Speaker 1: Spotify's year end wrap up is a major success. The
Speaker 1: online grocery store with a twist, plus your tech questions answered.
Speaker 1: What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro and this is Rich
Speaker 1: on Tech, the podcast where I talk about the tech
Speaker 1: stuff I think you should know about. It's also the
Speaker 1: place right answer the questions you send me. I'm the
Speaker 1: tech reporter at KTLA Channel five in Los Angeles. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the show, and welcome to you watching on Facebook Live.
Speaker 1: We've got folks tuned in from the Inland Empire. Uh well,
Speaker 1: that's the only person. Oh Canton, Ohio. So many people,
Speaker 1: so many different places. Can you tell them in a
Speaker 1: good mood today? I don't know what it is. Maybe
Speaker 1: I don't know. You ever wake up and you just
Speaker 1: have one of those days where you're like, now, I'm
Speaker 1: typically a positive, energetic person, but I feel like some
Speaker 1: days you just wake up and you're like on overdrive, right,
Speaker 1: Like things are just really good and you want that
Speaker 1: feeling to last forever. Like you just if you could wait,
Speaker 1: if there's like a day where you wake up and
Speaker 1: you're like, this is how I'd like to wake up
Speaker 1: every day for the rest of my life, that would
Speaker 1: have been today. You know, you just like spring up
Speaker 1: out of bed, you go to work. Yet you're smiling,
Speaker 1: you're happy. That's typically how I am. But some days
Speaker 1: are just like amped up, and this is really one
Speaker 1: of those days. So anyway, I'm feeling good. It's the
Speaker 1: end of the year. I can't believe that we are
Speaker 1: on the slow March or really fast march March. I
Speaker 1: should I should say to Christmas and the holidays, hope
Speaker 1: you had a great Thanksgiving. As you know, I took
Speaker 1: off last week's podcast, or maybe you don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: you don't care. You probably don't even notice. I don't
Speaker 1: know some of you did, I'm sure, but it was
Speaker 1: a nice Thanksgiving. We had a little technical issue with
Speaker 1: getting a ride home with the Uber and Lyft situation,
Speaker 1: but it was fine. We made it home, so that
Speaker 1: was good. And you know, I didn't even talk to
Speaker 1: you about the whole Tim Cook interview. So you know,
Speaker 1: I did this interview with Tim Cook at the Apple
Speaker 1: Store a couple of weeks ago, and it was a
Speaker 1: pretty magical moment. I mean, how many local news people
Speaker 1: get to interview the CEO of not only one of
Speaker 1: the most if not the most important tech company of
Speaker 1: our time, but also one of the biggest companies in
Speaker 1: the world. So that was pretty cool. It was not
Speaker 1: by chance. Some people were saying it was just by chance.
Speaker 1: It was cool that people said, you know, he just
Speaker 1: walked out to talk to you. No, no, it was
Speaker 1: all you don't. You don't talk to the CEO of
Speaker 1: Apple unless it's set up in advance, and so this
Speaker 1: was set up in advance, and I got to say
Speaker 1: it was one of the easier setups. You know. Apple
Speaker 1: basically came to me and said, hey, do you want
Speaker 1: to interview Tim Cook? And I'm like, yeah, why would
Speaker 1: I not want to interview Tim Cook? And that was it.
Speaker 1: They said, okay, we'll give you a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: with him. And they didn't ask for a questionquestions. It
Speaker 1: didn't say here's the parameters of what you should be
Speaker 1: talking about. I mean, honestly, interviewing Tim Cook was easier
Speaker 1: than interviewing half the people I interview on a daily basis,
Speaker 1: where people ask me for questions in advance and what
Speaker 1: topics and what's your segment going to be on and
Speaker 1: what's the direction of it and all this stuff, And
Speaker 1: most of the time I just say you know what,
Speaker 1: I don't really do that, like I will go there,
Speaker 1: you're the expert. I will ask you questions, you will
Speaker 1: know how to answer them. Rest assured. If you can't
Speaker 1: answer the questions that I'm asking you for a consumer
Speaker 1: tech audience, you've got bigger problems. And so that's kind
Speaker 1: of how I approach things. I think the Tim Cook
Speaker 1: interview turned out perfect, and it's on YouTube if you
Speaker 1: want to watch it. The whole thing I put up
Speaker 1: on there, and it was great. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: a very warm guy. He came up to me and
Speaker 1: he just made a little quip at the beginning, and
Speaker 1: it was just so like natural and neat, and I'm
Speaker 1: just sitting there like I just want to have dinner
Speaker 1: with this person, you know, and really pick your brain
Speaker 1: about so many different things. And of course I didn't
Speaker 1: get to do that, but it was fun to have
Speaker 1: the five or ten minutes with him, and it was great.
Speaker 1: In this store at the Grove was just so beautiful
Speaker 1: that they built there. But there's so many things. This
Speaker 1: is like the end of the year, so there's not
Speaker 1: too many like wild tech stories happening. So I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: this show is going to be mostly questions and also
Speaker 1: just stuff I feel like talking about. There are some
Speaker 1: tech stories and some things I'm gonna note, but I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna talk about this stuff that I feel like
Speaker 1: talking about because I've got a lot. I've got a
Speaker 1: lot on my lists. Okay, I've got it all right here?
Speaker 1: Can you hear that? Okay? Now, I'm just kidding. It's
Speaker 1: all written on my computer. But number one I want
Speaker 1: to tell you about. Should we talk about a story.
Speaker 1: Let's get some news in because you know people do
Speaker 1: like news. But Black Friday, Cyber Monday, that was the
Speaker 1: big shopping season kind of kick off. And then there
Speaker 1: was also Giving Tuesday, which I did give. I'm a
Speaker 1: big fan of giving, by the way, so I hope
Speaker 1: you are too. I really enjoy giving away money because
Speaker 1: that's to me, that's the ultimate in life, is to
Speaker 1: be able to give away some of the stuff that
Speaker 1: I've been given. And I've made it a big part
Speaker 1: of my life for many many years now. I don't
Speaker 1: make a huge deal about it, but I love doing
Speaker 1: it like it's my absolute favorite. When someone's like, oh
Speaker 1: I'm in need, and I'm like, oh, here's money, here,
Speaker 1: you go take it now. Don't come at me with
Speaker 1: like a million requests for that, but I do enjoy
Speaker 1: giving my money away as well. Okay, So Adobe Digital
Speaker 1: Economy Index, this is Adobe Insights. They analyzed kind of
Speaker 1: like all these things that people did over Cyber Monday
Speaker 1: and Black Friday. Cyber Monday was actually down year over year,
Speaker 1: which kind of makes sense giving the economy, right, I
Speaker 1: mean I think so. But still consumers spent ten point
Speaker 1: seven billion dollars online. It's still the biggest online shopping
Speaker 1: day of the year. At the peak, consumers were spending
Speaker 1: twelve million dollars every minute. So some of the top
Speaker 1: sellers on Cyber Monday were for toys. They were Hot Wheels,
Speaker 1: NERF Toys, Baby Alive, Paw patrol Squeaky Toy. Oh is
Speaker 1: that like the Squeaky dog? Oh my gosh. I featured
Speaker 1: that two years ago. Awesome. That was at the New
Speaker 1: York Toy Fair. I totally called it. And Tamagotchi Picks
Speaker 1: Video games Just Dance twenty twenty two. Mario Party Superstars.
Speaker 1: You know, I now say, Mario, this is like what
Speaker 1: happens when you live in California. Like I've said, Mario
Speaker 1: for like my entire life like Mario, and people like,
Speaker 1: it's not Mario, it's Mario, and so now I say, Mario,
Speaker 1: I don't even know who I am anymore, Spider Man,
Speaker 1: Miles Morales, FIFA twenty two and Metroid Dread. Now, when
Speaker 1: it came to electronics, which of course, you know, I
Speaker 1: like AirPods, Apple watches, Apple pencils, laptops from HP, Lenovo
Speaker 1: and Dell, Nintendo switched and switched light Xbox Series s
Speaker 1: because clearly you can't get the other ones anyway, and
Speaker 1: Oculus Quest two and then TVs from Sony and Samsung.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of the main points of Cyber Monday.
Speaker 1: Discounts remained weak, so discounts were at around twelve percent
Speaker 1: for electronics versus twenty seven percent last year. So if
Speaker 1: you kind of notice that the discounts were not as
Speaker 1: prevalent this year, you are not alone. They just weren't there.
Speaker 1: I mean, think about the economy we have right now.
