April 29, 2021 • 57 mins
Samsung releases Galaxy Book Pro and Pro 360 laptops; CES 2022 will be happen in Las Vegas; T-Mobile launches a GPS tracker; Apple AirTag; iOS 14.5 notable features; Amazon's new Fire HD 10 tablets; how to stop notifications in Chrome.Listeners ask clipping website content to keep indefinitely, group communications for cyclists, Samsung A32 5G vs iPhone 12 as first cell phone, tricky password situation on a laptop repair, best phone with Zoom for an Alaska vacation, transferring playlists from Spotify to YouTube Music, a way to mirror Android phone to Zoom.LinksRich on InstagramAmerican Dream mallSamsung laptopsCES 2022T-Mobile SyncUPApple AirTagiOS 14.5 featuresAmazon Fire HD 10Stop Chrome notificationsEvernote for web clippingOneNote for web clippingZello walkie talkie appSamsung S21 Ultra phoneWebsite to transfer playlistsMirror iOS to ZoomMirror Android to ZoomSee 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
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Cees returns to Las Vegas for twenty twenty two. Samsung
has some really slick looking laptops, and T Mobile debuts
their own tracker. Plus your tech questions answered. What's going on?
I'mrich Demiro and this is Rich on Tech, the podcast
(00:28):
where I talk about the tech stuff I think you
should know about. It's also the place right answer the
questions you send me. I'm the tech reporter at KTLA
Channel five in Los Angeles. Thanks for tuning into the show.
Welcome back to me, because if you noticed, I wasn't here.
Last week. I flew to New Jersey to see my
(00:51):
family for the first time in a year, marking the
third time I've been on a plane during the pandemic,
and it's all been very different experiences. Number One, well
these the last two times the planes were packed, so
that's for starters, but overall good experience. This my flight
to New Jersey. They were very particular about, you know,
(01:14):
when to take off your mask to eat. You know,
you had to you have to put it back up
in between bites anyway, all this stuff, so it was fine.
I did get a chance to check out a really
really wild place in New Jersey called the American Dream.
This is a mall that was being built for I
think like at least twenty years. I mean, this thing
(01:35):
started out something called like Xana Do, and it just
it never came to fruition, and it just sat vacant
for so long, and then finally someone purchased it. I
did some research. It looks like it's the same owners
as the Mall of America, so they know a thing
or two about giant malls. But I'm telling you, this
thing is huge. It's right outside New York City in
(01:58):
the Meadowlands, if you're familiar with New Jersey at all,
kind of where when I grew up it was called
the Continental Airlines Arena and Giants Stadium. Now, of course
it's MetLife Arena, and I don't think the other one
or MetLife Stadium, and I don't think the other one
is even there anymore. But this thing has a water
park inside a theme park inside let's see mini golf
(02:19):
inside a Lego land type place, but not the full
like rides and all that stuff, Sea Life aquarium, no
movie theater, which I thought was kind of interesting. That
seems like an omission. But not everything was open just
yet because I think it just recently opened, but they're
still kind of getting stores on board and stuff. But anyway,
(02:40):
kind of fun. Did a little video on my YouTube
and all the various social channels, but I don't know,
I thought it was interesting, you know, the mall is
like this very I spent the most time in the
Amazon store. I mean, isn't that wild. That's where I
went After all that, I just went to the place
where I shop all the time. But it's just cool
to see. Definitely an experience, and I can see it
(03:01):
being more crowded once things kind of get up and
running a little bit more. But they do have thirty
thousand parking spots, so I think they're prepared. No, no, uh,
the parking was free while I was there. That was
the best part. You know, they're gonna end up charging
so much for that, but right now it's free. The
other thing I did in New Jersey was help my
family out with all their tech. Every time I go
out to Jersey, you know, I'm sitting there upgrading their
(03:25):
Wi Fi and just making sure everything's working properly. So
that's always fun and always, you know, I feel like
I have a good handle on the average person when
it comes to technology, because I get so many emails
and stuff and you hear them on the show, but
when I go home, I really truly get that first
kind of hands on, Like, you know, the questions that
I get from my family about tech is like, wow,
(03:47):
this is like people just generally. I guess since I'm
immersed in it on a daily basis and I'm following
it so closely, I just know the nuances of everything.
But when you really just think of the average person,
like the questions you get, it makes me realize that
I have to start at the very basics when I
present something on TV or pretty much anywhere else on
(04:08):
my Facebook, social media whatever. For instance, I just posted
a video of the air tag. This is Apple's tracking
device that we didn't really get to talk about in
the last show because there was no last show. When
it happened, I went on Brian Tong's podcast, so if
you want to listen to that, you can. I talked
at length about the air tag and how much I
(04:29):
believe there the future and all this stuff. But anyway,
so I got one and I am playing around with it,
and I put a little video on my Instagram. The
number one question is wait a second, Rich, how do
you attach that to your stuff? And it just didn't
even occur to me that I would have to show
people that you need like a little loop or keychain
to attach it, which, of course Apple will gladly sell
(04:52):
you for twenty nine dollars. There's a bunch of third
party devices that let you attach these or accessories. I
should say that lets you attack the air tag to things,
but I mean you've probably heard about the air tag
over and over. I'm gonna do my review next week
for KTLA, but I am very, very bullish on these things.
I think that's the good one, right. I mean, Apple
(05:14):
has nearly a billion devices out there in the world
that can help you locate these things. Chances are it's
not gonna go lost because someone with an iPhone is
going to wander past your little air tag and update
its location. So I find these things to be quite
quite fascinating. Although I will say, knock on wood, is
(05:36):
that wood? I don't know some others would. I have
not really lost a lot of items in the past
couple of years or many years, but you never know.
It only takes once, right, all right? Big News of
the Week CTA announcing the return to Las Vegas for
CS twenty twenty two. This is a big announcement saying
(05:58):
that CS will happen in Lost Vegas January fifth through eighth,
twenty twenty two. Now you might remember that I was
a part of the All Digital CS this year. For
CS twenty twenty one, they actually announced. You may have
forgotten about this, but they actually announced that CS was
going to happen in Las Vegas back before, you know,
(06:19):
like this was like six months prior or eight months
whatever it was. They're like, yeah, we're still going to
have it, and then all of a sudden, it was like, uh, yeah,
this this pandemic is a little more serious than we imagined.
Uh and yeah it's not happening. And that was kind
of like understandable. Now it seems wild and unfathomable that
someone would think an in person event would happen in
January of this year, But you got to remember to
(06:42):
when this pandemic first started, we really did not know
anything about the scope of it. I mean, I remember
when I came home from work, I was like, Okay,
we're all gonna kind of, you know, take a breather
for two weeks, three weeks whatever, No, it turned into
like a year and I'm still working from home. So anyway,
CS twenty twenty two happening in Las Vegas. I already
(07:03):
checked hotel rooms. Yes, they're already expensive. But they do
say that there will be a digital aspect to this.
So the CS anchor Desk, which debuted at CS twenty
twenty one, will travel to Las Vegas and connect the
digital audience with everything. And so the big question is,
you know, there was four of us at the digital
(07:26):
anchor desk at CS twenty twenty one. Will any of
us get that phone call to come back and do
the anchor desk again for CS twenty twenty two. So
it was myself, I, Justine, Brian Tongue, and Naomi Kyle.
Will any of us be there for CS twenty twenty
(07:49):
two for the digital anchor desk? I don't know. I mean,
I would be honored if they asked me back. I
certainly don't expect them. It's not like a given, it's
not a shoe, and they may want to just rotate
different people who who knows, But anyway, I'm excited for
CS twenty twenty two. No matter what, I will be
there in Las Vegas. I can't wait because my camera
(08:09):
roll was getting a little thinned out of stuff to post.
I get so much good stuff to post at CS
every year. I end up posting videos from that throughout
the year. In fact, I recently post a video posted
a video of I still have more stuff to post
from CS twenty twenty that I'd never posted because I
(08:29):
felt like at a certain point it was like too late,
and then I was like eh, But I did end
up just reposting or posting something for the first time.
You know, you're talking what two years later, and it
still did really well because you know, people it's the
first time they're seeing this stuff. All right, Let's get
to the first question of the day. Jam says, I
(08:51):
watch your TV show every day, wondering if you know
how to say photos, stories, events, and articles online independently
from other sites so that they would stay on forever.
More So, many sites remove articles after a shelf life burnout.
I'm looking to keep things posted for a lifetime, hoping
for free. Thanks for your advice, JM. Good question, JM.
(09:12):
So I would recommend for saving things. Ever, note and
the name just implies that it will be around forever,
when in fact, we know we've been proven over and
over that things don't necessarily last forever. But Evernote has
a pretty good track record, They've been around for a
long time, and they do have a free option. So
did you say, yeah, hoping for free? So basically, you
(09:35):
install the app on your computer and then you install
what's called the Evernote web clipper. And the reason I
would say Evernote first, I don't agree with everything Evernote does.
I feel like their application is a little bit crowded
and kind of it's gotten crowded over the years, But
I think that they have the best solution out there overall,
(09:56):
and their web clipper is the best you can get online.
So I would say Evernote is the way to go.
Sign up for the free service, and you know, if
you outgrow the free service and you find that you
have to subscribe, you will end up having to pay
a little bit each year. But in the times I
had it, there's always some sort of deal that they
(10:16):
offered to renew. That's number one. Number two, I would
say Microsoft one Note is a is another one that's
really good. I don't find it. I don't like it
as much as as the Evernote, but I like, I
think it's a good second, and it's Microsoft. It's going
to be around forever. They also have a web clipper,
(10:38):
and there's this free for fifteen gigs of storage, so
you really don't run into the situation that ever Note.
Evernote does it like by the month, so it's like
you get a certain amount like ten megabytes or something
of clipping a month. I don't know what it is,
but you know, Evernote does it. Or one Drive. One
note is linked to one drive and they do it
(10:58):
by your fifteen gigs. If you have fifteen gigs of storage,
I don't care really what you're doing with that, but
once you go through it, you will have to pay.
And there's some other little things that they do, I
think to try to make you pay, But for the
most part, that's a really good one as well. And
then there's other options. I mean, you can use Google
Keep that will do it. Google keep just doesn't really
have a good What I like about ever Know and
(11:19):
one Drive is that they will clip the actual text
from articles online and also the pictures and stuff, so
it saves it kind of locally, like you're asking that
will work indefinitely, so even if the original site is
taken down, you'll still have your copy of it. So
those are the things I would recommend. Look into those things.
One of them will likely work for you. Now let's
(11:43):
move on to Samsung. Oh wow, Samsung. I have never
been more excited for laptops than these samsungs. I didn't
get to go hands on with these. Looks like they
did something in New York City with some media there
being in LA. I did not go out. I wasn't
actually even invited. They were inviting me at the beginning
(12:05):
to these things that they were doing in New York City,
and then they kind of just like, we're not even
gonna ask people to travel right now. So if you
can make it there, you know, fine, But that's fine.
I'm not no hard feelings there. But Samsung Galaxy Book
Pro and Galaxy Book Pro three sixty. So here's the
skinny on these. The number one, they're thin in light,
They kind of have all the features that you would
(12:27):
imagine a Samsung laptop would have. They kind of look
and feel like almost like a smartphone, you know, inspired
by smartphone. So some of these models have touch screens.
They've got the smart switch, which you know you used
to kind of take all your old files and settings
from your old laptop to your new one. Of course,
Windows is what they're running. Thin in light. I interviewed
(12:50):
Sam Rutherford from Gizmoto and he actually got to go
hands on with these, and he said he just could
not believe how thin and light they were. They were
like astonishingly thin and light. So that's really cool. Some
of them have either have LTE or five G and
then they've got a lot of little like pain points
that they figured out, like kind of just I don't know.
(13:13):
There's like a stylist you can get with some models,
touchscreen on some models. The ports, they have a lot
of them, Like you know, they have various USB C ports,
various USB ports, various thunderbolt ports, you know, headphone jack.
