March 4, 2025 • 26 mins
(March 04,2025)
KTLA & KFI tech reporter Rich DeMuro joins the show for ‘Tech Tuesday.’ Today, Rich talks about Google’s New Privacy Tool, Solar-Powered Laptop, and the newly announced Crypto Reserve. A Fyre Festival sequel? What could go wrong? Gen Z men are turning to the kitchen instead of college. They can make $170,000 without the burden of a student loan.
KTLA & KFI tech reporter Rich DeMuro joins the show for ‘Tech Tuesday.’ Today, Rich talks about Google’s New Privacy Tool, Solar-Powered Laptop, and the newly announced Crypto Reserve. A Fyre Festival sequel? What could go wrong? Gen Z men are turning to the kitchen instead of college. They can make $170,000 without the burden of a student loan.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listen Saints KFI AM six forty The Bill Handles
show on demand on the iHeartRadio f KFI AM six forty.
Bill Handle here at Taco Tuesday, March.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Fourth, and a couple of big stories that we are
carrying a couple three actually White House Tonight, President Trump
gives his Joint Session of Congress speech.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Can't wait for that one also was announced two things.
The terraft started at midnight and the President stopped all
aid to.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Ukraine at least temporarily. Locally.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
LA Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley is going to appear
and her appeal to get to be reinstated after she
was fired by Karen Bass.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Will that vote.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Is going to happen today and there's no chance she's
going to be reinstated at least I don't think so.
Time for Tech Tuesday with Rich Demurrow, our tech guy.
He's on every Saturday eleven am to two pm.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
He's a KTLA reporter.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You see him every day there Instagram at rich on
tech website, Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Morning Rich.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Good morning to you, Bill, Oh boyd.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I want to start with something that I'm asking, really,
how come is it really going to do anything. And
this is Google's new privacy tool, making it easier to
remove personal information from search results very easily, just to
tap everybody's information is out there everywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
What does this do?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Does this stop a one percent part of the ability
for people to get your private information?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Pretty much? But I think what they're doing here is
a nice gesture because the real thing we're up against
is all of these data collects agencies. You know, the info,
you know the people, there's so many different names out there,
the people finders, Spokio, you know, they're they're basically putting
these results on the web. So when you search for
(02:11):
yourself you see them, and then of course, if you're
dating or something, you might want to buy the results,
and they make money. It's a big business. But when
you see this stuff for yourself, you want to get
rid of it, and you can go to these companies
or you can pay a company to take it down.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Why do that?
Speaker 4 (02:26):
But now Google is letting you do it right through
Google Search, and so they've always had this feature, it's
just much easier now. So if you search something like
your name and then phone number, you'll have a result
that comes up which probably has your.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Phone number in it.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So now you can tap the three little dots that
are next to the search result and you'll get this
new window that pops up, and inside that window it
says remove result, and you can tap that and say
why do you want to remove it? And it gives
you a couple options. It shows my personal info and
I don't want it there. You tap there, and in
(03:00):
a couple of hours or a couple of days, Google
will tell you if that result has been removed. Keep
in mind, Bill, this does not remove the original website
with the info. It just removes the link to Google
and so it won't show anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right, Two questions about that number One, Google, don't
you go to another browser and you don't have that
safety feature? So there you go anyway, big deal getting
another browser. And the other question is with AI. Doesn't
AI have the ability to go through everything and figure
out what you want and make it so easy where
(03:35):
it just pops up exactly what Google is trying to protect.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Great question. So first off with the Google. So this
is through Google Search. So even if you went to
a different browser, whether it is Edge or Safari, you're
still going to probably be using Google Search because of
their mass market share, so the results would still be
gone from there. And yes, again this is mostly just
(04:00):
for optics for yourself, and ninety nine percent of people
are going to be searching on Google to find you.
They're not going to go to people find Er, They're
not going to go to spochio right off the bat,
They're going to go to Google. And so if you
can remove those results at this kind of at the
place where people are looking for them the most, then
you know they're just not going to find them in general.
If you want to get them removed from the sites themselves,
(04:21):
yes you can do that as well. But I think
that this is a nice gesture because Google knows that
this is a problem. They know people don't want their
personal information out there. But they also know they're just
the intermediary in your intermediary right, They are not the
end all. They don't host this information. These websites do.
And by the way, it's a game of whack a
mole to get this stuff off these other sites. Now
to your second point with AI. Currently, if you ask
(04:44):
something like a chat GBT to give me someone's name
and address and phone number, even though yes, they have
absolutely compiled that information in the background. They're not going
to give it up forthcoming lately there may be a
way to get it to do it, but right now
it's not very easy, all.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Right, So at this point, because how many AI companies
are out there that you can actually access even chat
GPT and I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
You have a dozen of them that you can talk about.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, Google, Gemini, Microsoft, Copilot, Claude, Alexas coming up with
their own I mean, there are so many of these
things that you can choose from at this point, perplexity,
there's a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So how many either using AI or not.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
How easy would it be to do an end around
on this privacy tool of Googles, You.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Know, it would take me a little bit of trying.