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on with the supply chain and
Speaker 1: with you know, people, just the whole situation with just
Speaker 1: it's more complicated than I can get into. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like everything's firing on all cylinders right now, right,
Speaker 1: So it seems like retailers don't have that big of
Speaker 1: an incentive to kind of discount things when just sales
Speaker 1: right now are kind of insane in general. Oh, if
Speaker 1: I shake the camera, I'm sorry. On the Facebook Live here,
Speaker 1: let's get to without further ado. The first question of
Speaker 1: the podcast, and it is coming today from Let's See Valerie.
Speaker 1: Valerie says, hey, Rich, how do you report a fake
Speaker 1: Gmail account? An identity thief is impersonating my mom and
Speaker 1: has set up a fake Gmail account using her name.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Valerie. Well, I did some research and it
Speaker 1: turns out there's actually a situation or a help page
Speaker 1: where you can report abuse, and it's basically support dot
Speaker 1: Google dot com, slash mail, slash contact slash abuse. And
Speaker 1: when you go to that page, it says, I would
Speaker 1: like to report a Gmail user who has sent messages
Speaker 1: that violate the Gmail program policies and or terms of use.
Speaker 1: And you put in the email address of you, You
Speaker 1: put in the email address of the person involved in
Speaker 1: the incident, the headers of the questionable message, the subject line,
Speaker 1: the content, and did the message appear to be from
Speaker 1: someone impersonating Google. Now here's the deal. Is Google going
Speaker 1: to take action immediately? Probably not. You might have a
Speaker 1: better chance just like reporting this as spam every time,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of weird. I mean, I've not really
Speaker 1: heard about many people impersonating people with a fake Gmail account.
Speaker 1: I mean that would need like a very specific use.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's how I would just report it in
Speaker 1: see what happens. You know what, Let's just take some
Speaker 1: questions from the comments as well. On the Facebook, Cynthia
Speaker 1: says recommendations for AirPods. It will be the first time
Speaker 1: I've ever used them, and I trust you. Thanks from Silmar.
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of the AirPods three right now.
Speaker 1: Those are the newest AirPods. They're on sale at a
Speaker 1: lot of places for one hundred and fifty bucks right now,
Speaker 1: including Amazon and Walmart. They are typically one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty dollars, and so I would get the AirPods three
Speaker 1: if you're on iPhone, if you're on Android. I really
Speaker 1: like the OnePlus Buds Pro. Those are really nice, and
Speaker 1: I believe they've gone down as low as one hundred bucks,
Speaker 1: but I think they're one fifty typically. I like the
Speaker 1: AirPods Pro, the AirPods three a little bit better than
Speaker 1: the AirPods Pro because they don't have the noise cancelation,
Speaker 1: and the noise cancelation sort of sucks in your ears,
Speaker 1: like I can't explain, but it just feels like your
Speaker 1: ears are filled up, almost like you're underwater. And it's
Speaker 1: great for listening and being directed in your listening, but
Speaker 1: it's not so good for that feeling in your ears.
Speaker 1: I don't like that feeling in my ears where they're
Speaker 1: all sort of like closed up. I like to be
Speaker 1: able to hear what's going on around me, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of why I prefer the AirPods three. Now, the
Speaker 1: reason why I like the AirPods Pro for so many
Speaker 1: years was the fit. The fit of the AirPods Pro
Speaker 1: is unsurpassed. I've not found a pair of earbuds that
Speaker 1: fit better in my ears than the AirPods Pro. But
Speaker 1: I find that the AirPods three fit in my ears
Speaker 1: just fine. They're maybe not as comfortable, but they seem
Speaker 1: just fine. And so I'm not too concerned with recommending those. Okay,
Speaker 1: big story of the week that I don't think is
Speaker 1: very important to ninety nine point nine percent of people,
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to spend too much time on it.
Speaker 1: But Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey step down. He is now
Speaker 1: being replaced by the CTO of Twitter, Prague Augur Wall,
Speaker 1: and that's it. That's all you really need to know.
Speaker 1: There's nothing really you need to know about this except
Speaker 1: that Dorsey is now stepping up work on his other app,
Speaker 1: which is Square, and he changed the name of that
Speaker 1: to Block to represent his whole and you know, kind
Speaker 1: of push to crypto. But there's really not much you
Speaker 1: need to know. I mean, Twitter is going to continue
Speaker 1: to be Twitter. I don't see Twitter. I love Twitter,
Speaker 1: but I don't see it as the dominant social network
Speaker 1: out there. I mean, I think Facebook is still dominant,
Speaker 1: Instagram is very dominant, and TikTok is really really up
Speaker 1: and coming. Although my feeling on TikTok is I love
Speaker 1: it and I actually put it on my home screen
Speaker 1: because I'm watching more and more of it. But the
Speaker 1: thing you have to worry about with TikTok is misinformation.
Speaker 1: I mean, we saw that whole situation with social media
Speaker 1: in general, but it's happening on TikTok. I mean, there
Speaker 1: was this whole TikTok going through where people were like
Speaker 1: did I already talk about this where they were cutting
Speaker 1: open the iPhone boxes to find a secret case inside,
Speaker 1: and there's just so much stuff on there. I feel
Speaker 1: like everything that I'm watching on there half the time
Speaker 1: after I watch these little video is I need to
Speaker 1: like go do a fact check on these videos because
Speaker 1: I'm like, wait, is that true? Is that real? They
Speaker 1: do these things where these people are like, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm returning this product or I'm going to Starbucks, And
Speaker 1: it turns out I've read the fine print in anything
Speaker 1: you buy Starbucks. I can go in and get a
Speaker 1: free refill on my coffee even if I didn't order
Speaker 1: that drink. And I'm like, so, now people are probably
Speaker 1: going to Starbucks in mass and you know, ordering saying
Speaker 1: oh I saw this thing where I can get a
Speaker 1: free refill and they're like no. Now, I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's true or not. But the point is it's
Speaker 1: getting very complicated, and a lot of young people are
Speaker 1: watching TikTok and so like my kids are watching like
Speaker 1: the shorts on YouTube and stuff, which are fun, but
Speaker 1: you just have to be you know. It's just as
Speaker 1: we go down this line of just information at our
Speaker 1: fingertips from so many different sources, it's really tough to
Speaker 1: know what is real and what is not. And I know,
Speaker 1: I get it. There's a whole political side to this thing,
Speaker 1: with the you know, with the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: but this is not just politics. This is everything. And
Speaker 1: so it's just like, you know, so many different little
Speaker 1: things are to me are being questioned in these videos,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I like it. It's entertaining, but is
Speaker 1: it real? But anyway, so Twitter will continue to be Twitter.
Speaker 1: You know, if you use Square for some of your
Speaker 1: business related stuff, especially the cash app, these will change
Speaker 1: names to block very soon, so just be aware of that. Oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, why did he step down? He just
Speaker 1: said that he didn't like the idea of a company
Speaker 1: being founder led because it kind of doesn't open up
Speaker 1: that company to more possibilities of different ideas and varying thoughts.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of the thought there. All right, let's
Speaker 1: get to the next question of the show. Let's see
Speaker 1: we don't have a name on this one, but hello,
Speaker 1: mister Demiro, I am a KTLA viewer, and there was
Speaker 1: a segment you needed a few months back on Wi
Speaker 1: Fi Extenders. I remember seeing it on your Instagram, can
Speaker 1: you share the Wi Fi extender? It was like a
Speaker 1: generic one compared to the more expensive brand. I tried
Speaker 1: looking on Instagram. I could not find it. The company
Speaker 1: is Villo Vlo and so we did a story on
Speaker 1: Villo and it's a Wi Fi, a mesh Wi Fi
Speaker 1: system that is basically sixty to seventy dollars versus you know,
Speaker 1: a couple hundred dollars for some of the other ones.
Speaker 1: And so it's Vilo. Villo Living is their website, and
Speaker 1: I got to say I was impressed. Now here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I use Eero at my house. Euro Pro actually the
Speaker 1: latest version, and it's a much more expensive system. But
Speaker 1: it depends on the speed you have. So if you
Speaker 1: have under a gigabit, so if you're not running one
Speaker 1: thousand speed, then yes, this Villa will be just great.
Speaker 1: And what it does is it has three different little
Speaker 1: antennas that you put around your house. They all work
Speaker 1: together to give you a nice strong signal throughout your house,
Speaker 1: versus a standard router that you know, you're cable company
Speaker 1: might give you that just sits under your TV and
Speaker 1: it just broadcasts out and the signal kind of drops
Speaker 1: off as you get around the corners of your home.
Speaker 1: So in this setup with the Mesh Wi Fi systems,
Speaker 1: the signal is much stronger around your house. Better video,
Speaker 1: better audio, less buffering, less dropouts. So your phone just
Speaker 1: basically your phone and your device is just work pretty
Speaker 1: much in a way better way than they would which
Speaker 1: just the router from your phone company or your cable company.