So there's just a lot going on here. The keyboard
(13:33):
they say they made as comfortable as possible. There's all
kinds of things like screen recording and stuff for making
you look better on video chat. And then of course
it links to your Samsung Galaxy phone or just an
Android phone in general really nicely. There's a lot of
integration and a lot of that stuff. You were able
to get on other Windows laptops, but this is kind
(13:54):
of they worked with Microsoft and Samsung and Microsoft have
gotten really close in the whole Apple world. You know,
Apple has such a tight ecosystem with their stuff that
these other manufacturers realize that they need something to compete
with that. And I think this Galaxy Book Pro, if
you have an Android, this is kind of the closest
(14:15):
you get to having an Android plus a laptop that
works seamlessly, just the way and an iPhone works with
a Mac laptop. And of course you can also you
know nearby share files. I mean, your photos show up
in the gallery on the computer. There's just a lot
going on here. So available May fourteenth, the thirteen inch
(14:36):
Galaxy Book Pro starts at one thousand, the fifteen inch
starts at eleven hundred. Then you've got the Galaxy Pro
three to sixty. This is the one that has the
touchscreen and also the convertible so it bends fully backwards.
That's going to start at twelve hundred for the thirteen
inch and then thirteen hundred for the fifteen inch. And
if you order it pre order, which is now until
(14:56):
May thirteenth, you get one hundred and fifty dollars in
credits for a future order, or if you purchase at launch,
which is starting May fourteenth through May thirty, if you
get one hundred dollars credit and the hard drives on
these things. It's kind of the only sore point for me.
Up to five twelve gigs on the smaller models and
a terabyte on the bigger models. But I don't know.
(15:19):
I mean, if I was, if I was a Galaxy user,
I think I would have to rock one of these
laptops and I would I guess I would just go
all Premiere. I mean, we're using Premiere at KTLA to
edit our pieces for air. I personally use Final Cut
for any of my social media stuff. But I could
maybe be convinced to move over if I was switching
(15:40):
to an S twenty one Ultra. I don't know, just
saying all right. Next question, Charlene says bicyclist here, would
you have a recommendation for a communication device between riders
in a group? Would rather not depend on cell service
more of a hands free walkie talkie? Thank you? This
(16:00):
is an interesting question. I don't know, I'm not I'm
sure the biker community out there knows of something that
maybe I'm just not thinking of. But to me, I'm
so kind of cell phone centric that I'm not really sure.
I mean, you could just spring for regular walkie talkies,
would that work? I mean, just clip them to your bike.
I'm sure they have those, like you know, those little
(16:24):
attachments that you can put on your shirt or something
that I don't know. I mean, you're you're saying you're bicyclists,
so I'm sure you're not going as fast as a motorcycle.
I'm thinking more motorcycle where there'd be a lot of
wind noise, and how do you even communicate you need
something in your ear? But I think you can get
you know, just regular walkie talkies with a head piece.
Just start with that perhaps, But if you're in a group,
(16:45):
I don't know. I mean, how many people can use
walkie talkies with I don't know. It's just there's the
other thing there's on Apple Watch. They have the walkie
talkie feature which you could also use, but again you
would have to have you know, cell phone service with that.
And then there's something called Zello, which I know this
app is very popular. This was kind of I don't
(17:07):
know what the deal was with this during the whole
like fire season and all that stuff. But Zello has
some stuff, so I would check out ze Lllo dot com.
But I don't know. If you have a suggestion, at
me at rich on tech on Twitter and let me
know what would you suggest for bicyclists to keep in
touch kind of a lah walkie talkie. I don't know.
I just think smartphone, smartphone, smartphone, But maybe there's something
(17:31):
that's so obvious I'm just not really thinking about. All right,
let's talk about T Mobile. Now. We talked about the
air tag, which I'm very bullish on, but the air
tag is not really meant to keep track of people
or of things that are you know, It's really meant
for items, right, And so when you think about sort
(17:52):
of your dog or a kid, you might want maybe
more of a full fledged tracking device. And T Mobile
has something that might fit the bill. This is called
the sync up Tracker, and this is more of a
like almost like a digital GPS device. So this is
(18:13):
it works on T mobiles LTE network. So this does
have a cellular connection built in, which the air tag
does not. It works with iOS and Android, which the
air tag only works with iOS. It's available Friday, May seventh.
And the reality here is that this is more of
a GPS tracker, and so you can set virtual boundaries.
(18:35):
So if you set a boundary for your kid at school,
you'll get a notification when this tracker leaves that boundary,
so that's kind of cool. It does not need to
be near a smartphone to work, so this just connects
directly to the cellular network, unlike the air tag, which
does need to piggyback off of phones. You can ring
(18:55):
it when it's lost. You've got a light sensor, so
it can even sense when it from light to dark
or dark to light. So let's say you put it
in something and someone opens that like a refrigerator door,
you would get a notification. It's also water and dust
resistant IP sixty seven, which is the same as the
air tag, and it has a nine hundred million hour
(19:17):
rechargeable battery, so this is rechargeable versus the air tag,
which has a replaceable battery. But the battery on T
Mobile's device only lasts for seven days, and that makes
a lot of sense because it is constantly using cellular
to ping the network and use that and grab a
GPS location, So it's not going to last as long
as what Apple has, which is just basically using Bluetooth
(19:42):
low energy to ping a cell phone that's nearby, or
cell phone pings, I don't know either way. It's also
a little bit more expensive sixty dollars and then five
dollars a month for data. So again at first, at
first thought, you might be like, rich, why would I
ever Why would I ever get something like the sink
(20:02):
up tracker when I could get the air tag for
half the price and no monthly fee. Well, they are
very different devices. The sync up tracker would be probably
something more along the lines of what I would put
on a dog, or more along the lines of what
I would clip to my kids backpack to keep track
of them, more so than the than the air tag,
(20:26):
which is not really meant for kids. It's not really
meant for pets, but I know people are going to
use it for that. But we'll see as people experience
these things just how well they will work with kids
and pets. Because you know, there are some things built
into the to the air tag that makes it not
a good solution for third party clips. You know, when
(20:47):
you're when you're clipping it to something that is not
near your phone all the time. It it does some
things to make sure that it's not being used in
a nefarious way. So we'll have to see if that
does work with kids and backpacks all that stuff. But
our kids and dogs, I should say so. Anyway, I
think we're gonna see a lot more of these trackers
(21:08):
out in the marketplace, just because battery technology is getting better.
Cellular companies want to make money on their networks, and
you know we already see that. Samsung is coming out
with They announced at their Galaxy Unpacked event. They made
a big deal about their oh gosh, what did they
call it? They called it the Galaxy Oh did they
(21:29):
mention it in here? The smart Things Find, that's what
they call Smart Things Find, and they say they have
like sixty eight million devices on their network to help
people find stuff. So it's it's you know, we're never
going to be lost ever again, folks. This is just
the way it is. You try to go on vacation
and get lost in you know the world around you,
(21:52):
and you can't. Someone's tracking you. You're tracking yourself, you're
tracking your stuff, You're getting updates about where your stuff is.
It's just the way the world is these days. And
I don't blame you. I mean it's tough for me
to go offline, it really is. It's not easy, Gloria
says your recommendation as my first cell phone was an
iPhone twelve, which is eight hundred dollars. But after that
(22:14):
you spoke of the Samsung A thirty two to five G.
Since the Samsung would be a lot less money than
the iPhone twelve, which you recommend the Samsung as a
better buy for my first phone? Or should I stick
with buying the iPhone twelve. I'll only be using the
phone for general use. I won't be streaming movies, won't
be playing video games, and I'll only be using the
camera at once in a while. Even though the iPhone
(22:34):
twelve is more money, I would not hesitate to buy
if it turned out the iPhone twelve would be a
better buy, Gloria. Well, interesting question, Gloria. So I don't
I have knockne hands on with the A thirty two. Now,
I will tell you that I do have the Samsung
Galaxy A fifty two five G which they sent me
(22:56):
to test out. And this is still this is five
hundred dollars, not as inexpensive as the A thirty two G,
but it's oh wow, interesting. It looks just like a
Mini S twenty one Ultra. I got to turn that on. Ah.
But here's my feeling. You are buying a phone that
I think you are going to use for a while.
(23:16):
And I think that the iPhone twelve is going to
age better than the Samsung A thirty two. And I
know Samsung is guaranteeing years of updates, probably three years
of updates perhaps with the A thirty two. Don't quote
me on that, but that's kind of what they've been
doing lately, and in fact, it might even be four
at this point. But I feel like the iPhone is
(23:37):
easier in several ways. Number One, there's a lot more
accessories for it. Number Two, it's kind of a universal device,
at least here in the US, which means if you
need help with it, someone's going to be able to
help you, whether that's a friend or family member, they're
going to be familiar with it. You also have the
Genius Bar at the Apple Store, so if you ever
get into a problem with it anywhere you are in
(23:59):
the world, you'll be able to walk into a store
and get help. And I think the lifetime of that
phone is going to just be a little bit better
and a little bit longer than the A thirty two
five G, which might show some signs of age after
you know, two years, Whereas the iPhone twelve, I think
you're gonna get a good, solid four years, if not longer,
of use out of that device. So when you say
(24:21):
you want a better buy, I think the iPhone twelve
is going to be your best buy. Nothing against the
A thirty two. I think that's a great little phone
for an inexpensive device. And you say you're not using
your device very much, But I just think for all
the reasons I mentioned, the iPhone twelve just might be
a better buy for your first phone, because yes, it's
more expensive, but do the math over a couple of years,
(24:44):
and it's gonna work itself out, and you're gonna have
a little bit more of a support system with that,
better apps, better accessories, and overall, I think that might
be just a better way to go. All right, let's
talk about the Should I do another question? Yeah, let
me do another question. Let's do another question. Wow, I
(25:06):
never do this, rich? Are you a what's what's going on?
Why are you're doing two questions in a row? I
don't know why not surface pro does not wake up?
Says Marta. Dear Rich, I love your tech advice. So
here I am with a cry for help. I have
a surface Pro seven, which I bought a couple months ago.
Suddenly it does not wake up. I read it's a
common problem, but my case is not fixable and I
(25:26):
need to send it in for repairs. I need to
wipe off all my data. But how can I do
that if my computer does not wake up. I understand
you're a super busy guy, but if you are able,
would you please give me some advice? Thanks? Marta. Good
good question, Marta, and I love that you are trying
to protect your personal information by asking this question. And
so this is a tough one. Your computer doesn't turn
(25:48):
it on, but you have to send it in. So
what do you do? What do you do with a
computer that doesn't turn on? Well? Two things. I hope
you have a password on your computer. That's number one.
I hope you've got a password protecting all of your data.
If you don't, I would not send it in personally.
(26:09):
That's number one. Number two, I hope you have a
backup of your data. So if you have a backup
of your data, here's what I think. Okay, so if
you have a backup and your computer's password protected, normally
I would not say to send it in, But in
this case, if you have to send it in, that's
your only option. You're going to have to trust the
system and send it in. Now, if you have a
(26:31):
password on your computer, there's not much that they're going
to be able to do to bypass that. Yeah, there
could be ways of them bypassing, but in general, you know,
if you're sending it to a reputable outlet, they're not
going to try to bypass your password. They're going to
either sign in, you know, create a new administrator account
or something if they can, if that's even possible, or
(26:52):
they're just going to try to work on your computer
and get it started without getting into your account. If
they ask you for your passas word, which has happened
to me. I've brought my laptop in places and they're like, oh,
can you write down your password? Uh uh, no way,
I'm not doing that. No way shape or form my
writing down my password for anyone, And if you need
it to get into this system, then I will go elsewhere.
(27:17):
And so I was just in the U Break I
Fixed store in Los Angeles and they were saying that, yeah,
people bring their phones in all the time and don't
know their password or they you know, they don't know
how to get into the phone, and there's really nothing
they can do to get in. Now. I know that's
a phone versus a laptop. Here. There might be something
on Windows that I don't know about that lets you
get into someone's account without having their password, but I
(27:38):
don't know of that. Maybe there is, maybe the administrator profile.
I'm not sure. But what I would do is if
you have a backup, then just send it in and
just hope for the best. Now, the thing is they're
probably gonna have to wipe your computer clean, which means
you're gonna lose all your data. So if you don't
(27:59):
have a good bath, that's going to be a problem.
In that case, I would find a local repair place
and see what they say. So what they were telling
me is that what they'll do at the you break
I Fix if you can't remember your password on the
phone and they're you know, there's some sort of water
damage or whatever that's keeping it from working. They will
(28:20):
what they call frankenstein it. They will do whatever they
can to preserve your data, but just get the device
to turn on and make it get to a screen
where you can put in your password and recover your data.
