Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with the Amazon Echo frames. Alexa can now
Speaker 1: answer your door? How much would you have if you
Speaker 1: invested one thousand dollars in a hot tech ipo? Plus
Speaker 1: your tech questions answered? What's going on on?
Speaker 2: Rich Tomiro? And this is rich on.
Speaker 1: Tech, the podcast where I talk about the tech stuff
Speaker 1: I think you should know about. And it's also the
Speaker 1: place where I answer the questions you send me and
Speaker 1: believe you me yes. Send a lot of them, and
Speaker 1: you might be surprised that I actually respond to a
Speaker 1: majority of them, whether it's by Instagram at richon Tech,
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com, slash rich on Tech, Hello at Richontech,
Speaker 1: dot TV, carrier pigeon, I don't know, see me in
Speaker 1: the streets. Ask me a question that rarely happened right
Speaker 1: now because I'm not out and about as much as
Speaker 1: I used to be. Again, my name is Richard Meiro,
Speaker 1: tech reporter at KTLA Channel five in Los Angeles. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the show. I say show because I hope that
Speaker 1: this entertains you, informs you, makes you want to listen again.
Speaker 2: That's the whole goal of this.
Speaker 1: Right is to really just share some knowledge. And I
Speaker 1: don't have the answers to everything. Believe me, I don't,
Speaker 1: but I try to answer questions that represent what you're
Speaker 1: sending in what you're asking me, and hopefully things that
Speaker 1: can help other people at large, because you know, we
Speaker 1: think as Techi's that well, I don't, but some people
Speaker 1: think that everyone has the answer when it comes to tech,
Speaker 1: and we don't. We're all just learning, we're all just
Speaker 1: figuring this stuff out, and sometimes you just got to
Speaker 1: go hands on and try it and see and you know,
Speaker 1: just see what's going on with some of this stuff.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I played around with
Speaker 1: last week which was really really cool is the Cadillac
Speaker 1: Escalade twenty twenty one edition. This has GM supercrus and
Speaker 1: not just Super Crews because that's been around for a while,
Speaker 1: but this one had super Cruise along with hands free
Speaker 1: well hands free I guess driving, and then auto lane change,
Speaker 1: and let me.
Speaker 2: Tell you, it was seriously, seriously cool.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just loved the ability to set this
Speaker 1: car into hands free mode basically drives itself, and then
Speaker 1: if you want to change lanes, it changes lanes. And
Speaker 1: here's the best part about how it changes lanes. It's
Speaker 1: not like me when I change lanes I kind of
Speaker 1: creep over because I'm a little scared there might be
Speaker 1: a car in my blind spot. No, no, No, This thing,
Speaker 1: even though it's a giant car, has so much big
Speaker 1: data surrounding it with all the sensors and you know,
Speaker 1: cameras and whatever it's using to figure this stuff out,
Speaker 1: that it just changes lanes when it knows it can.
Speaker 1: There's no hesitation, there's no wishy washiness.
Speaker 2: It just sort of works. And it was.
Speaker 1: Impres I said one hundred and six thousand dollars car,
Speaker 1: So I'm not buying it anytime soon, but it was
Speaker 1: a really beautiful car. I love where this is going,
Speaker 1: and I think it's just really nice to realize that
Speaker 1: Tesla is not the only company in town when it
Speaker 1: comes to the smart driving stuff and the hands free driving.
Speaker 1: I think that they're way ahead of everyone. But these
Speaker 1: historic car companies are not going to just kind of
Speaker 1: not figure this stuff out right. They are going to
Speaker 1: It took them a little bit longer, but they're getting
Speaker 1: there and the next car that I'll be testing doing
Speaker 1: so I used to do this thing called tech Report
Speaker 1: test drive long time ago at KTLA, and then I
Speaker 1: kind of stopped. I was only doing hybrids, you know,
Speaker 1: like I wanted to do any car that's sort of
Speaker 1: a you know, not just a gas car. Now, the Escalate, yes,
Speaker 1: it was full gas and only you know, fourteen miles
Speaker 1: to the gallon. But you know that's it's because it
Speaker 1: had a feature that's unique. The hands free was unique.
Speaker 1: But also the auto lane was brand new. So for
Speaker 1: that reason, I make an exception. But I generally like
Speaker 1: to test cars that are alternative. You know, they have
Speaker 1: a either hybrid or they are all electric or something else.
Speaker 1: I haven't really done a hydrogen one, but anyway, the
Speaker 1: next one up I'm gonna test out is called the
Speaker 1: Volkswagen ID four.
Speaker 2: This is their big electric car.
Speaker 1: I hope I can mention that, but I'm looking forward
Speaker 1: to testing that because there's just so many electric cars
Speaker 1: coming along. I'm in the market for a car in
Speaker 1: the next couple of years, and so when I do that,
Speaker 1: I'm still trying to decide am I going to go
Speaker 1: full electric, which I'm leaning towards, or maybe I don't know.
Speaker 1: We'll say so that's my story, sticking to it.
Speaker 2: Let's get some Let's get to some of the news
Speaker 2: of the week.
Speaker 1: Let's see what do we want to start with here,
Speaker 1: Let's start with uh, well, gosh, is there not one
Speaker 1: big story this week?
Speaker 2: Maybe there isn't a missing it.
Speaker 1: But Alexa can now answer your doorbell and ring. I've
Speaker 1: talked about this in the podcast before, but I'm very
Speaker 1: I think it's bullish. Is bullish when you're hot on something? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I am bullish on Ring because what they're doing
Speaker 1: I think is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.
Speaker 1: As far as a full kind of system. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a million cool security systems out there. I use Weight,
Speaker 1: I use the Wisecam, I've got some nestcams. But when
Speaker 1: you really look at like if you wanted a full
Speaker 1: solution for everything around your house, when you look at Ring,
Speaker 1: I mean, they've got so many products. It's like they're
Speaker 1: coming out with new stuff all the time. And so
Speaker 1: now they have this cool new feature. Three new features, Okay,
Speaker 1: they're called smart Responses, and there's kind of three of them.
Speaker 1: So the first is Alexa Greeting. So if you have
Speaker 1: a Ring Video Doorbell Pro and you're a Ring protect subscriber,
Speaker 1: which you probably should be if you have a Ring
Speaker 1: because it's like three bucks a month, then it gives
Speaker 1: you access to recordings. If not, then you can only
Speaker 1: live stream your camera, which would not be very good.
Speaker 1: But Alexa can greet visitors when they ring the doorbell,
Speaker 1: and then she can kind of go back and forth
Speaker 1: with them, so the person can say, you know, it'd
Speaker 1: be like hey this Alexa, can I help you? And
Speaker 1: it'll be like, hey, I have a package for rich
Speaker 1: and then she can say like does it need a signature?
Speaker 1: And you can even tell the delivery person where to
Speaker 1: put the package, so that's really cool. Then you've got
Speaker 1: quick replies and this is for all of the doorbells
Speaker 1: from Ring and when you don't feel like answering or
Speaker 1: you're not there, it can leave six preset responses like
Speaker 1: we can't answer the door right now, leave a message,
Speaker 1: leave the package outside, or you can. You know, there's
Speaker 1: like six of these things, which I thought was really cool.
Speaker 1: Now the catch here is that if they leave a
Speaker 1: recorded message, you'll only see it if again, you're a
Speaker 1: Ring Protect subscriber, so otherwise, you know, if you look
Speaker 1: at a ring video doorbell, it's good if you want
Speaker 1: to just watch out your front door when someone rings
Speaker 1: and get that live view, but the reality is you
Speaker 1: probably want a record of everyone that rings your doorbell
Speaker 1: or comes near it with the motion, So in that
Speaker 1: case you need to be a Ring Protect subscriber and
Speaker 1: you can see your event history and these messages people
Speaker 1: are leaving, so that's cool. And finally, motion warnings, and
Speaker 1: this is just kind of a no brainer.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 1: Motion warnings say an audible alert when someone triggers a recording,
Speaker 1: So if they come near one of your cameras, whether
Speaker 1: it's a spotlight cam, a floodlight cam, an indoorcam, or
Speaker 1: a wired doorbell. This only works with wired doorbells.
Speaker 2: It will say.
