Speaker 1: Samsung's latest gadgets. Google turns every Android into an earthquake detector,
Speaker 1: Microsoft's biggest gamble yet. Plus Your tech questions answered. What's
Speaker 1: going on? I'm Rich Dumiro and this is Rich on Tech,
Speaker 1: the podcast where I talk about the tech stuff I
Speaker 1: think you should know about, and it's also where I
Speaker 1: answer the questions that you send me. My name is
Speaker 1: Rich Jamiro, tech reporter at KTLA Channel five in Los Angeles. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1: We've got some folks viewing this morning. I don't like
Speaker 1: to say what time of day it is, because you
Speaker 1: could be listening anytime, but to me, it's morning, and
Speaker 1: we got some folks watching on Facebook, So welcome to you. Welcome,
Speaker 1: no matter where you are. We had a viewer on
Speaker 1: Facebook from India. It is interesting. I've had my Facebook
Speaker 1: page now for about ten years, which I can't believe.
Speaker 1: I think I think it was July twenty ten that
Speaker 1: I opened it. No, it couldn't be. No, no, no, sorry,
Speaker 1: it can't be that that old hold on it says
Speaker 1: on my little info page when I opened my page,
Speaker 1: and I can't seem to find that right now. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I've had it for a while and you'd be surprised.
Speaker 1: I actually do have a lot of international folks on
Speaker 1: the Facebook page, people that don't necessarily find me from
Speaker 1: KTLA here in Los Angeles, but they find me from
Speaker 1: a various some sort of post I did that goes viral,
Speaker 1: and I've had a couple of big viral hits, including
Speaker 1: looks at the iPhone and just random stuff I've done
Speaker 1: where people see it and they like it and they
Speaker 1: end up following me. So I do have a lot
Speaker 1: of people from different countries and always surprises me just
Speaker 1: how many. But welcome to you as well. I was
Speaker 1: off last week. I know it's been a little all
Speaker 1: over the place during the summer because you know, I've
Speaker 1: been taking off Fridays, which is normally when I record
Speaker 1: the show, and so last week I got a lot
Speaker 1: of questions, where's there's the show? Rich, where's the show?
Speaker 1: And Everything's okay. I was in Santa Barbara for my
Speaker 1: anniversary fifteen years, thank you, and my wife and I
Speaker 1: just went up there. We didn't have the kids, so
Speaker 1: that was kind of nice and it was just a
Speaker 1: great weekend. And Santa Barbara is beautiful. If you're not
Speaker 1: familiar with it. It's in California on the coast, and
Speaker 1: it reminds me of Santa Monica, like twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: Just beautiful, well kept and oh is that a knock
Speaker 1: on Santa Monica. Whoops, But it's kind of true. It's
Speaker 1: a very beautiful place. I always say, if I could
Speaker 1: find a job in Santa Barbara, I would live there.
Speaker 1: But I just don't know what people do there because
Speaker 1: I don't know what the industry is except tourism. The
Speaker 1: only tech company I know that's up there is called Sonos,
Speaker 1: and by the way, everyone had a Sonos. All the
Speaker 1: businesses up there have a son Nos speaker, which is
Speaker 1: really cool. But anyway, it was beautiful, lots of people,
Speaker 1: but everything was socially distanced. Everything was very safe. We
Speaker 1: had dinner outside. It was just beautiful. So I'm back.
Speaker 1: I'm ready to work, and I can't speak highly enough
Speaker 1: of Santa Barbara, although I'm sure they are kind of
Speaker 1: sick of all the folks from Los Angeles coming up there.
Speaker 1: Maybe not for the money that we're spending, but maybe
Speaker 1: just for the It was a lot of people. I
Speaker 1: was very surprised. So anyway, if you're ever in California,
Speaker 1: definitely make Santa Barbara a stop. We did a great
Speaker 1: hike called the Inspiration Point and it was just amazing,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite hikes I've ever done, actually, and
Speaker 1: the view at the top was just awesome. Let's get
Speaker 1: into the first story and something that I was testing
Speaker 1: out all weekend in Santa Barbara the Samsung Galaxy Note
Speaker 1: twenty Ultra. Samsung had their Unpacked event which was virtual,
Speaker 1: and they unveiled a whole bunch of stuff the Galaxy
Speaker 1: Note twenty, also the Galaxy tab S seven, the Galaxy
Speaker 1: Watch three, which I have on my wrist right now,
Speaker 1: and the Galaxy Buds Live and the Galaxy z Fold two.
Speaker 1: So many new items go through a couple of them.
Speaker 1: The Galaxy Note twenty. The big improvements here are in
Speaker 1: the camera. Also, it has this new haze finish that
Speaker 1: resists fingerprints. You can see it right here. I've got
Speaker 1: that as well, and it's just beautiful. This phone Note
Speaker 1: twenty Ultra is probably my favorite Android phone I've ever used.
Speaker 1: It is the culmination of so many things that Samsung
Speaker 1: has worked on over the years, and it kind of
Speaker 1: finally all pays off. I can't share my full review
Speaker 1: just yet, but I will say that as far as
Speaker 1: Samsung devices go, they got a lot right on this thing.
Speaker 1: The auto focus is the big thing they fixed on
Speaker 1: the camera. If you have a Samsung S twenty Ultra,
Speaker 1: you know that the focus has been a point of contention.
Speaker 1: And I love that phone, but the focus just got
Speaker 1: to me and it's just something that was to me unusable,
Speaker 1: and they kept doing software updates to make it better.
Speaker 1: And believe me, the Note twenty and also the S
Speaker 1: twenty for ninety nine point nine, some of the pictures
Speaker 1: you're taking, it's going to be fine. It's just especially
Speaker 1: with the S twenty Ultra, it was really the close
Speaker 1: up stuff. And I do a lot of video of
Speaker 1: little things that I'm kind of taking a look at
Speaker 1: little video and it, you know, it's close up and
Speaker 1: I need that to be focused and I need it
Speaker 1: to look good. And with the S twenty Ultra it
Speaker 1: just became a problem. And the Note twenty Ultra I
Speaker 1: find the video, I think, and the audio and the
Speaker 1: pictures to be really good. There's gonna be some challenges
Speaker 1: here and there, but overall it's not a deal breaker.
Speaker 1: It's a really really great phone. What else have I
Speaker 1: been impressed with the screen. It's one of these phones
Speaker 1: that I can't stop looking at. The screen is just
Speaker 1: so beautiful that I just can't take my eyes off
Speaker 1: of it, Like it's just it draws you in and
Speaker 1: it's just everything is fast, it's speedy. So that's the note.
Speaker 1: They also made the spen improved, so the spen now
Speaker 1: feels snappier. I guess I don't know the difference. But
Speaker 1: they also made it so you can write on PDFs
Speaker 1: that you can. Oh one one cool feature when you
Speaker 1: take notes, it syncs up the audio to what you're writing,
Speaker 1: so if you tap what you're writing later, you can
Speaker 1: hear the audio at the time. So if you're in
Speaker 1: class and you take a note and you want to
Speaker 1: hear what the teacher said exactly at that moment, just
Speaker 1: tap the thing that you wrote down and it brings
Speaker 1: you right to that part in the audio. That's really cool.