So that's what they told me, and that's what I
would hope they would do here as well with your
Surface Pro seven. But yeah, the bottom line is that
you never really want to send something in that has
(28:42):
you know, that's unlocked, number one, and if it has
a password protection, I would probably I would not feel
comfortable sending that in, even though I actually I have
done that. I have left mine with a password on
it to get it repaired when my hard drive failed.
So but they did ask me to give them a passport,
and I was like, no, I'm not doing that. Apple.
(29:04):
I think they just tell you, look, we can't really
do anything with your computer outside of your password, like
we're gonna have to either wipe this or you know,
your your data mayor they don't guarantee that your data
will be safe. Let's put it that way. So that
is my advice. I know it's always This is why
I say you got to have a backup got to
have a backup, got to have a backup, because you
(29:25):
never know what is going to happen with your device.
It can happen at a moment's notice, and when it does, ah,
it's the worst feeling in the world. All right, let's
move on to Amazon. They've got some new tablets this week.
Amazon is so funny. They just release stuff. They are like,
(29:45):
secretly the world's biggest consumer electronics company. Like I think
they might sell as many things as Apple. I don't
even know, but they just release so many products. They've
got all the fire stuff, They've got all the ring stuff,
They've got all their own Amazon on essentials, Amazon based
or I guess essentials might be closed on Amazon's basics.
I mean they have so many, you know, all their
(30:07):
al Exa devices. They just have so many devices at
this point, they don't even have events anymore. They just
launch them all. They've got earbuds, they've got sunglasses or glasses.
I mean, there's just so many things. Speakers. These are
the fire HD tablets, So fire HD tablets, you know.
(30:27):
I I see them as very mass market. They're very inexpensive,
which which leads a lot of people to purchase them.
I've never felt felt they were very good, but I
felt like they've been okay for like a device that is,
if you're just trying to basically watch videos on them
and maybe read a book or something. You know, if
you're gonna just read a book, I'd go with a Kindle.
(30:47):
But if you're gonna you know, just you just want
something that's kind of an entertainment device, Sure, the Fire
ten is gonna be fine. I always recommend the iPad
for three twenty nine no matter what, because it's going
to have the best accessories, going to have the best apps.
But if you must and money and budget is your
number one concern, yeah, the Fire HD is going to
be just fine. Now, the Fire HD ten is kind
(31:10):
of their top of the line tablet because it's got
a bigger screen and it usually has slightly better specs
than the Fire than the eights. So now they have
a new Fire HD ten and HD ten plus, and
they've got some you know, some upgrades to these, better performance,
a brighter full HD display, better design, and they've got
some interesting productivity things that they've done with these. And
(31:35):
generally Amazon has never sold these as productivity devices, but
now you can get a detachable keyboard, and some stuff
from Microsoft to make it more of a productivity device.
So I have k not gone hands on with these.
I requested them from Amazon so I can test them.
But I'm curious because I would never think that you
would use this for work, but if you could do
(31:57):
your email on it, you know, it might be a okay.
They also have fire HD ten kids tablet, and again
with the kids stuff. I always like the iPad because
I just feel like it's more, it's it's friendlier to kids.
But I know a lot of parents get the fire
tablets because they're inexpensive and they just sort of work.
But I just think the iPad is better in that aspect.
(32:20):
But let's go over the new features. Fire HD ten
one hundred and fifty bucks. It's got some sort of
processor in it. Three gigs a RAM, which is fifty
percent more, so that's one gig of RAM more. Oh
my gosh. It's got a ten point one inch ten
eighty full HD display. It's ten percent brighter, it's got
a thinner bezel. It's got all day battery life, twelve
(32:42):
hours of battery, plenty of storage, thirty two or sixty
four plus support for a one up to a terabyte
microSD card slot. So I always like that about the
Amazon Fire HD tablets is that they have that microSD
card slot, which means you can pretty much put a
whole bunch of memory in this thing. So by the
cheapest one and just put the memory in it. It's
got a two megapixel front facing camera. I'm not sure
(33:05):
if that's improved or not. They don't say, let's see,
you've got a headphone jack, which is cool. It's always
nice to have. And let's see, for thirty dollars more
so you're talking one eighty, you get four gigs of rams,
so one extra gigabyte, and then a premium finish wireless charging,
(33:26):
which I guess, I you know what, I guess the
wireless charging would be kind of cool with the tablet.
I leave mine plugged in at all times on my desk,
but it would be kind of nice to just have
it resting on a wireless charger and it's just always ready,
you know. So that's kind of cool. Now, this is
where it gets interesting. So two hundred and twenty dollars,
which is a full fifty six seventy dollars more than
(33:48):
the original. You get a Productivity bundle which includes the
Fire HD ten or a fire HD ten plus, and
it includes a detachable keyboard case. So that is interesting,
and you know, I feel like they've had a keyboard
case in the past, and I'm sure there's been some,
but this is interesting that you now have a keyboard case,
(34:09):
and that's kind of nice. It magnetically attaches, you know,
for you to check email, take notes, browse the internet.
But here's the other thing that's interesting. You get a
Microsoft three sixty five Personal subscription which is twelve months,
which comes to the terabyte of cloud storage, and that
alone would be just seventy dollars for the year. So
(34:31):
for two hundred and twenty dollars, which is again fifty
sixty seventy dollars more, I would go with the you're
basically getting a Microsoft three sixty five subscription for a
year and a detachable keyboard case. Now you might not
need that Microsoft three sixty five because you use all
Google stuff, but it's interesting that you get all these
(34:52):
office apps on the Fire HD, which, if you know
anything about the fire system, the reason I don't like
it as much is be because you don't get the
Google apps so if you're trying to use you know,
Google Drive or Gmail or Chrome, none of those apps
are actually on the Fire tablet. You have to sideload them,
(35:13):
which is not necessarily the easiest thing to do for
the average person. So I don't know, all right, that's
the tablets, and they didn't say when they're available, but
I guess soon. By the way, I never mentioned the
chirping sound that the air tag makes. I know just
since it's on my desk. So I'm going to detach
the uh, the little battery and once you attach it,
(35:35):
oh well, okay, never mind, I thought I couldn't really
hear that. All right, Well, let's get to another question.
All right, Hi, Rich Hope it's okay to ask a
specific question, but I really trust your input and advice.
We're going to Alaska in August for eight days after
postponing the trip for two years. I'm going to need
(35:57):
a phone with a really great camera. I currently have
the Samsung seven Edge. I know it's been a while.
I want to stay in the Android phone zone or
phone verse. Any suggestions on new phones that would give
me great zoom and wide screen capabilities. That's not an
iPhone appreciate any suggestions you have. Going online to research
can be crazy making and overwhelming. Many thanks. You really
(36:19):
do demystify tech for us. Quote older folks, best Ava Ava.
There is one phone to know, one phone. This is it.
There is no other phone that I think given everything
that you've mentioned. You want a really great camera, you
already have a Samsung. You want to stay in Android,
you want wide screen, you want zoom. Oh my gosh,
(36:41):
it is the Samsung Galaxy S twenty one Ultra. That
is it. That's all you need to know. Don't read
any reviews, don't go any further. That is the phone
to get. The zoom on that phone is fantastic. It's
gonna make your pictures in Alaska. Just pop. I dig
dig dig the camera on the Samsung S twenty one Ultra.
(37:01):
I'm not the only one. Everyone agrees in the tech
world that it is the best Android at this point. Now,
the pixel might be nice, it might have good pictures,
but it's not gonna have the zoom that you want.
And that's why I wouldn't recommend that the one plus
nine Pro. Yeah, it might look pretty good, but it
doesn't have the zoom either. In fact, the zoom on
that phone is not very good. What would I give it?
(37:27):
It's gonna give it a trash sound, but I couldn't.
And I love the nine Pro, it's great. But the
S twenty one, oh gosh, I just I'm you know,
I had to send it back to Samsung, but I
really I've been looking at it on Amazon. I've been
eyeing it because the price came down two hundred dollars
and I'm kind of like, I really want to get
one of these things as my you know, as my Android,
(37:50):
because I just I don't know that the zoom on
that and the quality is just so nice. Samsung just
does such a nice job with their processing and it
makes pictures. Just all the pictures you're gonna take in
Alaska are just gonna look so good with that phone.
I'm jealous. So that's what I recommend you get a
fifty or is it one hundred times zoom on that phone.
(38:11):
But reality is ten times is optical, and I think
that's gonna be just fine for what you're doing. And
that's as far as you want to go. Yeah, you
can go further, believe me, but I think it's gonna
look so so nice. And you're gonna get just so
many options for shooting with the S twenty one Ultra.
That is gonna be a great, great upgrade to your
(38:31):
Samsung S seven Edge. Right now, it is nine to
ninety nine for a one hundred and twenty eight gigabyte model.
It's weird on Amazon. It's actually one the same price
for a two fifty six, But the two fifty six
isn't shipping for like a month. So I would say,
let's see, it's the end of April, you're going in August.
(38:51):
You want to have this phone for a month, you know,
just to make sure you're familiar with it. So I
would say, throughout the month of May, I would just
do a little search for Samsung S twenty one Ultra
deals and see what kind of deals you can get.
You can also trade in your Samsung Edge and see
what you get for that. So I would for sure
(39:14):
trade that phone in. Let's see how much they'll give you.
I'm going to the website and let's see. So one
hundred and twenty eight gigabyte unlocked, don't forget if you
really wanna, you know, if you can't add a memory
card to this phone, so you might consider the two
fifty six if you're you know, if you're taking a
ton of videos in four K. Let's see Phantom Silver.
(39:37):
I kind of like the Phantom Black, but the Phantom
I love the Phantom titanium. That's that's pretty slick looking.
Maybe since it's get by June first. Okay, let's see
how much they'll give you for your trade in. So
Samsung S seven got to go all the way down
to the bottom of the list here because it's kind
of kind of aging. One hundred bucks so not too much.
(40:01):
But honestly, what are you gonna do with that S
seven when you're done? Okay, I picked a phone that's
way too expensive, So let's go with the silver, which
is one eight. Well I thought it was nineteen ninety nine.
Why is it saying one ninety nine? Oh? Maybe Amazon's
cheaper right now, so yeah, hm, that's odd. Anyway, check Amazon.
(40:25):
Check Samsung dot com and check S twenty one ultra
deals on Google as a search and hit the news
section and see if anyone's blogging about some deals that
I may not know about, or deals that are not
yet readily available. But good question. Enjoy the trip. Okay, uh,
(40:45):
this is a great article from nine to five Google
from Ben shon Love Love love this tip, and I
guess someone shared it on I don't know somewhere. Steph Hippo,
site reliability manager at Google, shared this little tip that
I have been I never knew I needed it, and
I knew I wanted to do this, I just never
(41:06):
really took the time to do it. But you know,
when you go to a website and of course you
get blasted with that whole like GDPR thing where you
have to except old cookies. I mean, oh so annoying.
So yeah, you have to do that on every website.
But then I'm kidding so excited, I'm hitting the mic.
Then you get blasted with this whole. Can we send
(41:29):
you notifications? No, I don't want notifications from any website.
No no, no, you're not my phone. I don't need
notifications from you on especially if you're on an Android
and it's sending you notifications, and then on your desktop
you're getting notifications. No no, no. So here's what you do.
You go into Chrome and this is I think for
(41:51):
the desktop, but you go into desktop Settings, Site settings,
notifications and turn every thing off you can turn off.
There's a global setting. Alternatively, you can just type Chrome
colon slash slash settings, slash content, slash notifications into your
address bar and turn it off from there. I did
(42:11):
this this morning, and wow, my life is so much
better and I'm not getting bombarded with every website asking
can we please send you notifications? No no, no, no no.
Life is so much better without this, all right, So
if you're on Android, you can do it. You go
(42:31):
into Chrome Settings Notifications, toggle each site off, or the
show notifications toggle. Not as clean as the desktop, but wow.
Thank you Ben for writing this up, Thank you Steph
for sharing this. But we all need this because I
don't need no I've seen. It's so funny because you know,
(42:52):
people say yes to this by accident, and all of
a sudden, I'm working on someone's computer and I see
that they get notifications from all these different websites I've
signed up for them by accident. Next thing you know,
I'm getting all kinds of notifications from a website, like
a random site, and I'm like, no, no, no, goodbye.
