It was the Yellow Pages back in the day. Oh,
you're right, because the picture was a hand walking over
the air.

Speaker 2 (01:05:32):
Yes, and like you let your fingers do the walking.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
And I know when I said the finger dancing, I
was like, wait a second, finger dancing must be related
to finger walking.

Speaker 2 (01:05:41):
Really.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
Okay, your name is Richard from now.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
You're not rich anymore. You're richer only my mom calls
me Richard.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
You're acting your age now, rich ol Uh, let's go
to Gina in Florida.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
Gina, you're on with rich Okay.

Speaker 9 (01:05:56):
My question is that.

Speaker 10 (01:06:00):
The particular one that you mentioned about downloading elevenreader dot ten.
I found that that particular ability to download as well
as so many others that I attempt to download come.

Speaker 6 (01:06:17):
With a catch.

Speaker 10 (01:06:18):
Yeah, that is that you have to agree to their
affiliates marketing to you. In other words, you have to degree,
excuse me, agree to all of the terms and all
of their extra.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
Oh no, and Gina, Gina, can you move to a
spot in your house where you can your phone works better?

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
I can't. You're breaking up? No, I can't.

Speaker 4 (01:06:46):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
Oh okay, so you're talking about agreeing to affiliate. I'm confused.
I'm looking at the eleven labs and I'm not sure
what you mean by that. So if you're yeah, okay.

Speaker 10 (01:07:03):
Right now, yeah, okay, okay, what do you mean downloading
just like any other downloads that are free, they want
to agree to the terms and conditions which allows them
to market your your site to their affiliates, which causes

(01:07:23):
ad intermittently for like thirty seconds. It's disruptive and is
there any way to avoid that? Because if you can't
move on unless you agree to their terms, which creates
their affiliates contacting you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:37):
Well, here's the deal.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
I mean, look, if you're downloading a free app, you
know if you don't agree to the terms and conditions,
you can't use the app. Now, when it comes to
marketing to you, I'm not sure. Like, if you're talking
about the app that we mentioned, which is the eleven
Labs the eleven Reader, was there something that said we're
going to sell your information to someone.

Speaker 10 (01:08:00):
Well, whenever you see the terms and agreements that you
agree that our affiliates, we don't even know who their
affiliates are. It doesn't delineate whose affiliates are so they
can telemarket, need to email, phone call.

Speaker 1 (01:08:14):
Well okay, so I just I just signed up for
this app fresh and it didn't ask me to do
any of that. I didn't have to agree to anything.
So I'm not sure. Maybe you got the wrong app.
I mean I do think that there are now look,
I mean what you're saying is with terms and conditions. Yes,
that is a very common thing on apps. And if

(01:08:36):
you're getting something for free, you know, the adage is
you are the product, right like your data is the product.
So I'm not disputing the fact that if you're signing
up for stuff with your email, yes there is a
chance that you're you will be marketed to. And if
you're giving your phone number, you're giving your address. These
companies use that data to then remarket to you, and yes,

(01:08:58):
that is true. Now the app I specifically mentioned does not.
I didn't see any sort of terms and conditions you
had to scroll through that said they're going to sell
to you. So I don't maybe you got the wrong
app on that, because there are and this happens all
the time. You search for an app that I recommend
on a show or on my website or on Instagram,
you search for it. There's apps that sound similar or

(01:09:19):
look similar, and these apps do this on purpose and
they turn out to be totally bogus, and you got
to be very careful with that. So I do want
to give that warning. But you know, to your bigger question, Gina,
I would say Number one, mask your email address whenever possible.
So if you you know, if you have something like Google,
you can use a plus sign and then some any

(01:09:41):
code you want after that and it'll make a one
time or a unique email address, or use something like
ten minute mail to come up with a unique email.
But yeah, I mean, the thing is, it's almost like
an agreement with these companies. Nobody reads the terms and conditions,
and yeah, they do reserve a lot of rights. Very
often to use the information you provide to their best advantage,

(01:10:02):
which maybe collating, collecting it, putting it together, grouping it
with other people, coming up with like sort of who
you are, and using that to market. Now, I think
that in general, whenever you can opt out of any
of that sharing, you know, opt out of it. If
you can't, you have to decide is this product worth

(01:10:23):
the what I'm giving up in using this product, something
like eleven Labs reader. Like I said, I didn't see anything.
I just signed up fresh and I didn't see anything
that said, hey, We're going to sell your email. But yes,
there are some apps that do say things like that.
But what I would say is look at the terms
and conditions and if you want, you can even throw
them into chat EBT and say, hey, you know, like,

(01:10:44):
what do I need to know? Is this dangerous? If
are they going to sell my information? And I've done
that for sure. I was signing up for something the
other day, I think it was Verizon sent me a
notice that said, hey, we're changing some things in the
terms and conditions, and I popped it into chat gbts
what does this mean exactly?

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
And it explained you know. So I think that that's
a good point, Gina.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
I think the the bigger point is to limit the
amount of information you share. So Number one, get a
secondary phone number, like a Google Voice number or a
text now whatever. Get a secondary phone number and use
that to sign up for stuff. You know, all that
stuff at the grocery store, those little club cards and
things like that. So do that. Get a cloaked or

(01:11:26):
an email address that's disposable or secondary one.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
Duck dot com they have it. That's Duck. You know
that Duck Duck duc Go website.