Speaker 1: And the camera the video is just it's all fantastic. Again,
Speaker 1: can't give you my full review, but that's kind of
Speaker 1: my first impressions of it after using it for a
Speaker 1: week or so. Let's see tabs seven I played with
Speaker 1: just a little bit. This is their tablet that kind
Speaker 1: of rivals the iPad Pro, and again it's beautiful. It
Speaker 1: just seems like a giant note device with it with
Speaker 1: a keyboard. It's got the s pen functionality, and that's
Speaker 1: going on sale in later in the fall. I think
Speaker 1: that these high end Android tablets are a tough sell
Speaker 1: when the iPad has so much surrounding it, especially with
Speaker 1: apps and accessories. But the tabs seven is really beautiful
Speaker 1: and a nice device as well. The Watch three is
Speaker 1: on my wrist. I love my Apple Watch and it's
Speaker 1: really tough for me to use any other watch, but
Speaker 1: I will kind of try this out a little bit.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have LTE on the model I'm testing, but
Speaker 1: it does have oxygen monitoring, it does have the workouts
Speaker 1: and all that good stuff. So I think if if
Speaker 1: you had to go with an Android smart watch, I
Speaker 1: think that this is probably the best one out there.
Speaker 1: But again I'm just not I'm not. I haven't used
Speaker 1: it enough to kind of see yet. And question in
Speaker 1: Facebook Live is it worth the price on the Ultra.
Speaker 1: The Ultra is I think thirteen hundred dollars, So the
Speaker 1: idea is that you're probably upgrading from a different phone.
Speaker 1: So Samsung is giving a lot of upgrade deals right now,
Speaker 1: up to six hundred and fifty dollars in credits, so
Speaker 1: even for crack screens. So the best way to do
Speaker 1: it is to order it from Samsung directly, and if
Speaker 1: you pre order it before August twentieth, which you still
Speaker 1: have a couple of days, you're going to get an
Speaker 1: extrae hundred and fifty dollars credit. So they are really
Speaker 1: pushing these credits. And Jonathan on the Facebook says, I
Speaker 1: love my Apple Watch, but I wonder if I can
Speaker 1: use it the Note twenty you cannot. So it's it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where I've been wearing my Apple
Speaker 1: Watch which has LTE, and then also using the note
Speaker 1: to get kind of like because I haven't switched over,
Speaker 1: I haven't put my SIM card in the note because
Speaker 1: it's really tough with I message. It's just a whole
Speaker 1: big thing. It's really Android versus iOS these days is
Speaker 1: really hot and heavy. And yes, folks are saying that
Speaker 1: AT and T has good deals. All the carriers are
Speaker 1: going to have great deals right now on especially pre orders.
Speaker 1: Once pre order time and the thing goes on sale,
Speaker 1: the deals get a little worse. So it's they these
Speaker 1: these companies put you in a really tricky situation. They
Speaker 1: want you to order this thing without actually having used it.
Speaker 1: So you've got to trust people like myself to say,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, this is so great, you should go
Speaker 1: out and spend over one thousand dollars without ever touching
Speaker 1: this device. Let's pre order it. That's really tricky. That's
Speaker 1: a tricky situation to be in. Personally, I would rather
Speaker 1: give up some of those some of the incentives to
Speaker 1: actually go to a store myself and try out a
Speaker 1: device and see how it is, see how it feels
Speaker 1: in my hand before I purchased it. But if you're
Speaker 1: really you know, if you're upgrading in your Note fan,
Speaker 1: and that's really who they're appealing to. If you have
Speaker 1: one of these devices and you want to upgrade to
Speaker 1: the latest and greatest. You have a Note four or
Speaker 1: Note five? Was there five? Six? There was no seven?
Speaker 1: There was seven, but we know what happened with that one. Okay.
Speaker 1: Galaxy Buds Live, these are some of my favorites. These
Speaker 1: are the ones that look like beans and they are amazing.
Speaker 1: So I can't say enough about these Galaxy Buds Live.
Speaker 1: If you are looking for earbuds. If you're willing to
Speaker 1: spend one hundred and seventy dollars on earbuds, these are
Speaker 1: some of the best earbuds I've tried. I love the
Speaker 1: AirPods Pro and I still think that they are the
Speaker 1: overall best earbuds, but the Galaxy Buds Live are among
Speaker 1: the best that I've t and I try a lot
Speaker 1: of earbuds and they sound good, they feel amazing. You
Speaker 1: can keep them in your ears for extremely long periods
Speaker 1: of time without any sort of fatigue, and the noise cancelation,
Speaker 1: which it has active noise cancelation is great, but it's
Speaker 1: not as pronounced as the Airpod's Pro. But I also
Speaker 1: like that because they don't seal out your ears. So
Speaker 1: I just really fell in love with the Galaxy Buds Live.
Speaker 1: The Galaxy z Fol two I don't know anything about
Speaker 1: because I didn't try it and I haven't really seen
Speaker 1: much about it, and that appeals to a very very
Speaker 1: niche audience, so I can't really say much about that.
Speaker 1: But anyway, I will say, oop, hold on, there we go.
Speaker 1: I will say Samsung did a great job in their
Speaker 1: stuff this year. They really really brought it all right.
Speaker 1: First question, comes from Janice. Jannis says, I have iPhone ten.
Speaker 1: I've been trying to get my data under a gigabyte.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing a month. I went into the setting and
Speaker 1: turned off some on just about everything. The only thing
Speaker 1: I have left is my Apple Watch, find my iPhone
Speaker 1: activity clock, Compass, and I do zoom one day a
Speaker 1: week on data for about thirty five minutes. As of today,
Speaker 1: I've looked and I've used point oh four or five gigabytes,
Speaker 1: and my daughter has used point eight gigabytes. And the
Speaker 1: billing ends on the seventh of August. So my question
Speaker 1: is am I doing it right? I'm on a family plan,
Speaker 1: but I want to play pay less than fourteen dollars
Speaker 1: a month and not forty two dollars a month. Help needed?
Speaker 1: Oh interesting, I have a feeling Janice must be on
Speaker 1: the Spectrum plan. That's a dollar you pay fourteen dollars
Speaker 1: a month for your first gig, and then versus the
Speaker 1: versus the family Unlimited plan, which is like forty a month.
Speaker 1: I think, uh, but here's the deal. That zoom call
Speaker 1: is going to kill you. You're you're not gonna be
Speaker 1: able to go under a gig for a whole month.
Speaker 1: If you're using Zoom one day a week, there's just
Speaker 1: no way. So I would say, I know you're trying
Speaker 1: to get your bill to under fourteen dollars a month.
Speaker 1: If you want to do that, you basically have done
Speaker 1: it right. You turned off data for everything except your
Speaker 1: absolute essentials, which I don't think are going to put
Speaker 1: you over a gig, but the Zoom will. So you
Speaker 1: got to turn off data for Zoom, and you gotta
Speaker 1: go WiFi on Zoom. And that's just the reality. So
Speaker 1: if you're trying to do Zoom over data, maybe she
Speaker 1: doesn't have Wi Fi, so maybe she doesn't have Wi
Speaker 1: Fi and she's just using her phone. That could be
Speaker 1: another possibility here, And you're really trying to go inexpensive
Speaker 1: for fourteen a month for everything, In that case, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be almost impossible. If you're doing Zoom, it's gonna
Speaker 1: gobble up some data. You're not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: keep that under a gig a month on that plan.
Speaker 1: So my suggestion is if you have Wi Fi, definitely
Speaker 1: lean on the Wi Fi and do the Zoom from
Speaker 1: a Wi Fi place. Now, if you want to stay
Speaker 1: under the fourteen and you want to do your zoom.
Speaker 1: You got to go find somewhere where you can latch
Speaker 1: onto some Wi Fi and do your zoom from there.
Speaker 1: So maybe outside of a Starbucks, maybe I don't know,
Speaker 1: a friend's house if you can, if you can social distance,
Speaker 1: they're backyard. I don't know, but that's really the solution
Speaker 1: that you have because there aren't too many options when
Speaker 1: you're trying to stand or a gig. That is really
Speaker 1: tight when it comes to data these days. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk about Fortnite. This does not this affects you,
Speaker 1: but not you know, I try to keep the news
Speaker 1: and information in this show to a level that affects consumers.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm all about. I'm not going to talk
Speaker 1: business here. I'm not going to talk you know, the
Speaker 1: the nitty gritty tech stuff that you know I love
Speaker 1: to talk about with other tech nerds. But this show
Speaker 1: is for the average consumer. And so that's why I
Speaker 1: talk about stuff that affects a wide swath of folks.