Don't need that. Paul asks, Hey, Rich, what's the best
(43:15):
way to transfer playlists from Spotify to YouTube music? Looks
like we got a switcher. Thanks Rich, appreciate it. I
did a quick search and found a website called Sounddiz
sounddiz dot com or I guess sounds dot com, sound
sounds dot com. I don't know. But you can transfer
(43:35):
from anything YouTube to YouTube, YouTube to Apple music, Apple
Music to Spotify, Spotify to Deezer Dezer to Napster, Napster
to Apple Music. iHeartRadio. They all looks like it has everything.
Everything is supported, so the plans are free. So there
are some free plans available and it says convert your
(44:01):
playlists one by one, so you know, for zero dollars
you can do playlists and up to two hundred tracks,
and it includes one sink, so if you want to
synk between services, you can just do one. But if
you really want to get the most out of these,
you have to go with the premium plan, which is
three dollars a month, build annually, which is thirty six
(44:24):
dollars a year. That's probably what you want to end
up doing if you're doing this a lot. I don't
have a use for this. I don't really care about
playlists anymore, so I just, you know, I just listen
to whatever, you know they make on their own like
hot Country or you know, Chill fifty whatever. I don't
care as long as it's got the music I like.
I've stopped making playlists. I don't even bother at all
(44:46):
in any way, shape or form. And so if you
still have you know, I know a lot of people
still have playlists that they craft and they curate whatever.
If you got it, great, do this, but sound dz
dot com. And I actually heard back from let's see
from Paul and he said, hey, Rich, it worked. It's great,
and it's fast. You can transfer music from any platform Apple, Spotify,
(45:08):
et cetera. Really appreciate that answer, Thanks Rich. This was
Paul who wrote in maybe on my Facebook page or something,
but anyway, there you have it. Someone tried it. Sounddiz
dot com transfer all your music no matter where it lives.
If you're still using playlists, which you know people do, well,
(45:33):
I guess I'm all out of stories for the week,
which I don't know how that's possible. Oh you know
what I didn't even talk about. I should talk about
iOS fourteen point five, you know, so I do have
a story. So iOS fourteen point five launched this week,
and there's a couple of things that are notable in it.
Number one, you can use your Apple Watch to unlock
your phone, which came in Can I say came in clutch?
(45:54):
Is that like a term the kids are using. I
don't know, but I was dropping my kid off at
school and you have to do this like app where
you got to like, you know, say that they're okay
and there's no COVID floating around your house, and so
I had to. You know, you go on this app
and you get like a QR code that lets you proceed. Well,
I didn't realize you have to show it to the
person when you're dropping off. So I dropped my kid
(46:15):
off and they're like, oh, do you have the app?
And I'm like, oh, yeah, here it is. And I
went to unlock my phone, but of course I'm wearing
a mask, so my phone is like. I'm like, oh,
it's gonna you know, I gotta put in my pass code,
but no, all of a sudden, I feel a little
haptic on my wrist and boom, my phone unlocks. And
yes it works because in iOS fourteen point five, you
can now use your iPhone and your Apple Watch in
(46:39):
Unison to unlock your iPhone when you're wearing a mask now,
I will tell you, I am very excited that the
government has said you don't need a mask when you're outside.
And yes, there's a million caveats, but the good news
is I was able to run yesterday without a mask.
And please don't get me on the whole mask thing. Look,
I don't want to wear a mask, just as much
as everyone else out there, but I do you know,
(47:00):
if I need to, if I'm in a place where
they say you have to, I will wear it. I'm
not fighting it. I'm not saying it dumb whatever. It's
just the rules of the land right now, and I'm
following them. And so the good news is that La,
and you know, the US government has said that you
don't need a mask when you're outside, and so that's
great and fantastic, and so I listened to that. Yesterday
(47:21):
I went for a run and I ran without a mask,
and it was glorious. And I kind of forgot what
it was like to do that. And you might say, rich, well,
you never needed one anyway, but I know, but here
in LA you did. And so I just follow the
rules like a good citizen. And anyway, So iOS fourteen
point five you no longer need or you no longer anyway,
it's not a pain to unlock your iPhone if you're
(47:42):
wearing a mask, if you have an Apple Watch on,
because it just notices that you have an Apple Watch
and boom it unlocks. And so how do you turn
that on? You got to update both your Apple Watch
and your iPhone so to the latest software on Apple Watch.
I don't know what that is, but on iPhone it's
fourteen point five. And then once you do, you go
into settings, face ID unlock with Apple Watch, turn that
(48:04):
on and it'll take a second. But now it's pretty amazing.
It's just if you have an Apple Watch, it's a
lot easier to unlock your phone. I know. If you're
an Android person, you're like rich. This has been around
forever on Android. It's called smart unlock. Yes I know.
But Apple, you know they do things at their own pace,
so yes, we have it. Uh. The other thing is
(48:24):
this whole privacy tracking so or I guess whatever you
want to call it app transparency. So now apps have
to ask if they can track you. And who's gonna
say yes to that? No one. So now when you
download an app on iOS, fourteen point five. You run it,
it's gonna say, hey, do you mind if we track
you across all the websites that you visit and share
(48:45):
that information with everyone else so that we can serve
up better ads and make more money off of you.
And what are you gonna say? You're probably gonna say no.
And yes, I feel bad for all these companies that
now have to deal with this new reality, notably Google
and Facebook. And I say that a little facetiously. I mean, look,
they'll figure it out, but it's the end of an era.
(49:07):
The wild West of tracking folks is over, at least
on the iPhone, and I'm sure that Android will follow
suit because you know, if Apple this is a big,
big advantage that they have, and people are like, well,
why would I ever get an Android because it's a
wild West for tracking there. But on the iPhone it's
all buttoned down. You know, the Android's going to have
(49:29):
to probably figure something out to make it feel like
it's in line. So if you don't even want apps
to give you the option to track, you just go
into Settings once you've updated to fourteen point five. It's
Settings Privacy Tracking, and then the option to allow apps
to request to track, Just turn it off and boom,
they cannot even ask to track you. That is that's it,
(49:54):
that's where you want to go. And fourteen point five
has a lot of other little refinements as well. Siri
has gotten some new voices. There's no longer de fault,
so when you first set up Siri for the first time,
it will say, Hey, which voice do you like? Which
one do you want to choose? And there are some
more diverse options there, so you can choose one of
those to your liking. What else, Yeah, she's no longer
(50:16):
or I should say, it is no longer defaulting to
a female voice, So now you will have the option
to choose and that's probably a good thing because I
always thought it was odd that Siri is a she, Like,
how do we know? You know, like, just pick what
you like and go with it. So that's that. What
else is in there, Let's see fourteen point five little
(50:38):
things here and there. I've noticed they've kind of cleaned
some things up, They've kind of you know, fixed some bugs,
made some things nicer. But that's fourteen point five in
a nutshell. I would update it because there are some
things that do really improve upon Okay, now to another. Oh, okay,
this is not really a question. This is more of
a comment to rich Ta says, hey, which, how about
(51:00):
doing some stories on Android products? Apple? Apple, Apple? It's
grown tiresome. Ta, I know, I hear you. But what
am I supposed to do? I mean, what am I
supposed to do? I don't want to go off right now,
But the reality is, I do Android stuff. I do
Apple stuff. I do Android stuff, I do Apple stuff.
(51:22):
Tomorrow my story on KTLA is Samsung. When Apple comes
out with their stuff, I do Apple stuff. And the
reality is, I'll just be completely honest. When I do
Apple stuff, it does better. There clearly are more Apple
folks in my listening and viewing world than there are Android,
because when I do Apple, it really does well. And
(51:42):
when I do Android it's fine. I don't get as
much feedback, I don't get as much views, I don't
get as many clicks. But I love Android. Don't get
me wrong. I love Android. In fact, I've said this,
I really enjoy the Android operating system. But there's a
lot of stuff I appreciate about Apple, and I think
Apple does a lot of things better, and I think
Android does a lot of things better. So it's not
(52:04):
a war, it's not a race. It's just options. And
so the reality is there are lots of options out there.
I don't tell people which one they should choose unless
you ask me, and I'll give you the best option
for your situation. But Ta, I'm not sitting here trying
to do more Apple or trying to do more Android.
I'm just doing kind of what the market dictates dictates.
(52:26):
And when Apple comes out with stuff, I'll gladly cover it.
When Google comes out with stuff, I'll cover it. When
Samsung comes out with stuff, I'll cover it. When TCL
comes out with stuff, I'll cover it. So it's just
kind of the EBB and flow of things when it's
an Apple event, like it was probably when you wrote me,
you know, I'm gonna be talking about Apple stuff for
a bit because you've got the cycle of Apple stuff
(52:47):
is announced and then we go hands on, and then
I get more hands on and I talk about it.
Same thing with Android. So I hope that you know
you understand that, and that's just the reality of what's
happening here. All right, let's do one more segment or
one more question, I should say, all right, Kathy says, Hey, Rich,
(53:09):
I'm hoping you can help. I watched your segment a
few days ago about an app to help teachers. It's
called Overviewer. It's exactly what I've needed, so I purchased
the stand for my phone and of course just went
to the site to download it and darn it is
for Apple products only and I'm Android. Do you have
any suggestions for another app? I've been using Zoom and
Canvas to teach for the past year. I've been able
to integrate more technology for my students. Tomorrow, I'm teaching
(53:31):
them how to sew online. I thought this would be
perfect and helping me come up with questions while we're
on Zoom, so I have them out. I have a
smartphone from Samsung, and I'd like to hook up my
camera as a video monitor to my computer so I
can share the screen for my students. Do you have
any thoughts? Thanks for your help, Kathy. All right, Kathy,
So you're referring to an app called Overviewer that I
(53:52):
featured on KTLA, and this is an app that uses
your iPhone as a camera for a wireless camera Zoom.
So I showed a little amount that you can use
and kind of switch between cameras. So if you want
to show you know what you're reading, or what you're writing,
or what you're doing, like in your case sewing, your
hands are free and your camera is right above and
(54:13):
the kids can see it or the students. I should say,
now to be fair and back to what TA was saying,
I said. When I interviewed the developer of Overviewer, I said, oh,
my gosh, do you have any idea if there's an
Android version of this? Because I know people are going
to ask me? And he said no, I don't know,
and I figured he would be the best. I did
a kind of a cursory search to see I didn't
(54:35):
really find anything that was just as good, and you know,
I left it at that, but I knew I was
going to get questions about the Android side of things,
and I don't have a very good answer except I
think I think this might work. And it's called air Squirrels,
and air Squirrels is an app that mirrors or reflects
(54:55):
your phone screen, whether it's iOS or Android or even tablets,
fire tablets, whatever, it will mirror that on your screen
and you can use it in coordination with Zoom now
this is eighteen dollars. And that's another thing that I
like to recommend stuff that's free. And the Overviewer app
is free, but it's only for iOS. So my advice
(55:18):
is if you can find they have like a teacher's resource,
it says reflector Student. I don't know if that's for teachers,
but it looks like they have some stuff for education,
So I would check to see maybe just google air Squirrels,
you know, teacher and see if they have a special
deal for teachers. But that's what I would recommend looking into.
I think it'll work, and I think it'll work with
(55:39):
your Samsung and I think that's the best advice that
I have. But the one for iOS is called Overviewer.
It's completely free. Otherwise, check out air Squirrels Reflector if
you're on the Android side of things. But great question, Kathy,
And yes I did try to have your back with Android,
but I just didn't come up with a free solution
for that. Ope, that's it. That's the sound of the music.
(56:06):
That means that's gonna do it for this episode of
the show. If you'd like to submit a question for
me to answer, there are two ways to do. Just
that go to Richontech dot tv slash podcast and hit
the microphone button to leave a voicemail, or, better yet,
go to my Facebook page Facebook dot com slash rich
on Tech hit the big blue send email button. Also,
I would love it if you would rate and review
(56:28):
this podcast to help other people discover it. Clearly some
of you heard me and I got I think like
three reviews since the last time we talked, and it's
very easy to leave one. Just go to rate this
podcast dot com slash rich on Tech and write something
like Tom, who gave me I think five stars and
said a tech guy for us non techs. Rich is
(56:50):
incredibly well versed in all things tech. He gives us
his real opinions on new and current technology and explains
things in a way that makes the rest of us
a little bit smarter. Thank you, Tom, I appreciate that.
Leave your review at ratethipodcast dot com slash rich on Tech.
