WEBVTT - Meta Ray-Bans Review, Managing Photo Duplicates & Choosing Your Perfect Cell Plan 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.480 Are you missing your iPhone notes after the iOS update, 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:07.160 I've got the quick fix. If you've got your eye 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.840 on a Pixel nine, there is a secret discount available. 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:12.000 I'll tell you where to find it. 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.319 And while you might be able to stop paying for 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:19.160 antivirus software in twenty twenty four plus, your tech questions answered? 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:22.680 What's going on? I'm Rich Demiro and this is Rich 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.520 on Tech. This is the show where I talk about 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:27.840 the tech stuff I think you should know about. It's 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:30.840 also the place where I answer your questions about technology. 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:34.960 I believe the tech should be interesting, useful, and fun. 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.320 Let's open up those phone lines at triple eight Rich 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.720 one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four to 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:46.240 two four one zero one. Once again, that's eight eight 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:50.279 eight seven four to two four one zero one. Give 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:52.160 me a call if you have a question about technology. 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:55.680 Email is also an option. Just go to Rich on 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:58.400 Tech dot tv and hit contact. 0:00:58.960 --> 0:00:59.560 We've got some. 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.440 Great guests this week. Two people I know very well, 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:07.160 tech journalist Rob Pagerrero. He maintains Wirecutters cell Phone Plan 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.160 cell Phone Plan Guide, and he's going to tell you 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:13.199 how to choose the right carrier and plan for your needs. 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.720 It's gonna be a great conversation there and then later 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.920 Dan Akerman, we'll talk about making an AI video clone 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:23.200 and talk about the potential for this and also the 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.399 implications of this. But first let me fire up my 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.240 ray Ban metas here. You can't see this if you're 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:35.520 listening obviously on the radio, but in person. Here I 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:40.640 am wearing the new ray Ban Meta smart glasses. Went 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.559 to the opening of the store here in Los Angeles 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.080 this week. This is just a pop up store, but 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.880 it was really really cool. I had the first version 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.960 of these glasses and I was impressed with them, but 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:56.360 not enough to really think that they were incredible or 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.279 the next big thing. But now with this second version, 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.000 I can conf say that this is an amazing gift 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.160 this holiday season because these things make me feel smart. 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.240 So what are the ray Band Meta glasses? 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:09.799 Number One? 0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:15.360 They're basically sunglasses or just regular glasses made by ray Band, obviously, 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.200 but Meta is the partner on this, so obviously the 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.480 face Facebook parent. And so what do they have. They've 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:26.240 got a camera, they've got a microphone, and they've got 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:27.520 a speaker on board. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:28.920 So what does that enable you to do? 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.359 You can take pictures and videos and You also can 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.200 listen to music, you can take phone calls, and there 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:37.800 is a little privacy light so when you're recording, you 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.000 can see that other people can see that you're recording. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.080 So if I press and hold this button right now, 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.560 hopefully on the on the radio on the weekly show 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.760 on KTLA, you can see Bobo working the board there 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.560 in the background. Hey Bobo, what's up. So you can 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.000 get really interesting point of view. So you can get 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:58.040 your point of view, and of course the whole point 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:01.160 of that is for you to share more to social media, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.640 to share more of your life to social media, and 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.320 it does work in that aspect because you're getting unique 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.359 angles that you wouldn't typically see. So I'm having fun 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.440 with that. You can take photos, you can take videos. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.200 But what's really interesting to me is the AI aspect. 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:17.399 And this was not on the first generation, but they've 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.320 built meta AI into this, so you can just ask 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.639 meta AI for information about anything. So let's say you're 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.280 holding something in your hand, or you're looking at a building. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.640 You can just say, hey, Meta, tell me what this is, 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:34.160 and your glasses will snap a picture of that thing, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:37.000 look it up on the internet or using AI and 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.960 tell you all about it, so it's quite incredible, it's 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.760 quite fast, and it's really interesting. So these do connect 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.520 to your phone, so that's how that works. So all 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:48.960 the pictures kind of download your phone, the videos download 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:50.960 to your phone, but it's also using that phone connection 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.960 so that I can use that ask meta AI feature. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.160 I think that is probably the coolest feature about these 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:00.960 classes because it makes you feel super hue. Now, yes, 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:02.720 you can do this with a lot of different things. 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:04.680 You can look up stuff on your phone, you can 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.080 use Google lens. There are some earbuds that actually let 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.720 you access AI in your ear, but there's something different 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:14.560 about just having it sort of on your face, and 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.880 it's something you're wearing anyway, especially here in Los Angeles, 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.400 we're wearing sunglasses all day long. And I guess that's 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.520 my biggest downside of these meta AI glasses is that 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.120 two things. The charging case. It's really weird because it 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.000 charges in the case, but I think it's sort of 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.320 like magnetic So getting these out of the case without 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:35.919 smudging up the lenses is really tricky. 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:36.960 I've noticed that. 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.599 And then the second thing is that the transition lenses, 0:04:41.080 --> 0:04:43.039 they're supposed to go from dark to light. You know, 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.280 outside inside kind of those transition lenses, they don't really 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:48.920 get that dark. So for instance, this morning, I went 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:50.880 on a run and I wanted to wear these, but 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.520 I knew that the glasses wouldn't get dark enough to 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.200 act as sunglasses. So they get a little bit dim, 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.760 but not really enough for my taste. So you could, 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:02.039 of course get a real pair or sunglasses that also 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.640 do this functionality. You know, the meta smart glasses come 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.680 in like a true sunglass version, or if you wear glasses, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:11.840 you can get these as your everyday glasses. I can't 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.440 tell you much about the battery life because it's only 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:14.760 been a couple of days, so I don't really know 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:17.200 how good that is, but seems like the battery life 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:17.720 is decent. 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:19.800 But I have to say very impressed. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.120 So this is the second store in Los Angeles, some 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:23.600 melrose Ave if you're in LA. 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:24.680 In the next couple of months. 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:27.400 They're also going to open one in Phoenix that's actually 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.000 going to be a permanent installation. So they've got one 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.880 store up in Menlo Park where Metas headquartered. This store 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:34.920 in Los Angeles is a pop up, and then you've 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.240 got the real store they're going to build in Phoenix. 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:39.560 But apparently people really like this stuff. They start at 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.960 three hundred bucks, so not cheap. But I'm telling you, 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:45.280 I think if you've got some techie in your life 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.560 during the holiday season, you're trying to figure out like 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:50.800 what to get for them. These are incredible. Even though 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:52.599 my wife said I look funny in them today, I 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:54.440 was like, hey, she goes, you look nerdy. 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:55.960 I'm like, what what do you mean? I look nerdy? 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.760 That's who I am. I am a nerd. Now you 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:00.360 do lock a little extra nerd today? 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.880 Yeah, I'm a little extra nerdy. I'm a little extra animal, 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:04.880 little extra nerdy. That's just who I am. 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.280 Well, his friend on faris Bueller, the Guyler's day off. 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.400 I don't know, that's what you look like. That's what 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:13.040 it looks like. I can't think of his name. 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.360 There you go, so I look like Ferris Bueller's friend. 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.640 That that's. 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:19.640 All right? 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.080 Well, oh Cameron, look at Kim Kim popping in with 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.680 the Cameron. I guess that's Kim knows everything. Kim are 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.960 call screener Kim she is she really is? Or maybe 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:31.720 she just looked it up. 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:32.400 You don't know. 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.039 You know, it's tough one thing I've noticed live on 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.120 the radio. It is She said, no, she did not 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:38.680 look it up. She knew it off the top of 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.520 her head. See yeah, Kim is Our is our pop 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:45.880 culture expert. She knows every reference, all right, So you. 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.000 Know that well. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.160 I know that you are well aware of the election 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.200 news this week. So I'm not going to rehash all 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.560 of that, but suffice to say, uh, a new administration 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:57.000 means there will be a new way of doing business. Now, 0:06:57.080 --> 0:06:59.840 let me caution you as a journalist, okay, because as 0:06:59.880 --> 0:07:02.279 a journalist with many, many years in the business, I 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:04.960 can tell you what I'm seeing right now is a 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.159 lot of speculation, a lot of stirring the pot, and 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:09.840 a lot of people saying ooh ooh. 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:11.280 I want to get in on this. Because people are 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:12.160 clicking headlines. 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:14.640 So if you see a headline right now that involves 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:18.280 the new president Trump, President elect Trump, along with the 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:23.920 words could should Mike would, you have to take a 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:26.840 step back and understand that that is just someone putting 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:29.760 their opinion out there. So this morning, for instance, I 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:31.800 got an email from someone say, hey, should I get 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:34.000 a laptop today? Because they're going to be twenty percent 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:36.400 more in a couple of weeks. We don't know that 0:07:36.480 --> 0:07:38.280 laptops are going to be twenty percent more in a 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:41.000 few weeks. Keep that in mind when you're looking at 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:44.080 these headlines. They're there to sort of stir the pot. 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:46.280 They're there to get you to click, They're there to 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.960 get you to get angry. So just remember that while 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.080 you're looking through this stuff, what do we know right now? 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:52.800 Nothing? 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.400 We know zero, And even what I'm about to tell 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.800 you is a little bit of speculation. And if you 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.760 listen to this show, I always say, I tell you 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:02.800 the tech news that I think you need to know. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.200 It is stuff that's actually happened. I could talk all 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:08.640 day long about the rumors and speculation of what the 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:10.960 next Apple product's going to be, or what Google is 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.000 going to do next, or what their next move might 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.720 be or could be or should be, or here's what 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.360 it means. But I don't I talk about the stuff 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:22.040 that actually matters. So with that said, let me just 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.200 give you kind of what I think is going to 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.240 happen with big business and with the tech world. When 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.920 it comes to a president elect Trump number one friendlier 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.199 to mergers and acquisitions, we know that's going to be 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.120 a thing. We've seen a lot of major acquisitions fall 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:39.280 apart under the Biden administration because it's just not as 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:44.240 friendly to these large mergers. So Adobe and Figma didn't happen, 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.319 Amazon and I Robot didn't happen, Visa and Plaid did 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:49.840 not happen. I think that that's going to change. I 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:51.640 think that we're going to see more of these tech 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:56.160 companies scoop up the smaller tech companies because that's just what's. 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:57.640 Going to happen under this administration. 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:01.959 It just makes a lot of senserypto friendly. So President 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:05.080 Elect Trump has said multiple times and he's spoken at 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.480 events that he's going to be more crypto friendly. His 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.200 administration is going to embrace crypto in a way that 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.760 we probably haven't seen. Now, if you're following crypto, you're 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:18.000 following bitcoin, you know this already because bitcoin has shot 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:21.360 up on speculation that this administration is going to be 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.280 friendlier to it. Is the US going to switch to 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:27.640 bitcoin as the as their dollar bill. No, that's not 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.040 going to happen. But will it be more friendly to 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:35.360 crypto and crypto regulations? Probably AI. When it comes to AI, 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:38.199 we're probably going to see a lighter touch when it 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:41.200 comes to regulations on AI. That's a good and a 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.280 bad thing. It's going to allow the US to flourish 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.040 when it comes to AI and continue to be a leader. 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.800 If you look at just think about AI. It's only 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.600 been two years, it's been two short years, and AI 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.080 has changed everything. Every single product that I cover in 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.160 the tech world since the introduction of chat GBT, he 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.040 has some sort of AI component. You look at Apple, 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.199 they just transform the entire iPhone into AI. You look 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.839 at Samsung, the entire Samsung Galaxy phone is built with AI. 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:12.720 You look at Pixel, it's all about AI. You look 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:17.880 at Google, their entire business was upended because of AI. Now, 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.959 not just yet, but that company. They've done a good 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.360 job of building their AI into everything, and they've been 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.599 working thankfully with machine learning and all that stuff for 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.000 a long time. But these companies are standing to benefit 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:33.360 from a lighter touch, probably because they know that they 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.240 can push the limits a little bit more with AI. Now, again, 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.160 we don't know, we don't know what's going to happen, 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.800 but this is what sort of I'm expecting to happen. 