September 23, 2025 • 25 mins
(Sept 23,2025)
Neil Saavedra fills in for Bill while he is out on vacation. KTLA & KFI tech reporter Rich DeMuro joins the show to discuss Verizon’s budget brand Visible, popular power bank maker Anker is recalling another 500,000 units because they can catch fire, and Facebook’s AI dating assistant. Trump directs $2.4BIL from California high-speed rail to new US program.
Neil Saavedra fills in for Bill while he is out on vacation. KTLA & KFI tech reporter Rich DeMuro joins the show to discuss Verizon’s budget brand Visible, popular power bank maker Anker is recalling another 500,000 units because they can catch fire, and Facebook’s AI dating assistant. Trump directs $2.4BIL from California high-speed rail to new US program.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty, KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Good morning, Neil Svadra and the morning crew
with you this week. Handle still on vacation. We'll see
him next week and rejoins us on Thursday. Matthews in
(00:24):
her stead. But the gang's all here and a sign
for some Rich DeMuro you can see him on Channel five.
You see him early in the morning. Man, you have
a worse schedule than I do right now, and of
course here and here on KFI, how are you doing, Rich?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But I love what I do and so that's why
I do it.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I don't work a day in my life.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah it is. It's not digging.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
I can honestly say that, Neil. I mean, so can you.
I mean, this is like, yeah, there are far worse
things we could be doing.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
You know, I was listening to you as I want
to do on KFI here and you were talking about
the anchor recall, and I think this pains you the
same way it pains me, because, like you, I've always
thought of it as a great brand, a trustworthy brand,
and this is what the third recall in the past
(01:19):
what two years.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, it's at least I mean I remember because I've
done them on the radio show and I'm like, wait
a second. The first one surprised me, then the second
one surprised me, and now the third. Now here's the thing.
I will give a couple of things here. Number one,
Anchor is very popular, and not just myself, many many
tech people. It has become kind of the recommendation for
(01:44):
power banks because they put out a good product at
a very affordable price tag, and so why not when
you have those two combinations of things recommend them. And
most of the tech people I know use Anchor products,
including myself. I have one in my bag right now
that I use and love. But yeah, another recall for
their power banks five hundred thousand units now. Also, to
(02:06):
put that into perspective, it's a lot. But I have
a feeling that Anchor sells millions upon millions upon millions.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Of these percentages.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So yeah, it's percentages, But the reality is you don't
want something that.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
You have to be recalled, and you don't want to
be using something that could potentially overheat or cause a
fire whatever. So there are one, two, three, four, five
models I mean, I could give you the model numbers,
but reality is you probably want to go to the
website and check them out. Rich on tech dot tv
hit notes up at the top. I put all the
model numbers there. But these were sold at best Buy, Target, Amazon, Walmart,
(02:43):
TikTok between August twenty twenty three and June twenty twenty five,
and Neil. You can get a refund or a gift card.
But this is I've actually had to do this before.
I don't know if you've ever had to do this,
but I've gotten some of these product recalls on Amazon.
You have to on the device like recalled in permanent
marker and then submit a photo to get the refunds.
(03:06):
So I had to do this with another product on
Amazon to get a refund. That's what they want you
to do.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, and then what do you send it back to
them or do you send it to an electric waste
you know outlet?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, good question. You cannot just put these in the trash.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Do not do that.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Don't put them in your regular recycling. You have to
basically on Anchor's website to have instructions for how to
find a hazardous waste center, which is probably The biggest
pain of this whole process is getting rid of this
thing once you are done with it, once you market,
as you know, recalled because you don't want to market,
get the refund, and then still use it, because you
just put yourself at risk.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
It's strangely, I've told you before that I do electronics
and make all kinds of stuff at home, and I
was going through my electronics and came across a mercury switch,
which they don't make anymore, that has actual mercury in it,
and that was my first thought at Oh, this is
going to be a pain, and they asked to get rid.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Of Yeah, and what you do that's why.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, you can find places that have hazardous waste and
most of them will take electronics as well. But I'm
the same way, try and make sure that electronics go
to the proper electronics recycling centers and the like, and
not just toss them in your trash, because there's a
lot of stuff in electronics that can be harmful if
it goes into the wrong place. All right, next thing
(04:27):
visible at best Buy that's Verizon's budget brand, right.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, So this is so I had to look at
my notes.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
We covered the launch of Visible back in twenty eighteen,
and back then, Verizon sort of kept it a secret.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
They like, they didn't really say it was Verizon.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They didn't really make a big deal out of it,
but they kind of put it out there and there's
no stores. That was their big thing, that this was
all digital. So if you wanted to save a ton
of money. I think it started at forty dollars a
month was the initial cost of this, of this monthly plan.