Speaker 1: Warning, you're now being monitored and recorded by Ring and
Speaker 1: that's a cool detern as well. And again, these are
Speaker 1: all really cool features. The problem is that they don't
Speaker 1: necessarily work with everything, and so I think that's kind
Speaker 1: of the you know, the only problem with these things
Speaker 1: is that you have to know exactly which doorbell you
Speaker 1: have and figure out which one of these things works
Speaker 1: with them, because not everything works.
Speaker 2: And I understand why.
Speaker 1: I think Ring has this thing where like a lot
Speaker 1: of it's robells are battery powered, and it can't just
Speaker 1: introduce all these features on battery powered doorbells. A battery
Speaker 1: go dead in like a day. Cody says, Hey, Rich,
Speaker 1: I'm looking for a reliable mobile faxing app that provides
Speaker 1: the best value. Can you please suggest one. I love
Speaker 1: watching your segments on KTLA. Thank you well, Cody. I
Speaker 1: have what I use, and what I have been using
Speaker 1: for a long time is it's kind of a one
Speaker 1: to two punch. I don't really fax, but I do
Speaker 1: use a I will sign things and then email them.
Speaker 1: So what I use for that is called Hello Facts
Speaker 1: if you need to fax something, and Hello Fax is fantastic.
Speaker 1: It's now owned by Dropbox and it's great. And so
Speaker 1: if I've never really had a problem with sending faxes,
Speaker 1: like I think it's always been free, but it's it's
Speaker 1: free for up to five fax pages and then after
Speaker 1: that it's ten dollars a month for up to three
Speaker 1: hundred fax pages. Now I don't really understand. I feel
Speaker 1: like I've never had to actually pay for it, but
Speaker 1: maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2: Let me look at what I use. So what I use.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I use is called Hello Sign again,
Speaker 1: same company, now owned by Dropbox. But that's you know,
Speaker 1: so the difference is Hello Sign you sign it in
Speaker 1: your browser and then you download it or you email it,
Speaker 1: whereas with Hello Facts, you would actually fax it out.
Speaker 1: So when I look at pricing for Hello Sign, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so you get this is why I've never had to
Speaker 1: pay for Hello Sign because it's three signature requests per month,
Speaker 1: and I've never had to use more than that. I mean,
Speaker 1: if I was, you know, I usually use this for
Speaker 1: like freelance gigs that I pick up here and there.
Speaker 1: So if I get a freelance gig and I have
Speaker 1: to sign a contract for some sort of you know deal,
Speaker 1: like when I hosted CES, I will use Hello Sign.
Speaker 1: And that's why I've never I've never done more than
Speaker 1: three in a month. That would be an amazing thing.
Speaker 1: I don't think why schedule could handle more than three.
Speaker 1: But if I could, hate I mean, if you got
Speaker 1: a project, call me.
Speaker 2: But wow. So those are the two I recommend. Hello
Speaker 2: Sign and Hello Facts. That's it.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's also e Facts. I mean that's been
Speaker 1: around forever and ever and ever.
Speaker 2: You can use that.
Speaker 1: And there are some assorted apps on Android. There was
Speaker 1: one I was actually at a doctor's office. This was
Speaker 1: so long ago, but I was at a doctor's office.
Speaker 1: And I had something on my phone that they needed,
Speaker 1: like I don't know if it was a prescription or
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes when you get a referral, you have
Speaker 1: to like show them, and they couldn't look at it
Speaker 1: on my phone for some reason. They couldn't take an email,
Speaker 1: but they could take a fax, and so I said,
Speaker 1: all right, let me see if I can fax for
Speaker 1: my phone. And sure enough I was able to fax
Speaker 1: for my phone and it worked great, and the person
Speaker 1: behind the desk was very impressed, even though they weren't
Speaker 1: as impressed as I wanted them to be, because I'm
Speaker 1: always like, oh, can you you know, like I really wanted.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I'm looking for this on my library and I
Speaker 1: and my Android, and I can't really find it right
Speaker 1: off the top here because my kid is downloaded so
Speaker 1: many games that they're all taking up. I gotta go
Speaker 1: through and clean that up. Anyway I would, I would
Speaker 1: just use those two Hello sign Hello facts, and I
Speaker 1: think those will be great for you. All right, let's
Speaker 1: go to let's see some other news. Hm, let's see here,
Speaker 1: let's talk about oh, you know what, let me talk
Speaker 1: about the echo frames because I am obsessed. It has
Speaker 1: been so long that I've gotten a gadget where I
Speaker 1: just am like so infatuated with the gadget and the
Speaker 1: Amazon Echo frames are that gadget. Now, I'm not saying
Speaker 1: you need to rush out and buy these. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that you need to purchase these or you know, anything,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying this is where we're headed. And
Speaker 1: it's so clear when I try a gadget like this
Speaker 1: that there is still a lot of room for things
Speaker 1: to just sort of amaze us in the future.
Speaker 2: When it comes to technology.
Speaker 1: The last thing, you know, it's like the iPhone, the iPad,
Speaker 1: a couple things like that, little you know, little gadgets
Speaker 1: here and there. But these are just magical. So there
Speaker 1: are pair glasses two hundred and fifty dollars. They've got
Speaker 1: speakers built in, They've got microphones built in. You charge
Speaker 1: them up and you put them on and next thing
Speaker 1: you know, you've got hands free access to Alexa. But
Speaker 1: you've also got these little speakers on your ears at
Speaker 1: all times. So that means you can listen to music,
Speaker 1: you can listen to podcasts, you can make phone calls.
Speaker 1: It sinks perfectly with your iPhone, sinks perfectly with Android
Speaker 1: I tested it. You can activate Siri through it, not
Speaker 1: hands free, but you can tap on the side of
Speaker 1: the device. Yeah, Siri activated on my iPad here, no
Speaker 1: please stop, go away, But you can activate you know
Speaker 1: who and also Google Assistant by tapping and holding on
Speaker 1: the side of the device and that works perfectly. So
Speaker 1: I've just been loving these things. I mean, I've been
Speaker 1: walking around the block with them on, listening to podcasts,
Speaker 1: I've been working at my desk. And the beauty of
Speaker 1: them is that there's nothing in your ears, so it
Speaker 1: does not feel like you're wearing headphones, and you wouldn't
Speaker 1: wear headphones at work all day.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Maybe some people can wear them on their computer all day.
Speaker 1: I'm not one of those people, but with these, I can't.
Speaker 1: And I can have nice ambient music if I'm you know,
Speaker 1: I can't really have too much going on if I'm
Speaker 1: trying to concentrate on jamming out a script or something.
Speaker 2: But if I'm just kind of casually.
Speaker 1: Browsing the web, looking at stories, reading stuff gently, then
Speaker 1: I could, you know, listen to some soft music, you know,
Speaker 1: like some instrumental stuff.
Speaker 2: Man, everything's just blown up on me right here. That
Speaker 2: was one of my stories. So I'm really impressed.
Speaker 1: Two fifty you can get your your own prescription lenses
Speaker 1: put in them, and I just think they're really great.
Speaker 1: I think they are there. They're the second generation, so
Speaker 1: there's more to come. But if I wore glasses, I
Speaker 1: think that I would definitely get these. I don't wear glasses,
Speaker 1: so I don't necessarily need them. And the thing is
Speaker 1: they send them with like window panes, but I think
Speaker 1: that they're missing an opportunity here to do like blue blocker.
Speaker 1: And I know I did a story and they said
Speaker 1: blue blockers don't really do anything, but I think that
Speaker 1: you would feel better knowing that you were wearing blue
Speaker 1: blocker glasses all day long versus just wearing window panes
Speaker 1: all day long, right, So why not just put a
Speaker 1: little blue blocker in there so that you get that?
Speaker 2: So I just really really impressed.
Speaker 1: Battery life, audio quality could be a little bit improved,
Speaker 1: but so far, so good. Amazon, very very impressed, very lightweight,
Speaker 1: just really really cool.
Speaker 2: So just so impressed with those. I can't get over
Speaker 2: it all. Right.
Speaker 1: Another thing that I tested out this week is the
Speaker 1: Tula mic. I think I talked about this, but this
Speaker 1: is a microphone that's a USB mic, but it also
Speaker 1: records into itself, so you can use it for your
Speaker 1: zoom calls, or you can use it to just record stuff.
