March 12, 2020 • 43 mins
Find out if items are in stock with websites including Markk, NowInStock.net, Google Shopping and BrickSeek; YouTube combats coronavirus misinformation; E3 and Overwatch video game events cancelled due to the outbreak.Listeners ask about the best fitness trackers, Apple Watch Series 3 versus 5, linking a phone number for savings at Whole Foods and a $40 wireless plan.Follow Rich:https://www.instagram.com/richontech/Follow Producer Meghan:https://twitter.com/producermeghanMarkk emergency supply finderhttps://www.getmarkk.com/emergencysupplyfinder#9.03/34.0468/-118.0347NowInStock.netGoogle ShoppingBrickSeek Inventory CheckerSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
The websites to help you find coronavirus supplies, the best
ways to clean your smartphone, plus as usual, your tech
questions answered. What's going on? I'm Rich Dmiro and this
is Rich on Tech, the podcast where we talk about
the tech stuff I think you should know about and
answer the questions that you send me. My name is
Rich Demiro. I'm the tech reporter at KTLA Channel five
(00:32):
in Los Angeles. Joining me is producer Megan, who is
currently applying hand sanitizer. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I apply it every five minutes and that's how I'm
combating coronavirus.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And I know we're not going to joke about this
because it is very serious, although there may be some
lighthearted moments, because it's unreal. What's happening in the world
right now. Yeah, and you're listening, you're thinking about coronavirus
on the news, it's on your social it's everywhere. There
are hundreds of new podcasts dedicated to coronavirus. And I
(01:08):
think what's so odd about it is that we haven't
really seen something like this kind of capture not only
the minds of the world, but also like a physical
result of something like we're seeing actual things happening. I mean,
Tom Hanks, I saw that last night, and I'm like,
what is going on in this world? I was at
(01:28):
the grocery stores and they are the supplies are in
such tight demand.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's insane.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
My dad's seventy two, and I asked him. I was like,
have you ever seen anything like this before? Like, was
there some sort of disease that was similar when you
were younger? He said, no, this is this is crazy,
Like this is a moment in history that will always remember.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
One hundred percent, and there have been similar I call this.
I was talking with someone here today and I was saying,
I haven't felt this disoriented since September eleventh. You were
a little young, were even born it was like six, okay, yeah,
so you may not remember at all, Like I mean,
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, I remember like this.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I remember it, but in like a weird way, like
you knew it a story. Yeah, I knew it happened
when I was like older, but yeah, when I when
it was happening, I don't think it was ever really explained.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, and that makes sense. As a parent, I can
understand that my kid was watching like he turned on
Apple TV last night and we don't have cable, but
he tuned into uh, like a streaming newscast, and I
was like, excuse me, what are you doing? And you know,
he's eight, and he he is interested in what's happening.
And I'm not keeping everything from him, but I don't
think he needs to know everything on the play by
play of what's going on. And so we've explained and
(02:39):
you know he understands, and even at school they've talked
about it. But I'll be honest, this podcast, a lot
of it is going to have to do with coronavirus.
And you know, you can tune out if you'd like,
but the reality is, I'm fascinated by this. I'm going
to take it all from the tech angle. We're gonna
have regular questions from the viewers or in the listeners,
so you have that, but we're just going to start
with a couple of the things that are happening in
(03:00):
the tech world. Number one E three twenty twenty canceled
because of the coronavirus. This is the big video game
show that's normally scheduled for June ninth to eleventh in
Los Angeles. I've been for many years. It's a show
that kind of has all the latest and greatest when
it comes to video games, So all the upcoming games
the consoles this year, Sony was actually pieced out before
(03:21):
this whole thing, so it was really like Microsoft, Nintendo
and you know all the other games that are out there.
But it's over and this the reality is. They said
it was a difficult decision following increased and overwhelming concerns.
We felt this was the best way to proceed during
such an unprecedented global situation. We know it's the right decision.
(03:45):
They will be providing full refunds, and they're looking at
ways to do an online experience. And again this is
for June ninth to eleventh. Oh wow, so that's a
ways out. But I think it's right now. People can't
imagine even booking a flight right now to come to
a show like that where it brings in people from
all over I think that's concerned. Activision Blizzard Esports says
(04:05):
Overwatch League games are canceled. Sorry, the Overwatch League home stands.
So I believe the home stands. Well, let's see, is.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
That where people come and watch them?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I think so. But it says we are canceling all
Overwatch League events scheduled from March and April. And these
are overwatches kind of like the big esports gaming where
they have all these people sitting in the center of
the arena and a lot of people cheer them on
and watch. Yeah, and again we heard the NBA is
canceling the games. I mean, it's so widespread it's not
(04:37):
even funny. The one thing I thought was kind of
interesting about their little press release, Blizzard Entertainment says, concurrently,
we are working hand in hand with our teams to
see that all matches are played when it's safe and
logically feasible. And I would say not the best use
of words hand in hand. Don't want to use that
right now. Come on, you want to be you want
(04:58):
to be elbow to elbow right now, right And Google
is saying if your business is affected by coronavirus, it
might be a good time to update your business profile.
And you may not know this, but if you own
a small business, you can look for something called Google
my Business and you can claim your business listing within Google.
You know, when you search for a company on Google,
(05:20):
like a small business, local retailer or a big retailer
has that little info box that shows up. It says
if they're open, has like website directions, all this kind
of stuff. Well, businesses can update that information and Google saying, look,
if you're affected by coronavirus, let people know what's happening.
Whether your business hours has changed, maybe you're staying open
later or earlier, or are closing earlier, or you're closed,
(05:43):
or you're just closed. Maybe you want to talk about
your business operations. You can share any precautions that your
business take. Let's say you run a small gym and
you can write in there, hey, we are sanitizing our equipment,
deep cleansing every single night. Rest assured that when you
Google that business, you're getting that information presented. Or if
you're experiencing delays, or you can create a post. And
(06:05):
I don't think many businesses know this, but the Google
Businesses has something similar to like Twitter, where you can
create a little post or an Instagram post, but it
shows up under your business when someone googles it, and
that can be helpful for just giving updates. Maybe you've
got sanitizer back in stock or probably not, you can
put that on there. Yeah, all right, razy Megan, Okay,
(06:27):
let's get a question.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Our first question comes from Wilmer. I shattered the screen
of my Apple Watch Series three, and I'm devastated. He
knows that they're not cheap, and he was going to
save up and just repurchase the series three again, and
he's wondering if he should spring for the series five
at this point, since it's two years old or three
(06:50):
years old.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I would agree go with the series five. And the
reason why he's not mentioning the series four is because
you can't really find it. The series five replace the
series four. Apple does this weird thing sometimes where they
keep kind of the oldest version of something or an
older version and the newer one, and they leave out
the one in between, and you're like, why would they
do that? Well, because the older one they can drop
the price and not truly have it cut into the
(07:15):
sales of the newer one because the features are kind
of different. So on Apple Watch Series three versus five.
With the series five, you're going to get the always
on display, which may or may not be something you want.
You may want to turn it off because it does
use more battery. You're also going to get the compass,
which could be handy if you're out and about in
the wilderness, or if you just like the idea of
(07:35):
the compass, and you're also going to get a slightly
larger display I believe, and also ekg oh, so those
are four pretty solid things that you might want over
the Series three. Oh, you're also gonna get a faster processor. Okay,
so it's been a couple of years, like he said.
And the Series four or sorry, Series five is I
(07:56):
believe three ninety nine. Oh for the I believe for
the cellular version. Let me see how much this is.
Let's see. We're going to click the website and I
will show you the price. Three ninety nine. Yeah, so
three ninety nine for the regular and then four ninety
nine for the cellular. So it's a little bit more
(08:18):
expensive than the other one. But you know, I think
that you're getting three years of technology.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, I think it's probably worth it.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, and you still won an Apple Watch, right?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Are you still? Well?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You know I've actually like searched for the Series.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Four and you can find that you can find it, yes,
not from Apple officially, right, it's a best buy, Yeah,
best buy or like Coals or something. Yeah, but my
advice is, and I tell this to a lot of
people that email me these questions about this. Whenever you're
buying one of these Apple devices, look outside the Apple
Store because you don't necessarily have to get it from
Apple Store. Apple store doesn't really run any deals or sales.
(08:55):
But for so, if I was buying the apple Watch
Series five today, I would search apple Watch five deals
and then in Google you type in you go to news,
and that way you find the bloggers that blog about this, okay,
And the reason why bloggers blog about it is because
they get what's called an affiliate link to that thing.
(09:17):
So if you buy it through their click or through
their blog posts, they'll get a little tiny cut of that.
So it's in their best interest to keep these things
updated with like the latest deals because it entices people
to buy. So if I looked at apple Watch five
is not going to have any deals right now, but
apple Watch three is in stock and on sale at
one ninety nine for best buy. Wow, now you may not.
You may be able to find apple Watch four. Let's
(09:38):
see if there's any four deals. So it looks like yes,
six days ago, Series four GPS returns to Black Friday price,
So there you go. Two ninety nine. So again, if
you don't need all those features, you can do that.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
He also mentions that the Series three that he's looking
at is at Apple and it's two thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
He doesn't even realize that if he was going to
get the Series three.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
He could get it for one thirty bucks less past
by at a bunch of places in the side. But
I think, yeah, exactly, very so a good question, all right,
speaking of your digital gadgets, the best ways to clean
and disinfect your dirty smartphone. This is the story that
we did on KTLA. We talked to a professor of
(10:23):
chemical engineering at USC, Andrea Armani, and she said that
cell phones are actually one of the dirtiest things that
we handle every day, no surprise there. And we talked
about several of the ways to clean your phone, and
the number one is a damp microfibercloth. You can find
microfibercloths on Amazon. I've got a bunch of them around
(10:43):
the house. That's what I use most of the time.