So it was forty dollars a month, unlimited everything. And
even at the time when I was doing the story,
(05:06):
I just didn't understand how that could be true, and
so we tested it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
We tried it.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It worked out great, but the big catch was that
you had to sign up through their app and it
was only available on iPhone. Anyway, it's come a long
way since then. Visible is very popular. People that know
about it, they love it because it's inexpensive, but it
runs on Verizon's network.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Starting September twenty eighth, you can actually go into a
Best Buy store and purchase Visible plans, but also get
a SIM card if you need it. Check your device
to make sure it's compatible before you switch and talk
to someone with limited questions. It doesn't sound like it's
the full retail experience that you might get at a store, but.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Hey, it's it's better than nothing if you have.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
A question about this, all right, Rich, So the iOS
twenty six rollout, give us, give us the nutshell?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So, I mean this came out last week and people
have been installing it. I installed it. I was running
the beta before, not on my main device, so I
have been testing it for a while, but I don't
like to put that on my main phone, so I
did install it, just like everyone else out there. At first,
didn't really like it very much. I said, Okay, what's
the point of this. It looks too glitzy and all
(06:18):
these movements and everything's clear. They call it liquid glass.
But now I have grown to really like it, and
I think what I'm hearing from other people is is
very similar responses. So a couple things. Number one, like
I said, liquid glass, that's the new name for it.
They did skip from iOS eighteen to iOS twenty six.
(06:38):
And if you want to stay on iOS eighteen you
can do that. When you go into your settings, it
says you know, software update. You'll see there's like iOS
eighteen point seven. If you want to stick with iOS eighteen,
you can do that. Apple will continue to put out
security updates at least for a while. Could that be
a year, could it be two years. We're not sure,
but I will let you know when that changes. To
(07:00):
update you can do that too. So what can you
do in the new system? Messages gets a lot of changes.
You can create a poll, you can create backgrounds for
your messages.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
That's kind of fun.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The big feature that I'm really digging is called call screening,
and so basically, once you toggle this on, callers have
to say who they are and why they're calling before
your phone even rings, and then you'll see that info
on your lock screen transcribed and you can decide if
you want to call or right sorry if you want
to pick up. There's also a whole assist which I
(07:32):
used yesterday when I was on hold with a company. Basically,
when it when your phone hears that hold music, it says, hey,
do you want us to hold for you? Let's see
what else claw c It just doesn't well, question, it's well,
it senses the hold music. So basically, once it hears
that hold music, it says, you get a little notification
(07:54):
on your phone screen. It says, do you want us
to hold for you? You tap yes or you accept it,
and then it listens to that hold music. It listens
for a human to pick up, and once it does,
it rings your phone or vibrates your phone. Gotcha, Oh
that's what it did yesterday.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And by the way, I know, if you're listening and
you are an Android person, you're like rich You're talking
about stuff it's been available and Android for years. I
am well aware of that. I am not comparing Android
to iPhone right now. Here's the deal. iPhone users, you know,
they understand that when features come to them, it is
new to them. So you can't say, oh, Samsung has
(08:30):
had this forever, Pixel has had this forever. It doesn't
matter to an iPhone user because they have the iPhone
and they don't know what Pixel has. They don't know
what Samsung has, nor do they care. So I'm just
putting that out there. I'm not making, you know, judgments
on which one's better or worse. So I get a
lot of emails about that stuff. Neil, Yeah, I oh, no,
I understand, trust me, I guess. So the clock you
(08:52):
can choose your own snooze time. Now, it used to
be limited.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Did you know this. It was limited to nine minutes
the snooze every time.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
I thought you can use that, didn't know it was
like you couldn't change it. I just just you know,
left it as is, assuming it was their highest one
or whatever.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Now you can do one minute to fifteen minutes. So
if you want a little more snooze, let's see what.
Oh this is kind of fun. You can make your
own ring tone from any audio file. So if you
open up an audio file. Yeah, remember you used to
have to pay like ninety nine cents for a ringtone.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Back in the day. Oh yeah, now you can just
do that.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
You can just when you're on an audio file, just
share it out and it says uses ringtone. So I
set my own voice. We had some fun at KTLA.
We recorded a segment. I recorded my own voice singing
you rickrolled the entire audience. Yeah yeah, man, you really
you don't miss a thing. Oh really, do not enjoy
your work? I really do. And but I wanted to
(09:50):
have that as a ringtone. I was going to move
that as a ring tone on my phone when Handle
calls me. That's yeah, you should do that just put
it or put on his phone, yeah, rick licor him.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
It would confuse him, the poor man.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, confused. Well, it doesn't take much, no it.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Okay, that's pretty cool on there, pretty simply you don't
have to jump through a bunch of hoops. You used
to have to be a little bit of a techie
back in the day to get your own ring tones
of any kind.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Correct, So you can do that. And then there's a
new app on there. It's called Preview, and this comes
in handy if you ever get you know, your kid,
you got to sign a document, you got a contract,
whatever you gotta sign, you can now scan it with
this new Preview app and you can edit the PDF
in there, you know, add markups, you fill out the forms,
sign it with your finger on your screen. So all
(10:40):
that good stuff. And then, of course, if you hate
all of this, if you don't like the look of
liquid glass I did post on my Instagram at rich
on Tech, how you can kind of tone it down
a little bit. In the accessibility settings, there is an
option to reduce transparency, which means things won't be sc through.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Okay, Now what about the Facebook AI Dating Assistant?
