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Speaker 1: Uber wants you to book more than just rides. Now they handle hotel rooms. Motorola goes Hollywood for the launch of its latest foldables. Are you ready for a razor again? What you need to know about the airlines, New rules on lithium batteries, plus your tech questions answered? What's going on on rich dmiro And this is Rich on Tech. This is the show where I talk about the tech stuff I think you should know about. It's also the place where I answer your questions about technology. I believe the tech should be interesting, useful and fun. All right, let's do it. Let's open up those phone lines. Kim, you're ready, triple a rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one eight eight eight rich one oh one. Give me a call if you have a question about technology. Email is also open. Just go to rich on Tech dot tv and hit contact. Give me a call if you have a question or need some tech advice. All right, We've got a couple of great guests this week. Jimmy Doheeney is going to join us from the only website that I used to check for online codes, simply codes. He will talk about how to get the best deals, avoid bad coupon codes, and just be an overall smarter shopper. And then later we've got Jubilee TV CEO Ashish Agarwall. He's gonna explain how his device can make your TV simple to monitor, connect with, and care for aging loved ones at home. Did a story with him for TV a couple months ago, maybe probably a year ago at this point, and it's a very interesting system he's got set up. Well, thanks for joining the show. I'm so happy to be back in this seat chatting with you. Was in New Jersey last week for my brother's wedding, so that was very exciting, lots of fun. I was actually the officiant. I talked all about it in my newsletter this week and this was the thing. So my brother told me, you can write the whole ceremony. I interviewed them, I looked up all the quotes and things like that, but don't use AI to write it. So I really sat there and wrote out the whole thing. You know, I typed it out, but I used a eye to polish just a little bit. But in the end it came out great. It was kind of fun to do that actually, and I didn't feel nervous necessarily, but I really didn't want to mess up their big day, so I was like, all right, they're gonna trust me with this.
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Speaker 2: But it was great.
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Speaker 1: Everything went off without a hitch. And in New Jersey, the weather was not very good last week except for the day of their wedding, and it was perfect. So that was a great start to their wedding. It was such a nice time to see everyone. Beautiful location. New Jersey can sometimes get a bad rap, but you know, there are very beautiful places there, really really beautiful. I mean they called the Garden State for a reason. There is a lot of greenery there. So that was really fun. And now they are vacationing on their honeymoon. So congrats to Justin and Darcy, and thanks for allowing me to be a big part of your ceremony. There. Let's talk about Motorola this week. I was in back in Hollywood for a Motorola event. So you remember back in the day when you had a Motorola phone. We all had them, right, you had the Razor, you had the Star Tac depending on your age, maybe you had that big brick phone. Motorola was it when it came to smartphones back in the day. Now, they did say their razors are the number one flip phone in the world, so worldwide, the Razor is the number one flip phone. So it's still doing well. But now they've got a whole bunch of new flip phones and a new foldable phone to kind of hopefully sell more phones. So they did this big event. You know, typically these these tech launches are at like a corporate campus or some sort of event center. They did THEIRS at a Hollywood studio. They did a carpet like, it wasn't a red carpet, it was a blue carpet, and they did a fashion show. So I didn't really know what to expect. But we get in there and all of a sudden, the lights go down, the music starts pumping, and all these I don't know if they're actors and fashion models. They started walking out with the phones just like a runway show. And it was kind of silly, but I was like, I mean, how could you not smile? So they were all using the flip phone and it was really it actually worked. Paris Hilton was there and it's funny. Just give you a little perspective. The last time I was at an event with Paris Hilton, was a BlackBerry event in Hollywood, So this was probably going on, I don't know, sixteen fifteen years ago at this point. So anyway, but now she's with Motorola and she's been at a bunch of Motorol events, so that's been ongoing. But they launched four foldable phones, okay, three flip style razors, and then that book style fold Okay, So the flip raisers are all about style. So they come in a whole bunch of different colors, right, and they've got a little screen on the outside, four inch outer screen, seven inch inner screen, and keep in mind this flips open like the old razor, except it's all screen now, no buttons, right, and all these colors. So they've got a blue color, orient blue. They've got a cocoa which is a darker wood inspired look. They've got a mountain view green. They've got a bright white with almost like a diamond finished. They've got a violet ice, hematite, metallic gray, and sporting green. So you can see what they're doing here. And they had all these colors on display. Pantone, they had all these on display, so they're really kind of positioning these as a fashion accessory, trying to get away from the boring black phones that everyone has. Maybe something that shows off your personality a little bit more. So those are the razor flips. Now you've got the razor fold. This is their book style. This is kind of the answer to the Galaxy Z fold. Also the pixel fold. So you open this one like a book and it opens up to an eight point one inch screen inside. And they've got the largest battery on a foldable, six thousand millionamp hours, sixteen gigabytes a RAM, which is good. And I snapdrag and trip, so the specter really good on this.