I really like little wipes, and in the past I've
used the eyeglass wipes, but now Zeis actually has a
specific mobile screen wipe. I also like Whoosh, which is
a spray and they have a good stuff. Now most
of these some people will tell you that these are
good enough on your phone because it's such a smooth
(11:06):
surface that you will wipe off the bacteria and grime
and even the bad stuff like you know what, coronavirus.
I can't guarantee that with these methods, but that's what
I've read online. Now, if you want something a little
more industrial strength. What's interesting is that a lot of
people recommended a mix of rubbing alcohol or you know,
alcohol with water and put that. Always put it on
(11:29):
the device, on the wipe, by the way, like the
microfiber not you't you don't pour it exactly, don't pour
it on your device.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
So can you put it on a cotton ball?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I think so, I've done that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, And so long story short. After we did our
story on TV, a couple of days later, Apple comes
out and says, you know what, you can actually go
ahead and use Clorox wipes on your phone, even though
previously they did not recommend any sort of like household chemicals. Yeah,
but now with the whole coronavirus thing, people want their
stuff really disinfected. They said, go ahead, use a Clorox wipe,
(12:01):
or use a combination of seventy percent isopropyl alcohol along
with some water. Okay, and that should take care of it. Now,
if you really want to get heavy duty on your phone,
which I have started to do, I've had one of
these phone soap disinfectant things in my house for a year.
I got it for Christmas last year for my in laws,
and I never set it up. I was like, give
me a break, and now I am a believer. I
put my phone in there, not every night, but a
(12:23):
couple times a week. It turns on the UV light,
it disinfects the phone. And if you're wondering how it works, well,
I talked to the CEO of the company's name is
Dan Barnes, and here's what he had to say.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
So, phone soaps technology is built on UVC light. UVC
is a short wavelength that can penetrate the cell wall
and effectively fuse the DNA together, which kills it. It's
no longer operable. It can't harm you, and it can't reproduce,
so it's really the safest way to clean your phone.
There's no harsh chemicals like alcohol, it won't void your warranty.
(13:00):
And it's effective at ninety nine point nine nine percent
in killing this bacteria and virus every time.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Okay, So the big question is will it kill the coronavirus?
So I asked him that specifically.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
While we have not been able to test the coronavirus specifically,
you know it's being held by organizations like the CDC,
only we do know that it's an envelope virus similar
to bacteria that we have tested. Phone soap's been clinically
proven to kill ninety nine point nine nine percent of influenza,
which is an envelope virus similar to coronavirus. We have
(13:33):
tested against rhinovirus, staff ecoli, Salmonila, mursa, and phone soap
is always designed to do a three hundred and sixty
degree clean on your entire phone or any item you
put in there. So, while we haven't been able to
test this novel strain of coronavirus specifically, we have tested
a wide range of viruses in bacteria that in some
(13:55):
degrees or other are similar to it.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Okay, I'm going to take that as I think we're okay.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I think he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I think he knows what he's doing. And so I've
been putting my phone in this little device. The model
I have, I believe it's about eighty dollars. That's how
much it looks like it is on Amazon. Of course
they're sold out. It's impossible to get one of these things.
But I'm kind of in love with it because I
love the idea that it not only sanitizes my phone,
but it kind of sanitizes everything, like all the little
(14:21):
nooks and crannies, all everything. It's like a three sixty
clean And the one thing it doesn't do is wipe
down your phone. So I wish it was more like
a little mini car wash for your phone, where it
actually sanitized with the UV light and then it kind
of scrubbed it with like bubbles. But well, I don't know.
I guess that'd be kind of tricky because.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
You know, I know, things could get a little messed up.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, So anyway, keep your phone clean, and those are
some of the ways you can do it. And I
think that everyone is sort of looking at their phone
these days wondering just how dirty is this thing? And
should I be cleaning it? Yes, you should be, yes.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
This next question comes from Joe Months ago you introduced
a new phone company plan that was forty dollars a
month on limited unlimited by some new company. At the time,
my phone didn't qualify. Anyways, I need to do phone now.
Should I wait for the Samsung twenty? What was the network?
(15:17):
I live in Orange County?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
My gosh. Those are a lot of questions.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
You know, But the main thing is.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
The main thing is what you know? The answer to
this yes, Visible Visible. We've got a lot of questions
about Visible because it's forty dollars a month and it
runs on the Verizon network. It doesn't just run on Verizon,
it is owned by Verizon. Yeah, and it is a
fantastic deal. And the other cool thing about Visible And
by the way, they offer the s twenty, So when
(15:43):
they first came out, it was it was iPhone only
and so it excluded When we first did our story
about this on KTLA, it excluded a lot of people
because they had Android and they're like, Rich, I can't switch.
You just told me about this amazing thing. And it's
a legit plan. It is everything you need on Verizon unlimited,
everything for forty bucks a month. Now. The one catch
(16:04):
is the speed limit. It is it is limited to
five megabits per second, which you remember, this was one
of your first stories you did. We tested it, remember, outside,
and we saw if like YouTube worked, if snapchat work,
and it worked.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, and it was the difference of like maybe two seconds.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah, it was a little you know, a little bit.
Sometimes it could be a little bit slower. But they
and I'm also kicking myself for this for my wife
because I wanted to switch her to it and I didn't.
They actually had a promotion where they were giving you
unlimited speed and everyone who signed up during that time
gets unlimited speed for the rest of their time. Remember that,
And I should have signed up because forty bucks a
(16:40):
month is such a deal. And they do this thing.
They don't do family plans, but they do like a
something like I think it's a party plan. Yeah, visible
party pay and you actually just get like up to
how many friends up to I don't know, three or
four friends and yeah two, three or four friends and
every friend you join in on, they you each get
(17:00):
five bucks off. So if you and I did a
party play plan, yeah, so we would pay thirty five each.
So and it's the party you are, it's just your
linked up kind of just online. It has nothing to
do with your bill. You still get your bill separately
and so do I.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
But it's just one month.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
No, no, it's every month.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Oh it's thirty five moving forward. Yeah, oh I thought
it was a month that you sign up.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
No, as long as you link in, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
So you could have like three friends and it could
be like twenty dollars ars.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So they're trying to get you to like tell your
friends about it and join with you, which makes sense. Yeah,
it's like a spin on. I think everything with Visible
is kind of like a spin on, you know, the normal,
typical plan, right, And the only major catch besides the
speed limit, is really the fact that everything is sort
of done online. You activate your phone online customer service.
There's no store to walk into if you need help.
(17:48):
But that's the one. The other weird thing is they
just started a version of Visible now called Yahoo Mobile,
and it is identical. It's basically Visible because think about it,
Verizon owns Yahoo. Oh, Okayon owns Visible Now. We have
Yahoo Mobile, and I think they're just playing upon the
(18:10):
Yahoo brand selling it to all the millions of email.
It's I can't see a difference between Visible and Mobile
and Yahoo Mobile.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I wonder, like it's the website.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
The website's different, No websites different.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
You sign up through an app, different audience.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
It's just different audience exactly. I personal would go at Visible.
It seems like a cooler little thing than Yahoo.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
But it's funny. Does Yahoo just have like a bad rep?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Oh yeah, really, don't you think? I mean, Yahoo used
to be the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I used to search.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I remember searching on Yahoo, yeah, way back when, Like now.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
You just use Google.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Oh yeah, Yahoo doesn't even I don't think they do
search anymore. I think it's run through Microsoft like.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They used to have like the top searches.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Oh yeah, Yahoo was they still do probably, Oh, I'm
sure they still. I think still the number one. It
is kind of funny though, and I don't think I
do this anymore. But it used to be when I
was testing a device or going to like a web
page for something, just to see if the Internet worked,
you would always go to Yahoo. It's just like the
first thing that comes to mind, you think Internet, you know,
(19:10):
And now to me, Yahoo is just so like.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It's stated they have the same layouts.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, it hasn't changed. I actually was offered a job
by Yahoo many years ago, and when they send you
your job offer, it was a big box that they
overnight to your house and when you open the box,
it goes Yahoo. Yeah, and it would welcome you to Yahoo.
And it had a T shirt which I still wear.
I still wear it to be how long were you there? No, No,
(19:38):
I got a job offered, got a job offer. I
did not take the job. Got it Okay, if I
took the job, I would not have to have worked
for the rest of my life. No, I'm just kidding.
But it didn't have a lot of stock options. I
didn't really understand what those war back then. Really No,
I had no idea. So I was like, They're like, here,
we'll give you all this, and I was like, I
have no idea what this means. But anyway, I didn't
take the job, and the value went down right eventually.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I mean, I don't know, it wouldn't be worth me.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Well, I guess now they'd be Verizon stock. I don't know. Oh,
I don't really know. I don't really know because the
two times in my life when I had stock options
from the companies I worked for, I lost them both
because I left the companies. So well, yeahoo, I never joined.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
You can't get the money out.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
It depends if you're vested. So here's the way they work.
So let's say this one company I worked at a
couple years ago, they gave me a bunch of I
think they were called options or stocks or whatever it was.
But they give it to you, but you don't get
it unless you stay there for three more years and
then they're actually transferred to you. So that's an incentive
for you to stay at that company. That makes sense,
(20:41):
and you get kind of a bonus for.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Staying there, right, Okay, it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
It's that bonus because there must be.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
People that go and then they're like, I got these
stock options and then they try to take it out
and they're like, no, you've just stayed in it three years.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
What do you give you? Those just fun?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
I had fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
So I don't know if you've been a store lately,
but they are actually bananas. I went to five different
stores yesterday. I went to Ralph's, I went to Vonn's,
I went to CVS, I went to Office Depot ninety
nine cent stores, and then I went to Ralphs again.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
You went to the ninety nine cent store?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, first time I've never been to one. Really yeah,
actually I lied, second time I've ever been in one.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Not everything's ninety nine cent.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
No, I didn't understand that, Like, no, I don't either.
