WEBVTT - Listener Mail Roundup 2 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.760 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:12.880 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot Com. Join Josh 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:15.280 and Chuck, the guys who bring you stuff you should know, 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:17.680 as they take a trip around the world to help 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.720 you get smarter in a topsy turv economy. Check out 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.439 the all new super Stuff Guide to the Economy from 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:27.240 how stuff Works dot Com, available now exclusively on iTunes. 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:32.320 Hello there, everybody, Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:34.760 Chris Bollette. I'm an editor here at how stuff works 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:36.879 dot com and sitting next to me as always as 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:41.440 senior writer Jonathan Strickland. Well that was quick. No, no, 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.800 it's Hungarian for hello. Oh okay, I thought you were 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:48.319 saying goodbye. Not yet, all right, I don't know. I'm 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.320 kind of in a fog right now. All right, Well, 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.160 today we have another one of our famous or soon 0:00:55.200 --> 0:01:02.680 to be famous listener mail round up jamborees. I think 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:08.280 this would be number two, So let's get started, shall we. Sure? Right, 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.920 So here's the first one. Hi, guys, currently listening to 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:14.880 your April Fools podcast. So I'm so sorry this is 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:17.640 ticket so long for me to get to great stuff. 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:20.200 I think my favorite podcast so far was your two 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:24.120 thousand eight Christmas Picks. I didn't see anything from this 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:28.240 listener in my my stocking, but okay. Thanks. On a 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.560 more serious note, I worked for a small coffee roaster 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:32.920 in the Midwest, and I think we almost got involved 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:36.240 in an online scam. Someone emailed a request asking if 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.199 we shipped to South Korea and specified a freight company 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.640 we should use for a quote. I did an internet 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.959 search and found this person's name and email on a 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.840 website highlighting online scams. I checked out how stuff works 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:51.240 dot com. Excellent choice, and to scam the article on 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.240 how online fraud alerts work, but didn't see anything about 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.640 how to report potential scam activity. I went to the 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.040 IC three website, but we didn't suffer a financial loss, 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:04.920 so I didn't know if I should still fell out 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.799 a complaint. Wow, I can't talk. Do you have any suggestions? 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.720 Thanks for all your awesome informative podcasts. I've learned I'm 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:16.680 a techie at heart. Sarah Well, Sarah, Yeah, we can 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.880 give you some hints and some some tips. If you 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.600 suspect that you've encountered an online fraud. UM. Actually, there 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:27.080 are quite a few different opportunities you could take. It 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.240 all depends on sort of the nature of what the 0:02:29.320 --> 0:02:34.040 fraud is. But your first assumption to go to i 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:37.000 C three that's actually a pretty good one. I see 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:40.760 three stands for the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and it's 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.440 a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:48.280 National White Collar Crime Center, And uh, usually that's that's 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.040 a pretty good source to go to if you need 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.680 to report an online scam. Yeah, they're they're very specialized 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:59.120 toward internet crime, as the name suggests UM, you know, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.080 unlike other eight agencies, so you know, it would be 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.960 very helpful. They also have if you are interested in 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.480 are not Sarah. They also have a lot of other 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.799 scam information on the website. So even if you have 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:14.120 not been specifically targeted, but are interested in scams, you 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:16.359 can find a lot of information about different stuff that's 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:21.079 going on right now, different styles of scams UM and uh, 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.320 you know, specifics on what to do with regard to 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:28.359 filling out a complaint. The thing is, if you haven't 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.359 actually been scammed, it's kind of I don't know what 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.839 they'll actually do if you feel like well, I mean, 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:37.640 you can fill out a complaint and and theoretically they're 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.160 going to investigate it, and if they find there's anything 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.960 substantive there, then they will proceed. I don't think that 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:46.840 you necessarily have to suffer a loss for them to 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.640 be aware of it. I think it's better that you 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.200 go ahead and say, you know, this is this is 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:55.720 who I think is trying to defraud me. This is 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.200 why I think that here is some supporting evidence. I mean, 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.160 you know, you don't to just throw accusations around, right right. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.800 You have to send you have to send some information 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.440 about who they are and what you think they were 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.720 up to. And you know, if if you actually, um, 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:15.880 you know, go ahead with it and send them information 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.560 or send them money, they're gonna want to know exactly 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.560 what you did and when it happened and all that information. 