But here's the thing. I mean, there's so many of
these ais. They all have different rules, they all have
different regulations, but they're all kind of like being very
careful right now with what they do. And there's a
lot of guardrails that are sort of built into them.
But again, these are all you know, this is all
human made, and also humans are trying to figure out
(05:54):
ways around this on a daily basis, and not every
AI search engine is created the same So for instance,
there's one called Grock, which is from you know X,
which is of course Elon Musk and theirs is saying,
you know, hey, we're a little bit more wild than
the rest of them out there, right, like we will
do stuff that the other ones will not. And so
you know, you may search for yourself on there and
(06:15):
find the information that you're looking for instantly without it
saying no, I can't do that. So again there's and
there's of course many many other ais out there that
might do this as well.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
All right, a word about Alexa, and I always start
with Alexa louder As for people that are having Alexa
at the same room that they're listening.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Or in the car, just love this.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now Amazon is revealing or unveiling a premium version of
Alexa and it's AI powered upgrades.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Because right now I get recipes, I get news, I
get songs, I can listen to KFI, I can check
in with you.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
What am I going to get that I'm not getting? Now?
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Well, you're going to get Alex understanding you as a
person and as a family. So she's going to understand
your household more. And I know that sounds weird, but
this is a kind of a key piece to this. Yes,
she's still going to be able to do all the
smart home things that you just mentioned, and actually I
think better because let's say someone wants to hear KFI
on Alexa, you have to say in a certain way
(07:21):
for it to trigger that.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Well, now, with the LM and the large language model
that she's going to be programmed with, she's going to
understand what you're trying to say without you saying it
a specific way. So I think that's going to get
a lot better. And the second side of this is
again her getting to know you. So because she's linked
into all these smart home devices, she's sort of understanding
(07:43):
when the lights go on and off in your house,
when the locks lock and unlock, when you request music
when you don't, when you play this kind of thing,
and so she'll start to pick up on those things
and help you in a more proactive way. And by
the way, she's going to be linked up to like
ten thousand different services Uber, door, Dash and all these
(08:03):
different things that you can just say, hey, order me
an Uber, tune into this channel, get me this shop
for that, and she will understand pretty much everything that
you're trying to ask.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
All right, So I just went to a friend's house
the other day and it was it was dark, and
it was Alexa, turn on the kitchen lights. Alexa not
as bright, and I was kind of okay, that's kind
of neat.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
And by the way, it gets imagine her just adjusting saying,
you know you at five o'clock when you're eating dinner,
you always put the lights down. So when you say
turn on the lights, so'll go, okay, I'm going to
do them at thirty percent like you typically like.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Oh, as opposed to you saying turn them to thirty percent.
I know that's a lot of work, exactly. I get
that for sure. And just a quick note, if my Alexa,
which I have, starts to really understand me, I'm done.
You know that she's shutting me off. That's that's quite dangerous.
It could be very dangerous. Rich back to a few
(08:55):
other topics. One of the things that I that incenses
me are scams, and the majority of scams are now
Internet scams. I used to get letters from a former
prince of Nigeria, remember that, and you would, oh, yeah,
I love those, dear sir, you have been we have
(09:16):
been told you're an honest man. No name on it,
just you know, we need some money to open an
account and you'll get thirty million dollars whatever the hell
it is.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Now, I'm assuming a lot of them are a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
More sophisticated, which they are, and people are so vulnerable.
So let's talk about the biggest scams of last year,
which will lead into this year.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yeah. So, Better Business Bureau has this great site. I've
talked about it before. It's called the Scam Tracker. And
what's great about this website is that if you find
a scam or you are scammed, you can enter it
into this tracker and then other people can search for information. So,
for instance, I interviewed this woman who got involved in
a puppy scam, and if she would have just literally
(09:57):
typed in puppy into this scam tracker, she would have
realized there's a thousand puppy adoption scams going on out there.
So anyway, that's how people can use it. But the
BBB kind of went through and looked at everything from
last year found the number one riskiest scam is investment
in crypto scams. No surprise there eighty percent of victims
reporting financial losses, and the media loss is about five
(10:19):
thousand dollars, So that's number one.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, go ahead, who's in.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Right mind is going to invest based on some Internet
connection or search or someone even worse soliciting you. I
guess old people, vulnerable people who well, yeah, don't have
those smarts.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
That's interesting. It's old people and young people. So I
think it's young people eighteen to twenty four because they
don't have the knowledge base that you know, someone in
their middle age does that's seen this stuff before. And
then of course old people, you know, that's a whole
other issue. I mean I get emails all the time
from caregiver, you know, caring for their parents or their
(11:02):
you know, elderly relative that these people at a certain
point they're writing checks, they're giving up their personal information.
I mean, it's really wild, and yes, it happens every day. Okay.
So and then back to your other point, you said,
you know who falls for this stuff and whatever. So
the longer someone engages with a scammer, the more likely
they are to lose money. And that's part of these
(11:23):
romance scams where they get you in and they start
talking to you and you're lonely, and next thing you know,
they say, look, I want to buy a plane ticket
to come see you and I can't. And yes, people
fall for this. Apparently. Second thing is well okay, So
romance and friendship scams number three, by the way, employment
scams number two. And I don't say you should do
(11:45):
this stuff at home, but I often engage with these
scammers just to see what the end game is. And
so yesterday I got a text out of the blue, Hey,
are you interested in a part time job? You know whatever.