A lot of things are. But they had water at
the door that was nine ninety nine. I'm like, wait,
what now? Maybe they play upon nine nine nine if
that's part of their.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Maybe that's their stick.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
But I was impressed. I mean there had a lot
of selections. Have you ever been in one? Yeah? I have?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah, what what is that look on your face?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And I used to babysit or like when I had
like a little kids camp when I was younger, I
would go and get like arts and crass.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, like two dollars. It's all like ninety nine cents.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Lindsay's obsessed with the dollar tree because everything's a dollar
and she gets like all this stuff that's you know,
a little things like holidays and stuff, and it's it's
it's great, it's a dollar. But I had just hadn't
been in one, so it was really cool first time
for everything, But I did not find what I was
looking for which I was on a I was trying
to see what the supply levels were like for everything
(22:14):
that people are looking for, like toilet paper, paper towels,
hand sanitizer, wipes and sprays like lysol and that kind
of stuff. And I will tell you, Megan, it was
really bad. I mean, I'm talking, I don't want to
raise I mean, as we record this on our air
right now, they're talking about panic buying. Yeah, and it
(22:37):
was It's unlike anything I've ever seen. And I've worked
through hurricanes, I've worked through natural disasters, and I've never
really seen anything like this.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
So weird.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
And so with that in mind, and by the way,
Amazon is also sold out of all this stuff. When
was the last time you searched Amazon It was out
of stock of like a large majority of things. Yeah,
so I'm gonna go over some of the things that
can maybe help you find some of these products, and
in my experience, they're not going to be much help,
but at least you know about them. And the first
(23:08):
one is now in stock dot net And this is
a website that well, it's mainly made for the holidays
when you're trying to get the tickle Me Elmo or
the Nintendo Classic whatever, and they have a whole bunch
of hot products and it will tell you which retailers
have them in stock online. And they've added hand sanitizer
(23:29):
and also household cleaning, which is crazy because they probably
never had that before in their lifetime. And you can
click hand sanitizers and it gives you a list of
all of the different things that you can get and
if they're available, and I'm actually seeing that, yeah, currently unavailable.
But I did notice also on Amazon that you can
for certain items if they're out of stock. They will
(23:49):
have a links, a little button show up that says
email me when it's in stock, and so you can
do that. But now in stock dot Net is the
first one, and then the second one is Google Shopping.
So if you go to shopping dot Google dot com
and you type in what you want, you can search
and see if things are available locally. And I had
some luck, but it's one of these things where unless
(24:14):
you're getting it delivered, I wouldn't really trust it to
know if it's in stock. So, for instance, if I
put paper towels, which I was able to find last night,
just very slim pickens. But if I look here paper
towels and I go compare prices. It's just not it's
just really tough to find. So again, Google shopping is
(24:36):
another one, but they some of these, you know, like
Google Shopping is linked up on the back end to
like targets inventory and best buys inventory, like certain big retailers,
maybe Walmart, probably not Walmart and Google probably hate each other,
but they have some sort of inroads into like what
their inventory stock is showing that's not always right, okay.
(24:56):
And if you've ever tried to find like a hot
video game when they're really and you go online and
it's like, oh, GameStop has it available, and you go
there and they're like, oh no, dude, that that's not
always right. You've experienced that.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Brickseek dot com is another website. Now. This launched as
a website to help lego collectors find popular sets, and
they have expanded to have inventory an inventory search function,
and so if you go to inventory checker, they've got Walmart, Target,
Lowe's Office depot, Macy's Home depot, CVS, Staples, and BJS
(25:29):
all listed on there. Oh wow, and I tried. This
one's a little trickier because it's not just a search.
You have to go to like Target's website, get the
skew number and then type it in and it does
it through that. But still one more resource. And finally,
this is more local. This is an LA based startup
called Mark m akk mark App. And I don't see
(25:49):
a whole bunch of people using.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
This m akk m a r kkh mark.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I believe, okay. And this mark app is a it's
kind of like an Instagram Stories, but for places you go.
So instead of writing like a big review on a
restaurant that you went to, you would just market and
you would put like a little photo and be like, oh,
just date at Benny Hannah. It's so good, you know,
like flaming onion or whatever, or what is that thing?
The onion is bloomin onion at that's at Uh, what's
(26:18):
that restaurant? Blooming onion is at steakhouse?
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Onion steakhouse? What's the steakhouse?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Oh? Oh on the border? Lowry's No, the other one,
the Australian one out back, out back, outback. So so
what they've done is the Mark app has done the
emergency Supply finder and it lets people report live availabilities
of essentials as stores like Costco, CVS, Target, and they
plot it on a map so you can make better
(26:48):
decisions before you head out. But the reality is, even
if someone posts that they have some stock, you'd have
to be searching this and looking at this like religiously.
But here's the thing. I'm telling you this because I
don't think a lot of people are using it right now.
According to Mark, they told me that nineteen hundred users
reported in their beta version in one week, and ten
(27:08):
thousand views have been seen globally. But I'm telling you
this because if more people use it, the better it gets,
the better it is for everyone.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And we know.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, this next question comes from Lisa.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
The subject is Whole Food app.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I have a phone, but it's not a smartphone and
I only use it as my cell phone. I use
it for emergencies and I hardly turned it on. Okay,
so she doesn't really use her phone. Isn't is there
some way that I could connect the Whole Food app
to my phone? Because she goes to Whole food to
shop and she wants to be able to get I
guess some sort of point system that Whole Foods has.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
She can't. I can't use my Amazon card.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Okay. I think what she is asking about is hold
on one second. I'm ordering some hand sanitizer right now.
Uh literally. Okay. So as we said that, I just
got an alert on my computer that Purel was in
stock at Amazon you got from that website now in
stock dot net. And I just ordered it.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
And now Clorox wipes them getting a message that those
are in stock. Oh they're not though, anyway, So there
you go. I just got a I got a Purel
Advanced Little Mini Mini pack. See it right there.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
I just bought that nice.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
I should have bought more than one for me.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
It's as currently unavailable.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well that's probably because I just purchased it.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Oh by now in stock nineteen dollars.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, should I get it? Yeah, of course it's I mean,
but is that So there you go. So we just
that's a that's a that's good for now in stock
dot net.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I just did it.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Let's see if it actually works. We'll we'll update you
on the next podcast.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But don't touch my hand. Yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
So what were we talking about now? You were talking
about Amazon.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Okay, yeah, so is there some way that she can
still get points goes?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So here's what she's asking, I believe. Okay, so you
don't shop at Whole Foods, but if you did, they
have this thing with Amazon because they're owned by Amazon,
where you show them this little code inside your app,
kind of like a club card at the grocery store. Yeah,
well they have their own version, except there's no card
and there's really no club.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
No phone number.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Well that's what she's asking. So she's saying she doesn't
have a smartphone, but she still wants to be able
to because you have to scan this little QR code
from your phone.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Got it?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
You bring up the Amazon app and inside the card
is like it says Whole Foods code. So you bring
it up on your phone and they scan it at
the register and you purportedly save money. It's never saved
me more than like seventy five cents, but theoretically you're
supposed to save money. And that's what she's asking. So
she's saying, I don't have a smartphone. How do I
do that? Well, you can link up your mobile number,
(29:54):
just like you can at a grocery store like Ralph's.
Or Albertson's or any of these stores. You have to
go to Amazon dot com slash Prime Savings, and once
you go there, you'll see right on the home screen
it says Prime members save more at Whole Foods market
and it says choose how to get your savings. Number
one scan your Whole Foods code inside the app, or
number two use your mobile number and you can click
(30:16):
update settings. You pop in your mobile phone number, and
then at the register you tell them your phone number.
They can type it in. I believe you can type
it in yourself, as some of them, but that's it.
That's how it works, so pretty easy. I did that
because I used to not always have my phone and
it kind of sometimes would take a long time. So
I was like, this is easier to just do a
phone number, you know, although I always had my phone,
(30:37):
I was gonna say, I think the thing was that
sometimes it just would be a long time to like
find it in the app. So it's just easier to
use your thing.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Don't you remember on like keychains, people would have like
cards for like Costco or Peco.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Now it's like that's not a thing.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
My thing is I have nothing on my keychain, which
I love. I have one thing.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
I've a list that I just got rid of all that.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Actually, and I think I told this story on the
podcast because I have an electronic lock for my front door.
I actually was not carrying around a key at all
except for my car.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
And so I had no house key. But then I
got burned about twice when it gets in Yeah, when
it gets really cold for some reason, it doesn't work,
it doesn't respond the keypad, and so that's a little concerning.
So now I keep a key on my keychain just
in case, because you still have the manual option. But
it's only it's only It hasn't burned me where I
wasn't where I had to sit outside my house. But
the two times that happened, once was outside. Yeah, well
(31:36):
that happens sometimes if you're married. Yeah, gotta do that sometimes.
But no, my wife was. She had her key and
so she was able to open it. But yeah, it's
it's kind of a concern if you go all electronic. Yeah. Wow, Okay, coronavirus.