You can find me on social media at rich on Tech,
and no matter where you live in the US, you
(57:11):
can download the free Ktla plus app on Apple, TV, fireTV,
and Roku. Then scroll all the way down to find
the tech section and you can watch my TV segments
on demand on your big screen. My name is rich Demiro.
Thanks so much for listening. There are so many ways
you can spend an hour of your hard earned time.
(57:31):
I do appreciate you spending it with me. Stay safe,
I will talk to you real soon. Have a fantastic
day later
Cees returns to Las Vegas for twenty twenty two. Samsung
has some really slick looking laptops, and T Mobile debuts
their own tracker. Plus your tech questions answered. What's going on?
I'mrich Demiro and this is Rich on Tech, the podcast
(00:28):
where I talk about the tech stuff I think you
should know about. It's also the place right answer the
questions you send me. I'm the tech reporter at KTLA
Channel five in Los Angeles. Thanks for tuning into the show.
Welcome back to me, because if you noticed, I wasn't here.
Last week. I flew to New Jersey to see my
(00:51):
family for the first time in a year, marking the
third time I've been on a plane during the pandemic,
and it's all been very different experiences. Number One, well
these the last two times the planes were packed, so
that's for starters, but overall good experience. This my flight
to New Jersey. They were very particular about, you know,
(01:14):
when to take off your mask to eat. You know,
you had to you have to put it back up
in between bites anyway, all this stuff, so it was fine.
I did get a chance to check out a really
really wild place in New Jersey called the American Dream.
This is a mall that was being built for I
think like at least twenty years. I mean, this thing
(01:35):
started out something called like Xana Do, and it just
it never came to fruition, and it just sat vacant
for so long, and then finally someone purchased it. I
did some research. It looks like it's the same owners
as the Mall of America, so they know a thing
or two about giant malls. But I'm telling you, this
thing is huge. It's right outside New York City in
(01:58):
the Meadowlands, if you're familiar with New Jersey at all,
kind of where when I grew up it was called
the Continental Airlines Arena and Giants Stadium. Now, of course
it's MetLife Arena, and I don't think the other one
or MetLife Stadium, and I don't think the other one
is even there anymore. But this thing has a water
park inside a theme park inside let's see mini golf
(02:19):
inside a Lego land type place, but not the full
like rides and all that stuff, Sea Life aquarium, no
movie theater, which I thought was kind of interesting. That
seems like an omission. But not everything was open just
yet because I think it just recently opened, but they're
still kind of getting stores on board and stuff. But anyway,
(02:40):
kind of fun. Did a little video on my YouTube
and all the various social channels, but I don't know,
I thought it was interesting, you know, the mall is
like this very I spent the most time in the
Amazon store. I mean, isn't that wild. That's where I
went After all that, I just went to the place
where I shop all the time. But it's just cool
to see. Definitely an experience, and I can see it
(03:01):
being more crowded once things kind of get up and
running a little bit more. But they do have thirty
thousand parking spots, so I think they're prepared. No, no, uh,
the parking was free while I was there. That was
the best part. You know, they're gonna end up charging
so much for that, but right now it's free. The
other thing I did in New Jersey was help my
family out with all their tech. Every time I go
out to Jersey, you know, I'm sitting there upgrading their
(03:25):
Wi Fi and just making sure everything's working properly. So
that's always fun and always, you know, I feel like
I have a good handle on the average person when
it comes to technology, because I get so many emails
and stuff and you hear them on the show, but
when I go home, I really truly get that first
kind of hands on, Like, you know, the questions that
I get from my family about tech is like, wow,
(03:47):
this is like people just generally. I guess since I'm
immersed in it on a daily basis and I'm following
it so closely, I just know the nuances of everything.
But when you really just think of the average person,
like the questions you get, it makes me realize that
I have to start at the very basics when I
present something on TV or pretty much anywhere else on
(04:08):
my Facebook, social media whatever. For instance, I just posted
a video of the air tag. This is Apple's tracking
device that we didn't really get to talk about in
the last show because there was no last show. When
it happened, I went on Brian Tong's podcast, so if
you want to listen to that, you can. I talked
at length about the air tag and how much I
(04:29):
believe there the future and all this stuff. But anyway,
so I got one and I am playing around with it,
and I put a little video on my Instagram. The
number one question is wait a second, Rich, how do
you attach that to your stuff? And it just didn't
even occur to me that I would have to show
people that you need like a little loop or keychain
to attach it, which, of course Apple will gladly sell
(04:52):
you for twenty nine dollars. There's a bunch of third
party devices that let you attach these or accessories. I
should say that lets you attack the air tag to things,
but I mean you've probably heard about the air tag
over and over. I'm gonna do my review next week
for KTLA, but I am very, very bullish on these things.
I think that's the good one, right. I mean, Apple
(05:14):
has nearly a billion devices out there in the world
that can help you locate these things. Chances are it's
not gonna go lost because someone with an iPhone is
going to wander past your little air tag and update
its location. So I find these things to be quite
quite fascinating. Although I will say, knock on wood, is
(05:36):
that wood? I don't know some others would. I have
not really lost a lot of items in the past
couple of years or many years, but you never know.
It only takes once, right, all right? Big News of
the Week CTA announcing the return to Las Vegas for
CS twenty twenty two. This is a big announcement saying
(05:58):
that CS will happen in Lost Vegas January fifth through eighth,
twenty twenty two. Now you might remember that I was
a part of the All Digital CS this year. For
CS twenty twenty one, they actually announced. You may have
forgotten about this, but they actually announced that CS was
going to happen in Las Vegas back before, you know,
(06:19):
like this was like six months prior or eight months
whatever it was. They're like, yeah, we're still going to
have it, and then all of a sudden, it was like, uh, yeah,
this this pandemic is a little more serious than we imagined.
Uh and yeah it's not happening. And that was kind
of like understandable. Now it seems wild and unfathomable that
someone would think an in person event would happen in
January of this year, But you got to remember to
(06:42):
when this pandemic first started, we really did not know
anything about the scope of it. I mean, I remember
when I came home from work, I was like, Okay,
we're all gonna kind of, you know, take a breather
for two weeks, three weeks whatever, No, it turned into
like a year and I'm still working from home. So anyway,
CS twenty twenty two happening in Las Vegas. I already
(07:03):
checked hotel rooms. Yes, they're already expensive. But they do
say that there will be a digital aspect to this.
So the CS anchor Desk, which debuted at CS twenty
twenty one, will travel to Las Vegas and connect the
digital audience with everything. And so the big question is,
you know, there was four of us at the digital
(07:26):
anchor desk at CS twenty twenty one. Will any of
us get that phone call to come back and do
the anchor desk again for CS twenty twenty two. So
it was myself, I, Justine, Brian Tongue, and Naomi Kyle.
Will any of us be there for CS twenty twenty
(07:49):
two for the digital anchor desk? I don't know. I mean,
I would be honored if they asked me back. I
certainly don't expect them. It's not like a given, it's
not a shoe, and they may want to just rotate
different people who who knows, But anyway, I'm excited for
CS twenty twenty two. No matter what, I will be
there in Las Vegas. I can't wait because my camera
(08:09):
roll was getting a little thinned out of stuff to post.
I get so much good stuff to post at CS
every year. I end up posting videos from that throughout
the year. In fact, I recently post a video posted
a video of I still have more stuff to post
from CS twenty twenty that I'd never posted because I
(08:29):
felt like at a certain point it was like too late,
and then I was like eh, But I did end
up just reposting or posting something for the first time.
You know, you're talking what two years later, and it
still did really well because you know, people it's the
first time they're seeing this stuff. All right, Let's get
to the first question of the day. Jam says, I
(08:51):
watch your TV show every day, wondering if you know
how to say photos, stories, events, and articles online independently
from other sites so that they would stay on forever.
More So, many sites remove articles after a shelf life burnout.
I'm looking to keep things posted for a lifetime, hoping
for free. Thanks for your advice, JM. Good question, JM.
(09:12):
So I would recommend for saving things. Ever, note and
the name just implies that it will be around forever,
when in fact, we know we've been proven over and
over that things don't necessarily last forever. But Evernote has
a pretty good track record, They've been around for a
long time, and they do have a free option. So
did you say, yeah, hoping for free? So basically, you
(09:35):
install the app on your computer and then you install
what's called the Evernote web clipper. And the reason I
would say Evernote first, I don't agree with everything Evernote does.
I feel like their application is a little bit crowded
and kind of it's gotten crowded over the years, But
I think that they have the best solution out there overall,
(09:56):
and their web clipper is the best you can get online.
So I would say Evernote is the way to go.
Sign up for the free service, and you know, if
you outgrow the free service and you find that you
have to subscribe, you will end up having to pay
a little bit each year. But in the times I
had it, there's always some sort of deal that they
(10:16):
offered to renew. That's number one. Number two, I would
say Microsoft one Note is a is another one that's
really good. I don't find it. I don't like it
as much as as the Evernote, but I like, I
think it's a good second, and it's Microsoft. It's going
to be around forever. They also have a web clipper,
(10:38):
and there's this free for fifteen gigs of storage, so
you really don't run into the situation that ever Note.
Evernote does it like by the month, so it's like
you get a certain amount like ten megabytes or something
of clipping a month. I don't know what it is,
but you know, Evernote does it. Or one Drive. One
note is linked to one drive and they do it
(10:58):
by your fifteen gigs. If you have fifteen gigs of storage,
I don't care really what you're doing with that, but
once you go through it, you will have to pay.
And there's some other little things that they do, I
think to try to make you pay, But for the
most part, that's a really good one as well. And
then there's other options. I mean, you can use Google
Keep that will do it. Google keep just doesn't really
have a good What I like about ever Know and
(11:19):
one Drive is that they will clip the actual text
from articles online and also the pictures and stuff, so
it saves it kind of locally, like you're asking that
will work indefinitely, so even if the original site is
taken down, you'll still have your copy of it. So
those are the things I would recommend. Look into those things.
One of them will likely work for you. Now let's
(11:43):
move on to Samsung. Oh wow, Samsung. I have never
been more excited for laptops than these samsungs. I didn't
get to go hands on with these. Looks like they
did something in New York City with some media there
being in LA. I did not go out. I wasn't
actually even invited. They were inviting me at the beginning
(12:05):
to these things that they were doing in New York City,
and then they kind of just like, we're not even
gonna ask people to travel right now. So if you
can make it there, you know, fine, But that's fine.
I'm not no hard feelings there. But Samsung Galaxy Book
Pro and Galaxy Book Pro three sixty. So here's the
skinny on these. The number one, they're thin in light,
They kind of have all the features that you would
(12:27):
imagine a Samsung laptop would have. They kind of look
and feel like almost like a smartphone, you know, inspired
by smartphone. So some of these models have touch screens.
They've got the smart switch, which you know you used
to kind of take all your old files and settings
from your old laptop to your new one. Of course,
Windows is what they're running. Thin in light. I interviewed
(12:50):
Sam Rutherford from Gizmoto and he actually got to go
hands on with these, and he said he just could
not believe how thin and light they were. They were
like astonishingly thin and light. So that's really cool. Some
of them have either have LTE or five G and
then they've got a lot of little like pain points
that they figured out, like kind of just I don't know.
(13:13):
There's like a stylist you can get with some models,
touchscreen on some models. The ports, they have a lot
of them, Like you know, they have various USB C ports,
various USB ports, various thunderbolt ports, you know, headphone jack.
So there's just a lot going on here. The keyboard
(13:33):
they say they made as comfortable as possible. There's all
kinds of things like screen recording and stuff for making
you look better on video chat. And then of course
it links to your Samsung Galaxy phone or just an
Android phone in general really nicely. There's a lot of
integration and a lot of that stuff. You were able
to get on other Windows laptops, but this is kind
(13:54):
of they worked with Microsoft and Samsung and Microsoft have
gotten really close in the whole Apple world. You know,
Apple has such a tight ecosystem with their stuff that
these other manufacturers realize that they need something to compete
with that. And I think this Galaxy Book Pro, if
you have an Android, this is kind of the closest
(14:15):
you get to having an Android plus a laptop that
works seamlessly, just the way and an iPhone works with
a Mac laptop. And of course you can also you
know nearby share files. I mean, your photos show up
in the gallery on the computer. There's just a lot
going on here. So available May fourteenth, the thirteen inch
(14:36):
Galaxy Book Pro starts at one thousand, the fifteen inch
starts at eleven hundred. Then you've got the Galaxy Pro
three to sixty. This is the one that has the
touchscreen and also the convertible so it bends fully backwards.