Speaker 1: And so check out Villo. I recommend Eero. Still I
Speaker 1: love Euro, but if you want something that's a lot cheaper,
Speaker 1: Villo is way cheaper than Euro. Now. The other thing
Speaker 1: to know is that anytime you're going to buy something
Speaker 1: that's an electronic device, you want to make sure that
Speaker 1: you're not just buying it immediately. You are kind of
Speaker 1: watching the price now something like Villo. It goes on
Speaker 1: sale over once in a while on Amazon, So definitely
Speaker 1: set up a kind of a a price alert on
Speaker 1: Amazon for that. And you can do that with a
Speaker 1: website called Camel Camel Camel And if you want to
Speaker 1: use a more wide ranging price tracker, Honey is one
Speaker 1: I like that that works there. So Get Honey, I
Speaker 1: think is the website. Let's see is it get Honey,
Speaker 1: Get Honey Dot. Nope, it's not get Honey, what is it?
Speaker 1: Join Honey dot com. So Joinhney dot com. I really
Speaker 1: like that because it's like a little you know, it
Speaker 1: gives you like coupon codes and stuff, but it also
Speaker 1: helps you track prices as well. And I have all
Speaker 1: my items on Amazon that I want to purchase on
Speaker 1: my Honey drop list and it works. I mean, I
Speaker 1: get these notifications that are pretty good, and of course
Speaker 1: I'll buy it if it's you know, if the price
Speaker 1: drops just a little bit. So that's a good question there.
Speaker 1: Let's go to another question, just because I'm feeling very
Speaker 1: questioning today. Uh, let's see Patty says. First of all,
Speaker 1: thank you for your amazing podcast. I rely heavily on
Speaker 1: it for both the tech topics, but also I listen
Speaker 1: when i'm running, so it takes my mind off what
Speaker 1: I'm doing to my body. You're a great distraction and
Speaker 1: a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate what you do and
Speaker 1: I refer to you as my tech guy. Well, thank you, Patty.
Speaker 1: So my question. You've talked about your Sona's Bluetooth speaker
Speaker 1: you love, but I can't find your podcast about it.
Speaker 1: I'd like one for my husband for Christmas because he
Speaker 1: keeps stealing my bluetooth speaker. I just need one that's
Speaker 1: portable to go between his workshop and his brewery. Wow,
Speaker 1: workshop and brewery. You got quite the man there. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: I wish I had a brewery and a workshop. Thank you, Patty.
Speaker 1: So the Sonos that I mentioned, I purchased two of
Speaker 1: them over the pandemic because it's been that long. But
Speaker 1: the big one that I started with is called the
Speaker 1: sons Move and that's a four hundred dollars speaker. And
Speaker 1: then the smaller one that they came out with is
Speaker 1: the sons Rome, and that is a much smaller bluetooth
Speaker 1: speaker that they actually raise the price on. This is
Speaker 1: one of the few times that I've ever seen the
Speaker 1: price of of a gadget increase since I purchased it.
Speaker 1: I purchased it one sixty nine, it's now one seventy nine.
Speaker 1: And Sonos raised prices almost across the board during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: I guess, citing higher costs and things like that. So, uh,
Speaker 1: the Sonos Rome is the one that I mentioned. This
Speaker 1: is a much smaller bluetooth speaker. And here's the thing, Patty,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'd recommend the Sonos if you're
Speaker 1: just using these by themselves. I mean, yes, they work
Speaker 1: great as a Bluetooth speaker, but the beauty of the
Speaker 1: Rome and the Move is that they work as part
Speaker 1: of a bigger sons setup. So in my house, I've
Speaker 1: got Sona speakers in various rooms. They all play the
Speaker 1: same stuff together at the same time, or I can
Speaker 1: play them individually. And so what's cool about the Rome
Speaker 1: and the Move is that, like the Move, for instance,
Speaker 1: I just have in my living room, it's always on
Speaker 1: the charger, and then when I go out in the
Speaker 1: backyard and kind of hang out on the patio, I
Speaker 1: just take the Move with me, and now we've got
Speaker 1: music outside in the back and I can bring it
Speaker 1: back in when I come back inside. Same thing with
Speaker 1: the Rome. We go on vacation, or we go to
Speaker 1: a hotel, or we go to the beach, and we
Speaker 1: take the room because it works in the house and
Speaker 1: then you take it out of the house and it
Speaker 1: works on Bluetooth. So that's the cost and why they're
Speaker 1: a little bit more expensive. If you just want a
Speaker 1: nice Bluetooth speaker for your husband, I would go with
Speaker 1: something from Ultimate Years. So that's UE, which is Ultimate Years,
Speaker 1: and they've got a bunch of different speakers and I
Speaker 1: think they're all great. So I would go with something
Speaker 1: like the Wonder Boom two or the Boom three or
Speaker 1: the Mega Boom, depending on how much you want to
Speaker 1: spend and how big your husband wants these speakers. So
Speaker 1: that's what I would recommend. And yeah, he'll have a
Speaker 1: great hope it doesn't listen to the podcast because he'll
Speaker 1: be now he'll know your secret. All right. Spotify does
Speaker 1: this thing at the end of every year called Spotify Rapped,
Speaker 1: and I will be honest. I just started using Spotify
Speaker 1: this year and pretty recently actually, but I am obsessed.
Speaker 1: I do really, really like my Spotify. It's funny because
Speaker 1: I used Apple Music and you two Music pretty much
Speaker 1: exclusively forever, and I always kind of shunned Spotify just
Speaker 1: because I didn't need it, Like I paid for Apple,
Speaker 1: I paid for YouTube, and I wasn't gonna pay for
Speaker 1: a third And of course now I am, but well,
Speaker 1: I ditched, sadly, I ditched. I ditched Apple Music because
Speaker 1: I no longer need it, because I know, I know
Speaker 1: so sad, but I I hate even saying this, but
Speaker 1: I ditched it because now Spotify works on my watch.
Speaker 1: So it used to be only Apple Music would work
Speaker 1: on the Apple Watch. Now Spotify allows you to download
Speaker 1: music to the Apple Watch, and so I don't really
Speaker 1: need to pay for things that overlap. So anyway, what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to tell you is that this new or
Speaker 1: this Spotify rap that comes out every year, this is
Speaker 1: the first year that I've kind of used Spotify. So
Speaker 1: I looked at it. I don't really I don't really
Speaker 1: get it, except I did listen to one of the
Speaker 1: pod one of the playlists today, which was like my
Speaker 1: top songs of twenty twenty one, and every song that
Speaker 1: came on, I'm like, oh, I like this song. Oh
Speaker 1: I really like this song. I'm like, oh, yeah, duh,
Speaker 1: because it's all the songs that I like throughout the year.
Speaker 1: So a couple things that they did, and people just
Speaker 1: love this. They just love the way Spotify percents this
Speaker 1: and they love to see what they listen to the most.
Speaker 1: I'm not the biggest fan of these whole year end things.
Speaker 1: I guess they're kind of cool. They're growing on me,
Speaker 1: let's put it that way. But Spotify did a couple
Speaker 1: of things, including twenty twenty one the Movie, which features
Speaker 1: your top songs with classic scenes from a movie that's
Speaker 1: all about you. Then they have your audio Aura. We
Speaker 1: worked with an aura expert to visualize your audio aura
Speaker 1: based on your top two music moods. Playing cards. This
Speaker 1: is an interactive database game that you play and share
Speaker 1: with your friends. I don't know what that means. Oh,
Speaker 1: we will display several statements about your listening and you'll
Speaker 1: have to guess which ones are true. And then the
Speaker 1: rapped blend, which you can see how your twenty twenty
Speaker 1: one music tastes match up with your friends. So again,
Speaker 1: it's all about getting you to be on Spotify more.
Speaker 1: And so of course the raptub has the standard stuff,
Speaker 1: which is your top songs twenty twenty one, your artists
Speaker 1: revealed your top tracks, and artists your best new podcasts,
Speaker 1: and it's just all kinds of you know stuff that
Speaker 1: It's a nice way of slicing and dicing your Spotify
Speaker 1: data and I think they do a nice job of it.
Speaker 1: So very cool if you have Spotify check it out
Speaker 1: all right, Abel says, I'm trying to purchase a magnetic
Speaker 1: wireless portable charger for an iPhone twelve Promax, any recommendations
Speaker 1: would be truly appreciated. Thanks in advance. All right, So able,
Speaker 1: if you want the standard, it's just Apple's mag Safe charger,
Speaker 1: and it's I got to find out what they actually
Speaker 1: call it. Is it the let's see, it's like a
Speaker 1: battery pack. It's called the Apple mag Safe Battery Pack.