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:42.360 Now. 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.480 Evs are an interesting one because we know from the 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.040 last time that Donald Trump was in the White House, 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.360 he was not a huge fan of evs. But here 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:53.720 he comes back to the White House and look who 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:56.800 is best friend is Elon Musk, the guy that really 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.360 pushed for him to get this job once again. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:01.439 So this is a wild card. 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.440 Now, he has not been favorable to electric cars in 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:07.120 the past, but I think we are going to see 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.000 a change because Elon Musk is going to have his 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.559 ear this time around. And of course Elon Musk with Tesla, 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:17.320 stands to benefit a lot from Trump administration that is 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.000 friendlier on electric cars. Now, do we think we're going 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:21.880 to see the same sort of regulations like we have 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:23.880 here in California where they want to make that full 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:27.240 switch to electric cars by a certain time period. I 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.960 don't think that's going to be a national thing. We'll see, 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.480 but we don't know. Again speculation. I'm just telling you 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:35.480 what I expect to happen. But I think the EV 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.320 part is a very tricky part for this new administration 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.960 because people like their gas cars. That has been very 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.960 clear to me on this show. I live in California 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:50.320 where you go in every third cars electric bobo, I 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.839 mean bobo. Can I out you here? With your new 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:57.040 electric car. Bobo just got an electric car, and so 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.520 it's one of these things and he loves it. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.840 You love about it. It's so easy, it's no maintenance. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.920 You just get up and go. The negative, though, is 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.240 the wait time for charging? Is the charging? 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:10.880 Yeah, but that's going to get better, and that's going 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:12.480 to change in other states, you know, you go to 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:13.239 other places. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:14.920 You know, I rented a car the other day. 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.600 I specifically did not rent electric car because I knew 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:19.160 charging would be a pain here in. 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.720 La not a pain at all anyway. So there you go. 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:26.360 That's the talk about the president elect. Now let's get 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.440 to your calls. Eighty to eight rich one O one 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.360 eight eight eight seven four to two four to one 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:34.040 zero one. My name is rich Dmiro and this is 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:38.600 rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:42.480 DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology at sriple 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.320 eight rich one on one. That's eight eight eight seven 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.679 four to two four one zero one. Give me a 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.840 call if something is bugging you, you need some help 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:56.440 with something, you need to question answered eighty eight rich 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.160 one on one eight eight eight seven four to two 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:01.160 four one zero one. 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:02.520 Coming up. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.600 I'll tell you about this iPhone notes app bug. If 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:09.040 you logged into your notes app and you found them 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:10.280 all gone, there is a fix. 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:11.520 I'll tell you about that in a moment. 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.360 But we were talking about those ray Band Meta smart 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.800 glasses and Russ in Grand Junction, Colorado. 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:21.400 You've got a pair of these or why? 0:13:21.880 --> 0:13:26.160 Yes, sir, I've had them about two three months and 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.520 I happen to be totally blind. Oh wow, Now, I'm 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.920 sure if you go back in the way back the 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.440 listeners remember when Radio Check used to make like clocks 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.800 that talked. They were pretty gimmicky, but they happened to 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:47.040 work with blind people. Okay, these metaglasses are wonderful for 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:47.920 a couple reasons. 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:48.160 Rich. 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.800 First of all, if you go down to ray Band, 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.360 say in Los Angeles, you pay the same three hundred 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:02.480 dollars that I pay here in Grand Junction. So means 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.800 a lot of a lot of technology for blind people 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:12.640 is very because it's of users. Well, anyway, these glasses 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.320 are wonderful and you you can't imagine the number of 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:16.760 blind people that use them. 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:18.640 Well, so how are you using them? Tell me? 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.840 Well, I use them for scanning my mail. 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:22.960 Uh. 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.200 I had a very In fact, I was telling him. 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:26.800 Uh. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.000 The other day, I had one of those big Maverick 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.840 cups and I lost my straw. It fell down on 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:37.400 the ground, and of course I couldn't find it, so 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:42.400 I said, hey, Meta, help me find my straw. It 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:43.000 told me. 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:44.920 Exactly where it was. 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:45.920 Oh. 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:46.920 No, it was amazing. 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.760 That's amazing. Yeah, I mean I was. I was in yesterday. 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.880 I just said, like, what am I doing right now? 0:14:52.920 --> 0:14:55.160 And I said, oh, it looks like you are driving. 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:57.600 Maybe I shouldn't be using while I'm driving, but it 0:14:57.640 --> 0:14:59.640 looks like it looks like you're driving. And knew the 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:01.240 exact car that I was in. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:01.920 Uh. 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.520 It just it described the whole scene, like the whole everything. 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.120 And I was like, this is incredible, and I know 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.640 what it's doing. It's taking a picture and then it's 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:12.280 using AI to sort of analyze that picture. But you 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.160 can put anything in front of you. Imagine you've done 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.600 this as well. You can put anything in front of 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.120 you and it will tell you what that is like. 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:20.560 It'll describe it to you right. 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.520 As long as you as long as you use the 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:28.160 uh the responses. You know, you have to say, hey Meta, 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:33.040 look at and then you get the response. It's amazing. Uh, 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.080 you know, go into the freezer, grab a box of 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:41.400 say pizza, y hay, Meta, Uh what do you see, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:43.560 It'll read the directions for you. 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:45.320 No, way, that is incredible. 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:45.960 It is amazing. 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:48.240 So it's interesting you say this because I went to 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:50.920 like an assistive tech conference and they had a lot 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:53.240 of you know, these these glasses are kind of like 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:57.240 the Holy Grail, right for for assistance for visually impaired, 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.680 but they are very expensive, like the ones I saw 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:01.440 were like five thousand. 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:05.880 Bucks season yeah sea suns, yeah exactly. Yeah, well yeah, 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:06.360 I would you like? 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:11.160 I mean these naturally the glasses there are specialty glasses 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:15.400 for blind people probably have other things. But as these 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:19.160 move along, the people at Meta and ray Ben have 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.480 realized that there are lots of users who want to 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.880 use the glasses, and they're going to make them more 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:26.320 intelligent for blind people. 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:26.640 Right. 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.520 My question to you, as a sighted person is why 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.240 would you want these? I mean, but I mean, if 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.640 you think about it, you know, what do they do 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.120 for you? Because you can see the use cases for 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:40.320 somebody who can't see. 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:41.560 Yes, But here's the thing. 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:46.080 For me, it makes me feel superhuman because the fact 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.120 that I can just look at any Let's say I'm 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.920 traveling and you know, I might take a picture of 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:53.200 a building and say to Google, like, you know, explain 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:54.720 what this building is all about, or give me the 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.560 history on it. But now to be able to just 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.600 look at that building in let's say Paris, France or something, 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:02.920 and just give me the history of this building. That's incredible. 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.040 And it's just again, we are just the first couple 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.520 of years of this stuff. These glasses have only been 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:10.080 out for a couple of years. In the new model, 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.919 I think is even better than the first model, and 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.800 the AI is brand new. So I think for anyone 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.399 that is you know, that just wants to you know, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.320 obviously on the cutting edge right now because he's our 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.320 pricey But I think that this that super human idea 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.760 of like before it was an address book, we would 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.639 put our our phone numbers in an address book and 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:29.760 we wouldn't have to remember them. Now this is like 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.719 that time's a million. Imagine having the entire Encyclopedia UH 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.359 in your ears at any given time. It's quite incredible. 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.359 Russ in Grand Junction, Colorado, thanks so much for giving 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:42.679 me a call today. Appreciate it. Eighty eight Rich one 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.120 O one eight eight eight seven four to two four. 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:50.359 To one zero one. Welcome back to rich on Tech. 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:54.440 Rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology at 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.200 Triple eight Rich one O one. That's eight eight eight 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.480 seven four to two four one zero zero one. 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:02.879 Let's see. 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.919 We've got the website rich on Tech dot tv. You 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.480 can go there to get the show notes. Sign up 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:11.560 for my newsletter. Be sure to do that. Every week 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:13.440 I send out a newsletter with all kinds of great 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:15.919 information and links and things, all the tech news you 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:18.560 need to know, kind of like a version of this show. Basically, 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:21.719 let's see. Then you can go to contact that'll send 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:24.680 me an email. And if you want notes on anything 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.320 I mentioned, you can hit the light bulb icon. And 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.800 I've already posted to my Instagram at rich on Tech 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:36.159 little video of me and the ray bandmetas so you 0:18:36.160 --> 0:18:37.640 can see what it looks like when I come into 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.640 to the studio here. If you're trying to access chat GBT, 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:42.919 you can do it a new way. 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.160 You can go to chat dot com. 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:49.120 Chat dot com will now take you straight to chat GPT. 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:55.080 Apparently this was the previous person who owned this purchased 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.040 a domain in twenty twenty three for about fifteen million 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.840 dollars and he sold it to open ai for an 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:05.040 undisclosed amount, but he apparently accepted company shares. 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.400 I would do that. I'd accept company shares and open aim. 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.400 Sure they're gonna be okay, but anyway, much easier Chat 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.240 dot com if you want to access chat gbt. By 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.200 the way, don't forget about perplexity AI, because chat gbt 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.639 does web search. Now they've they've incorporated the web, the 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.440 Internet into their search. It's it's okay, it's it's pretty good, 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.840 but it's not like perfect. But because they've done that, 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.000 I started going back to perplexity because they they are 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.240 the originators of sort of the web. AI search and 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:37.720 perplexity dot ai is really cool because I call a 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:41.160 book report, So if you want like information about a subject, 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.480 they're really good at coming up with a nice report 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.800 about things. So perplexity dot ai I've been using a 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:51.880 lot more, especially great for like answering questions that you have, 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:55.520 So check it out. If you have an iPhone, Okay, 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.639 if you had the iPhone bug where you opened up 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:01.840 your notes app and all the notes were missing, there 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:02.560 is a fix. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:03.600 This is quite scary. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:05.960 This is like everyone's biggest fear with the cloud, right, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.879 is that you go to open up this app or whatever, 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.040 let's say Google Photos or your Google Drive or your 0:20:13.240 --> 0:20:15.680 iCloud drive or your iCloud photos, your notes, and they're 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.080 all gone and you go what. So Apparently this was 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:24.119 a bug affecting iPhones runningios eighteen, and it was because 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.440 a lot of you. I didn't see this. Maybe I did, 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:28.520 but I didn't. Maybe I just clicked through it really quick. 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:30.919 But apparently there was a thing where you had to 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.879 accept new iCloud terms and conditions, and if you didn't 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.960 accept those, I guess the sink went away for a bit. 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:40.959 I don't know. I didn't see this happen on MyPhone. 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:43.560 I don't use Apple Notes. I use it I always, 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:46.440 you know, I prefer third party platform program so I'm 0:20:46.520 --> 0:20:49.639 using Notion right now, which I really really like. 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:51.120 But Apple Notes. 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:53.040 If you're using it and all of your stuff went away, 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:55.720 here's how you get it back. Go into settings, tap 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.840 your name at the top iCloud and then notes and 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.520 make sure sink this iPhone toggle is enabled, and if 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.600 it's not, toggle it and reopen the notes app. It 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:07.560 takes about ten minutes for your notes to come back in. 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:10.680 If that doesn't work, then just toggle the sync off, 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.600 toggle it back on and reboot your phone. But that's 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:15.639 the main thing is I guess it was related to 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:19.640 this iCloud terms and conditions, but no permanent data loss 0:21:19.640 --> 0:21:22.720 has been reported by people. And your notes are on 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:25.160 other devices, so if you have it on your Mac 0:21:25.240 --> 0:21:27.640 computer or something like that, but kind of scary. That's 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:31.040 like again, that's the biggest fear of logging in and 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:31.920 your stuff is gone. 