What's YouTube doing about it? Well, YouTube's doing a couple
of things. Number One, you think about coronavirus and misinformation
(32:00):
lots of misinformation. Anyone with a webcam or a phone
can sit there and tell you their thoughts on coronavirus
or a podcast and just spout out all kinds of
coronavirus stuff. But you want to make sure the information
you're getting is reliable and reputable. And so what YouTube
is doing they are promoting authoritative sources in their search,
(32:21):
and they're also showing information panels on relevant videos. But
videos that are flagged, like videos with misinformation, videos that
say you can you don't have to seek medical treatment,
or they claim that these harmful substances will have health benefits,
they will demote those. So when you look for those,
they're not going to come up. So even if a
video sort of goes viral because it's like here's the
(32:43):
cure to coronavirus. Take this, take apple side or vinegar,
you know that YouTube, a bunch of people will flag
that and YouTube will demote it. So even if it's
gone kind of viral, YouTube is like no more. Yeah,
we're not letting this thing get out of control. That's
the idea. Now does that always work? Who knows? And
I think this is why news organizations like ours are
(33:04):
important in these times because you can search, you can
scroll through social media, and myself included. I posted a
whole bunch of pictures on my Instagram of all the
empty shelves at stores, and you can sit there and
be like, oh, that's the reality. But this is why
we have news organizations that vet stories. That's just my
personal experience.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
My mom just sent me a picture of speaking the Devil.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
There's not that your mom's a devil, but you know
what I.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Mean, that's a phrase like absolutely no toil.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Absolutely nothing nothing. It's it's funny because yesterday when I
went to a bunch of the stores, specifically with the
toilet paper, and I joked about this on my Instagram,
all the good stuff was gone, like the main brands, but.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
There was the bad ones.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, like Scott.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
I don't even know what Scott.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Scott is like, you know, it's like the thin like
one ply, like what it's like the stuff that's just
like generic, you know, not knocking Scott, but like that
was the brand. Like all My point is, people still
have preferences, even in times of dire straits. They're like,
we're not gonna we'll buy that. Well, maybe I'll find
it another place.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
What about Cleenex If you can't find any they had
clean X, they didn't you use clean X.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I know, h that's a personal thing. That's you've had.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
This conversation toilet paper.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Oh god, no, no, no, okay, I think it goes
this way. I think Kleenex and toilet paper can go
one way, right, they both can't go the other way.
Bring the toilet paper to But.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Basically, if there's nothing and you've gone to five stores
and there's no more toilet paper, ye CLEANX.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, I guess it's probably not good to flush though that.
I don't think they break up the same way as
toilet I think toilet paper was like specifically made to
break up in the toilet.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
You know in other countries you have to put toilet
paper in a trash can.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah. I always found that really disgusting. Yeah. Anyway, well
that's the first and last time we'll talk about this
conversation on this podcast. Hey, are you eating lunch or dinner? Yeah,
or having your morning coffee? So you to He was
doing a whole bunch of stuff to combat misinformation. And
now one aspect of this is for creators, because if
(35:06):
you think about it, there's a lot of opportunity here
to make money on videos about coronavirus because people are
looking for information. And what happens is YouTube has what's
called a sensitive Events policy, and this means when a
sensitive event happens, they basically flag videos dealing with that
event so that they can't be monetized, So that people
(35:28):
can't capitalize on tragedy, on a natural disaster, on something
that's really important. People can't say, oh, let me just
make a video that's crazy and a lot of people
will watch it and I'll make a million bucks. So
this little sensitive events policy gets, you know, it goes
into place, and then next thing you know, you're not
making money on your video. So YouTube is aware of that,
(35:49):
and they said that they're going to help some creators
get some money off these videos by re enabling ads
as long as creators have self certified and are and
or are a news partner. So really interesting this this thing.
Just as you can tell, I'm fascinated by this.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah, it is fascinating and kind of scary. This next
question comes from Carol. What are some of the best
fitness slash health trackers.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
HM fitness slash health trackers. Well, if you're on the
Apple Watch. I'm sorry the iPhone. If you're on the iPhone,
I think it's pretty clear that the Apple Watch is
your number one. And yeah, for many many reasons, but
I that's what I personally use. And when I'm testing
a different phone and I'm not with my Apple Watch
or it's not working properly, it's like really sad because
(36:39):
I've gotten so used how good the fitness tracking is.
And I have been doing Orange Theory as well, and
I've been comparing my Apple Watch against with that dedicated
tracker I had to buy. I had to buy their tracker,
which is like one hundred and twenty dollars what, which
is ridiculous because I already have an Apple Watch which
tracks my heart rate.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, why would you need to even because.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
To connect to their sort of system you have to
have their specific But even.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
When you're sweating and working out, doesn't your Apple Watch
tell you how many calories you're brain?
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yes, but I don't. I'm not even sure you can
work it. Maybe you could work out there without their tracker,
but it's kind of like the whole system. It's like
all on the screen. It tells you how you're doing,
and you really would. You probably wouldn't get as much
out of the class without it.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Oh interesting.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
So anyway, and the annoying thing is I bought this
and they have an Apple Watch one coming out that
connects your Apple Watch. It goes on your Apple Watch band.
But it's not ready. And I think it's because of coronavirus.
Because China, everything's delayed.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I mean workout classes are I not that I go
to a lot, but i'd be if you did be
a little sketched out to go to work a class
or a gym.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, I feel like, oh no, I just.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Wait, like you like, it's the same thing as going
like to.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Work or sketched out about going to work or.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Going to school.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Well, I'm saying like in general, like people are staying
home and not working, they're like working from home.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Yeah, it's you're still exposed.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I agree, And I think I mean, I didn't feel
unsafe the gym, but I'm a.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Matter feeling safe. Well it is, I.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Mean, it's like, how do I feel? I mean, I
don't know like it it? Of course it crossed my mind,
like am I putting myself more at risk by being here?
Speaker 3 (38:12):
I would think like I'm touching equipment.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
That like someone who's sick, like that basketball player who
touched all the mic.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
That's true, I guess. And but is it is it
contracted through touch? I'm not licking the orange theory equipment sweat,
but sweat is one way. What like, I'm not like.
I don't know. Is it absorbed through sweat? I don't know.
I mean, I think there's too many unknowns for me. Yeah,
and so I've been going to the gym as normal.
I went to the gym yesterday, I went on Monday,
(38:39):
I went. You know, I've been going regularly.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
I can't tell you're fine, keep on going.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
But it's I agree, it's definitely every At this point,
everything is up for debate. Yeah, when someone sneezes or coughs,
it's up.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
For Except a sneeze doesn't mean something like sneezing. Isn't
a symptom?
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Oh it's not. Oh that's good to know. It's coughing.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Okay, So if someone coughs, you can get out.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
The girl next to me at Arn's Theory was coughing
a lot, and.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
She coughs on you or in the air, and you're
in that room.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I actually did think about that you've said.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Into your nose.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Sorry, Like if you could see like the n trails
of like you know, like the like going from her
mouth like literally like a smoke vapor and it's just
like I take like a deep breath in and I'm like,
and it just goes right into me. Oh, why are
we talking about this?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
For a run?
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Okay? So the best fitness tracker. So if she's on
if she's on iPhone, I would say Apple Watch bar nun.
If she's not, I would say on the on the Google.
On the Android side, I would recommend the Fitbit. And
there's a lot of models. I think that if you
want sort of a smart watch, I'd go at the
Fitbit versa two. If you want just a standard tracker,
(39:50):
I'd go with the Fipbit. I think it's a charge
three maybe, and you know any of those, any of
the fhipbits. I do think Fippit's gonna get a lot
better because Google has purchased them and they're in the
process of buying them, and I think that we're going
to see a lot more from fip it very soon.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
So do you have the Apple Watch five?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (40:10):
Oh you do?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I do, yes, And I will say that the battery
life not as good as the four, the three or
the four, so it's it's definitely not as In fact,
it ran out of battery yesterday. And I think that's
because I started using Apple Maps, and Apple Maps I
think keeps the screen. Oh, I guess the screen is
always I don't know anyway, Okay, final story Instagram. I
(40:35):
don't know if you saw these on Instagram, but you
shouldn't look for them. They are coronavirus filters and on Instagram.
I was not really aware that people could make their
own filters on Instagram, but clearly they can. And there's
a whole bunch. So when I've read this story, I said,
let me go look at this, and sure enough, a
whole bunch of filters that put a mask on your face,
(40:55):
like a virtual mask. It'll have the germs swirling around
your head. It will have one of them is a test.
Have you seen that thing where it says like what
Disney character are you like where it rips on your forehead, Well,
this one says if you're gonna die from the coronavirus.
It like says text that flashes between no, I'm safe
for now and yes, goodbye. So obviously these are in
(41:18):
poor taste. But these are user generated filters. But are
they approved by Instagram. I'm not sure, but they're getting
a lot of heat because you know, it's I get it.
You have a lot of different people with a lot
of different kind of thoughts and the way they feel
about things. But to me, I saw these things and
it's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Icky, yeah, poor taste.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, poor taste. And some people are saying like, well,
well wait a second, we are We're showing like one
person who used one of these coronavirus filters and this
is by the way, from the standard dot co dot UK.
They said, I'm using the technology of augmented reality. He said,
he's making a filter that helps people be aware of
the origins of coronavirus and prevent how it's spread out.
(42:01):
So he's saying it was for a good thing, which
I could see that, Like if it was a virtual
filter where when you coughed, it would show like where
the where the you know, germs go or the viruses,
like I could see that could actually be useful. Yeah,
I could see that, But I don't think that's what
these things were made for. I think they were made
for fun yeah, and not really education.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Yeah, it's just good.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
I think as we see things progress, like who knows
in a month, like we might be like, this is
just not funny anymore. You know, the more serious it gets,
the more it affects you, then you start to kind
of stop making jokes.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Agreed, that's going to do it for this episode of
the show. For links to what we talked about, take
a look at the show notes. If you have a
question for me, just go to my Instagram at rich
on tech and hit the email button. It is right there,
and we would love it if you would rate and
review this podcast. That way other people can discover it.
Just go to rate this podcast dot com, slash rich
(42:53):
on tech, or you can text the link of this
show to a friend to let them know what you're
listening to. Here's a recent review from senior drool Cup.
We all have too many podcasts to listen to. Richdmiro
and producer Megan provide the most information in short weekly
podcast to help you stay on top of personal tech developments.
These two have developed excellent podcast chemistry and are a
(43:15):
pleasure to listen to. They also produce an avalanche of
good content for KTLA and Los Angeles. Along with books
on the iPhone, you will learn about what you need
to know about personal tech and smile the whole time.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Oh my gosh, that's so nice.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Thank your drool cup. Producer Megan. Where can folks find you?
Speaker 3 (43:33):
I'm on Twitter at producer Megan.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
And you can find me on social media at rich
on Tech. My name is rich dmiro On, behalf of
everyone that helps get this show to your ears. Thanks
for listening. We'll talk to you real soon.