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.239 Otherwise it's going to be very difficult for them to 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:27.279 investigate it further. But you know, they're gonna want to 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.920 know specifics, you know, in in as much detail as 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.279 you can give them to them. That's true. And uh, 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:36.159 if um, you know, if that seems like that's not 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:39.120 the right course for you, I've got some other suggestions 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:42.760 you can unn follow UM. If the business that you 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.559 suspect is UH is committing fraud or the individual who's 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:50.320 committing fraud is either in the United States or Canada, 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.839 you can contact the Better Business Bureau UH. If it's 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:57.640 outside of that, that's outside of their jurisdiction, so that 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.760 would not work in that case. UH. Other opportunities you 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.520 could You could contact the Federal Trade Commission. That's good 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.760 for fraudulent emails or UM or fraudulent businesses UH, the 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:13.359 Attorney General if it's a fraudulent business UM, there's UH. 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:16.680 The e consumer dot gov website is a good place 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.920 to go if it's an international company that you suspect 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.840 is committing fraud UM. So that's of course one of 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:25.479 the big problems with the Internet. You know, it's a 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.640 global entity, so not all the the sites or all 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:32.800 the companies are going to be found in the United States, 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:34.680 which makes it a lot more difficult when you're like, well, 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:36.880 how why can we even do about this if they're 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.000 on the other side of the world. Can we even 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:42.760 prosecute anything, you know, any sort of fraud UM. But 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.440 you can go to like I said, E Consumer dot 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.920 Gov and UH and at least report scams. If nothing 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:53.640 else they can, they can raise awareness UM for phishing emails. 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.479 You can use the the usd S SERT, which is 0:05:56.520 --> 0:06:01.280 the Computer Emergency Response Team website UH to report that. 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:04.919 You can report fraud to the FBI. You know, this 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.920 sounds like it's really kind of scary, spooky stuff, but 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.480 really we're talking about people. People's lives can be ruined 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:14.560 by fraud, and it happens all the time, and it's 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.120 better to go ahead and report something than to stay 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.080 quiet about and just hope that, you know, no one 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:21.880 else gets hurt, Like, you know, we'll eat this loss 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:23.800 and we'll just you know, we don't want to suffer 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.159 the embarrassment of admitting that this happened, or you know, 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:29.000 we don't want to go through the paperwork. That's really 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.240 kind of irresponsible. It's much better to go ahead and 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.400 step forward and say, hey, these guys over here are 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.120 just are taking people for whatever they can and we 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:40.120 need to stop it. UM and UH. And then there's 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.760 a www. Dot fraud dot org, which is the National 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:48.360 Consumer League's fraud center that's not a government site, that 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:51.960 is a nonprofit consumer sites. Actually one of the oldest 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:56.120 ones that exist, and uh, they have a they have 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.039 a lot of information about fraud, how to spot it, 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.520 how to avoid it, how to report it. And you 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.960 can report something to that center and they will they 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.479 will take it from there. They'll actually start going through 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.520 and say, Okay, these are the authorities we should contact. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.040 Here's the information that we have to pass along to them. Um. 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.680 So that's a good resource too. Now I know that 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:20.440 we tend to concentrate on the United States, so I 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.120 actually looked into a couple of other opportunities as well. 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.440 So for my friends up in Canada who are still 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.360 mad that I said that they don't use one, I 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:34.040 just mean that you guys don't have emergencies because you're 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:39.280 so level headed. Um. No, seriously, I know now that 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:41.640 you use. At the time, I wasn't sure and I 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.239 couldn't get to my computer, so I apologized profusely. Please 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.800 stop throwing bacon at me. But in Canada, you can 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:54.040 again contact the Better Business Bureau or Industry Canada Consumer Connection, 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:58.040 which is and I followed by three CS. Do you 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:03.560 think that causes any confusion? There are lots of three 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.360 I found that out, um. And then over in the 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:10.680 UK you can contact the Metropolitan Police or the Office 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.360 of Fair Trading, or you can go to a website 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:18.800 www dot rip Off, tip Off dot net to report scams. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:22.560 And there are many other organizations you can contact. And 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.640 of course those are just two other countries. Every country 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.600 has has different departments that you can contact in the 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.400 case of scams. Um and a good resource to go 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.960 to for really any any person in any country is 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:40.600 www dot Consumer Fraud Reporting dot org. They actually maintain 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.480 a list of various countries and the department that you 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.360 would need to contact if you were to encounter fraud online. 