I'm Alisa. I have information about a recent position. Can
we talk for a few minutes? I said yes, And
then she said, we provide full time opportunities or part
time that require an hour and offer earnings of up
(12:05):
to six hundred and fifty dollars a day. Payments are processed.
Can you confirm you're in the US and have a
Social Treurity number and you're twenty five or above? And
I said yes, yes, yes, And you know this is
what they're trying to do. They're trying to get your
personal information. Okay. The other takeaway from this is the
most impersonated companies include publishers, Clearinghouse no surprise, there USPS, PayPal,
(12:27):
Amazon and Spectrum and bill. You know, since I have
all these followers that are following me for the tech information,
they forward me these scams they get. I think of
them as my eyes and ears out there, and I
put them on my Instagram and you would just it's
wild to see this stuff. And the way that these scammers,
this is what they always do. They take something we
know and love and they twist it a little bit
(12:49):
and make it into a scam. So that fraud text
that you get from your bank that says, hey, did
you just make this purchase? That's real, but then they
make it into a fake text and then somehow get
you because of that.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Hey, I one of the things that I was taught
and that is when it looks like it's from a
legitimate company and you're to click on it, all you
have to do is look at the URL and it
would be Microsoft dot com slash eight million characters after
(13:20):
that scam right on its face.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Am I right about that?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
That is a good way to do it? There are
some signs so yes, But of course you know again,
the scammers what they will do is they know that
people's address bars limited depending on the device they're on,
and so sometimes they will make the address look real
at the beginning and then at the end it has
all that extra stuff, or the opposite way, you know,
it makes the beginning look real. And so you can't
(13:46):
necessarily have to always look at the URL just to
make sure. Someone said, hey, Rich, can I just look
for the padlock? Not necessarily because some of these sites
can be secure, but they're still stealing your information.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And by the way, I've had a fair amount of
experience with these scams, unfortunately on the wrong side of them.
And you know, we'll talk about that later, as in, nevermind,
that was just a joke that just didn't work.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Okay, Okay, I didn't know where that was going.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But yeah, I was going at because I won the
scammer because I was on the wrong side. That was
you see, I didn't see I told you it didn't work.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
I thought you were helping people, Bill. I thought you
meant like people called you for a help.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh god, no, geez, you know, why would I do that?
All right? Rich?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Thank you catching tomorrow on KTLA and this Saturday, eleven
am to two pm right here on KFI.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
You have a good one.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You two.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
All right, take care.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Now do you remember the Fire Festival Billy McFarland, that
crazy ass fire festival, and he's doing it again. He
went to jail the first time out for defrauding people. Well,
let's go at it again. So Fire Festival sequel, Fire
(15:07):
Festival Number D world class hospitality boundary, pushing excursions by day,
beatside musical performances by night, and ticket prices.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
That are in the stratosphere.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Sounds familiar, doesn't it, Because in twenty seventeen that's exactly
what was promoted, and there was a Fire Festival.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Pretty much of a spectacular failure.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
And it spawned dueling documentaries on Netflix and Hulu. It
was so explosive and so just so huge in terms
of fraud. Can you imagine two documentaries Netflix and Hulu?
And as I said, Billy McFarlane, the organizer of both
Fire festivals, went to prison for nearly four years. He
(16:02):
entered a guilty plea to charges that included wire fraud.
He's thirty three years old. He is back and he's
trying it again one more time. So he announced this
week that Fire Festival two is scheduled for May thirtieth
to June two on Ilya Mouhades the Island of Women.
(16:27):
It's some Mexican island and it is a vacation destination
a few miles off the coast of con Kun and
the event is to be played staged at play a Fire,
that is the beach at Fire or the Fire Beach.
(16:49):
To go to the festival's website and there it is.
Also if you look at the festival's website, they actually
have GPS corps that you can go on to. And
it's really not at Ilya mooheadas the island. What it
is is a landless spot to the west of Ilia Mooheadas.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
It is a spit of vacant land. There's nobody there.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
While the Ilia is a legitimate destination place, not so
much this little place the GPS.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Coordinates give you and we don't. You go to the website.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
You gotta because it's being promoted, Okay, it's being advertised
as an electrifying celebration of music, arts, cuisine, comedy. Well
it's comedy, just having it, fashion, gaming, sports, treasure hunted,
treasure hunting, all set in the stunning location.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Of Ilya Moveheadas Mexico.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Now, how about other details, well, the people who organize it,
especially Billy McFarlane not really available for comment.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
And by the way, what musical artists.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
None have been announced, although McFarlane on the Today Show
there was an interview told Today that the genres that
would include electronic, hip hop, pop and rock. And when
he was asked about the musical artists and who was
(18:32):
going to appear, he cleverly came back with I'm not
in charge of booking the talent. Now, you would think
there would be a red flag flying above this festival,
wouldn't you, And that would be the first thing up.