Speaker 1: And it's a great little microphone.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: I think it sounds good and I recorded a podcast
Speaker 1: episode in it a couple of weeks ago. I probably
Speaker 1: told you this story already, but I just think it's
Speaker 1: a really cool little mic. Again, it's two hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: so it's expensive, but you'd do get a lot for
Speaker 1: that price. I mean you get the internal memory recording.
Speaker 1: So let's say you want to record your podcast in
Speaker 1: the field, you just have to have this mic and
Speaker 1: that's it. Nothing else. I mean, how much easier does
Speaker 1: it get. You don't have to have a computer, you
Speaker 1: don't have to have a fancy setup. You just do
Speaker 1: that and it's done. So I thought that was really cool.
Speaker 1: Those are two gadgets I tested this week. I've got
Speaker 1: the reviews on my website, rich on tech dot tv
Speaker 1: if you want to read more about them.
Speaker 2: Let's get to another question.
Speaker 1: Gil says, Oh my god, Rich, I love those Alexa glasses,
Speaker 1: but concerned about privacy issues, isn't this another way of
Speaker 1: collecting more data about our personal.
Speaker 2: Activities and choices.
Speaker 1: Should we just accept the fact that nothing is sacred
Speaker 1: any longer? Egad? What does egad mean? I don't know, egad,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Gil, have a magical day, egad? I
Speaker 1: don't oh expressing surprise, anger, or affirmation. Okay, I didn't egad. Okay,
Speaker 1: I learned something new today. Never saw that word? Okay, Gil,
Speaker 1: great segue from the I just talked about these you know,
Speaker 1: is it collecting more information? I'd have to look at
Speaker 1: the privacy policy of the Echo frames to see. But
Speaker 1: to be completely honest with this stuff, you know what,
Speaker 1: I am one of those people that, yes, I am
Speaker 1: concerned about privacy. I think that we should have a
Speaker 1: we should have privacy, and we should have a respectable
Speaker 1: sort of understanding of that privacy when it comes to
Speaker 1: these smart devices, like a reasonable expectation, I should say,
Speaker 1: if you get one of these smart speakers in your
Speaker 1: home and you put it in your room, it should
Speaker 1: not The expectation is that it's not listening and sending
Speaker 1: all that data back twenty four to seven to Google
Speaker 1: or Amazon or Apple. But sometimes they do misfire and
Speaker 1: they do activate, and they do catch things off guard. Now,
Speaker 1: are these Echo frames collecting any more data?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, they don't have GPS on them, although I
Speaker 1: did notice that the Alexa app asked for my GPS
Speaker 1: location when I installed it on my Android. I don't
Speaker 1: know about iOS, but so it could you know if
Speaker 1: you're wearing them. It may know where you're wearing them,
Speaker 1: and how often and for how long of course, the
Speaker 1: commands that you use. So yes, there is definitely a
Speaker 1: privacy issue, and I think that when it comes to
Speaker 1: any of these smart home gadgets, you have to weigh
Speaker 1: the pros and the cons. Are the benefits you get
Speaker 1: out of these glasses worth the extra data that Amazon
Speaker 1: gets on you? And by that extra data, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like I said, some of the location data, some
Speaker 1: of the things you're asking it may pick up things
Speaker 1: in the background that you didn't intend it to. But
Speaker 1: we have to decide what level we're comfortable with. Personally,
Speaker 1: I'm comfortable with a lot of that stuff. I think
Speaker 1: what I'm not comfortable with is things that collect personal information, like.
Speaker 2: You know, financing, banking. That kind of stuff is.
Speaker 1: Where I draw the line. I'm very critical about that.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to like where.
Speaker 2: I am, where I'm using things, I'm not.
Speaker 1: Totally totally concerned because you know, I kind of I'm
Speaker 1: getting something in return for some of the uh you know,
Speaker 1: some of the different services that I use. So that's
Speaker 1: I know, it's not the best answer in the world,
Speaker 1: but the reality is we just kind of have to.
Speaker 1: Every one of us just has to do what we
Speaker 1: feel is best. And I get people that say I'll
Speaker 1: never put a Google device in my house because of
Speaker 1: this stuff, and I get other people that have a
Speaker 1: ton of them, like myself, and again, it just depends
Speaker 1: on what your level of comfort is. So it's a
Speaker 1: good question and it's something we do need to keep
Speaker 1: in mind. And when I do stories with any any uh,
Speaker 1: you know, app developer or anything that I do a
Speaker 1: story on, at this point, I do ask if I
Speaker 1: do an interview about the privacy implications of those devices,
Speaker 1: And that's just the reality of it. All right, Let's
Speaker 1: let's see here, let's talk about let's.
Speaker 2: Just do a quick one. Disney plus ninety almost ninety
Speaker 2: five million customers.
Speaker 1: In fact, they probably do have ninety five million, because
Speaker 1: this was according to Variety as of January second twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, they had ninety four point nine million, which
Speaker 1: is more than eight million extra in one month. So
Speaker 1: that tops Disney's original projections of having ninety million subscribers
Speaker 1: within the first four years.
Speaker 2: I think it's been just over a year.
Speaker 1: Right, a year and a half, So it's Disney Plus
Speaker 1: is killing it, and it's it's amazing to see a
Speaker 1: company like Disney that people love and they've they've done
Speaker 1: a great job in the historic world of entertainment. And
Speaker 1: I say historic when I mean like broadcast movies, that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, and it's good to see a company
Speaker 1: that can just as nimbly adapt to the new reality
Speaker 1: of streaming of you know, twenty five seven access movies
Speaker 1: that are not going to theaters. They're just going straight
Speaker 1: to video. And they're doing pretty well. So if you
Speaker 1: do ninety ninety five million times, let's see, it's seven
Speaker 1: bucks a month something like that. So that's uh so
Speaker 1: six hundred and sixty five million dollars a month they
Speaker 1: are generating off of Disney Plus. I'd call that a win.
Speaker 1: That is pretty good. Now they pale in comparison to Netflix.
Speaker 1: I think Netflix has I don't know, I don't well
Speaker 1: how many Netflix subscribers do they have. Let's see, this
Speaker 1: is uh, let's see they have okay, two hundred almost
Speaker 1: two hundred million to double. Okay, so they're doing pretty well.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's pretty good for something that came out.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: The trick of all these streaming services is that they
Speaker 1: just need to have one thing that you want to
Speaker 1: watch every single time you're ready to cancel. So if
Speaker 1: you're watching WandaVision right now, it's like you watch that
Speaker 1: and then okay, oh, now there's a movie for my kids, Okay,
Speaker 1: we'll keep. And I don't think a lot of people
Speaker 1: are rushing to cancel Disney Plus just because it's Disney
Speaker 1: Plus and if you have kids is kind of a given.
Speaker 1: Netflix overall is kind of a given. I think, you know, Hulu,
Speaker 1: all the rest of them are sort of on a
Speaker 1: case by case basis. HBO Max is really picking up
Speaker 1: some steam now. I think that, you know, for me personally,
Speaker 1: with the diversity of how many folks we have in
Speaker 1: the house, we have four different people, different ages, my wife, me,
Speaker 1: my two kids, and of course all the assorted klingons
Speaker 1: that are that are perhaps sharing my accounts in different places.
Speaker 2: You know, everyone has something that they're watching all the time.
Speaker 2: And so whenever I approach.
Speaker 1: The you know, let's cancel Netflix. Eh, not canceling Netflix. Oh,
Speaker 1: let's cancel Disney Plus because there's nothing right now. No,
Speaker 1: we're not canceling that. Let's cancel Hulu. No, we're watching
Speaker 1: I mean, my wife and I are watching this new
Speaker 1: show on Hulu that's you know, it's just a silly show.
Speaker 2: It's called Call.
Speaker 1: Your your Mom, Call your mother. Yeah, call your mother,
Speaker 1: and it's just silly. But we're watching it, and so
Speaker 1: it's like, we're not going to cancel right now after
Speaker 1: episode three, We're just going to continue watching it. So
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of what all these things do
Speaker 1: and the more stuff that they have, and this is
Speaker 1: why they're they have such an you know, an emphasis
Speaker 1: on new programming is there's a lot of different people watching,
Speaker 1: and so you need to have stuff that appeals to
Speaker 1: different people because.