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I'm so glad I'm Nona in the need. Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Thought this was interesting because you know, everyone's swiping. And
by the way, quick story, I was at one of
the original parties for Tinder, and I'll never forget the
guy who started it showing me Tinder like an early prototype,
and he's like, watch how fast it is to find
a date? And I looked at it and I'm not kidding.
This girl went on there like demo it and she
(11:26):
got like a thousand messages in one second, and I'm like,
that is insane.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
How is that ever going to work? Like? This is great?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Anyway, it became a huge thing, but now everyone's swiping, swiping, swiping, swiping.
Facebook says we have swipe fatigue. So now they're using
AI to let you search for people using natural language,
like find someone I can bring home to my parents,
or find a Brooklyn tech bro who likes ed M.
(11:54):
These are the examples they gave.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yes, so like the most torrible example I could possibly imagine.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Wow, Well, I mean that describes a lot of people,
I think. But anyway, so this uses they're not making
inferences about people, They're actually using the info on your profile.
But you know, we all know, AI can be horrifically wrong,
so we'll see how this works. But I think it
is interesting. My wife and I always joke that this
whole dating app world, you literally just select like you like,
(12:28):
you're like, I want someone who likes bagels on a
Sunday morning, who likes to run, who likes to listen
to this music, who likes to do that. It's like
you're just like looking for the the other version of
you that you want to love.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So well, my wife is an atheist who hates food,
so oh well.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well this see. But you guys met hold on, did
you meet online dating? No?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
We actually met here at the station many years ago, right,
So now, if you would have met someone, you would
meet someone that loves food. That's basically just you in
another human's body. Yeah, that's we eventually. Yeah, I don't
even like sleeping next to myself. That's a whole other thing.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I'll call doctor Wendy for that one. All right, Rich Demurro,
thanks so much for taking the time, buddy. And yeah, seriously,
you are my number one source to keep up with
tech in my life, and I recommend people who haven't
had a chance to listen to the show, or get
your newsletter or check out the website to do so
at rich on tech oh Dot TV as well. All right,
(13:32):
my friend, thanks so much for taking the time. Thanks Neil,
We'll see you everywhere. All right, Neil Savador in the
Morning crew with you today. Trump. Wow, that's something new.
Trump being in the news. That's nice little change of pace,
but this time on something that makes me laugh. Two
point four billion taken from California Rail, the massive boondoggle
(13:58):
that should have been apped a long time ago. It's
ridiculous the amount of money we're pointing point, you know,
pouring into this.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And I'm all for.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I know that there's some things that are needed in
life that take a long time and are more expensive
than you think, but they still in the long term.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
You go, Okay, we got to do this right.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
But there is no outcome that I see of any
benefit for that so called high speed rail in the
state that it is. It just seems like money is
bleeding out out of it. So the Trump administration announced
a new five billion dollar rail program. So it goes
(14:40):
from one rail to another rail where really, you know,
nothing trains modern. So they're going to take that two
point four billion dollars pulled from California's stalled and horrible
high speed rail project and then move it into this
other one. So the pro removes that, of course, everything
(15:02):
is the Biden era diversity and all of that climate
change requirements instead prioritizing, prioritizing projects in areas with higher
birth and marriage rates to improve the railroad crossings. So
it turns out you've got, you know, problems in certain areas.
So the Federal Railroad Administration said railroad crossings. Don't know
(15:26):
why that's so hard for me to say, are important
to address because more than two hundred people a year
are killed when trains collide with vehicles or pedestrians at crossings.
Some of those things that I see now they want
to adress. They want, you know, build bridges or things
like that, and it's expensive, or underpasses that allow cars
(15:47):
to safely pass. A lot of the you know, I'm
just going off of what you see on the interwebs,
but a lot of those people are idiots. You see
them drive in there, or they're trying to cross in
thinking they can beat the train or things like that,
where you just go, you know, that's just Darwinism at
(16:08):
its finest. It's just stupid thinking that you're going to
beat that or not being patient to wait for the crossing.
But these projects, the priority with the Trump administration is
saying that they're looking for projects that improve the traveling
experience for families, adding amenities like nursing mother's rooms and
(16:30):
things like that, expanded waiting areas for children's play areas
at train stations, really trying to make them more of
a family based experience when it comes to train going
on to say, our new National Railroad Partnership program will
emphasize safety our number one priority, and we're going to
do it without radical DEI and green grant requirements. Instead
(16:54):
of wasting dollars on Governor Newsom's high speed rail boondoggle.
He wasn't even it was Jerry Brown's boon doggle, wasn't
it Jerry Brown was during his Because it's like ten
years old now or so, it's getting very old, that
(17:18):
particular boondoggle project. So these targeted investments will improve the
lives of rail passengers, local drivers, and pedestrians. So say
the Trump administration on this new project, Yeah, if that
could be done, great, but you're going to get pushedback.
