Smart plugs make holiday lights easy

Cyber Monday shopping numbers; Spotify's 2021 Wrapped is a success; online grocery store with imperfect products at big savings.Followers ask about reporting a fake Gmail account, best inexpensive WiFi system, recommended Bluetooth speaker, magnetic battery pack for the iPhone, if Pixel has Android Auto, accessing cable channel streaming apps and using smart plugs to make non-smart devices smart.Follow RichInstagramTwitterSpotify WrappedTim Cook interviewMisfits MarketReport fake Gmail accountVilo WiFi systemSonos Roam Bluetooth speakerSonos Move Bluetooth speakerApple magnetic battery packAnker magnetic battery packmyCharge magnetic battery packUntangle.tv for streaming infoTP-Link smart plugs New Gary Vaynerchuk book Rich is reading See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Spotify's year end wrap up is a major success. The
online grocery store with a twist, plus your tech questions answered.
What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro and this is Rich
on Tech, the podcast where I talk about the tech
stuff I think you should know about. It's also the
place right answer the questions you send me. I'm the

(00:30):
tech reporter at KTLA Channel five in Los Angeles. Welcome
to the show, and welcome to you watching on Facebook Live.
We've got folks tuned in from the Inland Empire. Uh well,
that's the only person. Oh Canton, Ohio. So many people,
so many different places. Can you tell them in a

(00:51):
good mood today? I don't know what it is. Maybe
I don't know. You ever wake up and you just
have one of those days where you're like, now, I'm
typically a positive, energetic person, but I feel like some
days you just wake up and you're like on overdrive, right,
Like things are just really good and you want that
feeling to last forever. Like you just if you could wait,

(01:12):
if there's like a day where you wake up and
you're like, this is how I'd like to wake up
every day for the rest of my life, that would
have been today. You know, you just like spring up
out of bed, you go to work. Yet you're smiling,
you're happy. That's typically how I am. But some days
are just like amped up, and this is really one
of those days. So anyway, I'm feeling good. It's the

(01:35):
end of the year. I can't believe that we are
on the slow March or really fast march March. I
should I should say to Christmas and the holidays, hope
you had a great Thanksgiving. As you know, I took
off last week's podcast, or maybe you don't know, maybe
you don't care. You probably don't even notice. I don't
know some of you did, I'm sure, but it was

(01:55):
a nice Thanksgiving. We had a little technical issue with
getting a ride home with the Uber and Lyft situation,
but it was fine. We made it home, so that
was good. And you know, I didn't even talk to
you about the whole Tim Cook interview. So you know,
I did this interview with Tim Cook at the Apple
Store a couple of weeks ago, and it was a

(02:15):
pretty magical moment. I mean, how many local news people
get to interview the CEO of not only one of
the most if not the most important tech company of
our time, but also one of the biggest companies in
the world. So that was pretty cool. It was not
by chance. Some people were saying it was just by chance.
It was cool that people said, you know, he just

(02:37):
walked out to talk to you. No, no, it was
all you don't. You don't talk to the CEO of
Apple unless it's set up in advance, and so this
was set up in advance, and I got to say
it was one of the easier setups. You know. Apple
basically came to me and said, hey, do you want
to interview Tim Cook? And I'm like, yeah, why would
I not want to interview Tim Cook? And that was it.
They said, okay, we'll give you a couple of minutes

(02:58):
with him. And they didn't ask for a questionquestions. It
didn't say here's the parameters of what you should be
talking about. I mean, honestly, interviewing Tim Cook was easier
than interviewing half the people I interview on a daily basis,
where people ask me for questions in advance and what
topics and what's your segment going to be on and
what's the direction of it and all this stuff, And
most of the time I just say you know what,

(03:19):
I don't really do that, like I will go there,
you're the expert. I will ask you questions, you will
know how to answer them. Rest assured. If you can't
answer the questions that I'm asking you for a consumer
tech audience, you've got bigger problems. And so that's kind
of how I approach things. I think the Tim Cook
interview turned out perfect, and it's on YouTube if you

(03:40):
want to watch it. The whole thing I put up
on there, and it was great. I mean, he was
a very warm guy. He came up to me and
he just made a little quip at the beginning, and
it was just so like natural and neat, and I'm
just sitting there like I just want to have dinner
with this person, you know, and really pick your brain
about so many different things. And of course I didn't

(04:00):
get to do that, but it was fun to have
the five or ten minutes with him, and it was great.
In this store at the Grove was just so beautiful
that they built there. But there's so many things. This
is like the end of the year, so there's not
too many like wild tech stories happening. So I'll be honest,
this show is going to be mostly questions and also
just stuff I feel like talking about. There are some

(04:20):
tech stories and some things I'm gonna note, but I'm
just gonna talk about this stuff that I feel like
talking about because I've got a lot. I've got a
lot on my lists. Okay, I've got it all right here?
Can you hear that? Okay? Now, I'm just kidding. It's
all written on my computer. But number one I want
to tell you about. Should we talk about a story.
Let's get some news in because you know people do

(04:41):
like news. But Black Friday, Cyber Monday, that was the
big shopping season kind of kick off. And then there
was also Giving Tuesday, which I did give. I'm a
big fan of giving, by the way, so I hope
you are too. I really enjoy giving away money because
that's to me, that's the ultimate in life, is to
be able to give away some of the stuff that

(05:02):
I've been given. And I've made it a big part
of my life for many many years now. I don't
make a huge deal about it, but I love doing
it like it's my absolute favorite. When someone's like, oh
I'm in need, and I'm like, oh, here's money, here,
you go take it now. Don't come at me with
like a million requests for that, but I do enjoy
giving my money away as well. Okay, So Adobe Digital

(05:24):
Economy Index, this is Adobe Insights. They analyzed kind of
like all these things that people did over Cyber Monday
and Black Friday. Cyber Monday was actually down year over year,
which kind of makes sense giving the economy, right, I
mean I think so. But still consumers spent ten point
seven billion dollars online. It's still the biggest online shopping

(05:47):
day of the year. At the peak, consumers were spending
twelve million dollars every minute. So some of the top
sellers on Cyber Monday were for toys. They were Hot Wheels,
NERF Toys, Baby Alive, Paw patrol Squeaky Toy. Oh is
that like the Squeaky dog? Oh my gosh. I featured
that two years ago. Awesome. That was at the New

(06:07):
York Toy Fair. I totally called it. And Tamagotchi Picks
Video games Just Dance twenty twenty two. Mario Party Superstars.
You know, I now say, Mario, this is like what
happens when you live in California. Like I've said, Mario
for like my entire life like Mario, and people like,
it's not Mario, it's Mario, and so now I say, Mario,
I don't even know who I am anymore, Spider Man,

(06:29):
Miles Morales, FIFA twenty two and Metroid Dread. Now, when
it came to electronics, which of course, you know, I
like AirPods, Apple watches, Apple pencils, laptops from HP, Lenovo
and Dell, Nintendo switched and switched light Xbox Series s
because clearly you can't get the other ones anyway, and

(06:50):
Oculus Quest two and then TVs from Sony and Samsung.
So that's kind of the main points of Cyber Monday.
Discounts remained weak, so discounts were at around twelve percent
for electronics versus twenty seven percent last year. So if
you kind of notice that the discounts were not as
prevalent this year, you are not alone. They just weren't there.