Speaker 2: Not everything's gonna appeal to everyone.
Speaker 1: This is no longer broadcast networks with a show that
Speaker 1: you know, appeals to the mass audience. There are so
Speaker 1: many little shows on Netflix to discover and Hulu and
Speaker 1: all these other services that you know, one size does
Speaker 1: not fit all anymore. And sometimes if you have a
Speaker 1: hit that bubbles up and does reach that mass market appeal,
Speaker 1: that's when you know you have a winner. And that's
Speaker 1: when you really really seal the deal with folks, because
Speaker 1: that's when you know you're considered very successful. And that's
Speaker 1: really it's not the goal, I would say, but when
Speaker 1: it happens, it's it's a pretty good feeling, all right,
Speaker 1: all right, Bill writes in. Bill says, Hey, Rich, I've
Speaker 1: been listening to your podcast for a relatively short time,
Speaker 1: but I've learned to pay attention to your advice. I
Speaker 1: have all Apple, seven year old MacBook Pro, two iPhones,
Speaker 1: and an ancient Macmini. I am looking for a password
Speaker 1: manager and malware destroyer. My son also has recommended web roote.
Speaker 1: I use clean my Mac. I feel like I did
Speaker 1: this question ALRIGHTY did I do this question? I think
Speaker 1: I did this question already. I'm gonna so maybe we'll
Speaker 1: I should keep track of the questions that I do
Speaker 1: because I'm looking at the date. Okay, this is weird.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the date of this question, and the
Speaker 1: original question was written to me on September thirteenth, which
Speaker 1: I can't.
Speaker 2: That can't be right.
Speaker 1: But then the update was written on Sunday, September seventh.
Speaker 1: He said, Oh, I forgot to tell you I have
Speaker 1: a seven iPhone seven and eight plus. I don't know
Speaker 1: you know anyway, Let's see what the question is.
Speaker 2: Uh, I use Clean my Mac.
Speaker 1: My point is, if I'm gonna pay a fee monthly
Speaker 1: or annually, you know, I want something easy to use
Speaker 1: and effective.
Speaker 2: Thank you for all the help.
Speaker 1: So okay, malware destroyer, I would say, uh, Clean my
Speaker 1: Mac is a great is a great product, and they
Speaker 1: do have some malware scanning stuff in there. I also
Speaker 1: think malware bytes is really good. So if I were you,
Speaker 1: I would use Clean my Mac on your Mac. You have,
Speaker 1: let's see a seven year old MacBook Pro and an
Speaker 1: ancient Macmini. Now, when it comes to the iPhones, sorry
Speaker 1: to burst your bubble, but you don't need anything on there.
Speaker 1: There's no there's nothing that's gonna find malware on an iPhone.
Speaker 1: There's no antivirus that's gonna work on there. It's just
Speaker 1: iPhone doesn't work that way. So don't worry about the iPhones.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be just fine as long as you're not
Speaker 1: jail breaking them, which I don't think you are, but
Speaker 1: the rest of them, yeah, I would definitely recommend Clean
Speaker 1: my Mac or malware Bytes. Maybe start with malware Bytes
Speaker 1: I think they have a free version and then move
Speaker 1: up to Clean my Mac because you there is a
Speaker 1: subscription aspect to Clean my Mac and you can either
Speaker 1: do set app, which is you said that in your email,
Speaker 1: which is kind of a recurring subscription. I think it's
Speaker 1: ten dollars a month or you can just pay one time,
Speaker 1: or you can pay for the year.
Speaker 2: So you have to decide, you.
Speaker 1: Know how much you want this and how many devices
Speaker 1: you want to install it on, and how much you're
Speaker 1: willing to pay.
Speaker 2: But that is what I would recommend, all right.
Speaker 1: Just a quick quick note, this is a little bit
Speaker 1: of news out of Visible. Visible is a service that
Speaker 1: I fully, fully recommend. There are two alternative carriers that
Speaker 1: I really like. One of them is mint Mobile, the
Speaker 1: other one is Visible, And I also like Cricket as well.
Speaker 1: And these carriers what's unique about them? Cricket and Visible
Speaker 1: are both sort of I don't know Cricket. I think
Speaker 1: Cricket is a subsidiary of AT and T. I know
Speaker 1: they run on AT and T. Is Cricket owned by
Speaker 1: AT and T. By AT and T, I think it is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know what Cricket. Yeah, Cricket is owned by AT
Speaker 1: and T. So you've got Cricket that's owned by AT
Speaker 1: and T. Then you've got Visible that's owned by Verizon.
Speaker 1: And the thing about these carriers is that they have
Speaker 1: a whole separate brand identity so that they can operate
Speaker 1: sort of independently. But they're using the AT and T network,
Speaker 1: and they're using the Verizon network in the case of Visible,
Speaker 1: so in mint use is not owned by T Mobile,
Speaker 1: but they use T Mobiles network, So it kind of
Speaker 1: depends which network you want, which one's the strongest.
Speaker 2: In your area.
Speaker 1: But Visible is really really cool because it's unlimited for
Speaker 1: forty dollars a month, and now they're offering five G.
Speaker 1: So it's capped up to two hundred megabits per second,
Speaker 1: but I mean, hey, it's five G and you get
Speaker 1: that fast speed.
Speaker 2: It used to be Visible was.
Speaker 1: Capped at five megabits per second, so two hundred is
Speaker 1: pretty good. And now you get calling to Canada, Mexico, US,
Speaker 1: Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, And I think, what the
Speaker 1: most important thing they have in their new announcement is
Speaker 1: e SIM compatibility. So it used to be the biggest
Speaker 1: problem with setting up Visible is that you had to
Speaker 1: get one of their SIM cards. And for the average
Speaker 1: person that's doing this, that's a little tricky, Like you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's not something that everyone's familiar with. It's not
Speaker 1: something that makes a lot of sense to people. Plus
Speaker 1: you have to wait, so there's no impulse buy for Visible.
Speaker 1: You can't just say I'm gonna switch today. You have
Speaker 1: to do all this research and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, I'm not gonna wait a couple of
Speaker 1: days to get this SIM card, and it kind of
Speaker 1: takes the fun out of it. So now with eSIM,
Speaker 1: you can activate a device from home fifteen minutes or
Speaker 1: less using an eSIM compatible device. Those devices right now
Speaker 1: include pretty much all the recent iPhones from the iPhone
Speaker 1: ten S to the twelve Promacs, also the second gen
Speaker 1: iPhone S. And then they say that androids are coming soon.
Speaker 1: So I think this is a huge win for Visible
Speaker 1: that they're embracing the because now you can kind of
Speaker 1: hear about Visible for me right now on this podcast
Speaker 1: and then look on your iPhone, do the research, see
Speaker 1: if it works for you, and boom, you can switch
Speaker 1: instantly right from your iPhone. If you have an iPhone
Speaker 1: tennis TENNS max ten R eleven twelve se, I mean,
Speaker 1: any of those phones, you can just switch right away
Speaker 1: in your settings. That's really really cool. And you basically,
Speaker 1: I think, you just scan a QR code in your setting.
Speaker 1: So the other neat thing about Visible is that you
Speaker 1: can have up to four people in your They call
Speaker 1: it a party. This is kind of like you just
Speaker 1: group up with friends or family and you don't pay
Speaker 1: each other's bills, but you're sort of just like in
Speaker 1: a group, and you take down your bill by five
Speaker 1: dollars a month. So if you have let's say you
Speaker 1: join Visible and you love it, and then you tell
Speaker 1: your brother that, oh my gosh, you need to join this.
Speaker 2: And here's my.
Speaker 1: Little referral thing. Not referral, it's just you party up.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you do it. You link up
Speaker 1: in the in the setting, some guessing, and now you
Speaker 1: each pay thirty five dollars a month. And then when
Speaker 1: you say to your sister, hey, we're both on this.