California officials already said that they're going to fight this
(17:39):
effort to redistribute the money. They believe it should be
going to their project, and I don't think they're going
to hand it over quickly or easily. They already filed
a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to pull the
federal funding from the state's high speed rail project. We'll
see as to where that goes and if it's found,
(18:03):
you know, even feasible. All right, Another reminder that Amy
King and I are going over the edge this Friday
at the Hilton. They're in Universal City, and this is
all part of the Union Rescue Mission and their cause.
And I know that when it comes to the homeless.
I've been outspoken on how horrible LA has handled it,
(18:27):
and so it's very easy to roll your eyes and
go the last thing I want to do is give
money to the homeless. I get it. I totally understand that.
But the Union Rescue Mission is different. They do not
receive federal money. And you want to know why they
do not receive federal money because they are a dry house.
That means you've got to get sober and go through
their programs to find your way home, and they're strict
(18:50):
in the best of terms to work with people and
to get them on the right track going back. So
why do we go over the edge of a five
story building around two hundred and fifty feet We'll be
repelling down the side on Friday, and they're going to
be doing it all day on Saturday as well, if
you want to join, because it's.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
A great cause.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I started last year when I learned so much about them,
they started becoming a monthly one of my monthly donation charities.
And also I gave to this cause this year as well.
So I'm not asking you to do anything that I
personally am not doing, and Amy King and I are
very proud about being a part of it. If you
want to donate anything, just go to your m for
(19:36):
Union Rescue missionm dot org slash ote for Over the Edge.
You'll see Team KFI. Click on that and donate to
either of us, or if you want to jump with us,
it's a thousand dollars donation. They'll harness you up and
you can jump with Amy and me on Friday or
do it Saturday if you want, but yourem dot org
(19:59):
slash ote to donate, and we very much appreciate it.
Last year we were at a little further along than
we are now, so anything helps. We did very well
and surprised a lot of people with your generosity last year.
So thanks again for thinking about the Union Rescue mission
you r m dot org, slash ote, look for the
(20:23):
team KFI, click on that and donate tither Amy or me.
It all goes to the same place. All right, Trump
is speaking to during his UN speech. Speaking to the
UN there says a lot of things. Man, he is
He's hard to run alongside sometimes, like he has these
(20:45):
asides that are huge. It's not like a smallest a
like oh yeah, you all suck and you're like what
and it's like a total seems like a throwaway. So
he urged other nations leaders to celebrate the principles upon
which the UN was founded nearly two hundred and fifty
years ago, coming up on that big two fifty, including
(21:05):
free speech and religious liberty. So just keep in mind
that this comes days after Trump himself said the licenses
that enabled television networks to air should perhaps be revoked
over network's negative coverage of him. Ninety eighty seven percent
(21:30):
he says, and that could be I would not doubt
that number sounds about accurate. I don't think I don't
think that the networks are particularly kind to Trump or
point out anything that is relatively good. And I'm not
here to defend the man. He's he is who he is,
but he does speak his mind, which is nice for
(21:53):
a politician to hear them just kind of say well,
this is you know, this is who I am. Love
it or leave it type thing. So he comes out
and say says this, saying that there's so much negative coverage.
He said that a couple days back, and now he's
standing in front of the UN saying that free speech
(22:16):
and religious liberty. He also went on to call Christianity
the most persecuted religion on the planet, which is not hyperbole.
If he said the US, I'd say, no, it's probably
I'm pretty sure it's Jewish folks, but on the planet,
it's got to be up there with Islam as the
(22:37):
two top tier ones. He also said that your countries
are going to hell, which is pretty.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Intense.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
He said, together, let us defend free speech and free expression.
Let us protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted
religion on the planet today, it's called Christianity. After blasting Europe,
he moved on to energy. After blasting Europe for higher
energy prices and global focus on climate change and green energy,
(23:11):
President Trump praised clean, beautiful coal. How could you not
at least enjoy some of this clean, beautiful coal. I
just love it. I just love it. He kind of
just goes with what he's feeling at the time. Went
(23:32):
on to talk about drug cartels. He said, the president
or this says the President talked about how his administration
is now using the supreme power of the United States
military to pursue drug cartel tells near Venezuela says the
US has conducted strikes against three boats suspected of carrying drugs.
(23:55):
Suspected is the keyword. I suppose to every terrorist thug
smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please
be warned that we will blow you out of existence.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I have no problem with that kind of talk about
the war on drugs.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Everybody says there's a war on drugs, but everybody talks
like talks about it, tiptoeing around. I don't mind him
saying we're going to blow drug boats out of the
water as long as we know that they're drug boats.
He's slammed the failed experiment of open borders, saying your
(24:31):
countries are going to hell with all this stuff, that
your open border is changing cultures and all of these things.