The websites to help you find coronavirus supplies, the best
ways to clean your smartphone, plus as usual, your tech
questions answered. What's going on? I'm Rich Dmiro and this
is Rich on Tech, the podcast where we talk about
the tech stuff I think you should know about and
answer the questions that you send me. My name is
Rich Demiro. I'm the tech reporter at KTLA Channel five
(00:32):
in Los Angeles. Joining me is producer Megan, who is
currently applying hand sanitizer. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I apply it every five minutes and that's how I'm
combating coronavirus.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And I know we're not going to joke about this
because it is very serious, although there may be some
lighthearted moments, because it's unreal. What's happening in the world
right now. Yeah, and you're listening, you're thinking about coronavirus
on the news, it's on your social it's everywhere. There
are hundreds of new podcasts dedicated to coronavirus. And I
(01:08):
think what's so odd about it is that we haven't
really seen something like this kind of capture not only
the minds of the world, but also like a physical
result of something like we're seeing actual things happening. I mean,
Tom Hanks, I saw that last night, and I'm like,
what is going on in this world? I was at
(01:28):
the grocery stores and they are the supplies are in
such tight demand.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
It's insane.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
My dad's seventy two, and I asked him. I was like,
have you ever seen anything like this before? Like, was
there some sort of disease that was similar when you
were younger? He said, no, this is this is crazy,
Like this is a moment in history that will always remember.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
One hundred percent, and there have been similar I call this.
I was talking with someone here today and I was saying,
I haven't felt this disoriented since September eleventh. You were
a little young, were even born it was like six, okay, yeah,
so you may not remember at all, Like I mean,
I don't think.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, I remember like this.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
I remember it, but in like a weird way, like
you knew it a story. Yeah, I knew it happened
when I was like older, but yeah, when I when
it was happening, I don't think it was ever really explained.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, and that makes sense. As a parent, I can
understand that my kid was watching like he turned on
Apple TV last night and we don't have cable, but
he tuned into uh, like a streaming newscast, and I
was like, excuse me, what are you doing? And you know,
he's eight, and he he is interested in what's happening.
And I'm not keeping everything from him, but I don't
think he needs to know everything on the play by
play of what's going on. And so we've explained and
(02:39):
you know he understands, and even at school they've talked
about it. But I'll be honest, this podcast, a lot
of it is going to have to do with coronavirus.
And you know, you can tune out if you'd like,
but the reality is, I'm fascinated by this. I'm going
to take it all from the tech angle. We're gonna
have regular questions from the viewers or in the listeners,
so you have that, but we're just going to start
with a couple of the things that are happening in
(03:00):
the tech world. Number one E three twenty twenty canceled
because of the coronavirus. This is the big video game
show that's normally scheduled for June ninth to eleventh in
Los Angeles. I've been for many years. It's a show
that kind of has all the latest and greatest when
it comes to video games, So all the upcoming games
the consoles this year, Sony was actually pieced out before
(03:21):
this whole thing, so it was really like Microsoft, Nintendo
and you know all the other games that are out there.
But it's over and this the reality is. They said
it was a difficult decision following increased and overwhelming concerns.
We felt this was the best way to proceed during
such an unprecedented global situation. We know it's the right decision.
(03:45):
They will be providing full refunds, and they're looking at
ways to do an online experience. And again this is
for June ninth to eleventh. Oh wow, so that's a
ways out. But I think it's right now. People can't
imagine even booking a flight right now to come to
a show like that where it brings in people from
all over I think that's concerned. Activision Blizzard Esports says
(04:05):
Overwatch League games are canceled. Sorry, the Overwatch League home stands.
So I believe the home stands. Well, let's see, is.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
That where people come and watch them?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
I think so. But it says we are canceling all
Overwatch League events scheduled from March and April. And these
are overwatches kind of like the big esports gaming where
they have all these people sitting in the center of
the arena and a lot of people cheer them on
and watch. Yeah, and again we heard the NBA is
canceling the games. I mean, it's so widespread it's not
(04:37):
even funny. The one thing I thought was kind of
interesting about their little press release, Blizzard Entertainment says, concurrently,
we are working hand in hand with our teams to
see that all matches are played when it's safe and
logically feasible. And I would say not the best use
of words hand in hand. Don't want to use that
right now. Come on, you want to be you want
(04:58):
to be elbow to elbow right now, right And Google
is saying if your business is affected by coronavirus, it
might be a good time to update your business profile.
And you may not know this, but if you own
a small business, you can look for something called Google
my Business and you can claim your business listing within Google.
You know, when you search for a company on Google,
(05:20):
like a small business, local retailer or a big retailer
has that little info box that shows up. It says
if they're open, has like website directions, all this kind
of stuff. Well, businesses can update that information and Google saying, look,
if you're affected by coronavirus, let people know what's happening.
Whether your business hours has changed, maybe you're staying open
later or earlier, or are closing earlier, or you're closed,
(05:43):
or you're just closed. Maybe you want to talk about
your business operations. You can share any precautions that your
business take. Let's say you run a small gym and
you can write in there, hey, we are sanitizing our equipment,
deep cleansing every single night. Rest assured that when you
Google that business, you're getting that information presented. Or if
you're experiencing delays, or you can create a post. And
(06:05):
I don't think many businesses know this, but the Google
Businesses has something similar to like Twitter, where you can
create a little post or an Instagram post, but it
shows up under your business when someone googles it, and
that can be helpful for just giving updates. Maybe you've
got sanitizer back in stock or probably not, you can
put that on there. Yeah, all right, razy Megan, Okay,
(06:27):
let's get a question.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Our first question comes from Wilmer. I shattered the screen
of my Apple Watch Series three, and I'm devastated. He
knows that they're not cheap, and he was going to
save up and just repurchase the series three again, and
he's wondering if he should spring for the series five
at this point, since it's two years old or three
(06:50):
years old.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I would agree go with the series five. And the
reason why he's not mentioning the series four is because
you can't really find it. The series five replace the
series four. Apple does this weird thing sometimes where they
keep kind of the oldest version of something or an
older version and the newer one, and they leave out
the one in between, and you're like, why would they
do that? Well, because the older one they can drop
the price and not truly have it cut into the
(07:15):
sales of the newer one because the features are kind
of different. So on Apple Watch Series three versus five.
With the series five, you're going to get the always
on display, which may or may not be something you want.
You may want to turn it off because it does
use more battery. You're also going to get the compass,
which could be handy if you're out and about in
the wilderness, or if you just like the idea of
(07:35):
the compass, and you're also going to get a slightly
larger display I believe, and also ekg oh, so those
are four pretty solid things that you might want over
the Series three. Oh, you're also gonna get a faster processor. Okay,
so it's been a couple of years, like he said.
And the Series four or sorry, Series five is I
(07:56):
believe three ninety nine. Oh for the I believe for
the cellular version. Let me see how much this is.
Let's see. We're going to click the website and I
will show you the price. Three ninety nine. Yeah, so
three ninety nine for the regular and then four ninety
nine for the cellular. So it's a little bit more
(08:18):
expensive than the other one. But you know, I think
that you're getting three years of technology.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yeah, I think it's probably worth it.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah, and you still won an Apple Watch, right?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Are you still? Well?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
You know I've actually like searched for the Series.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Four and you can find that you can find it, yes,
not from Apple officially, right, it's a best buy, Yeah,
best buy or like Coals or something. Yeah, but my
advice is, and I tell this to a lot of
people that email me these questions about this. Whenever you're
buying one of these Apple devices, look outside the Apple
Store because you don't necessarily have to get it from
Apple Store. Apple store doesn't really run any deals or sales.
(08:55):
But for so, if I was buying the apple Watch
Series five today, I would search apple Watch five deals
and then in Google you type in you go to news,
and that way you find the bloggers that blog about this, okay,
And the reason why bloggers blog about it is because
they get what's called an affiliate link to that thing.
(09:17):
So if you buy it through their click or through
their blog posts, they'll get a little tiny cut of that.
So it's in their best interest to keep these things
updated with like the latest deals because it entices people
to buy. So if I looked at apple Watch five
is not going to have any deals right now, but
apple Watch three is in stock and on sale at
one ninety nine for best buy. Wow, now you may not.
You may be able to find apple Watch four. Let's
(09:38):
see if there's any four deals. So it looks like yes,
six days ago, Series four GPS returns to Black Friday price,
So there you go. Two ninety nine. So again, if
you don't need all those features, you can do that.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
He also mentions that the Series three that he's looking
at is at Apple and it's two thirty.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
He doesn't even realize that if he was going to
get the Series three.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
He could get it for one thirty bucks less past
by at a bunch of places in the side. But
I think, yeah, exactly, very so a good question, all right,
speaking of your digital gadgets, the best ways to clean
and disinfect your dirty smartphone. This is the story that
we did on KTLA. We talked to a professor of
(10:23):
chemical engineering at USC, Andrea Armani, and she said that
cell phones are actually one of the dirtiest things that
we handle every day, no surprise there. And we talked
about several of the ways to clean your phone, and
the number one is a damp microfibercloth. You can find
microfibercloths on Amazon. I've got a bunch of them around
(10:43):
the house. That's what I use most of the time.
I really like little wipes, and in the past I've
used the eyeglass wipes, but now Zeis actually has a
specific mobile screen wipe. I also like Whoosh, which is
a spray and they have a good stuff. Now most
of these some people will tell you that these are
good enough on your phone because it's such a smooth
(11:06):
surface that you will wipe off the bacteria and grime
and even the bad stuff like you know what, coronavirus.
I can't guarantee that with these methods, but that's what
I've read online. Now, if you want something a little
more industrial strength. What's interesting is that a lot of
people recommended a mix of rubbing alcohol or you know,
alcohol with water and put that. Always put it on
(11:29):
the device, on the wipe, by the way, like the
microfiber not you't you don't pour it exactly, don't pour
it on your device.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
So can you put it on a cotton ball?