Speaker 1: This is really cool. Why don't you join in and
Speaker 1: now she pays thirty dollars a month, and you pay
Speaker 1: thirty dollars a month, and you all pay thirty. So
Speaker 1: it's kind of like you're linking up together and keeping
Speaker 1: each other all on this system. And I guess that's
Speaker 1: kind of the difference between a referral and you're all
Speaker 1: sticking to this. If one person drops out of the party,
Speaker 1: everyone's price goes up, so there's a little peer pressure
Speaker 1: to sort.
Speaker 2: Of all stay on board. And I don't know.
Speaker 1: I got my brother to join Visible and he loves it.
Speaker 1: The only thing is, this is the big downside, and
Speaker 1: this is why I haven't signed up my wife, because
Speaker 1: I would one hundred percent sign her up for this tomorrow.
Speaker 1: The problem is, and save like eighty about fifty bucks
Speaker 1: a month on Verizon, is that they don't support Apple watches.
Speaker 1: Now they should, but they don't, And so that's the
Speaker 1: only thing keeping me from signing up my wife for Visible.
Speaker 1: I would actually probably sign up now as well, now
Speaker 1: that they support five G. I don't need more than
Speaker 1: two hundred megabits. I mean, yeah, it's nice sometimes when
Speaker 1: you're out in a boat out and you get these super
Speaker 1: fast five G speeds, but two hundred megabits per second
Speaker 1: is plenty fast for me. So anyway, check out Visible
Speaker 1: if you are looking to switch carriers, want to save
Speaker 1: some money. Prepaid for everything for forty bucks a month.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's pretty darn good. So all right,
Speaker 1: Bonnie says, I'm getting the COVID shot, and I want
Speaker 1: to know if there's any apps out there that are
Speaker 1: accepted for travel outside of the United States. I would
Speaker 1: like to start traveling and want to know what app
Speaker 1: I should have in my phone Android to show that
Speaker 1: I receive the shot. Thank you for any help you
Speaker 1: can provide. I can't find any app online yet, as
Speaker 1: most vendors seem to be working on process. Yeah, Bonnie,
Speaker 1: there is nothing that I know of right now that
Speaker 1: is a universally accepted COVID vaccine passcard that you can
Speaker 1: have on your phone. So if you are getting the
Speaker 1: vaccine or got it, you'll get a little card from
Speaker 1: the CDC. You see a lot of people tweeting them
Speaker 1: that right now is your only proof of getting the
Speaker 1: shot now. As a tech person, I of course one
Speaker 1: hundred percent agree with what you're talking about. There should
Speaker 1: be a card on both Google Wallet or Google Play
Speaker 1: or sorry, Google Pay and also Apple Wallet that you
Speaker 1: would show and it would be have a digital barcode
Speaker 1: that they can scan and verify.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't know why this wasn't done from day one.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I was in the government and I
Speaker 1: was giving out these shots, I would say, hey, we're
Speaker 1: a high tech world, we're a high tech society, Like,
Speaker 1: let's get this card that all the countries agree on
Speaker 1: is acceptable, and let's get a barcode that links it
Speaker 1: back to the CDC.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, maybe that's too big government. I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, all I'm saying is that it would you know,
Speaker 1: it would be nice to have that card. I've seen
Speaker 1: a couple, you know, friends and family get them. I
Speaker 1: haven't gotten the vaccine yet, but I've seen friends and
Speaker 1: family get them that you know, it's a CDC card
Speaker 1: and that's it. It's like if you if you have
Speaker 1: kids and they get the vaccine at their doctor, they
Speaker 1: have this little card. It's like a yellow carr that folds.
Speaker 1: And my kids have had it since, you know, since
Speaker 1: they were born. I mean, how antiquated is that that
Speaker 1: someone literally signs a little card that says your kid
Speaker 1: got a vaccine, and I think they might put a
Speaker 1: little sticker from the vaccine vile on it maybe, but
Speaker 1: it's like you gotta keep that. Well, it's just so like,
Speaker 1: that's so old school. Let's get Let's at least have
Speaker 1: an option where you can have the card, the old
Speaker 1: school cardboard card, but also a card on your iPhone.
Speaker 1: That would be fantastic, That's what I would like. And
Speaker 1: if you had that, Yeah, then you go to the
Speaker 1: airport boom, you're traveling to Hawaii, you show him your card.
Speaker 1: I'm vaccinated. And yes, there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: fraud with this stuff. I think people are probably faking
Speaker 1: this stuff already or in the future if it's required
Speaker 1: for various things, people will be faking it. But you know,
Speaker 1: we gotta, we gotta think high tech. We gotta and
Speaker 1: I get it. Not everyone wants this stuff, but you
Speaker 1: can also have both ways. And if you have the card,
Speaker 1: the physical card, and an option to put it into
Speaker 1: your Apple wall, I think that would be really really cool.
Speaker 1: All right, Apple Watch now on one hundred million risks.
Speaker 1: This is from above avalon dot Com. Five and a
Speaker 1: half years, one hundred million people are wearing it.
Speaker 2: That's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: At the end of twenty twenty, approximately ten percent of
Speaker 1: iPhone users, we're wearing an Apple Watch. That is amazing. Now,
Speaker 1: this is what I don't understand. How does this make sense.
Speaker 1: At the end of twenty twenty, approximately ten percent of
Speaker 1: iPhone users were wearing an Apple Watch. Then it says
Speaker 1: at the end of twenty twenty, approximately thirty five percent
Speaker 1: of iPhone users.
Speaker 2: Oh in the US.
Speaker 1: Okay, got it, So thirty five percent of the iPhone
Speaker 1: users in the US are wearing.
Speaker 2: An Apple Watch. That's pretty impressive. Let's see.
Speaker 1: So what is driving adoption wearables? Fundamentals Leveraging new form
Speaker 1: factors and design, They're making technology more personal. I would
Speaker 1: totally agree with that. Like, you know, ring is a
Speaker 1: perfect sample. I mean, here it is. When someone is
Speaker 1: near my front door, I literally get a picture of
Speaker 1: them sent to my Apple Watch.
Speaker 2: I mean, how cool is that.
Speaker 1: It's just and it's instantaneous, it's fast, and it's one
Speaker 1: of those things where, yeah, it could be sent to
Speaker 1: your phone, but I'm in my house. I don't always
Speaker 1: have my phone nearby or on me, and so of
Speaker 1: course I would miss that all the time. But by
Speaker 1: getting that little picture sent to my watch. It's like, okay,
Speaker 1: it takes two seconds. You look at your wrist, you say, oh, okay, cool,
Speaker 1: someone's outside just got my mail delivered. Risk appeal everything
Speaker 1: for a great line of site for snippets of text
Speaker 1: and data. The cool factor Apple ecosystem.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: When I go running and I've got the Apple Watch
Speaker 1: along with the AirPods, that is a I can't say,
Speaker 1: and I've talked about it before on this podcast, is
Speaker 1: just an amazing combination.
Speaker 2: It just works so well.
Speaker 1: Although I have been having problems with my AirPods lately.
Speaker 1: They a little more unreliable than they ever have been.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Apple Watch continues to get more popular. I
Speaker 1: know that the last couple Apple events they've mentioned, how
Speaker 1: you know, it is like not just the most popular
Speaker 1: smart watch in the world, but like one of the
Speaker 1: most popular watches in the world at this point, which
Speaker 1: is great for Apple because it's a it's a huge
Speaker 1: growth area. I mean, I think every person I know
Speaker 1: that gets an Apple Watch just absolutely falls in love
Speaker 1: with it, except for one person I know, he doesn't
Speaker 1: really wear it that much. But for the most most
Speaker 1: people I know, I mean, they really really love the
Speaker 1: Apple Watch, and it's it's pretty easy to understand why.
Speaker 1: It's just a great device that compliments your phone in
Speaker 1: so many different ways. I mean just little things like
Speaker 1: when I'm out and about and you know, let's say
Speaker 1: my phone is in the other room and someone calls
Speaker 1: me and I can just answer the call my Apple
Speaker 1: Watch real quick.
Speaker 2: That is great.
Speaker 1: If I'm out in a run and i can run
Speaker 1: without my phone because I've got a cellular connection. So
Speaker 1: it's just it's just pretty wild the things that they
Speaker 1: have done on this watch that I think.
Speaker 2: It's just really really amazing.
Speaker 1: All right, a couple other stories here. There's so many
Speaker 1: little stories. Let's see. This is a cool website.