Speaker 1 (01:11:37):
They have an email address you can use that's sort
of like a private email address. There's also that website
we talked about in the show, cloaked dot com that
helps you make an entirely new identity for every website
that you go to.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
Do I spell that right, cloaked cloaked dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
Eighty eight rich one on one eighty 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. Triple eight rich one oh
one eighty eight seven four to two four one zero one.

(01:12:17):
It is Memorial Day weekend and Adobe says, yes, people
will shop, There will be online deals.

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:12:24):
They expect this to be the first big e commerce
weekend for discounts of twenty twenty five, and it's just
the slide into the end of the year from this.
I guess deals range from seven to ten percent off
categories like electronics, apparel, and sporting goods, so not too much.
Looks like clothing will be the most ten percent off,
sporting goods nine percent, appliance is eight percent, and for

(01:12:46):
the first time ever, more than half of sales this
weekend expected to come from mobile phones.

Speaker 2 (01:12:52):
Do you shop a lot on your mobile phone? I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
I still prefer the desktop for online shopping. I just
feel like it's easier now. I will say there is
one aspect I do like on the mobile phone better,
and that is Apple Pay or Google Pay seems to
work better like the checkout on the phone versus the desktop.

(01:13:14):
Some websites support it, and it's getting a little easier,
but I just feel like it's so much easier on
the phone to shop. Like with the Apple Pay, especially
Google Pay, I've noticed is popping up more on my
desktop for some reason. But my wife, she actually was
ordering something this weekend and she couldn't get the website
to work on her desktop, and I said, let me
try it for my phone. Sure enough, it worked just fine.

(01:13:35):
Because sometimes there's other things running on your desktop as well,
like on your browser. Like I have so many extensions
that interfere with websites. Sometimes they're just not working. I'm like,
it's probably one of my extensions. So I go to
my phone. Everything works perfectly. So a little pro tip.
If something's not working on your desktop, it's probably not
the website. It's probably something on your computer. Go to
your phone and try it. There. Data from Adobe Analytics

(01:13:56):
they track over a trillion retail visits.

Speaker 2 (01:14:00):
Wow, that's a lot. And then other.

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
News this week, Regeneron is buying the bankrupt twenty three
and me for two hundred and fifty six million dollars
and they say that they will keep the service running
and uphold existing privacy policies. That's what a lot of
people are wondering, like, what's going to be done with
this treasure trove of DNA information that twenty three in

(01:14:24):
meter is collected over the years twenty three and meters,
by the way, was worth like six billion dollars. They
sold it in bankruptcy for two hundred and fifty six million.
How far they fell. The company, Regeneron wants to use
this data to advance their genetic research. I guess they
come up with drugs. They already have their own database
of three million people. Let's see what else? Anything else? Yeah,

(01:14:46):
they say they'll maintain the high standards of data privacy,
security and ethical oversight. So again, Regeneron Biotech Giant is
buying twenty three and meters for two hundred and fifty
six million dollars. That includes all of their operations in
his database of fifteen million customers. Let's go to Donald Now,

(01:15:07):
it's interesting. Okay, wait, it looks like Donald in Arizona's
not there anymore. Okay, yeah, I don't think that Donald
is there. Let's go oh, yep, he's done. Let's go
to Let's see what Wayne has to say in north Ridge.

Speaker 2 (01:15:20):
Wayne, you're on with Rich.

Speaker 3 (01:15:22):
Hi, Rich, Hi, thanks to take my call.

Speaker 1 (01:15:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
I just heard the last session about the AI and
I'm just a little worried about that because it's like,
whose truth is that going to be? I'm one of these,
you know, conspiracy guys, and it's like, you know, your
friend there's mentioned that the Google guy mentioned that he
was circulating all of this algorithm throughout you know that

(01:15:52):
all of Google has. And it's like people are wanting
to know how the world is, and it's like, well,
there's so much out there misinformation the right information that
I don't know who's going to be are the Google
team people putting in their thoughts on it, or I

(01:16:12):
just don't know. I'm not a fan of AI.

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
Well okay, yeah, and I understand. I hear where you're
coming from. And I do think that inherently anything that
is programmed by humans, there is bound to be you know,
the human slant on that, right, because you're you're coming
from a human perspective, So you're programming in only what
you know. And so I understand where you're coming from.

(01:16:35):
And I don't I'm not going to sit here and
say that everything on AI is right or it's truthful,
because again, it's a computer system. So and here's the thing.
It's like, if you look at the way Google search
worked in the past, right, you would type in something
and it would give you a bunch of links, and
you would click through those links and you would draw

(01:16:56):
your own conclusion. I mean, let's just say you want
an ant here to a basic question like is red
Dye number five bad for you?

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Right? Like, how do we truly know?

Speaker 1 (01:17:07):
Like there's a million opinions on that out there, So
how do you really know? Now if I asked the
AI let's see, let's just ask that I asked is
the world flat? And that I maybe? Now, Wayne, you
said you're a conspiracy theorist?