Speaker 1: And this one is a business to business thing. It's
Speaker 1: a big it's a big fight between Apple, Google and Fortnite.
Speaker 1: But it does affect you because it affects you in
Speaker 1: various ways. So let's talk about it. Epic Games, which
Speaker 1: makes Fortnite. They updated their app on iOS to give
Speaker 1: folks an option to buy Fortnite I guess dollars whatever
Speaker 1: they call them v bucks directly versus through Apple's iOS
Speaker 1: in app purchase system. And guess what. Apple does not
Speaker 1: like that. So what they do. They took Fortnite off
Speaker 1: the app store, and Fortnite then fought back and said, oh,
Speaker 1: you're so evil, you are a monopoly and we're suing
Speaker 1: you in federal court, and you know that's where it stands.
Speaker 1: Then they did the same thing on Google, and they
Speaker 1: gave folks an option to purchase the little in app
Speaker 1: purchases through uh through Fortnite directly instead of through Google.
Speaker 1: And what a Google say? You can't do that, you
Speaker 1: gotta we gotta take you out of Google Play. Now,
Speaker 1: when it comes to taking them out of Google Play
Speaker 1: versus taking them out of the app store, Android users
Speaker 1: can do something called sideloading, So in two seconds you
Speaker 1: can download the what's called an APK for Fortnite, which
Speaker 1: is basically this software for Fortnite. If you've ever used
Speaker 1: a Windows computer that's kind of like the EXSE program,
Speaker 1: or if you've ever used a Mac computer. It's a DMG.
Speaker 1: It's a software program that you download and you install
Speaker 1: on your device. On iPhone, it's not possible to do
Speaker 1: that without doing something called jail breaking, which is highly
Speaker 1: highly unrecommended. On Android, it's super easy. It warns you
Speaker 1: once and you say, yeah, let me install this, and
Speaker 1: you can install it. So on Android. I don't see
Speaker 1: this as being that big of a deal, although it's
Speaker 1: always easier and safer and faster and better to go
Speaker 1: through the play Store, but you have the option, and
Speaker 1: I have some apps on my phone that I've bypassed
Speaker 1: the App Store, and you just download them and you
Speaker 1: go on your merry way. But what they're doing is
Speaker 1: something bigger. They are saying that Google and Apple have
Speaker 1: this giant monopoly and they force all these apps that
Speaker 1: have payments to make you pay through Apple or through Google.
Speaker 1: And should that be the case. Now I'm kind of
Speaker 1: torn on this. I do think that there is a
Speaker 1: big monopoly. And in fact, when I was selling my
Speaker 1: book one hundred and one Handy Tech Tips for the
Speaker 1: Eye Phone, a lot of folks would say, rich, I
Speaker 1: went to the Kindle app or the Amazon app on
Speaker 1: my iPhone and it says this is not compatible. You
Speaker 1: can't purchase this from your iPhone, which is very confusing
Speaker 1: because technically you could, but Apple does you know, they
Speaker 1: want Amazon to use their payment system, so Amazon says, no,
Speaker 1: We're just not doing it. So you can't purchase from
Speaker 1: your iPhone. You can either go to a web browser
Speaker 1: and purchase it, or you know, find some other way
Speaker 1: and then download it to your phone. So it's very confusing.
Speaker 1: And this is what I think is at the basis
Speaker 1: of these lawsuits is that Apple and Google make it
Speaker 1: kind of confusing for consumers. They think the only way
Speaker 1: to purchase something is through the app, and in fact, Netflix,
Speaker 1: if you try to subscribe to it through an app purchase,
Speaker 1: they just don't let you do it. You got to
Speaker 1: go to a website. But they also can't tell you
Speaker 1: that you can do that, So I get it. This
Speaker 1: is this is very confusing for consumers. But I also
Speaker 1: see the other side of things is that Apple built
Speaker 1: this entire amazing ecosystem of iPhones that are out there,
Speaker 1: and they want to make it good for the end user,
Speaker 1: and they want to make it safe for the end user.
Speaker 1: So if the end user every time you downloaded an
Speaker 1: app and you want it to subscribe to that app,
Speaker 1: you have to put your credit card number in there.
Speaker 1: Think about the security implications of that. We do it online,
Speaker 1: but you know there is definitely a security issue there.
Speaker 1: Now you can argue and say, rich, come on, people
Speaker 1: are adults. They can figure out where to put their
Speaker 1: credit card where not. But I get Apple's argument. I
Speaker 1: also get Fortnite's argument, So it would be nice to
Speaker 1: have options. But I don't know. We're going to see
Speaker 1: what court says about this, because apparently they are. They're
Speaker 1: going to battle it out. So since twenty eighteen, according
Speaker 1: to this article in the New York Times, Fortnite's app
Speaker 1: has been downloaded more up than one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: three million times on iPhones and iPads, raking in one
Speaker 1: point two billion dollars according to one analytics firm, and
Speaker 1: Apple has gotten three hundred and sixty million of that
Speaker 1: as it's commission. So you have a good app and
Speaker 1: Apple benefits as well. Let's see on Android devices, Fortnite's
Speaker 1: been downloaded eleven million times through Google Play, which is
Speaker 1: probably kind of low because a lot of people probably
Speaker 1: sideloaded it. That's generated ten million dollars in sales according
Speaker 1: to Censor Tower, and Google has taken three million of that.
Speaker 1: This is not the last we're going to hear of this,
Speaker 1: but it is a battle. And what's going to happen
Speaker 1: on the iPhone specifically is that if you have Fortnite,
Speaker 1: you can still play it, but you can't update the app.
Speaker 1: So that means that if Apple does anything to make
Speaker 1: that app unplayable, you're out of luck. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: a problem. All right, Let's get to a question, and
Speaker 1: Tom says, what computer antivirus, malware and hacking protection would
Speaker 1: you recommend from my home? It needs to protect my computer,
Speaker 1: my WiFi, Roku, Alexa, and a smart TV. Is Trend
Speaker 1: micro Home Network Security a good one at three hundred
Speaker 1: ninety nine dollars for two years and one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: a year after. You must also purchase the maximum defender
Speaker 1: for the computer for forty bucks. Or do you recommend
Speaker 1: something else? Or Netflix just got hacked and it cost
Speaker 1: me six hundred dollars from dan V's Solutions to fix
Speaker 1: the problem and get Netflix back up and running. I
Speaker 1: watch you every morning on KTLA. Well, I am really
Speaker 1: really scared that you paid six hundred dollars because your
Speaker 1: Netflix got hacked. I'm not even sure what that means.
Speaker 1: How does your Netflix get hacked? What do they do?
Speaker 1: If my Netflix got hacked? I called Netflix or my
Speaker 1: credit card and say, uh yeah, cancel that account. I'm
Speaker 1: closing it, and I'd open up a new one. Why
Speaker 1: did you have to pay six hundred dollars? That scares me. Also,
Speaker 1: these numbers, you're throwing out four hundred dollars for two years,
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars after forty bucks, or the computer. I
Speaker 1: don't think you need any of this stuff. I don't
Speaker 1: know how your Netflix got hacked, but I don't know
Speaker 1: that it was hacked through your network. It was probably
Speaker 1: hacked through someone just figuring out your password. So Tom,
Speaker 1: I would say you probably need stronger passwords on your
Speaker 1: A counts. That's number one. Number two when it comes
Speaker 1: to protecting your network, Usually your network is pretty much
Speaker 1: protected unless you're doing crazy things and opening up ports
Speaker 1: on your router. It's usually pretty connect pretty protected through
Speaker 1: your ISP, and your computers are usually protected through Windows Defender.