0:08:47.160 --> 0:08:49.760 And it seems, Sarah that your your instincts were good 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:53.480 because you knew something fishy was was going on. And um, 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.400 I know it's been said many, many, many times and 0:08:57.440 --> 0:09:00.600 it's sort of cliche now, but yeah, if something seems 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.200 too good to be true, it probably is. So you know, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.400 trust your gut feeling when somebody offers you something that 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:10.960 seems a little out of the ordinary. Uh. You know, 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.400 as far as a business proposition, I would imagine that 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:16.400 you know, businesses have to you know, you're looking for 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.520 every opportunity to to do more business. Um, you know 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:24.000 versus Hello, beneficiary, I want to uh, trade, you know, 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:28.720 trade your information. Hello, Mr so and so, I am 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.640 I am a lawyer for Mr so and so who 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.800 was sick in Nigeria. Yeah, yeah, so, I'm sure for 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:36.800 for business, it's got to be a little tougher because you're, 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.960 you know, you're looking for an opportunity to actually, you know, 0:09:40.360 --> 0:09:42.719 conclude a deal. But uh, you know, you've got to 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:45.560 trust those instincts because if something smells a little fishy, 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.320 you need to to look into it, even if you 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.800 don't uh, if you don't bite, and it's uh, you know, 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.960 people know. And I encountered a lot of this back 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.160 back when I worked at a different job. I was 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.040 manned the phones every now and then and occasional and 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.400 we would get the phone version of this kind of 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.240 scam where someone asks you a couple of questions and 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.360 just by saying yes, they go ahead and put down 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.640 the the you know, the the client agreed to this service, 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:14.680 and then they start charging you for it, and people 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.400 are like, why are we getting charged for this paper 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:19.960 from this vendor? We don't even use this vendor. And 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.800 it was all based off of this one phone call 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.760 where they trick someone into saying yes, and that's that 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.840 is the basis of their agreement. Um, it's pretty scummy stuff, 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:31.199 and yeah, you find it. You find it in all 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:35.160 walks of life. It's just the Internet makes it, yeah, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.880 because you can then scam people all the way across 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.880 the world. You aren't limited to the people in your 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:46.280 area code. Thank you Internet. It sure is moving on. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.199 So our next question comes from Eric, and Eric wanted 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.400 to know the difference between the terms hardware, software, and firmware. 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.440 We talked a little bit about firmware in a previous 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.320 episode and he was just kind of curious, says to, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.079 you know, what exactly is firmware? So really you have 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:06.360 to talk about all three to kind of explain. So first, 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.559 let's tackle hardware. That's pretty easy. Yeah, that's why I 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.440 wouldn't tackle it first. Those are those are well, in 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.120 the case of electronics and technology, the machines themselves, the 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:22.199 physical devices your monitor, your computer, your iPod, your adapter, cars, 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:28.120 tax machine, cables, anything like that, if you can touch it, Um, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:33.719 you know technology, it's it's hardware, right, So that's pretty easy. 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:38.960 And then software are programs and applications that run on hardware. Um, 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.680 so this is like all the different programs things that 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.080 you rely on day to day operating systems can be 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:46.840 you know, that's software as well. Um, so this is 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.880 all the little happy programs that make your technology useful. 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.560 So it could be anything from like software on computer, 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.840 software on a mobile device. Uh, you know, even on 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.520 some watches things like that. I mean pretty much any 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.600 electronic device that can do us to phisticated sort of task, 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:05.120 it's using some sort of software. So the the hardware 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.640 is the machine that without the software, it couldn't do anything. 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.199 So that you know, the software is the program that 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.200 runs on the machine and gets it to do things. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:18.640 What is firmware? Yes, it's kind of um, yeah, firmware 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.360 is this this gray area that you know, there's no 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.679 definitive point where you can say this is firmware and 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.600 this is software. Right, Well, it's sort of a combination. 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.199 It's it's literally a combination of the two, but only 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:32.840 for a very specific part of the hardware and a 0:12:32.920 --> 0:12:35.520 very specific part of the software. Yeah, and it tends 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.720 to be these tend to be very tiny applications that 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:42.360 are hard coded into some part of the hardware on 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.640 your device, sort of like a driver. Really, it could 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.400 be very much like a driver or you know, a 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:53.400 microprocessor has machine code coded onto it, otherwise it can't work. Um. 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.400 You know, when you're running a program, ultimately it's getting 0:12:56.400 --> 0:12:59.920 translated into machine code and then translate back into whatever, 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:04.079 you know, whatever the program is doing. But um, that's 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.520 you know, that's the very core of how a computer works. 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.240 So the firmware is the stuff that is hard coded 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.200 part of the device. Uh. You know, you can't remove it, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.760 you can't write over it. It's it's what it's what 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.080 allows software to communicate with the hardware so that you 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.480 get results. Yeah, it's um, it's actually stored in ROM, 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:26.640 which is read only memory and UM, so it can 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.520 only be found on him on a ROM that's inside 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.880 of your machine. So it's uh, you know, it's not 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:36.079 something that's on your hard drive or anything like that. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.040 It would actually be in the chips themselves. Right. You 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.960 can think of things like, um, I I would you 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:45.160 call say, a cartridge game, would you call that firmware 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.680 because it's hardcoded onto the cartridge? Well, um, that's a 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:53.880 really good question you answer for you mean, like, yes, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:59.319 don't say the game. I'm not But those were those cartridges, 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.320 those older cartridges up until you know I guess Nintendo 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:06.680 sixty four era type stuff. Um, you know those those 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.520 you can't write to those cartridges. I mean you can, 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:11.200 but you have to have a burner to do it, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.560 and it's a pain in the neck. You're you're putting 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.520 it inside your game machine. You're not writing to them. 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:21.960 Those are those are rams? Um, and uh so technically yeah, 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.320 they're kind of fit in that area. I think though 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:26.160 that people would tell you if we went to talk 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:29.320 to a programming expert, um, they would say that something 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.560 inside the on the on the chips itself that tell 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.200 the chips how to handle that would actually be firmware 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.240 where the software is on the actual fair enough. So 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.600 what what about a RAM chip that you would find 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:44.840 in an old fashioned arcade game? See now that I'm 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:52.160 thinking would probably be technically firmware. Somebody's gonna write to us. 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.120 Just make make sure you put attention Pallette. So, yes, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.760 if you would like to clarify our position, you know, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:02.960 were not this The thing is that really firmware is 0:15:03.040 --> 0:15:04.640 kind of it's a it's a little bit of a 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.960 fuzzy term because there are some points where you're where 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.600 you might say, well, is a driver really firmware or 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.320 is that software because drivers are what allow you know, 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:18.840 devices to interact with programs. So this goes back to 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:21.880 our our our semi definition that we're making up as 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:24.520 we go along, which is, um, if you download a 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:26.680 driver for your printer, you're storing it on your hard drive, 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:31.080 software on your hard drive that your computer hardware uses 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:37.360 to access the printer. But say you have to update 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:42.360 the firmware in your wireless router, and that way, you know, 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.760 you're having to download information that gets stored written back 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.880 onto the router to make it, you know, do what 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.600 it needs to do to interact with your computer and stuff. Eric, 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:58.160 I'd like to thank you for breaking text stuff. Well, 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.560 very much impressed, you know, I I will admit, uh, 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.080 you know, hey, I didn't really know everything about firmware 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:07.120 and I still don't, but I know a lot more 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.720 now from doing research changes questions. So if you have 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.640 a clarification and want to help out, if you're a 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:15.240 programmer expert, you know, please drop us a line. And 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.120 it may very well be that certain. You know, within 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.480 different industries you have different definitions of what this really means. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:23.640 I mean, that's true. I was using a general Yeah, 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:28.360 because because someone might think of firmware one way for 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.000 say a laptop, and a different different way of thinking 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:34.640 about when you're talking about say a mobile phone or 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.320 or an Xbox three sixty. I mean, you know, we 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.320 have game consoles now they get firmware updates to correct 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.960 for problems. So you know, this is no longer just 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.400 the realm of the computer. Um, it's really lots of 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.040 different devices, but it's it's essentially chip instructions versus the 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:56.000 software that actually runs, you know, when you open a 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.920 program on your machine. So thanks a lot, Eric, I 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:04.200 hope that muddy up the waters a little bit. Yeah, yea, Well, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.960 we have one more ready for the last one. Right, 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:11.160 Hey guys, I'm a new listener, but have only six 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.240 more of your podcast to listen to keep quick Yeah, 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.600 caught up really quickly. I can't get enough information. So 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:21.200 thanks on your Rechargeable Batteries podcast, I was hoping you'd 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.800 address one aspect of charging. The scenario is I've been 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.720 playing on my eye Touch all okay, I guess that's 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.400 the iPod Touch all night, and I realized it's getting 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.200 late and I need to charge it so I can 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.280 take it with me tomorrow and have enough battery to 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.600 last the day. But if I plug it in now 0:17:37.640 --> 0:17:40.760 and leave it in all night, I'm worried I'll overcharge 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:44.320 the battery. So my question is can you overcharge batteries? 