And this is spectacular because the guy who created Number one,
(18:56):
same guy, Billy McFarlane, went to jail for four years
as and he pled guilty to fraud and he pled
guilty the Bilky investors. Because that first festival was pretty
terrific back in twenty seventeen, and the festival.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Was originally billed as quote an.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Exclusive musical theme getaway in the Bahamas, sort of a
Coachella with a five star resort connected to it, and
it was scheduled for two weekends April and May of
twenty seventeen, and McFarlane partnered with a rapper Joe Rules
that the way he pronounced it, Joe rule, Yah rule,
Ja rule Ja rule. Yeah, it's okay fine, And he
(19:39):
had booked major major musical acts like Major Laser.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Never heard of him.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Migos, okay, you're noddy.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Never heard of them. That's a group. Okay, well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I assumed it was a group because it's there's an
asset at the end.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Mighos as opposed to Migo and Link one two.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I've heard about them, and it was hyped on social
media by Kendall Jenner. Major influences Emily Ratajjakowski.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Never heard of her.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Bellahadid eh okay, I'm not big with these influencers. And
attendees had been told they'll start each day with morning yoga,
guided meditation on the beach, enjoying massages, hand a tattooing
boyye lineup for that one sound healing, chill out sessions,
h a festive Bahami Bahamian junk, a new parade kicked
(20:36):
off each weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Uh, you couldn't pay me to engage in that.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And what went wrong, Well, the luxury villas were actually
disaster relief tents. That was a problem on this sort
of makeshift makeshift camp round gore meals. The gour me
meals were in some cases cheese sandwiches, but really good ones.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Okay, that you have to give them good cheese sandwiches.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
The musical acts all backed out. Local businesses lost money
because they had contracted to provide food and services. And
the festival sold the total of eight thousand tickets.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
And there were some chartered planes.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
They made it to the island in the Bahamas and
there was nothing there.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh by the way, Fire employees later said that tickets
were sold for a location have been nailed down, and
some of the festival's extravagant elements they put in there
just to see.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
If people would pay for them.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
That was the reason. Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So now we have Fire Festival number two, no idea
who is going to appear.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Right at this point, there are.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
No acts and there was a total of two thousand
tickets of available to Fire Festival number two at Isla
Muheadas this resort island, except it's a little spit of
land off the island, and that's actually where it is.
Oh and Islam Mouheadas is a genuine resort and in
(22:15):
order to stage one of these, you have to have
a permit, of which the authority said, no permit has
been requested, and of course we haven't granted any permits. Okay,
Now the tickets fourteen hundred dollars at the low to
one point one million dollars, Is that possible? Yep, that's
eight attendees. That's the Prometheus level. Includes a round trip
(22:40):
airfare on fire Air Miami to Cancun, helicopter ride to
the Islam Moheadas.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
And you get a four state room yacht or a
four bedroom villa. Hm.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Now you know, fourteen hundred dollars? Would I pay fourteen
hundred dollars? I mean how much would I pay for
a ticket? Depending on the act. For example, if they
were going to have the original Beatles having exhumed George
Harrison and John Lennon, I'd go for it. I missed
(23:18):
the Beatles live when I was younger, and that's one
of the concertors that I've regretted not going to for
my entire life. They were at the Hollywood Bowl and
at Dodger Stadium. Hollywood Bowl was had to be great,
So I'd pay big money for that one point one
million dollars. I mean, I would love to do a
(23:40):
story on how much or how many tickets will be sold.
McFarlane was nearly twenty six million dollars to the people
he defrauded, and he said on that Today Show interview
that a portion of the revenue from Fire Festival too
will go to them. And he said he's partnering with
(24:00):
a Mexico based events producer, Lost Nights, an interesting name,
Lost Nights, okay, and as already established vendor to vendors
to help the event run smoothly. No comment on that
one too. There's a follow up on this one. Can't
wait for this one. Fire Festival number two. All right, guys,
(24:23):
we are done tomorrow. We're certainly going to talk about
what the President says tonight. It'll be Tim Conway will
be carrying it live the President's Joint Congressional speech or
in front of the Joint Session of Congress, which is
both parties, all the congress people, all the Senators, the
Supreme Court, YadA, YadA. And it's guaranteed to be a
(24:46):
festive evening with fireworks, you bet. And so we'll talk
about that tomorrow morning. And then tariffs. By the way,
Gary and Shannon are going to talk about Tara and
what's kicked in, because they kicked in this morning the
tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada. I cover tariffs in
(25:08):
China or against China earlier today and tomorrow. It's going
to be a deep dive into the tariffs and it's
going to be well, I'll explain it.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Because it is so weird.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Carrie and Shannon have a new segment called Tariffs in
the Sky.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Oh very strong. No, No, I liked it. I liked it. No,
it's all right, okay, all right, we're done.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
We end with Neil with a moderately funny, clever statement,
all right, tomorrow, five am we start all over again. Amy,
wake up call Will, Will? Are you in the five
o'clock hour? Also, yes, I sit in there with Amy, Okay,
as much as much as I love Amy, because I
have to say that I am working on the program
(25:55):
that starts at six o'clock.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
So I get little snippets of Amy, and I have
not yet heard you do your thing? Okay after her jokes.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Well that's important, particularly since she's not particularly funny.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Oh and you know what, guys.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
All right tomorrow, Amy and Will wake Up Call. Neil
and I join at six o'clock to write about now,
and of course you've got Ann and Kno trying to
put the shows together. This is KFI Am sixty. You've
been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my Show
Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime
(26:33):
on demand on the iHeartRadio app
You're listen Saints KFI AM six forty The Bill Handles
show on demand on the iHeartRadio f KFI AM six forty.