(07:13):
I mean, think about the economy we have right now.
There's a lot going on with the supply chain and
with you know, people, just the whole situation with just
it's more complicated than I can get into. But it
doesn't seem like everything's firing on all cylinders right now, right,
So it seems like retailers don't have that big of
an incentive to kind of discount things when just sales
right now are kind of insane in general. Oh, if

(07:36):
I shake the camera, I'm sorry. On the Facebook Live here,
let's get to without further ado. The first question of
the podcast, and it is coming today from Let's See Valerie.
Valerie says, hey, Rich, how do you report a fake
Gmail account? An identity thief is impersonating my mom and
has set up a fake Gmail account using her name.

(07:58):
Thank you, Valerie. Well, I did some research and it
turns out there's actually a situation or a help page
where you can report abuse, and it's basically support dot
Google dot com, slash mail, slash contact slash abuse. And
when you go to that page, it says, I would
like to report a Gmail user who has sent messages
that violate the Gmail program policies and or terms of use.

(08:22):
And you put in the email address of you, You
put in the email address of the person involved in
the incident, the headers of the questionable message, the subject line,
the content, and did the message appear to be from
someone impersonating Google. Now here's the deal. Is Google going
to take action immediately? Probably not. You might have a

(08:42):
better chance just like reporting this as spam every time,
and it's kind of weird. I mean, I've not really
heard about many people impersonating people with a fake Gmail account.
I mean that would need like a very specific use.
But yeah, that's how I would just report it in
see what happens. You know what, Let's just take some
questions from the comments as well. On the Facebook, Cynthia

(09:04):
says recommendations for AirPods. It will be the first time
I've ever used them, and I trust you. Thanks from Silmar.
I'm a big fan of the AirPods three right now.
Those are the newest AirPods. They're on sale at a
lot of places for one hundred and fifty bucks right now,
including Amazon and Walmart. They are typically one hundred and
eighty dollars, and so I would get the AirPods three

(09:25):
if you're on iPhone, if you're on Android. I really
like the OnePlus Buds Pro. Those are really nice, and
I believe they've gone down as low as one hundred bucks,
but I think they're one fifty typically. I like the
AirPods Pro, the AirPods three a little bit better than
the AirPods Pro because they don't have the noise cancelation,

(09:48):
and the noise cancelation sort of sucks in your ears,
like I can't explain, but it just feels like your
ears are filled up, almost like you're underwater. And it's
great for listening and being directed in your listening, but
it's not so good for that feeling in your ears.
I don't like that feeling in my ears where they're
all sort of like closed up. I like to be
able to hear what's going on around me, and that's

(10:08):
kind of why I prefer the AirPods three. Now, the
reason why I like the AirPods Pro for so many
years was the fit. The fit of the AirPods Pro
is unsurpassed. I've not found a pair of earbuds that
fit better in my ears than the AirPods Pro. But
I find that the AirPods three fit in my ears

(10:30):
just fine. They're maybe not as comfortable, but they seem
just fine. And so I'm not too concerned with recommending those. Okay,
big story of the week that I don't think is
very important to ninety nine point nine percent of people,
So I'm not going to spend too much time on it.
But Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey step down. He is now
being replaced by the CTO of Twitter, Prague Augur Wall,

(10:55):
and that's it. That's all you really need to know.
There's nothing really you need to know about this except
that Dorsey is now stepping up work on his other app,
which is Square, and he changed the name of that
to Block to represent his whole and you know, kind
of push to crypto. But there's really not much you
need to know. I mean, Twitter is going to continue

(11:16):
to be Twitter. I don't see Twitter. I love Twitter,
but I don't see it as the dominant social network
out there. I mean, I think Facebook is still dominant,
Instagram is very dominant, and TikTok is really really up
and coming. Although my feeling on TikTok is I love
it and I actually put it on my home screen
because I'm watching more and more of it. But the

(11:37):
thing you have to worry about with TikTok is misinformation.
I mean, we saw that whole situation with social media
in general, but it's happening on TikTok. I mean, there
was this whole TikTok going through where people were like
did I already talk about this where they were cutting
open the iPhone boxes to find a secret case inside,
and there's just so much stuff on there. I feel
like everything that I'm watching on there half the time

(11:58):
after I watch these little video is I need to
like go do a fact check on these videos because
I'm like, wait, is that true? Is that real? They
do these things where these people are like, you know,
I'm returning this product or I'm going to Starbucks, And
it turns out I've read the fine print in anything
you buy Starbucks. I can go in and get a
free refill on my coffee even if I didn't order

(12:19):
that drink. And I'm like, so, now people are probably
going to Starbucks in mass and you know, ordering saying
oh I saw this thing where I can get a
free refill and they're like no. Now, I don't know
if that's true or not. But the point is it's
getting very complicated, and a lot of young people are
watching TikTok and so like my kids are watching like
the shorts on YouTube and stuff, which are fun, but

(12:41):
you just have to be you know. It's just as
we go down this line of just information at our
fingertips from so many different sources, it's really tough to
know what is real and what is not. And I know,
I get it. There's a whole political side to this thing,
with the you know, with the last couple of years,
but this is not just politics. This is everything. And

(13:02):
so it's just like, you know, so many different little
things are to me are being questioned in these videos,
and I'm like, I like it. It's entertaining, but is
it real? But anyway, so Twitter will continue to be Twitter.
You know, if you use Square for some of your
business related stuff, especially the cash app, these will change

(13:22):
names to block very soon, so just be aware of that. Oh,
by the way, why did he step down? He just
said that he didn't like the idea of a company
being founder led because it kind of doesn't open up
that company to more possibilities of different ideas and varying thoughts.
So that's kind of the thought there. All right, let's

(13:42):
get to the next question of the show. Let's see
we don't have a name on this one, but hello,
mister Demiro, I am a KTLA viewer, and there was
a segment you needed a few months back on Wi
Fi Extenders. I remember seeing it on your Instagram, can
you share the Wi Fi extender? It was like a
generic one compared to the more expensive brand. I tried

(14:02):
looking on Instagram. I could not find it. The company
is Villo Vlo and so we did a story on
Villo and it's a Wi Fi, a mesh Wi Fi
system that is basically sixty to seventy dollars versus you know,
a couple hundred dollars for some of the other ones.