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Speaker 2: Now.
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Speaker 1: The price is also really high, nineteen hundred dollars, and I would say I love the feel of this phone. They did not give me any review units, so I don't have any samples. But I will tell you I love the software on Motorola phones because it is very clean, and that is a great thing when it comes to Android. You know, Samsung, they're fine, but they Samsung really makes the software their own. With Motorola, it's much closer to stock Android, which I personally just really like. And so I think the big question here is are the cameras good on these phones, and I'd need some testing to figure that out. But they're also fun, and they also have some interesting features built in. Like they've got this chop feature, like you karate chop kind of like I don't know, you just chop the phone twice. That'll turn on the flashlight. You can twist the phone to open the camera, give it another twist and that will flip it to selfie mode. And then they've got a cam quarter mode where you can kind of half fold the phone and hold like a camquarder, and then you can twist it left and right and that will zoom in the camera. But they're also stealing kind of one of Samsung's features that horizon locks, so that even though you're twisting the camera, the level stays the same, it just zooms in. So that's kind of neat. Where do these phones not hold up? From what I'm reading the software updates, so a lot of these manufacturers, now, the Samsungs of the world, the Googles of the world, they're giving you seven years of updates. Apple about six years, So these only get about three years of major Android operating system updates and five years of security updates, so a little lag there. So who are these four? I mean, I think it's for anyone who wants something that's a little bit different, right, Like, maybe you don't want a Samsung, maybe you don't want a Pixel, maybe you don't want the iPhone. I will say, I think it's gonna be tough for people to give up their iPhone to switch. At this point, you know that Apple ecosystem is so tight. You've got your photos in there, you've got your messages in there, you've got to iCloud, you've got find my, You've got all your family members' locations in there. You've got air tags, you've got iPads and MacBooks that all sink. So Apple did this for a reason. They made such a tight ecosystem because they know the more you get in, the more the longer you're using an iPhone and all of Apple products, the tougher it's going to be to get out. And that's why I always talk about third party independent software apps and programs because I don't want to be locked in, because I know it's tough to get out. And I talk to people. Of people I talked to, they say that phone's pretty cool, but there's no way, I'm getting out of that Apple ecosystem. And Apple knows that their software and services keeps growing and growing and growing. They're just making money on people having these devices, paying into iCloud, paying into Apple Music, paying into you know, all these other services, Apple TV Plus, and then they bundle them Apple Fitness.
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Speaker 2: I mean, think.
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Speaker 1: About all the things they do, and ninety nine percent of it only runs on an iPhone. Apple TV Plus is one of the main exceptions. You can get that pretty much across all different platforms. But these are also leaning into nostalgia. Like I said, one of my first phones was the Star Tak, that bulky battery that pull out antenna. My mom and my sisters love their razors, the really thin phones. They had them in pink. I think my mom's was silver. And my favorite phone before the iPhone was the Moto Q, which was Motorola's take on a smartphone and the competition to the BlackBerry. So we'll see, maybe people that are Android will switch over. I would like to get some at least the flip or the foldable into review to check it out because, like I said, I do really like the software, but will the razor make a comeback.
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Speaker 2: We will see.
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Speaker 1: Did I mention pricing? They start at eight hundred dollars. I would say the top of the line flip is about fifteen hundred dollars and then the foldable like that that fold book style. You're talking nineteen hundred dollars. So not cheap, that's for sure.