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (11:38):
I think so, I've done that.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, And so long story short. After we did our
story on TV, a couple of days later, Apple comes
out and says, you know what, you can actually go
ahead and use Clorox wipes on your phone, even though
previously they did not recommend any sort of like household chemicals. Yeah,
but now with the whole coronavirus thing, people want their
stuff really disinfected. They said, go ahead, use a Clorox wipe,
(12:01):
or use a combination of seventy percent isopropyl alcohol along
with some water. Okay, and that should take care of it. Now,
if you really want to get heavy duty on your phone,
which I have started to do, I've had one of
these phone soap disinfectant things in my house for a year.
I got it for Christmas last year for my in laws,
and I never set it up. I was like, give
me a break, and now I am a believer. I
put my phone in there, not every night, but a
(12:23):
couple times a week. It turns on the UV light,
it disinfects the phone. And if you're wondering how it works, well,
I talked to the CEO of the company's name is
Dan Barnes, and here's what he had to say.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
So, phone soaps technology is built on UVC light. UVC
is a short wavelength that can penetrate the cell wall
and effectively fuse the DNA together, which kills it. It's
no longer operable. It can't harm you, and it can't reproduce,
so it's really the safest way to clean your phone.
There's no harsh chemicals like alcohol, it won't void your warranty.
(13:00):
And it's effective at ninety nine point nine nine percent
in killing this bacteria and virus every time.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Okay, So the big question is will it kill the coronavirus?
So I asked him that specifically.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
While we have not been able to test the coronavirus specifically,
you know it's being held by organizations like the CDC,
only we do know that it's an envelope virus similar
to bacteria that we have tested. Phone soap's been clinically
proven to kill ninety nine point nine nine percent of influenza,
which is an envelope virus similar to coronavirus. We have
(13:33):
tested against rhinovirus, staff ecoli, Salmonila, mursa, and phone soap
is always designed to do a three hundred and sixty
degree clean on your entire phone or any item you
put in there. So, while we haven't been able to
test this novel strain of coronavirus specifically, we have tested
a wide range of viruses in bacteria that in some
(13:55):
degrees or other are similar to it.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Okay, I'm going to take that as I think we're okay.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
I think he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I think he knows what he's doing. And so I've
been putting my phone in this little device. The model
I have, I believe it's about eighty dollars. That's how
much it looks like it is on Amazon. Of course
they're sold out. It's impossible to get one of these things.
But I'm kind of in love with it because I
love the idea that it not only sanitizes my phone,
but it kind of sanitizes everything, like all the little
(14:21):
nooks and crannies, all everything. It's like a three sixty
clean And the one thing it doesn't do is wipe
down your phone. So I wish it was more like
a little mini car wash for your phone, where it
actually sanitized with the UV light and then it kind
of scrubbed it with like bubbles. But well, I don't know.
I guess that'd be kind of tricky because.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
You know, I know, things could get a little messed up.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, So anyway, keep your phone clean, and those are
some of the ways you can do it. And I
think that everyone is sort of looking at their phone
these days wondering just how dirty is this thing? And
should I be cleaning it? Yes, you should be, yes.
Speaker 3 (14:54):
All the time.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
This next question comes from Joe Months ago you introduced
a new phone company plan that was forty dollars a
month on limited unlimited by some new company. At the time,
my phone didn't qualify. Anyways, I need to do phone now.
Should I wait for the Samsung twenty? What was the network?
(15:17):
I live in Orange County?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
My gosh. Those are a lot of questions.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
You know, But the main thing is.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
The main thing is what you know? The answer to
this yes, Visible Visible. We've got a lot of questions
about Visible because it's forty dollars a month and it
runs on the Verizon network. It doesn't just run on Verizon,
it is owned by Verizon. Yeah, and it is a
fantastic deal. And the other cool thing about Visible And
by the way, they offer the s twenty, So when
(15:43):
they first came out, it was it was iPhone only
and so it excluded When we first did our story
about this on KTLA, it excluded a lot of people
because they had Android and they're like, Rich, I can't switch.
You just told me about this amazing thing. And it's
a legit plan. It is everything you need on Verizon unlimited,
everything for forty bucks a month. Now. The one catch
(16:04):
is the speed limit. It is it is limited to
five megabits per second, which you remember, this was one
of your first stories you did. We tested it, remember, outside,
and we saw if like YouTube worked, if snapchat work,
and it worked.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Yeah, and it was the difference of like maybe two seconds.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Yeah, it was a little you know, a little bit.
Sometimes it could be a little bit slower. But they
and I'm also kicking myself for this for my wife
because I wanted to switch her to it and I didn't.
They actually had a promotion where they were giving you
unlimited speed and everyone who signed up during that time
gets unlimited speed for the rest of their time. Remember that,
And I should have signed up because forty bucks a
(16:40):
month is such a deal. And they do this thing.
They don't do family plans, but they do like a
something like I think it's a party plan. Yeah, visible
party pay and you actually just get like up to
how many friends up to I don't know, three or
four friends and yeah two, three or four friends and
every friend you join in on, they you each get
(17:00):
five bucks off. So if you and I did a
party play plan, yeah, so we would pay thirty five each.
So and it's the party you are, it's just your
linked up kind of just online. It has nothing to
do with your bill. You still get your bill separately
and so do I.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
But it's just one month.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
No, no, it's every month.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Oh it's thirty five moving forward. Yeah, oh I thought
it was a month that you sign up.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
No, as long as you link in, that's amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
So you could have like three friends and it could
be like twenty dollars ars.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
So they're trying to get you to like tell your
friends about it and join with you, which makes sense. Yeah,
it's like a spin on. I think everything with Visible
is kind of like a spin on, you know, the normal,
typical plan, right, And the only major catch besides the
speed limit, is really the fact that everything is sort
of done online. You activate your phone online customer service.
There's no store to walk into if you need help.
(17:48):
But that's the one. The other weird thing is they
just started a version of Visible now called Yahoo Mobile,
and it is identical. It's basically Visible because think about it,
Verizon owns Yahoo. Oh, Okayon owns Visible Now. We have
Yahoo Mobile, and I think they're just playing upon the
(18:10):
Yahoo brand selling it to all the millions of email.
It's I can't see a difference between Visible and Mobile
and Yahoo Mobile.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
I wonder, like it's the website.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
The website's different, No websites different.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
You sign up through an app, different audience.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
It's just different audience exactly. I personal would go at Visible.
It seems like a cooler little thing than Yahoo.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
But it's funny. Does Yahoo just have like a bad rep?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Oh yeah, really, don't you think? I mean, Yahoo used
to be the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I used to search.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I remember searching on Yahoo, yeah, way back when, Like now.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
You just use Google.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Oh yeah, Yahoo doesn't even I don't think they do
search anymore. I think it's run through Microsoft like.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
They used to have like the top searches.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Oh yeah, Yahoo was they still do probably, Oh, I'm
sure they still. I think still the number one. It
is kind of funny though, and I don't think I
do this anymore. But it used to be when I
was testing a device or going to like a web
page for something, just to see if the Internet worked,
you would always go to Yahoo. It's just like the
first thing that comes to mind, you think Internet, you know,
(19:10):
And now to me, Yahoo is just so like.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
It's stated they have the same layouts.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, it hasn't changed. I actually was offered a job
by Yahoo many years ago, and when they send you
your job offer, it was a big box that they
overnight to your house and when you open the box,
it goes Yahoo. Yeah, and it would welcome you to Yahoo.
And it had a T shirt which I still wear.
I still wear it to be how long were you there? No, No,
(19:38):
I got a job offered, got a job offer. I
did not take the job. Got it Okay, if I
took the job, I would not have to have worked
for the rest of my life. No, I'm just kidding.
But it didn't have a lot of stock options. I
didn't really understand what those war back then. Really No,
I had no idea. So I was like, They're like, here,
we'll give you all this, and I was like, I
have no idea what this means. But anyway, I didn't
take the job, and the value went down right eventually.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
I mean, I don't know, it wouldn't be worth me.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Well, I guess now they'd be Verizon stock. I don't know. Oh,
I don't really know. I don't really know because the
two times in my life when I had stock options
from the companies I worked for, I lost them both
because I left the companies. So well, yeahoo, I never joined.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
You can't get the money out.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
It depends if you're vested. So here's the way they work.
So let's say this one company I worked at a
couple years ago, they gave me a bunch of I
think they were called options or stocks or whatever it was.
But they give it to you, but you don't get
it unless you stay there for three more years and
then they're actually transferred to you. So that's an incentive
for you to stay at that company. That makes sense,
(20:41):
and you get kind of a bonus for.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Staying there, right, Okay, it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
It's that bonus because there must be.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
People that go and then they're like, I got these
stock options and then they try to take it out
and they're like, no, you've just stayed in it three years.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
What do you give you? Those just fun?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
I had fifty dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
So I don't know if you've been a store lately,
but they are actually bananas. I went to five different
stores yesterday. I went to Ralph's, I went to Vonn's,
I went to CVS, I went to Office Depot ninety
nine cent stores, and then I went to Ralphs again.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
You went to the ninety nine cent store?
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Yeah, first time I've never been to one. Really yeah,
actually I lied, second time I've ever been in one.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Not everything's ninety nine cent.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
No, I didn't understand that, Like, no, I don't either.
A lot of things are. But they had water at
the door that was nine ninety nine. I'm like, wait,
what now? Maybe they play upon nine nine nine if
that's part of their.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Maybe that's their stick.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
But I was impressed. I mean there had a lot
of selections. Have you ever been in one? Yeah? I have?
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Yeah, what what is that look on your face?