Bill Handle here at Taco Tuesday, March.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Fourth, and a couple of big stories that we are
carrying a couple three actually White House Tonight, President Trump
gives his Joint Session of Congress speech.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Can't wait for that one also was announced two things.
The terraft started at midnight and the President stopped all
aid to.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Ukraine at least temporarily. Locally.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
LA Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley is going to appear
and her appeal to get to be reinstated after she
was fired by Karen Bass.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Will that vote.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Is going to happen today and there's no chance she's
going to be reinstated at least I don't think so.
Time for Tech Tuesday with Rich Demurrow, our tech guy.
He's on every Saturday eleven am to two pm.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
He's a KTLA reporter.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You see him every day there Instagram at rich on
tech website, Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Morning Rich.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Good morning to you, Bill, Oh boyd.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
I want to start with something that I'm asking, really,
how come is it really going to do anything. And
this is Google's new privacy tool, making it easier to
remove personal information from search results very easily, just to
tap everybody's information is out there everywhere.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
What does this do?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Does this stop a one percent part of the ability
for people to get your private information?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
Pretty much? But I think what they're doing here is
a nice gesture because the real thing we're up against
is all of these data collects agencies. You know, the info,
you know the people, there's so many different names out there,
the people finders, Spokio, you know, they're they're basically putting
these results on the web. So when you search for
(02:11):
yourself you see them, and then of course, if you're
dating or something, you might want to buy the results,
and they make money. It's a big business. But when
you see this stuff for yourself, you want to get
rid of it, and you can go to these companies
or you can pay a company to take it down.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Why do that?
Speaker 4 (02:26):
But now Google is letting you do it right through
Google Search, and so they've always had this feature, it's
just much easier now. So if you search something like
your name and then phone number, you'll have a result
that comes up which probably has your.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Phone number in it.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
So now you can tap the three little dots that
are next to the search result and you'll get this
new window that pops up, and inside that window it
says remove result, and you can tap that and say
why do you want to remove it? And it gives
you a couple options. It shows my personal info and
I don't want it there. You tap there, and in
(03:00):
a couple of hours or a couple of days, Google
will tell you if that result has been removed. Keep
in mind, Bill, this does not remove the original website
with the info. It just removes the link to Google
and so it won't show anymore.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
All right, Two questions about that number One, Google, don't
you go to another browser and you don't have that
safety feature? So there you go anyway, big deal getting
another browser. And the other question is with AI. Doesn't
AI have the ability to go through everything and figure
out what you want and make it so easy where
(03:35):
it just pops up exactly what Google is trying to protect.
Speaker 4 (03:40):
Great question. So first off with the Google. So this
is through Google Search. So even if you went to
a different browser, whether it is Edge or Safari, you're
still going to probably be using Google Search because of
their mass market share, so the results would still be
gone from there. And yes, again this is mostly just
(04:00):
for optics for yourself, and ninety nine percent of people
are going to be searching on Google to find you.
They're not going to go to people find Er, They're
not going to go to spochio right off the bat,
They're going to go to Google. And so if you
can remove those results at this kind of at the
place where people are looking for them the most, then
you know they're just not going to find them in general.
If you want to get them removed from the sites themselves,
(04:21):
yes you can do that as well. But I think
that this is a nice gesture because Google knows that
this is a problem. They know people don't want their
personal information out there. But they also know they're just
the intermediary in your intermediary right, They are not the
end all. They don't host this information. These websites do.
And by the way, it's a game of whack a
mole to get this stuff off these other sites. Now
to your second point with AI. Currently, if you ask
(04:44):
something like a chat GBT to give me someone's name
and address and phone number, even though yes, they have
absolutely compiled that information in the background. They're not going
to give it up forthcoming lately there may be a
way to get it to do it, but right now
it's not very easy, all.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Right, So at this point, because how many AI companies
are out there that you can actually access even chat
GPT and I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
You have a dozen of them that you can talk about.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, Google, Gemini, Microsoft, Copilot, Claude, Alexas coming up with
their own I mean, there are so many of these
things that you can choose from at this point, perplexity,
there's a lot.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
So how many either using AI or not.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
How easy would it be to do an end around
on this privacy tool of Googles, You.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Know, it would take me a little bit of trying.
But here's the thing. I mean, there's so many of
these ais. They all have different rules, they all have
different regulations, but they're all kind of like being very
careful right now with what they do. And there's a
lot of guardrails that are sort of built into them.