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Speaker 2: All right.
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Speaker 1: I'll put up more information on the website rich on tech dot tv. If you want to see my video coverage from the event that Rolla held in Hollywood, you can go to my Instagram at rich on Tech. All right, we're just getting started here. We've got so much to talk about on the show. I've got so many handy apps for you. We've got great guests, all the news of the week, plus your phone calls at triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. You are doing something smart. You are listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Simiro here hanging out with you talking technology. Triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. I mentioned I was at my brother's wedding, so I rented a car. I don't know why my rental car luck is so bad right now. But uh, anyway, I returned my car, and I'm not kidding. It was so like chaotic at the airport that someone just jumped into the car and took it and drove off with it. And like I'm assuming it was like an employee of the rental car place, but I realized, like most of the time they kind of talk to you and they check you out and they scan the little code whatever, but this guy just jumped into the car and drove it off. And I was like afterwards, you know, we started walking to the airport. I was like, wait a second, what if that car was just stolen, Like what a scam that would be, where like someone just literally hangs out at the exits where you return these rental cars and just drives them off. But I guess maybe I don't know anyway, maybe the facility is or security you can't really get out. But anyway, so I was freaking out because usually when I rent a car, you get an email receipt right to your email like instantly, right with like Hertz and Avis. Well this time I didn't, and I was like, oh my gosh, I bet you this car was stolen. So I'm gonna be on the hook for this. And it was a big car like I rented, like the biggest cars. We had my in laws with me, So I was like, I'm gonna be on the hook for this one hundred thousand dollars car. It was like a giant Ford expedition, like Max or something. Long story short. Two days later, I get a receipt in the mail or the email. I was like, Oh, it was just one of those moments where I was like, that would be the perfect scam. But now that I think about it, I think to get out of those rental car facilities, you do have to go through like a big barricade.
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Speaker 2: Now I know why.
00:12:05
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Bill Line too, Bill in Los Angeles. What's up, Hello, Billy.
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Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I'm here. Every once in a while, I got a message on my phone. I got viruses on my phone, and I wondering, what's the best site we're getting rid of those viruses.
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Speaker 1: On the iPhone? Yeah, okay, Well, the good news is there are no viruses on the iPhone. So what you're seeing as a complete scam. Those are notification pop ups, and they could be coming from a variety of places, and a lot of the times they're coming from websites that you're visiting. They could be coming from apps that you've installed, and they could be coming from those are the two main places on an iPhone, so they're usually it's it's usually just bogus notifications. So what I would do is for you, there's no you don't have an you don't have a virus on your phone. I can tell you that unless you are sideloading an app on the iPhone somehow, which would be nearly impossible unless you are an expert in the iPhone. I'm not even sure how to do that. But unless you've jail broken the phone, which I don't think you have, but that is the only way you would actually have a virus. So I think you're probably fine. And what I would do if I were you, I would go into your web browser. And I'm guessing you Safari, so I would go in there and I would clear everything so it says clear history and website data, and I would clear everything there and that will help get rid of all of those pop ups. Because what's happening is it sounds like some of these websites are sending you notifications because you've either agreed to that or you are they're in the background on your phone or something like that.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: So that's number one.
00:14:09
Speaker 1: Number two, you probably want to block your pop ups, so go into your settings on your iPhones. You go Settings, Apps and then Safari and then scroll down. You can see all the options in there, so block pop ups.
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Speaker 2: That's what I do. Number one.