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Nothing?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And I used to babysit or like when I had
like a little kids camp when I was younger, I
would go and get like arts and crass.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Yeah, like two dollars. It's all like ninety nine cents.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Lindsay's obsessed with the dollar tree because everything's a dollar
and she gets like all this stuff that's you know,
a little things like holidays and stuff, and it's it's
it's great, it's a dollar. But I had just hadn't
been in one, so it was really cool first time
for everything, But I did not find what I was
looking for which I was on a I was trying
to see what the supply levels were like for everything
(22:14):
that people are looking for, like toilet paper, paper towels,
hand sanitizer, wipes and sprays like lysol and that kind
of stuff. And I will tell you, Megan, it was
really bad. I mean, I'm talking, I don't want to
raise I mean, as we record this on our air
right now, they're talking about panic buying. Yeah, and it
(22:37):
was It's unlike anything I've ever seen. And I've worked
through hurricanes, I've worked through natural disasters, and I've never
really seen anything like this.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
So weird.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
And so with that in mind, and by the way,
Amazon is also sold out of all this stuff. When
was the last time you searched Amazon It was out
of stock of like a large majority of things. Yeah,
so I'm gonna go over some of the things that
can maybe help you find some of these products, and
in my experience, they're not going to be much help,
but at least you know about them. And the first
(23:08):
one is now in stock dot net And this is
a website that well, it's mainly made for the holidays
when you're trying to get the tickle Me Elmo or
the Nintendo Classic whatever, and they have a whole bunch
of hot products and it will tell you which retailers
have them in stock online. And they've added hand sanitizer
(23:29):
and also household cleaning, which is crazy because they probably
never had that before in their lifetime. And you can
click hand sanitizers and it gives you a list of
all of the different things that you can get and
if they're available, and I'm actually seeing that, yeah, currently unavailable.
But I did notice also on Amazon that you can
for certain items if they're out of stock. They will
(23:49):
have a links, a little button show up that says
email me when it's in stock, and so you can
do that. But now in stock dot Net is the
first one, and then the second one is Google Shopping.
So if you go to shopping dot Google dot com
and you type in what you want, you can search
and see if things are available locally. And I had
some luck, but it's one of these things where unless
(24:14):
you're getting it delivered, I wouldn't really trust it to
know if it's in stock. So, for instance, if I
put paper towels, which I was able to find last night,
just very slim pickens. But if I look here paper
towels and I go compare prices. It's just not it's
just really tough to find. So again, Google shopping is
(24:36):
another one, but they some of these, you know, like
Google Shopping is linked up on the back end to
like targets inventory and best buys inventory, like certain big retailers,
maybe Walmart, probably not Walmart and Google probably hate each other,
but they have some sort of inroads into like what
their inventory stock is showing that's not always right, okay.
(24:56):
And if you've ever tried to find like a hot
video game when they're really and you go online and
it's like, oh, GameStop has it available, and you go
there and they're like, oh no, dude, that that's not
always right. You've experienced that.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
All the time.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Brickseek dot com is another website. Now. This launched as
a website to help lego collectors find popular sets, and
they have expanded to have inventory an inventory search function,
and so if you go to inventory checker, they've got Walmart, Target,
Lowe's Office depot, Macy's Home depot, CVS, Staples, and BJS
(25:29):
all listed on there. Oh wow, and I tried. This
one's a little trickier because it's not just a search.
You have to go to like Target's website, get the
skew number and then type it in and it does
it through that. But still one more resource. And finally,
this is more local. This is an LA based startup
called Mark m akk mark App. And I don't see
(25:49):
a whole bunch of people using.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
This m akk m a r kkh mark.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I believe, okay. And this mark app is a it's
kind of like an Instagram Stories, but for places you go.
So instead of writing like a big review on a
restaurant that you went to, you would just market and
you would put like a little photo and be like, oh,
just date at Benny Hannah. It's so good, you know,
like flaming onion or whatever, or what is that thing?
The onion is bloomin onion at that's at Uh, what's
(26:18):
that restaurant? Blooming onion is at steakhouse?
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Onion steakhouse? What's the steakhouse?
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Oh? Oh on the border? Lowry's No, the other one,
the Australian one out back, out back, outback. So so
what they've done is the Mark app has done the
emergency Supply finder and it lets people report live availabilities
of essentials as stores like Costco, CVS, Target, and they
plot it on a map so you can make better
(26:48):
decisions before you head out. But the reality is, even
if someone posts that they have some stock, you'd have
to be searching this and looking at this like religiously.
But here's the thing. I'm telling you this because I
don't think a lot of people are using it right now.
According to Mark, they told me that nineteen hundred users
reported in their beta version in one week, and ten
(27:08):
thousand views have been seen globally. But I'm telling you
this because if more people use it, the better it gets,
the better it is for everyone.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
And we know.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Okay, this next question comes from Lisa.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
The subject is Whole Food app.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I have a phone, but it's not a smartphone and
I only use it as my cell phone. I use
it for emergencies and I hardly turned it on. Okay,
so she doesn't really use her phone. Isn't is there
some way that I could connect the Whole Food app
to my phone? Because she goes to Whole food to
shop and she wants to be able to get I
guess some sort of point system that Whole Foods has.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
She can't. I can't use my Amazon card.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Okay. I think what she is asking about is hold
on one second. I'm ordering some hand sanitizer right now.
Uh literally. Okay. So as we said that, I just
got an alert on my computer that Purel was in
stock at Amazon you got from that website now in
stock dot net. And I just ordered it.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
And now Clorox wipes them getting a message that those
are in stock. Oh they're not though, anyway, So there
you go. I just got a I got a Purel
Advanced Little Mini Mini pack. See it right there.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
I just bought that nice.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
I should have bought more than one for me.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
It's as currently unavailable.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Well that's probably because I just purchased it.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Oh by now in stock nineteen dollars.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Yeah, should I get it? Yeah, of course it's I mean,
but is that So there you go. So we just
that's a that's a that's good for now in stock
dot net.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
I just did it.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Let's see if it actually works. We'll we'll update you
on the next podcast.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
But don't touch my hand. Yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
So what were we talking about now? You were talking
about Amazon.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Okay, yeah, so is there some way that she can
still get points goes?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So here's what she's asking, I believe. Okay, so you
don't shop at Whole Foods, but if you did, they
have this thing with Amazon because they're owned by Amazon,
where you show them this little code inside your app,
kind of like a club card at the grocery store. Yeah,
well they have their own version, except there's no card
and there's really no club.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
No phone number.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Well that's what she's asking. So she's saying she doesn't
have a smartphone, but she still wants to be able
to because you have to scan this little QR code
from your phone.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Got it?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
You bring up the Amazon app and inside the card
is like it says Whole Foods code. So you bring
it up on your phone and they scan it at
the register and you purportedly save money. It's never saved
me more than like seventy five cents, but theoretically you're
supposed to save money. And that's what she's asking. So
she's saying, I don't have a smartphone. How do I
do that? Well, you can link up your mobile number,
(29:54):
just like you can at a grocery store like Ralph's.
Or Albertson's or any of these stores. You have to
go to Amazon dot com slash Prime Savings, and once
you go there, you'll see right on the home screen
it says Prime members save more at Whole Foods market
and it says choose how to get your savings. Number
one scan your Whole Foods code inside the app, or
number two use your mobile number and you can click
(30:16):
update settings. You pop in your mobile phone number, and
then at the register you tell them your phone number.
They can type it in. I believe you can type
it in yourself, as some of them, but that's it.
That's how it works, so pretty easy. I did that
because I used to not always have my phone and
it kind of sometimes would take a long time. So
I was like, this is easier to just do a
phone number, you know, although I always had my phone,
(30:37):
I was gonna say, I think the thing was that
sometimes it just would be a long time to like
find it in the app. So it's just easier to
use your thing.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
Don't you remember on like keychains, people would have like
cards for like Costco or Peco.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
Now it's like that's not a thing.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
My thing is I have nothing on my keychain, which
I love. I have one thing.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
I've a list that I just got rid of all that.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Actually, and I think I told this story on the
podcast because I have an electronic lock for my front door.
I actually was not carrying around a key at all
except for my car.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
And so I had no house key. But then I
got burned about twice when it gets in Yeah, when
it gets really cold for some reason, it doesn't work,
it doesn't respond the keypad, and so that's a little concerning.
So now I keep a key on my keychain just
in case, because you still have the manual option. But
it's only it's only It hasn't burned me where I
wasn't where I had to sit outside my house. But
the two times that happened, once was outside. Yeah, well
(31:36):
that happens sometimes if you're married. Yeah, gotta do that sometimes.
But no, my wife was. She had her key and
so she was able to open it. But yeah, it's
it's kind of a concern if you go all electronic. Yeah. Wow, Okay, coronavirus.
What's YouTube doing about it? Well, YouTube's doing a couple
of things. Number One, you think about coronavirus and misinformation
(32:00):
lots of misinformation. Anyone with a webcam or a phone
can sit there and tell you their thoughts on coronavirus
or a podcast and just spout out all kinds of
coronavirus stuff. But you want to make sure the information
you're getting is reliable and reputable. And so what YouTube
is doing they are promoting authoritative sources in their search,
(32:21):
and they're also showing information panels on relevant videos. But
videos that are flagged, like videos with misinformation, videos that
say you can you don't have to seek medical treatment,
or they claim that these harmful substances will have health benefits,
they will demote those. So when you look for those,
they're not going to come up. So even if a
video sort of goes viral because it's like here's the
(32:43):
cure to coronavirus. Take this, take apple side or vinegar,
you know that YouTube, a bunch of people will flag
that and YouTube will demote it. So even if it's
gone kind of viral, YouTube is like no more. Yeah,
we're not letting this thing get out of control. That's
the idea. Now does that always work? Who knows? And
I think this is why news organizations like ours are
(33:04):
important in these times because you can search, you can
scroll through social media, and myself included. I posted a
whole bunch of pictures on my Instagram of all the
empty shelves at stores, and you can sit there and
be like, oh, that's the reality. But this is why
we have news organizations that vet stories. That's just my
personal experience.