Speaker 1: So that's the official one right now. The standard price
Speaker 1: is one hundred bucks, but I've seen it. It's on
Speaker 1: sale for cheaper seventy five dollars at best Buy right now,
Speaker 1: So if you want that, that's, according to the Verge,
Speaker 1: that's the all time low price. So what these battery
Speaker 1: packs do is it's a battery and it sticks to
Speaker 1: the back of your phone with magnets and it charges
Speaker 1: your phone. And what's nice about that is that it's
Speaker 1: just nice and simple and it doesn't you know, you
Speaker 1: can actually hold your phone and use it. And so
Speaker 1: these things are like essential. If you have a mag
Speaker 1: Safe iPhone, which is the iPhone twelve and thirteen, all
Speaker 1: the models in that range, then you can attach accessories
Speaker 1: magnetically to the back of your phone. And so this
Speaker 1: is one way of doing it. Now. The other one
Speaker 1: I like, I haven't tested this one, but I know
Speaker 1: the brand and I know a lot of people that
Speaker 1: I know that like it is the Anchor Magnetic battery,
Speaker 1: and this one is a little bit cheaper. It's fifty
Speaker 1: five dollars and again same concept. It just sticks to
Speaker 1: the back of your phone and wirelessly and magnetically or
Speaker 1: I should say sticks to your phone magnetically and wirelessly
Speaker 1: charges your phone. And so that's really nice. It's just simple,
Speaker 1: one less cable to carry. And then I did a
Speaker 1: segment or a feature on the my Charge mag Safe
Speaker 1: battery pack, and I really like this one, and it's
Speaker 1: called the Maglock. So it's the Maglock mag Safe power Bank.
Speaker 1: And they have three different sizes and they're thirty percent
Speaker 1: off right now, So there you can buy the size
Speaker 1: that you think is the best for you, that you
Speaker 1: know how much you need for power wise, and just
Speaker 1: going over the power situation, so they make a three
Speaker 1: thousand million power, a six thousand million power, and a
Speaker 1: nine thousand million power. The iPhone itself is anywhere between
Speaker 1: two and probably ah gosh, I think it's like, let's
Speaker 1: see iPhone thirteen. M ah, let's see how much it is.
Speaker 1: Uh Yeah, Okay, so about oh wow, thirteen pro max
Speaker 1: is forty three hundred, So the iPhone is between three
Speaker 1: thousand and let's say four thousand, forty five hundred million hours. So,
Speaker 1: however many million power batteries you get, that's how many
Speaker 1: times going to charge it. So if you get one
Speaker 1: that's three thousand milliamp hours, that's going to top up
Speaker 1: your phone probably once. If you get a six thousand,
Speaker 1: that's probably going to top up your phone about twice.
Speaker 1: If you get the nine thousand, that's going to top
Speaker 1: up your phone about three times. Now, keep in mind,
Speaker 1: these magnetic batteries are going to be more expensive and
Speaker 1: charge your phone less than a standard plug in power bank.
Speaker 1: Plug in power banks you can get like a ten
Speaker 1: thousand milliamp minimum for like thirty bucks, or you can
Speaker 1: get a twenty thousand million amp and you know that's
Speaker 1: just as an expensive and it'll charge your phone way
Speaker 1: more time. So you're paying a little premium for the
Speaker 1: whole mag safe situation, but it is definitely definitely more convenient.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about let's move directions to this
Speaker 1: is kind of fun. We did the story today on KTLA.
Speaker 1: This is a online grocery store that specializes in food
Speaker 1: that would otherwise go to waste. So it's called Misfits Market.
Speaker 1: It's out of New Jersey, which you know, major props
Speaker 1: to that because I'm from New Jersey. Love my home state.
Speaker 1: But this Misfits Market, they sent me two boxes of
Speaker 1: food to test out, and I was very confused. I
Speaker 1: was like, well, what's it going to look like? You know,
Speaker 1: is this stuff gonna be all messed up? The answer
Speaker 1: is no, it's imperfect. But that just means that, you know,
Speaker 1: when you go to the grocery store, what do you
Speaker 1: do when you're looking at apples? You pick up like
Speaker 1: five of them and try to pick up the most
Speaker 1: perfect apple that you purchase. And every person that goes
Speaker 1: to that grocery store does that over and over until
Speaker 1: all these apples that have maybe like a little bump
Speaker 1: on them or a little scrape, or they're not perfect,
Speaker 1: they just don't get purchased. So in some cases, these
Speaker 1: grocery stores don't even take delivery of food that may
Speaker 1: be seen as imperfect. And so this Misfits Market has
Speaker 1: a lot of deals with mostly organic food producers to
Speaker 1: take all this stuff that may not make it to
Speaker 1: the mainstream grocery stores and then they sell it at a
Speaker 1: discount anywhere from thirty to fifty percent. And so they
Speaker 1: sent me two boxes of stuff. I thought it was
Speaker 1: all great. Yes, some of it looked a little odd,
Speaker 1: some of it was a little misshapen. But when you
Speaker 1: wash this stuff and you cut it up and you
Speaker 1: cook it up, it's all fine. I mean, we made
Speaker 1: some really fantastic stuff. We grilled up salmon, we grilled
Speaker 1: up chicken. Let's say I made a like a veggie.
Speaker 1: My wife made a veggie medley last night that was
Speaker 1: just delicious, with asparagus and roasted sweet potatoes that were
Speaker 1: so weird looking. You would never pick them up in
Speaker 1: the store because you're gonna get a sweet potato that
Speaker 1: looks perfect. These were all kind of odd shapes. They
Speaker 1: cooked up just fine. The carrots. I made a salad
Speaker 1: out of the lettuce and carrots. It was delicious. And
Speaker 1: again I wouldn't pick up the bunch of carrots because
Speaker 1: they were kind of dirty looking and they were smaller
Speaker 1: than I would get for carrots. But they were perfect
Speaker 1: when you clean them all up, they were great. So
Speaker 1: Misfits Market they are now delivering to forty four different states,
Speaker 1: including California as of a couple weeks ago, and the
Speaker 1: savings are dramatic. I mean, you could really get a
Speaker 1: pretty big saving, especially if you live in California, where
Speaker 1: food is very expensive. I mean grocery stores here. You
Speaker 1: don't realize until you go to a different state. We're
Speaker 1: paying like basically double the price at grocery stores for
Speaker 1: the simplest things like a thing of Heinz ketchup. You know,
Speaker 1: it might be three dollars in New Jersey or you know, Iowa,
Speaker 1: and it's six bucks here. So it's just the cost
Speaker 1: of living in California is very, very expensive, and you
Speaker 1: get used to it because you kind of forget that.
Speaker 1: You're just this is what you pay. But then when
Speaker 1: you go somewhere else, you realize, like, wow, this is
Speaker 1: really pricey. So the other thing about this is this
Speaker 1: is not competing with something like an Amazon Fresh, an Instacart.
Speaker 1: You're not getting this stuff instantly. What you do is
Speaker 1: you sign up, you build your box throughout the week,
Speaker 1: and there's a cutoff date on like let's say whatever
Speaker 1: date you want, and then they ship your box out
Speaker 1: two days later. So minimum order is thirty bucks. Shipping
Speaker 1: is five point fifty. Some of the stuff was a
Speaker 1: little bit broken up when I got my box, but
Speaker 1: you know that happens. It's you know when you're shipping
Speaker 1: something by FedEx that that can happen. But they do
Speaker 1: use different depending on your zip code, they use different carriers,
Speaker 1: so whatever carrier is sort of best for your area.
Speaker 1: And that's the other big difference is that they're trying
Speaker 1: to solve these kind of food waste issues but also
Speaker 1: food desert issues. So there's a lot of places in America.
Speaker 1: If you live in a big city, take for granted
Speaker 1: that you can get all this stuff delivered. But if
Speaker 1: you live in other places in America, you may not
Speaker 1: be able to get food delivery as easily and as
Speaker 1: competitively priced as somewhere that's near you, or you may
Speaker 1: not have a grocery store that's near you. And so
Speaker 1: what Misfits Market is priding itself on is the fact
Speaker 1: that they deliver to almost every zip code in the
Speaker 1: states they service. So in California they deliver to like
Speaker 1: pretty much every zip code, and that's across the board,
Speaker 1: so forty four states. I've got a promo code's not
Speaker 1: sponsored or anything. I just asked them, hey, can you
Speaker 1: give me a promo cod because I know people are
Speaker 1: going to want to try it out rich on Tech thirty.