Speaker 4 (01:17:21):
Do you is?

Speaker 2 (01:17:22):
Does it go that far? No?

Speaker 1 (01:17:25):
Okay, okay, so you're you're yeah, Okay, I've been to
the moon and back. Okay, well there you go. So
we have So let's just say, is red Die five?
Is that what it's called? Or is it red Die forty?
I think it's forty bad free?

Speaker 3 (01:17:41):
I think number five?

Speaker 1 (01:17:42):
Okay, uh well for some reason it corrected forty. Uh
So it says whether red Die forty is bad for
you is a complex question with no simple yes or no.
It depends on individual sensitivities. And then they go through.
Now this new AI that I was talking about, not
the one he was talking about that's Gemini. This is
AI mode on Google. It actually does a pretty thorough

(01:18:03):
job of giving you sort of what people have come
to the conclusion of and then the links to those
different websites. So it's got concerns and potential negative impacts.
Then it's got the FDA approval and safety, and then
it's got important considerations and then a conclusion. So again,
I think what the goal of these systems would be
in a perfect world is to let people draw their

(01:18:26):
own conclusions, but give them all the sides of the
arguments to whatever you're talking about. Now, for things like
is the Earth flat, I don't really think there's that
much of a true debate about that, even though I
do know that there are some people out there that
do debate that. But I think that for those types
of answers, it will give you, Like if I ask

(01:18:47):
is the world flat, it's saying, no, the world is
not flat. It is a sphere slightly bulging at the
equator and flattened at the poles. There you go, and
then it says the Earth's round shape is supported by
several points. So for stuff like that, it will just
give you maybe more of a definitive answer. But for
things that you know you may wonder, like you said,
conspiracy theorists, it may give you all the different angles.

(01:19:08):
It may not come to a standard conclusion. And I think, again,
there are biases in everything that a human is programming.
That's just the reality, because there may be things that
you're programming in that we don't even know are biases,
and that is bound to happen. So I think that
when you think about these different AI systems are we

(01:19:32):
are trying to make them better, but they are only
as perfect as we as humans can make them. And
I do think that the different systems have different sort
of worldviews, different thoughts. I mean, if you're programming something
in America versus France or another country, you know, you
bring a certain depth and background to your life that

(01:19:53):
other places have different ones. So I think that that's
a very valid point. And I think I think that
AI is only as perfect as humans are perfect, which
is to say we're not. And so that's a very
long answer for I think that this stuff is still forming.
And I think the more dangerous or the more concerning

(01:20:13):
part to me is when AI starts to sort of
think and act on its own. And that's when I
will be a little bit more concerned because right now,
if I ask a question to AI and it gives
me an answer and I don't like it. I just
you know, Okay, I'm done. But if it gets to
a point where AI is doing things, and again, we
are going to get to the point where AI is

(01:20:34):
built into robots that will move like humans and think
like humans and act like humans, that day is coming
and it's going to be interesting. It's going to be
really interesting. Speaking of AI, here's a couple of fails.
I guess this is the fail section of the show.
This story out of Chicago, Chicago Sun Times published a

(01:20:58):
summer book reading list, and it had fake titles. It
included nonexistent novels by real authors like Andy I think
It's weir who I read the Martian and the writer
admitted to using AI to help generate the list and
didn't bother to fact check it. The author said the

(01:21:21):
mistake was stupid. It was a stupid error, and accepted
full accountability. This was And then of course the newspaper said,
we got this from a third party and we just
published it, so yes, we probably should have looked at
it as well. So this went through the author that
didn't look at it. Then that author's editor didn't look

(01:21:42):
at it. The syndicator didn't look at it, and then
the newspaper published it without looking at it. I mean,
how many points of failure do we need for someone
to realize that Andy Weir did not write a new
book titled The Algorithm. I mean, I don't follow him
very closely, but I'm pretty sure that when he writes
a new book, I would be aware of the title,
and I'd be curious because the guy wrote The Martian,

(01:22:02):
a very popular book in Hail Mary, which I read
and they were great. But it's like I think I
would hear if the guy wrote a new book, even
though I'm not one hundred percent sure on how to
pronounce his last name. But that's just a me problem,
as my kid would say. So the point is, if
you're using AI in your job, especially faking it till
you make it, please fact check it, double check what

(01:22:24):
you're submitting to your bosses. And then another stupid news,
the chromebook challenge. This is a new tick. I hate
these TikTok trends. I don't use the word hate on
this show very often because I think it's a strong word,
but I hate these TikTok trends, stupid TikTok trends. These
kids were told to stick things in the USB ports

(01:22:46):
of their school issued chromebooks to cause them to smoke,
to fire, to short circuit, to let out.

Speaker 2 (01:22:53):
Toxic chemical fumes.

Speaker 1 (01:22:54):
Why would you do this? You think it's funny. I
guess you might when you're eight years old or ten
years old.

Speaker 10 (01:23:00):
UH.

Speaker 1 (01:23:01):
Incidents reported across the US Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey. In California,
one San Diego school district reported over seven thousand dollars
in damage from sixteen to script.