Speaker 3 (33:21):
My mom just sent me a picture of speaking the Devil.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
There's not that your mom's a devil, but you know
what I.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Mean, that's a phrase like absolutely no toil.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Absolutely nothing nothing. It's it's funny because yesterday when I
went to a bunch of the stores, specifically with the
toilet paper, and I joked about this on my Instagram,
all the good stuff was gone, like the main brands, but.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
There was the bad ones.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Yeah, like Scott.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
I don't even know what Scott.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Scott is like, you know, it's like the thin like
one ply, like what it's like the stuff that's just
like generic, you know, not knocking Scott, but like that
was the brand. Like all My point is, people still
have preferences, even in times of dire straits. They're like,
we're not gonna we'll buy that. Well, maybe I'll find
it another place.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
What about Cleenex If you can't find any they had
clean X, they didn't you use clean X.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
I know, h that's a personal thing. That's you've had.
Speaker 3 (34:14):
This conversation toilet paper.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Oh god, no, no, no, okay, I think it goes
this way. I think Kleenex and toilet paper can go
one way, right, they both can't go the other way.
Bring the toilet paper to But.
Speaker 2 (34:29):
Basically, if there's nothing and you've gone to five stores
and there's no more toilet paper, ye CLEANX.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Yeah, I guess it's probably not good to flush though that.
I don't think they break up the same way as
toilet I think toilet paper was like specifically made to
break up in the toilet.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
You know in other countries you have to put toilet
paper in a trash can.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Yeah. I always found that really disgusting. Yeah. Anyway, well
that's the first and last time we'll talk about this
conversation on this podcast. Hey, are you eating lunch or dinner? Yeah,
or having your morning coffee? So you to He was
doing a whole bunch of stuff to combat misinformation. And
now one aspect of this is for creators, because if
(35:06):
you think about it, there's a lot of opportunity here
to make money on videos about coronavirus because people are
looking for information. And what happens is YouTube has what's
called a sensitive Events policy, and this means when a
sensitive event happens, they basically flag videos dealing with that
event so that they can't be monetized, So that people
(35:28):
can't capitalize on tragedy, on a natural disaster, on something
that's really important. People can't say, oh, let me just
make a video that's crazy and a lot of people
will watch it and I'll make a million bucks. So
this little sensitive events policy gets, you know, it goes
into place, and then next thing you know, you're not
making money on your video. So YouTube is aware of that,
(35:49):
and they said that they're going to help some creators
get some money off these videos by re enabling ads
as long as creators have self certified and are and
or are a news partner. So really interesting this this thing.
Just as you can tell, I'm fascinated by this.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah, it is fascinating and kind of scary. This next
question comes from Carol. What are some of the best
fitness slash health trackers.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
HM fitness slash health trackers. Well, if you're on the
Apple Watch. I'm sorry the iPhone. If you're on the iPhone,
I think it's pretty clear that the Apple Watch is
your number one. And yeah, for many many reasons, but
I that's what I personally use. And when I'm testing
a different phone and I'm not with my Apple Watch
or it's not working properly, it's like really sad because
(36:39):
I've gotten so used how good the fitness tracking is.
And I have been doing Orange Theory as well, and
I've been comparing my Apple Watch against with that dedicated
tracker I had to buy. I had to buy their tracker,
which is like one hundred and twenty dollars what, which
is ridiculous because I already have an Apple Watch which
tracks my heart rate.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Yeah, why would you need to even because.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
To connect to their sort of system you have to
have their specific But even.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
When you're sweating and working out, doesn't your Apple Watch
tell you how many calories you're brain?
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Yes, but I don't. I'm not even sure you can
work it. Maybe you could work out there without their tracker,
but it's kind of like the whole system. It's like
all on the screen. It tells you how you're doing,
and you really would. You probably wouldn't get as much
out of the class without it.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Oh interesting.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
So anyway, and the annoying thing is I bought this
and they have an Apple Watch one coming out that
connects your Apple Watch. It goes on your Apple Watch band.
But it's not ready. And I think it's because of coronavirus.
Because China, everything's delayed.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
I mean workout classes are I not that I go
to a lot, but i'd be if you did be
a little sketched out to go to work a class
or a gym.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Yeah, I feel like, oh no, I just.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Wait, like you like, it's the same thing as going
like to.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Work or sketched out about going to work or.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
Going to school.
Speaker 2 (37:49):
Well, I'm saying like in general, like people are staying
home and not working, they're like working from home.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
Yeah, it's you're still exposed.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
I agree, And I think I mean, I didn't feel
unsafe the gym, but I'm a.
Speaker 3 (38:02):
Matter feeling safe. Well it is, I.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Mean, it's like, how do I feel? I mean, I
don't know like it it? Of course it crossed my mind,
like am I putting myself more at risk by being here?
Speaker 3 (38:12):
I would think like I'm touching equipment.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
That like someone who's sick, like that basketball player who
touched all the mic.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
That's true, I guess. And but is it is it
contracted through touch? I'm not licking the orange theory equipment sweat,
but sweat is one way. What like, I'm not like.
I don't know. Is it absorbed through sweat? I don't know.
I mean, I think there's too many unknowns for me. Yeah,
and so I've been going to the gym as normal.
I went to the gym yesterday, I went on Monday,
(38:39):
I went. You know, I've been going regularly.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
I can't tell you're fine, keep on going.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
But it's I agree, it's definitely every At this point,
everything is up for debate. Yeah, when someone sneezes or coughs,
it's up.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
For Except a sneeze doesn't mean something like sneezing. Isn't
a symptom?
Speaker 1 (38:58):
Oh it's not. Oh that's good to know. It's coughing.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Okay, So if someone coughs, you can get out.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
The girl next to me at Arn's Theory was coughing
a lot, and.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
She coughs on you or in the air, and you're
in that room.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
I actually did think about that you've said.
Speaker 3 (39:13):
Into your nose.
Speaker 1 (39:15):
Sorry, Like if you could see like the n trails
of like you know, like the like going from her
mouth like literally like a smoke vapor and it's just
like I take like a deep breath in and I'm like,
and it just goes right into me. Oh, why are
we talking about this?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
For a run?
Speaker 1 (39:29):
Okay? So the best fitness tracker. So if she's on
if she's on iPhone, I would say Apple Watch bar nun.
If she's not, I would say on the on the Google.
On the Android side, I would recommend the Fitbit. And
there's a lot of models. I think that if you
want sort of a smart watch, I'd go at the
Fitbit versa two. If you want just a standard tracker,
(39:50):
I'd go with the Fipbit. I think it's a charge
three maybe, and you know any of those, any of
the fhipbits. I do think Fippit's gonna get a lot
better because Google has purchased them and they're in the
process of buying them, and I think that we're going
to see a lot more from fip it very soon.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
So do you have the Apple Watch five?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (40:10):
Oh you do?
Speaker 1 (40:10):
I do, yes, And I will say that the battery
life not as good as the four, the three or
the four, so it's it's definitely not as In fact,
it ran out of battery yesterday. And I think that's
because I started using Apple Maps, and Apple Maps I
think keeps the screen. Oh, I guess the screen is
always I don't know anyway, Okay, final story Instagram. I
(40:35):
don't know if you saw these on Instagram, but you
shouldn't look for them. They are coronavirus filters and on Instagram.
I was not really aware that people could make their
own filters on Instagram, but clearly they can. And there's
a whole bunch. So when I've read this story, I said,
let me go look at this, and sure enough, a
whole bunch of filters that put a mask on your face,
(40:55):
like a virtual mask. It'll have the germs swirling around
your head. It will have one of them is a test.
Have you seen that thing where it says like what
Disney character are you like where it rips on your forehead, Well,
this one says if you're gonna die from the coronavirus.
It like says text that flashes between no, I'm safe
for now and yes, goodbye. So obviously these are in
(41:18):
poor taste. But these are user generated filters. But are
they approved by Instagram. I'm not sure, but they're getting
a lot of heat because you know, it's I get it.
You have a lot of different people with a lot
of different kind of thoughts and the way they feel
about things. But to me, I saw these things and
it's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Icky, yeah, poor taste.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, poor taste. And some people are saying like, well,
well wait a second, we are We're showing like one
person who used one of these coronavirus filters and this
is by the way, from the standard dot co dot UK.
They said, I'm using the technology of augmented reality. He said,
he's making a filter that helps people be aware of
the origins of coronavirus and prevent how it's spread out.
(42:01):
So he's saying it was for a good thing, which
I could see that, Like if it was a virtual
filter where when you coughed, it would show like where
the where the you know, germs go or the viruses,
like I could see that could actually be useful. Yeah,
I could see that, But I don't think that's what
these things were made for. I think they were made
for fun yeah, and not really education.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Yeah, it's just good.
Speaker 2 (42:20):
I think as we see things progress, like who knows
in a month, like we might be like, this is
just not funny anymore. You know, the more serious it gets,
the more it affects you, then you start to kind
of stop making jokes.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Agreed, that's going to do it for this episode of
the show. For links to what we talked about, take
a look at the show notes. If you have a
question for me, just go to my Instagram at rich
on tech and hit the email button. It is right there,
and we would love it if you would rate and
review this podcast. That way other people can discover it.
Just go to rate this podcast dot com, slash rich
(42:53):
on tech, or you can text the link of this
show to a friend to let them know what you're
listening to. Here's a recent review from senior drool Cup.
We all have too many podcasts to listen to. Richdmiro
and producer Megan provide the most information in short weekly
podcast to help you stay on top of personal tech developments.
These two have developed excellent podcast chemistry and are a
(43:15):
pleasure to listen to. They also produce an avalanche of
good content for KTLA and Los Angeles. Along with books
on the iPhone, you will learn about what you need
to know about personal tech and smile the whole time.
Speaker 3 (43:26):
Oh my gosh, that's so nice.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
Thank your drool cup. Producer Megan. Where can folks find you?
Speaker 3 (43:33):
I'm on Twitter at producer Megan.
Speaker 1 (43:35):
And you can find me on social media at rich
on Tech. My name is rich dmiro On, behalf of
everyone that helps get this show to your ears. Thanks
for listening. We'll talk to you real soon.
Host
Rich DeMuro
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