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:32.879 That is not fun. 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:38.240 Oh my gosh, we have another endorsement for the metaglasses. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.080 Julian and Woodland Hills. We've talked to you on the 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:43.440 show before Welcome back. 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:45.160 Yes, a little over a year ago, Oh my gosh, 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.080 and you would have me on to talk about AI 0:21:48.240 --> 0:21:51.960 and how it's going to affect the lives of people 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:55.400 with who are blind, the mole vision, and we had 0:21:55.440 --> 0:21:58.480 just started to talk about the be my I service 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:03.720 and that they were offering an AI assistant. Well, speaking 0:22:03.800 --> 0:22:06.760 of the Meta glasses, something that was announced recently at 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:10.520 Meta's big conference about their stuff is a partnership with 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:14.560 that organization be My Eyes, where you can use the 0:22:14.600 --> 0:22:18.159 Meta Smart glasses to connect with it Be my Eyes Volunteer. 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:21.280 It's currently in beta test right now. I'm one of 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.800 the beta testers, and I can tell you that when 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.120 this comes out to everybody, it's going to be amazing, because, yes, 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:30.320 we've been able to do this with our phones before, 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:34.080 but when you're blind in the vision and either using 0:22:34.080 --> 0:22:36.119 a cane or a guide dog or something like that, 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.399 and carrying things, sometimes grabbing a phone is not the 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:42.360 most convenient thing to do, right, And it's because we 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:44.800 wear it. It's just so easy. You talk to it, 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:47.240 you don't have to do anything with your hands. It 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.600 just works. I'm in the midst of travel right now 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:53.280 and I use it through the airport to find food, 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.960 to find the gate, to find all kinds of things, 0:22:56.000 --> 0:23:00.359 and it's just I mean, I think these are definitely game. 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:03.120 Changer, using the be my Eyes feature to find the gate, 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:05.880 like so, so explain how that works. So let's say 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:09.080 you're wearing these glasses. You say you connect to a volunteer. 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.320 Can they see what you're seeing in live time or 0:23:12.359 --> 0:23:13.480 is it a snapshot or what? 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:16.800 No, it seems in real life, so wow, like making 0:23:16.840 --> 0:23:18.720 a video call it It's like you know, right, Now 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:21.640 anybody can make a video call through a Facebook, Messenger 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:25.720 or WhatsApp, but it involves launching the app, making the call, 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:29.520 hitting the shutter button two times to enable the video 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:32.400 camera and the glasses. This makes it happen a seamless 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:34.320 where the phone's in my pocket. It never has to 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:37.920 come out. I just tell hey, m be my Eyes 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:40.640 and it says, okay, connecting you to a volunteer from 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:43.880 Be my Eyes. And within a matter of seconds, I'm 0:23:43.880 --> 0:23:46.080 connected to a lit volunteer who has a view through 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:49.360 my camera in front of me and now can give 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:51.480 me access to whatever information I need. 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:52.400 That's wild. 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:54.720 So people are just standing by, like as they signed 0:23:54.760 --> 0:23:56.520 up to be a volunteer for Be my Eyes. They've 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:59.600 got the app on their phone and they're just waiting 0:23:59.640 --> 0:24:02.160 for someone to kind of ping them and they say okay, cool. 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:04.000 And then they get that live shot or the live 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:07.440 stream I should say live shot is TV talk. They 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:09.679 get the live stream and they can just see and 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:12.000 be like, okay, so I see Gate one thirty four ahead. 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:13.480 If you look to the left, you can see the 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:15.959 lounges over there. If you look ahead, there's a Starbucks 0:24:16.320 --> 0:24:17.479 and they can see all that. 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.200 That's really amazing. Wow, it's just. 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:23.359 Like having access to an assistant. There's another service that 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:25.560 you've probably heard of as well, called IRA, and they 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:28.120 also provide the same kind of service, but their agents 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:31.760 are trained and paid and under NDA and bonded and 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:34.520 all that stuff. And they've got a beta program going 0:24:34.560 --> 0:24:37.840 as well, so pretty soon that'll be available. So both 0:24:37.920 --> 0:24:41.520 visual interpreter services are going to be available to blind 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:44.080 the television people all over the world through these glasses. 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:46.800 Oh that so they're working with the IRA as well 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:48.280 on the metaglasses. 0:24:49.280 --> 0:24:51.679 Wow, okay, that's a I r A. Is that the 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:52.560 one AI r A? 0:24:52.840 --> 0:24:53.080 Yeah? 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:57.040 AIRA dot io is their website and yeah, they're in 0:24:57.080 --> 0:24:59.720 the process of getting that done and it's going to 0:24:59.760 --> 0:25:01.960 be wonderful. And plus that to mention the AI and 0:25:02.000 --> 0:25:04.440 these things is great. I use it all the time 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:07.080 just for going shopping, browsing the shells. You know, you 0:25:07.119 --> 0:25:09.679 pick up something and wonder what is this? Now I 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:11.640 can just ask the thing, you know, what is look 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:14.160 and tell me what I'm holding, or look and read 0:25:14.200 --> 0:25:17.040 to me what this is, and I get all kinds 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:17.600 of information. 0:25:17.960 --> 0:25:19.640 It's so wild. Julian. 0:25:19.720 --> 0:25:23.080 Thanks thanks for that, really really great insights, safe travels there. 0:25:23.640 --> 0:25:26.560 And this is what's so great about testing this stuff out, 0:25:26.560 --> 0:25:28.399 which is what I do for a living, is that 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:30.679 I was aware of these glasses. I was aware of 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:34.920 Meta AI. And sometimes you sort of I'm not gonna 0:25:34.920 --> 0:25:36.960 say pooh pooh, but you sort of dismiss stuff. 0:25:36.960 --> 0:25:39.280 You're like, oh, Meta AI, another AI service. 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:42.200 But when you put these things on and you realize, 0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:43.960 like this is one of the few tech products that 0:25:44.000 --> 0:25:47.199 I put on and tried, and it's like, immediately, I 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:50.439 realized there's something special here, and we are just at 0:25:50.480 --> 0:25:52.959 the beginning. And then when you hear from folks like 0:25:53.080 --> 0:25:56.679 Russ and like Julian, you realize that there is something 0:25:56.760 --> 0:26:01.000 bigger at play here. And like Julian or like Russ said, 0:26:01.200 --> 0:26:03.560 you know these these visually impaired products, you know, the 0:26:03.600 --> 0:26:06.720 products for the visually impaired are typically very expensive because 0:26:06.720 --> 0:26:09.240 they're they're making them, maybe not at a mass scale, 0:26:09.600 --> 0:26:12.399 but something like the ray band metas they're making so 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:15.719 many of them, millions of them for everyone, and so 0:26:15.760 --> 0:26:18.320 that's why they're they're able to be three hundred dollars 0:26:18.400 --> 0:26:21.000 versus five thousand dollars. There was that phone I saw 0:26:21.040 --> 0:26:26.720 at that Assistive Tech content thing Assistant Tech conference. The 0:26:26.760 --> 0:26:30.159 blind Shell Phone, which I thought was really incredible and 0:26:30.200 --> 0:26:32.240 it does everything you need if you're visually impaired. But 0:26:32.280 --> 0:26:35.560 it's expensive, and now it makes sense, it's because it's 0:26:35.560 --> 0:26:37.719 a limited audience, so they're not you know, it's not 0:26:37.760 --> 0:26:39.320 just a phone that everyone's going to buy, and they 0:26:39.359 --> 0:26:41.399 can make them at mass scale, but it does have 0:26:41.440 --> 0:26:45.560 all the features you need. That's Blindshell dot com anyway. Incredible. 0:26:45.920 --> 0:26:49.320 I guess I really my my inkling on these glasses 0:26:49.440 --> 0:26:52.200 was correct. They are really a game changer and I'm 0:26:52.240 --> 0:26:54.720 looking forward to more people kind of discovering the magic 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:55.040 of them. 0:26:55.440 --> 0:26:55.760 All right. 0:26:55.800 --> 0:26:58.600 Eighty eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven 0:26:58.720 --> 0:27:00.520 four to two four one zero one. 0:27:00.520 --> 0:27:03.040 The website is richon Tech dot tv. 0:27:03.400 --> 0:27:05.040 If you want to sign up to be a volunteer 0:27:05.040 --> 0:27:06.600 for b my Eyes, I put the link in the 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:07.159 show notes. 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:10.439 Just hit the light bulb icon. Coming up. 0:27:10.480 --> 0:27:13.960 Another free ride is over max is the latest to 0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:18.040 crack down on password sharing. This is rich on Tech. 0:27:20.280 --> 0:27:23.680 Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here talking 0:27:23.760 --> 0:27:27.040 technology at triple eight rich one oh one. That's eight 0:27:27.080 --> 0:27:32.359 eight eight seven four two four one zero one. Well, 0:27:32.560 --> 0:27:35.080 like I like to say, the free ride is over. 0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:38.359 This time it is Max. Remember it used to be 0:27:38.359 --> 0:27:41.879 called HBO Max. Now it's just Max. Not to be 0:27:41.960 --> 0:27:46.840 confused with anything else out there. So Disney and Netflix 0:27:46.880 --> 0:27:50.119 have done this. Now Max is going to do it 0:27:50.200 --> 0:27:53.800 starting gradually. So they said on the on the earnings 0:27:53.880 --> 0:27:57.399 call that password sharing restrictions will begin in the next 0:27:57.440 --> 0:28:02.840 few months with quote messaging to users. What does that mean? 0:28:02.880 --> 0:28:04.639 It means when you log in and they kind of 0:28:04.680 --> 0:28:07.800 know that you're cheating the system, they're gonna say, are 0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:09.680 you sure you don't want to get your own account, 0:28:09.760 --> 0:28:11.600 and you're gonna go No, as long as I can 0:28:11.680 --> 0:28:15.399 use my friends, why not, I'll keep using theirs. But 0:28:15.880 --> 0:28:18.760 next year they're gonna gradually put the uh you know, 0:28:18.800 --> 0:28:22.679 squeeze the uh the vice script's a little bit tighter 0:28:23.080 --> 0:28:26.200 and uh full implementation will be twenty twenty five, twenty 0:28:26.240 --> 0:28:30.400 twenty six. Uh. They believe that this is Bobo's raising 0:28:30.400 --> 0:28:33.879 his hand. He has a question, the question from the class. Yes, 0:28:34.600 --> 0:28:36.439 mister mister Mitchell de Marrow. 0:28:37.480 --> 0:28:41.120 So let's say I have my account, sure, Okay, I 0:28:41.160 --> 0:28:44.000 go to my parents house quite often. Yeah, I watched 0:28:44.160 --> 0:28:48.680 my account there. Yeah, how are they gonna regulate that? Well, 0:28:48.680 --> 0:28:51.520 that's a good question. So I think that the they're 0:28:51.520 --> 0:28:55.480 gonna use an algorithm number one, but number two it's 0:28:55.600 --> 0:28:58.480 it's going to be sort of a two factor authentication. 0:28:59.280 --> 0:29:01.840 So if if you're logging in at your parents' house, 0:29:01.920 --> 0:29:04.640 it may bug you every time, But because you truly 0:29:04.680 --> 0:29:06.800 own that account, they're gonna say, hey, we're gonna email 0:29:06.840 --> 0:29:08.960 you a code and you're gonna put that in from 0:29:08.960 --> 0:29:10.560 your email. It's not gonna be that big of a deal, 0:29:10.720 --> 0:29:14.240 got you, But your friend over in you know, somewhere 0:29:14.240 --> 0:29:18.640 across the US, that's latching onto your account, it's gonna 0:29:18.640 --> 0:29:21.440 be after the third time annoying for you to be like, really, 0:29:21.600 --> 0:29:22.840 you got to get this code. 0:29:22.680 --> 0:29:23.200 Again for me. 0:29:23.400 --> 0:29:25.920 Now, some people won't have a problem with that, but 0:29:26.000 --> 0:29:29.160 I have noticed that there are you know, from what 0:29:29.240 --> 0:29:33.640 I've seen in my personal experience with family members. It 0:29:33.680 --> 0:29:37.120 only comes down to whether the company actually wants to 0:29:37.240 --> 0:29:40.280 enable these restrictions, like they know, they know if you're 0:29:40.320 --> 0:29:43.000 not like and it's very clear if you're logging into 0:29:43.080 --> 0:29:47.000 a TV, which is a fixed thing usually like you're 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:49.560 not logging a TV around the nation. So if you're 0:29:49.560 --> 0:29:53.400 a traveler and you've got Netflix on your tablet or 0:29:53.400 --> 0:29:56.080 you're installing it on a tablet or a phone. They 0:29:56.160 --> 0:29:58.800 kind of know that, Okay, people travel, But if they 0:29:58.840 --> 0:30:01.840 notice that that phone you've installed on only stays in 0:30:01.880 --> 0:30:04.600 a certain place that's not near your household, that's when 0:30:04.600 --> 0:30:08.480 they'll start, you know, kind of pushing the password restrictions 0:30:08.520 --> 0:30:11.280 a little bit harder on that device. So again, this 0:30:11.400 --> 0:30:14.720 is not a perfect thing, but nobody's fooling anyone here. 0:30:14.720 --> 0:30:19.640 These companies know exactly when people are sharing. So subscribers 0:30:20.080 --> 0:30:22.800 that are sharing and that are part of that kind 0:30:22.840 --> 0:30:26.400 of sharing idea, they will be paying more, although there 0:30:26.400 --> 0:30:28.440 will be some sort of planet looks like where you 0:30:28.480 --> 0:30:30.960 can latch off onto your own or break off onto 0:30:30.960 --> 0:30:34.840 your own. Max has one hundred and ten million subscribers. 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:38.120 They added seven million in the last quarter. Trying to 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:41.000 think what that's attributable to, Like, do they have a 0:30:41.000 --> 0:30:41.880 good show or something. 0:30:41.920 --> 0:30:42.320 I don't know. 0:30:43.400 --> 0:30:46.520 They raised their prices back in June twenty twenty four, 0:30:47.480 --> 0:30:49.959 But again I say, the free ride is over all. 0:30:50.000 --> 0:30:54.640 These streaming services started so cheap, so so cheap, and 0:30:54.680 --> 0:30:58.800 now they are definitely getting a lot more expensive. All right, 0:30:59.120 --> 0:31:02.600 let's see, we've got a question here by email. 0:31:03.840 --> 0:31:07.120 Pat. Let's see Pat says, hey, does using. 0:31:06.920 --> 0:31:10.480 Your iPhone eight plus as a hotspot for a MacBook 0:31:10.520 --> 0:31:14.160 air M two harm your phone in any way? So, 0:31:14.520 --> 0:31:17.520 off the top of my head, not really. I mean, 0:31:17.520 --> 0:31:19.880 it's really not a harmful thing for your phone. But 0:31:19.920 --> 0:31:23.120 there are some things to consider. Number one, your battery life. 0:31:23.200 --> 0:31:26.800 So if your phone is using hotspot, it definitely cranks 0:31:26.800 --> 0:31:30.920 through that battery a lot faster. Also, because it's using 0:31:31.400 --> 0:31:34.400 more on your phone for that modem, it's going to 0:31:34.440 --> 0:31:37.040 get hotter. So that's number two. And then of course 0:31:37.040 --> 0:31:39.600 your data that's number three. Is really it comes down 0:31:39.600 --> 0:31:41.680 to how much data do you have on your plan 0:31:42.160 --> 0:31:45.680 and are you going to burn through that? So I 0:31:45.720 --> 0:31:48.720 will tell you that it's interesting because if you look 0:31:48.720 --> 0:31:52.240 at the Wi Fi at your work, your company reserves 0:31:52.280 --> 0:31:54.560 the right to pretty much look at anything you're doing 0:31:54.600 --> 0:31:58.040 on your computer. I'm talking to anything, even if it's personal, 0:31:58.080 --> 0:32:00.560 even if it's private, they can look at it. And 0:32:00.640 --> 0:32:03.040 so there is this idea of people wanting to use 0:32:03.080 --> 0:32:05.600 their hotspot at work off their phone because things are 0:32:05.640 --> 0:32:08.160 a little bit more private and you can check your email, 0:32:08.200 --> 0:32:10.880 you could do things like that. And I'd probably recommend 0:32:10.920 --> 0:32:13.680 that if you want to stay more private at work, 0:32:13.880 --> 0:32:15.640 it's probably a good idea to do that, you know. 0:32:15.680 --> 0:32:18.400 But just understand that if you're on your work's WiFi, 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:21.760 they can see anything that's happening on that computer. Just 0:32:21.840 --> 0:32:24.880 imagine that they can see it even if it's private. 0:32:25.520 --> 0:32:28.560 Maybe if it's encrypted, it doesn't really matter. Sometimes they 0:32:28.560 --> 0:32:31.520 have a certificate, the trust certificate that you accept when 0:32:31.520 --> 0:32:34.000 you get onto that Wi Fi that says, hey, you 0:32:34.000 --> 0:32:37.160 know what, you give us free rein to anything on 0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:39.880 this device. Because it's all in the idea of that 0:32:39.920 --> 0:32:42.760 they can monitor the network for anything that might harm 0:32:42.800 --> 0:32:46.360 the network. But anyway, all all that to say that 0:32:46.920 --> 0:32:49.240 if you have a hot spot, if you've got the 0:32:49.240 --> 0:32:51.920 hotspot feature on your cell phone planned schirp, go ahead, 0:32:52.000 --> 0:32:54.440 use it. There's nothing really that that's going to be 0:32:54.440 --> 0:32:56.719 a problem except for those three things I mentioned. And 0:32:56.720 --> 0:32:59.000 by the way, all of the computers nowadays do a 0:32:59.040 --> 0:33:04.000 pretty good job of connecting to the device seamlessly. So 0:33:04.080 --> 0:33:06.080 for instance, on my computer, I've got a Mac computer 0:33:06.200 --> 0:33:08.880 the iPhone. When I am out of range of Wi Fi, 0:33:08.920 --> 0:33:11.200 it immediately pops up if my phone's nearby, says Hey, 0:33:11.200 --> 0:33:13.040 do you want to connect to your iPhone as a hotspot. 0:33:13.240 --> 0:33:15.720 It's very very convenient. Windows does the same thing. You 0:33:15.720 --> 0:33:18.640 can set it up with your Android devices as well. 0:33:19.160 --> 0:33:19.840 It used to be. 0:33:19.800 --> 0:33:21.800 When you got a tablet you had to make a 0:33:21.840 --> 0:33:24.680 decision like do I want Internet on this tablet? 0:33:24.680 --> 0:33:25.960 Do I want a five G connection? 0:33:26.520 --> 0:33:28.920 And quite honestly, like unless you are you have a 0:33:29.000 --> 0:33:32.000 really specific use case for that. Ninety nine percent of 0:33:32.040 --> 0:33:34.719 people can just connect to their phone, which is incredible, 0:33:34.880 --> 0:33:37.280 much easier than paying for a separate plan and all 0:33:37.280 --> 0:33:41.600 that stuff. And even you know, hotspot overseas has gotten easier. 0:33:41.680 --> 0:33:45.160 Just the idea of the phone being the everything, kind 0:33:45.200 --> 0:33:47.520 of the center of your tech universe has gotten a 0:33:47.520 --> 0:33:49.840 lot clearer over the last couple of years. So go ahead, 0:33:50.200 --> 0:33:53.080 pat your use the cell phone as your hot spot. 0:33:53.240 --> 0:33:59.680 No problem there, just understand those those downsides. Malvin from 0:33:59.760 --> 0:34:02.000 chess Shire, Where's that? 0:34:03.200 --> 0:34:03.480 Says? 0:34:03.600 --> 0:34:06.480 I'm kindly looking for step by step information on how 0:34:06.480 --> 0:34:10.640 to remove my unwanted information on Google. Great question. The 0:34:10.680 --> 0:34:15.319 feature you want is called results about you. So if 0:34:15.320 --> 0:34:20.200 you Google results about you, you can see this Google 0:34:20.760 --> 0:34:23.120 feature that's called results about you. And what you do 0:34:23.239 --> 0:34:25.960 is you put your information. You sign up, you put 0:34:25.960 --> 0:34:28.319 your information in here, so you say, here's my name, 0:34:28.640 --> 0:34:31.600 here's my address, here's my phone number, here's my email address. 0:34:31.640 --> 0:34:34.160 And I know it sounds scary to give Google all 0:34:34.239 --> 0:34:36.480 this information, but guess what, they've already got it anyway. 0:34:36.480 --> 0:34:39.520 They know exactly this information. You're just giving them that 0:34:39.600 --> 0:34:42.879 information so they can scan the internet to find when 0:34:42.920 --> 0:34:46.320 this information pops up. And you can give multiple email addresses, 0:34:46.640 --> 0:34:49.239 you can give multiple phone numbers, you can give them 0:34:49.719 --> 0:34:51.239 I don't know if you can give them variations on 0:34:51.280 --> 0:34:53.280 your name, but you can give them all that information. 