Speaker 1: We'll give you thirty percent off your first two boxes, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, whenever I get a promo code from
Speaker 1: a company, which you know, it's few and far between
Speaker 1: when I ask for that, but when I do, I
Speaker 1: always say I want the promo code to be the
Speaker 1: best promo code out there, because I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: like make affiliate sales. I'm not trying to do any
Speaker 1: of that stuff. So I'm just trying to get the
Speaker 1: best deal for you, the listener or the viewer, And
Speaker 1: so I don't want you to have to go search
Speaker 1: around and say, well, you know, Rich puts this code
Speaker 1: on here, and it's let me say, if there's something better.
Speaker 1: I don't want you to have to do that. So
Speaker 1: whenever I'm sharing a promo code, I almost ninety nine
Speaker 1: point nine percent of the time asked the company to
Speaker 1: make sure it is the best promo code available. There
Speaker 1: may be a similar promo code available, but it's always
Speaker 1: the best, and so like for this, it's thirty percent
Speaker 1: off your first two boxes is better than you can
Speaker 1: do in pretty much any other code that they have
Speaker 1: available today, So rest assured you don't have to go
Speaker 1: searching around for a better code. But I gotta say,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna try I mean, I
Speaker 1: tried it. But the thing about me trying it is
Speaker 1: that typically I like to try things as a quote
Speaker 1: unquote regular person, where I would order the boxes and
Speaker 1: do this. But with this one, I just said, send
Speaker 1: me two boxes, let me or send me a box,
Speaker 1: and let me just try it out. Now what I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do is I'm gonna actually order as a you know, pedestrian,
Speaker 1: as a regular person, and just you know, see how
Speaker 1: it is. And I think it's pretty cool. Like if
Speaker 1: I can get my basics like lemons, limes, apples, you know, lettuce,
Speaker 1: celery like that kind of stuff at these cheaper prices,
Speaker 1: then I think it's a really cool thing. So misfits market.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to another question. All right, Erica says, Hey, Rich,
Speaker 1: hope you're well. I have a cell phone question. I've
Speaker 1: always used Samsung notes in most recently the S twenty one.
Speaker 1: Not sure if it's my carrier service T Mobile or
Speaker 1: my phone call but my or my phone, but calls
Speaker 1: never come in and calls drop. My husband doesn't have
Speaker 1: this issue. He has an iPhone seven. He doesn't like technology.
Speaker 1: I recently ordered a Pixel five A. I'm wondering if
Speaker 1: the pixel has Android Auto, as I searched and found
Speaker 1: different answers. Would you tell me if it will work?
Speaker 1: This is a deal breaker for me as I really
Speaker 1: enjoy Android Auto. Thanks for your techie tips. Happy holidays,
Speaker 1: Erica Erica. Yes, indeed the Pixel five A has Android
Speaker 1: Auto op or wrong sound effect? Can you tell my
Speaker 1: on my own show? So, yes, it has Android Auto.
Speaker 1: There's so much like online about this whole Android Auto situation.
Speaker 1: Android Auto is there, it works, It's fine. I think
Speaker 1: the thing that they're talking about when it comes to
Speaker 1: Android Auto is the there was a standalone app on
Speaker 1: Android phones that you could bring up on your phone screen.
Speaker 1: I think that's gone, but they still have what's called
Speaker 1: like Android Auto Assistant. They built it into Google Assistant
Speaker 1: to make it accessible on more phones, and so it's there.
Speaker 1: It works. If you plug it into your car, you'll
Speaker 1: still have Android Auto when it comes to your dropped calls.
Speaker 1: I don't know that could be t Mobile. I'm not
Speaker 1: really sure. In my experience, every carrier has its pros
Speaker 1: and cons. I think they all have their weaknesses and
Speaker 1: strengths in different areas. I mean, I try all three carriers,
Speaker 1: and believe me, I will say that I think that. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll just tell you that they all work in various
Speaker 1: ways in various places. So what I always tell folks
Speaker 1: is get a get a carrier that works where you
Speaker 1: live and where you work. Those are the two most
Speaker 1: important things. And if you're on the freeway a lot
Speaker 1: or the highway, get a carrier that works on the
Speaker 1: highway a lot. If you're in rural areas, get one
Speaker 1: that works in rural areas a lot. And that just
Speaker 1: it requires a lot of talking to friends and family
Speaker 1: and just see what they have and just ask questions, Hey,
Speaker 1: you have G Mobile? Does it drop a lot? Do
Speaker 1: you get a lot of drop calls? Hey you have Verizon?
Speaker 1: Does it work in you know, rural areas when you're
Speaker 1: in the woods. Oh you have AT and T does
Speaker 1: that work at the park that I always go to.
Speaker 1: So Pixel five A, I think is a fantastic phone.
Speaker 1: I would definitely go with that phone. And I think
Speaker 1: you're gonna love it. I think it's a really solid device.
Speaker 1: All right, let's just go right to another question. Let's
Speaker 1: see again. I don't know if I can oh interesting.
Speaker 1: This person's term is CSI Miami show. Maybe they work
Speaker 1: on CSI Miami. I was trying to watch a special
Speaker 1: program on USA Network. I downloaded the USA Network and
Speaker 1: I still couldn't get the show I wanted to watch.
Speaker 1: The advertisement for the show was USA Network. I even
Speaker 1: tried downloading the NBC app on my Amazon Firestick and nothing.
Speaker 1: All I kept telling me is the list of providers.
Speaker 1: The only thing I have is an indoor antenna and
Speaker 1: the firestick. I even contacted NBC and they couldn't help me.
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea what I did wrong? Thank you? Yes,
Speaker 1: I do have an idea what you did wrong. You
Speaker 1: can't just download these apps, and well, it depends on
Speaker 1: the app. If it's a cable if it's a cable
Speaker 1: streaming cable TV app, like a cable channel, most of
Speaker 1: the time you need to subscribe to that channel in
Speaker 1: some way to actually watch it. And I know this
Speaker 1: is a totally convoluted system, and we are in an
Speaker 1: in between stage right now with these with these channels.
Speaker 1: So right now, cable channels make their money by having
Speaker 1: cable subscribers. So USA Network is not its own little
Speaker 1: business that's stand alone that can just exist on its own.
Speaker 1: They can exist because they get a dollar from every
Speaker 1: person that has Comcast or Verizon FiOS or Direct TV,
Speaker 1: all these different spectrum. These cable channels make money that way.
Speaker 1: They don't in most cases have a standalone app with
Speaker 1: their own subscription because they're still trying to figure out
Speaker 1: that side of the business. So why they're showing you
Speaker 1: that list of providers is because you need to subscribe
Speaker 1: to some sort of cable streaming service to get access
Speaker 1: to that USA network. The access is free if you
Speaker 1: are a subscriber to a cable cable package. And so
Speaker 1: what I would do if you want USA Network, I
Speaker 1: just did a quick search. It seems like Sling TV
Speaker 1: is probably your easiest and cheapest, But I would search
Speaker 1: untangled dot tv and see which streaming service carries USA
Speaker 1: Network for the cheapest. I think it's going to be
Speaker 1: Sling But that's what I would do. But this is
Speaker 1: a major major issue. I get these questions all the time.
Speaker 1: People are so confused about how to access anything today
Speaker 1: on streaming because you've got so many different services and
Speaker 1: they all require something different. So I mean, if you're
Speaker 1: getting a bundle of cable channels, you get and you
Speaker 1: watch them, and you download that app and you can
Speaker 1: watch them live, and then if you want to get
Speaker 1: the channels, you got it. Sometimes you'd subscribe to a
Speaker 1: cable service. It doesn't give you access to the to
Speaker 1: the log in on the channel. So you really have
Speaker 1: to do your homework with this stuff. And I always
Speaker 1: tell people, you know, Untangled dot tv is great. Another
Speaker 1: way to do it is just google the name of
Speaker 1: the show. So if you want to watch what's like
Speaker 1: a popular show? What's a popular TV show? Right now,
Speaker 1: let's just see I have no idea because I don't
Speaker 1: I only watch one show at a time. Okay, let's
Speaker 1: say you want to watch Yellowstone. How to watch Yellowstone streaming? Okay,
Speaker 1: you google that, and there's these bloggers that write about
Speaker 1: how to see the show. And Marie on the Facebook
Speaker 1: is saying she loves the Real Good app, which I
Speaker 1: have recommended many times. I love that. That's another way
Speaker 1: that you can do it. But this is a simpler way.
Speaker 1: That's just an easy way to Google it, and so
Speaker 1: they say streaming. While Yellowstone isn't currently on Netflix or Hulu,
Speaker 1: the first three seasons are all available to stream on
Speaker 1: Peacock or for purchase through Amazon Prime. Despite what you
Speaker 1: might assume given that the show's on the Paramount network,
Speaker 1: it's not currently available through the Paramount Plus streaming service.