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Speaker 1: Number two, I would do, let's see where is it privacy and security, make sure all those things are turned on, and then I would also do the clear history and website data. And once you do that, that should really get rid of a bunch of that stuff. And I'm looking if there's anything else that you need to do in there. Yeah, I think that should be fine. Now, if you're using Chrome, you can go into Chrome and Chrome Settings and do the same thing. So the notifications. If an app is sending you notifications like that, I would go through your list of apps and delete any apps that you do not need or recognize, and then I would do the software updates on your phone and I'll restart your phone. But that's really what it comes down to, Bill, is that these these apps and websites are just spamming you. They're not you're you know, anytime you see those big pop ups that say warning you have a virus on your iPhone, and it's like a countdown, it's flashing screen. That's all nonsense. Happens on Windows, happens on Android. And it really comes down to these bad guys just sit there and figure out ways of tricking us, and so they take things that we know and love. Notifications are great, you know, websites actually have a reason to send you notification sometimes, but they they reverse engineer and they figure out, like how can I use this in a nefarious way, and that's what they do. They scare you. I've seen people they send me screenshots of their computer. The whole notifications are all filled with your virus, this that you need to update, you got to get more cloud storage.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: It's all a joke.
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Speaker 1: There is one app if you want to verify that your iPhone is secure. It's called I Verify Basic, and they do charge ninety nine cents, but it's the only app I know of that can actually look for kind of spyware and stuff. You have to understand the way that the iPhone operating system is created. Everything is sandboxed, which means nothing can kind of look and snoop into other places that isn't just for that app or that you've allowed for Apple. Like you know how when you open up an app and says, hey, can we have access to your photo library? Yes, it does that for a reason. It's to protect you. You're saying, okay, fine, you can look at my photos. Otherwise an app can't look at your photos. Hey, can we have access to your contacts? They can't just look at your contacts without you saying yes, hey, can we have access to your camera? Can we have access to your microphone? And by the way, you can rescind all of this stuff. If you don't want an app to have access to those things, you can go into your settings and change that stuff. So if you go into your settings on the iPhone and there's a privacy there's an entire section for privacy, privacy and security. Just look through there. You can see it has access to your calendar, contacts, your files, your health stuff. It's always a good idea to just look through there, especially location. A lot of these apps do not need access to this stuff. Same thing on Android, so you are in control and yes, anytime you're using an online service, or an app. There's of some information and some data about you that's flowing outwards to that app, but you should be in control of how much of that information is flowing out. Great question, Bill, Thanks for the call today. Eight eight eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four two four one zero one. Give me a call if you have a question or need some tech advice. The website is rich on tech dot TV. Back after this, Welcome back to rich on Tech. Kathy and Chicago Rights and Hey, Rich, do you use a to do app on Android? The one I love isn't cloud based, so every time I get a new phone, I have to retype everything, which is a pain. I've tried Google's app, but I don't like it, and I can't seem to find one that works for me. My whole life is in my to do list, so I figured I would ask Kathy. I've tried all of them, every single one of them, and I think that, like, if you look at the most popular, which is probably like to doist, I would say that's probably up there with some of the best Google tasks. I understand you don't like, but that one's simple because it integrates with Gemini and also Gmail. But the one that I go back to and I personally use over and over is Microsoft to Do. And the reason I like Microsoft to Do is because it is free, it's fully featured, it is cross platform, which means it works on both iPhone, Android, Mac PC, and it has my absolute favorite feature that I think you'll enjoy as well, and that is it starts every day fresh, so you decide what's on your to do list for that day.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: What does that mean.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: It means that instead of just having a list right now, I have a list to forty nine to doce I can see that list, but my day has one to do that's today, That's the thing I have to accomplish today. And yes, you can set recurring tasks can I love the sound it makes when you click the task to be done with it. I love the lists you can make, But my favorite thing is how you can add stuff to your day, so every day is a fresh, blank slate. And the reason why that's handy is because sometimes you don't want all of your tasks in front of your face every day. You just want the things that you need to accomplish that day. So when I get up, I kind of write the things I need to do that day, and then I look at the other tasks and you can just easily carry them over by right clicking and says add to my day. And so this is a very simple task system, but it's also very full featured at the same time. And you can also get it to integrate if you're using the iPhone with Siri, so you can set the Microsoft to Do app as your defaults where your tasks will go. When you say, hey, Siri, set a task for this, or set a reminder for this, you can instead of it going to the default reminders app on the iPhone, you can set it for the Microsoft to Do list. So anyway, it's called Microsoft to Do. I know it's not the sexiest dancer in the world, but it works and I go back to it. And believe me, I've tested every single to do app in the world. There's not one that I have not tested. There's one called twos that I really like. That one's I mean, there's every one of them. There's not one that I have not tested. I'm trying to think of a tick tick or whatever it's called. That one I've tried. There's just so many. But you know, but again, This is very personal, so whatever works for you is the best.