But again, these are all you know, this is all
human made, and also humans are trying to figure out
(05:54):
ways around this on a daily basis, and not every
AI search engine is created the same So for instance,
there's one called Grock, which is from you know X,
which is of course Elon Musk and theirs is saying,
you know, hey, we're a little bit more wild than
the rest of them out there, right, like we will
do stuff that the other ones will not. And so
you know, you may search for yourself on there and
(06:15):
find the information that you're looking for instantly without it
saying no, I can't do that. So again there's and
there's of course many many other ais out there that
might do this as well.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
All right, a word about Alexa, and I always start
with Alexa louder As for people that are having Alexa
at the same room that they're listening.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Or in the car, just love this.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Now Amazon is revealing or unveiling a premium version of
Alexa and it's AI powered upgrades.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
What does that mean?
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Because right now I get recipes, I get news, I
get songs, I can listen to KFI, I can check
in with you.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
What am I going to get that I'm not getting? Now?
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Well, you're going to get Alex understanding you as a
person and as a family. So she's going to understand
your household more. And I know that sounds weird, but
this is a kind of a key piece to this. Yes,
she's still going to be able to do all the
smart home things that you just mentioned, and actually I
think better because let's say someone wants to hear KFI
on Alexa, you have to say in a certain way
(07:21):
for it to trigger that.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Right.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Well, now, with the LM and the large language model
that she's going to be programmed with, she's going to
understand what you're trying to say without you saying it
a specific way. So I think that's going to get
a lot better. And the second side of this is
again her getting to know you. So because she's linked
into all these smart home devices, she's sort of understanding
(07:43):
when the lights go on and off in your house,
when the locks lock and unlock, when you request music
when you don't, when you play this kind of thing,
and so she'll start to pick up on those things
and help you in a more proactive way. And by
the way, she's going to be linked up to like
ten thousand different services Uber, door, Dash and all these
(08:03):
different things that you can just say, hey, order me
an Uber, tune into this channel, get me this shop
for that, and she will understand pretty much everything that
you're trying to ask.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
All right, So I just went to a friend's house
the other day and it was it was dark, and
it was Alexa, turn on the kitchen lights. Alexa not
as bright, and I was kind of okay, that's kind
of neat.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
And by the way, it gets imagine her just adjusting saying,
you know you at five o'clock when you're eating dinner,
you always put the lights down. So when you say
turn on the lights, so'll go, okay, I'm going to
do them at thirty percent like you typically like.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Oh, as opposed to you saying turn them to thirty percent.
I know that's a lot of work, exactly. I get
that for sure. And just a quick note, if my Alexa,
which I have, starts to really understand me, I'm done.
You know that she's shutting me off. That's that's quite dangerous.
It could be very dangerous. Rich back to a few
(08:55):
other topics. One of the things that I that incenses
me are scams, and the majority of scams are now
Internet scams. I used to get letters from a former
prince of Nigeria, remember that, and you would, oh, yeah,
I love those, dear sir, you have been we have
(09:16):
been told you're an honest man. No name on it,
just you know, we need some money to open an
account and you'll get thirty million dollars whatever the hell
it is.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Now, I'm assuming a lot of them are a lot.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
More sophisticated, which they are, and people are so vulnerable.
So let's talk about the biggest scams of last year,
which will lead into this year.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
Yeah. So, Better Business Bureau has this great site. I've
talked about it before. It's called the Scam Tracker. And
what's great about this website is that if you find
a scam or you are scammed, you can enter it
into this tracker and then other people can search for information. So,
for instance, I interviewed this woman who got involved in
a puppy scam, and if she would have just literally
(09:57):
typed in puppy into this scam tracker, she would have
realized there's a thousand puppy adoption scams going on out there.
So anyway, that's how people can use it. But the
BBB kind of went through and looked at everything from
last year found the number one riskiest scam is investment
in crypto scams. No surprise there eighty percent of victims
reporting financial losses, and the media loss is about five
(10:19):
thousand dollars, So that's number one.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah, go ahead, who's in.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Right mind is going to invest based on some Internet
connection or search or someone even worse soliciting you. I
guess old people, vulnerable people who well, yeah, don't have
those smarts.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
That's interesting. It's old people and young people. So I
think it's young people eighteen to twenty four because they
don't have the knowledge base that you know, someone in
their middle age does that's seen this stuff before. And
then of course old people, you know, that's a whole
other issue. I mean I get emails all the time
from caregiver, you know, caring for their parents or their
(11:02):
you know, elderly relative that these people at a certain
point they're writing checks, they're giving up their personal information.
I mean, it's really wild, and yes, it happens every day. Okay.
So and then back to your other point, you said,
you know who falls for this stuff and whatever. So
the longer someone engages with a scammer, the more likely
they are to lose money. And that's part of these
(11:23):
romance scams where they get you in and they start
talking to you and you're lonely, and next thing you know,
they say, look, I want to buy a plane ticket
to come see you and I can't. And yes, people
fall for this. Apparently. Second thing is well okay, So
romance and friendship scams number three, by the way, employment
scams number two. And I don't say you should do
(11:45):
this stuff at home, but I often engage with these
scammers just to see what the end game is. And
so yesterday I got a text out of the blue, Hey,
are you interested in a part time job? You know whatever.
I'm Alisa. I have information about a recent position. Can
we talk for a few minutes? I said yes, And
then she said, we provide full time opportunities or part
time that require an hour and offer earnings of up
(12:05):
to six hundred and fifty dollars a day. Payments are processed.