Speaker 2: One thousand dot in, one thousand dot in. This is
Speaker 2: a website that tells.
Speaker 1: You how much would you have if you invested one
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in an ipo. Now I've probably told you
Speaker 1: this story before. I feel like I'm telling a lot
Speaker 1: of stories over. I've been doing this podcast for a
Speaker 1: long time, so sometimes I tell stories over and over.
Speaker 1: But I will never forget. I was okay, so anyway this,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story in a second. But this
Speaker 1: website one thousand in tells you you put in a
Speaker 1: stock ticker symbol, and it tells you how much you
Speaker 1: would have if you put one thousand dollars in their ipo. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, Netflix, if you put one thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, if you put one thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: Netflix on May twenty third, two thousand and two. Now,
Speaker 1: mind you, thousand dollars is a lot of money, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like that much money when you're talking
Speaker 1: about investing.
Speaker 2: Okay, one thousand bucks, are you ready?
Speaker 1: You would have as a February twelfth, twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: the damn recording this four hundred and seventy seven thousand,
Speaker 1: eight hundred and fifty dollars. Oh, hold on, that's that
Speaker 1: is just I'm I'm shocked right now, A one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars would become five hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: You could retire.
Speaker 1: Or just be very comfortable with your retirement if you were,
Speaker 1: you know, oh my gosh, that's almost twenty years later,
Speaker 1: five hundred thousand bucks, a return of forty seven thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred and eighty five percent. Okay, So with that
Speaker 1: in mind, this is just a fun website where you
Speaker 1: can just type in a bunch of different ticker symbols
Speaker 1: and see what the deal is. But I'll tell you
Speaker 1: my story so I'll never forget. I was in Shreveport, Louisiana,
Speaker 1: working as a lowly, lowly paid reporter at the station there.
Speaker 1: I was very happy, but you know, you don't make
Speaker 1: a lot of money when you're when you're in you know,
Speaker 1: reporting in general, but small markets especially.
Speaker 2: But I you know, but I.
Speaker 1: Had a couple a little bit of money to my name, right,
Speaker 1: I'd saved a little bit of money, and I'll never forget.
Speaker 2: There's a company called Google that was ipoing.
Speaker 1: And I asked my wife, I said, hey, my girlfriend
Speaker 1: at the time, I said, Lynn, this company called Google,
Speaker 1: which you know, we know we've heard of, is ipoing
Speaker 1: and I think it was about forty two dollars for
Speaker 1: the IPO. I said, should I put a couple thousand
Speaker 1: bucks into this? And that's all I had to my
Speaker 1: whole name might have been like two or three thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And she said, oh, Rich, come on, like what if
Speaker 1: you lose it all? Like, you know, come on, We're
Speaker 1: not in a place to do that. And I said, oh,
Speaker 1: you're right. You're right, You're right. Now, mind you, as
Speaker 1: a reporter, I don't generally invest in fact, I have
Speaker 1: no individual stocks, especially covering technology. Back then I wasn't
Speaker 1: covering technology, but now I don't. As a rule don't
Speaker 1: have any individual stocks. I'm not sure if I'm even
Speaker 1: allowed to.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'd have to check with my company, But in general
Speaker 1: i'd just do like mutual funds, right, like just put
Speaker 1: the money in there for one k whatever. But this
Speaker 1: was a time in my life life when I was like,
Speaker 1: let me, let me try this, and so anyway, we
Speaker 1: didn't do it. And now thanks to this website, let's
Speaker 1: see so Google, Okay, this makes perfect sense because it
Speaker 1: says if you would have invested one thousand dollars in
Speaker 1: alphabet stocks back in August nineteenth, two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: So that exactly.
Speaker 2: Lines up with my story.
Speaker 1: That is when I was in Louisiana two thousand and four,
Speaker 1: and we left right at the end of that For
Speaker 1: that we left the next summer in two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: and so yes, my story was true.
Speaker 2: I would have.
Speaker 1: Forty one thousand, six hundred and sixty five dollars. Now
Speaker 1: when you look at that compared to Netflix. I should
Speaker 1: have invested in Netflix, not Google, but I didn't invest
Speaker 1: in either, so it doesn't matter. But still, again, I'll
Speaker 1: be honest, forty one thousand, six sixty five sounds great,
Speaker 1: but when you compare it to Netflix, you get ten
Speaker 1: times at So I don't feel like I lost out
Speaker 1: that much.
Speaker 2: I mean, it would have been nice.
Speaker 1: But okay, yeah, sure I wish I had this, but
Speaker 1: still anyway, and I'll put it in the show notes,
Speaker 1: just a cool little you know site that can lets
Speaker 1: you reminisce about all those times you lost out.
Speaker 2: You know. Look, and if you want to do the
Speaker 2: individual individual stock thing, that's fine. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't believe me. I don't fault you for it
Speaker 1: to me personally. I just I don't have the time
Speaker 1: and effort to invest in those individual stocks.
Speaker 2: I just can't. I'm not smart enough to do that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It's like, I just there are so many smart people
Speaker 1: out there that do this for a living. How can
Speaker 1: I expect to like outdo them. So I'd rather just
Speaker 1: you know, put the money in the mutual fund, let
Speaker 1: it sit there, and hopefully one day have some money
Speaker 1: for retirement all right, let's get to another question from Diana.
Speaker 1: Diana says, hey, Rich, we're senior citizens in Sacramento and
Speaker 1: watch your segment often. I have a question for you.
Speaker 1: We have a paid for McAfee on our computers for
Speaker 1: almost two years. Every three to six months we have
Speaker 1: a hacking issue, and they convince us to purchase more
Speaker 1: coverage after telling us this is all we need. This
Speaker 1: is what we've purchased. Prescription, prescription, what's that firewall? Hacker protection,
Speaker 1: IP blocker, and now a hacker blocker?
Speaker 2: Is this common? Would Norton be better? Sorry? I'm laughing.
Speaker 2: We are not that tech savvy and it just seems
Speaker 2: to be too much.
Speaker 1: It costs us anywhere from two hundred to one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars every time we call them.
Speaker 2: Do you have any advice for us? Uh?
Speaker 1: Yeah, My advice is get rid of this.
Speaker 2: This is insane. How much are you spending on this stuff? Oh?
Speaker 2: My gosh, two hundred to one thousand dollars? That is wild.
Speaker 1: I don't even understand what you're purchasing. Do they even
Speaker 1: give you the pricing on this stuff on their website?
Speaker 2: Wow? You know, I don't know. Wow, I'm like in shock.
Speaker 2: Right now.
Speaker 1: Why do you have so many problems with hacking? I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think you should. I think that either of
Speaker 1: these are scams that you're falling for. Every three to
Speaker 1: six months, we have a hacking issue. Wow, Okay, what
Speaker 1: I would do? I would scan your computers to make
Speaker 1: sure that there's nothing going on there your network. Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: this is just so I since you're not tech savvy,
Speaker 1: I think it's tough to Did you say you're not
Speaker 1: tech savvy. I mean, you just said you're senior. You
Speaker 1: didn't say you're not tech savy. But ah, I think
Speaker 1: that you're getting a little bit taken here because this
Speaker 1: is a lot of money to spend, and I think
Speaker 1: you just need to cut it off. Stop with the subscriptions,
Speaker 1: stop with the purchases.
Speaker 2: No more, no more, no more.
Speaker 1: This is just a bit much. A hacker blocker and
Speaker 1: IP blocker, a firewall hacker protection. Let me see what
Speaker 1: is firewall hacker protection? McAfee. Let me even see if
Speaker 1: they have that McAfee firewall. Okay, yeah, there's just too many,
Speaker 1: too many things. Oh wow, there's just too many things
Speaker 1: that are offered here. I mean I would say, get
Speaker 1: the one product you know, like a total protection. This
Speaker 1: says it's twenty nine to ninety nine total protection McAfee
Speaker 1: for the year that includes total security, premium antivirus, safe browsing,
Speaker 1: ID theft, and secure VPN.
Speaker 2: That's what I would do.
Speaker 1: I don't think you need to spend two hundred to
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars every time.
Speaker 2: That just seems wild. That is just way too much.