So definitely some interesting things that are coming out of
the speech in the u N. If there's more to
talk about tomorrow, we will, of course as well, getting
into many other things. And Monica Rodriguez from the seventh District,
(24:53):
she's a councilwoman here in Los Angeles. She's going to
be joining us tomorrow talking of her very unvarnished look
at s Hall and things going on in LA.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
It's what I like about her and why I invited
her back.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So stick around for that, and then stick around right
now for Gary and Shannon, So go know where. Thanks
for hanging out to Neil Svader in the morning. Crew,
This is KFI and KOSTHD to Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty, KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Good morning, Neil Svadra and the morning crew
with you this week. Handle still on vacation. We'll see
him next week and rejoins us on Thursday. Matthews in
(00:24):
her stead. But the gang's all here and a sign
for some Rich DeMuro you can see him on Channel five.
You see him early in the morning. Man, you have
a worse schedule than I do right now, and of
course here and here on KFI, how are you doing, Rich?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
But I love what I do and so that's why
I do it.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I don't work a day in my life.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah it is. It's not digging.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
I can honestly say that, Neil. I mean, so can you.
I mean, this is like, yeah, there are far worse
things we could be doing.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
You know, I was listening to you as I want
to do on KFI here and you were talking about
the anchor recall, and I think this pains you the
same way it pains me, because, like you, I've always
thought of it as a great brand, a trustworthy brand,
and this is what the third recall in the past
(01:19):
what two years.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
Yeah, it's at least I mean I remember because I've
done them on the radio show and I'm like, wait
a second. The first one surprised me, then the second
one surprised me, and now the third. Now here's the thing.
I will give a couple of things here. Number one,
Anchor is very popular, and not just myself, many many
tech people. It has become kind of the recommendation for
(01:44):
power banks because they put out a good product at
a very affordable price tag, and so why not when
you have those two combinations of things recommend them. And
most of the tech people I know use Anchor products,
including myself. I have one in my bag right now
that I use and love. But yeah, another recall for
their power banks five hundred thousand units now. Also, to
(02:06):
put that into perspective, it's a lot. But I have
a feeling that Anchor sells millions upon millions upon millions.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Of these percentages.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So yeah, it's percentages, But the reality is you don't
want something that.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
You have to be recalled, and you don't want to
be using something that could potentially overheat or cause a
fire whatever. So there are one, two, three, four, five
models I mean, I could give you the model numbers,
but reality is you probably want to go to the
website and check them out. Rich on tech dot tv
hit notes up at the top. I put all the
model numbers there. But these were sold at best Buy, Target, Amazon, Walmart,
(02:43):
TikTok between August twenty twenty three and June twenty twenty five,
and Neil. You can get a refund or a gift card.
But this is I've actually had to do this before.
I don't know if you've ever had to do this,
but I've gotten some of these product recalls on Amazon.
You have to on the device like recalled in permanent
marker and then submit a photo to get the refunds.
(03:06):
So I had to do this with another product on
Amazon to get a refund. That's what they want you
to do.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Well, and then what do you send it back to
them or do you send it to an electric waste
you know outlet?
Speaker 4 (03:16):
Yeah, good question. You cannot just put these in the trash.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Do not do that.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Don't put them in your regular recycling. You have to
basically on Anchor's website to have instructions for how to
find a hazardous waste center, which is probably The biggest
pain of this whole process is getting rid of this
thing once you are done with it, once you market,
as you know, recalled because you don't want to market,
get the refund, and then still use it, because you
just put yourself at risk.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
You know.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
It's strangely, I've told you before that I do electronics
and make all kinds of stuff at home, and I
was going through my electronics and came across a mercury switch,
which they don't make anymore, that has actual mercury in it,
and that was my first thought at Oh, this is
going to be a pain, and they asked to get rid.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Of Yeah, and what you do that's why.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, you can find places that have hazardous waste and
most of them will take electronics as well. But I'm
the same way, try and make sure that electronics go
to the proper electronics recycling centers and the like, and
not just toss them in your trash, because there's a
lot of stuff in electronics that can be harmful if
it goes into the wrong place. All right, next thing
(04:27):
visible at best Buy that's Verizon's budget brand, right.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, So this is so I had to look at
my notes.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
We covered the launch of Visible back in twenty eighteen,
and back then, Verizon sort of kept it a secret.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
They like, they didn't really say it was Verizon.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
They didn't really make a big deal out of it,
but they kind of put it out there and there's
no stores. That was their big thing, that this was
all digital. So if you wanted to save a ton
of money. I think it started at forty dollars a
month was the initial cost of this, of this monthly plan.
So it was forty dollars a month, unlimited everything. And
even at the time when I was doing the story,
(05:06):
I just didn't understand how that could be true, and
so we tested it.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
We tried it.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
It worked out great, but the big catch was that
you had to sign up through their app and it
was only available on iPhone. Anyway, it's come a long
way since then. Visible is very popular. People that know
about it, they love it because it's inexpensive, but it
runs on Verizon's network.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Well.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Starting September twenty eighth, you can actually go into a
Best Buy store and purchase Visible plans, but also get
a SIM card if you need it. Check your device
to make sure it's compatible before you switch and talk
to someone with limited questions. It doesn't sound like it's
the full retail experience that you might get at a store, but.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Hey, it's it's better than nothing if you have.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
A question about this, all right, Rich, So the iOS
twenty six rollout, give us, give us the nutshell?