Speaker 1: So I don't think you need that much. If I
Speaker 1: had to recommend anything, I would take a look at
Speaker 1: a website called next dns next dns dot io, and
Speaker 1: this will at the network level protect all of your devices.
Speaker 1: And it's like twenty bucks a year. So that is
Speaker 1: much better. It's much simpler, and it's much easier. And
Speaker 1: I think that I mean it's it's free. Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: it's free for up to three hundred inquiries a month.
Speaker 1: So I think this is actually the best way to go.
Speaker 1: Just go to next dns dot io and you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to do just a couple little things on your
Speaker 1: router and also on your devices. But you can set
Speaker 1: this up in a couple of minutes and you get
Speaker 1: a lot of you get a lot of protections on here.
Speaker 1: You can do a lot of stuff, and you can
Speaker 1: do you can do parental controls, you can do Google
Speaker 1: safe browsing, cryptojacking protection, oh my gosh, just everything. This
Speaker 1: is what you need. You don't need to pay all
Speaker 1: that money to whatever that person you were saying. The
Speaker 1: trend micro home network security the thing I've seen and
Speaker 1: now I get it. I do tech every day for
Speaker 1: my life, and I try to set up security as
Speaker 1: much as I can. But one thing I notice is
Speaker 1: that these security companies prey upon you consumers, and I
Speaker 1: tell you that because they scare you into thinking that
Speaker 1: you need a ton of stuff that you don't necessarily need.
Speaker 1: What you need to do is number one, watch the
Speaker 1: links that you are clicking. That's the best solution I
Speaker 1: can think of to not getting hacked. Number two, you
Speaker 1: need to have good passwords and what's called two factor authentication.
Speaker 1: So when you set up an account, don't just use
Speaker 1: the password that you've used for every other account for
Speaker 1: the last twenty years of your life. That is what's
Speaker 1: gonna get you hacked. Got to use a good password,
Speaker 1: and you've got to make sure that you enable what's
Speaker 1: called two factor authentication. This means that when you try
Speaker 1: to log in, the system is gonna say, hmm, we
Speaker 1: haven't seen this log in from some random place before.
Speaker 1: Is this you? We're gonna send you a text message
Speaker 1: just to make sure, and that text comes to your
Speaker 1: phone and you can't log in until you put in
Speaker 1: that message. That's number two. Now, if you want a
Speaker 1: firewall and all this stuff, and you think people are
Speaker 1: trying to hack into your network all day long, which
Speaker 1: are probably not, but if you feel like you want
Speaker 1: to do that, definitely put up some protections on your
Speaker 1: network and on your computers. Make sure Windows Defender is
Speaker 1: on a Mac. I mean, you know, make sure the
Speaker 1: basic stuff is enabled that comes with a computer, which
Speaker 1: is firewalls, and you know all the ports are not opened.
Speaker 1: But that's generally that's generally just done by default. So
Speaker 1: what you really need to do is make sure that
Speaker 1: you're not being phished. And that's the way most people
Speaker 1: are getting hacked. It's when you get an email and
Speaker 1: you click on it and it says, oh, here's your
Speaker 1: Chase bank count. Let's make sure you log in real
Speaker 1: quick and did you do this charge? You say no,
Speaker 1: and you log in and next thing you know, you say,
Speaker 1: oh no, that wasn't that wasn't Chase. So you got
Speaker 1: to protect yourself from yourself. That's really what you need
Speaker 1: to do. And those are the things that I would
Speaker 1: recommend you do. I don't think you need to pay
Speaker 1: all this money. If you have something like an Eero,
Speaker 1: for sure, I would pay the I think it's twenty
Speaker 1: bucks a year I paid or thirty dollars a year
Speaker 1: for euro Secure. So if your Wi fi company offers
Speaker 1: something like that, I would enable it. I've got that
Speaker 1: enabled online. I think it's it was forty bucks for
Speaker 1: the year. I think, so that'll that'll work for you.
Speaker 1: But that's that's what i'd recommend, all right. Microsoft has
Speaker 1: an new device that I am unclear if this thing
Speaker 1: is going to be a major hit or a flop.
Speaker 1: Surface Duo is what it's called. It's a mobile device
Speaker 1: that sort of looks like two screens put together, kind
Speaker 1: of a foldable device, and the Surface Duo is fourteen
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. It opens up into an eight point one
Speaker 1: inch screen, so imagine like a book or just a
Speaker 1: foldable device that opens and closes. It is a phone.
Speaker 1: You can do Microsoft stuff on it. It runs Android.
Speaker 1: You can have the Kindle app to read it like
Speaker 1: a book. You can put it like a tent and
Speaker 1: watch a video hands free. That's awesome. If we're flying again.
Speaker 1: You compare it with a Bluetooth controller to play Xbox
Speaker 1: Game Pass Ultimate. You can take notes with a little
Speaker 1: slim pen that sold separately. It sounds really cool. I
Speaker 1: saw this in New York City in October at the
Speaker 1: Microsoft event, but only a non working model was I
Speaker 1: able to see. I don't even think they let me
Speaker 1: hold it, but I saw the working Model demo do
Speaker 1: on stage. It looks cool, but it's one of the
Speaker 1: these things that could prove to be very very small
Speaker 1: audience of enthusiasts or people that you know want to
Speaker 1: get something that's different and cool, and I just don't
Speaker 1: know what the mass appeal of this is going to be. Now.
Speaker 1: In the future, yeah, I think we'll have stuff like this,
Speaker 1: but right now, I think it's a really tough sell
Speaker 1: because we're just not there yet, and it's very expensive
Speaker 1: for something that doesn't do very much. Maybe it does
Speaker 1: a lot, but it's just not like if you had
Speaker 1: fourteen hundred dollars to spend, I'd rather see you spend
Speaker 1: it on a laptop or a tablet that has a
Speaker 1: much larger screen, because most of us have our phone,
Speaker 1: and I'm just not sure we want to carry this
Speaker 1: around as our phone. Now. I could be wrong, And
Speaker 1: here's why I'm not just saying this to say it.
Speaker 1: When I and the blog that Panos Piney wrote for
Speaker 1: Microsoft refers to this, and I remember we had him
Speaker 1: at KTLA seven years ago when the first surface came
Speaker 1: out and he showed it to me, and instantly I
Speaker 1: saw that and I saw the potential. I saw this
Speaker 1: device that worked as a PC but also a tablet
Speaker 1: that she had a touch screen, and I saw the potential.
Speaker 1: I did not poop poo it. So I'm I'm poop
Speaker 1: poohing the duo a little bit more because I'm just
Speaker 1: not really sure that it's gonna be as you know,
Speaker 1: as great, but we'll see. So anyway, I'm getting blasted
Speaker 1: right now for my photographer. You probably can't hear. I
Speaker 1: always think it's funny. I listened to a lot of
Speaker 1: podcasts and they always reference things that are happening to
Speaker 1: them in their room. But because these microphones were using
Speaker 1: are so good, you rarely hear what's going on around us,
Speaker 1: but we reference it. So I was listening to a
Speaker 1: podcast the other day and the host kept saying how
Speaker 1: her cat was rubbing up against the mic, or was
Speaker 1: meowing whatever. I couldn't hear it at all, but you know,
Speaker 1: to her it was in her room and happening, and
Speaker 1: you know she could hear it, so she referenced it.