0:34:54.160 --> 0:34:57.279 And so let's see, so I've got I'm looking at 0:34:57.280 --> 0:34:59.600 my Yeah, so you can give them full name. Yeah, 0:34:59.640 --> 0:35:02.279 you can a interesting It doesn't say I can add 0:35:02.280 --> 0:35:03.839 a name online, but. 0:35:03.920 --> 0:35:06.680 You can have Oh, I guess you can have one too. 0:35:06.680 --> 0:35:08.799 I've got three names on here, and so I guess 0:35:08.840 --> 0:35:10.319 you can have up to three names that it will 0:35:10.320 --> 0:35:10.759 scan for. 0:35:11.160 --> 0:35:12.280 And then you could have an address. 0:35:12.320 --> 0:35:13.759 You can have a couple addresses, you could have a 0:35:13.800 --> 0:35:16.400 couple phone numbers, you can have a couple of email addresses. 0:35:16.840 --> 0:35:20.400 So Google results about you, just so you understand it. 0:35:20.520 --> 0:35:23.640 Only it'll scan the web. It'll look for that information. 0:35:24.120 --> 0:35:27.600 If it finds a search result with that information, it 0:35:27.640 --> 0:35:30.160 will email you or give you a notification and say, hey, 0:35:30.160 --> 0:35:32.680 do you want us to take this down from our 0:35:32.960 --> 0:35:36.200 search results? Not off the internet. That is very very 0:35:36.280 --> 0:35:38.799 important to understand. The information is still out there on 0:35:38.840 --> 0:35:42.319 that website. Google is just taking the link off of 0:35:42.400 --> 0:35:45.839 their search results. So when someone searches for your name 0:35:45.960 --> 0:35:49.440 plus address, they will not see that search result to 0:35:49.480 --> 0:35:53.280 that website that contains your information. Your information will still 0:35:53.320 --> 0:35:55.520 be on that website. So if you want to take 0:35:55.520 --> 0:35:58.040 this step further and get it off that website, you 0:35:58.080 --> 0:36:01.680 would then have to contact that website, do a takedown request, 0:36:01.800 --> 0:36:05.440 or use one of these services like in Incogni or 0:36:06.520 --> 0:36:09.080 delete me, and they will go and take these down. 0:36:09.120 --> 0:36:11.040 But remember it's a game of whack a mole. 0:36:11.120 --> 0:36:13.719 For every site you take your information off of, five 0:36:13.760 --> 0:36:16.480 more sites pop up. But getting it off Google does 0:36:16.560 --> 0:36:19.680 disconnect that link. Eighty eight rich one oh one. This 0:36:19.920 --> 0:36:25.000 is Rich on Tech. Welcome back to another hour of 0:36:25.320 --> 0:36:28.319 Rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, 0:36:28.440 --> 0:36:31.719 talking technology. The phone line for the show triple eight 0:36:32.080 --> 0:36:36.040 rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four 0:36:36.040 --> 0:36:41.319 to two four one zero one. The website for the 0:36:41.360 --> 0:36:45.359 show is rich on Tech dot TV. While you're there, 0:36:45.440 --> 0:36:48.160 be sure to sign up for my newsletter, send it 0:36:48.239 --> 0:36:51.000 out once a week. You can also click the light 0:36:51.040 --> 0:36:53.880 bulb if you want a link to this show anything 0:36:53.920 --> 0:36:57.400 I mentioned in the show. This is show number ninety seven. 0:36:58.239 --> 0:36:59.600 You can also look at all the things I do 0:36:59.680 --> 0:37:03.279 for TEA, watch my TV segments. You can listen to 0:37:03.320 --> 0:37:06.280 the podcast. Subscribe to the podcast version of this show 0:37:06.800 --> 0:37:10.239 and listen to some of the selected interviews. Plus, you 0:37:10.280 --> 0:37:14.080 can contact me. Just hit the contact icon up at 0:37:14.080 --> 0:37:15.759 the top, or the link, whatever you want to call it, 0:37:15.920 --> 0:37:18.799 and that will send an email right to my inbox. 0:37:19.600 --> 0:37:22.040 Coming up this hour, we are going to talk about 0:37:22.080 --> 0:37:27.080 finding the best cell phone plan for you. Tech journalist 0:37:27.200 --> 0:37:30.759 Rob Pigararo has looked at all the different plans out there. 0:37:30.800 --> 0:37:33.560 He has picked his favorites, and we'll explain how to 0:37:33.640 --> 0:37:37.399 choose the right carrier and plan for your needs. We've 0:37:37.440 --> 0:37:40.400 been talking about the ray Band meta glasses all morning long. 0:37:40.760 --> 0:37:42.319 If you want to see my point of view here, 0:37:42.360 --> 0:37:44.359 you can actually see Bobo. I just posted it at 0:37:44.440 --> 0:37:47.399 richon tech on Instagram. You can see what I see 0:37:47.400 --> 0:37:49.799 while I do the show. We have a question from 0:37:49.880 --> 0:37:53.080 John and Fallbrook about the the the Meta ray bands. 0:37:53.080 --> 0:37:53.480 What's up? 0:37:55.080 --> 0:37:57.319 Hey, thank you very much, Richer and Joy your show 0:37:57.400 --> 0:37:57.880 every week. 0:37:57.960 --> 0:37:59.600 Thank you. I got an iPhone. 0:37:59.640 --> 0:38:00.759 We'll go work for me. 0:38:00.960 --> 0:38:02.080 I'm visually impaired. 0:38:02.400 --> 0:38:06.120 Great question. Yes it does work with the iPhone. That is, uh, 0:38:06.719 --> 0:38:09.399 something that I took for granted when I talked about these. 0:38:09.400 --> 0:38:11.560 But yes, it does work with iPhone and Android. You 0:38:11.600 --> 0:38:14.799 do need a an app from Meta It's called the 0:38:14.800 --> 0:38:18.719 Meta View app. You download that and it basically connects 0:38:18.760 --> 0:38:21.120 the glasses to your phone so that that way they 0:38:21.160 --> 0:38:25.040 can you know, tap into the uh, answering the questions, 0:38:25.120 --> 0:38:28.760 sharing the videos, the files, the you know, the photos 0:38:28.800 --> 0:38:30.440 that you take on it. It's all synced up and 0:38:30.480 --> 0:38:32.560 you could of course change the options for the classes. 0:38:32.600 --> 0:38:33.680 Can I get it? Best buy? 0:38:34.760 --> 0:38:36.120 Great question? Let's see. 0:38:36.200 --> 0:38:39.040 Uh, let's see if best Buy sells these best Buy 0:38:39.320 --> 0:38:42.560 Meta ray band. Let's see if they have them. It 0:38:42.600 --> 0:38:46.160 looks like they do have them there, So yeah, I 0:38:46.200 --> 0:38:47.040 mean best Buy. 0:38:47.200 --> 0:38:48.719 How much where they can did you? 0:38:49.000 --> 0:38:49.839 I'll find that out. 0:38:49.960 --> 0:38:52.520 Yeah, so they started three hundred dollars. It depends, you know, 0:38:53.080 --> 0:38:55.879 obviously that's for the base model. So if you want 0:38:55.920 --> 0:38:58.520 like the transition lenses, or you want, you know, special 0:38:58.560 --> 0:38:59.880 color or special feature. 0:39:00.040 --> 0:39:00.680 It's all going to be. 0:39:01.160 --> 0:39:04.799 You know, there's different, there's various you know, options and 0:39:04.920 --> 0:39:05.640 upgrades and things. 0:39:05.680 --> 0:39:07.719 But three hundred bucks, cat you see what color of 0:39:07.840 --> 0:39:08.799 traffic light is. 0:39:09.440 --> 0:39:10.879 I don't care what color they are. 0:39:11.680 --> 0:39:13.600 So you did you say you're visually impaired? 0:39:14.440 --> 0:39:16.960 Yes, So so you're gonna you're gonna look into the 0:39:17.040 --> 0:39:18.760 kind of the AI features of these glasses. 0:39:18.840 --> 0:39:19.280 Huh. 0:39:19.320 --> 0:39:21.279 Oh that's the that's the secret for me. 0:39:21.600 --> 0:39:21.799 Yeah. 0:39:21.840 --> 0:39:23.880 I can go to a grocery store and look at 0:39:23.880 --> 0:39:27.680 the shelf and say pick me out some cereal or something, 0:39:28.000 --> 0:39:30.440 and it says, oh, but right there, man, I'd be 0:39:30.680 --> 0:39:33.080 My wife would be way happy. Then I could go shopping. 0:39:33.440 --> 0:39:34.319 That's incredible. 0:39:34.360 --> 0:39:37.000 Well, I you know, I think that again from what 0:39:37.040 --> 0:39:39.880 I heard with to be my eyes integration, it sounds 0:39:39.920 --> 0:39:42.160 like that's just starting up and that's just brand new. 0:39:42.239 --> 0:39:45.000 But it's I think that's going to be a huge 0:39:45.239 --> 0:39:48.920 use case scenario for these glasses, just based on the uh, 0:39:49.000 --> 0:39:52.319 the reaction I've heard today. So John, check them out 0:39:52.400 --> 0:39:55.200 and uh, you know, just make sure you check that return. 0:39:54.920 --> 0:39:57.000 Policy comment on your next article. 0:39:57.120 --> 0:40:01.800 Sure, I have the Internet, but I get my WiFi 0:40:01.920 --> 0:40:05.440 is cellular. So as you discuss your next plans or 0:40:05.560 --> 0:40:10.920 the best plans, remember some people use internet the cellular 0:40:11.000 --> 0:40:11.719 internet too. 0:40:12.120 --> 0:40:16.120 Yeah, that's definitely a yeah, absolutely thanks John, appreciate that. Yeah, 0:40:16.160 --> 0:40:19.880 the cellular internet is definitely a growing area of interest 0:40:20.000 --> 0:40:23.279 because the carriers have come in with their their nice 0:40:23.320 --> 0:40:25.400 five G spectrum and they said, oh we could do 0:40:25.920 --> 0:40:28.080 you know, we could easily make this home internet. And 0:40:28.160 --> 0:40:31.399 so I've tested the one from Verizon. I don't think 0:40:31.400 --> 0:40:34.680 I tested the T mobile on AT and T. They 0:40:34.760 --> 0:40:38.160 it's very limited apparently where they have it, and it's 0:40:38.560 --> 0:40:40.600 I keep asking them to test it and they have 0:40:40.680 --> 0:40:43.759 not let me test it. So but it's a great 0:40:43.800 --> 0:40:45.680 option if you live in a place where you can 0:40:45.760 --> 0:40:48.160 get your Internet over the air. I think it's a 0:40:48.160 --> 0:40:51.839 great option for you because it's less expensive. I don't 0:40:51.840 --> 0:40:54.200 think there's any contracts. You plug in play as long 0:40:54.200 --> 0:40:56.160 as you have a good five G signal at your 0:40:56.160 --> 0:40:59.080 house and they offer it to you. So, for instance, 0:40:59.480 --> 0:41:01.839 from what I've heard with AT and T, because they 0:41:01.880 --> 0:41:04.719 don't want to compete with themselves, they're only sort of 0:41:04.800 --> 0:41:07.719 offering their AT and T Internet air in places that 0:41:07.840 --> 0:41:11.120 don't have wired internet through AT and T, so again, 0:41:11.160 --> 0:41:12.719 they don't want to. They don't want someone that has 0:41:12.760 --> 0:41:15.360 fiber at their house for one hundred bucks to say, oh, 0:41:15.440 --> 0:41:17.359 I can get internet air for fifty bucks. 0:41:17.400 --> 0:41:18.759 I'll just go with that. I don't need all the 0:41:18.760 --> 0:41:19.480 speed of fiber. 0:41:20.040 --> 0:41:23.080 So I think the only downside of the five G 0:41:23.320 --> 0:41:26.920 home internet is probably maybe the speed and the bandwidth. 0:41:26.920 --> 0:41:29.160 But of course that all depends on what you need. 0:41:29.640 --> 0:41:31.680 Ninety nine percent of people are just checking their email, 0:41:31.719 --> 0:41:33.759 they're just going on Netflix. They don't really need a 0:41:33.760 --> 0:41:36.680 ton of stuff, and so I think that that's probably 0:41:37.040 --> 0:41:40.279 a great option for other people. So thanks for the 0:41:40.280 --> 0:41:43.920 call there, John in Fallbrook today and what are the 0:41:44.040 --> 0:41:44.520 chances of this? 0:41:44.560 --> 0:41:47.839 We got another call from Fallbrook, Curtis. You're on with Rich. 0:41:49.080 --> 0:41:52.720 Hey, Rich, thanks sticking my phone call? Is the fallow 0:41:52.760 --> 0:41:55.520 up to the last call you had. I am currently 0:41:55.600 --> 0:41:58.879 using the mobile home Internet at my home. I'm also 0:41:58.920 --> 0:42:03.239 on twelve book. It works great. It's dirt too, and 0:42:03.560 --> 0:42:06.399 they probably do serve your area, John, so you might 0:42:06.440 --> 0:42:07.239 want to look into that. 0:42:08.080 --> 0:42:09.759 Yeah, no you could. 0:42:10.080 --> 0:42:12.680 I don't know who your sill phone plan who your 0:42:12.719 --> 0:42:15.239 sill phone planning is but you know, they have great 0:42:15.280 --> 0:42:15.960 prices too. 0:42:16.120 --> 0:42:17.200 How much are you paying for that? 0:42:18.239 --> 0:42:22.040 Uh mine, I'm at thirty five bucks from Long. 0:42:22.040 --> 0:42:24.919 Yeah, that's incredible. And this is the thing they started out. 0:42:25.320 --> 0:42:27.080 I think the prices have gone up a little bit, 0:42:27.200 --> 0:42:30.319 but they started out very competitive because they were really 0:42:30.360 --> 0:42:33.080 trying to you know, take it to the spectrums of 0:42:33.120 --> 0:42:36.040 the world and the frontiers of the world. The problem 0:42:36.080 --> 0:42:39.359 is Verizon just bought Frontier. So the bigger these companies get, 0:42:39.400 --> 0:42:42.479 the less competition or you know, the less they want 0:42:42.480 --> 0:42:45.600 to compete because they don't need to. So I love 0:42:45.719 --> 0:42:48.120 that T Mobile came in with a very aggressive pricing. 0:42:48.520 --> 0:42:51.520 Verizon came in with very aggressive pricing. But again it's 0:42:51.719 --> 0:42:54.600 it's it depends on whether it's available where you are 0:42:55.040 --> 0:42:57.080 and whether it's a good fit for what you need. 0:42:57.160 --> 0:42:59.560 For me, personally, I probably couldn't use it just because 0:43:00.000 --> 0:43:02.399 I'm uploading downloading a ton of big files every day 0:43:02.400 --> 0:43:05.319 for my TV stuff. So but it's great if you're 0:43:05.400 --> 0:43:07.680 you know, for someone like my mom, especially, she's paying 0:43:07.680 --> 0:43:10.200 a ton for Internet and I keep saying, maybe it's 0:43:10.239 --> 0:43:12.800 time to switch to one of these, you know, wireless providers. 0:43:12.800 --> 0:43:16.000 So anyway, check it out. So what's the question, Curtis. 0:43:16.360 --> 0:43:20.239 Yeah, so my question is I recently went to Vancouver 0:43:20.760 --> 0:43:25.280 and I'm on the T Mobile plan. They do offer 0:43:25.480 --> 0:43:30.120 a small price to buy like five gigs of data 0:43:30.280 --> 0:43:33.200 for about a week. I found out. I went through 0:43:33.200 --> 0:43:38.560 that extremely quickly. And my thoughts are to just buy 0:43:38.760 --> 0:43:41.880 another plan when I'm out of country, use it for 0:43:41.960 --> 0:43:45.960 a period of time, and you know, take advantage of 0:43:46.040 --> 0:43:48.879 you know, the prices that they offer and maybe get 0:43:48.920 --> 0:43:51.720 more utilization out of it. Then I'm getting too mobile. 0:43:52.480 --> 0:43:55.399 I mean, I didn't get the service. Wasn't bad once 0:43:55.440 --> 0:43:57.960 I was cooked up to it. But you can go 0:43:58.040 --> 0:44:01.320 through five g five each a day really quickly. 0:44:01.400 --> 0:44:05.600 Oh yeah, especially especially recommendations. Okay, great question. What kind 0:44:05.600 --> 0:44:06.160 of phone do you have? 0:44:07.280 --> 0:44:09.240 I've got a Pixel nine. 0:44:09.360 --> 0:44:11.600 Okay, well, so here's the great Oh wow, look at 0:44:11.640 --> 0:44:12.879 you Pixel nine. 0:44:12.880 --> 0:44:14.600 Great phone. I love that device. 0:44:14.760 --> 0:44:17.480 And the good news about the Pixel is that, Curtis, 0:44:17.480 --> 0:44:18.960 you're already set up. You don't need to buy a 0:44:19.000 --> 0:44:22.000 different phone. You can do what's called an eSIM and 0:44:22.080 --> 0:44:25.200 so it's very seamless. And uh, hate to bring up 0:44:25.239 --> 0:44:27.239 my mom again, but she was able to figure this out. 0:44:27.239 --> 0:44:29.920 And no shade to my mom. But she's not a 0:44:29.920 --> 0:44:33.640 tech person and she was going on an international trip, 0:44:33.719 --> 0:44:37.480 and I said, look, you can easily use this eSIM 0:44:37.520 --> 0:44:38.920 and all you have to do is toggle it on. 0:44:39.000 --> 0:44:41.680 I set it all up in advance remotely, by the way, 0:44:42.040 --> 0:44:44.080 and I set it all up on her phone in advance. 0:44:44.120 --> 0:44:46.040 I said, when you get to the country, when you land, 0:44:46.160 --> 0:44:48.879 just toggle this on and it should work. And sure enough, 0:44:48.920 --> 0:44:51.160 she texted me she said it works. And she goes 0:44:51.200 --> 0:44:53.240 and all the girlfriends I'm with, none of their phones 0:44:53.280 --> 0:44:55.040 work except mine. I said, well, that's why you got 0:44:55.080 --> 0:44:56.640 a tech sun that knows what he's doing. 0:44:57.640 --> 0:44:58.560 So with that, said. 0:44:58.400 --> 0:45:01.000 Curtis, what I'd recommend is just an EA, and so 0:45:01.160 --> 0:45:04.080 this is what I've used in countries. So here's sort 0:45:04.080 --> 0:45:07.120 of my thought. Okay, so you experienced T mobile. Yes, 0:45:07.160 --> 0:45:10.120 they include international on a lot of their plans, and 0:45:10.160 --> 0:45:13.040 it's great. If you're just casually going to a different country, 0:45:13.080 --> 0:45:15.640 maybe for a couple of days, you just need access 0:45:15.680 --> 0:45:19.000 to maps, your email or text, that's fine. Absolutely, just 0:45:19.000 --> 0:45:21.040 stick with what you got, it's included in your plan. 0:45:21.160 --> 0:45:21.839 It works great. 0:45:22.320 --> 0:45:24.640 And then the next level of ease is a lot 0:45:24.680 --> 0:45:27.120 of these plans like the AT and t's of the world, 0:45:27.200 --> 0:45:30.359 the verizons of the world. They have where you get 0:45:30.480 --> 0:45:33.920 for ten dollars a day quasi unlimited. 0:45:33.960 --> 0:45:34.920 I don't think it's unlimited. 0:45:35.000 --> 0:45:36.759 It's like a certain amount of data that you get 0:45:36.760 --> 0:45:39.520 on a daily basis for ten bucks a day. And again, 0:45:40.120 --> 0:45:42.200 if you know, if that works for you and you're 0:45:42.239 --> 0:45:44.279 in a city for three days and you just want 0:45:44.280 --> 0:45:46.120 to pay thirty dollars to have your phone work the 0:45:46.120 --> 0:45:49.319 way it works, absolutely do that one hundred percent. That's 0:45:49.360 --> 0:45:51.440 what I've done in a lot of countries when I'm 0:45:51.440 --> 0:45:53.520 there for just a couple of days on business. 0:45:53.880 --> 0:45:55.840 Now, some plans actually. 0:45:55.440 --> 0:45:58.319 Give you an allotment of those I think they call 0:45:58.320 --> 0:46:00.520 it like a mobile passport day or some like that, 0:46:00.960 --> 0:46:04.000 where you'll get that. Let's say your plan is one 0:46:04.040 --> 0:46:07.279 of the expensive premium plans, they may give you a 0:46:07.400 --> 0:46:09.920 day or two of those a month. Every month that 0:46:09.960 --> 0:46:12.759 you have your plan, they may stockpile some of those 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:15.040 for you. So the last time I went overseas, I 0:46:15.080 --> 0:46:17.920 had like ten international days, so I did not need 0:46:17.960 --> 0:46:21.720 to buy an eSIM for that trip on my primary phone. 0:46:21.800 --> 0:46:22.839 So that's the second thing. 0:46:23.200 --> 0:46:25.320 Now, the third thing, and what I think is probably 0:46:25.320 --> 0:46:27.120 the easiest for a lot of people that just want 0:46:27.160 --> 0:46:28.759 a lot of data and don't want to have to 0:46:28.800 --> 0:46:29.720 pay a lot of money. 0:46:30.040 --> 0:46:31.360 Is what's called an eSIM. 0:46:31.719 --> 0:46:33.600 And so the company that I like a lot is 0:46:33.640 --> 0:46:37.000 called Erlo air Alo. I'll link them up in the 0:46:37.000 --> 0:46:39.879 show notes. I've used them around the world. And what 0:46:39.920 --> 0:46:43.000 you do is you just download the app, you buy 0:46:43.040 --> 0:46:45.600 the eSIM, and then you install it on your phone, 0:46:45.640 --> 0:46:48.560 and with a Pixel or an iPhone or a Samsung 0:46:48.960 --> 0:46:53.040 any recent phone can handle multiple sims at the same time. 0:46:53.400 --> 0:46:54.960 So you don't even have to get rid of your 0:46:54.960 --> 0:46:58.440 old calling plan. You just install this in seconds on 0:46:58.480 --> 0:47:03.160 your phone without even interrupting your regular plan, and so 0:47:03.400 --> 0:47:05.200 you can go when you get to the other country, 0:47:05.280 --> 0:47:07.719 you can turn off your regular cell phone plan. There's 0:47:07.760 --> 0:47:10.680 a switch in the toggle in the settings, there's a 0:47:10.680 --> 0:47:13.160 toggle switch. You turn that off and then your regular 0:47:13.160 --> 0:47:15.840 plan will not be drawing any data or usage. And 0:47:15.880 --> 0:47:19.319 then you can toggle on the eSIM and now you've 0:47:19.320 --> 0:47:22.040 got this eSIM that generally either has a lot of 0:47:22.120 --> 0:47:24.520 data or unlimited data depending on the country. They're all 0:47:24.520 --> 0:47:27.560 a little bit different, but it's very very easy. Aerolw 0:47:27.640 --> 0:47:31.400 is one ola Fly is another h O L a 0:47:31.760 --> 0:47:34.000 f l y. There's a ton of them out there. 0:47:34.719 --> 0:47:36.239 I've tried a couple of them, but I like the 0:47:36.360 --> 0:47:38.560 Aero looks. It's straightforward, it's simple. They were one of 0:47:38.600 --> 0:47:41.800 the earliest. But great question, Curtis, and good job on 0:47:41.840 --> 0:47:44.080 the Pixel nine. That is a fantastic phone. I got 0:47:44.080 --> 0:47:45.480 to tell you about the deal they have on it. 0:47:46.800 --> 0:47:48.520 I talked about that yet. No, I'll tell you about 0:47:48.520 --> 0:47:51.359 the deal on the Pixel nines. Coming up right here 0:47:51.400 --> 0:47:53.359 on rich On Tech eighty to eight rich one oh 0:47:53.360 --> 0:47:56.680 one eight eight eight seven four to two four one 0:47:56.960 --> 0:47:59.080 zero one. 0:48:00.200 --> 0:48:01.600 Welcome back to rich On Tech. 0:48:01.680 --> 0:48:05.200 Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology at 0:48:05.360 --> 0:48:09.840 Triple eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven 0:48:09.960 --> 0:48:12.839 four to two four one zero one. Our caller told 0:48:12.880 --> 0:48:17.160 me he had a Pixel nine from Google, and I said, 0:48:17.200 --> 0:48:20.200 that was a great phone. So if you are looking 0:48:20.400 --> 0:48:23.560 at a Pixel, if you are toying with the idea 0:48:23.600 --> 0:48:27.200 of purchasing one of these devices, I always say, uh, 0:48:27.280 --> 0:48:30.440 when you are looking at a Pixel device or a 0:48:30.480 --> 0:48:34.080 Samsung phone, wait for some sort of deal or discount, 0:48:34.120 --> 0:48:37.959 because these things are priced to get discounted. And we've 0:48:37.960 --> 0:48:40.640 seen this over and over with the Pixel and the 0:48:40.680 --> 0:48:44.840 Samsung devices. Apple devices are kind of weird because Apple 0:48:45.040 --> 0:48:48.480 never discounts their own stuff, but sometimes third parties will, 0:48:49.000 --> 0:48:50.799 or you'll get like, you know, they do that free 0:48:50.840 --> 0:48:53.480 phone upgrade through AT and T or Verizon or T Mobile, 0:48:53.520 --> 0:48:55.719 which we all know is not really free, but if 0:48:55.719 --> 0:48:58.399 it works out for you, fine, But the Pixel nine, 0:48:58.400 --> 0:49:01.800 there is a great discount thirty percent discount off of 0:49:01.840 --> 0:49:03.799 this device. But you have to know where to find it. 0:49:03.880 --> 0:49:06.080 So let me show you where to find it. And 0:49:06.160 --> 0:49:08.839 it's a I feel like this is probably the best 0:49:08.880 --> 0:49:11.080 deal we're going to see on this device throughout the 0:49:11.080 --> 0:49:14.480 holidays because thirty percent off is a reasonable amount. So 0:49:15.040 --> 0:49:17.319 if you have an Android phone, you have to go 0:49:17.360 --> 0:49:21.400 into Google Play. So open up your Google Play and 0:49:21.480 --> 0:49:23.560 when you open Google Play, up at the top, there's 0:49:23.600 --> 0:49:26.800 like some numbers. Those are your play points, so tap 0:49:26.920 --> 0:49:30.040 those and it brings you to an area where it 0:49:30.040 --> 0:49:33.239 says earn use or perks, And what you want to 0:49:33.280 --> 0:49:37.000 do is tap perks. And once you're inside Perks, you'll 0:49:37.000 --> 0:49:39.400 see all the little offers that Google's giving you. And 0:49:39.400 --> 0:49:41.320 I'm gonna tell you there's actually one more that popped 0:49:41.360 --> 0:49:43.640 up today that was actually pretty good. So if you 0:49:43.680 --> 0:49:47.759 look down it says get thirty percent off select pixel devices, 0:49:48.320 --> 0:49:50.640 and so you select that and then it'll give you 0:49:50.640 --> 0:49:54.040 a promo code. Now, this expires on December second, so 0:49:54.040 --> 0:49:55.680 you don't have too much time to kind of make 0:49:55.719 --> 0:49:58.520 your decision, but that gives you enough, gives you four weeks. 