(14:24):
And so it's Vilo. Villo Living is their website, and
I got to say I was impressed. Now here's the thing.
I use Eero at my house. Euro Pro actually the
latest version, and it's a much more expensive system. But
it depends on the speed you have. So if you
have under a gigabit, so if you're not running one

(14:45):
thousand speed, then yes, this Villa will be just great.
And what it does is it has three different little
antennas that you put around your house. They all work
together to give you a nice strong signal throughout your house,
versus a standard router that you know, you're cable company
might give you that just sits under your TV and
it just broadcasts out and the signal kind of drops

(15:06):
off as you get around the corners of your home.
So in this setup with the Mesh Wi Fi systems,
the signal is much stronger around your house. Better video,
better audio, less buffering, less dropouts. So your phone just
basically your phone and your device is just work pretty
much in a way better way than they would which

(15:27):
just the router from your phone company or your cable company.
And so check out Villo. I recommend Eero. Still I
love Euro, but if you want something that's a lot cheaper,
Villo is way cheaper than Euro. Now. The other thing
to know is that anytime you're going to buy something
that's an electronic device, you want to make sure that

(15:47):
you're not just buying it immediately. You are kind of
watching the price now something like Villo. It goes on
sale over once in a while on Amazon, So definitely
set up a kind of a a price alert on
Amazon for that. And you can do that with a
website called Camel Camel Camel And if you want to
use a more wide ranging price tracker, Honey is one

(16:13):
I like that that works there. So Get Honey, I
think is the website. Let's see is it get Honey,
Get Honey Dot. Nope, it's not get Honey, what is it?
Join Honey dot com. So Joinhney dot com. I really
like that because it's like a little you know, it
gives you like coupon codes and stuff, but it also
helps you track prices as well. And I have all

(16:33):
my items on Amazon that I want to purchase on
my Honey drop list and it works. I mean, I
get these notifications that are pretty good, and of course
I'll buy it if it's you know, if the price
drops just a little bit. So that's a good question there.
Let's go to another question, just because I'm feeling very
questioning today. Uh, let's see Patty says. First of all,

(16:55):
thank you for your amazing podcast. I rely heavily on
it for both the tech topics, but also I listen
when i'm running, so it takes my mind off what
I'm doing to my body. You're a great distraction and
a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate what you do and
I refer to you as my tech guy. Well, thank you, Patty.
So my question. You've talked about your Sona's Bluetooth speaker
you love, but I can't find your podcast about it.

(17:16):
I'd like one for my husband for Christmas because he
keeps stealing my bluetooth speaker. I just need one that's
portable to go between his workshop and his brewery. Wow,
workshop and brewery. You got quite the man there. That's awesome.
I wish I had a brewery and a workshop. Thank you, Patty.
So the Sonos that I mentioned, I purchased two of

(17:36):
them over the pandemic because it's been that long. But
the big one that I started with is called the
sons Move and that's a four hundred dollars speaker. And
then the smaller one that they came out with is
the sons Rome, and that is a much smaller bluetooth
speaker that they actually raise the price on. This is
one of the few times that I've ever seen the

(17:59):
price of of a gadget increase since I purchased it.
I purchased it one sixty nine, it's now one seventy nine.
And Sonos raised prices almost across the board during the pandemic,
I guess, citing higher costs and things like that. So, uh,
the Sonos Rome is the one that I mentioned. This
is a much smaller bluetooth speaker. And here's the thing, Patty,

(18:21):
I don't know if I'd recommend the Sonos if you're
just using these by themselves. I mean, yes, they work
great as a Bluetooth speaker, but the beauty of the
Rome and the Move is that they work as part
of a bigger sons setup. So in my house, I've
got Sona speakers in various rooms. They all play the
same stuff together at the same time, or I can

(18:41):
play them individually. And so what's cool about the Rome
and the Move is that, like the Move, for instance,
I just have in my living room, it's always on
the charger, and then when I go out in the
backyard and kind of hang out on the patio, I
just take the Move with me, and now we've got
music outside in the back and I can bring it
back in when I come back inside. Same thing with
the Rome. We go on vacation, or we go to
a hotel, or we go to the beach, and we

(19:03):
take the room because it works in the house and
then you take it out of the house and it
works on Bluetooth. So that's the cost and why they're
a little bit more expensive. If you just want a
nice Bluetooth speaker for your husband, I would go with
something from Ultimate Years. So that's UE, which is Ultimate Years,
and they've got a bunch of different speakers and I

(19:24):
think they're all great. So I would go with something
like the Wonder Boom two or the Boom three or
the Mega Boom, depending on how much you want to
spend and how big your husband wants these speakers. So
that's what I would recommend. And yeah, he'll have a
great hope it doesn't listen to the podcast because he'll
be now he'll know your secret. All right. Spotify does

(19:44):
this thing at the end of every year called Spotify Rapped,
and I will be honest. I just started using Spotify
this year and pretty recently actually, but I am obsessed.
I do really, really like my Spotify. It's funny because
I used Apple Music and you two Music pretty much
exclusively forever, and I always kind of shunned Spotify just

(20:06):
because I didn't need it, Like I paid for Apple,
I paid for YouTube, and I wasn't gonna pay for
a third And of course now I am, but well,
I ditched, sadly, I ditched. I ditched Apple Music because
I no longer need it, because I know, I know
so sad, but I I hate even saying this, but
I ditched it because now Spotify works on my watch.

(20:29):
So it used to be only Apple Music would work
on the Apple Watch. Now Spotify allows you to download
music to the Apple Watch, and so I don't really
need to pay for things that overlap. So anyway, what
I'm trying to tell you is that this new or
this Spotify rap that comes out every year, this is
the first year that I've kind of used Spotify. So
I looked at it. I don't really I don't really

(20:50):
get it, except I did listen to one of the
pod one of the playlists today, which was like my
top songs of twenty twenty one, and every song that
came on, I'm like, oh, I like this song. Oh
I really like this song. I'm like, oh, yeah, duh,
because it's all the songs that I like throughout the year.
So a couple things that they did, and people just
love this. They just love the way Spotify percents this
and they love to see what they listen to the most.