Speaker 1: So I do that often, and I'm probably you probably
Speaker 1: can't hear it. Maybe you heard one notification. My phones
Speaker 1: are buzzing over here, but that's the Surface duo. It's
Speaker 1: available for pre order right now. It's going to be
Speaker 1: available September tenth, and it's going to work on AT
Speaker 1: and T, T Mobile and Verizon. And again, it's not
Speaker 1: something that I personally need in my life, but I
Speaker 1: think that if it appeals to you to have a
Speaker 1: device that does a lot of stuff and business stuff, maybe,
Speaker 1: but I still feel like people are not even sold
Speaker 1: on the tablet as being a productive device for work
Speaker 1: more so than a laptop. I feel like it's tough
Speaker 1: to even sell something that's a phone, and this tiny
Speaker 1: mobile phone with two screens. But again, I'm not a
Speaker 1: predictor of all things great tech. I think I have
Speaker 1: a pretty good eye, but I think that this will
Speaker 1: be one of those things that time will tell, and
Speaker 1: of course iterations. I would not recommend getting the first
Speaker 1: version of this thing unless you just have money to burn.
Speaker 1: But I think that over iterations, we will see if
Speaker 1: this ends up to be a great device that people
Speaker 1: end up relying on. I think the Microsoft Surface has
Speaker 1: proved to be a fantastic device for a lot of people,
Speaker 1: and we'll see if the duo follow suit. Let's get
Speaker 1: to the next question from Luciana Luciana, Luciana, maybe just Lucy.
Speaker 1: We'll call her Lucy. Hey, Rich, I wanted to know
Speaker 1: how he can help have my son have his own internet.
Speaker 1: We have Spectrum at home as our cable with internet,
Speaker 1: but we use links this as our router. It just
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. My son is in his room and his
Speaker 1: Internet does not work. I've tried to find something that
Speaker 1: can make sense and work for him. Now he's on
Speaker 1: virtual school. Besides going crazy setting them up, you up
Speaker 1: three kids through different schools, I have to hear him
Speaker 1: complaining about the internet. Help me? Is there anything I
Speaker 1: can install in this house to have him have his
Speaker 1: own Internet without messing up the one we already have.
Speaker 1: I've gotten this internet question so many times over the
Speaker 1: past couple of weeks. I cannot believe it. Internet in
Speaker 1: people's homes is so bad. Nobody has realized until the
Speaker 1: pandemic because everyone's working and schooling from home. I will
Speaker 1: say it. I've said it on this podcast. I've said
Speaker 1: it again. All you have to do is get a
Speaker 1: mesh network. Your Internet from Spectrum is just fine. It
Speaker 1: works fantastically. It works as it works for three devices
Speaker 1: with three different schools and three different kids and mom
Speaker 1: working and potentially dad working at the same time. In fact,
Speaker 1: it'll work for a whole bunch of stuff. It's just
Speaker 1: the problem is that lynxis router you have. The signal
Speaker 1: is terrible. It's not reaching where you need it to go,
Speaker 1: and it's just not getting to all the different rooms.
Speaker 1: And it's no fault of lynxis. When these routers came out,
Speaker 1: these original routers, we just didn't think about needing all
Speaker 1: of these devices connecting to them at the same time.
Speaker 1: So that's what's happening. You need to get an ERO,
Speaker 1: You need to get a Google Wi Fi or Google
Speaker 1: Nest Wi Fi, or an Orby or just look up
Speaker 1: Mesh network, take your pick. They will all work perfectly
Speaker 1: to get your network into all rooms of your house. Now,
Speaker 1: I will tell you personally, I recently upgraded to a
Speaker 1: gigabit Internet, which is one thousand down one thousand up,
Speaker 1: and I will tell you that I have had some
Speaker 1: trouble with my Mesh network because it turns out that
Speaker 1: the euro doesn't necessarily like such high speeds. So your
Speaker 1: ERO and your typical Mesh networks are gonna be good
Speaker 1: up to about four hundred megabits per second, which spectrum
Speaker 1: is two hundred down that's their standard and about ten
Speaker 1: up maybe twenty up that's gonna be your standard. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be just fine for that. Now with me with
Speaker 1: the thousand. When I first did my speed test, I'm like, wait,
Speaker 1: what turns out there's two different types of mesh networks.
Speaker 1: There's tryband and there is dual band. And if you
Speaker 1: have super fast internet like gigabit, you want to go
Speaker 1: with a tryband, and that adds an extra antenna onto
Speaker 1: your devices which helps get you faster, even faster speeds
Speaker 1: throughout your house. You do not need that. If you
Speaker 1: just have standard Internet one hundred, two hundred, three hundred
Speaker 1: four hundred, you just need a regular euro You gotta
Speaker 1: go pro. If you want the tryband, look for the
Speaker 1: word tryband on your mesh network. If you have super
Speaker 1: fast internet, I am having trouble securing the third node
Speaker 1: I need here. I was able to buy an extra one,
Speaker 1: and so I'm not there just yet. So my Internet's
Speaker 1: good and I'm getting the speeds at the hub, but
Speaker 1: I'm not getting them throughout everywhere in my house like
Speaker 1: I used to. So that's my recommendation. If you have
Speaker 1: bad Wi Fi. Look for something called a Mesh network.
Speaker 1: Just pick one, look at the reviews, go with it.
Speaker 1: They're all pretty good. But again, what we're realizing is
Speaker 1: that all of our Wi Fi networks were just never
Speaker 1: equipped to handle so many people doing so many things
Speaker 1: from home, all at the same time. So you got
Speaker 1: to go with the Mesh network to make that possible.
Speaker 1: This next story, I think is just so cool. This
Speaker 1: is Google doing what Google does best, and this is
Speaker 1: Google being amazing. And yes, you can talk about Google
Speaker 1: being a big evil company that just wants to collect
Speaker 1: our data, but they do some incredible stuff and this
Speaker 1: is one of those things. First, they are taking on
Speaker 1: earthquakes and how they're doing this is twofold number one.
Speaker 1: In California, they're gonna start sending earthquake alerts to Android devices.
Speaker 1: And you may have an earthquake app on your phone.
Speaker 1: This is separate from that. You do not need an
Speaker 1: earthquake gap anymore in California if you have an Android device,
Speaker 1: Google is going to send these out sort of like
Speaker 1: Amber alerts. They're handling them like an alert you would
Speaker 1: get from the government. And they did this. They teamed
Speaker 1: up with the USGS and they're tapping into their seismometers
Speaker 1: installed across the state and their shake alert system. So
Speaker 1: over the next couple of weeks it's gonna be I
Speaker 1: think they said several weeks, this will be enabled on
Speaker 1: all Android devices, Android five point zero up. What does
Speaker 1: that mean? If you have an Android device from twenty
Speaker 1: I think fifteen and older and newer, I should say,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get these these alerts on your phone, so
Speaker 1: you'll be surprised. The next time we have an earthquake,
Speaker 1: you will get an alert. Hopefully you'll get the early alert,
Speaker 1: and that's number one. And if you want to turn
Speaker 1: these off, you can turn them off like you would
Speaker 1: an amber alert. And the way they're doing this and
Speaker 1: they're getting it too all the Android phones and why
Speaker 1: you don't need an app is they're updating on something
Speaker 1: on your phone called Google Play Services. So it's not
Speaker 1: even an operating system update. It's literally an update to
Speaker 1: the core of Android. And this is the same thing
Speaker 1: that they did for the alerts for COVID, the what
Speaker 1: they call exposure notification. Google I think is getting really
Speaker 1: smart about how they're approaching Android updates. They have realized
Speaker 1: that the carriers and the manufacturers cannot get system updates
Speaker 1: to devices in a meaningful timely manner, unlike iOS, where
Speaker 1: Apple every couple of months every year at least, they
Speaker 1: come up with a new iOS, you know, iOS eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen,
Speaker 1: and every couple of weeks or whenever they feel necessary,
Speaker 1: they do an update to the iOS and it goes
Speaker 1: to every iPhone. Android can't do that with the way
Speaker 1: Android is built. Android gives Apple or sorry, Google gives
Speaker 1: a software to all these manufacturers and they do whatever
Speaker 1: they want and they put the software on their phone
Speaker 1: and then they're responsible for updating it. Google really can't
Speaker 1: update these things in their own way except when it
Speaker 1: comes to Google Play services. And so that's what they've
Speaker 1: ended up doing. And it's so smart. Okay, So that's
Speaker 1: the first thing. Second thing they're doing, and this is
Speaker 1: where I get really excited as a nerd. They are
Speaker 1: using all of Android phones across the world to detect earthquakes.