0:49:58.520 --> 0:50:02.080 And I've been checking Amazon because sometimes when these things happen, 0:50:02.880 --> 0:50:07.520 anytime there's a discount on one method of shopping, Amazon 0:50:07.560 --> 0:50:09.840 will notice that and it will say, ooh, we're gonna 0:50:09.840 --> 0:50:11.759 discount it too, so you don't even need to shop there. 0:50:12.160 --> 0:50:14.160 And so I've been watching Amazon to see if they 0:50:14.239 --> 0:50:18.440 discount the Pixel nine and I noticed they did discount 0:50:18.480 --> 0:50:21.279 the standard Pixel nine, which is now on sale for 0:50:21.320 --> 0:50:24.680 six hundred and fifty dollars regularly eight hundred. But actually 0:50:24.680 --> 0:50:26.440 I think thirty percent off of that is better. Right 0:50:26.520 --> 0:50:28.359 eight times three is twenty four, that'd be two hundred 0:50:28.360 --> 0:50:30.120 and forty bucks off, So it's still a better deal 0:50:30.160 --> 0:50:34.000 to buy it directly from Google. Also, the Pixel Pro, 0:50:34.560 --> 0:50:38.280 the Pixel nine pro fold is also discounted on Amazon, 0:50:38.640 --> 0:50:42.399 but the Pixel nine Pro is not. So that's where 0:50:42.400 --> 0:50:44.960 you find it. And if you want to get that deal, 0:50:45.520 --> 0:50:48.040 just say redeem and it will give you that code. 0:50:48.640 --> 0:50:51.160 And if it's not for everyone, apparently not everyone has 0:50:51.200 --> 0:50:53.279 access to it, but a lot enough do. 0:50:53.719 --> 0:50:53.879 Now. 0:50:53.920 --> 0:50:56.640 The other deal I'm seeing here is a special offer 0:50:56.680 --> 0:51:00.479 from YouTube ad free YouTube and YouTube music for four 0:51:00.520 --> 0:51:03.799 months for free. So that's another great deal. And I 0:51:04.040 --> 0:51:06.439 last time I checked, and maybe you still have this one, 0:51:06.800 --> 0:51:08.880 but I found a deal for six months free of 0:51:08.920 --> 0:51:12.160 Hulu inside this little perks area. So if you have 0:51:12.200 --> 0:51:16.280 an Android phone, don't forget to check this little perks 0:51:16.320 --> 0:51:19.279 area because they often have things that are really really 0:51:19.320 --> 0:51:22.640 great and they're often sort of personalized just for you. 0:51:22.760 --> 0:51:25.120 So again, open up Google Play up at the top, 0:51:25.160 --> 0:51:27.879 you'll see the points hit perks and that's where you'll 0:51:27.880 --> 0:51:31.000 find all these perks. But Google nine Pixel nine at 0:51:31.000 --> 0:51:34.480 that price is really really good. Cannot be combined with 0:51:34.520 --> 0:51:37.279 any other offers. Obviously you could do a trade in 0:51:37.360 --> 0:51:38.640 with it though, so if you have a phone to 0:51:38.640 --> 0:51:40.000 trade in, you can still do that. 0:51:41.360 --> 0:51:45.439 Let's see here. Let's let's go to Craig and des Moines. Craig, 0:51:45.520 --> 0:51:46.279 you're on with Rich. 0:51:47.520 --> 0:51:48.400 How you doing it? 0:51:48.600 --> 0:51:50.640 I'm doing excellent. Welcome back to the show. 0:51:51.760 --> 0:51:53.360 Yeah, I'm the blind guy. 0:51:53.200 --> 0:51:54.920 From des Moin DA. 0:51:55.400 --> 0:51:57.400 How's life in des Moines these days. 0:51:57.960 --> 0:51:59.960 Oh, not too bad as cold. 0:52:00.280 --> 0:52:01.000 Oh it's cold. 0:52:01.000 --> 0:52:01.200 I know. 0:52:01.200 --> 0:52:03.359 I always forget how cold it gets everywhere else because 0:52:03.400 --> 0:52:06.520 you're in Lalla Land. You know, it's like fantasy land. 0:52:06.520 --> 0:52:09.000 Every day you wake up, you're like, oh, sun still shining, 0:52:09.040 --> 0:52:12.000 it's still beautiful. Oh it's a little shy sixty degree. 0:52:12.920 --> 0:52:15.040 I lived in la for forty years. 0:52:15.160 --> 0:52:17.400 Oh that came back here for drilled me. 0:52:17.920 --> 0:52:20.520 So you remember, you remember the days of just not 0:52:20.640 --> 0:52:24.160 having to look at the weather forecast? Right, So what's 0:52:24.200 --> 0:52:25.000 on your mind today? 0:52:25.920 --> 0:52:26.200 Okay? 0:52:26.320 --> 0:52:29.360 They made tell you I have a JB L. 0:52:31.160 --> 0:52:34.520 Head. They covered the complete. 0:52:34.200 --> 0:52:40.520 Hell Okay, Now on the box it said seventy hours. Okay, 0:52:41.880 --> 0:52:45.480 they were one hundred and sixty dollars, got them, but 0:52:45.880 --> 0:52:50.120 yesterday and I took the old hell bud back but 0:52:50.200 --> 0:52:54.279 they wouldn't pay in my heel. But anyway, how much 0:52:54.400 --> 0:52:56.200 playtime do I have on them? 0:52:57.000 --> 0:52:59.440 So it says seventy hours? Are these wireless or they 0:52:59.480 --> 0:52:59.880 plug in? 0:53:02.200 --> 0:53:05.400 They go see the blue No, they don't clog, so 0:53:05.440 --> 0:53:06.120 they're Bluetooth. 0:53:06.200 --> 0:53:08.919 Okay, and it says seventy hours that you get. 0:53:09.840 --> 0:53:11.359 Yeah, it said that on the bout. 0:53:11.680 --> 0:53:11.919 Wow. 0:53:11.960 --> 0:53:14.960 Okay, Well I'm looking my woke redy to me. 0:53:15.280 --> 0:53:18.640 I'm looking here. Let's see here up to fifty hours 0:53:18.640 --> 0:53:21.600 of music, Okay, so yeah, I mean, look, these are 0:53:22.120 --> 0:53:24.480 these are over the year headphones, so they're they're probably 0:53:24.520 --> 0:53:26.759 gonna give you a decent amount of hours. I'm looking 0:53:26.800 --> 0:53:29.640 at their website. Some of them are rated for fifty 0:53:29.800 --> 0:53:32.759 summer seventy. But I think you're going to get a 0:53:32.800 --> 0:53:35.279 reasonable amount of time. I know with me personally, with 0:53:35.320 --> 0:53:38.360 the over the year headphones I have, they last almost forever, 0:53:38.480 --> 0:53:39.960 like I barely need to charge them ever. 0:53:40.160 --> 0:53:41.759 So I think you've got a good thing to go. 0:53:41.800 --> 0:53:43.399 And Craig, thanks for the call. 0:53:43.440 --> 0:53:45.960 Coming up, we're going to talk about cell phone plans, 0:53:46.480 --> 0:53:48.600 which one's the best for you? Right here on rich 0:53:48.680 --> 0:53:52.000 On Tech. Welcome back to rich On Tech. Rich Demiro 0:53:52.160 --> 0:53:56.080 here hanging out with you, talking technology. If you want 0:53:56.120 --> 0:53:59.080 to get in on the phone lines, they're open eighty 0:53:59.120 --> 0:54:02.560 to eight rich one one eight eight eight seven four 0:54:02.600 --> 0:54:05.400 to two four one zero one. We'll get back to 0:54:05.440 --> 0:54:07.440 them in just a moment, but first we've got a 0:54:07.440 --> 0:54:10.840 great guest to talk about your cell phone plan and 0:54:10.920 --> 0:54:14.840 choosing the right one for you. Rob Pegoraro, rights for 0:54:14.920 --> 0:54:19.759 Wirecutter and other uh all kinds of places, PC mag 0:54:19.880 --> 0:54:22.880 Fast Company, but just came out with a new guide 0:54:23.280 --> 0:54:26.400 on the best cell phone plans for Wirecutter. 0:54:26.480 --> 0:54:29.120 So, Rob, welcome to the show for having me. 0:54:29.920 --> 0:54:31.960 So you've been doing this for a while, You've been 0:54:32.040 --> 0:54:33.879 keeping track of these cell phone plans for a while. 0:54:33.880 --> 0:54:35.520 What do you think is the biggest thing that you've 0:54:35.520 --> 0:54:37.480 seen change over the past couple of years? 0:54:37.520 --> 0:54:39.440 If anything, I've actually. 0:54:39.280 --> 0:54:41.600 Realized this is I've been doing this guide for just 0:54:41.680 --> 0:54:42.520 over ten years. 0:54:42.520 --> 0:54:42.759 Now. 0:54:43.000 --> 0:54:46.600 Wow, wait, before the Wirecutter was a New York Times property. 0:54:47.280 --> 0:54:50.440 I mean the biggest change obviously is the rise of 0:54:50.440 --> 0:54:52.319 Tea Mobile. When I started it, they were, you know, 0:54:53.840 --> 0:54:56.520 kind of an upstart, really improving rapidly, but they had 0:54:56.520 --> 0:54:58.279 a lot of work to do. It was a four 0:54:58.320 --> 0:55:01.200 carryer market. Now it's three. Care you might have four 0:55:01.280 --> 0:55:02.960 if boost Mobile continues growing. 0:55:03.320 --> 0:55:05.200 I was gonna say, can you can you explain that 0:55:05.239 --> 0:55:06.960 real quick? Like, what is the deal Boost Mobile? Do 0:55:07.000 --> 0:55:08.520 they really have their own towers? 0:55:09.520 --> 0:55:13.600 They do? It's this weird sort of bank shot the 0:55:14.560 --> 0:55:17.280 government set up when they approved Team Mobile buying sprints. 0:55:17.600 --> 0:55:20.319 They said, okay, we want we don't want to see 0:55:20.440 --> 0:55:23.319 US be a three carrier market permanently, so we'll sort 0:55:23.360 --> 0:55:27.280 of cobble together one you sprint and give some spectrum 0:55:27.360 --> 0:55:31.000 to boost you sell off that band to the brand 0:55:31.239 --> 0:55:35.160 to Dish network, which already had a bunch of licenses. 0:55:35.360 --> 0:55:38.520 And they've got a government deadline they've met to them 0:55:38.560 --> 0:55:41.240 so far to build out a five G network from scratch, 0:55:41.840 --> 0:55:44.719 which is really hard, and they've done pretty well so far. 0:55:44.880 --> 0:55:50.040 But it's one of these things, you know, the ninety 0:55:50.040 --> 0:55:51.880 percent of the work is in the last ten percent 0:55:51.880 --> 0:55:54.560 of the coverage, so they have more work to do, 0:55:54.600 --> 0:55:57.160 but they've been building out rapidly. It seems to work well. 0:55:57.200 --> 0:55:58.839 I have not a chance to try it out yet. 0:55:58.960 --> 0:56:00.560 Okay, so big on them. 0:56:00.600 --> 0:56:03.279 But it is available, like like is it like so 0:56:03.320 --> 0:56:05.239 if I let's say, and I'm guessing so because I 0:56:05.239 --> 0:56:07.200 know they have like their infinite network, which was like 0:56:07.320 --> 0:56:10.520 using like the other carriers, So I'm guessing until their 0:56:10.560 --> 0:56:13.240 network is fully built out, they're kind of like relying 0:56:13.239 --> 0:56:15.120 on falling back so much. 0:56:15.160 --> 0:56:15.279 Now. 0:56:15.360 --> 0:56:17.719 They say that the last deadline they met was to 0:56:17.719 --> 0:56:20.359 cover seventy percent of the US population. They meant that 0:56:20.520 --> 0:56:23.960 last summer. I think, yeah, last July. They've done that. 0:56:24.320 --> 0:56:27.160 They they backfill that with least coverage from AT and 0:56:27.200 --> 0:56:29.760 T and T Mobile and they say, with that we cover, 0:56:30.560 --> 0:56:33.600 we give people access to more towers we don't own 0:56:33.640 --> 0:56:36.400 them than any other service. That said, you have to 0:56:36.440 --> 0:56:38.960 look at their what they're selling carefully because they have 0:56:39.120 --> 0:56:42.360 very low prices. But you know, you asked me what 0:56:42.400 --> 0:56:45.680 the biggest change is, I would say, how many different 0:56:45.719 --> 0:56:48.880 ways carriers have learned to spell and pronounce unlimited. 0:56:49.080 --> 0:56:51.480 Ah, everyone will unlimited. 0:56:51.400 --> 0:56:53.600 But you got to read the fine print, the asterisks, 0:56:53.640 --> 0:56:56.600 the double asterisks. There's so many different wrinkles they'll put 0:56:56.680 --> 0:56:59.600 in so they can differentiate, charge some people more if 0:56:59.600 --> 0:57:03.799 they need more of an unlimited thing, and compete with 0:57:03.840 --> 0:57:06.440 other people to lett over priced by putting limits on 0:57:06.480 --> 0:57:07.600 their unlimited service. 0:57:08.040 --> 0:57:09.200 So I guess my first question. 0:57:09.200 --> 0:57:10.600 And by the way, I wanted to nerd out real 0:57:10.640 --> 0:57:13.279 quick about the Boost Mobile. It reminds me back in 0:57:13.320 --> 0:57:17.480 the day when Sprint PCs was starting up and they 0:57:17.520 --> 0:57:20.240 had their own brand new network that was like completely digital, 0:57:20.480 --> 0:57:22.840 and I was so hyped to get on that network 0:57:22.880 --> 0:57:25.080 because it was brand new and digital instead of the 0:57:25.080 --> 0:57:27.800 old analog networks. But I remember it worked in like 0:57:28.280 --> 0:57:31.080 literally driving around LA with like work in like three 0:57:31.080 --> 0:57:32.840 places for the beginning. 0:57:33.080 --> 0:57:35.640 Sprint spectrum lost in d C. I want to say 0:57:35.640 --> 0:57:38.320 that was I don't really date myself. This was like 0:57:38.560 --> 0:57:43.880 nineteen ninety four, ninety five, a prior millennium. 0:57:44.480 --> 0:57:46.720 Wow, that's that's a wild okay. So let's h okay. 0:57:46.720 --> 0:57:49.160 So the unlimited thing, So, first off, how do people 0:57:49.200 --> 0:57:51.520 figure out their coverage? Like I always tell people, get 0:57:51.560 --> 0:57:53.280 a cell phone plan that works where you work and 0:57:53.320 --> 0:57:55.560 where you live really well, but how do you figure 0:57:55.600 --> 0:57:56.640 out what works there? 0:57:57.680 --> 0:58:00.840 So obviously the carriers have their own cutge maps, and 0:58:01.000 --> 0:58:03.640 usually they'll say we have awesome coverage, no problem. That's 0:58:03.680 --> 0:58:06.800 not always the case. I've certainly seen gaps between like 0:58:06.960 --> 0:58:09.959 you know my I use T Mobile myself, and they'll 0:58:09.960 --> 0:58:12.000 say they have service in these places, but really they 0:58:12.040 --> 0:58:15.440 don't where it's very thin or patchy, and so you know, 0:58:15.520 --> 0:58:18.160 you might be able to post a picture to Instagram, 0:58:18.200 --> 0:58:20.560 but your video reel is just not going to happen 0:58:20.600 --> 0:58:24.920 in a feasible time. The biggest thing is just first 0:58:24.960 --> 0:58:28.920 person testimonials. If friends of yours, people you know, people 0:58:28.960 --> 0:58:31.440 at work can say, yeah, this carrier is great in 0:58:31.480 --> 0:58:34.360 this place, but in a vacation home. They're awful. That's 0:58:34.360 --> 0:58:37.400 a really VALIDATA point. There are third party resources you 0:58:37.400 --> 0:58:39.160 can do. It was just poking around. There's an app 0:58:39.200 --> 0:58:42.240 called Open Signal from one of the companies that do 0:58:42.360 --> 0:58:45.400 their own sort of testing and research of coverage and 0:58:45.440 --> 0:58:48.080 network performance, and you can zoom in on an area 0:58:48.120 --> 0:58:51.280 and see where people using the Apple's sort of coverage 0:58:51.400 --> 0:58:54.360 they've found through the app. And yeah, I've definitely seen 0:58:54.400 --> 0:58:56.840 there's a town in rural Virginia where a friend of 0:58:56.840 --> 0:58:59.600 mine has a house by the by the Jesse Bay. 0:59:00.360 --> 0:59:04.360 And yeah, the Open Signal map seems to be correct 0:59:04.400 --> 0:59:06.800 in saying that T mobile is not so great there, 0:59:06.840 --> 0:59:08.680 and AT and T and Verriison are a little bit better. 0:59:08.960 --> 0:59:11.520 Interesting because you've been there and it's kind of crowdsourced 0:59:11.520 --> 0:59:15.200 and you know from first person that doesn't really work there. Okay, 0:59:15.200 --> 0:59:16.960 so how do you know if you should go to 0:59:17.000 --> 0:59:19.400 prepaid because now we see all these prepaid plans they 0:59:19.400 --> 0:59:22.680 seem just as good as the big carrier plans. 0:59:22.720 --> 0:59:25.200 Like what's the delineation? Like why how do you decide? 0:59:25.880 --> 0:59:26.400 Two things? 0:59:26.400 --> 0:59:28.240 I would say to look at Number one, you know, 0:59:28.280 --> 0:59:30.280 are you ready to just pay full price for an 0:59:30.320 --> 0:59:33.720 unlocked phone, bring that to the carrier or the service 0:59:33.840 --> 0:59:38.040 usually prepaid, their offshoots, their third parties. You know, they're 0:59:38.040 --> 0:59:41.320 not actual network carriers like AT and T, T Mobile, Verizon. 0:59:42.080 --> 0:59:45.080 They'll sell you phones, but it will probably be you know, 0:59:45.680 --> 0:59:49.280 second tier stuff, maybe older iPhones. You won't get a 0:59:49.320 --> 0:59:54.240 Google Pixel phone number two. You know, see how they 0:59:54.280 --> 0:59:57.680 define on limited, they are much more likely to say, yes, 0:59:57.800 --> 1:00:00.440 we give you fifty gig as a prairie data instead 1:00:00.440 --> 1:00:03.520 of oh, your service is going to get a little slower. 1:00:03.560 --> 1:00:05.680 It will be your service will be cut down to 1:00:05.840 --> 1:00:08.880 like one point five megabits per second, which back in 1:00:08.960 --> 1:00:11.080 nineteen ninety five would have been very very fast. Now 1:00:11.080 --> 1:00:13.760 it's not or even like five hundred and twelve kilobits 1:00:13.800 --> 1:00:17.920 per second, which we're really getting back to the you know, 1:00:18.040 --> 1:00:21.360 dial up speeds almost that's much more likely. One of 1:00:21.440 --> 1:00:24.360 the things I'd look at if you travel internationally, prepaid 1:00:24.400 --> 1:00:28.280 services generally don't offer that. That's where if you buy 1:00:28.320 --> 1:00:30.760 the phone unlocked, you can just use an ESUM when 1:00:30.800 --> 1:00:33.880 you travel. Otherwise you know you won't have service. 1:00:34.560 --> 1:00:38.680 And I would add my wife, which I switched, not 1:00:38.800 --> 1:00:40.720 against her will, but she was like, why do I 1:00:40.760 --> 1:00:43.120 have to switch. I'm like, because you don't use any data. 1:00:43.280 --> 1:00:46.480 So I switched her one of these cheap carriers. And 1:00:47.000 --> 1:00:50.320 when there became a problem, like the sim wouldn't switch 1:00:50.400 --> 1:00:52.880 between two phones, everything had to be done over the 1:00:52.960 --> 1:00:55.920 app like chat, which was kind of a nightmare. And 1:00:55.960 --> 1:00:58.920 so the customer service aspect of the idea. If you're 1:00:58.960 --> 1:01:00.760 paying you know, ninety huns or bucks a month, you 1:01:00.800 --> 1:01:03.040 get the idea of you get that benefit of walking 1:01:03.040 --> 1:01:06.000 into a store and saying, here, fix this, whereas if 1:01:06.000 --> 1:01:07.560 you're on one of these smaller ones that don't have 1:01:07.600 --> 1:01:10.120 a store, you're going to be back and forth on 1:01:10.240 --> 1:01:12.200 chat messaging, which is not ideal. 1:01:13.160 --> 1:01:13.680 Good point. 1:01:14.680 --> 1:01:18.240 What about let's see, okay, you talked to International. How 1:01:18.320 --> 1:01:21.040 much data do you think the average smartphone user needs? 1:01:21.080 --> 1:01:23.520 You know, you mentioned that slows down, but like, do 1:01:23.600 --> 1:01:25.480 people really need an unlimited plan or what? 1:01:26.400 --> 1:01:29.360 In many cases they don't. And you know, the better 1:01:30.280 --> 1:01:32.760 prepaid service is the ones that offer real saving sort 1:01:32.760 --> 1:01:35.160 of recognize that. I would point to mint Mobile, which 1:01:35.240 --> 1:01:37.360 used to be an independent company. Tea Lebile owns them 1:01:37.400 --> 1:01:40.800 now they have very cheap prices, especially if you just 1:01:40.840 --> 1:01:43.720 commit to pay for the year's worth of service. This 1:01:43.840 --> 1:01:45.920 is sort of the old contract coming back, but at 1:01:46.000 --> 1:01:48.640 least you save money that way. So right now I'm 1:01:48.640 --> 1:01:51.000 going to pull up my own phone right here, Let's 1:01:51.520 --> 1:01:53.400 jump into the end roid settings. See how much I've 1:01:53.480 --> 1:01:57.160 used over the last internets. Now you're you're where to 1:01:57.200 --> 1:01:59.080 Google hide this feature of the scenario? 1:01:59.320 --> 1:02:00.080 Are you on? I on? 1:02:00.120 --> 1:02:00.920 You're on fifteen? 1:02:02.280 --> 1:02:05.080 This is this is a pixel eight a running indur 1:02:05.080 --> 1:02:05.640 at fifteen. 1:02:05.800 --> 1:02:06.120 Nice. 1:02:07.800 --> 1:02:11.360 Also, let's see so far just started billing cycle, so 1:02:11.440 --> 1:02:14.840 one point forty nine gigs used this month. Let's go 1:02:15.000 --> 1:02:19.760 take a look at last Monthember. 1:02:18.840 --> 1:02:20.680 Fourth, so where let's say, use. 1:02:20.720 --> 1:02:25.560 Fifteen gigs last month, And like to state the obvious, 1:02:25.600 --> 1:02:27.440 I'm not normal. I use my phone a lot more 1:02:27.480 --> 1:02:30.480 than many other people. You know, there was a lot 1:02:30.520 --> 1:02:34.400 of travel in that month, but fifteen gigs is below 1:02:35.720 --> 1:02:38.880 the limited data plans of a lot of prepaid services. 1:02:39.560 --> 1:02:42.480 Some of that service the data I used up was tethering, 1:02:42.520 --> 1:02:44.840 which is something you may not get on some prepaid plans. 1:02:44.880 --> 1:02:46.280 And that's another thing you have to watch out for. 1:02:46.760 --> 1:02:48.880 How often are you going to want to use your 1:02:48.880 --> 1:02:51.000 phone's been with and share it with your tablet or 1:02:51.000 --> 1:02:54.760 your laptop via the mobile hotspot function on the phone. 1:02:54.840 --> 1:02:58.560 That's that's a given on you know, the heavily advertised 1:02:58.640 --> 1:03:04.560 unlimited plans, the Big three, the many smaller services, prepaid brands, resellers. 1:03:04.680 --> 1:03:06.840 You don't get that, or it's very limited, or there's 1:03:07.440 --> 1:03:09.720 a speed limit on it. There's some other way that 1:03:10.080 --> 1:03:11.880 the unlimited thing becomes limited. 1:03:12.120 --> 1:03:14.040 Right, Okay, we've got about a minute, and I want 1:03:14.040 --> 1:03:18.200 to Obviously we're talking to Rob about the Wirecutter article 1:03:18.240 --> 1:03:20.960 the best cell phone Plan, So instead of having you 1:03:21.000 --> 1:03:23.120 go through what you found to be the best, you 1:03:23.160 --> 1:03:24.960 can go to the article to read that. But I'm 1:03:25.040 --> 1:03:28.840 curious for your take on these cable companies cellular plans. 1:03:28.840 --> 1:03:30.840 I get a question like, hey, Rich, should I go 1:03:30.840 --> 1:03:33.320 to a Spectrum Mobile? Do I go to an Infinity Mobile? 1:03:33.680 --> 1:03:35.560 Are they worth it? And what's the catch? 1:03:36.200 --> 1:03:38.440 The catch is you have to be the cable company's 1:03:38.520 --> 1:03:41.880 internet customer. There's sort of a customer retention play. But 1:03:42.000 --> 1:03:44.000 the thing is, the cable companies seem to be running 1:03:44.040 --> 1:03:47.320 these services as well. Lots of people complain about comcasts, 1:03:47.360 --> 1:03:51.120 TV and broadband, but in customer satisfaction surveys, they love 1:03:51.440 --> 1:03:52.360 Exfinity Mobile. 1:03:53.520 --> 1:03:57.040 Okay, well that's good, and I know it's a good deal, 1:03:57.440 --> 1:04:00.000 but again it's like you have to stay a customer 1:04:00.440 --> 1:04:01.440 and so that. 1:04:01.440 --> 1:04:03.920 It's going to keep you from cutting that cable broadband cord, 1:04:04.240 --> 1:04:07.760 which if Comcast is the only customer that was given anyways, 1:04:08.160 --> 1:04:10.920 then you just need to see how the service works. 