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So, I mean this came out last week and people
have been installing it. I installed it. I was running
the beta before, not on my main device, so I
have been testing it for a while, but I don't
like to put that on my main phone, so I
did install it, just like everyone else out there. At first,
didn't really like it very much. I said, Okay, what's
the point of this. It looks too glitzy and all
(06:18):
these movements and everything's clear. They call it liquid glass.
But now I have grown to really like it, and
I think what I'm hearing from other people is is
very similar responses. So a couple things. Number one, like
I said, liquid glass, that's the new name for it.
They did skip from iOS eighteen to iOS twenty six.
(06:38):
And if you want to stay on iOS eighteen you
can do that. When you go into your settings, it
says you know, software update. You'll see there's like iOS
eighteen point seven. If you want to stick with iOS eighteen,
you can do that. Apple will continue to put out
security updates at least for a while. Could that be
a year, could it be two years. We're not sure,
but I will let you know when that changes. To
(07:00):
update you can do that too. So what can you
do in the new system? Messages gets a lot of changes.
You can create a poll, you can create backgrounds for
your messages.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
That's kind of fun.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
The big feature that I'm really digging is called call screening,
and so basically, once you toggle this on, callers have
to say who they are and why they're calling before
your phone even rings, and then you'll see that info
on your lock screen transcribed and you can decide if
you want to call or right sorry if you want
to pick up. There's also a whole assist which I
(07:32):
used yesterday when I was on hold with a company. Basically,
when it when your phone hears that hold music, it says, hey,
do you want us to hold for you? Let's see
what else claw c It just doesn't well, question, it's well,
it senses the hold music. So basically, once it hears
that hold music, it says, you get a little notification
(07:54):
on your phone screen. It says, do you want us
to hold for you? You tap yes or you accept it,
and then it listens to that hold music. It listens
for a human to pick up, and once it does,
it rings your phone or vibrates your phone. Gotcha, Oh
that's what it did yesterday.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And by the way, I know, if you're listening and
you are an Android person, you're like rich You're talking
about stuff it's been available and Android for years. I
am well aware of that. I am not comparing Android
to iPhone right now. Here's the deal. iPhone users, you know,
they understand that when features come to them, it is
new to them. So you can't say, oh, Samsung has
(08:30):
had this forever, Pixel has had this forever. It doesn't
matter to an iPhone user because they have the iPhone
and they don't know what Pixel has. They don't know
what Samsung has, nor do they care. So I'm just
putting that out there. I'm not making, you know, judgments
on which one's better or worse. So I get a
lot of emails about that stuff. Neil, Yeah, I oh, no,
I understand, trust me, I guess. So the clock you
(08:52):
can choose your own snooze time. Now, it used to
be limited.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Did you know this. It was limited to nine minutes
the snooze every time.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
I thought you can use that, didn't know it was
like you couldn't change it. I just just you know,
left it as is, assuming it was their highest one
or whatever.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Now you can do one minute to fifteen minutes. So
if you want a little more snooze, let's see what.
Oh this is kind of fun. You can make your
own ring tone from any audio file. So if you
open up an audio file. Yeah, remember you used to
have to pay like ninety nine cents for a ringtone.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Back in the day. Oh yeah, now you can just
do that.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
You can just when you're on an audio file, just
share it out and it says uses ringtone. So I
set my own voice. We had some fun at KTLA.
We recorded a segment. I recorded my own voice singing
you rickrolled the entire audience. Yeah yeah, man, you really
you don't miss a thing. Oh really, do not enjoy
your work? I really do. And but I wanted to
(09:50):
have that as a ringtone. I was going to move
that as a ring tone on my phone when Handle
calls me. That's yeah, you should do that just put
it or put on his phone, yeah, rick licor him.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
It would confuse him, the poor man.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, confused. Well, it doesn't take much, no it.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Okay, that's pretty cool on there, pretty simply you don't
have to jump through a bunch of hoops. You used
to have to be a little bit of a techie
back in the day to get your own ring tones
of any kind.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Correct, So you can do that. And then there's a
new app on there. It's called Preview, and this comes
in handy if you ever get you know, your kid,
you got to sign a document, you got a contract,
whatever you gotta sign, you can now scan it with
this new Preview app and you can edit the PDF
in there, you know, add markups, you fill out the forms,
sign it with your finger on your screen. So all
(10:40):
that good stuff. And then, of course, if you hate
all of this, if you don't like the look of
liquid glass I did post on my Instagram at rich
on Tech, how you can kind of tone it down
a little bit. In the accessibility settings, there is an
option to reduce transparency, which means things won't be sc through.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Okay, Now what about the Facebook AI Dating Assistant?
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I'm so glad I'm Nona in the need. Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
Thought this was interesting because you know, everyone's swiping. And
by the way, quick story, I was at one of
the original parties for Tinder, and I'll never forget the
guy who started it showing me Tinder like an early prototype,
and he's like, watch how fast it is to find
a date? And I looked at it and I'm not kidding.