That's going to start at twelve hundred for the thirteen
inch and then thirteen hundred for the fifteen inch. And
if you order it pre order, which is now until
(14:56):
May thirteenth, you get one hundred and fifty dollars in
credits for a future order, or if you purchase at launch,
which is starting May fourteenth through May thirty, if you
get one hundred dollars credit and the hard drives on
these things. It's kind of the only sore point for me.
Up to five twelve gigs on the smaller models and
a terabyte on the bigger models. But I don't know.
(15:19):
I mean, if I was, if I was a Galaxy user,
I think I would have to rock one of these
laptops and I would I guess I would just go
all Premiere. I mean, we're using Premiere at KTLA to
edit our pieces for air. I personally use Final Cut
for any of my social media stuff. But I could
maybe be convinced to move over if I was switching
(15:40):
to an S twenty one Ultra. I don't know, just
saying all right. Next question, Charlene says bicyclist here, would
you have a recommendation for a communication device between riders
in a group? Would rather not depend on cell service
more of a hands free walkie talkie? Thank you? This
(16:00):
is an interesting question. I don't know, I'm not I'm
sure the biker community out there knows of something that
maybe I'm just not thinking of. But to me, I'm
so kind of cell phone centric that I'm not really sure.
I mean, you could just spring for regular walkie talkies,
would that work? I mean, just clip them to your bike.
I'm sure they have those, like you know, those little
(16:24):
attachments that you can put on your shirt or something
that I don't know. I mean, you're you're saying you're bicyclists,
so I'm sure you're not going as fast as a motorcycle.
I'm thinking more motorcycle where there'd be a lot of
wind noise, and how do you even communicate you need
something in your ear? But I think you can get
you know, just regular walkie talkies with a head piece.
Just start with that perhaps, But if you're in a group,
(16:45):
I don't know. I mean, how many people can use
walkie talkies with I don't know. It's just there's the
other thing there's on Apple Watch. They have the walkie
talkie feature which you could also use, but again you
would have to have you know, cell phone service with that.
And then there's something called Zello, which I know this
app is very popular. This was kind of I don't
(17:07):
know what the deal was with this during the whole
like fire season and all that stuff. But Zello has
some stuff, so I would check out ze Lllo dot com.
But I don't know. If you have a suggestion, at
me at rich on tech on Twitter and let me
know what would you suggest for bicyclists to keep in
touch kind of a lah walkie talkie. I don't know.
I just think smartphone, smartphone, smartphone, But maybe there's something
(17:31):
that's so obvious I'm just not really thinking about. All right,
let's talk about T Mobile. Now. We talked about the
air tag, which I'm very bullish on, but the air
tag is not really meant to keep track of people
or of things that are you know, It's really meant
for items, right, And so when you think about sort
(17:52):
of your dog or a kid, you might want maybe
more of a full fledged tracking device. And T Mobile
has something that might fit the bill. This is called
the sync up Tracker, and this is more of a
like almost like a digital GPS device. So this is
(18:13):
it works on T mobiles LTE network. So this does
have a cellular connection built in, which the air tag
does not. It works with iOS and Android, which the
air tag only works with iOS. It's available Friday, May seventh.
And the reality here is that this is more of
a GPS tracker, and so you can set virtual boundaries.
(18:35):
So if you set a boundary for your kid at school,
you'll get a notification when this tracker leaves that boundary,
so that's kind of cool. It does not need to
be near a smartphone to work, so this just connects
directly to the cellular network, unlike the air tag, which
does need to piggyback off of phones. You can ring
(18:55):
it when it's lost. You've got a light sensor, so
it can even sense when it from light to dark
or dark to light. So let's say you put it
in something and someone opens that like a refrigerator door,
you would get a notification. It's also water and dust
resistant IP sixty seven, which is the same as the
air tag, and it has a nine hundred million hour
(19:17):
rechargeable battery, so this is rechargeable versus the air tag,
which has a replaceable battery. But the battery on T
Mobile's device only lasts for seven days, and that makes
a lot of sense because it is constantly using cellular
to ping the network and use that and grab a
GPS location, So it's not going to last as long
as what Apple has, which is just basically using Bluetooth
(19:42):
low energy to ping a cell phone that's nearby, or
cell phone pings, I don't know either way. It's also
a little bit more expensive sixty dollars and then five
dollars a month for data. So again at first, at
first thought, you might be like, rich, why would I
ever Why would I ever get something like the sink
(20:02):
up tracker when I could get the air tag for
half the price and no monthly fee. Well, they are
very different devices. The sync up tracker would be probably
something more along the lines of what I would put
on a dog, or more along the lines of what
I would clip to my kids backpack to keep track
of them, more so than the than the air tag,
(20:26):
which is not really meant for kids. It's not really
meant for pets, but I know people are going to
use it for that. But we'll see as people experience
these things just how well they will work with kids
and pets. Because you know, there are some things built
into the to the air tag that makes it not
a good solution for third party clips. You know, when
(20:47):
you're when you're clipping it to something that is not
near your phone all the time. It it does some
things to make sure that it's not being used in
a nefarious way. So we'll have to see if that
does work with kids and backpacks all that stuff. But
our kids and dogs, I should say so. Anyway, I
think we're gonna see a lot more of these trackers
(21:08):
out in the marketplace, just because battery technology is getting better.
Cellular companies want to make money on their networks, and
you know we already see that. Samsung is coming out
with They announced at their Galaxy Unpacked event. They made
a big deal about their oh gosh, what did they
call it? They called it the Galaxy Oh did they
(21:29):
mention it in here? The smart Things Find, that's what
they call Smart Things Find, and they say they have
like sixty eight million devices on their network to help
people find stuff. So it's it's you know, we're never
going to be lost ever again, folks. This is just
the way it is. You try to go on vacation
and get lost in you know the world around you,
(21:52):
and you can't. Someone's tracking you. You're tracking yourself, you're
tracking your stuff, You're getting updates about where your stuff is.
It's just the way the world is these days. And
I don't blame you. I mean it's tough for me
to go offline, it really is. It's not easy, Gloria
says your recommendation as my first cell phone was an
iPhone twelve, which is eight hundred dollars. But after that
(22:14):
you spoke of the Samsung A thirty two to five G.
Since the Samsung would be a lot less money than
the iPhone twelve, which you recommend the Samsung as a
better buy for my first phone? Or should I stick
with buying the iPhone twelve. I'll only be using the
phone for general use. I won't be streaming movies, won't
be playing video games, and I'll only be using the
camera at once in a while. Even though the iPhone
(22:34):
twelve is more money, I would not hesitate to buy
if it turned out the iPhone twelve would be a
better buy, Gloria. Well, interesting question, Gloria. So I don't
I have knockne hands on with the A thirty two. Now,
I will tell you that I do have the Samsung
Galaxy A fifty two five G which they sent me
(22:56):
to test out. And this is still this is five
hundred dollars, not as inexpensive as the A thirty two G,
but it's oh wow, interesting. It looks just like a
Mini S twenty one Ultra. I got to turn that on. Ah.
But here's my feeling. You are buying a phone that
I think you are going to use for a while.
(23:16):
And I think that the iPhone twelve is going to
age better than the Samsung A thirty two. And I
know Samsung is guaranteeing years of updates, probably three years
of updates perhaps with the A thirty two. Don't quote
me on that, but that's kind of what they've been
doing lately, and in fact, it might even be four
at this point. But I feel like the iPhone is
(23:37):
easier in several ways. Number One, there's a lot more
accessories for it. Number Two, it's kind of a universal device,
at least here in the US, which means if you
need help with it, someone's going to be able to
help you, whether that's a friend or family member, they're
going to be familiar with it. You also have the
Genius Bar at the Apple Store, so if you ever
get into a problem with it anywhere you are in
(23:59):
the world, you'll be able to walk into a store
and get help. And I think the lifetime of that
phone is going to just be a little bit better
and a little bit longer than the A thirty two
five G, which might show some signs of age after
you know, two years, Whereas the iPhone twelve, I think
you're gonna get a good, solid four years, if not longer,
of use out of that device. So when you say
(24:21):
you want a better buy, I think the iPhone twelve
is going to be your best buy. Nothing against the
A thirty two. I think that's a great little phone
for an inexpensive device. And you say you're not using
your device very much, But I just think for all
the reasons I mentioned, the iPhone twelve just might be
a better buy for your first phone, because yes, it's
more expensive, but do the math over a couple of years,
(24:44):
and it's gonna work itself out, and you're gonna have
a little bit more of a support system with that,
better apps, better accessories, and overall, I think that might
be just a better way to go. All right, let's
talk about the Should I do another question? Yeah, let
me do another question. Let's do another question. Wow, I
(25:06):
never do this, rich? Are you a what's what's going on?
Why are you're doing two questions in a row? I
don't know why not surface pro does not wake up?
Says Marta. Dear Rich, I love your tech advice. So
here I am with a cry for help. I have
a surface Pro seven, which I bought a couple months ago.
Suddenly it does not wake up. I read it's a
common problem, but my case is not fixable and I
(25:26):
need to send it in for repairs. I need to
wipe off all my data. But how can I do
that if my computer does not wake up. I understand
you're a super busy guy, but if you are able,
would you please give me some advice? Thanks? Marta. Good
good question, Marta, and I love that you are trying
to protect your personal information by asking this question. And
so this is a tough one. Your computer doesn't turn
(25:48):
it on, but you have to send it in. So
what do you do? What do you do with a
computer that doesn't turn on? Well? Two things. I hope
you have a password on your computer. That's number one.
I hope you've got a password protecting all of your data.
If you don't, I would not send it in personally.
(26:09):
That's number one. Number two, I hope you have a
backup of your data. So if you have a backup
of your data, here's what I think. Okay, so if
you have a backup and your computer's password protected, normally
I would not say to send it in, But in
this case, if you have to send it in, that's
your only option. You're going to have to trust the
system and send it in. Now, if you have a
(26:31):
password on your computer, there's not much that they're going
to be able to do to bypass that. Yeah, there
could be ways of them bypassing, but in general, you know,
if you're sending it to a reputable outlet, they're not
going to try to bypass your password. They're going to
either sign in, you know, create a new administrator account
or something if they can, if that's even possible, or
(26:52):
they're just going to try to work on your computer
and get it started without getting into your account. If
they ask you for your passas word, which has happened
to me. I've brought my laptop in places and they're like, oh,
can you write down your password? Uh uh, no way,
I'm not doing that. No way shape or form my
writing down my password for anyone, And if you need
it to get into this system, then I will go elsewhere.
(27:17):
And so I was just in the U Break I
Fixed store in Los Angeles and they were saying that, yeah,
people bring their phones in all the time and don't
know their password or they you know, they don't know
how to get into the phone, and there's really nothing
they can do to get in. Now. I know that's
a phone versus a laptop. Here. There might be something
on Windows that I don't know about that lets you
get into someone's account without having their password, but I
(27:38):
don't know of that. Maybe there is, maybe the administrator profile.
I'm not sure. But what I would do is if
you have a backup, then just send it in and
just hope for the best. Now, the thing is they're
probably gonna have to wipe your computer clean, which means
you're gonna lose all your data. So if you don't
(27:59):
have a good bath, that's going to be a problem.
In that case, I would find a local repair place
and see what they say. So what they were telling
me is that what they'll do at the you break
I Fix if you can't remember your password on the
phone and they're you know, there's some sort of water
damage or whatever that's keeping it from working. They will
(28:20):
what they call frankenstein it. They will do whatever they
can to preserve your data, but just get the device
to turn on and make it get to a screen
where you can put in your password and recover your data.
So that's what they told me, and that's what I
would hope they would do here as well with your
Surface Pro seven. But yeah, the bottom line is that
you never really want to send something in that has
(28:42):
you know, that's unlocked, number one, and if it has
a password protection, I would probably I would not feel
comfortable sending that in, even though I actually I have
done that. I have left mine with a password on
it to get it repaired when my hard drive failed.
So but they did ask me to give them a passport,
and I was like, no, I'm not doing that. Apple.