Speaker 1: So they're using the little sensors in them. They specifically
Speaker 1: accelerometers that can sense when your phone is moving and shaking,
Speaker 1: and specifically when your phone is plugged in and motionless
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden it's jarred. It's going to
Speaker 1: take that information and send it to Google for analysis,
Speaker 1: and Google's going to use their super smart engineers and
Speaker 1: they're super smart algorithms to figure out what was this
Speaker 1: an earthquake. And the way they describe it in their
Speaker 1: system here is they say that they are racing against
Speaker 1: the speed of light. And so eventually, when all these
Speaker 1: phones are online and they are sensing an earthquake, they're
Speaker 1: going to send all the data to Google, and Google's
Speaker 1: going to analyze it real quick and then hopefully be
Speaker 1: able to send out even more alerts under this system.
Speaker 1: I think that is just incredible. It is such a
Speaker 1: good use of good use of technology. We have Android
Speaker 1: phones around the world, So imagine that that first California
Speaker 1: had to in you know, all these different seismologists had
Speaker 1: to build these little seismographs. Is that what they're called?
Speaker 1: No seisometer size? Oh my gosh, seismometers across the state.
Speaker 1: How expensive are those things? They're super expensive. We only
Speaker 1: have seven hundred of them. Imagine millions, if not billions,
Speaker 1: of Android phones around the world that can do the
Speaker 1: same thing. Next question comes from Angela. Hey, Rich, do
Speaker 1: you review indoor cycling bikes that are paired with interactive apps.
Speaker 1: I'm an avid Spin enthusiast and will not be first
Speaker 1: in line at my local place when it opens. I've
Speaker 1: been looking at Spin bikes from my home gym. I
Speaker 1: don't want to pay the cost of Peloton bikes, so
Speaker 1: I've been looking at alternatives referenced in the subject line.
Speaker 1: Oh what was the subject line? Reportedly they are compatible
Speaker 1: with the Peloton app, but I trust your judgment. I
Speaker 1: am requesting your help as I believe there are some
Speaker 1: drawbacks that I'm missing. Okay, So she let me see
Speaker 1: here Peloton. Okay, so she's looking at the uh oh,
Speaker 1: the bike. I have the Boflex C six and also,
Speaker 1: let's see here the Shwin I see four. Okay, so funny.
Speaker 1: I actually have the Bowflex C six bike, which I love.
Speaker 1: It's been a absolute lifesaver through the pandemic because I
Speaker 1: ordered it when I saw it at CS. I was
Speaker 1: at CES in January, back when you can, you know,
Speaker 1: go to something and see other people and be in
Speaker 1: a room with other people, and I fell in love
Speaker 1: with this bike because I thought it just came to me,
Speaker 1: like I thought the Peloton was cool, but not for
Speaker 1: twenty five hundred and you know, fifty sixty bucks a
Speaker 1: month whatever they charge. But when I saw this bike,
Speaker 1: it was about I think nine hundred dollars and it
Speaker 1: just worked with an iPad. And I said, why would
Speaker 1: I not do that? What am I not getting from
Speaker 1: this bike? And they said, well, you don't get the
Speaker 1: leaderboard from Peloton. You don't get the so you get
Speaker 1: to use the Peloton app, but you also get to
Speaker 1: have your own bike. And I like the idea that
Speaker 1: this bike was compatible with a whole bunch of apps,
Speaker 1: because what if in a year, Peloton, you know, falls
Speaker 1: out of favor and there's something better that comes along.
Speaker 1: And so that's why I bought it, and I love
Speaker 1: it. It's great, it's fantastic. What you don't get through Peloton
Speaker 1: is the leaderboard and some of the social aspects of Peloton,
Speaker 1: which I'm sure people love. I personally don't care if
Speaker 1: I finish first in the class or two hundred in
Speaker 1: the class. I really don't care. I'm not that competitive.
Speaker 1: I just want my workout and I'm done. So to
Speaker 1: answer your question, what don't you get that? That's what
Speaker 1: you don't get. The other thing is that the cadence.
Speaker 1: It does match up with the app, so it does
Speaker 1: bluetooth from your bike to show how. I guess how.
Speaker 1: I don't know what cadence means. I think it's how
Speaker 1: fast your legs are moving. But the instructors will call
Speaker 1: out the cadence and say your cadence should be an
Speaker 1: eighty five right now, and you will see that on screen,
Speaker 1: so you do get that. The other thing you get
Speaker 1: is the resistance levels. The instructors will call out, Okay,
Speaker 1: you should be at a thirty right now, or okay,
Speaker 1: let's pump it up to forty to fifty. And the
Speaker 1: numbers on the Bowflex do match up. So I can't
Speaker 1: speak for the Shwin because I don't have that, but
Speaker 1: I think it's basically the same bike because they're made
Speaker 1: by the same company. But I highly recommend them. I
Speaker 1: think they're amazing and I love Peloton, and perhaps if
Speaker 1: I was willing to spend that much money on a bike,
Speaker 1: and more importantly, that much money monthly on their membership,
Speaker 1: I would get that next time. But right now I'm
Speaker 1: perfectly happy and I love the flexibility of the bike
Speaker 1: that I have, so that yeah, go ahead and get it.
Speaker 1: You're gonna love it all. Right. Next story here, You've
Speaker 1: probably seen this on Instagram and I don't know, I'm
Speaker 1: just kind of annoyed by it. Uh, And it's funny.
Speaker 1: I guess the older I get, the grumpier I get
Speaker 1: with things. But Instagram reels is the new TikTok competitor
Speaker 1: in Instagram. And you've probably seen these already. They are
Speaker 1: these I don't want to say dumb, but there there's
Speaker 1: little videos that you see that just look kind of silly.
Speaker 1: There's the video sped up, it's fast. People are doing
Speaker 1: dumb things in them, jumping off of things and singing
Speaker 1: and dancing. So this is this is a blatant ripoff
Speaker 1: of TikTok. And perhaps Instagram and Facebook are capitalizing on
Speaker 1: the fact that, you know, the fate of TikTok lays
Speaker 1: in a you know, a long distance I don't know whatever.
Speaker 1: You know what's going on with TikTok. It's uh, you know,
Speaker 1: the it's the future. Look, TikTok is going to be
Speaker 1: around in the US. There's no doubt about that. In
Speaker 1: my mind. It's just very political right now and it's
Speaker 1: very much you know, there could be I don't know
Speaker 1: what to say about TikTok. It's going to be around.
Speaker 1: Microsoft probably gonna buy it, and that's what's gonna happen there.
Speaker 1: But it's not going anywhere. It's going to be around
Speaker 1: in the US. But Instagram is famous for copying things.
Speaker 1: They did that with Stories, and I love Instagram and
Speaker 1: I love Stories. I think they did a great job.
Speaker 1: But of course Snapchat started stories and Instagram just perfected them.
Speaker 1: And so now they're doing the same thing with reels
Speaker 1: and reels lets you add audio. It lets you add
Speaker 1: augmented reality effects, timers and countdowns so you can record
Speaker 1: your clips hand free. You can align, so it means
Speaker 1: that you can, you know, change your outfit. You know,
Speaker 1: you see those people they go like this, like and
Speaker 1: they change your outfit three times, and that's an a TikTok.