1:04:10.960 --> 1:04:13.320 And again check the pricing, because Exfinity Mobile is one 1:04:13.360 --> 1:04:16.120 of these things where they sell you unlimited, but above 1:04:16.120 --> 1:04:18.200 a certain level it gets slowed down a whole lot. 1:04:18.320 --> 1:04:19.760 Still usable, but not fast. 1:04:20.080 --> 1:04:23.160 All right, and tell us about the article. What else 1:04:23.160 --> 1:04:24.680 are we going to learn it. We're going to learn 1:04:24.680 --> 1:04:25.440 to your top picks. 1:04:25.520 --> 1:04:26.320 Huh. 1:04:26.400 --> 1:04:28.640 Yeah, we have picks for different scenarios. If you need 1:04:28.680 --> 1:04:31.160 a lot of data, if you need maximum coverage, if 1:04:31.160 --> 1:04:33.440 you're looking to optimize for price, if you travel a 1:04:33.440 --> 1:04:36.800 lot internationally. I talk about trends in the industry, how 1:04:36.880 --> 1:04:40.440 five views has finally become a reality and is basically 1:04:40.520 --> 1:04:43.240 a done deal. We're not letting up new frequencies. How 1:04:43.240 --> 1:04:46.680 we're moving on to satellite roaming, whether it's emergency messaging 1:04:46.760 --> 1:04:51.000 or actual broadband slower broadband coming to your phone from 1:04:51.000 --> 1:04:51.760 a satellite. 1:04:51.960 --> 1:04:56.800 All right, Rob Pegoraro, he wrote the Wirecutter Cell phone 1:04:56.800 --> 1:04:59.080 plan guide. I will link it up on the website 1:04:59.160 --> 1:05:00.680 rich on Tech dot TV. 1:05:00.880 --> 1:05:02.840 Rob, this was a pleasure. Thanks for joining me tonight. 1:05:03.640 --> 1:05:05.600 THANKIKS eighty eight. 1:05:05.480 --> 1:05:09.600 Rich one eight seven four two four one zero one 1:05:09.680 --> 1:05:11.800 more rich On Tech coming your way right after this. 1:05:15.000 --> 1:05:18.400 Welcome back to rich On Tech. Ed is in Huntington Beach. 1:05:18.920 --> 1:05:20.720 Ed wanted to comment on the uh. 1:05:21.880 --> 1:05:24.320 The cell phone plans. Let's bring that up, Ed. 1:05:25.280 --> 1:05:26.040 What's up you doing? 1:05:26.200 --> 1:05:26.880 Rich good? 1:05:27.720 --> 1:05:33.520 Hey buddy, Okay, so, yes, you're looking. You're you're discussing 1:05:33.600 --> 1:05:38.040 the right payment plan or the right phone for you. Sure, 1:05:38.200 --> 1:05:39.440 and I agree. 1:05:39.160 --> 1:05:40.200 With you earlier. 1:05:40.840 --> 1:05:43.080 There is no such thing as a free phone when 1:05:43.120 --> 1:05:48.240 you sign up with anybody, correct, So I I I'm 1:05:48.280 --> 1:05:52.400 with Metro PCs. I've been with them for darn near 1:05:52.720 --> 1:05:57.600 fourteen years, right, okay, And that was back when it 1:05:57.760 --> 1:06:00.000 was taboo to be with Metro PCs. 1:06:00.200 --> 1:06:02.280 Yes, still with now. 1:06:03.120 --> 1:06:05.880 I only pay one hundred dollars a month for four 1:06:05.920 --> 1:06:10.600 phones and they're all iPhones. They do the same thing 1:06:10.680 --> 1:06:14.280 yours does, or anybody else's. 1:06:15.960 --> 1:06:16.360 Memory. 1:06:16.600 --> 1:06:20.760 All that gadget stuff you guys talk about, But the 1:06:20.880 --> 1:06:24.600 only niche in it is you got to buy your 1:06:24.600 --> 1:06:27.600 own phone. Each whatever a couple of years when your 1:06:27.600 --> 1:06:31.800 phone wears out, right, right, But I mean it was 1:06:31.840 --> 1:06:33.840 one hundred dollars when it was just me and my 1:06:33.920 --> 1:06:37.480 wife and my kids were babies, and now they're grown, 1:06:37.520 --> 1:06:40.560 they're in high school, and I bought two phones for them. 1:06:41.000 --> 1:06:44.040 It's still one hundred bucks because I have the same 1:06:44.160 --> 1:06:47.880 contract I kept. I mean, come on, who has the 1:06:47.920 --> 1:06:48.920 same contract before? 1:06:49.040 --> 1:06:50.280 Right, Okay, I see what you're saying. 1:06:50.320 --> 1:06:53.440 So you're saying because on the big plans like the Verizon, 1:06:53.480 --> 1:06:55.760 like for me personally, like I just had to switch 1:06:55.800 --> 1:06:58.800 my entire plan because I got an email saying, oh, 1:06:58.840 --> 1:07:00.920 we're going to raise your rates this amount, or you 1:07:00.920 --> 1:07:02.480 can switch your plan to this because I was on 1:07:02.520 --> 1:07:03.200 an older plan. 1:07:03.680 --> 1:07:06.080 And if you get one of those phones, the carrot, 1:07:06.160 --> 1:07:08.520 that's the carrot, right exactly. 1:07:08.560 --> 1:07:11.160 And then if you get an iPhone for free, quote unquote, 1:07:11.480 --> 1:07:13.680 you got to change that. You know, whatever the latest 1:07:13.800 --> 1:07:16.560 unlimited plan is, they want you on that. Whereas I 1:07:16.600 --> 1:07:19.440 remember when Metro was really being heavily promoted by T 1:07:19.600 --> 1:07:22.360 Mobile when they bought them, they were adding they're just 1:07:22.400 --> 1:07:24.959 tossing in lines like they were, you know, just free 1:07:24.960 --> 1:07:26.280 lines all over the place. 1:07:26.760 --> 1:07:31.280 Right, And essentially Metro is T Mobile. Yeah, people, with 1:07:31.600 --> 1:07:34.560 all my friends, it's kind of like a taboo question 1:07:35.040 --> 1:07:38.360 when you have somebody, hey, how much do you pay 1:07:38.400 --> 1:07:39.919 for your cell phone bill each month? 1:07:40.080 --> 1:07:42.640 Yes, it's right up there with with who you voted 1:07:42.680 --> 1:07:45.720 for two things you don't want to bring up at 1:07:45.720 --> 1:07:46.480 a dinner party. 1:07:47.440 --> 1:07:50.400 Ask me how much? I hey, three one hundred bucks 1:07:50.400 --> 1:07:51.600 a month for four phones? 1:07:51.760 --> 1:07:54.560 This is so so ed. You know my mom she 1:07:54.800 --> 1:07:56.280 has I moved her onto. 1:07:56.520 --> 1:07:56.920 Uh. 1:07:57.040 --> 1:07:59.800 She used to have Cricket. Now she's got Mint Mobile. 1:07:59.840 --> 1:08:01.920 And I'm not kidding. She tells all of her friends 1:08:02.560 --> 1:08:04.480 how much she pays. She pays one time of year. 1:08:04.520 --> 1:08:06.400 I think it's like three hundred bucks for the whole year. 1:08:06.800 --> 1:08:09.400 And she has the same service, same stuff, And you know, 1:08:09.480 --> 1:08:11.840 Min obviously runs on T Mobile as well. And her 1:08:11.840 --> 1:08:14.000 friends like, no, no, I have a ninety dollars plan 1:08:14.040 --> 1:08:15.640 from AT and T. It can't there's no way it 1:08:15.680 --> 1:08:17.120 could be the same. She's like, it's the same. 1:08:17.240 --> 1:08:18.320 I checked my Facebook. 1:08:18.479 --> 1:08:21.240 They also say that too, there's no way your phone 1:08:21.240 --> 1:08:24.400 can do what mine can do. Yes, yeah, it does everything. 1:08:24.720 --> 1:08:27.400 And I guess well, I'm trying to bring up a 1:08:27.479 --> 1:08:30.920 point as when when you're talking about the right plan 1:08:31.000 --> 1:08:34.280 for you. Of course you want the cheapest plan, but 1:08:34.400 --> 1:08:36.200 you don't want it to change. You want you don't 1:08:36.240 --> 1:08:39.320 want it to get more expensive. So I knew it 1:08:39.360 --> 1:08:41.280 a long time ago. As long as I keep this 1:08:41.400 --> 1:08:44.920 contract going and you can't miss a payment, there is 1:08:44.960 --> 1:08:49.519 no operators or anybody to call who cares. There's Google. 1:08:49.840 --> 1:08:53.479 But as long as you keep paying your pay payment 1:08:53.560 --> 1:08:57.120 each month, my bill does not change. Even when I 1:08:57.120 --> 1:08:59.479 buy new phones and bring them in or buy them 1:08:59.479 --> 1:09:02.720 from them. I know it's that's an expensive day, but 1:09:02.880 --> 1:09:05.240 it happens once in a while. But my I'm still 1:09:05.240 --> 1:09:08.040 paying one hundred dollars a month. That's what's that's what's important. 1:09:08.160 --> 1:09:10.360 Yeah, you're saving over the long term, and most people 1:09:10.400 --> 1:09:12.800 don't want to do that math of the long term 1:09:12.880 --> 1:09:14.960 versus the initial And thanks for the call there on 1:09:15.040 --> 1:09:15.639 hunting the beach. 1:09:15.680 --> 1:09:16.439 Really appreciate it. 1:09:16.479 --> 1:09:19.799 And by the way, Metro is now for four lines 1:09:19.840 --> 1:09:22.559 one hundred and seventy five bucks a month, so one 1:09:22.640 --> 1:09:25.000 hundred and eighty for the first month, and that includes 1:09:25.840 --> 1:09:28.519 some unlimited things. You're saving like seventy five dollars a 1:09:28.560 --> 1:09:32.759 month for those four lines times twelve. That's nine hundred 1:09:32.800 --> 1:09:35.639 bucks a year minimum, So that's a free iPhone right there. 1:09:36.400 --> 1:09:39.280 Uh eighty eight rich one one eight eight eight seven 1:09:39.400 --> 1:09:42.080 four to two four one zero one. Talked about this 1:09:42.120 --> 1:09:45.439 a little bit earlier in the show. But bitcoin, if 1:09:45.479 --> 1:09:47.920 you happen to have some, you might want to take 1:09:47.960 --> 1:09:50.720 a look at your account because it is up, up, up, 1:09:50.800 --> 1:09:54.840 up up. We talked about bitcoin extensively on a recent show. 1:09:54.880 --> 1:09:59.320 Remember I went to that Bitcoin LA conference and uh, now, 1:09:59.360 --> 1:10:02.080 bitcoin and there are a lot of people that are 1:10:02.200 --> 1:10:07.120 very excited about bitcoin because of the election of President 1:10:07.600 --> 1:10:12.639 President elect Trump and his pro crypto stance. So the 1:10:12.720 --> 1:10:18.400 market is very optimistic. And in the past month, bitcoin 1:10:18.479 --> 1:10:21.960 is up twenty seven percent. In the past week, it's 1:10:22.040 --> 1:10:26.120 up ten percent. The past day it's down one percent. 1:10:26.240 --> 1:10:29.800 So you know, but people, I think, what's gonna happen here? 1:10:29.800 --> 1:10:33.000 We're seeing this has got to be almost an all 1:10:33.000 --> 1:10:36.679 time high. We're at seventy six thousand dollars today. Apparently 1:10:36.720 --> 1:10:40.639 it reached seventy seven thousand on Friday before the weekend happened. 1:10:41.040 --> 1:10:44.479 But people are buying this in their retirement plans as well. 1:10:44.520 --> 1:10:46.800 So you can buy bitcoin. Number one, you don't have 1:10:46.840 --> 1:10:48.680 to buy a whole coin. Right, you can buy a 1:10:48.680 --> 1:10:52.720 portion of a coin. So for instance, if you you know, 1:10:52.880 --> 1:10:55.200 there's no way you're gonna put seventy six thousand, maybe 1:10:55.200 --> 1:10:57.240 you would, I don't know, but there's you know, you 1:10:57.320 --> 1:10:58.960 buy a portion, so you can say I want to 1:10:58.960 --> 1:11:01.760 buy ten dollars of bitcoin. It will figure out the 1:11:01.800 --> 1:11:03.920 math and give you ten dollars. You want to buy 1:11:03.920 --> 1:11:05.960 one hundred dollars a bitcoin, you do the math. So 1:11:06.000 --> 1:11:08.360 there's various apps that can let you do this, something 1:11:08.400 --> 1:11:11.240 like a cash app, a PayPal app. There's a million 1:11:11.280 --> 1:11:15.040 coin base. I mean, there's so many ways to buy crypto. Again, 1:11:15.120 --> 1:11:19.160 from what I got from that bitcoin conference I went to, 1:11:19.560 --> 1:11:22.479 people are really hip on Bitcoin, but not so much 1:11:22.560 --> 1:11:24.559 the other coins out there. A couple of years ago, 1:11:25.000 --> 1:11:27.720 we saw a lot of coins being promoted and a 1:11:27.760 --> 1:11:30.639 lot of digital currency being promoted. Now we're mostly seeing 1:11:30.680 --> 1:11:34.360 the focus on bitcoin because it is where most of 1:11:34.439 --> 1:11:38.800 the emphasis is in the crypto world. So again, a 1:11:38.800 --> 1:11:41.000 lot of analysts predicting that this could go up to 1:11:41.160 --> 1:11:43.760 one hundred thousand dollars or more by the end of 1:11:43.760 --> 1:11:46.200 the year. And I will go back to my original 1:11:46.240 --> 1:11:50.840 email from my friend who told me back in many 1:11:50.880 --> 1:11:54.679 many years ago. This is let me read this real quick, 1:11:55.200 --> 1:11:58.200 putting this on your calendar. This is in twenty thirteen. 1:11:59.080 --> 1:12:01.160 There's been a lot of big coin news. Price just 1:12:01.200 --> 1:12:03.360 went to a new high over three hundred per coin. 1:12:03.479 --> 1:12:05.679 Last time I emailed you was one twenty five. It's 1:12:05.720 --> 1:12:08.360 growing like crazy, one hundred, twenty. 1:12:08.160 --> 1:12:08.960 Five, three hundred. 1:12:09.040 --> 1:12:12.599 Now it's at seventy six thousand dollars. What a difference 1:12:12.640 --> 1:12:16.360 ten years makes. Do your research before investing. This is 1:12:16.520 --> 1:12:20.360 rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich 1:12:20.400 --> 1:12:26.280 Demiro here hanging out with you talking technology at triple 1:12:26.320 --> 1:12:29.160 A rich one on one. That's eight eight eight seven 1:12:29.360 --> 1:12:32.160 four to two four one zero one. The website for 1:12:32.200 --> 1:12:35.760 the show rich on Tech dot TV. You've got the 1:12:35.840 --> 1:12:39.880 latest issue of my newsletter UH in it this week 1:12:39.920 --> 1:12:42.599 you can sign up for free. By the way, UH 1:12:42.640 --> 1:12:48.160 talk about how to download your information from various services 1:12:48.200 --> 1:12:51.000 like Instagram, Google, and Microsoft. 1:12:51.920 --> 1:12:53.080 Explain that whole thing. 1:12:54.479 --> 1:12:56.960 Then there's this idea of a you've heard of AI, 1:12:57.080 --> 1:13:01.080 but what about private AI? There is a private and 1:13:01.439 --> 1:13:05.840 uncensored AI chat bot. I mean, that's intriguing, right, So 1:13:05.880 --> 1:13:07.840 I had to check that out. I've got that linked 1:13:07.920 --> 1:13:11.160 up in the show note or as in the newsletter 1:13:11.200 --> 1:13:14.519 as well. And then by way of my brother Justin, 1:13:14.560 --> 1:13:16.519 who's been on the show, he sent me a link 1:13:16.640 --> 1:13:22.120 to a open source image generation one of these AI 1:13:22.240 --> 1:13:26.800 image generators. So there's a website hugging face and they've 1:13:26.800 --> 1:13:29.519 got all these like AI models and things. But this 1:13:29.560 --> 1:13:32.559 one's pretty cool because you use the latest AI stable 1:13:32.600 --> 1:13:36.519 diffusion to generate images, so you can put into prompt 1:13:36.520 --> 1:13:38.280 you don't have to sign in or anything, so it's 1:13:38.320 --> 1:13:41.479 pretty good. Anyway, it's all in the newsletter. Rich on 1:13:41.560 --> 1:13:45.200 tech dot TV. Just just hit the first thing on 1:13:45.240 --> 1:13:46.880 the page and you'll see it, and don't forget to 1:13:46.920 --> 1:13:51.200 leave your email address, says these smart glasses changed my POV. 1:13:51.439 --> 1:13:54.720 It's all about those metas. Oh oh yes, I want 1:13:54.720 --> 1:13:57.480 you to mention this too. Actually I might mention the feedbag, 1:13:57.960 --> 1:14:00.320 but I talk about the the app that I I 1:14:00.439 --> 1:14:03.799 used to email myself and I got an email about 1:14:03.800 --> 1:14:07.840 that ironically, and I talk about how I switched. Actually, 1:14:07.880 --> 1:14:10.599 one of the viewers or listeners that emailed me about 1:14:10.600 --> 1:14:12.639 their app, I think it's better than one I picked, 1:14:13.040 --> 1:14:16.000 So I talk about that as well. Eighty eight rich 1:14:16.040 --> 1:14:18.200 one on one eight eight eight seven four to two 1:14:18.280 --> 1:14:21.960 four one zero. On this hour, we've got Dan Ackerman 1:14:21.960 --> 1:14:23.439 in front of the show. He's been on before. I 1:14:23.560 --> 1:14:25.800 used to work with him at c NEET. He is 1:14:26.160 --> 1:14:29.280 going to talk to us about AI video clones and 1:14:29.400 --> 1:14:33.360 also he uh he actually heads up sort of the 1:14:33.479 --> 1:14:37.040 content creation at Microcenter. Remember we talked about micro Center 1:14:37.080 --> 1:14:39.960 a couple couple weeks ago. How they're you know, they've 1:14:39.960 --> 1:14:41.759 got the physical stores and all that stuff. 1:14:41.800 --> 1:14:43.880 So might pick his brain a little bit about that. 1:14:44.439 --> 1:14:48.960 Let's go to Herbert in a Rancho, Santa Fe, California. 1:14:49.520 --> 1:14:50.360 Welcome to the show. 1:14:51.160 --> 1:14:55.280 Thank you, Rich. Quick question. I have a program that 1:14:56.040 --> 1:15:01.320 goes through the computer and finds duplicates. Okay, and it's 1:15:01.360 --> 1:15:02.559 called Jimminy two. 1:15:02.680 --> 1:15:04.439 I think it's by math Paw. 1:15:04.800 --> 1:15:05.040 Yeah. 1:15:05.240 --> 1:15:07.719 And I went through it and I didn't have any 1:15:07.760 --> 1:15:09.880 idea I had that many dup with this. But I'm 1:15:09.920 --> 1:15:13.920 just picking pictures, and I picked all the ones that 1:15:14.000 --> 1:15:16.600 I would like to get rid of, but I'm afraid to. 1:15:16.800 --> 1:15:20.840 I don't know enough about the program to commit to 1:15:22.400 --> 1:15:25.759 getting rid of a several good advice of memory. 1:15:26.320 --> 1:15:29.320 Well, okay, so first off, so Gemini to know it 1:15:29.439 --> 1:15:33.000 very well, really like that program I use it have 1:15:33.120 --> 1:15:35.559 used it in the past, and it's great. It does 1:15:35.600 --> 1:15:39.400 what it says it does. Typically it chooses the file 1:15:39.479 --> 1:15:43.479 that is either newer or smaller or something like that. 1:15:43.520 --> 1:15:44.439 Is that what you've noticed? 1:15:45.600 --> 1:15:48.400 You know, I didn't look into it enough. I glanced 1:15:48.439 --> 1:15:51.720 at it. That is a concern that if I have 1:15:51.800 --> 1:15:54.360 a picture in two different files, whether it takes it 1:15:54.400 --> 1:15:56.320 out of the right one, but I don't know. 1:15:56.680 --> 1:15:57.960 Yeah, usually about that. 1:15:58.160 --> 1:16:00.519 Typically it uses smarts to kind of figure out, like 1:16:00.560 --> 1:16:02.600 it goes, you know, it has like little rules that 1:16:02.600 --> 1:16:04.720 are built in, so it's going to say, we know, 1:16:04.880 --> 1:16:06.240 you know obviously, like let's say you have two of 1:16:06.240 --> 1:16:09.360 the same pictures and it looks at the information on 1:16:09.400 --> 1:16:11.920 them and says, okay, this one's smaller, so clearly this 1:16:12.080 --> 1:16:14.799 is some sort of thumbnail or screenshot or a copy 1:16:14.840 --> 1:16:18.120 that you made of this picture. Also, this one is newer, 1:16:18.160 --> 1:16:19.880 so we know that there's an older version of it 1:16:19.920 --> 1:16:22.679 that's bigger. So it's going to go through and choose 1:16:22.760 --> 1:16:26.559 typically the one that it thinks it should keep, and 1:16:26.600 --> 1:16:29.639 it typically does that using you know, just it's smarts 1:16:29.680 --> 1:16:32.240 that are built into it. So that's that's probably what's 1:16:32.280 --> 1:16:35.400 going to happen now. The other thing that I would 1:16:35.439 --> 1:16:39.839 say is anytime you are going to make substantial changes 1:16:39.960 --> 1:16:43.280 to a collection of photos, you want to make sure 1:16:43.280 --> 1:16:45.439 that you have a backup before you do that. And 1:16:45.520 --> 1:16:47.040 I know that that's tricky. You know that that can 1:16:47.120 --> 1:16:50.439 be complicated. But if you just get a hard drive 1:16:50.560 --> 1:16:53.479 and use time Machine on your Mac, are these stored 1:16:53.520 --> 1:16:54.360 locally on your Mac? 1:16:55.760 --> 1:17:01.120 Yeah, I I do that, Okay, back up on an 1:17:01.120 --> 1:17:02.320 external hard drive. 1:17:02.439 --> 1:17:04.240 Then you're good to go. Then I think you're fine. 1:17:04.360 --> 1:17:05.960 As long as you have a double back or any 1:17:05.960 --> 1:17:08.720 sort of backup of these pictures, I. 1:17:08.640 --> 1:17:09.639 Think it's gonna be fine. 1:17:09.720 --> 1:17:12.360 And that's that's the main thing, is that anytime you're 1:17:12.400 --> 1:17:16.240 making large, substantial changes to any of the files on 1:17:16.280 --> 1:17:18.519 your computer, you just want to be sure that, ay, 1:17:18.520 --> 1:17:21.600 you're doing it slowly and methodically. You don't want to 1:17:21.600 --> 1:17:25.200 just speed through this, and you're making sure you understand, 1:17:25.280 --> 1:17:27.240 you know, the prompts that come up and things like that. 1:17:27.520 --> 1:17:30.679 And with Jim and I, I believe that it puts 1:17:30.720 --> 1:17:35.680 them in like a the trash first and then you 1:17:35.760 --> 1:17:37.439 have to empty the trash. So if you you know, 1:17:37.720 --> 1:17:39.360 I would probably leave them in the trash for the 1:17:39.400 --> 1:17:41.719 next couple of days and then see if you need one. 1:17:42.000 --> 1:17:44.720 But I will tell you one time, Herbert, that I 1:17:44.800 --> 1:17:47.479 deleted a whole bunch of pictures one time out of 1:17:47.479 --> 1:17:50.000 my Google drive and I realized that it was my 1:17:50.240 --> 1:17:52.720 kid on like like some of the kid, like my 1:17:53.080 --> 1:17:54.920 kid when he was born, Like they were all gone, 1:17:54.960 --> 1:17:56.880 and I was like, oh no, this is not good. 1:17:57.240 --> 1:17:59.200 And so thankfully I had a backup. I went back. 1:17:59.240 --> 1:18:01.160 I pulled all those pics sures back. But my point 1:18:01.240 --> 1:18:04.320 is it can happen. It's like once they're gone, you're 1:18:04.320 --> 1:18:05.960 looking and you're like, oh no, this is not a 1:18:06.000 --> 1:18:08.960 good thing. So but Gemini is a great program. They 1:18:09.000 --> 1:18:12.439 actually make another one for the iPhone called they used 1:18:12.439 --> 1:18:14.360 to make the version of this Gemini for the iPhone. 1:18:14.400 --> 1:18:16.800 Now they make one called Clean my Phone, which is 1:18:16.840 --> 1:18:18.519 also for the iPhone. It can kind of find the 1:18:18.600 --> 1:18:22.120 duplicates and things. But yeah, it's a great program. It 1:18:22.160 --> 1:18:23.840 does what you need. The other one I like that 1:18:24.280 --> 1:18:28.120 does the duplicates is Remo r E m O, and 1:18:28.120 --> 1:18:30.880 they've got a version of that, I believe, for it 1:18:30.960 --> 1:18:33.280 looks like I know Windows, And they also have one 1:18:33.320 --> 1:18:37.240 for Mac as well and the iPhone. So these are 1:18:37.280 --> 1:18:41.920 great programs. Gemini Remo, all good programs. But again, before 1:18:41.920 --> 1:18:44.240 you make any of those changes, please just make sure 1:18:44.240 --> 1:18:47.320 you have a backup. If you're on Windows, just use 1:18:47.360 --> 1:18:49.599 the built in backup. Just get a hard drive back 1:18:49.680 --> 1:18:52.639 up your computer. If you're on you know, the Mac 1:18:52.760 --> 1:18:55.439 side of things, just use time Machine. And if you're 1:18:55.439 --> 1:18:59.320 doing anything that's like working with your cloud stuff. You know, people, 1:18:59.439 --> 1:19:01.120 it took a while for people to realize that when 1:19:01.160 --> 1:19:03.400 you delete a picture on your iPhone to save space, 1:19:03.479 --> 1:19:06.479 it's also deleting it out of iCloud. So just be 1:19:06.560 --> 1:19:09.439 aware of that. You know, when you're deleting things, you 1:19:09.640 --> 1:19:12.599 have to be very aware of just how much you're 1:19:12.600 --> 1:19:16.200 doing and how permanent that deletion is. Thankfully, with most 1:19:16.240 --> 1:19:19.439 of these cloud services, things go into a deleted folder 1:19:19.680 --> 1:19:22.360 where they stick around for a good thirty days before 1:19:22.400 --> 1:19:25.760 they actually get deleted. So on iPhone, if you want 1:19:25.760 --> 1:19:27.599 to look into that, you can open up your photos 1:19:27.640 --> 1:19:30.559 app and if you scroll I mean they just change 1:19:30.560 --> 1:19:31.519 the way photos works. 1:19:31.560 --> 1:19:32.280 It's such a mess. 1:19:32.320 --> 1:19:34.920 But if you scroll down you'll see where it says 1:19:35.040 --> 1:19:39.400 utilities and recently deleted. So if you go into that album, 1:19:39.600 --> 1:19:41.320 that's where you're going to see the recently deleted. And 1:19:41.360 --> 1:19:48.479 I'm just saying, you know, if you're I just I 1:19:48.520 --> 1:19:51.160 see the evil uses of all this stuff, like if 1:19:51.200 --> 1:19:54.479 you're you know anyway, my point is that'd be the 1:19:54.520 --> 1:19:56.439 first place I looked on a phone if I had 1:19:56.439 --> 1:19:58.680 to like kind of see what's going on with this 1:19:58.720 --> 1:19:59.599 person in their phone. 