(29:04):
I think they just tell you, look, we can't really
do anything with your computer outside of your password, like
we're gonna have to either wipe this or you know,
your your data mayor they don't guarantee that your data
will be safe. Let's put it that way. So that
is my advice. I know it's always This is why
I say you got to have a backup got to
have a backup, got to have a backup, because you
(29:25):
never know what is going to happen with your device.
It can happen at a moment's notice, and when it does, ah,
it's the worst feeling in the world. All right, let's
move on to Amazon. They've got some new tablets this week.
Amazon is so funny. They just release stuff. They are like,
(29:45):
secretly the world's biggest consumer electronics company. Like I think
they might sell as many things as Apple. I don't
even know, but they just release so many products. They've
got all the fire stuff, They've got all the ring stuff,
They've got all their own Amazon on essentials, Amazon based
or I guess essentials might be closed on Amazon's basics.
I mean they have so many, you know, all their
(30:07):
al Exa devices. They just have so many devices at
this point, they don't even have events anymore. They just
launch them all. They've got earbuds, they've got sunglasses or glasses.
I mean, there's just so many things. Speakers. These are
the fire HD tablets, So fire HD tablets, you know.
(30:27):
I I see them as very mass market. They're very inexpensive,
which which leads a lot of people to purchase them.
I've never felt felt they were very good, but I
felt like they've been okay for like a device that is,
if you're just trying to basically watch videos on them
and maybe read a book or something. You know, if
you're gonna just read a book, I'd go with a Kindle.
(30:47):
But if you're gonna you know, just you just want
something that's kind of an entertainment device, Sure, the Fire
ten is gonna be fine. I always recommend the iPad
for three twenty nine no matter what, because it's going
to have the best accessories, going to have the best apps.
But if you must and money and budget is your
number one concern, yeah, the Fire HD is going to
be just fine. Now, the Fire HD ten is kind
(31:10):
of their top of the line tablet because it's got
a bigger screen and it usually has slightly better specs
than the Fire than the eights. So now they have
a new Fire HD ten and HD ten plus, and
they've got some you know, some upgrades to these, better performance,
a brighter full HD display, better design, and they've got
some interesting productivity things that they've done with these. And
(31:35):
generally Amazon has never sold these as productivity devices, but
now you can get a detachable keyboard, and some stuff
from Microsoft to make it more of a productivity device.
So I have k not gone hands on with these.
I requested them from Amazon so I can test them.
But I'm curious because I would never think that you
would use this for work, but if you could do
(31:57):
your email on it, you know, it might be a okay.
They also have fire HD ten kids tablet, and again
with the kids stuff. I always like the iPad because
I just feel like it's more, it's it's friendlier to kids.
But I know a lot of parents get the fire
tablets because they're inexpensive and they just sort of work.
But I just think the iPad is better in that aspect.
(32:20):
But let's go over the new features. Fire HD ten
one hundred and fifty bucks. It's got some sort of
processor in it. Three gigs a RAM, which is fifty
percent more, so that's one gig of RAM more. Oh
my gosh. It's got a ten point one inch ten
eighty full HD display. It's ten percent brighter, it's got
a thinner bezel. It's got all day battery life, twelve
(32:42):
hours of battery, plenty of storage, thirty two or sixty
four plus support for a one up to a terabyte
microSD card slot. So I always like that about the
Amazon Fire HD tablets is that they have that microSD
card slot, which means you can pretty much put a
whole bunch of memory in this thing. So by the
cheapest one and just put the memory in it. It's
got a two megapixel front facing camera. I'm not sure
(33:05):
if that's improved or not. They don't say, let's see,
you've got a headphone jack, which is cool. It's always
nice to have. And let's see, for thirty dollars more
so you're talking one eighty, you get four gigs of rams,
so one extra gigabyte, and then a premium finish wireless charging,
(33:26):
which I guess, I you know what, I guess the
wireless charging would be kind of cool with the tablet.
I leave mine plugged in at all times on my desk,
but it would be kind of nice to just have
it resting on a wireless charger and it's just always ready,
you know. So that's kind of cool. Now, this is
where it gets interesting. So two hundred and twenty dollars,
which is a full fifty six seventy dollars more than
(33:48):
the original. You get a Productivity bundle which includes the
Fire HD ten or a fire HD ten plus, and
it includes a detachable keyboard case. So that is interesting,
and you know, I feel like they've had a keyboard
case in the past, and I'm sure there's been some,
but this is interesting that you now have a keyboard case,
(34:09):
and that's kind of nice. It magnetically attaches, you know,
for you to check email, take notes, browse the internet.
But here's the other thing that's interesting. You get a
Microsoft three sixty five Personal subscription which is twelve months,
which comes to the terabyte of cloud storage, and that
alone would be just seventy dollars for the year. So
(34:31):
for two hundred and twenty dollars, which is again fifty
sixty seventy dollars more, I would go with the you're
basically getting a Microsoft three sixty five subscription for a
year and a detachable keyboard case. Now you might not
need that Microsoft three sixty five because you use all
Google stuff, but it's interesting that you get all these
(34:52):
office apps on the Fire HD, which, if you know
anything about the fire system, the reason I don't like
it as much is be because you don't get the
Google apps so if you're trying to use you know,
Google Drive or Gmail or Chrome, none of those apps
are actually on the Fire tablet. You have to sideload them,
(35:13):
which is not necessarily the easiest thing to do for
the average person. So I don't know, all right, that's
the tablets, and they didn't say when they're available, but
I guess soon. By the way, I never mentioned the
chirping sound that the air tag makes. I know just
since it's on my desk. So I'm going to detach
the uh, the little battery and once you attach it,
(35:35):
oh well, okay, never mind, I thought I couldn't really
hear that. All right, Well, let's get to another question.
All right, Hi, Rich Hope it's okay to ask a
specific question, but I really trust your input and advice.
We're going to Alaska in August for eight days after
postponing the trip for two years. I'm going to need
(35:57):
a phone with a really great camera. I currently have
the Samsung seven Edge. I know it's been a while.
I want to stay in the Android phone zone or
phone verse. Any suggestions on new phones that would give
me great zoom and wide screen capabilities. That's not an
iPhone appreciate any suggestions you have. Going online to research
can be crazy making and overwhelming. Many thanks. You really
(36:19):
do demystify tech for us. Quote older folks, best Ava Ava.
There is one phone to know, one phone. This is it.
There is no other phone that I think given everything
that you've mentioned. You want a really great camera, you
already have a Samsung. You want to stay in Android,
you want wide screen, you want zoom. Oh my gosh,
(36:41):
it is the Samsung Galaxy S twenty one Ultra. That
is it. That's all you need to know. Don't read
any reviews, don't go any further. That is the phone
to get. The zoom on that phone is fantastic. It's
gonna make your pictures in Alaska. Just pop. I dig
dig dig the camera on the Samsung S twenty one Ultra.
(37:01):
I'm not the only one. Everyone agrees in the tech
world that it is the best Android at this point. Now,
the pixel might be nice, it might have good pictures,
but it's not gonna have the zoom that you want.
And that's why I wouldn't recommend that the one plus
nine Pro. Yeah, it might look pretty good, but it
doesn't have the zoom either. In fact, the zoom on
that phone is not very good. What would I give it?
(37:27):
It's gonna give it a trash sound, but I couldn't.
And I love the nine Pro, it's great. But the
S twenty one, oh gosh, I just I'm you know,
I had to send it back to Samsung, but I
really I've been looking at it on Amazon. I've been
eyeing it because the price came down two hundred dollars
and I'm kind of like, I really want to get
one of these things as my you know, as my Android,
(37:50):
because I just I don't know that the zoom on
that and the quality is just so nice. Samsung just
does such a nice job with their processing and it
makes pictures. Just all the pictures you're gonna take in
Alaska are just gonna look so good with that phone.
I'm jealous. So that's what I recommend you get a
fifty or is it one hundred times zoom on that phone.
(38:11):
But reality is ten times is optical, and I think
that's gonna be just fine for what you're doing. And
that's as far as you want to go. Yeah, you
can go further, believe me, but I think it's gonna
look so so nice. And you're gonna get just so
many options for shooting with the S twenty one Ultra.
That is gonna be a great, great upgrade to your
(38:31):
Samsung S seven Edge. Right now, it is nine to
ninety nine for a one hundred and twenty eight gigabyte model.
It's weird on Amazon. It's actually one the same price
for a two fifty six, But the two fifty six
isn't shipping for like a month. So I would say,
let's see, it's the end of April, you're going in August.
(38:51):
You want to have this phone for a month, you know,
just to make sure you're familiar with it. So I
would say, throughout the month of May, I would just
do a little search for Samsung S twenty one Ultra
deals and see what kind of deals you can get.
You can also trade in your Samsung Edge and see
what you get for that. So I would for sure
(39:14):
trade that phone in. Let's see how much they'll give you.
I'm going to the website and let's see. So one
hundred and twenty eight gigabyte unlocked, don't forget if you
really wanna, you know, if you can't add a memory
card to this phone, so you might consider the two
fifty six if you're you know, if you're taking a
ton of videos in four K. Let's see Phantom Silver.
(39:37):
I kind of like the Phantom Black, but the Phantom
I love the Phantom titanium. That's that's pretty slick looking.
Maybe since it's get by June first. Okay, let's see
how much they'll give you for your trade in. So
Samsung S seven got to go all the way down
to the bottom of the list here because it's kind
of kind of aging. One hundred bucks so not too much.
(40:01):
But honestly, what are you gonna do with that S
seven when you're done? Okay, I picked a phone that's
way too expensive, So let's go with the silver, which
is one eight. Well I thought it was nineteen ninety nine.
Why is it saying one ninety nine? Oh? Maybe Amazon's
cheaper right now, so yeah, hm, that's odd. Anyway, check Amazon.
(40:25):
Check Samsung dot com and check S twenty one ultra
deals on Google as a search and hit the news
section and see if anyone's blogging about some deals that
I may not know about, or deals that are not
yet readily available. But good question. Enjoy the trip. Okay, uh,
(40:45):
this is a great article from nine to five Google
from Ben shon Love Love love this tip, and I
guess someone shared it on I don't know somewhere. Steph Hippo,
site reliability manager at Google, shared this little tip that
I have been I never knew I needed it, and
I knew I wanted to do this, I just never
(41:06):
really took the time to do it. But you know,
when you go to a website and of course you
get blasted with that whole like GDPR thing where you
have to except old cookies. I mean, oh so annoying.
So yeah, you have to do that on every website.
But then I'm kidding so excited, I'm hitting the mic.
Then you get blasted with this whole. Can we send
(41:29):
you notifications? No, I don't want notifications from any website.
No no, no, you're not my phone. I don't need
notifications from you on especially if you're on an Android
and it's sending you notifications, and then on your desktop
you're getting notifications. No no, no. So here's what you do.
You go into Chrome and this is I think for
(41:51):
the desktop, but you go into desktop Settings, Site settings,
notifications and turn every thing off you can turn off.
There's a global setting. Alternatively, you can just type Chrome
colon slash slash settings, slash content, slash notifications into your
address bar and turn it off from there. I did
(42:11):
this this morning, and wow, my life is so much
better and I'm not getting bombarded with every website asking
can we please send you notifications? No no, no, no no.
Life is so much better without this, all right, So
if you're on Android, you can do it. You go
(42:31):
into Chrome Settings Notifications, toggle each site off, or the
show notifications toggle. Not as clean as the desktop, but wow.
Thank you Ben for writing this up, Thank you Steph
for sharing this. But we all need this because I
don't need no I've seen. It's so funny because you know,
(42:52):
people say yes to this by accident, and all of
a sudden, I'm working on someone's computer and I see
that they get notifications from all these different websites I've
signed up for them by accident. Next thing you know,
I'm getting all kinds of notifications from a website, like
a random site, and I'm like, no, no, no, goodbye.
Don't need that. Paul asks, Hey, Rich, what's the best
(43:15):
way to transfer playlists from Spotify to YouTube music? Looks
like we got a switcher. Thanks Rich, appreciate it. I
did a quick search and found a website called Sounddiz
sounddiz dot com or I guess sounds dot com, sound
sounds dot com. I don't know. But you can transfer
(43:35):
from anything YouTube to YouTube, YouTube to Apple music, Apple
Music to Spotify, Spotify to Deezer Dezer to Napster, Napster
to Apple Music. iHeartRadio. They all looks like it has everything.