Speaker 2 (01:23:11):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:23:11):
I dispute that sixteen chromebooks do not cost seventeen no.
Hold on seven thousand divided by sixteen hold on, Okay,
let me just do this seven thousand divided by sixteen okay, Oh, okay,
four hundred and thirty seven dollars a chromebook. Okay, I
I guess I was wrong. That could be true. Don't
stick stuff in the side of your chromebook and tell

(01:23:33):
your kids not to stick stuff in the side of
your chromebook. Eighty eight rich one oh one eighty eight
seven four to two four to one zero one more
rich on Tech coming your way right after this. Welcome
back to rich On Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out
with you, talking technology. The website for the show Rich

(01:23:54):
on tech dot TV. If you want to link to
something I mentioned, just go to the website and you
can see these show notes. This is episode one twenty two.
Got an email from Rick in Arizona. He says, I
just bought a new pickup and I couldn't figure out
what two of the plugs on the rear bumper were for.
I asked Facebook groups, two dealerships, and an auto parts store.

Speaker 2 (01:24:17):
Nobody knew.

Speaker 1 (01:24:18):
Then I showed them to Gemini AI through my phone
camera and bam, it told me exactly what they were
and what kind of plugs I needed.

Speaker 4 (01:24:27):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:24:29):
I guess this show brought to you by Gemini AI
because we've talked about it a lot. But again, this
is the kind of wow moments people are going to
start to have with this stuff because you don't realize.
Just like the other day, I was trying to fix
something in my house and I just pointed the camera,
the Gemini camera at the thing I wanted fix, and

(01:24:51):
I said, who do I call to fix this? I mean,
just something as simple as that, and it gave me
a list of I said, who do I search for
and YELP to fix this?

Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
And sure, enough.

Speaker 1 (01:25:02):
It gave me the person and I was like, oh,
I would have never thought about that. Turns out a
plumber you need to fix a clog toilet. No, I'm
just KIDDINGFA. You know, sometimes Bobo is like looking off
and I just want to make sure he's listening. The
smartest dumb guy I know, it's called dad jokes, you know,

(01:25:25):
a couple other cool things.

Speaker 2 (01:25:26):
Okay, so coming up this hour, we've got a guest.

Speaker 1 (01:25:28):
Jason Ball, my old He is the guy that brought
me to Los Angeles actually back in the day and
hired me twice.

Speaker 2 (01:25:37):
This guy hired me twice. But now he's no longer
my boss.

Speaker 1 (01:25:40):
I don't have to worry about I can, you know,
ask him anything but longtime news executive and he is
now reinventing himself doing a lot of different things. He's
got a podcast, he's got a newsletter. So this idea
of after having a career for so many years now
he's like leaning on all these tech products like AI
and all these newsletter things to like, you know, new stuff.

(01:26:00):
So we'll hear his take on that wing. This was
also at Google Io. This I've never seen before, but
it was a drone delivery service and they were delivering
pies across the They were delivering pies from one end
of the sort of amphitheater to the other, and it
was pretty cool. So I got to watch this and
I couldn't believe it because these drones that they're using

(01:26:23):
almost looked fake. They looked like a model airplane, but
they were like super lightweight. The only weigh eleven pounds.
And so what they did was and this was interesting,
is that the drone it's almost it's almost like autonomous,
I think, where it flies up into the air, it
drops down a rope. There's a person there that clips
the payload onto the rope, and then it shimmys it

(01:26:45):
back up. It like sucks it back up, and then
it flies over to the other area. And this is
the thing that I realized. The drone does not land
on the ground, like if you're getting a delivery, it's
not gonna land on your front lawn. It hovers and
then it drops using that rope the thing that you
are getting delivered. It sort of like lowers it down
to the ground and then somehow detaches it, I guess,

(01:27:08):
and then it takes the rope back up. So again
This is called Wing. This is one of Google's or Alphabet,
you know, Google's parent company. They're sort of side bets
and they're doing this in two cities right now, Dallas
and Charlotte. They're actually delivering stuff from drones with Wing
from Walmart and DoorDash. So the drones, like I said,

(01:27:29):
weigh eleven pounds. They can deliver small packages up to
two and a half pounds, and these things fly up
to sixty five miles an hour. Most deliveries are in
as little as fifteen minutes. And Google CEO said that
also they helped deliver hurricane relief during hurricane season. So
again it's not just like commercial use of this, it's

(01:27:49):
like we can also help people like get things, get
supplies to people in places that are really tricky.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
It's called Wing.

Speaker 1 (01:27:55):
If you want to check it out, see the video
I put out on my Instagram at rich On Tech.

Speaker 2 (01:28:00):
Pretty wild.