00:20:36
Speaker 2: But that's what I use.
00:20:36
Speaker 1: Thanks for the email. Today, let's go to Dennis and Marina del Rey.
00:20:42
Speaker 2: Dennis, what's up, hey, Rich?
00:20:44
Speaker 4: First of all, I really enjoy your program, and any of your sponsors that I visit, I let them know that I've heard it on the KFI radio.
00:20:52
Speaker 2: Oh well, excellent, Well thank you for that.
00:20:55
Speaker 4: Anyway, occasionally here in Marina del Ray we have power outages and it happens in the evening and all of the powers out I want to be able to listen to iHeartMedia on my phone. But the problem is if I drain my phone battery down. I do have a heart condition, so if I needed to call medical attention, you know, my phone would be totally drained down. Now, I have some lithium batteries, you know, back up one of those the rectangular things. But the problem is with that you have to recharge it from time to time, and usually when I go and grab it, it's discharged. So what I would like is a battery backup that's double A batteries because I've probably cut one hundred double A batteries. So is there such a thing or is the power drained so much that the batteries wouldn't handle it?
00:21:42
Speaker 1: Ooh, that I don't think. I mean, I'm sure those exist, but I would not recommend it. I don't think it's the best solution. So Number one, you're going to be burning through a lot of batteries. That's number one. Number Two, the amount of power that your phone needs to stay powered is probably just out run these batteries.
00:22:02
Speaker 2: And so I'm.
00:22:03
Speaker 1: Curious, why are these things? I Okay, there's a couple of solutions for you, Dennis, which I think are going to be way better. Number One, if this is happening quite often, I would recommend a larger like a portable power station. Have you heard of those?
00:22:17
Speaker 4: Right now? It doesn't happen that often. It happens in every couple of months.
00:22:21
Speaker 2: Okay, But but to be prepared.
00:22:23
Speaker 1: But I agree, I mean, in Los Angeles, you know the power now.
00:22:27
Speaker 2: It's funny.
00:22:28
Speaker 1: When I first moved into my home, we had some significant power outages, and I'll I'm knock on wood, they've we've not had one in a while. But I do, I am prepared with all this stuff, and I do think about all this stuff. So I would recommend getting a portable power station. And so the brand I like Eco Flow. They've got some great ones on their website. And these are giant, So we're talking not giant, We're like they're too big. But it's like we're talking. You know, one of those little portable battery packs that you have, you know may last for like two charges of your phone. This is going to last for way more than that. And this also, so we're talking, you can get one. I'm looking at this one for three hundred and forty nine dollars, which is incredible, and I'm looking at the and this, by the way, has a real plug as well, so if you want to plug in something that's not USB, you can and it's got all the connections. So it's got up to twelve hours of home battery backup. That means so it's nine hundred and sixty wat hour capacity, So that's that's a huge capacity, right, And that's three hundred and fifty bucks, which is not that bad. And then you can also add solar, so if you want a solar panel, you can add that to it, and so that means you're going to be capturing the sun and this thing could be charged theoretically forever, but it's a great I think it's a great thing for everyone to have in their home if you live in an area where you've even experienced one power out, because we're so dependent on our phones and with something like this, you can really have a lot of power. Now, I'm trying to think, so if we do nine hundred and sixty kill a, what our capacity in terms of MAH. I'm trying to see if I can convert this into MILLIONMP hours? Okay, so that's about that's about three hundred million amp three hundred thousand million hours, so that would be oh my gosh, that would be thirty of those little portable power banks you would have at ten thousand million powers. I know this is getting very complicated, but my point is it's like thirty times the backup and these things, by the way, when you charge them. I talked to a company about this. I said, how you know, like how much charge should you be losing on these things? And they said, it's only a couple of percentages every month, are every six months, so I would I would check on these things every six months. So what you do is you power it up in a good time, you know, when you have power, put it in your closet, and then when the power goes out, you pull this thing out. You could plug in a light. They've got a picture of a guy plugging his refrigerator right here. Refrigerator right there. But that's what I would recommend. The battery backup. I'm sure if I searched Amazon, you might be able to find one, probably Energize or makes it or something like that portable. I'm gonna see if I can find one portable charger powered by double A batteries. Let's just say curious if they even make these things.