This girl went on there like demo it and she
(11:26):
got like a thousand messages in one second, and I'm like,
that is insane.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
How is that ever going to work? Like? This is great?
Speaker 4 (11:32):
Anyway, it became a huge thing, but now everyone's swiping, swiping, swiping, swiping.
Facebook says we have swipe fatigue. So now they're using
AI to let you search for people using natural language,
like find someone I can bring home to my parents,
or find a Brooklyn tech bro who likes ed M.
(11:54):
These are the examples they gave.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yes, so like the most torrible example I could possibly imagine.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Wow, Well, I mean that describes a lot of people,
I think. But anyway, so this uses they're not making
inferences about people, They're actually using the info on your profile.
But you know, we all know, AI can be horrifically wrong,
so we'll see how this works. But I think it
is interesting. My wife and I always joke that this
whole dating app world, you literally just select like you like,
(12:28):
you're like, I want someone who likes bagels on a
Sunday morning, who likes to run, who likes to listen
to this music, who likes to do that. It's like
you're just like looking for the the other version of
you that you want to love.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
So well, my wife is an atheist who hates food,
so oh well.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Well this see. But you guys met hold on, did
you meet online dating? No?
Speaker 4 (12:48):
We actually met here at the station many years ago, right,
So now, if you would have met someone, you would
meet someone that loves food. That's basically just you in
another human's body. Yeah, that's we eventually. Yeah, I don't
even like sleeping next to myself. That's a whole other thing.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I'll call doctor Wendy for that one. All right, Rich Demurro,
thanks so much for taking the time, buddy. And yeah, seriously,
you are my number one source to keep up with
tech in my life, and I recommend people who haven't
had a chance to listen to the show, or get
your newsletter or check out the website to do so
at rich on tech oh Dot TV as well. All right,
(13:32):
my friend, thanks so much for taking the time. Thanks Neil,
We'll see you everywhere. All right, Neil Savador in the
Morning crew with you today. Trump. Wow, that's something new.
Trump being in the news. That's nice little change of pace,
but this time on something that makes me laugh. Two
point four billion taken from California Rail, the massive boondoggle
(13:58):
that should have been apped a long time ago. It's
ridiculous the amount of money we're pointing point, you know,
pouring into this.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
And I'm all for.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I know that there's some things that are needed in
life that take a long time and are more expensive
than you think, but they still in the long term.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
You go, Okay, we got to do this right.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
But there is no outcome that I see of any
benefit for that so called high speed rail in the
state that it is. It just seems like money is
bleeding out out of it. So the Trump administration announced
a new five billion dollar rail program. So it goes
(14:40):
from one rail to another rail where really, you know,
nothing trains modern. So they're going to take that two
point four billion dollars pulled from California's stalled and horrible
high speed rail project and then move it into this
other one. So the pro removes that, of course, everything
(15:02):
is the Biden era diversity and all of that climate
change requirements instead prioritizing, prioritizing projects in areas with higher
birth and marriage rates to improve the railroad crossings. So
it turns out you've got, you know, problems in certain areas.
So the Federal Railroad Administration said railroad crossings. Don't know
(15:26):
why that's so hard for me to say, are important
to address because more than two hundred people a year
are killed when trains collide with vehicles or pedestrians at crossings.
Some of those things that I see now they want
to adress. They want, you know, build bridges or things
like that, and it's expensive, or underpasses that allow cars
(15:47):
to safely pass. A lot of the you know, I'm
just going off of what you see on the interwebs,
but a lot of those people are idiots. You see
them drive in there, or they're trying to cross in
thinking they can beat the train or things like that,
where you just go, you know, that's just Darwinism at
(16:08):
its finest. It's just stupid thinking that you're going to
beat that or not being patient to wait for the crossing.
But these projects, the priority with the Trump administration is
saying that they're looking for projects that improve the traveling
experience for families, adding amenities like nursing mother's rooms and
(16:30):
things like that, expanded waiting areas for children's play areas
at train stations, really trying to make them more of
a family based experience when it comes to train going
on to say, our new National Railroad Partnership program will
emphasize safety our number one priority, and we're going to
do it without radical DEI and green grant requirements. Instead
(16:54):
of wasting dollars on Governor Newsom's high speed rail boondoggle.
He wasn't even it was Jerry Brown's boon doggle, wasn't
it Jerry Brown was during his Because it's like ten
years old now or so, it's getting very old, that
(17:18):
particular boondoggle project. So these targeted investments will improve the
lives of rail passengers, local drivers, and pedestrians. So say
the Trump administration on this new project, Yeah, if that
could be done, great, but you're going to get pushedback.
California officials already said that they're going to fight this
(17:39):
effort to redistribute the money. They believe it should be
going to their project, and I don't think they're going
to hand it over quickly or easily. They already filed
a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's decision to pull the
federal funding from the state's high speed rail project. We'll
see as to where that goes and if it's found,
(18:03):
you know, even feasible. All right, Another reminder that Amy
King and I are going over the edge this Friday
at the Hilton. They're in Universal City, and this is
all part of the Union Rescue Mission and their cause.