(21:10):
I'm not the biggest fan of these whole year end things.
I guess they're kind of cool. They're growing on me,
let's put it that way. But Spotify did a couple
of things, including twenty twenty one the Movie, which features
your top songs with classic scenes from a movie that's
all about you. Then they have your audio Aura. We
worked with an aura expert to visualize your audio aura

(21:31):
based on your top two music moods. Playing cards. This
is an interactive database game that you play and share
with your friends. I don't know what that means. Oh,
we will display several statements about your listening and you'll
have to guess which ones are true. And then the
rapped blend, which you can see how your twenty twenty
one music tastes match up with your friends. So again,

(21:52):
it's all about getting you to be on Spotify more.
And so of course the raptub has the standard stuff,
which is your top songs twenty twenty one, your artists
revealed your top tracks, and artists your best new podcasts,
and it's just all kinds of you know stuff that
It's a nice way of slicing and dicing your Spotify

(22:13):
data and I think they do a nice job of it.
So very cool if you have Spotify check it out
all right, Abel says, I'm trying to purchase a magnetic
wireless portable charger for an iPhone twelve Promax, any recommendations
would be truly appreciated. Thanks in advance. All right, So able,
if you want the standard, it's just Apple's mag Safe charger,

(22:37):
and it's I got to find out what they actually
call it. Is it the let's see, it's like a
battery pack. It's called the Apple mag Safe Battery Pack.
So that's the official one right now. The standard price
is one hundred bucks, but I've seen it. It's on
sale for cheaper seventy five dollars at best Buy right now,
So if you want that, that's, according to the Verge,

(22:59):
that's the all time low price. So what these battery
packs do is it's a battery and it sticks to
the back of your phone with magnets and it charges
your phone. And what's nice about that is that it's
just nice and simple and it doesn't you know, you
can actually hold your phone and use it. And so
these things are like essential. If you have a mag
Safe iPhone, which is the iPhone twelve and thirteen, all

(23:21):
the models in that range, then you can attach accessories
magnetically to the back of your phone. And so this
is one way of doing it. Now. The other one
I like, I haven't tested this one, but I know
the brand and I know a lot of people that
I know that like it is the Anchor Magnetic battery,
and this one is a little bit cheaper. It's fifty

(23:41):
five dollars and again same concept. It just sticks to
the back of your phone and wirelessly and magnetically or
I should say sticks to your phone magnetically and wirelessly
charges your phone. And so that's really nice. It's just simple,
one less cable to carry. And then I did a
segment or a feature on the my Charge mag Safe

(24:04):
battery pack, and I really like this one, and it's
called the Maglock. So it's the Maglock mag Safe power Bank.
And they have three different sizes and they're thirty percent
off right now, So there you can buy the size
that you think is the best for you, that you
know how much you need for power wise, and just
going over the power situation, so they make a three

(24:27):
thousand million power, a six thousand million power, and a
nine thousand million power. The iPhone itself is anywhere between
two and probably ah gosh, I think it's like, let's
see iPhone thirteen. M ah, let's see how much it is.
Uh Yeah, Okay, so about oh wow, thirteen pro max
is forty three hundred, So the iPhone is between three

(24:50):
thousand and let's say four thousand, forty five hundred million hours. So,
however many million power batteries you get, that's how many
times going to charge it. So if you get one
that's three thousand milliamp hours, that's going to top up
your phone probably once. If you get a six thousand,
that's probably going to top up your phone about twice.
If you get the nine thousand, that's going to top
up your phone about three times. Now, keep in mind,

(25:11):
these magnetic batteries are going to be more expensive and
charge your phone less than a standard plug in power bank.
Plug in power banks you can get like a ten
thousand milliamp minimum for like thirty bucks, or you can
get a twenty thousand million amp and you know that's
just as an expensive and it'll charge your phone way
more time. So you're paying a little premium for the

(25:32):
whole mag safe situation, but it is definitely definitely more convenient.
All right, let's talk about let's move directions to this
is kind of fun. We did the story today on KTLA.
This is a online grocery store that specializes in food
that would otherwise go to waste. So it's called Misfits Market.

(25:56):
It's out of New Jersey, which you know, major props
to that because I'm from New Jersey. Love my home state.
But this Misfits Market, they sent me two boxes of
food to test out, and I was very confused. I
was like, well, what's it going to look like? You know,
is this stuff gonna be all messed up? The answer
is no, it's imperfect. But that just means that, you know,
when you go to the grocery store, what do you

(26:16):
do when you're looking at apples? You pick up like
five of them and try to pick up the most
perfect apple that you purchase. And every person that goes
to that grocery store does that over and over until
all these apples that have maybe like a little bump
on them or a little scrape, or they're not perfect,
they just don't get purchased. So in some cases, these
grocery stores don't even take delivery of food that may

(26:39):
be seen as imperfect. And so this Misfits Market has
a lot of deals with mostly organic food producers to
take all this stuff that may not make it to
the mainstream grocery stores and then they sell it at a
discount anywhere from thirty to fifty percent. And so they
sent me two boxes of stuff. I thought it was
all great. Yes, some of it looked a little odd,
some of it was a little misshapen. But when you

(27:01):
wash this stuff and you cut it up and you
cook it up, it's all fine. I mean, we made
some really fantastic stuff. We grilled up salmon, we grilled
up chicken. Let's say I made a like a veggie.
My wife made a veggie medley last night that was
just delicious, with asparagus and roasted sweet potatoes that were
so weird looking. You would never pick them up in
the store because you're gonna get a sweet potato that

(27:22):
looks perfect. These were all kind of odd shapes. They
cooked up just fine. The carrots. I made a salad
out of the lettuce and carrots. It was delicious. And
again I wouldn't pick up the bunch of carrots because
they were kind of dirty looking and they were smaller
than I would get for carrots. But they were perfect
when you clean them all up, they were great. So
Misfits Market they are now delivering to forty four different states,

(27:44):
including California as of a couple weeks ago, and the
savings are dramatic. I mean, you could really get a
pretty big saving, especially if you live in California, where
food is very expensive. I mean grocery stores here. You
don't realize until you go to a different state. We're
paying like basically double the price at grocery stores for
the simplest things like a thing of Heinz ketchup. You know,

(28:05):
it might be three dollars in New Jersey or you know, Iowa,
and it's six bucks here. So it's just the cost
of living in California is very, very expensive, and you
get used to it because you kind of forget that.
You're just this is what you pay. But then when
you go somewhere else, you realize, like, wow, this is
really pricey. So the other thing about this is this

(28:26):
is not competing with something like an Amazon Fresh, an Instacart.
You're not getting this stuff instantly. What you do is
you sign up, you build your box throughout the week,
and there's a cutoff date on like let's say whatever
date you want, and then they ship your box out
two days later. So minimum order is thirty bucks. Shipping
is five point fifty. Some of the stuff was a
little bit broken up when I got my box, but

(28:47):
you know that happens. It's you know when you're shipping
something by FedEx that that can happen. But they do
use different depending on your zip code, they use different carriers,
so whatever carrier is sort of best for your area.
And that's the other big difference is that they're trying
to solve these kind of food waste issues but also
food desert issues. So there's a lot of places in America.