Everything is supported, so the plans are free. So there
are some free plans available and it says convert your
(44:01):
playlists one by one, so you know, for zero dollars
you can do playlists and up to two hundred tracks,
and it includes one sink, so if you want to
synk between services, you can just do one. But if
you really want to get the most out of these,
you have to go with the premium plan, which is
three dollars a month, build annually, which is thirty six
(44:24):
dollars a year. That's probably what you want to end
up doing if you're doing this a lot. I don't
have a use for this. I don't really care about
playlists anymore, so I just, you know, I just listen
to whatever, you know they make on their own like
hot Country or you know, Chill fifty whatever. I don't
care as long as it's got the music I like.
I've stopped making playlists. I don't even bother at all
(44:46):
in any way, shape or form. And so if you
still have you know, I know a lot of people
still have playlists that they craft and they curate whatever.
If you got it, great, do this, but sound dz
dot com. And I actually heard back from let's see
from Paul and he said, hey, Rich, it worked. It's great,
and it's fast. You can transfer music from any platform Apple, Spotify,
(45:08):
et cetera. Really appreciate that answer, Thanks Rich. This was
Paul who wrote in maybe on my Facebook page or something,
but anyway, there you have it. Someone tried it. Sounddiz
dot com transfer all your music no matter where it lives.
If you're still using playlists, which you know people do, well,
(45:33):
I guess I'm all out of stories for the week,
which I don't know how that's possible. Oh you know
what I didn't even talk about. I should talk about
iOS fourteen point five, you know, so I do have
a story. So iOS fourteen point five launched this week,
and there's a couple of things that are notable in it.
Number one, you can use your Apple Watch to unlock
your phone, which came in Can I say came in clutch?
(45:54):
Is that like a term the kids are using. I
don't know, but I was dropping my kid off at
school and you have to do this like app where
you got to like, you know, say that they're okay
and there's no COVID floating around your house, and so
I had to. You know, you go on this app
and you get like a QR code that lets you proceed. Well,
I didn't realize you have to show it to the
person when you're dropping off. So I dropped my kid
(46:15):
off and they're like, oh, do you have the app?
And I'm like, oh, yeah, here it is. And I
went to unlock my phone, but of course I'm wearing
a mask, so my phone is like. I'm like, oh,
it's gonna you know, I gotta put in my pass code,
but no, all of a sudden, I feel a little
haptic on my wrist and boom, my phone unlocks. And
yes it works because in iOS fourteen point five, you
can now use your iPhone and your Apple Watch in
(46:39):
Unison to unlock your iPhone when you're wearing a mask now,
I will tell you, I am very excited that the
government has said you don't need a mask when you're outside.
And yes, there's a million caveats, but the good news
is I was able to run yesterday without a mask.
And please don't get me on the whole mask thing. Look,
I don't want to wear a mask, just as much
as everyone else out there, but I do you know,
(47:00):
if I need to, if I'm in a place where
they say you have to, I will wear it. I'm
not fighting it. I'm not saying it dumb whatever. It's
just the rules of the land right now, and I'm
following them. And so the good news is that La,
and you know, the US government has said that you
don't need a mask when you're outside, and so that's
great and fantastic, and so I listened to that. Yesterday
(47:21):
I went for a run and I ran without a mask,
and it was glorious. And I kind of forgot what
it was like to do that. And you might say, rich, well,
you never needed one anyway, but I know, but here
in LA you did. And so I just follow the
rules like a good citizen. And anyway, So iOS fourteen
point five you no longer need or you no longer anyway,
it's not a pain to unlock your iPhone if you're
(47:42):
wearing a mask, if you have an Apple Watch on,
because it just notices that you have an Apple Watch
and boom it unlocks. And so how do you turn
that on? You got to update both your Apple Watch
and your iPhone so to the latest software on Apple Watch.
I don't know what that is, but on iPhone it's
fourteen point five. And then once you do, you go
into settings, face ID unlock with Apple Watch, turn that
(48:04):
on and it'll take a second. But now it's pretty amazing.
It's just if you have an Apple Watch, it's a
lot easier to unlock your phone. I know. If you're
an Android person, you're like rich. This has been around
forever on Android. It's called smart unlock. Yes I know.
But Apple, you know they do things at their own pace,
so yes, we have it. Uh. The other thing is
(48:24):
this whole privacy tracking so or I guess whatever you
want to call it app transparency. So now apps have
to ask if they can track you. And who's gonna
say yes to that? No one. So now when you
download an app on iOS, fourteen point five. You run it,
it's gonna say, hey, do you mind if we track
you across all the websites that you visit and share
(48:45):
that information with everyone else so that we can serve
up better ads and make more money off of you.
And what are you gonna say? You're probably gonna say no.
And yes, I feel bad for all these companies that
now have to deal with this new reality, notably Google
and Facebook. And I say that a little facetiously. I mean, look,
they'll figure it out, but it's the end of an era.
(49:07):
The wild West of tracking folks is over, at least
on the iPhone, and I'm sure that Android will follow
suit because you know, if Apple this is a big,
big advantage that they have, and people are like, well,
why would I ever get an Android because it's a
wild West for tracking there. But on the iPhone it's
all buttoned down. You know, the Android's going to have
(49:29):
to probably figure something out to make it feel like
it's in line. So if you don't even want apps
to give you the option to track, you just go
into Settings once you've updated to fourteen point five. It's
Settings Privacy Tracking, and then the option to allow apps
to request to track, Just turn it off and boom,
they cannot even ask to track you. That is that's it,
(49:54):
that's where you want to go. And fourteen point five
has a lot of other little refinements as well. Siri
has gotten some new voices. There's no longer de fault,
so when you first set up Siri for the first time,
it will say, Hey, which voice do you like? Which
one do you want to choose? And there are some
more diverse options there, so you can choose one of
those to your liking. What else, Yeah, she's no longer
(50:16):
or I should say, it is no longer defaulting to
a female voice, So now you will have the option
to choose and that's probably a good thing because I
always thought it was odd that Siri is a she, Like,
how do we know? You know, like, just pick what
you like and go with it. So that's that. What
else is in there, Let's see fourteen point five little
(50:38):
things here and there. I've noticed they've kind of cleaned
some things up, They've kind of you know, fixed some bugs,
made some things nicer. But that's fourteen point five in
a nutshell. I would update it because there are some
things that do really improve upon Okay, now to another. Oh, okay,
this is not really a question. This is more of
a comment to rich Ta says, hey, which, how about
(51:00):
doing some stories on Android products? Apple? Apple, Apple? It's
grown tiresome. Ta, I know, I hear you. But what
am I supposed to do? I mean, what am I
supposed to do? I don't want to go off right now,
But the reality is, I do Android stuff. I do
Apple stuff. I do Android stuff, I do Apple stuff.
(51:22):
Tomorrow my story on KTLA is Samsung. When Apple comes
out with their stuff, I do Apple stuff. And the
reality is, I'll just be completely honest. When I do
Apple stuff, it does better. There clearly are more Apple
folks in my listening and viewing world than there are Android,
because when I do Apple, it really does well. And
(51:42):
when I do Android it's fine. I don't get as
much feedback, I don't get as much views, I don't
get as many clicks. But I love Android. Don't get
me wrong. I love Android. In fact, I've said this,
I really enjoy the Android operating system. But there's a
lot of stuff I appreciate about Apple, and I think
Apple does a lot of things better, and I think
Android does a lot of things better. So it's not
(52:04):
a war, it's not a race. It's just options. And
so the reality is there are lots of options out there.
I don't tell people which one they should choose unless
you ask me, and I'll give you the best option
for your situation. But Ta, I'm not sitting here trying
to do more Apple or trying to do more Android.
I'm just doing kind of what the market dictates dictates.
(52:26):
And when Apple comes out with stuff, I'll gladly cover it.
When Google comes out with stuff, I'll cover it. When
Samsung comes out with stuff, I'll cover it. When TCL
comes out with stuff, I'll cover it. So it's just
kind of the EBB and flow of things when it's
an Apple event, like it was probably when you wrote me,
you know, I'm gonna be talking about Apple stuff for
a bit because you've got the cycle of Apple stuff
(52:47):
is announced and then we go hands on, and then
I get more hands on and I talk about it.
Same thing with Android. So I hope that you know
you understand that, and that's just the reality of what's
happening here. All right, let's do one more segment or
one more question, I should say, all right, Kathy says, Hey, Rich,
(53:09):
I'm hoping you can help. I watched your segment a
few days ago about an app to help teachers. It's
called Overviewer. It's exactly what I've needed, so I purchased
the stand for my phone and of course just went
to the site to download it and darn it is
for Apple products only and I'm Android. Do you have
any suggestions for another app? I've been using Zoom and
Canvas to teach for the past year. I've been able
to integrate more technology for my students. Tomorrow, I'm teaching
(53:31):
them how to sew online. I thought this would be
perfect and helping me come up with questions while we're
on Zoom, so I have them out. I have a
smartphone from Samsung, and I'd like to hook up my
camera as a video monitor to my computer so I
can share the screen for my students. Do you have
any thoughts? Thanks for your help, Kathy. All right, Kathy,
So you're referring to an app called Overviewer that I
(53:52):
featured on KTLA, and this is an app that uses
your iPhone as a camera for a wireless camera Zoom.
So I showed a little amount that you can use
and kind of switch between cameras. So if you want
to show you know what you're reading, or what you're writing,
or what you're doing, like in your case sewing, your
hands are free and your camera is right above and
(54:13):
the kids can see it or the students. I should say,
now to be fair and back to what TA was saying,
I said. When I interviewed the developer of Overviewer, I said, oh,
my gosh, do you have any idea if there's an
Android version of this? Because I know people are going
to ask me? And he said no, I don't know,
and I figured he would be the best. I did
a kind of a cursory search to see I didn't
(54:35):
really find anything that was just as good, and you know,
I left it at that, but I knew I was
going to get questions about the Android side of things,
and I don't have a very good answer except I
think I think this might work. And it's called air Squirrels,
and air Squirrels is an app that mirrors or reflects
(54:55):
your phone screen, whether it's iOS or Android or even tablets,
fire tablets, whatever, it will mirror that on your screen
and you can use it in coordination with Zoom now
this is eighteen dollars. And that's another thing that I
like to recommend stuff that's free. And the Overviewer app
is free, but it's only for iOS. So my advice
(55:18):
is if you can find they have like a teacher's resource,
it says reflector Student. I don't know if that's for teachers,
but it looks like they have some stuff for education,
So I would check to see maybe just google air Squirrels,
you know, teacher and see if they have a special
deal for teachers. But that's what I would recommend looking into.
I think it'll work, and I think it'll work with
(55:39):
your Samsung and I think that's the best advice that
I have. But the one for iOS is called Overviewer.
It's completely free. Otherwise, check out air Squirrels Reflector if
you're on the Android side of things. But great question, Kathy,
And yes I did try to have your back with Android,
but I just didn't come up with a free solution
for that. Ope, that's it. That's the sound of the music.
(56:06):
That means that's gonna do it for this episode of
the show. If you'd like to submit a question for
me to answer, there are two ways to do. Just
that go to Richontech dot tv slash podcast and hit
the microphone button to leave a voicemail, or, better yet,
go to my Facebook page Facebook dot com slash rich
on Tech hit the big blue send email button. Also,
I would love it if you would rate and review
(56:28):
this podcast to help other people discover it. Clearly some
of you heard me and I got I think like
three reviews since the last time we talked, and it's
very easy to leave one. Just go to rate this
podcast dot com slash rich on Tech and write something
like Tom, who gave me I think five stars and
said a tech guy for us non techs. Rich is
(56:50):
incredibly well versed in all things tech. He gives us
his real opinions on new and current technology and explains
things in a way that makes the rest of us
a little bit smarter. Thank you, Tom, I appreciate that.
Leave your review at ratethipodcast dot com slash rich on Tech.
You can find me on social media at rich on Tech,
and no matter where you live in the US, you
(57:11):
can download the free Ktla plus app on Apple, TV, fireTV,
and Roku. Then scroll all the way down to find
the tech section and you can watch my TV segments
on demand on your big screen. My name is rich Demiro.
Thanks so much for listening. There are so many ways
you can spend an hour of your hard earned time.
(57:31):
I do appreciate you spending it with me. Stay safe,
I will talk to you real soon. Have a fantastic
day later
Host
Rich DeMuro
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