00:25:17
Speaker 2: They do.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: They've got a couple brands. I mean, I guess as an emergency it's seven bucks. I mean, Dennis, I like how you call in. I'm like, all right, here's your three hundred and fifty dollars solution. Your solution is like six dollars and fifty cents. So look, if it makes you feel better, sure go with it. I just think that having one of these portable battery backup backups is just going to be infinitely better, and they shouldn't lose, they shouldn't be dead when you go to use it again. The other brand that is very much into solar is Goal zero. They make a lot of these solar battery banks and all kinds of stuff solar oriented. My only trouble with those is you have to remember solar is going to be very slow to recharge these. So it's good over time and long term, but you know in the short term, the battery that's on it is going to be a lot better. Jackerie is also a brand that makes these portable power stations. You can check out Eco Flow Jackerie. But I think that every home should have one of these. Like I've got mine at the ready, all the time, ready to go. It's I check on it, make sure it's charged up. If there's ever any sort of inclement weather like we have wind, we have rain, whatever it is, I'm going to pull this thing out and have it ready to go just in case because we have And by the way, charge your phone too. There's so many people I know they wake up and their phone is like, you know, their phone is on five percent.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: Don't do that. Don't do that. That's not not what you want to do. I'm just still laughing. And it's only three hundred and fifty bucks.
00:26:47
Speaker 5: Oh you can fix it.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: For six bucks.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be as good in a similar shake, and I do believe me. I take this stuff into into consideration. Thanks for the call, Dennis, really appreciate it. Speaking of emails, I got an email from a listener her name Wendy in New York.
00:27:01
Speaker 2: She listens over there.
00:27:02
Speaker 1: She said she was hearing me talk about in Cogny, so she signed up with my code and get this, she had over four hundred data brokers that they already removed her data from four hundred brokers, her personal info. That's why I recommend in cogny. Most people don't realize that your personal data is constantly being collected, packaged, sold, and that's how you end up with spam, scam calls, even targeted phishing emails. Your stuff is out there, it's easy to find. Wendy said that while she was listening to the show, she got a suspicious email that looked legitimate. Turns out it was a hacked account. Luckily she knew to double check before clicking anything thanks to listening to this. That's the kind of edge you want in Cognate works behind the scenes to request removal of your data from hundreds of these broker sites, and they keep following up so it stays off those sites. So take your personal data back within Cognate. It's spelled i n Cogni get sixty percent off their regular price when you use my name rich At in cognate dot com slash rich. That's sixty percent off when you use my name rich At in Cogni dot com slash rich once more in Cogni dot com slash rich. You'll be glad you signed up. Eight eight eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. Coming up, I'll tell you how Uber now let you book hotel rooms and why it could save you some money, plus more of your calls, your emails, and much more right here on rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology. Triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. New feature on Uber this week. You can now book hotel rooms directly inside the Uber app, so no need to jump to a third party site. They're working with Expedia, so they've got access to all the hotel rooms everywhere. Seven hundred thousand worldwide. Verbo vacation rentals are coming next. The idea here is that Uber, like a lot of apps, they want to be your one stop shop. They don't want you to just book a car. They want you to do everything that has to do with travel and getting around. And so now there's a new hotels tab you can filter by price, ratings, amenities, and book using the credit card that's already any information that's already stored in your Uber account. And that's another big benefit of these apps because they have your information. You already trust Uber with your card now and your information now it's easy. You don't have to sign up for anything else. So here is the part that gets really interesting if you're an Uber because I would not think to do this generally, but if you're an Uber one member, they've got a rolling list of about ten thousand hotels that are