(29:09):
If you live in a big city, take for granted
that you can get all this stuff delivered. But if
you live in other places in America, you may not
be able to get food delivery as easily and as
competitively priced as somewhere that's near you, or you may
not have a grocery store that's near you. And so
what Misfits Market is priding itself on is the fact
that they deliver to almost every zip code in the

(29:30):
states they service. So in California they deliver to like
pretty much every zip code, and that's across the board,
so forty four states. I've got a promo code's not
sponsored or anything. I just asked them, hey, can you
give me a promo cod because I know people are
going to want to try it out rich on Tech thirty.
We'll give you thirty percent off your first two boxes, which,
by the way, whenever I get a promo code from
a company, which you know, it's few and far between

(29:51):
when I ask for that, but when I do, I
always say I want the promo code to be the
best promo code out there, because I'm not trying to
like make affiliate sales. I'm not trying to do any
of that stuff. So I'm just trying to get the
best deal for you, the listener or the viewer, And
so I don't want you to have to go search
around and say, well, you know, Rich puts this code
on here, and it's let me say, if there's something better.

(30:13):
I don't want you to have to do that. So
whenever I'm sharing a promo code, I almost ninety nine
point nine percent of the time asked the company to
make sure it is the best promo code available. There
may be a similar promo code available, but it's always
the best, and so like for this, it's thirty percent
off your first two boxes is better than you can
do in pretty much any other code that they have
available today, So rest assured you don't have to go

(30:36):
searching around for a better code. But I gotta say,
I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna try I mean, I
tried it. But the thing about me trying it is
that typically I like to try things as a quote
unquote regular person, where I would order the boxes and
do this. But with this one, I just said, send
me two boxes, let me or send me a box,
and let me just try it out. Now what I'm
gonna do is I'm gonna actually order as a you know, pedestrian,

(30:57):
as a regular person, and just you know, see how
it is. And I think it's pretty cool. Like if
I can get my basics like lemons, limes, apples, you know, lettuce,
celery like that kind of stuff at these cheaper prices,
then I think it's a really cool thing. So misfits market.
All right, let's get to another question. All right, Erica says, Hey, Rich,

(31:21):
hope you're well. I have a cell phone question. I've
always used Samsung notes in most recently the S twenty one.
Not sure if it's my carrier service T Mobile or
my phone call but my or my phone, but calls
never come in and calls drop. My husband doesn't have
this issue. He has an iPhone seven. He doesn't like technology.
I recently ordered a Pixel five A. I'm wondering if
the pixel has Android Auto, as I searched and found

(31:42):
different answers. Would you tell me if it will work?
This is a deal breaker for me as I really
enjoy Android Auto. Thanks for your techie tips. Happy holidays,
Erica Erica. Yes, indeed the Pixel five A has Android
Auto op or wrong sound effect? Can you tell my
on my own show? So, yes, it has Android Auto.

(32:04):
There's so much like online about this whole Android Auto situation.
Android Auto is there, it works, It's fine. I think
the thing that they're talking about when it comes to
Android Auto is the there was a standalone app on
Android phones that you could bring up on your phone screen.
I think that's gone, but they still have what's called
like Android Auto Assistant. They built it into Google Assistant

(32:27):
to make it accessible on more phones, and so it's there.
It works. If you plug it into your car, you'll
still have Android Auto when it comes to your dropped calls.
I don't know that could be t Mobile. I'm not
really sure. In my experience, every carrier has its pros
and cons. I think they all have their weaknesses and
strengths in different areas. I mean, I try all three carriers,

(32:49):
and believe me, I will say that I think that. Well,
I'll just tell you that they all work in various
ways in various places. So what I always tell folks
is get a get a carrier that works where you
live and where you work. Those are the two most
important things. And if you're on the freeway a lot
or the highway, get a carrier that works on the
highway a lot. If you're in rural areas, get one

(33:11):
that works in rural areas a lot. And that just
it requires a lot of talking to friends and family
and just see what they have and just ask questions, Hey,
you have G Mobile? Does it drop a lot? Do
you get a lot of drop calls? Hey you have Verizon?
Does it work in you know, rural areas when you're
in the woods. Oh you have AT and T does
that work at the park that I always go to.

(33:31):
So Pixel five A, I think is a fantastic phone.
I would definitely go with that phone. And I think
you're gonna love it. I think it's a really solid device.
All right, let's just go right to another question. Let's
see again. I don't know if I can oh interesting.
This person's term is CSI Miami show. Maybe they work

(33:53):
on CSI Miami. I was trying to watch a special
program on USA Network. I downloaded the USA Network and
I still couldn't get the show I wanted to watch.
The advertisement for the show was USA Network. I even
tried downloading the NBC app on my Amazon Firestick and nothing.
All I kept telling me is the list of providers.
The only thing I have is an indoor antenna and
the firestick. I even contacted NBC and they couldn't help me.

(34:16):
Do you have any idea what I did wrong? Thank you? Yes,
I do have an idea what you did wrong. You
can't just download these apps, and well, it depends on
the app. If it's a cable if it's a cable
streaming cable TV app, like a cable channel, most of
the time you need to subscribe to that channel in
some way to actually watch it. And I know this

(34:37):
is a totally convoluted system, and we are in an
in between stage right now with these with these channels.
So right now, cable channels make their money by having
cable subscribers. So USA Network is not its own little
business that's stand alone that can just exist on its own.
They can exist because they get a dollar from every

(35:00):
person that has Comcast or Verizon FiOS or Direct TV,
all these different spectrum. These cable channels make money that way.
They don't in most cases have a standalone app with
their own subscription because they're still trying to figure out
that side of the business. So why they're showing you

(35:20):
that list of providers is because you need to subscribe
to some sort of cable streaming service to get access
to that USA network. The access is free if you
are a subscriber to a cable cable package. And so
what I would do if you want USA Network, I
just did a quick search. It seems like Sling TV

(35:41):
is probably your easiest and cheapest, But I would search
untangled dot tv and see which streaming service carries USA
Network for the cheapest. I think it's going to be
Sling But that's what I would do. But this is
a major major issue. I get these questions all the time.
People are so confused about how to access anything today

(36:01):
on streaming because you've got so many different services and
they all require something different. So I mean, if you're
getting a bundle of cable channels, you get and you
watch them, and you download that app and you can
watch them live, and then if you want to get
the channels, you got it. Sometimes you'd subscribe to a
cable service. It doesn't give you access to the to
the log in on the channel. So you really have

(36:22):
to do your homework with this stuff. And I always
tell people, you know, Untangled dot tv is great. Another
way to do it is just google the name of
the show. So if you want to watch what's like
a popular show? What's a popular TV show? Right now,
let's just see I have no idea because I don't
I only watch one show at a time. Okay, let's
say you want to watch Yellowstone. How to watch Yellowstone streaming? Okay,

(36:47):
you google that, and there's these bloggers that write about
how to see the show. And Marie on the Facebook
is saying she loves the Real Good app, which I
have recommended many times. I love that. That's another way
that you can do it. But this is a simpler way.
That's just an easy way to Google it, and so
they say streaming. While Yellowstone isn't currently on Netflix or Hulu,

(37:10):
the first three seasons are all available to stream on
Peacock or for purchase through Amazon Prime. Despite what you
might assume given that the show's on the Paramount network,
it's not currently available through the Paramount Plus streaming service.
So there you go. And I would also cross reference
what they said with what other people say, so I'd
always read two articles because sometimes they might get it wrong.