1:20:00.000 --> 1:20:01.559 Thankfully Apple got hipped to that. 1:20:01.920 --> 1:20:04.320 And now if you notice there's a little lock next 1:20:04.320 --> 1:20:07.080 to the recently deleted, that's because let's say you grab 1:20:07.160 --> 1:20:09.720 someone's iPhone and you're like, oh, I bet you I 1:20:09.720 --> 1:20:12.679 can find some interesting stuff and they're recently deleted. They 1:20:12.720 --> 1:20:16.320 now lock that down, so you need to actually use 1:20:16.360 --> 1:20:18.840 face ID or passcode to open that up because they 1:20:18.920 --> 1:20:21.600 figured out that, yeah, people probably delete some stuff they 1:20:21.600 --> 1:20:23.960 don't want other people to see. Now, if you're in 1:20:24.320 --> 1:20:26.880 Google Photos, which is what I use for my photos, 1:20:27.280 --> 1:20:30.280 same thing. If you go into your collections, then you 1:20:30.320 --> 1:20:32.840 can go and find your trash in there. So if 1:20:32.840 --> 1:20:36.479 you go Google Photos collections and then trash it takes 1:20:36.520 --> 1:20:39.759 It says items will be permanently deleted after sixty days 1:20:39.800 --> 1:20:42.280 from trash, so that gives you enough time to do 1:20:42.320 --> 1:20:44.240 something like clean out your system and go, oh wait, 1:20:44.320 --> 1:20:46.800 where's that picture I just deleted. Oh there it is okay, 1:20:46.840 --> 1:20:50.720 and you can restore those pictures easily. So that's the 1:20:50.760 --> 1:20:53.880 way to do it. Great call Herbert. Thanks for the question. 1:20:53.920 --> 1:20:54.120 There. 1:20:55.120 --> 1:20:57.160 Let's see, do we have time to go to another question? 1:20:57.680 --> 1:21:00.920 Not really, we got might have to wait until after 1:21:00.920 --> 1:21:03.240 the break eighty eight rich one oh one eight eight 1:21:03.280 --> 1:21:07.280 eight seven four to two four to one zero one uh. 1:21:07.360 --> 1:21:08.679 Timothy Jacob Hudson. 1:21:08.920 --> 1:21:12.040 In this in how to Geek, the website says you 1:21:12.040 --> 1:21:15.720 can skip paid antivirus in twenty twenty four. This is 1:21:15.760 --> 1:21:19.400 an argument, and I've heard this idea before that what's 1:21:19.439 --> 1:21:22.320 built into Windows is probably good enough nowadays. 1:21:22.320 --> 1:21:23.519 But let me give you his argument. 1:21:24.040 --> 1:21:27.400 He says Windows Defender, which is Microsoft's built in antivirus, 1:21:28.120 --> 1:21:31.759 basically gets perfect or near perfect scores in security tests. 1:21:32.160 --> 1:21:35.760 So he says, the built in modern security on devices 1:21:36.240 --> 1:21:39.880 like Windows, iOS, Android in Mac has pretty much comprehensive 1:21:39.880 --> 1:21:43.960 protection without a lot of extra cost, and most common 1:21:44.000 --> 1:21:47.280 malware threats are already blocked by email, they blocked dangerous 1:21:47.280 --> 1:21:51.360 attachments built in firewalls and the default system protections that 1:21:51.439 --> 1:21:55.799 you have on Windows, iOS, Android in Mac. But here's 1:21:55.880 --> 1:21:58.439 the thing that I would say with the caveat. So yes, 1:21:58.479 --> 1:22:00.559 if you want to save money, you can use the 1:22:00.560 --> 1:22:03.200 Microsoft built in antivirus Windows Defender. 1:22:03.320 --> 1:22:05.439 Just make sure it's up to date. But here's the thing. 1:22:06.680 --> 1:22:09.920 This only really works a if your software is up 1:22:09.920 --> 1:22:14.000 to date and current. So if you're you know, Mac software, 1:22:14.040 --> 1:22:16.599 your Windows software, your iPhone, you're Android or all up 1:22:16.600 --> 1:22:18.960 to date, that's number one, you have to have those 1:22:19.040 --> 1:22:23.120 latest security patches. Number two, this does not necessarily protect 1:22:23.200 --> 1:22:26.000 you against you So I've mentioned this a couple of 1:22:26.000 --> 1:22:28.400 weeks ago. Why I think Chrome is a great browser 1:22:28.400 --> 1:22:31.240 to use because it will scan the links that you 1:22:31.360 --> 1:22:34.439 click and it will tell you in real time, hey, 1:22:34.560 --> 1:22:37.599 this is a phishing link. But the problem is people 1:22:37.720 --> 1:22:40.800 still fall for this stuff on a daily basis, and 1:22:40.840 --> 1:22:44.160 that no antivirus software can really protect you from that. 1:22:44.640 --> 1:22:48.479 So if you're clicking links, your clicking links that you 1:22:48.520 --> 1:22:51.200 get in your text messages or in your email, you're 1:22:51.240 --> 1:22:54.000 putting in personal information, you're logging into websites when it 1:22:54.000 --> 1:22:56.479 says hey there's a problem with your payment, you can 1:22:56.560 --> 1:22:59.080 still get caught even if you're using these built in 1:22:59.120 --> 1:23:03.479 antivirus or built in protection, So be careful, understand what 1:23:03.520 --> 1:23:06.120 phishing is and how they're trying to get you. This 1:23:06.360 --> 1:23:11.280 is rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. 1:23:11.360 --> 1:23:15.200 Rich Demiro here hanging out with you talking technology. The 1:23:15.240 --> 1:23:19.000 website for the show richon Tech dot tv coming up 1:23:19.000 --> 1:23:21.840 this hour. We have the feedbag a little bit later 1:23:21.880 --> 1:23:26.960 on and Dan Ackerman formerly I've seen it now with Microcenter. 1:23:27.040 --> 1:23:30.639 He is going to talk about creating an affordable AI 1:23:30.920 --> 1:23:34.120 video clone. I guess he did this himself and has 1:23:34.160 --> 1:23:38.040 some thoughts on that. Let's see email for the show 1:23:38.200 --> 1:23:42.759 richon Tech dot TV got an email here from Michael 1:23:42.840 --> 1:23:46.200 from Duarte. Hey, Rich, I'm a seventy one year old 1:23:46.320 --> 1:23:47.839 and technology challenge. 1:23:47.880 --> 1:23:50.080 I still use my flip phone that serves me very well. 1:23:50.400 --> 1:23:52.000 I try to listen to your show whenever I can 1:23:52.080 --> 1:23:54.840 while i'm washing the car walking around the house. I 1:23:54.880 --> 1:23:57.559 find you're hosting and educational qualities to be very good 1:23:57.600 --> 1:23:59.360 and I do learn things from you and your guests. 1:24:00.200 --> 1:24:02.920 Just end the reading right there. Thank you, Michael, now, 1:24:02.920 --> 1:24:05.920 but I'll keep going. I guess he has a question. 1:24:06.240 --> 1:24:09.320 My Dell desktop with Windows ten serves my basic needs 1:24:09.320 --> 1:24:13.200 web surfing, eBay, forums and streaming TV. Microsoft keeps encouraging 1:24:13.240 --> 1:24:15.960 me to upgrade to Windows eleven. But I believe if 1:24:16.000 --> 1:24:18.800 it ain't broken, don't fix it, will I eventually be 1:24:18.880 --> 1:24:21.240 forced to upgrade. Keep up the great work, Rich, and 1:24:21.280 --> 1:24:24.960 thanks for not only educating us, but being entertaining as well. Wow, 1:24:25.080 --> 1:24:29.160 entertaining you hear that, Bobo entertaining. We are entertaining people here, 1:24:29.760 --> 1:24:32.720 he's being nice. That was auto draft. He just used 1:24:32.720 --> 1:24:36.160 that like auto like the Gmail helped me write, Oh, 1:24:36.200 --> 1:24:38.080 write a nice email to Rich like butter them up. 1:24:38.120 --> 1:24:40.439 So answer my question. No, I'm just kidding. Thank you, Michael. 1:24:40.920 --> 1:24:43.479 Okay, So here's the deal with Windows, and I totally 1:24:43.560 --> 1:24:44.479 understand what you're saying. 1:24:45.240 --> 1:24:45.439 Now. 1:24:45.479 --> 1:24:48.800 I used to be the person I still am where 1:24:48.800 --> 1:24:51.720 I like to upgrade the second it's available, right like, 1:24:51.800 --> 1:24:53.800 I want the cutting edge. And most of the time 1:24:54.080 --> 1:24:55.880 that's just because I'm a nerd. I'm a geek. I 1:24:56.040 --> 1:24:57.800 just like to have the latest, greatest, and of course 1:24:57.840 --> 1:24:59.680 I want to test it out. But I think when 1:24:59.720 --> 1:25:03.160 it comes this is something like Windows eleven. Why do 1:25:03.200 --> 1:25:04.960 you need to do that? I don't think you do, 1:25:05.160 --> 1:25:07.000 especially with the things you're telling me you do with 1:25:07.040 --> 1:25:10.280 your computer. So yes, it's in a Windows best interest 1:25:10.320 --> 1:25:13.000 to get people to upgrade and to upgrade early, and 1:25:13.040 --> 1:25:15.080 if there will be a deadline that you need to 1:25:15.160 --> 1:25:19.360 upgrade by, and that's October fourteenth, twenty twenty five, that's 1:25:19.360 --> 1:25:21.720 called end of support, end of life. That means that 1:25:22.280 --> 1:25:25.360 after that date, Windows will no longer support your system, 1:25:25.439 --> 1:25:28.280 and like we just talked about, that means no more 1:25:28.320 --> 1:25:30.679 security updates, no more bug fixes. 1:25:31.720 --> 1:25:33.759 But here's the catch. 1:25:33.920 --> 1:25:37.040 They just announced that for an extra thirty bucks, you 1:25:37.040 --> 1:25:39.920 can extend that by a year. So Michael, you're looking 1:25:39.960 --> 1:25:41.800 at at the very least, if you don't feel like 1:25:41.920 --> 1:25:44.920 changing anything on your computer, you can use your current 1:25:44.960 --> 1:25:48.559 Windows ten for thirty bucks all the way until well, 1:25:48.600 --> 1:25:51.040 you can use it for free until October fourteenth, twenty 1:25:51.080 --> 1:25:53.880 twenty five. For thirty dollars you can use it all 1:25:53.920 --> 1:25:57.320 the way until October fourteenth, twenty twenty six. So you're 1:25:57.360 --> 1:25:59.760 looking at two more years from now. No big deal. 1:25:59.800 --> 1:26:02.719 I think that for what you need. If your computer's working, 1:26:03.040 --> 1:26:04.920 like you said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 1:26:05.000 --> 1:26:06.000 You don't need to upgrade. 1:26:06.640 --> 1:26:08.760 If you want the Windows eleven stuff, it's a little 1:26:08.800 --> 1:26:13.960 bit tricky because clearly your computer supports it, so that's fine. 1:26:14.400 --> 1:26:17.720 But the stuff that Windows eleven offers is mostly the 1:26:17.760 --> 1:26:21.519 AI stuff, So I mean it's if you want to 1:26:21.520 --> 1:26:24.360 play with that stuff, find the copilot stuff built in, 1:26:24.800 --> 1:26:25.920 but I don't really know if. 1:26:25.840 --> 1:26:27.160 You need it. 1:26:27.160 --> 1:26:29.599 It's it's you're not going to get a substantial change 1:26:29.640 --> 1:26:31.360 in the things that you're doing, because it sounds like 1:26:31.760 --> 1:26:34.479 most of the stuff you're doing is just web browser 1:26:34.520 --> 1:26:39.960 brace web browser based. So great question, and just just 1:26:40.000 --> 1:26:41.800 ignore that prompt until you have to. 1:26:42.800 --> 1:26:43.240 Let's go to. 1:26:43.320 --> 1:26:46.600 Mark in Woodland Hills. Mark and Woodland Hills is on 1:26:46.640 --> 1:26:48.759 the line. Welcome to the show, afternoon. 1:26:49.560 --> 1:26:51.920 You know, I have a question. But I've been listening 1:26:51.960 --> 1:26:54.200 to all this about plans and phones. I'd have to 1:26:54.240 --> 1:26:56.400 tell you that I was going to go to Visible 1:26:56.600 --> 1:27:00.600 for my mobile plan sure, but Mint and get a 1:27:00.880 --> 1:27:06.040 unlimited data. But Mint matched the price. So if people 1:27:06.160 --> 1:27:08.400 like Mint, you can approach them with that, they probably 1:27:08.439 --> 1:27:11.240 will do some. As far as my favorite phone ever, 1:27:11.479 --> 1:27:13.879 it was a Yoda three. I know all the security 1:27:13.920 --> 1:27:17.799 problems with it, but my friend who's a retired Special 1:27:17.840 --> 1:27:23.800 Forces officer, showed me his unplugged by Eric Prince. It's 1:27:23.840 --> 1:27:26.960 a fantastic phone. It's nine hundred and fifty bucks. 1:27:27.000 --> 1:27:28.880 You know it's not cheap, but. 1:27:28.880 --> 1:27:31.800 They have vetted everything, and everything on their app store 1:27:31.880 --> 1:27:35.320 is vetted. Plus, when you turn your phone off, it's off, 1:27:35.840 --> 1:27:36.760 it disconnects. 1:27:36.960 --> 1:27:39.000 Yeah, phone has a lot. 1:27:38.800 --> 1:27:40.920 Of security elements built into it, and if you know 1:27:40.960 --> 1:27:44.080 who Erik Prince is you can figure out why. But 1:27:44.520 --> 1:27:46.759 I just thought i'd share that with your listeners. 1:27:46.920 --> 1:27:52.760 Yeah, it's interesting the new phones actually, with both iPhone 1:27:52.840 --> 1:27:57.080 and Android, if you've got the latest operating system, they 1:27:57.080 --> 1:27:59.960 may turn off, but they're still findable with the fine miss. 1:28:00.360 --> 1:28:01.960 So if you look at the pixel and you look 1:28:01.960 --> 1:28:05.719 at the iPhone, things don't really go off on those. 1:28:06.400 --> 1:28:09.360 Do you have you heard of the graphene Graphene os? 1:28:10.800 --> 1:28:12.840 So this is like you can put this on your phone. 1:28:12.840 --> 1:28:15.080 I guess it's like a you know, it's an Android 1:28:15.240 --> 1:28:19.439 operating system that is completely secure and private and mobile. 1:28:19.439 --> 1:28:22.040 But the problem is, you know, since it doesn't have 1:28:22.080 --> 1:28:24.760 a lot of connections to the Google Play Store, it's 1:28:24.800 --> 1:28:26.360 going to be a little trickier to run things. So 1:28:26.400 --> 1:28:28.080 that's like if you really want, like to turn any 1:28:28.080 --> 1:28:30.800 phone into like a private phone. Anyway, I was going 1:28:30.880 --> 1:28:32.200 to tinker with that to just see what it was 1:28:32.200 --> 1:28:35.000 all about. So sounds like that's what that the other 1:28:35.160 --> 1:28:38.360 unplugged phone. You're talking about privacy. Look, privacy is going 1:28:38.400 --> 1:28:41.559 to become more important, more and more important in this world. Okay, 1:28:41.560 --> 1:28:44.479 now now that we've burned up, now. 1:28:44.479 --> 1:28:46.400 Nobody is your information with this phone. 1:28:46.520 --> 1:28:48.040 Now that we've burned up all your time, did you 1:28:48.080 --> 1:28:50.200 actually have a question. We only have a minute before coming. 1:28:51.000 --> 1:28:53.800 I have a lot of files and folders, I mean 1:28:54.000 --> 1:28:58.320 thousands of files and they're on various external hard drives 1:28:58.320 --> 1:29:01.920 and my laptop. Free software out there that would help 1:29:01.960 --> 1:29:04.160 me organize all my stuff and boil it down to 1:29:04.240 --> 1:29:07.240 one version so that I can both have that and 1:29:07.320 --> 1:29:08.360 you know, a copy of course. 1:29:08.680 --> 1:29:09.840 Oh that's a great question. 1:29:10.479 --> 1:29:12.240 I mean what I would do is probably just dump 1:29:12.320 --> 1:29:15.920 everything onto like get one drive and dump everything onto there, 1:29:15.960 --> 1:29:18.400 not one drive like Microsoft, but just one drive and 1:29:18.479 --> 1:29:21.400 jump dump everything in. That should take care of some 1:29:21.439 --> 1:29:24.439 of the duplicates. I'm trying to think if there's a 1:29:24.439 --> 1:29:25.439 across the board. 1:29:26.280 --> 1:29:28.040 I can't think of one off the top of my head. 1:29:28.040 --> 1:29:29.679 But the good news about this show is that someone 1:29:29.680 --> 1:29:32.479 else may have a suggestion. But you're saying one app 1:29:32.520 --> 1:29:36.559 that can just go through everything and consolidate. I know 1:29:36.680 --> 1:29:39.960 Dropbox has dash but that may not be exactly what 1:29:39.960 --> 1:29:42.479 you're looking for. That's more for search. We'll think about it. 1:29:42.520 --> 1:29:42.760 Mark. 1:29:43.200 --> 1:29:46.640 Coming up next, we're going to talk about AI clones. 1:29:48.439 --> 1:29:51.439 Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging 1:29:51.479 --> 1:29:54.720 out with you, talking technology at eighty eight rich one 1:29:54.720 --> 1:29:57.320 oh one eight eight eight seven four to two four 1:29:57.360 --> 1:30:00.280 one zero one. Before the break, we had a Mark 1:30:00.320 --> 1:30:03.520 in Woodland Hills wanting to consolidate all of his files 1:30:03.600 --> 1:30:06.120 and he needed a good app to help him do that. 1:30:06.400 --> 1:30:07.400 I was looking online. 1:30:07.720 --> 1:30:10.679 I found one for Mac called space Drive, which sounds 1:30:10.720 --> 1:30:13.080 like it might actually help him out. It says design 1:30:13.120 --> 1:30:16.599 for creators, hoarders, and the painfully disorganized. So I think 1:30:16.680 --> 1:30:19.000 that one sounds like it might fit the bill for him, 1:30:19.040 --> 1:30:21.800 depending on what side of you know macro windows he's on. 1:30:22.479 --> 1:30:23.200 Joining me now. 1:30:23.439 --> 1:30:25.800 Oh by the way, if you want to comment on 1:30:25.840 --> 1:30:27.280 that or give me a suggestion, you can go to 1:30:27.320 --> 1:30:29.800 the website rich on Tech dot tv and hit the 1:30:29.800 --> 1:30:33.000 show notes and email me that Joining me now is 1:30:33.200 --> 1:30:35.880 Dan Ackerman, editor in chief at Microcenter. 1:30:36.040 --> 1:30:39.080 Dan, welcome to the show. Not good to be with you, 1:30:39.160 --> 1:30:39.840 Rich So. 1:30:40.040 --> 1:30:42.400 Dan and I worked together at cnet many moons ago. 1:30:43.240 --> 1:30:46.360 He is now the editor in chief at Microcenter. Explain 1:30:46.400 --> 1:30:48.040 what that means, because we wrote a love letter to 1:30:48.080 --> 1:30:50.519 micro Center a couple of weeks ago saying how much 1:30:50.560 --> 1:30:52.960 we love the idea of an in shopping in store 1:30:52.960 --> 1:30:56.280 shopping experience, and what does that mean to your editor 1:30:56.320 --> 1:30:56.880 in chief there? 1:30:56.920 --> 1:31:00.240 Explain, Oh, that's so great because you know, after like 1:31:00.320 --> 1:31:04.120 twenty plus years and traditional tech media working at c net, 1:31:04.320 --> 1:31:06.839 being the editor in chief of Gizmoto, I got recruited 1:31:06.840 --> 1:31:09.719 by Microcenter, which is a great organization. It's a series 1:31:09.760 --> 1:31:12.400 about twenty eight twenty nine stores. We can get all 1:31:12.400 --> 1:31:15.840 your computer stuff and TVs and three D printers, but really, 1:31:15.840 --> 1:31:18.120 if you're building a computer from scratch and you need 1:31:18.160 --> 1:31:20.280 all the graphless cards parts, you go there and you 1:31:20.360 --> 1:31:23.160 hang outs all community. And they wanted to start doing 1:31:23.160 --> 1:31:24.720 a news site because they saw that a lot of 1:31:24.720 --> 1:31:28.000 the traditional tech media sites were going out of business, 1:31:28.080 --> 1:31:31.599 laying people off, really downsizing, and they said, you know what, 1:31:31.680 --> 1:31:33.519 let's just hire some experts and get in on this. 1:31:33.640 --> 1:31:35.679 So they hired me, and then I have in turn 1:31:35.840 --> 1:31:38.960 hired many many rich of our former c net colleagues 1:31:39.000 --> 1:31:41.760 as freelancers. Is basically at Mini c net and we 1:31:41.840 --> 1:31:44.400 do reviews and five we talk about AI a lot. 1:31:44.439 --> 1:31:46.400 We're about to get into the holiday shopping season. 1:31:46.760 --> 1:31:49.080 So it's really a tech news site that just happens 1:31:49.120 --> 1:31:50.480 to be under the microsport. 1:31:50.960 --> 1:31:53.080 So if you go to microcenter dot com, is it 1:31:53.200 --> 1:31:55.200 the MC news? Is that what you tap? 1:31:55.840 --> 1:31:56.120 It is? 1:31:56.160 --> 1:31:58.040 And it's also at microcenter dot news. 1:31:58.240 --> 1:31:59.960 Oh, Microcenter dot News. All right, there you go. 1:32:00.000 --> 1:32:02.640 So let's talk about some news first off, before we 1:32:02.680 --> 1:32:06.160 get to the AI clones that you tested out. PlayStation 1:32:06.360 --> 1:32:10.200 five Pro launched this week seven hundred dollars. What do 1:32:10.240 --> 1:32:12.559 we need to know about that? The PlayStation five Pro 1:32:13.600 --> 1:32:14.240 really interesting. 1:32:14.280 --> 1:32:16.840 They did this last generation with the PS four Pro 1:32:17.240 --> 1:32:21.080 and the Xbox one X, where before the whole next 1:32:21.120 --> 1:32:24.679 generation they had in between with slightly more powerful graphics, 1:32:24.720 --> 1:32:26.960 more memory to kind of keep up. Because when you 1:32:27.000 --> 1:32:30.040 buy a game console, you're buying something at set in Stone. 1:32:30.080 --> 1:32:31.599 The hardware is not going to change. 1:32:31.720 --> 1:32:34.160 And three or four or five years later, he ses 1:32:34.320 --> 1:32:37.400 gaming PCs are so much more advanced you need kind 1:32:37.439 --> 1:32:39.400 of a catch up, and the PS five Pro is 1:32:39.439 --> 1:32:42.160 that catch up. Basically, if you play PS five games 1:32:42.200 --> 1:32:44.000 a lot of the time, you're going to see. 1:32:43.720 --> 1:32:45.040 There's two graphics options. 1:32:45.080 --> 1:32:48.200 It's like fidelity, which means a lot of special effects 1:32:48.240 --> 1:32:51.360 and radtracing and stuff, but like thirty frames per second, 1:32:51.520 --> 1:32:54.080 or Performance, which strips a lot of the special effects 1:32:54.120 --> 1:32:56.680 out and gives you sixty frames per second. And the 1:32:56.720 --> 1:32:58.880 PS five Pro, because it's got a new GPU and 1:32:58.920 --> 1:33:01.680 more RAM and more storage space, it basically gives you 1:33:01.840 --> 1:33:05.519 the sixty frames and the higher end graphics, and. 1:33:05.439 --> 1:33:07.400 In some games it really makes a difference. 1:33:07.880 --> 1:33:10.639 We were just testing out a game on the one 1:33:10.640 --> 1:33:12.880 of the consoles and my kid came up against that screen. 1:33:12.920 --> 1:33:14.960 He's like, which one should I choose. I'm like, I 1:33:14.960 --> 1:33:15.280 don't know. 1:33:15.400 --> 1:33:17.040 Do you want it the better graphics or you want 1:33:17.280 --> 1:33:20.519 the faster gameplay? I guess that's the main thing, right. 1:33:20.400 --> 1:33:23.200 Yeah, And most people go for the faster gameplay, and frankly, 1:33:23.280 --> 1:33:25.320 that's the right choice a lot of the time, because 1:33:25.360 --> 1:33:27.720 you want things to feel fluid, but you also don't 1:33:27.720 --> 1:33:30.040 want to miss out on, you know, rate tracing and 1:33:30.080 --> 1:33:32.560 those all THESS reflections and the cool water effects and 1:33:32.600 --> 1:33:35.200 the lighting. So something like the PS five Pro, and 1:33:35.240 --> 1:33:37.839 I'm sure there'll be an Xbox version of something similar 1:33:38.200 --> 1:33:40.320 not that far in the future, you get to have 1:33:40.400 --> 1:33:43.080 the best of both worlds, and even though it's more 1:33:43.080 --> 1:33:46.559 expensive at you know, seven hundred dollars, it's still less 1:33:46.600 --> 1:33:49.000 than buying a big gaming PC, which could cost you 1:33:49.439 --> 1:33:52.200 twelve hundred and fifteen hundred, two thousand dollars or more 1:33:52.439 --> 1:33:55.360 in order to get that frame rate plus really cool 1:33:55.439 --> 1:33:56.519 visuals combination. 