Speaker 1: So there you go. And I would also cross reference
Speaker 1: what they said with what other people say, so I'd
Speaker 1: always read two articles because sometimes they might get it wrong.
Speaker 1: But that's you know, that's the main thing is that
Speaker 1: you just have to kind of search around to see.
Speaker 1: But with movies especially, I love the real good app
Speaker 1: that's what I use to figure out. And believe me,
Speaker 1: I am. I am kind of a stickler when it
Speaker 1: comes to not paying for content. My wife was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this new Incanto, Yeah in Kanto movie. That's a Disney movie.
Speaker 1: She's like, it's getting really good reviews. And I said,
Speaker 1: is it streaming? Because guess what, I'm not paying for
Speaker 1: the movies. She said, what, because we haven't been to
Speaker 1: the movie theater in two years. I said, I don't care.
Speaker 1: I said, I pay for too many streaming services. I'm
Speaker 1: not paying for you know, tickets, to the movies. She's like, well,
Speaker 1: what if we go to like a matine I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, maybe we'll go to the matinee of Incanto.
Speaker 1: But I can't. It's so tough for me because I
Speaker 1: pay for so many streaming services that I want all
Speaker 1: of my my content to be included in those streaming services.
Speaker 1: So I've been known to subscribe to a streaming service
Speaker 1: for a month just to get the show that we
Speaker 1: want to watch or the movie, like we watched uh,
Speaker 1: Clifford the Big Red Dog, and that was on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1: And so I searched for a a deal on a
Speaker 1: on a free trial for Paramount Plus. And it's interesting
Speaker 1: because I actually had a free trial on Paramount Plus.
Speaker 1: But if I subscribed through a different way, which I
Speaker 1: think ended up being Google Play, I could do the
Speaker 1: free trial again. So it does take a little work.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I might I might be a little bit more
Speaker 1: of a stickler than most people because I just I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, we're paying for so many things.
Speaker 1: I just want to make sure that you know we're
Speaker 1: getting our money's worth, and so that that's why I
Speaker 1: do it. All right, let me talk about some of
Speaker 1: the things that I want to talk about on this show.
Speaker 1: So let's see. We went through the interview with Tim Cook. Oh,
Speaker 1: the book I'm reading right now, this is a speaking
Speaker 1: of something that I purchased. So this was an example
Speaker 1: of I couldn't get a free trial. So I've done
Speaker 1: I've done so many Audible free trials over the years,
Speaker 1: and I guess Audible finally cut me off and they said,
Speaker 1: all right, no more, no more free trials for you.
Speaker 1: And so I wanted to read this new book by
Speaker 1: Gary Vaynerchuk, and I say read, I'm actually going to
Speaker 1: listen to this one. But it's called twelve and a
Speaker 1: half and it's about the emotional ingredients necessary for business success.
Speaker 1: And he goes over sort of twelve twelve things that
Speaker 1: he's identified that are essential if you want to be
Speaker 1: good in business, and good in business means anything you
Speaker 1: can be. Good as an employee, good as a manager,
Speaker 1: good as just you know, regular person like in my job.
Speaker 1: And so so far. Anyway, so I paid the fifteen
Speaker 1: dollars on Audible for a free month, which are for
Speaker 1: a month of service, which gives you a credit that
Speaker 1: you can use towards an audiobook. And so I bought
Speaker 1: this and I've been listening to it and I got
Speaker 1: to say, I am very very impressed so far. The
Speaker 1: first the first like element was gratitude. And I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: I've heard the word gratitude so many times in my life,
Speaker 1: I mean, more than I can talk in the past
Speaker 1: five years. Right, Like, I never even growing up, you
Speaker 1: never heard the term gratitude. Well I didn't, but you know,
Speaker 1: and for me, I was probably first exposed to it
Speaker 1: just a couple of years ago, and I maybe vaguely
Speaker 1: knew what it was, but not really And so I
Speaker 1: never heard anyone explain what gratitude was better than Gary
Speaker 1: Vaynerchuk and he explained this to me. And I have, honestly,
Speaker 1: in the past twenty four hours realized how fortunate I
Speaker 1: am in life more so than I ever have before.
Speaker 1: And so that kind of his point is that that
Speaker 1: can how you are as a human and how you
Speaker 1: are as an employee or a business person. And I
Speaker 1: will say that I am I don't know, like the
Speaker 1: gratitude like it goes into almost every thought that I
Speaker 1: have right now, and it's because of this book. And
Speaker 1: so I highly recome in this book. If you're you know,
Speaker 1: I don't need you to be like hustling on the
Speaker 1: side project and all this stuff, but like if you're
Speaker 1: just trying to be a better employee, a better human,
Speaker 1: a better person, a better worker, a better manager, a
Speaker 1: better anything. I really really like this book because I
Speaker 1: was wondering if it would apply to me, because I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: not like a big entrepreneur or big whatever. But it's
Speaker 1: so far has been right on point, and so it's
Speaker 1: called twelve and a half. I really really like it.
Speaker 1: Gary Vaynerchuk is one of my favorites. By the way,
Speaker 1: grew up in New Jersey. He is an immigrant, but
Speaker 1: he grew up in New Jersey when his family came
Speaker 1: here to the US from I believe it was like
Speaker 1: the I think he said Bella Rusa in the Soviet Union.
Speaker 1: But a great story and just someone I followed for
Speaker 1: many years and such a great guy. I actually had
Speaker 1: the chance to interview him many years ago, and at
Speaker 1: that point I wasn't really as familiar with the power
Speaker 1: of Gary v. And now I wish I got to
Speaker 1: go back to that interview because I would have he
Speaker 1: I think at the end of the interview he asked
Speaker 1: if we wanted to like have a sip of wine together,
Speaker 1: because that's his big thing is he had a wine business.
Speaker 1: And I was like so meek in like whatever that.
Speaker 1: I was kind of like, uh, I can't treat him
Speaker 1: on a job. And I had like one little sip.
Speaker 1: Maybe I cheered with him. I don't even think I
Speaker 1: drank it. And I just what a missed opportunity. I mean,
Speaker 1: rich Rich de miro of, that was like ten years ago,
Speaker 1: what were you thinking? You were sitting with Gary Vaynerchuk
Speaker 1: and he said you want to toast? And I just
Speaker 1: I faked it, Like what why would I do that?
Speaker 1: So I'm a very different person than I was ten
Speaker 1: years ago, So I would I would. I'd be like, Gary,
Speaker 1: clear your schedule, let's let's uh, let's split the bottle
Speaker 1: and uh and let's let me just pick your brain
Speaker 1: for the next hour and a half. Anyway, twelve and
Speaker 1: a half. Great book. Highly recommend it. And this is
Speaker 1: one of those books that you can listen to. It's
Speaker 1: just it's just so easy to hear Gary speak and
Speaker 1: listen to this book. And I'm gonna actually re listen
Speaker 1: to this book I think every other year or every
Speaker 1: year because as i'm listening to it, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's so good, that's so good, that's so good. I
Speaker 1: need to remind myself you're in, you're out just of
Speaker 1: some of these emotional ingredients. Some of the other ones
Speaker 1: are like empathy and yeah, you're like rich, what these
Speaker 1: are not? These are not the standard business school things
Speaker 1: that they teach you. No, it's not. And that's the
Speaker 1: whole point is that you're learning. You're learning the the
Speaker 1: extra you know, the stuff that you don't necessarily learn
Speaker 1: in business school, and it's stuff that really does come
Speaker 1: into play in every aspect of your life. And so anyway, now,
Speaker 1: by the way, Gary's last book, Crushing It was the
Speaker 1: book that made me write my book, the iPhone Tips
Speaker 1: Book one hundred and one Handy Tech Tips for the iPhone,
Speaker 1: which was my first book, and then I wrote a
Speaker 1: second book, and both those books were very, very successful
Speaker 1: on Amazon. I self published those and I had no
Speaker 1: idea just how successful they would be, and I wish
Speaker 1: I kept going. There were some issues with continuing to
Speaker 1: go to continue to write new books, which hopefully maybe
Speaker 1: I'll resolve in the future, but I just couldn't do
Speaker 1: those with my current position. Well, I don't want to
Speaker 1: get into it anyway. We'll leave it at that. But anyway,
Speaker 1: my books were very successful people that bought them. They
Speaker 1: still have four and a half stars on Amazon. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's really just the that was an amazing experience, and
Speaker 1: I really I should write a book about that experience
Speaker 1: because it was so cool. The other thing I did
Speaker 1: this week was I upgraded my Tesla to the self
Speaker 1: driving package. Like the It's weird. There's like three levels
Speaker 1: of self driving, or I should say autopilot on the Tesla.