(37:31):
But that's you know, that's the main thing is that
you just have to kind of search around to see.
But with movies especially, I love the real good app
that's what I use to figure out. And believe me,
I am. I am kind of a stickler when it
comes to not paying for content. My wife was like, oh,
this new Incanto, Yeah in Kanto movie. That's a Disney movie.

(37:52):
She's like, it's getting really good reviews. And I said,
is it streaming? Because guess what, I'm not paying for
the movies. She said, what, because we haven't been to
the movie theater in two years. I said, I don't care.
I said, I pay for too many streaming services. I'm
not paying for you know, tickets, to the movies. She's like, well,
what if we go to like a matine I'm like,
all right, maybe we'll go to the matinee of Incanto.
But I can't. It's so tough for me because I

(38:14):
pay for so many streaming services that I want all
of my my content to be included in those streaming services.
So I've been known to subscribe to a streaming service
for a month just to get the show that we
want to watch or the movie, like we watched uh,
Clifford the Big Red Dog, and that was on Paramount Plus.
And so I searched for a a deal on a

(38:35):
on a free trial for Paramount Plus. And it's interesting
because I actually had a free trial on Paramount Plus.
But if I subscribed through a different way, which I
think ended up being Google Play, I could do the
free trial again. So it does take a little work.
Sometimes I might I might be a little bit more
of a stickler than most people because I just I
feel like, you know, we're paying for so many things.

(38:57):
I just want to make sure that you know we're
getting our money's worth, and so that that's why I
do it. All right, let me talk about some of
the things that I want to talk about on this show.
So let's see. We went through the interview with Tim Cook. Oh,
the book I'm reading right now, this is a speaking
of something that I purchased. So this was an example
of I couldn't get a free trial. So I've done

(39:20):
I've done so many Audible free trials over the years,
and I guess Audible finally cut me off and they said,
all right, no more, no more free trials for you.
And so I wanted to read this new book by
Gary Vaynerchuk, and I say read, I'm actually going to
listen to this one. But it's called twelve and a
half and it's about the emotional ingredients necessary for business success.

(39:44):
And he goes over sort of twelve twelve things that
he's identified that are essential if you want to be
good in business, and good in business means anything you
can be. Good as an employee, good as a manager,
good as just you know, regular person like in my job.
And so so far. Anyway, so I paid the fifteen
dollars on Audible for a free month, which are for

(40:06):
a month of service, which gives you a credit that
you can use towards an audiobook. And so I bought
this and I've been listening to it and I got
to say, I am very very impressed so far. The
first the first like element was gratitude. And I'll be honest,
I've heard the word gratitude so many times in my life,
I mean, more than I can talk in the past

(40:28):
five years. Right, Like, I never even growing up, you
never heard the term gratitude. Well I didn't, but you know,
and for me, I was probably first exposed to it
just a couple of years ago, and I maybe vaguely
knew what it was, but not really And so I
never heard anyone explain what gratitude was better than Gary
Vaynerchuk and he explained this to me. And I have, honestly,

(40:50):
in the past twenty four hours realized how fortunate I
am in life more so than I ever have before.
And so that kind of his point is that that
can how you are as a human and how you
are as an employee or a business person. And I
will say that I am I don't know, like the
gratitude like it goes into almost every thought that I

(41:12):
have right now, and it's because of this book. And
so I highly recome in this book. If you're you know,
I don't need you to be like hustling on the
side project and all this stuff, but like if you're
just trying to be a better employee, a better human,
a better person, a better worker, a better manager, a
better anything. I really really like this book because I

(41:36):
was wondering if it would apply to me, because I'm like, well,
not like a big entrepreneur or big whatever. But it's
so far has been right on point, and so it's
called twelve and a half. I really really like it.
Gary Vaynerchuk is one of my favorites. By the way,
grew up in New Jersey. He is an immigrant, but
he grew up in New Jersey when his family came
here to the US from I believe it was like

(41:56):
the I think he said Bella Rusa in the Soviet Union.
But a great story and just someone I followed for
many years and such a great guy. I actually had
the chance to interview him many years ago, and at
that point I wasn't really as familiar with the power
of Gary v. And now I wish I got to
go back to that interview because I would have he

(42:18):
I think at the end of the interview he asked
if we wanted to like have a sip of wine together,
because that's his big thing is he had a wine business.
And I was like so meek in like whatever that.
I was kind of like, uh, I can't treat him
on a job. And I had like one little sip.
Maybe I cheered with him. I don't even think I
drank it. And I just what a missed opportunity. I mean,
rich Rich de miro of, that was like ten years ago,

(42:41):
what were you thinking? You were sitting with Gary Vaynerchuk
and he said you want to toast? And I just
I faked it, Like what why would I do that?
So I'm a very different person than I was ten
years ago, So I would I would. I'd be like, Gary,
clear your schedule, let's let's uh, let's split the bottle
and uh and let's let me just pick your brain
for the next hour and a half. Anyway, twelve and

(43:03):
a half. Great book. Highly recommend it. And this is
one of those books that you can listen to. It's
just it's just so easy to hear Gary speak and
listen to this book. And I'm gonna actually re listen
to this book I think every other year or every
year because as i'm listening to it, I'm like, oh,
that's so good, that's so good, that's so good. I
need to remind myself you're in, you're out just of
some of these emotional ingredients. Some of the other ones

(43:25):
are like empathy and yeah, you're like rich, what these
are not? These are not the standard business school things
that they teach you. No, it's not. And that's the
whole point is that you're learning. You're learning the the
extra you know, the stuff that you don't necessarily learn
in business school, and it's stuff that really does come
into play in every aspect of your life. And so anyway, now,

(43:50):
by the way, Gary's last book, Crushing It was the
book that made me write my book, the iPhone Tips
Book one hundred and one Handy Tech Tips for the iPhone,
which was my first book, and then I wrote a
second book, and both those books were very, very successful
on Amazon. I self published those and I had no
idea just how successful they would be, and I wish

(44:10):
I kept going. There were some issues with continuing to
go to continue to write new books, which hopefully maybe
I'll resolve in the future, but I just couldn't do
those with my current position. Well, I don't want to
get into it anyway. We'll leave it at that. But anyway,
my books were very successful people that bought them. They

(44:30):
still have four and a half stars on Amazon. I mean,
it's really just the that was an amazing experience, and
I really I should write a book about that experience
because it was so cool. The other thing I did
this week was I upgraded my Tesla to the self
driving package. Like the It's weird. There's like three levels
of self driving, or I should say autopilot on the Tesla.