Can you confirm you're in the US and have a
Social Treurity number and you're twenty five or above? And
I said yes, yes, yes, And you know this is
what they're trying to do. They're trying to get your
personal information. Okay. The other takeaway from this is the
most impersonated companies include publishers, Clearinghouse no surprise, there USPS, PayPal,
(12:27):
Amazon and Spectrum and bill. You know, since I have
all these followers that are following me for the tech information,
they forward me these scams they get. I think of
them as my eyes and ears out there, and I
put them on my Instagram and you would just it's
wild to see this stuff. And the way that these scammers,
this is what they always do. They take something we
know and love and they twist it a little bit
(12:49):
and make it into a scam. So that fraud text
that you get from your bank that says, hey, did
you just make this purchase? That's real, but then they
make it into a fake text and then somehow get
you because of that.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Hey, I one of the things that I was taught
and that is when it looks like it's from a
legitimate company and you're to click on it, all you
have to do is look at the URL and it
would be Microsoft dot com slash eight million characters after
(13:20):
that scam right on its face.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Am I right about that?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
That is a good way to do it? There are
some signs so yes, But of course you know again,
the scammers what they will do is they know that
people's address bars limited depending on the device they're on,
and so sometimes they will make the address look real
at the beginning and then at the end it has
all that extra stuff, or the opposite way, you know,
it makes the beginning look real. And so you can't
(13:46):
necessarily have to always look at the URL just to
make sure. Someone said, hey, Rich, can I just look
for the padlock? Not necessarily because some of these sites
can be secure, but they're still stealing your information.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Got it.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
And by the way, I've had a fair amount of
experience with these scams, unfortunately on the wrong side of them.
And you know, we'll talk about that later, as in, nevermind,
that was just a joke that just didn't work.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Okay, Okay, I didn't know where that was going.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But yeah, I was going at because I won the
scammer because I was on the wrong side. That was
you see, I didn't see I told you it didn't work.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
I thought you were helping people, Bill. I thought you
meant like people called you for a help.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh god, no, geez, you know, why would I do that?
All right? Rich?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Thank you catching tomorrow on KTLA and this Saturday, eleven
am to two pm right here on KFI.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
You have a good one.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You two.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
All right, take care.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Now do you remember the Fire Festival Billy McFarland, that
crazy ass fire festival, and he's doing it again. He
went to jail the first time out for defrauding people. Well,
let's go at it again. So Fire Festival sequel, Fire
(15:07):
Festival Number D world class hospitality boundary, pushing excursions by day,
beatside musical performances by night, and ticket prices.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
That are in the stratosphere.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Sounds familiar, doesn't it, Because in twenty seventeen that's exactly
what was promoted, and there was a Fire Festival.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Pretty much of a spectacular failure.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
And it spawned dueling documentaries on Netflix and Hulu. It
was so explosive and so just so huge in terms
of fraud. Can you imagine two documentaries Netflix and Hulu?
And as I said, Billy McFarlane, the organizer of both
Fire festivals, went to prison for nearly four years. He
(16:02):
entered a guilty plea to charges that included wire fraud.
He's thirty three years old. He is back and he's
trying it again one more time. So he announced this
week that Fire Festival two is scheduled for May thirtieth
to June two on Ilya Mouhades the Island of Women.
(16:27):
It's some Mexican island and it is a vacation destination
a few miles off the coast of con Kun and
the event is to be played staged at play a Fire,
that is the beach at Fire or the Fire Beach.
(16:49):
To go to the festival's website and there it is.
Also if you look at the festival's website, they actually
have GPS corps that you can go on to. And
it's really not at Ilya mooheadas the island. What it
is is a landless spot to the west of Ilia Mooheadas.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
It is a spit of vacant land. There's nobody there.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
While the Ilia is a legitimate destination place, not so
much this little place the GPS.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Coordinates give you and we don't. You go to the website.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
You gotta because it's being promoted, Okay, it's being advertised
as an electrifying celebration of music, arts, cuisine, comedy. Well
it's comedy, just having it, fashion, gaming, sports, treasure hunted,
treasure hunting, all set in the stunning location.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Of Ilya Moveheadas Mexico.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Now, how about other details, well, the people who organize it,
especially Billy McFarlane not really available for comment.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
And by the way, what musical artists.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
None have been announced, although McFarlane on the Today Show
there was an interview told Today that the genres that
would include electronic, hip hop, pop and rock. And when
he was asked about the musical artists and who was
(18:32):
going to appear, he cleverly came back with I'm not
in charge of booking the talent. Now, you would think
there would be a red flag flying above this festival,
wouldn't you, And that would be the first thing up.