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:48.240 Thanks for your help, Aaron. All right, Aaron, Well, um, 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:51.920 so we're talking about rechargeable batteries. Whether you know, we 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:53.520 we talked a lot about what was the best way 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.240 to charge them. You know, how charge is lost over 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.719 the duration of the lifetime of the battery, that kind 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:02.640 of thing. You remember this podcast? I do remember that podcast. So, um, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:07.000 so yeah overcharging. Uh, first of all, you asked, can 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:11.159 you overcharge batteries? The answer to that is sometimes, Well, 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:13.800 the answer to that is yes, but it's sort of 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:18.000 it's very difficult to do it because depending on the 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.600 kind of battery you have, and depending on the machine 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:26.199 you're using to charge it. Um, It's it's unlikely that 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.760 you're gonna do that. Um because most chargers have some 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.920 technology built in to keep you from overcharging your battery. Yeah, 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.119 it'll detect how much of voltage your battery is storing, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.760 and if it's over a certain amount, it'll stop sending 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:43.320 a charge to that battery. Essentially, laptop batteries are pretty 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.280 smart in that regard because they can they generally have 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.479 some technology built in to say, oh, well this is 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:51.440 this is enough, you don't need to charge anymore. So 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.840 let's just say, for sake of argument, that your charger, 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:02.680 the voltmeter no longer accurately measures the voltage in your battery. 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.360 So let's say that you've kept the the device, computer, 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:11.760 whatever plugged in for like a day. Uh, what's the 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:13.760 worst thing that can happen? Okay, So the best thing 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.040 that can happen is that your battery overheats a bit 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:19.000 and it damages the battery and your battery life suffers 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:21.159 as a result. And that's probably going to be the 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.520 most common thing that happens. That's like, by and large, 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.120 the best best case scenario. Worst case scenario, the battery 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:32.720 bursts into flames and burns down half of Detroit, um, 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:36.440 even if you lived in St. Louis. No, that's that's 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:39.199 that's a bit of an exaggeration. Uh No, No, it 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:41.720 really could. Though. It could burst into flames. I mean 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.200 that is a possibility. It's not likely to happen, um, 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:48.560 but it is. It is a potential danger that every 0:19:48.920 --> 0:19:53.080 lithium ion battery really has. It's that if you overcharge it, 0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:56.639 it might it might burn up. Actually, you make a 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.160 good point, because I forgot to mention that the research 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:01.640 that I did was speci typically for lithium ion batteries, 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.159 which is the most common battery found in laptops and 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.600 portable electronics, you know, chargeable stuff. Now, there are other 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.919 kinds of chargeable batteries, so your mileage may vary. Battery 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:14.919 is actually a little more dangerous, I think. But the 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.000 nickel acadmium, yeah, well they're not used as much as 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.400 they used to be either. Um and and lithium ion 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:23.879 also has a you know, you've seen those laptops that 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:28.520 have burst into flames. Um that's called thermal runaway. And 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:32.160 I had one. They burst into flames and just cut Yeah, 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.639 they got extremely hot, and that's uh, that can actually 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.560 happen by itself when you're not charging, but that requires 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:41.480 a serious breakdown in the battery itself too. You know, 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:43.600 we're talking about chemical reactions that kind of cause the 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.960 stuff to happen. So that's unrelated to the charging. Well 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:49.760 I guess we're charging. Yeah, So anyway, Yes, it is possible. 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:52.080 It's not easy to do, so you probably don't need 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:55.200 to worry about it. But in general, don't leave anything 0:20:55.200 --> 0:20:58.760 plugged in for twenty four hours. Yeah, you'll if you 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:03.080 read the instructions that with your portable electronic device, computer, etcetera. Um, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:05.640 you'll you'll get instructions and a lot of them will 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:07.480 tell you, yeah, go ahead and plug it in and 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:09.760 charge it overnight for the first time or you know. 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:13.000 I think if you come home, your batteries run down, 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:15.960 you plug it into the charger, and then the next 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.040 morning before you leave, you unplug it. I don't think 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.840 that's gonna cause a big problem. It's when you leave 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:22.840 it plugged in for days and days and days and 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:26.960 days and days, especially when it's something that's less intelligent. Um, 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.639 like if you've just had batteries sitting at home in 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:31.520 a charger and they were just well, you know, I'll 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:35.040 leave them in there so they're always ready. Probably not 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:38.840 leaving your laptop plugged in all the time is not 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:41.280 probably gonna cause a big problem because it's a little 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:46.120 smarter than that. Yeah, so in general you're probably okay, Um, 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.600 don't leave your your device is plugged in for twenty 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.480 four hours or more at a time. Just to avoid that, 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:55.000 because that's that that can cause damage. Even if it 0:21:55.080 --> 0:21:58.000 doesn't damage the battery directly. Uh, it might, you know, 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.320 the charger, It might wear the charger down fast, I 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.320 mean or the battery. Yeah, or the battery. That's true. 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:06.160 The battery life can suffer if it overheats for an 0:22:06.160 --> 0:22:08.840 extended period of time. That can that can cause the 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.639 chemical reactions to be less efficient, and then it doesn't 0:22:11.680 --> 0:22:13.440