Speaker 1: The first is what comes with the car standard, which
Speaker 1: just kind of keeps you in your lane and keeps
Speaker 1: you at a standard distance from the car in front
Speaker 1: of you. The second is what I subscribe to, which
Speaker 1: is pretty much autopilot navigation, which will change lanes by itself.
Speaker 1: It will, you know, keep the speed. It will basically
Speaker 1: drive the car for you, and also switch freeways so
Speaker 1: if you have to go from you know, let's say
Speaker 1: in La the one to one to the one ten,
Speaker 1: it will change lanes and continue on that route. So
Speaker 1: it's really like driving itself, but it's not full self driving,
Speaker 1: so it doesn't do it on city streets. That's that's
Speaker 1: called full self driving. That's in beta, and that's included
Speaker 1: in this but I don't have it just yet. You
Speaker 1: have to request that. So my thoughts on the self
Speaker 1: driving situation are, honestly, I'm not ready for it. It's
Speaker 1: it's not fully there yet. I don't trust the car
Speaker 1: to drive itself enough in a big enough way that
Speaker 1: I can relax when it's in this self full self
Speaker 1: driving mode. And I think that the standard autopilot that
Speaker 1: the Tesla comes with is just sufficient for me. There
Speaker 1: is one feature I do like on the upper level,
Speaker 1: which by the way, this is two hundred dollars for
Speaker 1: the month two twenty with tax here in California. But
Speaker 1: the feature that I like is that when you put
Speaker 1: the blinker on, it'll change lanes automatically, so you don't
Speaker 1: have to like really think about changing lanes. It will
Speaker 1: notice when there's an opening and it will change. And
Speaker 1: it's kind of aggressive when it changes lanes, like it's
Speaker 1: and it's kind of all over the place too. If
Speaker 1: like in La, when you put your blinker on to
Speaker 1: signal a lane change, people like to push into that
Speaker 1: lane immediately or not let you go because it's like
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's this weird aggression thing that I
Speaker 1: don't have. Like I when someone puts on their blinker
Speaker 1: and I'm a very I should mention and I've probably
Speaker 1: mentioned this before. I'm a very easy going driver. In fact,
Speaker 1: probably to a detriment because people get behind me and
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, you're in a fast lane. You're going
Speaker 1: so slow, and I'm like, I don't. I just want
Speaker 1: to be safe and I don't really care. I time
Speaker 1: out my trips, so I'm going to speed limit. I
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna arrive on time. I don't need to
Speaker 1: be one of those people that wings in and out
Speaker 1: of traffic. That's just me. I just don't like that
Speaker 1: kind of driving. So personally, I'm a pretty boring drive.
Speaker 1: So I just feel like the Tesla is a little
Speaker 1: bit kind of all over the place when it comes
Speaker 1: to how it approaches driving. And it's just it's great,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. It is. What they have with
Speaker 1: these engineers have come up with is just mind boggling.
Speaker 1: But as a human being driving a car, it's really
Speaker 1: tough to seed some of that power to a computer.
Speaker 1: But also, at the same time, your car is telling
Speaker 1: you that you must be in charge at all times,
Speaker 1: even though the computer is also in charge. So it's
Speaker 1: this weird power struggle that is just our brain is
Speaker 1: not programmed for that power struggle. Because this is the
Speaker 1: weird part about the auto drive is that you're it
Speaker 1: says every like fifteen thirty seconds, Hey, put your hands
Speaker 1: on the wheel, make sure you're driving, even though we're driving.
Speaker 1: So it's like, well, what do you want? Am I
Speaker 1: driving or you driving? And so it's this really weird
Speaker 1: like psychological warfare when it comes to the autopilot that
Speaker 1: your brain is like it can never fully relax because
Speaker 1: it has to be ready to take action at any time.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the whole point is that
Speaker 1: your your brain can relax a little bit because the
Speaker 1: car is driving. So until we can get to this,
Speaker 1: you know, higher level of autonomous driving, I feel like
Speaker 1: it's just simpler to drive yourself. Use some of these
Speaker 1: basic things, like I think that the the keeping the
Speaker 1: lane feature, following the lane feature, and also the speed
Speaker 1: auto adjust you know, cruise control is amazing. It's great,
Speaker 1: it's sue I use it every day. But I think
Speaker 1: that the actual like self driving of the car, like
Speaker 1: from point to point is not good until it can
Speaker 1: actually really really take control of the car and without
Speaker 1: a shadow of a doubt being control and be really
Speaker 1: good at it. All right, Uh, do we want to
Speaker 1: take another question? Let's take another question? All right, Juliana says, Hey, Rich,
Speaker 1: I always appreciate your insight on all things tech, but
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you have a credit card preference to
Speaker 1: get the most points and rewards. I thought MX Platinum
Speaker 1: would be better than the Delta AMEX, but I feel
Speaker 1: like I'm not getting as many points as I should.
Speaker 1: I fly Delta Delta monthly for work, so I do
Speaker 1: have a loyalty there. Do you already have an article
Speaker 1: about these credit cards and which one do you recommend?
Speaker 1: Thank you? I also have the Chase Sapphire or Reserve,
Speaker 1: but really wanted access to the Delta lounge at LAX
Speaker 1: Terminal two. Which is your favorite credit card? Juliana, this
Speaker 1: might surprise you. It might I have to take a
Speaker 1: sip of water there to actually get through this. But
Speaker 1: this might surprise you, But I actually don't. I don't
Speaker 1: recommend credit cards. I don't. I don't play the points game,
Speaker 1: and I know it's weird because I'm totally missing out
Speaker 1: on many, many, many points. But I use Okay, So
Speaker 1: I will go through what I do for my credit
Speaker 1: and debit situation. So my number one thing is that
Speaker 1: I don't I don't use a credit card for the points.
Speaker 1: And it's believe yes I have in the past. I
Speaker 1: do put stuff on my credit card. I do have
Speaker 1: a credit card, but my feeling with a credit card
Speaker 1: is that you inherently spend more money. And that's not
Speaker 1: my that's not my my original thought. I am a
Speaker 1: day Ramsey follower, and Dave Ramsey is all about debit, debit, debit,
Speaker 1: and so I'm a little bit of a blend. I'm
Speaker 1: realistic as well. I do like my credit card because
Speaker 1: I think it puts a little bit of a buffer
Speaker 1: between me and certain things, and sometimes I think that's important.
Speaker 1: And so here is my reasoning when it comes to
Speaker 1: credit cards. Number one, get the best one for your situation.
Speaker 1: So for your situation, if you are flying Delta on
Speaker 1: a monthly basis with your company, I would say the
Speaker 1: Delta AMEX is probably a great card for you because
Speaker 1: anything that you put on there with Delta is going
Speaker 1: to give you multiple points, and it's also going to
Speaker 1: give you perks, like if you want to get into
Speaker 1: the lounge, and that's it. I would say one credit
Speaker 1: card is perfect, that's all you need. If you're juggling
Speaker 1: multiple credit cards, it's really tough to keep track and
Speaker 1: it's too much math for me. And honestly, these credit
Speaker 1: card companies employ data scientists and you know, math peticians
Speaker 1: and marketing geniuses that are all way better than what
Speaker 1: rich Demiro's little brain can process. So in my brain,
Speaker 1: all it thinks about when I use a credit card
Speaker 1: is how many points did I just get? When I'd
Speaker 1: like to train my brain to say how much money
Speaker 1: do I just spend? And can I make that less money?
Speaker 1: And so I know this is totally radical thinking that
Speaker 1: ninety nine point nine percent of people don't do or
Speaker 1: don't care to do. But this is the way that
Speaker 1: I think because I honestly want to retire, you know,
Speaker 1: in life with some money and you know, some money
Speaker 1: to leave to my kids. And I'd rather have that
Speaker 1: for my kids than amex. Amex is way too smart
Speaker 1: of a company and they're gonna outsmart me every time.
Speaker 1: And so yes, I love the Platinum card. I think
Speaker 1: it looks amazing. I see the ads for it in
Speaker 1: the airport. I want to sign up for every time
Speaker 1: I see it. But I just keep a basic you know,
Speaker 1: I keep a nice card. I do have a nice
Speaker 1: credit card, but it's basic. It's a it's a visa
Speaker 1: and it's simple, and I get my points when I
Speaker 1: use it, but I I don't go out of my
Speaker 1: way to use it. Now, with that set, here's my
Speaker 1: rules for how I use my cards. If my card
Speaker 1: leaves my hand, it is going to be two ways.
Speaker 1: It's going to be well. Actually, if my card leaves
Speaker 1: my hand, it's going to be okay. Sorry, let me
Speaker 1: start at the base. So when I am presented with
Speaker 1: an opportunity to use my to you know, to pay
Speaker 1: for something. If I am paying, if I'm paying in person,
Speaker 1: it's always going to be mobile pay, which is taped
Speaker 1: to pay, and that's going to be using my debit card.