1:33:57.080 --> 1:34:00.000 So would you recommend someone that has the PlayStation five 1:34:00.200 --> 1:34:02.720 to get this and trade in their old one, or 1:34:02.920 --> 1:34:03.920 who do you expect to buy it? 1:34:03.960 --> 1:34:06.439 Says this thing? The trade in is not a bad idea. 1:34:06.520 --> 1:34:08.160 If you have a PS five and you love it, 1:34:08.479 --> 1:34:10.240 I don't think you really need to step up to this. 1:34:10.320 --> 1:34:12.160 But if you're getting into it now and you're like, oh, 1:34:12.160 --> 1:34:14.439 I'm going to go buy a PS five, finally you 1:34:14.479 --> 1:34:16.760 should get the pro because it's going to have a 1:34:16.840 --> 1:34:20.120 longer lifespan than the regular PS five. Or if you 1:34:20.200 --> 1:34:21.760 have one and you're like, oh, I'm going to get 1:34:21.760 --> 1:34:24.960 a second one for the den or the bedroom or something, 1:34:25.240 --> 1:34:27.320 move the original back there, get the pro for your 1:34:27.320 --> 1:34:27.800 living room. 1:34:27.920 --> 1:34:29.800 Okay, And I'm looking at the trade in price on 1:34:29.840 --> 1:34:33.400 the PS five. It's about two hundred and fifty dollars, 1:34:33.439 --> 1:34:35.920 so that's not too bad for it's not. 1:34:36.000 --> 1:34:38.200 Too bad, but if you're happy with the PS five, 1:34:38.479 --> 1:34:40.840 you don't need to upgrade. But if you're getting into 1:34:40.880 --> 1:34:43.080 the platform now, or if you want to like add 1:34:43.120 --> 1:34:45.720 it to another room, that's a good excuse to this 1:34:45.920 --> 1:34:46.559 lurg to get the. 1:34:46.520 --> 1:34:49.760 Pro Okay, So in one of your latest articles for Microcenter, 1:34:49.840 --> 1:34:53.720 you you experimented with creating an AI clone of yourself. 1:34:54.200 --> 1:34:57.240 So you why'd you want to do that? You know, 1:34:57.280 --> 1:34:57.680 since we. 1:34:57.680 --> 1:35:00.120 Started talking about AI a couple of years ago, one 1:35:00.120 --> 1:35:03.040 of the topics that keeps coming up is people doing 1:35:03.080 --> 1:35:06.040 deep fakes, people making AI clones of themselves. 1:35:06.080 --> 1:35:08.639 You know, Can you trust video? Can you trust audio? 1:35:09.040 --> 1:35:12.120 And those tools have become available to just everyday folks 1:35:12.160 --> 1:35:12.680 like you and me. 1:35:13.120 --> 1:35:16.240 And I spent some time thinking about how it would 1:35:16.240 --> 1:35:18.400 create a clone of myself that could do video, that 1:35:18.439 --> 1:35:20.760 could have my voice, half my face, even half my 1:35:20.880 --> 1:35:23.000 style in terms of writing. It cut me up with content, 1:35:23.439 --> 1:35:26.280 but it was never really there. It was too expensive, 1:35:26.360 --> 1:35:29.679 too complicated, it didn't work well enough. Finally this spring 1:35:29.720 --> 1:35:32.680 it really started to come together, and I signed up 1:35:32.680 --> 1:35:35.360 with one app called hey Jen that's a cloud based 1:35:35.400 --> 1:35:38.360 AI app, and you give it some audio, audio and 1:35:38.439 --> 1:35:41.240 video and it makes a phone of you and does 1:35:41.280 --> 1:35:43.840 the video Okay, the voice is so su So then 1:35:43.880 --> 1:35:46.920 I signed up with another app called eleven Lamps and 1:35:46.920 --> 1:35:49.880 they do really good voice cloning, and then I could 1:35:49.920 --> 1:35:52.600 api the two of them together. So I give my 1:35:52.680 --> 1:35:54.840 script to one app and it does the video and 1:35:54.880 --> 1:35:56.920 pulls in my voice from the other app, and then 1:35:56.960 --> 1:35:58.360 it says, Hey, you've got a video. 1:35:58.360 --> 1:36:00.960 It's something that looks like you reading this script. 1:36:01.280 --> 1:36:03.400 And you know, if you know me very well, maybe 1:36:03.520 --> 1:36:05.280 like you do Rich, you'd be able to tell it 1:36:05.320 --> 1:36:07.719 wasn't really me, but the average person on the street. 1:36:08.280 --> 1:36:10.200 I could make a pretty convincing case that that's a 1:36:10.240 --> 1:36:11.320 real person talking to you. 1:36:11.880 --> 1:36:12.880 Wow, and what do you? 1:36:12.880 --> 1:36:13.640 So? Do you? 1:36:13.680 --> 1:36:14.800 What's your conclusion here? 1:36:14.800 --> 1:36:16.320 I mean, is this something that you would use for 1:36:16.400 --> 1:36:18.519 content creation or is it more just to show like 1:36:19.120 --> 1:36:21.639 this is just the beginning of we're going to see 1:36:21.640 --> 1:36:23.559 people that we don't even know if they're real or not. 1:36:24.400 --> 1:36:26.200 Yeah. I had two reasons I wanted to do this. 1:36:26.280 --> 1:36:28.479 One was to see what you could do and how 1:36:28.520 --> 1:36:31.240 inexpensively you could do it. The article I did on 1:36:31.280 --> 1:36:33.479 this was called basically how to make an AI clone 1:36:33.560 --> 1:36:35.880 yourself for under fifty bucks, Because if you want to 1:36:35.880 --> 1:36:38.120 play around with it for a month. Hey jen was 1:36:38.120 --> 1:36:41.040 like twenty nine dollars a month, eleven lamps was like 1:36:41.120 --> 1:36:43.799 five dollars a month to the basic planner ten dollars 1:36:43.800 --> 1:36:46.200 a month for a more advanced plan. I ended up 1:36:46.240 --> 1:36:48.519 doing a little Q and A session with my virtual 1:36:48.560 --> 1:36:51.200 self and I used the custom GPT I made and 1:36:51.320 --> 1:36:53.840 chat GPT that was trained on all my writing. 1:36:53.880 --> 1:36:54.640 So I would ask you a. 1:36:54.640 --> 1:36:57.160 Couple of questions like should I play Star Wars Outlaws 1:36:57.240 --> 1:37:00.000 or or a Space Marine two? Or what kind of 1:37:00.040 --> 1:37:02.600 power supply do my need for a gaming desktop of 1:37:02.640 --> 1:37:05.320 a forty eighty in video card? And it gave me 1:37:05.360 --> 1:37:07.760 some good answers, and I had my AI you know 1:37:07.840 --> 1:37:09.080 face read them out and. 1:37:08.960 --> 1:37:11.360 Do the split screen. So it's showing that you can 1:37:11.479 --> 1:37:13.760 do that, but it's more to. 1:37:13.720 --> 1:37:15.800 Show people that you should be careful what you watch, 1:37:15.880 --> 1:37:19.080 what you'd listen to, you know, be a smart consumer 1:37:19.120 --> 1:37:21.719 of media. But then I did find a practically used 1:37:21.720 --> 1:37:24.200 for it. I took articles I wrote and I made 1:37:24.200 --> 1:37:26.680 TikTok videos out of them by basically running some b 1:37:26.840 --> 1:37:29.639 roll in the background, giving the article to my AI 1:37:29.720 --> 1:37:31.680 self to read and putt of the little pop up 1:37:31.760 --> 1:37:34.000 end of myself in the bottom reading the article. 1:37:34.240 --> 1:37:36.360 The lighting is always good, the voice always sounds good. 1:37:36.400 --> 1:37:39.480 It's my words. And now you've got a quick TikTok. 1:37:39.120 --> 1:37:42.080 Video or a YouTube shorts video based on the articles 1:37:42.120 --> 1:37:43.960 that I wrote that I wouldn't have time to do 1:37:44.000 --> 1:37:45.720 a breakout video up necessarily. 1:37:46.120 --> 1:37:47.519 That is so wild, all right. 1:37:47.560 --> 1:37:49.439 If you want to see this, you can go to 1:37:49.479 --> 1:37:51.560 the website Microcenter. 1:37:52.240 --> 1:37:54.160 Dan has got it linked up. Let me see here. 1:37:54.800 --> 1:37:57.720 The article is titled how I turn myself into an 1:37:57.760 --> 1:38:00.680 AI video clone for under fifty dollars. And I got 1:38:00.800 --> 1:38:03.800 to say the video clone looked pretty good. I was impressed, 1:38:03.960 --> 1:38:05.280 so it's pretty good. 1:38:05.280 --> 1:38:07.599 The first version I did, I used just the stealthy 1:38:07.680 --> 1:38:10.160 camera on my phone and it was okay. The second version, 1:38:10.200 --> 1:38:12.040 I used the rear camera on the phone is really 1:38:12.040 --> 1:38:12.960 good natural lighting. 1:38:12.960 --> 1:38:13.719 That was a lot better. 1:38:14.040 --> 1:38:16.640 The third version I went to the Microcenter studio and 1:38:16.680 --> 1:38:18.760 they shot me in a studio with. 1:38:18.680 --> 1:38:20.759 A professional camera in professional lighting. 1:38:21.320 --> 1:38:24.320 And the better material that you give these AI apps, 1:38:24.439 --> 1:38:26.519 the better version of yourself that you're going to get back. 1:38:26.920 --> 1:38:27.200 Wow. 1:38:27.520 --> 1:38:29.960 And I've also seen you can make headshots. You know, 1:38:30.000 --> 1:38:33.639 people use these programs to make headshots of themselves as well, 1:38:33.640 --> 1:38:35.719 and it's like you need like a couple of pictures 1:38:35.720 --> 1:38:37.519 and it like makes you look like the best possible 1:38:37.520 --> 1:38:38.679 you've ever looked in your life. 1:38:38.800 --> 1:38:40.320 Like, how did they do that? Oh, it's ai. 1:38:41.439 --> 1:38:42.320 It's really funny. 1:38:42.400 --> 1:38:45.120 Yeah, very fun Dan, thanks so much for joining me today. 1:38:45.439 --> 1:38:49.599 Really appreciate it. The website microcenter dot com and uh 1:38:49.720 --> 1:38:53.240 tell me again, it's microcenter dot dot news, dot news 1:38:53.280 --> 1:38:53.960 if you want to go. 1:38:53.960 --> 1:38:55.559 Directly new stories and reviews. 1:38:55.640 --> 1:38:59.000 Yep, and very exciting, very very cool. And I love 1:38:59.000 --> 1:39:01.599 that you're doing this this news site there. 1:39:01.640 --> 1:39:02.280 It's so cool. 1:39:02.280 --> 1:39:05.040 And we love micro Center because I was in New 1:39:05.120 --> 1:39:08.280 Jersey and I visited it and I talked about how 1:39:08.360 --> 1:39:10.360 much I liked it on the show, and then people 1:39:10.400 --> 1:39:11.760 were emailing me. They said, you know, you didn't have 1:39:11.760 --> 1:39:13.200 to go as far as New Jersey. We have one 1:39:13.200 --> 1:39:15.240 in Tustin, California that we love. 1:39:15.280 --> 1:39:17.320 The Tustin show loved the New Jersey store. 1:39:17.640 --> 1:39:21.080 New ones in Miami and Charlotte and Santa Clara coming 1:39:21.120 --> 1:39:21.599 next year. 1:39:21.760 --> 1:39:23.519 And what's the number one thing people buy there when 1:39:23.520 --> 1:39:25.120 they go in is it the computers? 1:39:25.760 --> 1:39:27.880 Right now, it's like a lot of graphics cards and 1:39:27.960 --> 1:39:30.040 CPUs and I bet next year, when we have the 1:39:30.080 --> 1:39:32.960 next generation Navidia cards, you're gonna see a huge run 1:39:33.000 --> 1:39:33.360 on those. 1:39:33.760 --> 1:39:37.439 All right, Dan Ackerman, editor in chief at micro Center, 1:39:37.479 --> 1:39:38.599 thanks so much for joining me today. 1:39:38.600 --> 1:39:39.200 Appreciate it. 1:39:39.800 --> 1:39:40.240 Thanks a lot. 1:39:40.320 --> 1:39:43.240 Rich All right, coming up, Oh, we are opening up 1:39:43.280 --> 1:39:47.479 the feedback plus. I'm gonna tell you why Verizon is 1:39:47.520 --> 1:39:51.360 giving you a little extra time to switch your messaging app. 1:39:52.280 --> 1:39:58.400 This is rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich On Tech. 1:39:58.520 --> 1:40:02.040 Rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology, one 1:40:02.040 --> 1:40:06.439 of my favorite things to do every week. Also listening 1:40:06.479 --> 1:40:08.840 to one of my favorite songs right now. Good job, 1:40:08.880 --> 1:40:12.760 I'm playing that at the end, Bobo. So before we 1:40:12.800 --> 1:40:16.920 get to the feedback, which is just bursting open this week, 1:40:17.479 --> 1:40:20.680 let me tell you about Verizon Message Plus. Remember we 1:40:20.720 --> 1:40:24.040 talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Verizon Messages 1:40:24.320 --> 1:40:27.519 is going away and they want you to switch to 1:40:28.040 --> 1:40:32.639 Google Messages. And that was supposed to happen on November seventh, 1:40:32.640 --> 1:40:36.639 but guess what, the deadline has been extended to December ninth. 1:40:37.200 --> 1:40:40.400 So if you want to keep Verizon Messages for just 1:40:40.479 --> 1:40:42.960 a little bit longer, you do have a couple more weeks. 1:40:43.439 --> 1:40:46.400 But I think you should probably switch to a different 1:40:46.400 --> 1:40:48.880 app because this is going away on December ninth, unless 1:40:48.920 --> 1:40:51.559 they extend it again. But then you're really rolling the dice. 1:40:51.920 --> 1:40:53.720 But the reason why they want you to switch from 1:40:53.800 --> 1:40:56.800 Verizon Messages to Google Messages is because you'll get better 1:40:56.920 --> 1:41:00.920 cross messaging between iPhone and Android. Basically, you'll get the 1:41:01.000 --> 1:41:04.120 upgrade to RCS, which means you can send your Android 1:41:04.160 --> 1:41:08.320 friends and your iPhone friends larger quality pictures and videos, 1:41:08.360 --> 1:41:10.960 and you'll see the read receipts and the typing indicators. 1:41:11.360 --> 1:41:15.040 It's just a much better, better solution. All right, Let's 1:41:15.040 --> 1:41:17.839 open up the feedbag. These are the emails, the comments, 1:41:17.840 --> 1:41:19.920 and the questions you send to me every week on 1:41:19.960 --> 1:41:23.320 the website. Rich on tech dot tv hit contact, Leo 1:41:23.400 --> 1:41:26.200 writes in, Hey, Rich, just had a chance to listen 1:41:26.240 --> 1:41:28.160 to your last podcast, and I have a couple of notes. 1:41:28.600 --> 1:41:31.160 Rear dash cams work great through the rear windows, but 1:41:31.200 --> 1:41:33.160 I haven't found a tape that stays put when the 1:41:33.200 --> 1:41:36.720 sun beats down. Even heavy duty heat resistant tape melts off. 1:41:36.800 --> 1:41:39.839 I'd suggest mounting it on the package shelf or another 1:41:39.880 --> 1:41:42.960 part of the car. Also, you said the email me 1:41:43.080 --> 1:41:45.240 app is only available for iOS, but I've used it 1:41:45.280 --> 1:41:46.880 a long time on Android and it's free. 1:41:47.000 --> 1:41:47.960 Keep up the good work. 1:41:48.680 --> 1:41:50.599 So I had to look this up because I use 1:41:50.680 --> 1:41:53.639 email me on iOS and then I use email myself 1:41:53.640 --> 1:41:57.960 on Android. Email me is available on Android, but it's 1:41:57.960 --> 1:42:00.760 not the same app that's on iOS. Yes, so I 1:42:00.800 --> 1:42:02.960 did check out the email Me and I gotta say, Leo, 1:42:03.160 --> 1:42:06.080 I actually switched over because I like it. It's cleaner, 1:42:06.120 --> 1:42:09.639 it's simpler, it's easier. It is free, with the one 1:42:09.720 --> 1:42:12.320 caveat that if you want to change the subject line 1:42:12.560 --> 1:42:15.240 you have to pay. And that's actually a smart thing 1:42:15.439 --> 1:42:18.400 by the developer because for me, the way I filter 1:42:18.560 --> 1:42:21.040 all of my notes to self is with the subject line. 1:42:21.040 --> 1:42:23.280 I put a little hashtag in it. So I will 1:42:23.280 --> 1:42:23.880 be paying the. 1:42:24.200 --> 1:42:26.960 Whatever it is three dollars to upgrade this, but email 1:42:27.040 --> 1:42:29.559 me I'll link it up on the show notes. Thanks 1:42:29.560 --> 1:42:32.040 for the suggestion. It's rare that I switch an app 1:42:32.040 --> 1:42:35.559 that quickly. Terry writes in, Hey, Rich, love watching you 1:42:35.640 --> 1:42:38.479 on TV and also on social media. Your sessions are helpful. 1:42:38.520 --> 1:42:41.559 I have total av on my desktop some years ago. 1:42:41.600 --> 1:42:44.080 I took advantage of an introductory price. Each year, I 1:42:44.120 --> 1:42:46.320 call total AV and explain I'm a senior on a 1:42:46.360 --> 1:42:48.920 fixed income, before asking if they can help with the price. 1:42:49.439 --> 1:42:52.040 Much to my surprise, they are willing to assist. Recently, 1:42:52.040 --> 1:42:54.040 we agreed to fifty nine instead of one to fifty 1:42:54.120 --> 1:42:56.519 nine for my renewal. A few days later they offered 1:42:56.520 --> 1:42:59.160 twenty nine, which I accepted. I verified this low price 1:42:59.280 --> 1:43:04.000 was legitimate, calling their official number. Good job, Terry, And yes, 1:43:04.080 --> 1:43:06.320 I think that the less you pay for this probably 1:43:06.400 --> 1:43:09.160 the better they will get you on a high renewal 1:43:09.240 --> 1:43:12.040 rate if you don't pay less. And I find that 1:43:12.120 --> 1:43:14.160 this is a good thing to do. With anything that 1:43:14.200 --> 1:43:19.160 you're paying, always call in, because honestly, even with doctor's offices, 1:43:19.200 --> 1:43:21.200 just say, hey, is this the best deal I can get? 1:43:21.280 --> 1:43:22.760 Is this the best price you can give me? 1:43:23.320 --> 1:43:26.320 I've called doctor's bills and they literally just by asking them, 1:43:26.320 --> 1:43:28.080 they'll be like, oh, yeah, here, we'll take fifty bucks 1:43:28.080 --> 1:43:30.880 off or whatever. So same thing with all these things. 1:43:30.920 --> 1:43:33.040 Just call in if you want to get a better price. 1:43:33.880 --> 1:43:36.960 Steven from Orange rites in you might be interested in this. 1:43:37.200 --> 1:43:40.559 I always pay cash at brick and mortar merchants. Recently, 1:43:40.560 --> 1:43:42.960 at Trader Joe's, I pulled my wallet from my pocket 1:43:42.960 --> 1:43:44.719 and the cashier handed me my receipt. 1:43:44.880 --> 1:43:46.360 Wait, I hadn't paid yet. 1:43:47.000 --> 1:43:50.120 Turns out the reader had detected my credit card through 1:43:50.160 --> 1:43:54.599 my thick leather. Wallet management said, this can happen, Stephen. 1:43:54.640 --> 1:43:56.519 I'm so glad you wrote me this, because I have 1:43:56.600 --> 1:44:00.880 actually experienced this myself, specifically at Trader Joe's. I don't 1:44:00.880 --> 1:44:03.560 know what their systems are, but they are the strongest 1:44:03.680 --> 1:44:07.760 RFI D NFC whatever you one, it's NFC. It is 1:44:07.760 --> 1:44:10.479 the strongest NFC antenna I've ever seen in my life. 1:44:10.880 --> 1:44:13.200 I pull out my card and immediately it goes oop 1:44:13.240 --> 1:44:15.439 and I said, wait, what, I didn't even tap yet. 1:44:15.840 --> 1:44:18.960 And it's happened several times. So thankfully, I use a 1:44:19.000 --> 1:44:21.800 debit card most of the time, and it still wants that. 1:44:22.640 --> 1:44:25.720 It still wants that pin number. But if you use 1:44:25.760 --> 1:44:28.040 a credit card, yeah, it's just gonna authorize it instantly. 1:44:28.439 --> 1:44:32.400 A lot of people like these RFI D blocker wallets, 1:44:32.479 --> 1:44:34.479 so a lot of the wallets I've seen have that 1:44:34.560 --> 1:44:37.760 built in just for this sort of protection. So there's 1:44:37.760 --> 1:44:40.920 a company named Silent Pocket that makes these things and others, 1:44:41.320 --> 1:44:45.240 but you can just look for any RFI D blocker technology. 1:44:45.360 --> 1:44:47.599 My wallet actually has that now my new wallet does 1:44:47.680 --> 1:44:50.479 have that, and so I do. I do like that 1:44:50.520 --> 1:44:53.080 feature because you just never know. And it's only happened 1:44:53.120 --> 1:44:57.280 to me at Trader Joe's for some reason. But I 1:44:57.320 --> 1:44:59.680 love that place, so I'm fine with it, and it 1:44:59.720 --> 1:45:03.480 is me buying it, So there you go. Alan from Brookline, 1:45:03.520 --> 1:45:06.360 Massachusetts listens to the podcast. He says, listening to your 1:45:06.400 --> 1:45:09.759 November second podcast about the caller with Google Chrome quote 1:45:09.840 --> 1:45:14.080 performance issues. I tried your suggestion to perform a settings reset. 1:45:14.520 --> 1:45:16.760 I had the same issue on my MacBook Pro. It 1:45:16.760 --> 1:45:19.640 took about sixty seconds and it kept my bookmarks. I 1:45:19.760 --> 1:45:22.400 just had to reactivate some extensions like bitwarden and re 1:45:22.479 --> 1:45:26.599 log into your web into websites. Thank you for your knowledge. Well, Alan, 1:45:26.800 --> 1:45:29.240 this is what I love about this show. You listen 1:45:29.280 --> 1:45:33.000 to it and you'll learn and you hear things that say, huh, 1:45:33.080 --> 1:45:35.400 I didn't think about doing that, and it helps you out. 1:45:35.479 --> 1:45:37.519 So it sounds like the person who had all the 1:45:37.520 --> 1:45:39.680 different random things happened on their Chrome, they did a 1:45:39.680 --> 1:45:41.519 settings reset and it took care of it. 1:45:41.560 --> 1:45:44.439 Did the same thing for you. Oh, let's see. 1:45:44.520 --> 1:45:48.879 Don writes in a computer upgrade story, After my laptop 1:45:48.960 --> 1:45:51.479 started showing its age. I tried switching to a Mac 1:45:51.560 --> 1:45:54.400 Mini on a friend's recommendation. Despite his help, I struggled 1:45:54.439 --> 1:45:57.800 with the different interface, so I donated it to my church. Later, 1:45:57.920 --> 1:46:00.519 my tech savvy friend Josh found me a mull Form 1:46:00.560 --> 1:46:04.200 Factor PC for just twenty five dollars what after setting 1:46:04.200 --> 1:46:07.080 it up, It's working perfectly, a great alternative to big 1:46:07.160 --> 1:46:08.200 desktop towers. 1:46:08.560 --> 1:46:09.519 Two lessons learned. 1:46:09.520 --> 1:46:13.080 There are affordable solutions out there, and having a knowledgeable, 1:46:13.240 --> 1:46:16.599 helpful friend is invaluable. Keep up the great work, Rich, 1:46:16.680 --> 1:46:17.679 it's helping us all. 1:46:17.840 --> 1:46:18.559 Oh, thank you. 1:46:19.800 --> 1:46:23.280 And finally, Reg from the Bay Area listens on the podcast, 1:46:23.320 --> 1:46:25.439 says Rich, just a note of thanks for your segment 1:46:25.479 --> 1:46:28.280 on US Mobile for cell service. I've been an AT 1:46:28.360 --> 1:46:30.719 and T customer for years, paying almost one hundred bucks 1:46:30.720 --> 1:46:34.040 for two lines. After your information, I switched to US Mobile, 1:46:34.040 --> 1:46:36.559 where I'm now on Verizon's network with unlimited calls and 1:46:36.560 --> 1:46:38.880 texts plus five gigs a month for twenty three dollars 1:46:38.920 --> 1:46:41.880 a month, no extra fees. The transfer is easy. I 1:46:41.920 --> 1:46:44.080 wish I'd done it years ago. Thanks for all your 1:46:44.120 --> 1:46:47.559 good work and sound advice. Thank you, Reg. I do 1:46:47.600 --> 1:46:49.840 appreciate that, and that's what I aim to do help 1:46:50.040 --> 1:46:52.120 you just know about this stuff. At the end of 1:46:52.160 --> 1:46:53.720 the day, you have to make the decision on whether 1:46:53.720 --> 1:46:55.760 you want to switch or whether it's worth it, whether 1:46:55.800 --> 1:46:57.840 you want to do something. But that's why I'm here 1:46:57.880 --> 1:47:00.000 to explain this stuff that is going to do it 1:47:00.080 --> 1:47:01.760 for this episode of the show. You can find links 1:47:01.800 --> 1:47:03.519 to everything I mentioned on the website. Just go to 1:47:03.640 --> 1:47:06.479 rich on Tech dot TV. You can find me on 1:47:06.520 --> 1:47:09.639 social media. I am at rich on Tech. Before we go, 1:47:10.600 --> 1:47:14.959 I do want to mention one thing. Robin Bertolucci, program 1:47:15.000 --> 1:47:18.880 director at KFI, one of the primary stations we are 1:47:18.920 --> 1:47:22.559 on here with this show, is leaving KFI after twenty 1:47:22.640 --> 1:47:24.920 four years there as program director and I have to 1:47:24.960 --> 1:47:29.680 tell you Robin instrumental in getting me here to do 1:47:29.760 --> 1:47:33.640 this show. Robin was an amazing mentor. I don't know 1:47:33.640 --> 1:47:35.519 how she did it, but she seemed to listen to 1:47:35.640 --> 1:47:37.400 every word that came out of my mouth. 1:47:39.520 --> 1:47:40.120 Over the years. 1:47:40.160 --> 1:47:44.479 Has given me so much, so many opportunities, so much advice, 1:47:45.240 --> 1:47:48.040 always there for me, and I'm gonna miss her so 1:47:48.200 --> 1:47:51.920 much because even though she didn't directly oversee this show, 1:47:52.200 --> 1:47:54.720 she was always there to tell me what I did right, 1:47:55.120 --> 1:47:57.599 what I did wrong, what I could do better, And 1:47:57.720 --> 1:47:59.519 it's just one of those people that you meet in 1:47:59.560 --> 1:48:02.479 your life time that's just quite incredible and has an 1:48:02.520 --> 1:48:05.880 impact not only on you as a person, you as 1:48:06.040 --> 1:48:10.280 an employee and you as just a human. Just what 1:48:10.360 --> 1:48:13.479 an amazing person, Robin. I will miss you. Thanks to 1:48:13.520 --> 1:48:16.160 everyone else who makes this show possible. Kim on phones, 1:48:16.200 --> 1:48:18.840 Bobo on the board. My name is rich Demiro. I 1:48:18.920 --> 1:48:20.360 will talk to you real soon.