Speaker 1 (01:28:00):
I mean, I've heard about the drone deliveries, but I've
never actually seen it until now. Twelve South this is genius.
I've been using this cable for a couple of weeks.
Now I can finally tell you about it. It's called
the twelve South Power cord, and it's so simple that
you'd think to yourself, wait a second, why didn't someone
come out with this before. So you know how when

(01:28:22):
you go somewhere you're traveling, you need to bring a
power chord, right, and you've got the power plug and
then you've got the us SEA cable or whatever you
need to plug into that plug. Well, this is just
a single cable. It comes with a thirty watt USBC
charger and cable all in one, so there's no brick
to search for. And it's a really nice design. And

(01:28:44):
this is the best part. It comes in two lengths
four feet and a generous ten feet of cable. So
I don't know about your kids, but my kids love
to have their iPads plugged in while they're playing because
those roadblocks and Fortnite or not Fortnite, what do they
play roadblocks and uses so much power on their iPad
it's always going dead, so they like to keep them

(01:29:04):
plugged in. But like those little cables you get with
the iPad are like, you know, just a couple of
feet ten feet.

Speaker 2 (01:29:09):
This thing is great. Fifty bucks.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
It's called the twelve South power cord and it's now
available anyway, brilliant simple idea. Coming up, We're going to
talk to Jason Ball, news executive reinventing himself with a
new podcast and newsletter.

Speaker 2 (01:29:26):
This is rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich On Tech.

Speaker 1 (01:29:31):
Rich Demurou here hanging out with you, talking technology on
this Memorial Day weekend. Hope you're having a nice day.
Hope you got something good planned. We are going to
bring on a guest that I've known for a long time,
a guy who has hired me twice, so thank you
for that. Jason Ball no longer my boss, so all

(01:29:53):
bets are off. I can say whatever I want at
this point. But Jason Ball, welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (01:29:58):
Thank you, thanks for having me so forward to it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:01):
Jason a longtime news executive. Believe he came to LA
with k CAL nine and then KTLA for many years
where I worked with him both places actually, But a
couple of years ago we left the business to open
up a hotel in Palm Springs, right, is that right?

Speaker 5 (01:30:20):
Yes, yep.

Speaker 12 (01:30:20):
We bought a hotel in April twenty twenty one and
moved up to Palm Springs and we've been rand ever since.

Speaker 1 (01:30:26):
And you've been running that. But now you sort of
got that itch again to do a couple of things
with the Creator space. So now you've got a new
podcast and you've got a newsletter that you're doing. So
let's first talk about Life after TV News number one.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
What is it like?

Speaker 1 (01:30:42):
I mean to go from such a you know, that's
a big shift you took in your life.

Speaker 5 (01:30:47):
I mean, he was a big change.

Speaker 12 (01:30:49):
I left in February twenty one, right after the pandemic.
We're still kind of you know, the last part of
of the pandemic.

Speaker 5 (01:30:55):
Things were starting to.

Speaker 12 (01:30:56):
Open up again, but it was just it was time
for me to go do something else, and it was
it was a little bit hard at first. I was like, who, well,
if I'm not the news director at KJLA. So it
took me a while, but yeah, four years later, I
finally decided I need to get back in, dip my
toe back in a little bit. So I created this
podcast called Life after News about Life after News.

Speaker 5 (01:31:16):
My life.

Speaker 12 (01:31:17):
Lots of people's lives. Some people choose to leave, some
people are you know, in this business, there's a lot
of people laid off. There was a great resignation back
in twenty twenty one. I was part of that and
so many people were, So it's interesting that I like
the idea of taking those skills that we learned in
the newsroom and as journalists and using them for something else.

Speaker 1 (01:31:36):
As I say, sometimes the business leaves you. That's what
I say. Yeah, if you're you know, not so nicely said,
you got to go, it's time to go. But I
listened to the first episode of the podcast with Jillian Barbary,
obviously a legend here in the LA area, and you know,
she had a lot of nationwide stuff as well. So

(01:31:56):
creating a podcast, I know a lot of people this
this is the beauty.

Speaker 2 (01:31:59):
Of the world we live in.

Speaker 1 (01:32:01):
And you were in the news business for a very
long time, big cameras, reel to real I think film
was probably a little bit before your time. But you
know we started with like like I'm.

Speaker 5 (01:32:10):
Not that old.

Speaker 1 (01:32:11):
I know you're not at all, but I remember like
when even when I started, like in high school, it
was like tape to tape, right, I mean that was
a reality. Now everything is digital. Everything is something that
you can do on your own at home, and that's
kind of what you're using to your advantage at this point,
is things like I call off the shelf tech like AI,

(01:32:31):
the stuff to make your podcast, the stuff to make
the newsletter, So how do you navigate all that.

Speaker 12 (01:32:38):
I definitely could not have done this without the help
of technology. I did a podcast while I was at
Kitchile for a few years, but I had I literally
I would book the guest and I would record it
and then somebody else would handle everything else. But this
I really did all on my own, and I definitely
could not have done it at the three biggest things
I used or Chat, gbating, Canva and Riverside dot fm.

(01:33:01):
And Chat actually helped me refine my concept, help me.
We built my graphics on Chat and then we use
Canva to refine them and to do different variations of
the of the graphics. So it's interesting to see that
whole process too, just learning that and it's I mean
I use it every day now, both of them every day.