And this is spectacular because the guy who created Number one,
(18:56):
same guy, Billy McFarlane, went to jail for four years
as and he pled guilty to fraud and he pled
guilty the Bilky investors. Because that first festival was pretty
terrific back in twenty seventeen, and the festival.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
Was originally billed as quote an.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Exclusive musical theme getaway in the Bahamas, sort of a
Coachella with a five star resort connected to it, and
it was scheduled for two weekends April and May of
twenty seventeen, and McFarlane partnered with a rapper Joe Rules
that the way he pronounced it, Joe rule, Yah rule,
Ja rule Ja rule. Yeah, it's okay fine, And he
(19:39):
had booked major major musical acts like Major Laser.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Never heard of him.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Migos, okay, you're noddy.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Never heard of them. That's a group. Okay, well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I assumed it was a group because it's there's an
asset at the end.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Mighos as opposed to Migo and Link one two.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I've heard about them, and it was hyped on social
media by Kendall Jenner. Major influences Emily Ratajjakowski.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Never heard of her.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Bellahadid eh okay, I'm not big with these influencers. And
attendees had been told they'll start each day with morning yoga,
guided meditation on the beach, enjoying massages, hand a tattooing
boyye lineup for that one sound healing, chill out sessions,
h a festive Bahami Bahamian junk, a new parade kicked
(20:36):
off each weekend.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Uh, you couldn't pay me to engage in that.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And what went wrong, Well, the luxury villas were actually
disaster relief tents. That was a problem on this sort
of makeshift makeshift camp round gore meals. The gour me
meals were in some cases cheese sandwiches, but really good ones.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Okay, that you have to give them good cheese sandwiches.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
The musical acts all backed out. Local businesses lost money
because they had contracted to provide food and services. And
the festival sold the total of eight thousand tickets.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
And there were some chartered planes.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
They made it to the island in the Bahamas and
there was nothing there.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Oh by the way, Fire employees later said that tickets
were sold for a location have been nailed down, and
some of the festival's extravagant elements they put in there
just to see.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
If people would pay for them.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
That was the reason. Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
So now we have Fire Festival number two, no idea
who is going to appear.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Right at this point, there are.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
No acts and there was a total of two thousand
tickets of available to Fire Festival number two at Isla
Muheadas this resort island, except it's a little spit of
land off the island, and that's actually where it is.
Oh and Islam Mouheadas is a genuine resort and in
(22:15):
order to stage one of these, you have to have
a permit, of which the authority said, no permit has
been requested, and of course we haven't granted any permits. Okay,
Now the tickets fourteen hundred dollars at the low to
one point one million dollars, Is that possible? Yep, that's
eight attendees. That's the Prometheus level. Includes a round trip
(22:40):
airfare on fire Air Miami to Cancun, helicopter ride to
the Islam Moheadas.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
And you get a four state room yacht or a
four bedroom villa. Hm.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Now you know, fourteen hundred dollars? Would I pay fourteen
hundred dollars? I mean how much would I pay for
a ticket? Depending on the act. For example, if they
were going to have the original Beatles having exhumed George
Harrison and John Lennon, I'd go for it. I missed
(23:18):
the Beatles live when I was younger, and that's one
of the concertors that I've regretted not going to for
my entire life. They were at the Hollywood Bowl and
at Dodger Stadium. Hollywood Bowl was had to be great,
So I'd pay big money for that one point one
million dollars. I mean, I would love to do a
(23:40):
story on how much or how many tickets will be sold.
McFarlane was nearly twenty six million dollars to the people
he defrauded, and he said on that Today Show interview
that a portion of the revenue from Fire Festival too
will go to them. And he said he's partnering with
(24:00):
a Mexico based events producer, Lost Nights, an interesting name,
Lost Nights, okay, and as already established vendor to vendors
to help the event run smoothly. No comment on that
one too. There's a follow up on this one. Can't
wait for this one. Fire Festival number two. All right, guys,
(24:23):
we are done tomorrow. We're certainly going to talk about
what the President says tonight. It'll be Tim Conway will
be carrying it live the President's Joint Congressional speech or
in front of the Joint Session of Congress, which is
both parties, all the congress people, all the Senators, the
Supreme Court, YadA, YadA. And it's guaranteed to be a
(24:46):
festive evening with fireworks, you bet. And so we'll talk
about that tomorrow morning. And then tariffs. By the way,
Gary and Shannon are going to talk about Tara and
what's kicked in, because they kicked in this morning the
tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada. I cover tariffs in
(25:08):
China or against China earlier today and tomorrow. It's going
to be a deep dive into the tariffs and it's
going to be well, I'll explain it.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Because it is so weird.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Carrie and Shannon have a new segment called Tariffs in
the Sky.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
Oh very strong. No, No, I liked it. I liked it. No,
it's all right, okay, all right, we're done.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
We end with Neil with a moderately funny, clever statement,
all right, tomorrow, five am we start all over again. Amy,
wake up call Will, Will? Are you in the five
o'clock hour? Also, yes, I sit in there with Amy, Okay,
as much as much as I love Amy, because I
have to say that I am working on the program
(25:55):
that starts at six o'clock.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
So I get little snippets of Amy, and I have
not yet heard you do your thing? Okay after her jokes.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Well that's important, particularly since she's not particularly funny.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
Oh and you know what, guys.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
All right tomorrow, Amy and Will wake Up Call. Neil
and I join at six o'clock to write about now,
and of course you've got Ann and Kno trying to
put the shows together. This is KFI Am sixty. You've
been listening to the Bill Handle Show. Catch my Show
Monday through Friday six am to nine am, and anytime
(26:33):
on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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