Speaker 1: I think that you're paying this money to someone that's
Speaker 1: scamming you. I don't think that this is McAfee that's
Speaker 1: actually charging you for this stuff.
Speaker 2: I think that it's someone else.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think that you you just you gotta figure,
Speaker 1: you gotta, you gotta dial this back. Just stop paying
Speaker 1: for it, don't do it. Don't answer the phone when
Speaker 1: someone says you have a hacking situation, or if there's
Speaker 1: software or something pops up on your computer, unless it's
Speaker 1: like a ransomware thing that should not be happening. I
Speaker 1: would make sure your computer software is up to date.
Speaker 1: I would make sure whatever software you're running on your computer,
Speaker 1: just pick one and stick with it. If you have
Speaker 1: Windows ten, I think you're fine with just the Windows
Speaker 1: Defender that's built into your computer, and maybe just uninstall
Speaker 1: this McAfee stuff completely. But I don't think you're getting
Speaker 1: hacked every three to six months. I just don't really
Speaker 1: see that happening. So sorry to hear that, and uh,
Speaker 1: hopefully you are doing okay there in Sacramento. Thanks for
Speaker 1: watching this segment. By the way, this is the Roku
Speaker 1: channel moving on now. Roku Channel is Roku's, you know,
Speaker 1: free programming play that you can get on Roku. They
Speaker 1: also have a Roku Channel app that's available for iOS
Speaker 1: and Android. But I was not I was familiar with
Speaker 1: Roku Channel. I mean, I get the concept, it's got
Speaker 1: free movies and TV shows, but they just came out
Speaker 1: with thirteen new channels, live channels that this part of
Speaker 1: it I was not aware of. They basically have a
Speaker 1: cable TV service built into the Roku channel with I
Speaker 1: mean it literally looks like cable TV when you dial
Speaker 1: it up on your Roku and I dialed this up,
Speaker 1: and they've got thirteen new channels, including Baby Shark, Bloomberg,
Speaker 1: Western Movies, Hallmark Movies, which a lot of people will
Speaker 1: be interested in. Then they have eighties music, nineties music,
Speaker 1: country music, hip hop music, Hottest Music, and.
Speaker 2: Some other channels.
Speaker 1: As well, and so I look this up on my
Speaker 1: Roku and I'm very impressed. I mean it's a lot
Speaker 1: of it's literally cable TV for free on your Roku.
Speaker 1: So you flip through and I've got it on right now.
Speaker 1: It's just literally like everything. You've got NBC News, Weather Channel, Newsy,
Speaker 1: USA Today, Yahoo, Reuters, Cheddar, and that's just like the
Speaker 1: new stuff. Then you get into sports, then you get
Speaker 1: into like entertainment, MTV, CMT. I wonder if Pluto is
Speaker 1: powering this, because some of the channels are from Pluto.
Speaker 1: Then you've got classic shows, then you've got you know,
Speaker 1: retro shows, then you've got science, you've got movie channels.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is very, very impressive, and it's all
Speaker 1: impressive if you don't mind commercials in your programming. This
Speaker 1: is all ads supported, so that's the way they pay
Speaker 1: for all this stuff. But if you don't mind that
Speaker 1: and you're just looking for free stuff to watch, this
Speaker 1: is this is quite impressive. It's literally cable TV and
Speaker 1: you don't have to pay a dime. It's just as
Speaker 1: long as you've got an Internet connection, you've got it.
Speaker 1: They've got kids channels, stuff for kids to watch. They've
Speaker 1: got Spanish language programming. They've got like DIY stuff like
Speaker 1: Home and Family kind of or What's not Home and
Speaker 1: Family Home HGTV. They've got Fashion GQ Channel, Crime channels, Celebrity,
Speaker 1: Science Wired. They've got a channel just dedicated to Deal
Speaker 1: or No Deal. America's got Talent Family Feud. Those are channels,
Speaker 1: so you can just watch Family Feud.
Speaker 2: All day long.
Speaker 1: This is really interesting. So America's Funniest Home Videos. You
Speaker 1: could just have that streaming all day long. America's Funniest
Speaker 1: Home Videos. They've got a Fireman Sam channel. If you
Speaker 1: have kids, you know Fireman Sam. So I was very
Speaker 1: impressed with this, And if you have a Roku, check
Speaker 1: it out because they've got thirteen channels that are new,
Speaker 1: but they've got like one hundred and I think it's
Speaker 1: like one hundred and fifty channels total, so it's like
Speaker 1: kind of Pluto.
Speaker 2: TV all these things.
Speaker 1: The funny thing is is that they're running these things
Speaker 1: as a as a cable TV grid, So there is
Speaker 1: no reason in the world that they need to be
Speaker 1: streaming this stuff as a program guide or presenting it
Speaker 1: in that way. But we're so used to that it
Speaker 1: feels fun to flip through channels. People like to flip
Speaker 1: through channels. So now I'm just pressing up and I'm
Speaker 1: flipping through a channel and these are live streaming, but
Speaker 1: they're just basically videos that are linked together, all in
Speaker 1: a row, that are just playing one after another, and
Speaker 1: a lot of them are old TV shows. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's very impressive. I've said that like seven times, but
Speaker 1: I'm it's literally like having cable TV for free. I mean,
Speaker 1: they've got MTV, they've got so much stuff. I just
Speaker 1: got back to the first channel. But even the channel numbers,
Speaker 1: like channel one forty five is USA Today, Channel one
Speaker 1: sixty is Reuters, Channel one seventy one, now this news.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just wild that you can get all
Speaker 1: this for free. And again it's just all ad supported,
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like having cable TV if you're
Speaker 1: into that. Now, personally, I'm not into just sitting back
Speaker 1: and watching stuff that's streaming. I want to kind of
Speaker 1: select unless it's news. I want to select what I'm
Speaker 1: watching at any given time. But I also see the
Speaker 1: beauty of this, like especially the kids channels. So they've
Speaker 1: got you know, a bunch of kids channels here that
Speaker 1: you know play kids programming all day long. And so
Speaker 1: if you want your kids to sit and watch something
Speaker 1: that's appropriate for their age, you can. They've got a
Speaker 1: Lego channel, I've got Ryan's World. You know that Ryan
Speaker 1: Kid on YouTube. He has his own channel, and so
Speaker 1: and I also see the benefit of I come from
Speaker 1: the old days of TV where things just played, and honestly,
Speaker 1: it is a little disturbing to me that when I
Speaker 1: put on my Apple TV in the living room, nothing starts,
Speaker 1: like nothing, nothing happens. You know, you have to sit
Speaker 1: there and choose something. And so sometimes I will just
Speaker 1: put on the news in the background because I want
Speaker 1: something playing, or I'll put on YouTube in the background
Speaker 1: because I just want something playing at all times.
Speaker 2: And I think there's a lot of us out there.
Speaker 1: It's just comforting to have that live stream of something
Speaker 1: playing on your TV.
Speaker 2: It's like, it's kind of an older way.
Speaker 1: Of thinking about things, but it's kind of what I
Speaker 1: grew up with. You just had TV on all the
Speaker 1: time in the background. And I think that nowadays everything's
Speaker 1: on demand and it's streaming, but it's still there's something
Speaker 1: to be said for just that that comfort of knowing
Speaker 1: that things are just on and that's exactly what this is.
Speaker 1: You've got a kids pop channel, I mean, just wild,
Speaker 1: pretty neat some of the channels. The quality is not
Speaker 1: that great on some of the lesser channels, but some
Speaker 1: of the the program that you can tell that they've
Speaker 1: put more into, it's a little bit higher quality. So anyway, Wow,
Speaker 1: this question perfectly segues into what I just talked about,
Speaker 1: or segues from I should say. Olivia via Instagram at
Speaker 1: Richon Tech says, do you know about an app for
Speaker 1: Wi Fi slash Internet Free Radio for the iPhone? And
Speaker 1: the answer that question, Olivia is no, as far as
Speaker 1: I know, there is no support for an internal antenna
Speaker 1: or an external intent. Well maybe there's an external No,
Speaker 1: probably not, maybe external for Wi Fi and Internet free radio, So.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I know that the Android phones have that very often,
Speaker 1: which you can listen to various radio stations through in
Speaker 1: basically just an app on the Android devices. You don't
Speaker 1: need to have any sort of Internet connection. The last
Speaker 1: phone I tested that had this was the TCL ten series,
Speaker 1: and it's such a little thing, but it's such a
Speaker 1: cool thing because not everyone has an unlimited data connection,
Speaker 1: not everyone has access to full on data and not
Speaker 1: everyone wants to just use their data at all times.