(01:33:22):
It's it is remarkable. And then Riverside dot Fm. I
don't know if it's familiar with it, but it's a
built for podcasters, but it also has an editor built
into it and it's a as you go through the interview,
it's got a rolling scroll of a transcript of the
of the interview. And you can literally highlight a sentence

(01:33:43):
and hit delete and it's gone, oh wow. Or you
can copy it, you know, control C, and then you
go to another spot and you go Caroll B and
insert it. Editing could not be more easier. It is
remarkable how easy it was.

Speaker 1 (01:33:57):
So you're almost editing with like the words, like the transcript.

Speaker 12 (01:34:00):
Right, you're you're falling along with the transcript, and you
can just and you can search for keywords if you're
looking for, you know, trying to remember where something is
on an hour long interview.

Speaker 5 (01:34:09):
It's remarkable I can.

Speaker 12 (01:34:11):
And they're lightly edited anyway, It's not like we're doing
a big production here, but it's.

Speaker 5 (01:34:15):
So it's lightly edited, but I can edit it an
hour show in an hour and a half, two hours.
It's remarkable.

Speaker 12 (01:34:21):
How and I'm not that I mean actually my first
job was an editor, but to your point, it was
a tape to tape editor, endpoint, out point, move on
to the next record, onto the to the next tape.

Speaker 5 (01:34:32):
So it's the last time I actually edit anything was back.

Speaker 1 (01:34:36):
In the But it's a testament. It's it's amazing, just again,
how anyone can do this. And I think about this
with the news business a lot like you think about
like I'm in a studio right now, that's you know,
it's equipped, it's got a lot of very high end
equipment in it. But at the same time, people are
just starting things up in their house and it you
know that you can reach an audience now and it

(01:34:56):
used to be that sort of gatekeeper was there where
you you couldn't. Just like you published your new your
podcast and it's on all the major platforms instantly, and
you know, it's pretty incredible. So we had a caller
earlier that said, you know, they're a little weary about
AI and chat GBT and things like that, but here
you are sort of like embracing it.

Speaker 2 (01:35:17):
I mean, what do you.

Speaker 12 (01:35:19):
Think you have to You have to embrace it because
it's just it's it's here, and I think.

Speaker 5 (01:35:23):
You need to learn to use it.

Speaker 12 (01:35:24):
And I I mean, not maybe aul naive, but open AI.
I kind of trust a little more than because it's
you know, it's not not for it's not a nonprofit,
but it's a in the public good corporation. So I
feel like they're kind of doing the right thing. Maybe
some of the others I will be a little more
leery about because you you can't help but share personal
information with it, because you're having these conversations and you're

(01:35:47):
having this back and forth dialogue and they get to
know you.

Speaker 5 (01:35:49):
And I actually even said, I'm like.

Speaker 12 (01:35:52):
You use too many adjectives, that I stopped using so
many adjectives and in the and when they would refine
a script, so it definitely gets to know you.

Speaker 1 (01:35:59):
Yeah, we sort of build a relationship with these AI chatbots,
and especially with chat Gibt, which is you know, they
turned on the memory sort of. It used to be like, hey,
remember to do this or remember that. Now the memory
is sort of by default, it just remembers everything. And
it's uncanny how much it sort of builds this profile
of who you are, what you like, the answers that

(01:36:20):
you like. And sometimes it's way too glowing, right. It's
like people joke like you can say anything and like hey,
I'm going to go, you know, spray paint my own car,
and I'll be like, that's a great idea.

Speaker 2 (01:36:31):
Here's the spray paint you should use.

Speaker 1 (01:36:33):
You know, it's like these things sometimes they're a little
bit too like glowing.

Speaker 2 (01:36:38):
Okay, so you've got the pot actually that I.

Speaker 12 (01:36:40):
Actually ask it not and I call it or I asked,
what's your name and they told me to tell they
call me whatever you want.

Speaker 5 (01:36:49):
And I'm like, no, you tell me your name. So
they her name is Quinn.

Speaker 1 (01:36:52):
It came up with a name. Yeah, okay, that's interesting.
I was trying to I was testing a site the
other day, like one of those like fishing websites. I
post these to my Instagram like how people get phished,
and I was like, hey, just give me like some
information so I can test this site, like a give
me a fake name everything. It was like, I can't
do that. But then you like prompt me. I'm like,
I'm just testing. It's not for real. It's like, okay, well,

(01:37:14):
if I was giving you information, here's what it would be.

Speaker 2 (01:37:16):
I'm like, thank you, that's what I needed.

Speaker 4 (01:37:19):
But I did.

Speaker 5 (01:37:19):
I'm like, please, don't be a suck a fan.

Speaker 12 (01:37:21):
Please challenge me if I have a bad idea, let
me know if it's a bad idea.

Speaker 2 (01:37:24):
Yeah, it's smart. Nobody did that to you and you
were executive.

Speaker 5 (01:37:27):
Huh, well, I asked people to do that too.

Speaker 1 (01:37:31):
I because I mean, everyone's surrounded by you know, yes
folks most of the time and that's that's what keeps
people from getting better in their lives, because you know,
I feel like people need that sort of check, Like
I think constructive criticism is a really good thing. And
with that in mind, I've come up with a huge
list of things that can make your podcast better.