Speaker 1: And the reason I like tap to pay is because
Speaker 1: it does not share my debit card number with the merchant.
Speaker 1: It shares a one time card number that works and
Speaker 1: then that's it. It's it's gone into the ether. If
Speaker 1: I am putting a card in the dipper in the slot,
Speaker 1: if I am physically doing it. I'm gonna use my
Speaker 1: debit card. That's the only way because again, that little
Speaker 1: chip of my card means that the it's sharing a
Speaker 1: one time code and it's not sharing my actual debit
Speaker 1: card number. And that's it. And I'm using my debit card,
Speaker 1: hopefully with a pin so that it takes the money
Speaker 1: out immediately and I can see my updated balance. Now.
Speaker 1: The other thing I do is I use my credit
Speaker 1: card if my card is physically leaving my hand. So
Speaker 1: when my card is leaving my hand, that has a
Speaker 1: couple different meanings. When I'm shopping online, my card is
Speaker 1: leaving my hand, So I do use my credit card
Speaker 1: online because that card number when you type it in
Speaker 1: is just it's out there. Now. Yes, sites are safe,
Speaker 1: they're secure. You can probably use a debit card and
Speaker 1: be safe. But I'd rather use a credit card because
Speaker 1: I'd rather just have my stuff protected. Now. The other
Speaker 1: place I use a credit card is typically with travel.
Speaker 1: If I'm traveling and you know, buying an airline ticket
Speaker 1: or a hotel room or anything that requires a deposit,
Speaker 1: I will use my credit card because there's just a
Speaker 1: little barrier. Plus things like a rental car I've got
Speaker 1: rental card protection and stuff like that. So that's when
Speaker 1: I use my credit card, especially at restaurants. If it's
Speaker 1: leaving my hand, I will give them my credit card
Speaker 1: because they can go to the back, take a picture
Speaker 1: or my card, and boom, there goes my number. So
Speaker 1: that's my thought. Now if I'm at a restaurant and
Speaker 1: they have these new fangled you know, tap to pay,
Speaker 1: or I do my own transaction, which I absolutely love.
Speaker 1: I was at PF Chang's the other night and they
Speaker 1: had a QR code on the receipt that you would
Speaker 1: scan and then you would pay your bill through that
Speaker 1: with Apple Pay. I loved it. It was the coolest
Speaker 1: situation ever. I was like, this is amazing, And yes,
Speaker 1: on that dinner, I gave up, you know, three hundred
Speaker 1: points or whatever I would get with my credit card.
Speaker 1: But I like spending on my debit card because it hurts.
Speaker 1: It really hurts for me to spend my hard earned cash.
Speaker 1: And so when I use my debit card, I feel
Speaker 1: that pain. And when I feel that pain, it makes
Speaker 1: me want to spend less money. When I use my
Speaker 1: credit card, I'm like, I'm like, whooo, credit card swipe dip,
Speaker 1: chip dip whatever. It feels so good to use my
Speaker 1: credit card because I know I'm getting all those points
Speaker 1: on the back end, and they feel so good because
Speaker 1: I'm redeeming them for re travel. You know, you get
Speaker 1: all these points on your card, and it's like, when
Speaker 1: you really do the math, it's like a hundred bucks.
Speaker 1: And so it's like, I would rather just save one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars and not go through the whole pain and
Speaker 1: suffering of this whole credit card situation. Anyway, I know
Speaker 1: it's way longer of an answer than you want to, Juliana,
Speaker 1: but my bottom line is that pick one credit card
Speaker 1: that works for you, Pick one debit card, and lean
Speaker 1: on debit, lean on tap to pay with your debit card,
Speaker 1: and I'm telling you you'll save money. I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: People just say like, well, no, that's not true. Rich
Speaker 1: You get the points, but what you forget is that
Speaker 1: you just spend a certain percentage more with your credit card.
Speaker 1: When I go to Target and I know I'm using
Speaker 1: my credit card, I know that I'm just gonna spend
Speaker 1: more because it just doesn't feel like real money when
Speaker 1: I use my debit card. You have to like pry
Speaker 1: that money out of my hand. I'm like going into
Speaker 1: that machine, I'm like, uh, did we really spend that much?
Speaker 1: Why do we spend so much? Can I put something
Speaker 1: putting back like a pack of gum? Because I'm like
Speaker 1: a dollar or less? Here we go. So anyway, you
Speaker 1: know what, you're listening to the rich on Tech podcast,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna get rich on tech. This. This is
Speaker 1: my thought process. I know it's unique, it's not for everyone,
Speaker 1: but yet tuned into me and that's what you get.
Speaker 1: So thank you for the question. I think that is
Speaker 1: a great question. And there you have it. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to one final question. Greg says rich. I
Speaker 1: live in an old apartment with no smart devices. I
Speaker 1: saw some smart plugs on Amazon. I'm wondering if old
Speaker 1: devices can be plugged into them and make them smart.
Speaker 1: Thinking not, but your recommendation, what is it? Thanks? And
Speaker 1: this that was Greg? Okay, So Greg, yes, you can
Speaker 1: make old devices smart. In fact, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: light switches that you can use to put in your
Speaker 1: wall that will help you dim lights and things like that,
Speaker 1: as long as the lights are dimmable. But yeah, these
Speaker 1: smart plugs, I like, I just bought a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of them at the Amazon store, and I've been using
Speaker 1: them for the holiday decorations. But I like the ones
Speaker 1: from TP link very inexpensive. They're always on sale on Amazon.
Speaker 1: But yeah, get a couple of these and you can
Speaker 1: plug people have even plugged like a plum into them.
Speaker 1: You just have to be careful with the appliances to
Speaker 1: understand the wattage. And I'm not like an expert in
Speaker 1: like electricity, but I know that some things are rated
Speaker 1: too high for the plug that you're plugging them into.
Speaker 1: So these smart plugs on the side of the box,
Speaker 1: it will tell you kind of like what the amperage
Speaker 1: is or whatever it says. You just need to kind
Speaker 1: of check that against your appliance. So if you're plugging
Speaker 1: in something that's like a box fan or something, just
Speaker 1: make sure that the plug you're putting it into can
Speaker 1: handle that the whatever it is, like the wattage, the voltage,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, just make sure that those two things align.
Speaker 1: But yeah, in fact, I've been having a ton of fun.
Speaker 1: I set up all the Christmas lights in my house
Speaker 1: and outside to work with. What is it, alex A
Speaker 1: and I come home and I say, merry Christmas, alex
Speaker 1: A and boom, all the lights come on. And the
Speaker 1: babysitter was over the other day and I did this
Speaker 1: and she was like, oh my god, that's so cool,
Speaker 1: and so I was like, yeah, it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: just my uh, you know, my alex say routine. And
Speaker 1: then for the outside lights, I have them come on
Speaker 1: at a certain time I think it's dusk, and then
Speaker 1: I have them go off at a certain time and
Speaker 1: it's all through a smart plug. And so I did
Speaker 1: notice with a couple of smart plugs that some of
Speaker 1: them are more responsive than others. But so far the
Speaker 1: TP links that I have in my place have actually
Speaker 1: worked just perfectly and so no problems whatsoever. I can
Speaker 1: highly recommend those. They work fantastically, So go check them out.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, is it already that time? You know
Speaker 1: what that sound means? That sound means it is the
Speaker 1: end of the show. Oh my gosh. I didn't even
Speaker 1: get to talk about the song I'm listening to check
Speaker 1: out Missing Piece by vance Joy. I love this song.
Speaker 1: It just gets me in such a great, great mindset,
Speaker 1: great great song. I didn't talk about the Rivian, but
Speaker 1: I'll talk about that on the next show. I guess
Speaker 1: because I got to test drive another electric car. It
Speaker 1: was awesome. That's gonna do it for this episode of
Speaker 1: the show. If you'd like to submit a question for
Speaker 1: me to answer, just go to my Facebook page, Facebook
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Speaker 1: please actually engage with my stuff. Right If you're just
Speaker 1: kind of following just to be like a lookie lou whatever,
Speaker 1: then you know what. I don't want a lot of followers.
Speaker 1: I just want quality followers that are really engaging in
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Speaker 1: My name is Rich Dmiro. If you're on Facebook Live,
Speaker 1: stick around. I'll answer and chat with you after the
Speaker 1: live show ends or the podcast. I should say thanks
Speaker 1: so much for listening. There are so many ways you
Speaker 1: can spend an hour of your precious time. I do
Speaker 1: appreciate you spending it with me. My name is Rich Dumiro.
Speaker 1: I will talk to you real soon