Speaker 1: So if you can just call up this app, you
Speaker 1: have to plug in headphones because that's how it gets
Speaker 1: the antenna, but it uses the wire in your headphones
Speaker 1: as it's antenna signal, and it literally just pulls the
Speaker 1: signal out of the air, just like radio. And you
Speaker 1: can listen to this on your phone and there's only
Speaker 1: It's always been a big debate because some cell phone
Speaker 1: carriers like okay, let's say a Samsung I think supported
Speaker 1: it back in the day, or just various carriers supported
Speaker 1: or various phones supported it, but you would get the
Speaker 1: phone and let's say on I don't know, just picking
Speaker 1: a carrier like Sprint would have support for this, you know,
Speaker 1: radio stations on your phone through the over the air,
Speaker 1: but Verizon would not. And it was kind of a
Speaker 1: big differentiating factor. Back when phones were very much locked
Speaker 1: down and very much especially on Android, they were very
Speaker 1: much customized for the carriers. Now we're seeing a lot
Speaker 1: less of that. We're seeing much more of like unlocked
Speaker 1: devices and devices that you know, carriers put a little
Speaker 1: touch on them, but they don't necessarily change the whole
Speaker 1: like we're not seeing like the droid bionics anymore. Remember
Speaker 1: when droids came out, they were a Verizon exclusive Android,
Speaker 1: and we're now seeing like you know, Samsung especially, it's
Speaker 1: like the the Samsung S twenty one comes out on
Speaker 1: every carrier, it's pretty much the same. There might be
Speaker 1: a couple of little tweaks here and there, but the
Speaker 1: software primarily is different. But for the most part it's
Speaker 1: the same. Maybe a different processor in different regions, but yet,
Speaker 1: I don't know of a way that you can get
Speaker 1: that on Apple ever, but I know that on Android,
Speaker 1: depending on your device, you could get that. But let's see,
Speaker 1: did you specify what you have? Uh no, yeah, you
Speaker 1: said iPhone, So yeah, we don't have that fry.
Speaker 2: But good question.
Speaker 1: And it's one of those little things that's just kind
Speaker 1: of cool to have. You know, if you're ever in
Speaker 1: a place where you didn't have data or no data signal,
Speaker 1: you can still listen to radio, so kind of cool.
Speaker 1: All right, we got just a little bit more time here.
Speaker 1: A couple little quick hits Instagram. You know how you
Speaker 1: see those TikTok videos all over Instagram in reels, Well
Speaker 1: that's going to start changing because Instagram is going to
Speaker 1: start demoting videos that have a watermark, that are covered
Speaker 1: with texts, that are blurry, that have a logo or
Speaker 1: have a border around them, so they're not going to
Speaker 1: be shown as frequently as some of the original content
Speaker 1: that is made inside reels. And this is you know,
Speaker 1: they didn't specifically say TikTok, but they said, you know, blurry,
Speaker 1: have a watermark or logo. And if you look at
Speaker 1: all the TikTok videos, when you download a TikTok video,
Speaker 1: it comes out with the TikTok watermark on it. And
Speaker 1: this was for growth, so that TikTok can grow and
Speaker 1: people know where this video came from. But what happens
Speaker 1: is that a lot of people that are big on
Speaker 1: TikTok or like the creation features because TikTok is really
Speaker 1: like one of the most amazing editing apps out there
Speaker 1: on mobile. I mean, it's really really amazing for short
Speaker 1: form content. They have so many cool features in there.
Speaker 1: So people use that to make the content and then
Speaker 1: they download it or they put on TikTok and then
Speaker 1: they download it and they'll also ship it off to Instagram.
Speaker 1: But you can understand why Instagram doesn't like that because
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, we're not good enough to make original stuff.
Speaker 1: We want to be known for our original content. And
Speaker 1: so that's going to be happening. And just be on
Speaker 1: the lookout for less TikTok videos. If you start seeing
Speaker 1: less TikTok videos and Instagram, you know why on Google Photos.
Speaker 2: This is really cool.
Speaker 1: Google Photos is now applying a lot of their magic
Speaker 1: to videos. So if you have a video you need
Speaker 1: to edit in Google Photos, you can do it. You
Speaker 1: can trim your video, you can stabilize it. This is
Speaker 1: things you've been able to do before. You can always
Speaker 1: trim it, you can always stabilize and always rotate it.
Speaker 1: But now you can crop your video, change the perspective,
Speaker 1: ad filters, and apply edits like brightness, contrast, saturation, and warmth.
Speaker 1: There's thirty controls that you can do on the on
Speaker 1: the Google Photos app.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The new video editing features are already available in Google
Speaker 1: Photos on iOS. I checked, yes they are, and they're
Speaker 1: rolling out to Android users in the next few weeks.
Speaker 2: And let's see.
Speaker 1: I checked on my Android and let's see if it's
Speaker 1: there yet. What's really cool is that these are pretty
Speaker 1: powerful filter features like editing features now I still think, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not here on my Android just yet. But the
Speaker 1: cool thing is that you can export a frame. And
Speaker 1: this is a feature that I've actually needed because a
Speaker 1: lot of times when you need a thumbnail for your video,
Speaker 1: it's kind of a pain to like you get to
Speaker 1: grab a screenshot and then crop it. But with this feature,
Speaker 1: you can just press export frame and boom, You've got
Speaker 1: a nice, great, perfectly perfect exported frame of your video
Speaker 1: that you can use for social media if you want
Speaker 1: to like tweet about your video or something. The other
Speaker 1: thing they're doing is some of the features are just
Speaker 1: exclusive for Google one members, but I'm not gonna get
Speaker 1: into that because that's kind of a little thing. But
Speaker 1: I think that the video editor is really cool. I
Speaker 1: think on Android this is something that's been poorly missing
Speaker 1: on iOS. I don't think it's as necessary because iOS
Speaker 1: has such a good video editor built in. I'm not
Speaker 1: even sure why you'd ever use the Google photosapp one,
Speaker 1: but the photo editors on Android historically have not been
Speaker 1: as good. So I'm really glad that Google is looking
Speaker 1: into making that a lot better.
Speaker 2: Uh oh oh, no, yep, there it is. That's the
Speaker 2: music that signifies that's gonna do it for this episode
Speaker 2: of the show.
Speaker 1: If you would like to submit a question for me
Speaker 1: to answer, you can do it in a few different ways.
Speaker 1: Just go to rich on Tech dot tv scroll all
Speaker 1: the way down and you can see a little email
Speaker 1: button you can press that send me an email. You
Speaker 1: can go to my Facebook page Facebook dot com slash
Speaker 1: rich on tech. There's a big email button there. Or
Speaker 1: you can go to a rich on tech dot tv
Speaker 1: slash podcast and hit the microphone button to leave a voicemail.
Speaker 1: Also would love it if you would rate and review
Speaker 1: this podcast to help other people discover it.
Speaker 2: Just go do iTunes or what do they call it now?
Speaker 2: Just podcasts, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Just go there and and rate and review it. That'll
Speaker 1: be a you know people, I think people look up
Speaker 1: reviews of podcasts.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, do I look at them?
Speaker 2: Let me think.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: If I hear a podcast, I just kind of listen
Speaker 2: to it.
Speaker 1: If I want to fhis a good guest or something
Speaker 1: that's how I kind of or if someone is doing
Speaker 1: the podcast I like, I'll just listen to it.
Speaker 2: But anyway, I think it helps for people to discover us.
Speaker 2: So for me just do it.
Speaker 1: That was not a very good Uh? Was that very
Speaker 1: convincing to actually go and take the time to rate it?
Speaker 1: I know it just I just personally like it. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's the real truth. You can find me at
Speaker 1: rich on Tech on all social media platforms.
Speaker 2: My name is rich dmiro.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. I do appreciate it. Stay safe,
Speaker 1: I will talk to you real soon.
Speaker 2: Take care.