going to be up to twenty percent off. That's huge. And some of the websites, all you know, the blog websites, they already looked like the points guy and stuff, and they compared a bunch of prices and they did find that the prices you get on Uber are cheaper than what you could typically get at that hotel. The trick is you have to be an Uber one member. That membership is generally about one hundred dollars a year. But I would not pay full price for that because I've gotten it for the past couple years discounted. Sometimes on Black Friday they run a deal. Sometimes they just run an offer inside the app. If you are open Table Gold, you can get six months free of that. So there's a lot of ways to save on that. Uber one membership should just be on the lookout for that. But here's the other interesting part. Not only do you get up to twenty percent off these hotels, but then you get ten percent back in Uber credits. So that's where it can get really interesting. I know, when I travel for business, two nights at a hotel could be seven eight hundred dollars, So getting ten percent back, you're talking eighty dollars back in Uber credits, and that would go to me. So even though you're using your company's you know, your company's card to maybe pay for the hotel, you get back those credits. So that's very interesting for someone that's booking a lot of hotel rooms. Now, now here's the thing. The downside to this is that if you book through Uber you're probably not gonna get your hotel loyalty perks or points, especially from some of those big chains like Hilton or Marriott. They want you to book direct, and so you do have to kind of weigh the advantage of getting that credit versus what you might get for your perks. Now, I don't know if that's always true because I mostly booked direct, but you know, that's typically how it works. Let's see anything else that's interesting there. No, I think that's just it hasn't showed up on my app just yet on my Uber app. But I'm looking forward to seeing how this works because a lot of times, if I'm booking for work, I don't need all the perks from you know, my status at whatever hotel chain, and usually the status doesn't get you much anyway, and the points are like okay, whatever. So I think that's a really could be a big win for a lot of people. So check it out inside Uber. Now you can book hotels.
00:31:53
Speaker 2: Let's go too.
00:31:56
Speaker 1: Chime in Sherman Oaks eighty to eight Rich one oh one eighty eight one zero one chime You're on with.
00:32:03
Speaker 6: Rich, wonderful second time caller, Hi Rich, Hi. Before I get to my main topic. I just want to let you know that when I visit your site in a Linux text browser, I get a five twenty two er or something about cloudslayer or Something' is like, oh wow, yeah, I know some of us who are blind like to use Linux or you know, text browsers like links l y n X.
00:32:28
Speaker 2: Okay, interesting, I'll look into that.
00:32:30
Speaker 6: The The other thing is that back on October twenty eighth, CNN launched a subscription service, which luckily I get authenticated through direct TV. That is the issue. The issue is that no matter which connect the TV, Google, you know, Streamer, Roku, Amazon, Fire, none of them have accessibility on this particular app. I tried everything I could think up to contact CNN or developers or somebody, phone numbers listed on their website. Nothing. And I don't really feel like waiting till Paramount acquires them for them to change it later this year.
00:33:11
Speaker 1: It's probably not going to get better. So what are you trying to get? What type of feature are you looking for?
00:33:18
Speaker 6: Okay? So, like, for example, on the Roku, when I launched the app, the Roku screen reader, which is actually pretty bad actually, but I mean it does work. It says launching CNN and it says nothing else. Nothing. You can't you try, You go up and down with the arrows, whatever, you hear nothing. The only thing if you're lucky enough to land on one of the feeds of CNN or CNN International or whatever, it will start playing. But you get no navigation.
00:33:50
Speaker 1: Right, So even though you're moving the whatever the pointer on the screen, it's not reading you what those buttons do exactly.
00:33:58
Speaker 6: And that's on all three, you know, Amazon, Google and the Roco. It's the same thing. And I've tried. I called Amazon and they said, oh, we don't know who the developer is.
00:34:09
Speaker 1: They don't know. I just looked it up. I've got it right here. It's uh, you've got I mean, there's someone contacting. There's an email for closed captioning. I tried that, okay, the IP closed cap.
00:34:21
Speaker 6: I tried calling the phone number listed on there, Uh, with a Cathy somebody or who's the contact? That number is always.