Speaker 5 (01:37:48):
No, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 2 (01:37:49):
No, I thought the first episode was great.

Speaker 1 (01:37:51):
So, and of course Jillian's story is easy, because I mean,
her story is not easy, but the listening to it
is just she was such a large figure in LA
that it's just the curiosity is there.

Speaker 5 (01:38:06):
She's no holds bar.

Speaker 12 (01:38:07):
She lays it all on the table, from leaving Good
to LA to her fight with cancer and then I
didn't even know this or her battle with the irs.

Speaker 1 (01:38:15):
Yeah, it was the worst thing.

Speaker 5 (01:38:17):
So it's it's remarkable.

Speaker 12 (01:38:19):
But there are other really great stories too, about people
who really have reinvented themselves.

Speaker 5 (01:38:23):
The second episode is about a guy who was.

Speaker 12 (01:38:25):
An anchor in Phoenix and quit and created an art
trauma program and it's now being used in the Arizona
prison system to help rehabilitate felons.

Speaker 1 (01:38:34):
Oh wow, so you said you use chat Gibt said,
you use the canva The river Side what about the newsletter?
Tell me about like, how are you doing that? Because
I have a newsletter. I love it. I think a
newsletter is like the most incredible thing. But of course
now everyone's sort of the newsletters like the new podcast, right,
everyone has a newsletter in addition to the podcast. But
tell me how you're doing the newsletter.

Speaker 12 (01:38:54):
Okay, so the newsletter is focused on Palm's Rings, but
it's for people who visit at Palm Springs are also locals,
And I use chat GBT two to help refine and
flesh out ideas on that.

Speaker 5 (01:39:07):
But I use a I know you use substack, right,
I use behive. It's b e e hii V and
it's it's more yours is more for subscribers.

Speaker 12 (01:39:16):
I don't think I'm having subscribers, so I'm mind'sform for
general audience and maybe from some advertisers at some point.

Speaker 5 (01:39:23):
But it's pretty cut and dry.

Speaker 12 (01:39:25):
I mean, you just I create it, and I create it,
then I run it through Chat, and then I bring
it back and refine it a little bit myself, and
then you upload it and post.

Speaker 5 (01:39:35):
It and then it's it's easy. It's really ea easy.

Speaker 12 (01:39:38):
It'll be interesting to see how the ad component because
now I have almost seventy five hundred subscribers. Oh wow,
So it'll be interesting to see if I can monetize that.

Speaker 5 (01:39:47):
And that's the other thing that.

Speaker 12 (01:39:49):
I feel like a lot of people are, especially a
lot of journalists. I don't know why, but we were
a little afraid to we're selling out if you monetize
or try to make money, and that's ridiculous. Needed lean
into that, lean into that and figure out a way
to make money, and they're I think they're it's that's
the part. I'm interested now to figure that part out
and see how you actually can or if you can

(01:40:10):
make money out of it.

Speaker 1 (01:40:11):
Well, with something that's hyper local like a newsletter, I mean,
it's to reach people these days is tougher and tougher
because our attention is everywhere, and so I think that's
why so many people are turning to like these things
where it's like super local or hyper local or customized
for them, where people they trust what you're saying in
the Palm Springs newsletter. Okay, so we got to run,

(01:40:32):
But tell me your advice for folks. I mean, you
know you've done all this stuff, you reinvented yourself. Is
it scary? Is there is there still life after what
you thought life was going to be?

Speaker 5 (01:40:43):
Absolutely do it.

Speaker 12 (01:40:44):
It's scary and challenging, but I feel like I've learned
more in the last month and a half and worked
harder in the last month and a half than I
haven't a long time. But it's been super rewarding. I'm
in bed by nine o'clock and out like a light,
but up ready to go five thirty the next More so.

Speaker 5 (01:41:00):
It's it's been invigerab But do it.

Speaker 12 (01:41:02):
But do your research, lean on your resources. You know,
email people, ask questions. You have a problem, you can't
figure something out, ask people, ask, and get in the Facebook.
There's a face group for everything. Find the one that
you need and they'll they'll they will help you. It
is remarkable. The other thing I really learned about, too
Rich is I don't really miss the news. I don't

(01:41:24):
miss the craziness of that. I miss news people. So
this has given me an opportunity to kind of reconnect
with that and even just not even just the people
I've interview, but like talking to you today, and and
also like just the comments from social It's been a
remarkable but great experience so far.

Speaker 1 (01:41:40):
All right, the podcast is Life After News. Subscribe check
it out. Jason Ball, thanks so much for joining me today.

Speaker 5 (01:41:47):
Thank you appreciate the good work.

Speaker 1 (01:41:49):
All right, coming up, we're gonna open up the feedback.
It is overflowing this week. We'll get through that right
here on rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
Rich Demro here hanging out with you, talking technology. The
website for the show richon Tech dot tv links to
everything I mentioned on the website. Just go there and

(01:42:13):
just check for the show notes. It's under the headline
radio show. This is episode one two. I put all
the links to everything I mentioned. So if you're trying
to get a link for Jason Balls podcast, the guest
we just had on Life After News or a link,
it is right there and everything I talk about. All right,
Before we get to the feedback, couple of items of note,

(01:42:34):
This was a great article from Let's see was it
a fast Company? Four free Coursera classes if you want
to learn more about AI, sort of dovetails into what
we were talking about before. There's one called AI for Everyone,
perfect for beginners, takes about six hours. Then you've got
Google AI Essentials AI productivity, tools, prompting and ethical use.