Speaker 1: Now it could be an Instagram reels speed You can
Speaker 1: slow up, slow down or speed up video and it's
Speaker 1: just look, it's fun, it's cool, and yes, well I
Speaker 1: probably ever do it. Yeah, I probably will, but I
Speaker 1: have not yet. And I'm really really holding off because
Speaker 1: I see why Instagram wants this to take off, and
Speaker 1: they're putting a lot of energy into it and They're
Speaker 1: putting a lot of promotion into it, and I see
Speaker 1: my friends doing it and they're great and it's fun.
Speaker 1: But it just feels like TikTok came up with something
Speaker 1: very unique, and now Instagram's just copying it and trying
Speaker 1: to capitalize on this whole this whole situation with TikTok
Speaker 1: and China and you know, being banned potentially. But I think, look,
Speaker 1: there's probably a place for both of them. But I
Speaker 1: personally will say I may, I may start it, and
Speaker 1: who knows, maybe I will not ever do it. I'd
Speaker 1: like to try to never do it, but I don't
Speaker 1: know if I'll be able to keep myself from never
Speaker 1: doing a reels. But now you know about it, Now
Speaker 1: you know what that is. You can tell it's a
Speaker 1: reels when it's got that little it looks like a
Speaker 1: little film clip in the lower left hand corner. So okay,
Speaker 1: let's get to another question before this show is over.
Speaker 1: I usually go longer on these shows when when I'm
Speaker 1: doing them by myself, but we'll see it's so hot
Speaker 1: in here. I don't know if I can Marty says Rich.
Speaker 1: What is the search engine that is the safest, most
Speaker 1: secure I'm a senior who likes to learn and look
Speaker 1: things up. With all the issues I hear regarding privacy,
Speaker 1: I get concerned that I could be hacked or my
Speaker 1: information stolen when I'm on Google or Yahoo. Well, Marty,
Speaker 1: I don't know what you're looking up, but I'm assuming
Speaker 1: it's you know, various things that you know you just
Speaker 1: don't want in your history. I don't know what that
Speaker 1: could be, but I will tell you what is safest
Speaker 1: and most secure. So I think when it comes to
Speaker 1: this situation, there's there's three things that you have to
Speaker 1: look at. Number One, your ISP, your Internet service brider
Speaker 1: is going to know what you're looking at no matter what,
Speaker 1: no matter what you use, they're gonna know. So even
Speaker 1: if you use Chrome in a incognito browsing mode or
Speaker 1: some sort of private browsing mode, they are still able
Speaker 1: to see the website that you're visiting. So that's number one.
Speaker 1: If you want to get around that, you have to
Speaker 1: use what's called a VPN, and a VPN will will
Speaker 1: shroud what you're viewing from your Internet service provider if
Speaker 1: you want to go that far. Now, if you just
Speaker 1: don't really want an AD following you around forever because
Speaker 1: you looked up, you know, something that you wanted to buy,
Speaker 1: and next thing you know, you're getting ads for it.
Speaker 1: Like for me, I was researching those photo sticks and
Speaker 1: next thing you know, all the ads on my Instagram
Speaker 1: are for these photo sticks. And so if you don't
Speaker 1: want that happening, you can use a private browsing window
Speaker 1: to look and that will be just fine, and it
Speaker 1: won't record your history in Google or you know, whatever
Speaker 1: search engine you're using. And to do a private browser
Speaker 1: you just do new incognito window. So you want to
Speaker 1: look up an incognito tab on your mobile phone, you
Speaker 1: can use something like Firefox. By the way, Okay, so
Speaker 1: while we're still on search engines, if you want to
Speaker 1: get if you want to do something more private with
Speaker 1: your search engine, you can do you start page dot
Speaker 1: com and startpage dot com is a provider that will
Speaker 1: not keep anything on record, so you can just type
Speaker 1: in anything you want on there and it will not
Speaker 1: keep it on record, it doesn't link it to you,
Speaker 1: and that's pretty private. They also have this really cool
Speaker 1: thing called anonymous view, so you can visit a website
Speaker 1: without anyone, including your ISP, knowing that you visited that website.
Speaker 1: So that's another way you can do it, and that's
Speaker 1: to kind of explain that in quick terms. They're kind
Speaker 1: of using what's called a proxy or almost like a VPN,
Speaker 1: just for that visit. So that startpage dot com is
Speaker 1: really good for that. If you want to remain anonymous,
Speaker 1: there's also duc dot Go. People know about that one.
Speaker 1: And if you really want to up the ante, you
Speaker 1: can use an entire web browser built around privacy, something
Speaker 1: like Brave dot com, and you have to download that
Speaker 1: to your computer and they really protect your privacy as well.
Speaker 1: On your mobile, you can download that as well, or
Speaker 1: you can use a website or a browser called Firefox
Speaker 1: Focus on mobile. So I have this on my iPhone.
Speaker 1: Anytime I look up anything medical related, I use Firefox
Speaker 1: Focus because I don't really want, you know, just because
Speaker 1: you look up something what happened in my time or here,
Speaker 1: just because you look up something, you know, you think
Speaker 1: that you're you know that whatever's on your toe is.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like these medical things I just don't
Speaker 1: want in my Google record, you know, so you just
Speaker 1: look them up in Firefox Focus and you don't have
Speaker 1: to worry about being tracked that way. So that's the
Speaker 1: best way to do it on your mobile device. I
Speaker 1: hope that answers your question. Speaking of being tracked, this
Speaker 1: is actually a perfect segue into my next story, how
Speaker 1: the NSA keeps phones safe from tracking. Wired has an
Speaker 1: article that says the National Security Agency shared a three
Speaker 1: page primer on how to limit your location data exposure.
Speaker 1: And here's the things you need to do on your
Speaker 1: phone if you don't want to be tracked, according to
Speaker 1: the NSA. Number one, turn off Bluetooth and Wi Fi
Speaker 1: when you're not using them. Then turn on airplane mode
Speaker 1: whenever you're not using your phone. Okay, well, how you're
Speaker 1: gonna get calls? Turn off or decline location sharing permissions
Speaker 1: for apps, including your browser. And this is a smart one.
Speaker 1: So if you're start. If you download an app and
Speaker 1: asks for a location, just say no if it doesn't
Speaker 1: need your location. Most apps don't need your location unless
Speaker 1: there's a good reason for it. Make sure you at
Speaker 1: least limit their ability to check your location to only
Speaker 1: when you have the app open. That's something new on
Speaker 1: iOS thirteen. It says, you know, hey, only allow while
Speaker 1: you're using the app. That's a really good thing to do.
Speaker 1: I would definitely recommend that reset your phone's advertising ID
Speaker 1: at least weekly. Okay, you can do this on both
Speaker 1: I believe on Android. I know you can do it
Speaker 1: on iPhone. And what that is is when these advertising
Speaker 1: networks tap into your phone, they get this advertising ID
Speaker 1: that identifies you across all the different networks and across
Speaker 1: all the different websites. And if you reset that regularly,
Speaker 1: it's tougher to track you. Don't use iOS or androids
Speaker 1: Find my Device features, Yeah, because that's tracking you and
Speaker 1: keeping a you know, a record of all the places
Speaker 1: you've gone. And consider using a trusted VPN provider. I
Speaker 1: always get questions about trusted VPNs. I don't necessarily have
Speaker 1: one that I use, so I can't really say which
Speaker 1: VPN that I like. But there's a lot of them
Speaker 1: out there, and I think you want to look at
Speaker 1: ones that have There's a lot of articles dedicated to
Speaker 1: finding a good VPN. So I'll let you just Google
Speaker 1: for trusted VPNs and you know, scroll past the ads
Speaker 1: and look for good articles on that, maybe from like
Speaker 1: the Wirecutter, from PC magazine, from you know, trusted blogs
Speaker 1: that don't don't find blogs that are just advertising shrouded
Speaker 1: as a you know blog. You want to find trusted
Speaker 1: websites like the vergs recommending them, Wirecutter or you know,
Speaker 1: you know, look for trusted sources when you look up
Speaker 1: these blog these VPNs that are really good. Do we
Speaker 1: have time for one more question? Let's see, let's see. Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna do two more things I
Speaker 1: thought were interesting real quick. So I thought this was
Speaker 1: really smart. This is in Google, in Google Search, they
Speaker 1: are doing something that I think is brilliant and I
Speaker 1: can't believe it hasn't been there before. But now when
Speaker 1: you search on Google where to watch live sports, it
Speaker 1: will tell you. And they're starting this with MLB and
Speaker 1: NBA games. And it's funny because I don't have standard cable.