And I know that when it comes to the homeless.
I've been outspoken on how horrible LA has handled it,
(18:27):
and so it's very easy to roll your eyes and
go the last thing I want to do is give
money to the homeless. I get it. I totally understand that.
But the Union Rescue Mission is different. They do not
receive federal money. And you want to know why they
do not receive federal money because they are a dry house.
That means you've got to get sober and go through
their programs to find your way home, and they're strict
(18:50):
in the best of terms to work with people and
to get them on the right track going back. So
why do we go over the edge of a five
story building around two hundred and fifty feet We'll be
repelling down the side on Friday, and they're going to
be doing it all day on Saturday as well, if
you want to join, because it's.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
A great cause.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
I started last year when I learned so much about them,
they started becoming a monthly one of my monthly donation charities.
And also I gave to this cause this year as well.
So I'm not asking you to do anything that I
personally am not doing, and Amy King and I are
very proud about being a part of it. If you
want to donate anything, just go to your m for
(19:36):
Union Rescue missionm dot org slash ote for Over the Edge.
You'll see Team KFI. Click on that and donate to
either of us, or if you want to jump with us,
it's a thousand dollars donation. They'll harness you up and
you can jump with Amy and me on Friday or
do it Saturday if you want, but yourem dot org
(19:59):
slash ote to donate, and we very much appreciate it.
Last year we were at a little further along than
we are now, so anything helps. We did very well
and surprised a lot of people with your generosity last year.
So thanks again for thinking about the Union Rescue mission
you r m dot org, slash ote, look for the
(20:23):
team KFI, click on that and donate tither Amy or me.
It all goes to the same place. All right, Trump
is speaking to during his UN speech. Speaking to the
UN there says a lot of things. Man, he is
He's hard to run alongside sometimes, like he has these
(20:45):
asides that are huge. It's not like a smallest a
like oh yeah, you all suck and you're like what
and it's like a total seems like a throwaway. So
he urged other nations leaders to celebrate the principles upon
which the UN was founded nearly two hundred and fifty
years ago, coming up on that big two fifty, including
(21:05):
free speech and religious liberty. So just keep in mind
that this comes days after Trump himself said the licenses
that enabled television networks to air should perhaps be revoked
over network's negative coverage of him. Ninety eighty seven percent
(21:30):
he says, and that could be I would not doubt
that number sounds about accurate. I don't think I don't
think that the networks are particularly kind to Trump or
point out anything that is relatively good. And I'm not
here to defend the man. He's he is who he is,
but he does speak his mind, which is nice for
(21:53):
a politician to hear them just kind of say well,
this is you know, this is who I am. Love
it or leave it type thing. So he comes out
and say says this, saying that there's so much negative coverage.
He said that a couple days back, and now he's
standing in front of the UN saying that free speech
(22:16):
and religious liberty. He also went on to call Christianity
the most persecuted religion on the planet, which is not hyperbole.
If he said the US, I'd say, no, it's probably
I'm pretty sure it's Jewish folks, but on the planet,
it's got to be up there with Islam as the
(22:37):
two top tier ones. He also said that your countries
are going to hell, which is pretty.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Intense.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
He said, together, let us defend free speech and free expression.
Let us protect religious liberty, including for the most persecuted
religion on the planet today, it's called Christianity. After blasting Europe,
he moved on to energy. After blasting Europe for higher
energy prices and global focus on climate change and green energy,
(23:11):
President Trump praised clean, beautiful coal. How could you not
at least enjoy some of this clean, beautiful coal. I
just love it. I just love it. He kind of
just goes with what he's feeling at the time. Went
(23:32):
on to talk about drug cartels. He said, the president
or this says the President talked about how his administration
is now using the supreme power of the United States
military to pursue drug cartel tells near Venezuela says the
US has conducted strikes against three boats suspected of carrying drugs.
(23:55):
Suspected is the keyword. I suppose to every terrorist thug
smuggling poisonous drugs into the United States of America, please
be warned that we will blow you out of existence.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I have no problem with that kind of talk about
the war on drugs.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Everybody says there's a war on drugs, but everybody talks
like talks about it, tiptoeing around. I don't mind him
saying we're going to blow drug boats out of the
water as long as we know that they're drug boats.
He's slammed the failed experiment of open borders, saying your
(24:31):
countries are going to hell with all this stuff, that
your open border is changing cultures and all of these things.
So definitely some interesting things that are coming out of
the speech in the u N. If there's more to
talk about tomorrow, we will, of course as well, getting
into many other things. And Monica Rodriguez from the seventh District,
(24:53):
she's a councilwoman here in Los Angeles. She's going to
be joining us tomorrow talking of her very unvarnished look
at s Hall and things going on in LA.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
It's what I like about her and why I invited
her back.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
So stick around for that, and then stick around right
now for Gary and Shannon, So go know where. Thanks
for hanging out to Neil Svader in the morning. Crew,
This is KFI and KOSTHD to Los Angeles, Orange County.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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