(01:42:57):
That's also six hours intro to Artificial Intelligence by IBM.
That's a little bit more in depth with videos, labs
and twelve hours of content intro to Generative AI, a
quick course on the type of AI behind chatbots, image
generators and more, chat GPT, generative pre trained Transformer so

(01:43:20):
you can learn all about that. All courses are self paced,
free to audit, and designed to be accessible. So if
you're just curious about all this stuff, great, great courses
for free on course Sera. Again, I'll put a link
to that on the website. You can finally ditch apples
Translate app on the iPhone and switch to Google Translate
by default, so the feature is available in iOS eighteen

(01:43:40):
point four. Apple has slowly but surely giving us the
ability to change the default app options on the iPhone.
Used to be Apple's way or the highway. Now you
can change almost all of them except for the mapping app.
I believe if you want to change your translation app,
settings apps default apps translate, So if you go to settings,

(01:44:01):
let me see which ones you can change. At this point,
Settings settings, let's see apps. So we go to apps
all the way at the bottom and then at the
top says default apps. So right now you can change
your email app, your messaging app, your calling app, your
call filtering app, your browser app, your translation app, passwords app,
contactless app, and your keyboards. That is incredible. I mean,

(01:44:24):
what a change. Now.

Speaker 2 (01:44:26):
Apple did not want to make this change. Don't get
me wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:44:29):
This was not out of Apple's generosity and kindness. This
was because of the EU. They said, you got to
give people an option on these things, and they did,
and so they are sort of doing this for the EU,
but everyone gets to benefit. So anyway, if you want
to change from Apple to Google Translate, just install it
on there and then you can switch it. All right,

(01:44:51):
let's see here. Doctor Stephen Needle writes in am I
laughing at that? What is the website you mentioned from
your trip to New York that you used to find
restaurants aside from Yelp? I don't remember if I set
a specific website. Maybe it was the infatuation. I do
like that, but I would say you can use AI

(01:45:11):
search to do this now. I did use chat ebt,
I have used the Google AI mode. You can say, like,
what are the notable restaurant openings in New York City
or the easiest way that I pick my restaurant is
I literally go to maps dot Google dot com. You
have to do this on a desktop computer, search for
your hotel. So let's say you're saying at the High

(01:45:32):
New York City Okay Times or a Hiatt and Times Square,
whatever it is. Let's just find Okay Highatt Centric Times Square.
Then you click that, and then once you have that,
you should be able to see on the website. On
Google Maps, it will have uh oh, my Google phone
is there will be an option to actually look at

(01:45:53):
places that are walking distance and you just filter by
restaurants fifteen minute walking distance and boom, just find a
place that's highly rateed near you. It always works. That's
the way I've been doing it. Grace from Woodland Hills
writes in I feel funny sending a compliment to a stranger,
but I want to let you know I appreciate you.
I saw your segment on What Not on April twenty
first to twenty twenty five, and it changed my life.

(01:46:17):
I found such interesting people to watch. I now follow
three shows consistently, and I'm fascinated by how these sellers
use technology in innovative ways. My Google phone is going
off in the corner there. It's like it's just continuing
to chat. Gail from Los Angeles writes in, I missed
the name and author of the AI book you featured.

(01:46:38):
I was doing Saturday chores and didn't have anything handy
to write it down. I loved what he said about
hold on, I gotta hold on. Uh okay, sorry, I
never had to do that in the history of this
show ever.

Speaker 2 (01:46:52):
But I'm not kiddus. This is wild. This thing just
kept going on and on. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:46:57):
The book was super transforming how we live, learn, and
work in the age of intelligence. Steve Fisher was the author.
You said a minute, Oh my gosh, okay, this I
wanted again, And Michelle says, I've got an app. I
want to share a helpful app I came across from
my doctor's appointment for my ninety five five year old mom.

Speaker 2 (01:47:17):
It's called Ava Ava.

Speaker 1 (01:47:19):
It displays spoken words as live captions on a phone,
perfect for the elderly or anyone who's hard of hearing.
Ava app, Ava app. That's a great app. I did
download it to check it out.

Speaker 2 (01:47:31):
Rod from La.

Speaker 1 (01:47:32):
Writes in, I listened to your show Saturdays here in
La on KFI. Wonderful show. Caroline says, thanks for your expertise.
I really appreciate your segments. And Rick says you have
a great gift of explaining fixes in plain English.

Speaker 2 (01:47:44):
Keep it up.

Speaker 1 (01:47:44):
I never miss a show that's going.

Speaker 3 (01:47:46):
To do it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:46):
Next week we're going to talk about Apple in China,
all things Microsoft. Thank you so much for listening. My
name is rich Dumiro. I'll talk to you real soon.

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