Speaker 1: I just use streaming for everything, and I have an
Speaker 1: antenna and so whenever I need to watch a sporting event,
Speaker 1: which is pretty rare, but when I do, I do
Speaker 1: watch some sports, sometimes I will search, you know, USC
Speaker 1: game streaming. And it always surprised me that Google didn't
Speaker 1: just give me like where it's streaming and how to
Speaker 1: into that. And I'm not talking about these illegal streams,
Speaker 1: so I'm talking about like actual ways of streaming it,
Speaker 1: like it's on you know, channel four, or it's on
Speaker 1: channel five, or it's on channel seven whatever, or it's
Speaker 1: on Fuboo with the Fox Sports app. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about, and that's what Google is now doing. So
Speaker 1: now you can search for MLB and NBA games, where
Speaker 1: to watch the Clippers game, or how to watch the
Speaker 1: A's game, and it will tell you how to tune
Speaker 1: in across a variety of services where it's available. And
Speaker 1: you can also do live TV options, so it'll tell
Speaker 1: you which live TV is showing the game on the day,
Speaker 1: so it'll say live on you know, channel five, live
Speaker 1: on channel seven, live on channel two. I love this,
Speaker 1: and if you it's sad for the blogs because every
Speaker 1: sports blog does a blog post that says how to watch,
Speaker 1: because it's gotten so complicated to tune into a sports
Speaker 1: game because so many people have different ways of doing it,
Speaker 1: and so now they say how to watch, and there's
Speaker 1: literally blog posts for every game that's says, Okay, here's
Speaker 1: how you watch it on linear TV Channel four, Here's
Speaker 1: how you watch it on the app NBC Sports App.
Speaker 1: Here's how you watch it on streaming NBC Sports app.
Speaker 1: On you know, fire TV. Here's how you watch it on.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's all these different things, and so now
Speaker 1: it will tell you, you know, Sling TV has it
Speaker 1: on this channel. But that's really cool. It's rolling. Everything
Speaker 1: with Google rolls out. So if you try this right
Speaker 1: when you hear it from me talking about it, you
Speaker 1: may not get it that first minute. Everything with Google
Speaker 1: kind of takes a little time because I tried this
Speaker 1: on my phone and I didn't have it just yet.
Speaker 1: But it will eventually get there. All right, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do one more question, a bonus question, because I feel
Speaker 1: so good today. Clark says, my name is Clark. I've
Speaker 1: been a big fan of yours on KTLA channel five
Speaker 1: and also your flash briefing on my Echo show. I
Speaker 1: like that I need some help. My granddaughter is thirteen.
Speaker 1: She's a great is a great kid. We're giving her
Speaker 1: some more freedom. We want to set up a free
Speaker 1: app that allows us to track her from home in
Speaker 1: school and notified if she goes out out of a
Speaker 1: pre arranged area. We don't need homework helpers, website or
Speaker 1: text message monitoring. What can we use? Is there a
Speaker 1: free option? Or am I expecting too much? My granddaughter
Speaker 1: has an iPhone six plus Clark. Yes, there is a
Speaker 1: free option. I would recommend there's a couple ways you
Speaker 1: can do this, and yes, you can use the built
Speaker 1: in find my feature on iPhone, but I don't know
Speaker 1: what kind of phone you have, and I don't know
Speaker 1: how many people are trying to track this granddaughter. But
Speaker 1: I would recommend what's called Life three sixty and Life
Speaker 1: three sixty dot com is kind of the gold standard
Speaker 1: when it comes for tracking families. It is the probably
Speaker 1: the best family tracker out there. And the reason you
Speaker 1: can say, Rich, why aren't you recommending what's already free
Speaker 1: on iPhone? Because not everyone has an iPhone, Not everyone
Speaker 1: has the same exact platform. And I like things that
Speaker 1: are cross platform. I like products that work across everything.
Speaker 1: So whether you want to log in via the website,
Speaker 1: whether you want to log in on your Android, whether
Speaker 1: your grandma has an Android, grandpa has an iPhone, the
Speaker 1: granddaughter has Linux, whatever it is, well, maybe not Linux,
Speaker 1: but it's gonna work across all these things. And that's
Speaker 1: why I always like products that work across platforms. It's
Speaker 1: the reason why I message is the bane of my existence.
Speaker 1: I hate it because it's so great, but guess what,
Speaker 1: it only works if everyone using it has an iPhone.
Speaker 1: Airdrop is so amazing, but guess what, it only works
Speaker 1: if you're using all Apple products. I like cross platform
Speaker 1: stuff because I see a world where technology should work
Speaker 1: for every person, not just people that subscribe to one
Speaker 1: specific thing. And so this is why i'd set up
Speaker 1: and get started with something like Life through sixty. Now, look,
Speaker 1: if your family's all Apple and you only care about Apple,
Speaker 1: and you love Apple products and you're never gonna buy
Speaker 1: anything else, then sure go with the fine feature. But
Speaker 1: I think you should be going with Life three sixty
Speaker 1: because it works across everything. And that is my soapbox
Speaker 1: for the day. Thanks so much for listening to the
Speaker 1: show that is going to do it for today's show.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to submit a question for me to answer,
Speaker 1: just go to Rich on tech dot tv and hit
Speaker 1: the email button. They used to say button from New
Speaker 1: Jersey button at the bottom bottom of the page. Do
Speaker 1: people really pronounce teas like that? Come on button Fountain, No,
Speaker 1: I say button live with it. We'd also love it
Speaker 1: if you rate and review this podcast to help other
Speaker 1: people discover it. I would look up a recent rating,
Speaker 1: but I can't right now. Just go to rate this
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash rich on Tech and I know
Speaker 1: that you listen to this, and there's a lot of
Speaker 1: you that listen to this. Thank you so much. We've
Speaker 1: had Surprisingly, the listenership is up over the pandemic. So
Speaker 1: you guys must be really bored if you are sitting
Speaker 1: there listening to my podcast for an hour. No, I'm
Speaker 1: just kidding, and you're not driving a work but thank you.
Speaker 1: I do appreciate it. I feel like I give good information.
Speaker 1: The numbers are up, so I know you're listening. Just
Speaker 1: leave that review, please. I'm just gonna beg you, beg you.
Speaker 1: Because when people see lots of good reviews on the
Speaker 1: Apple iTunes or whatever program using, they're like, oh, people
Speaker 1: must like this show, let's listen. They can't see how
Speaker 1: many people listen to it. They can only see that
Speaker 1: people review it. So that's why it helps. You can
Speaker 1: find me at rich on Tech on all platforms. As
Speaker 1: you know, I've been pumping it up, pumping out the
Speaker 1: output on all these different platforms. I'm running on fumes. Wait, no,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the term is, but I'm doing
Speaker 1: a lot I'm posting much more so Rich on Tech.
Speaker 1: Whether you're on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, I'm Rich demiro
Speaker 1: On behalf of everyone that gets this show to your ears.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. Stay safe, We'll talk
Speaker 1: to you real