(44:53):
The first is what comes with the car standard, which
just kind of keeps you in your lane and keeps
you at a standard distance from the car in front
of you. The second is what I subscribe to, which
is pretty much autopilot navigation, which will change lanes by itself.
It will, you know, keep the speed. It will basically
drive the car for you, and also switch freeways so

(45:14):
if you have to go from you know, let's say
in La the one to one to the one ten,
it will change lanes and continue on that route. So
it's really like driving itself, but it's not full self driving,
so it doesn't do it on city streets. That's that's
called full self driving. That's in beta, and that's included
in this but I don't have it just yet. You
have to request that. So my thoughts on the self

(45:35):
driving situation are, honestly, I'm not ready for it. It's
it's not fully there yet. I don't trust the car
to drive itself enough in a big enough way that
I can relax when it's in this self full self
driving mode. And I think that the standard autopilot that
the Tesla comes with is just sufficient for me. There

(45:57):
is one feature I do like on the upper level,
which by the way, this is two hundred dollars for
the month two twenty with tax here in California. But
the feature that I like is that when you put
the blinker on, it'll change lanes automatically, so you don't
have to like really think about changing lanes. It will
notice when there's an opening and it will change. And
it's kind of aggressive when it changes lanes, like it's

(46:17):
and it's kind of all over the place too. If
like in La, when you put your blinker on to
signal a lane change, people like to push into that
lane immediately or not let you go because it's like
I don't know. It's this weird aggression thing that I
don't have. Like I when someone puts on their blinker
and I'm a very I should mention and I've probably
mentioned this before. I'm a very easy going driver. In fact,

(46:38):
probably to a detriment because people get behind me and
they're like, oh, you're in a fast lane. You're going
so slow, and I'm like, I don't. I just want
to be safe and I don't really care. I time
out my trips, so I'm going to speed limit. I
know I'm gonna arrive on time. I don't need to
be one of those people that wings in and out
of traffic. That's just me. I just don't like that
kind of driving. So personally, I'm a pretty boring drive.

(47:00):
So I just feel like the Tesla is a little
bit kind of all over the place when it comes
to how it approaches driving. And it's just it's great,
don't get me wrong. It is. What they have with
these engineers have come up with is just mind boggling.
But as a human being driving a car, it's really
tough to seed some of that power to a computer.

(47:22):
But also, at the same time, your car is telling
you that you must be in charge at all times,
even though the computer is also in charge. So it's
this weird power struggle that is just our brain is
not programmed for that power struggle. Because this is the
weird part about the auto drive is that you're it
says every like fifteen thirty seconds, Hey, put your hands
on the wheel, make sure you're driving, even though we're driving.

(47:44):
So it's like, well, what do you want? Am I
driving or you driving? And so it's this really weird
like psychological warfare when it comes to the autopilot that
your brain is like it can never fully relax because
it has to be ready to take action at any time.
But at the same time, the whole point is that
your your brain can relax a little bit because the
car is driving. So until we can get to this,

(48:06):
you know, higher level of autonomous driving, I feel like
it's just simpler to drive yourself. Use some of these
basic things, like I think that the the keeping the
lane feature, following the lane feature, and also the speed
auto adjust you know, cruise control is amazing. It's great,
it's sue I use it every day. But I think
that the actual like self driving of the car, like

(48:28):
from point to point is not good until it can
actually really really take control of the car and without
a shadow of a doubt being control and be really
good at it. All right, Uh, do we want to
take another question? Let's take another question? All right, Juliana says, Hey, Rich,
I always appreciate your insight on all things tech, but

(48:48):
I'm wondering if you have a credit card preference to
get the most points and rewards. I thought MX Platinum
would be better than the Delta AMEX, but I feel
like I'm not getting as many points as I should.
I fly Delta Delta monthly for work, so I do
have a loyalty there. Do you already have an article
about these credit cards and which one do you recommend?
Thank you? I also have the Chase Sapphire or Reserve,
but really wanted access to the Delta lounge at LAX

(49:09):
Terminal two. Which is your favorite credit card? Juliana, this
might surprise you. It might I have to take a
sip of water there to actually get through this. But
this might surprise you, But I actually don't. I don't
recommend credit cards. I don't. I don't play the points game,
and I know it's weird because I'm totally missing out

(49:31):
on many, many, many points. But I use Okay, So
I will go through what I do for my credit
and debit situation. So my number one thing is that
I don't I don't use a credit card for the points.
And it's believe yes I have in the past. I
do put stuff on my credit card. I do have
a credit card, but my feeling with a credit card

(49:53):
is that you inherently spend more money. And that's not
my that's not my my original thought. I am a
day Ramsey follower, and Dave Ramsey is all about debit, debit, debit,
and so I'm a little bit of a blend. I'm
realistic as well. I do like my credit card because
I think it puts a little bit of a buffer
between me and certain things, and sometimes I think that's important.

(50:16):
And so here is my reasoning when it comes to
credit cards. Number one, get the best one for your situation.
So for your situation, if you are flying Delta on
a monthly basis with your company, I would say the
Delta AMEX is probably a great card for you because
anything that you put on there with Delta is going

(50:37):
to give you multiple points, and it's also going to
give you perks, like if you want to get into
the lounge, and that's it. I would say one credit
card is perfect, that's all you need. If you're juggling
multiple credit cards, it's really tough to keep track and
it's too much math for me. And honestly, these credit
card companies employ data scientists and you know, math peticians

(51:00):
and marketing geniuses that are all way better than what
rich Demiro's little brain can process. So in my brain,
all it thinks about when I use a credit card
is how many points did I just get? When I'd
like to train my brain to say how much money
do I just spend? And can I make that less money?
And so I know this is totally radical thinking that

(51:21):
ninety nine point nine percent of people don't do or
don't care to do. But this is the way that
I think because I honestly want to retire, you know,
in life with some money and you know, some money
to leave to my kids. And I'd rather have that
for my kids than amex. Amex is way too smart
of a company and they're gonna outsmart me every time.

(51:41):
And so yes, I love the Platinum card. I think
it looks amazing. I see the ads for it in
the airport. I want to sign up for every time
I see it. But I just keep a basic you know,
I keep a nice card. I do have a nice
credit card, but it's basic. It's a it's a visa
and it's simple, and I get my points when I
use it, but I I don't go out of my
way to use it. Now, with that set, here's my

(52:03):
rules for how I use my cards. If my card
leaves my hand, it is going to be two ways.
It's going to be well. Actually, if my card leaves
my hand, it's going to be okay. Sorry, let me
start at the base. So when I am presented with
an opportunity to use my to you know, to pay
for something. If I am paying, if I'm paying in person,

(52:27):
it's always going to be mobile pay, which is taped
to pay, and that's going to be using my debit card.
And the reason I like tap to pay is because
it does not share my debit card number with the merchant.
It shares a one time card number that works and
then that's it. It's it's gone into the ether. If
I am putting a card in the dipper in the slot,
if I am physically doing it. I'm gonna use my

(52:48):
debit card. That's the only way because again, that little
chip of my card means that the it's sharing a
one time code and it's not sharing my actual debit
card number. And that's it. And I'm using my debit card,
hopefully with a pin so that it takes the money
out immediately and I can see my updated balance. Now.
The other thing I do is I use my credit

(53:09):
card if my card is physically leaving my hand. So
when my card is leaving my hand, that has a
couple different meanings. When I'm shopping online, my card is
leaving my hand, So I do use my credit card
online because that card number when you type it in
is just it's out there. Now. Yes, sites are safe,
they're secure. You can probably use a debit card and

(53:30):
be safe. But I'd rather use a credit card because
I'd rather just have my stuff protected. Now. The other
place I use a credit card is typically with travel.
If I'm traveling and you know, buying an airline ticket
or a hotel room or anything that requires a deposit,
I will use my credit card because there's just a
little barrier. Plus things like a rental car I've got
rental card protection and stuff like that. So that's when

(53:53):
I use my credit card, especially at restaurants. If it's
leaving my hand, I will give them my credit card
because they can go to the back, take a picture
or my card, and boom, there goes my number. So
that's my thought. Now if I'm at a restaurant and
they have these new fangled you know, tap to pay,
or I do my own transaction, which I absolutely love.
I was at PF Chang's the other night and they

(54:14):
had a QR code on the receipt that you would
scan and then you would pay your bill through that
with Apple Pay. I loved it. It was the coolest
situation ever. I was like, this is amazing, And yes,
on that dinner, I gave up, you know, three hundred
points or whatever I would get with my credit card.
But I like spending on my debit card because it hurts.

(54:36):
It really hurts for me to spend my hard earned cash.
And so when I use my debit card, I feel
that pain. And when I feel that pain, it makes
me want to spend less money. When I use my
credit card, I'm like, I'm like, whooo, credit card swipe dip,
chip dip whatever. It feels so good to use my
credit card because I know I'm getting all those points

(54:56):
on the back end, and they feel so good because
I'm redeeming them for re travel. You know, you get
all these points on your card, and it's like, when
you really do the math, it's like a hundred bucks.
And so it's like, I would rather just save one
hundred dollars and not go through the whole pain and
suffering of this whole credit card situation. Anyway, I know
it's way longer of an answer than you want to, Juliana,
but my bottom line is that pick one credit card

(55:18):
that works for you, Pick one debit card, and lean
on debit, lean on tap to pay with your debit card,
and I'm telling you you'll save money. I'm telling you.
People just say like, well, no, that's not true. Rich
You get the points, but what you forget is that
you just spend a certain percentage more with your credit card.
When I go to Target and I know I'm using
my credit card, I know that I'm just gonna spend

(55:39):
more because it just doesn't feel like real money when
I use my debit card. You have to like pry
that money out of my hand. I'm like going into
that machine, I'm like, uh, did we really spend that much?
Why do we spend so much? Can I put something
putting back like a pack of gum? Because I'm like
a dollar or less? Here we go. So anyway, you
know what, you're listening to the rich on Tech podcast,
so you're gonna get rich on tech. This. This is

(56:00):
my thought process. I know it's unique, it's not for everyone,
but yet tuned into me and that's what you get.
So thank you for the question. I think that is
a great question. And there you have it. All right,
let's get to one final question. Greg says rich. I
live in an old apartment with no smart devices. I
saw some smart plugs on Amazon. I'm wondering if old
devices can be plugged into them and make them smart.

(56:23):
Thinking not, but your recommendation, what is it? Thanks? And
this that was Greg? Okay, So Greg, yes, you can
make old devices smart. In fact, there's a lot of
light switches that you can use to put in your
wall that will help you dim lights and things like that,
as long as the lights are dimmable. But yeah, these
smart plugs, I like, I just bought a whole bunch

(56:45):
of them at the Amazon store, and I've been using
them for the holiday decorations. But I like the ones
from TP link very inexpensive. They're always on sale on Amazon.
But yeah, get a couple of these and you can
plug people have even plugged like a plum into them.
You just have to be careful with the appliances to
understand the wattage. And I'm not like an expert in

(57:07):
like electricity, but I know that some things are rated
too high for the plug that you're plugging them into.
So these smart plugs on the side of the box,
it will tell you kind of like what the amperage
is or whatever it says. You just need to kind
of check that against your appliance. So if you're plugging
in something that's like a box fan or something, just
make sure that the plug you're putting it into can

(57:29):
handle that the whatever it is, like the wattage, the voltage,
whatever it is, just make sure that those two things align.
But yeah, in fact, I've been having a ton of fun.
I set up all the Christmas lights in my house
and outside to work with. What is it, alex A
and I come home and I say, merry Christmas, alex

(57:49):
A and boom, all the lights come on. And the
babysitter was over the other day and I did this
and she was like, oh my god, that's so cool,
and so I was like, yeah, it's you know, it's
just my uh, you know, my alex say routine. And
then for the outside lights, I have them come on
at a certain time I think it's dusk, and then
I have them go off at a certain time and
it's all through a smart plug. And so I did

(58:10):
notice with a couple of smart plugs that some of
them are more responsive than others. But so far the
TP links that I have in my place have actually
worked just perfectly and so no problems whatsoever. I can
highly recommend those. They work fantastically, So go check them out.
Oh my gosh, is it already that time? You know

(58:31):
what that sound means? That sound means it is the
end of the show. Oh my gosh. I didn't even
get to talk about the song I'm listening to check
out Missing Piece by vance Joy. I love this song.
It just gets me in such a great, great mindset,
great great song. I didn't talk about the Rivian, but
I'll talk about that on the next show. I guess

(58:52):
because I got to test drive another electric car. It
was awesome. That's gonna do it for this episode of
the show. If you'd like to submit a question for
me to answer, just go to my Facebook page, Facebook
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(59:12):
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(59:33):
please actually engage with my stuff. Right If you're just
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I just want quality followers that are really engaging in
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No matter where you live in the US, you can
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(59:55):
and Roku. Once you do, scroll to the technology section
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My name is Rich Dmiro. If you're on Facebook Live,
stick around. I'll answer and chat with you after the
live show ends or the podcast. I should say thanks
so much for listening. There are so many ways you

(01:00:16):
can spend an hour of your precious time. I do
appreciate you spending it with me. My name is Rich Dumiro.
I will talk to you real soon