00:34:30
Speaker 2: Busy, always busy.
00:34:32
Speaker 1: Okay, Well this should be a So here's the deal. I talked to Amazon a couple of weeks ago at the Season Assistive Tech Conference, so I do know that they do have people at work on this, But you're right, it's like this has to be that something that the app developer codes in so that it works with the accessibility features built into these streaming services or these you know, these platforms. So that's the problem. And it sounds like, and I'll be completely honest, I think because they're in the process of being acquired, that's is that my understanding that their CNN is part of what they're going to become part of Paramount?
00:35:05
Speaker 6: Well maybe, okay.
00:35:07
Speaker 2: I mean I'm not I'm not up on that one.
00:35:09
Speaker 6: I mean, even before when CNN had a streaming thing called CNN Plus, it was the same thing, it's the same platform.
00:35:18
Speaker 2: Interesting it didn't work.
00:35:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I mean I've tried looking for to contact CNN announcers you know that. I thought, well, maybe they could pass it along or something. You can't And of course I don't have social media and Linux, uh you know, in a command line set up, so it's you know, I don't know what would happen if I had a graphical if I could reach out to somebody.
00:35:40
Speaker 1: Well, that's that is frustrating, I would say. The only I mean, so tell me about an app that works. Well, I've got less than a minute, tell me about an app that works well. And I guess just the idea is that just getting this out there, maybe we'll hear from someone.
00:35:52
Speaker 6: That says, yeah, I'm just trying to think. I mean, al Jazeera works fine. I watched their news. I don't always agree with their content, you know, but I like what they do a TRT world, I mean.
00:36:05
Speaker 1: Okay, so there are apps that actually do this right as.
00:36:08
Speaker 6: Well, Oh yeah, definitely, but there are also ones that do it wrong.
00:36:12
Speaker 1: And these people, you know, these app developers, I understand that they're doing a lot, and there's a lot of different platforms out there, but they may not realize just how important these features are to someone like you, Chime. And so I do know that from talking to some of these companies there is much more emphasis on this sort of thing these days than there ever was. So I think that's a good thing. Hopefully someone from this app will hear this and get things fixed. Thanks for the call today, Chime more rich on Tech. Right after this, welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology ad eight a rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four two four one zero one got.
00:36:55
Speaker 2: Lots to talk about on the show.
00:36:57
Speaker 1: We'll take some of your calls, some of your emails, talk about the tech news of the week. Got a list of so many things. Every week. We're gonna talk about the new airline battery rules. Do you see that Spirit Airlines no more?
00:37:12
Speaker 4: No more.
00:37:12
Speaker 1: Spirit Airlines just gone. They canceled all their flights. I mean, so many people probably impacted, just scrambling, you know, because of that.
00:37:22
Speaker 2: So not fun when that happens.
00:37:24
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of all the airlines that have gone out of business since I've been around. There's been a lot over the years, but that one was kind of a quick one. It was just like overnight, boom, We're done. We're canceling our flights. So if you do have I'm not just complaining here about that. If you do have a ticket on Spirit, some information to know other airlines. So first off, if you booked a ticket direct, you're gonna be getting an automatic refund from Spirit, So hopefully that will happen automatically. If you book through a third party like Expedia or something like that, you will have to contact them to get your refund. But the other airlines are kind of helping, pitching into help. I don't know how much help that's going to be, but United is giving is offering stranded Spirit passengers price capped replacement flights mostly two hundred dollars up to three hundred dollars for two weeks within with proof of booking. American similar offering rescue fares on overlapping Spirit routes and putting bigger planes and adding flights where possible. Delta reduced non refundable rescue fares for five days across Spirit markets. Let's see Southwest Airport only, so you got to go to the airport to get these. That's interesting. Airport Only discounted fares about two hundred and four hundred dollars based on distance through May sixth, on overlapping routes, plus the status match for Spirit Elite. Spirit had an Elite program. You could be Spirit Elite.
00:38:54
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:38:55
Speaker 1: I know they had those big front seats. I booked my Data Spirit flight and he missed it. He actually missed his flight.
00:39:02
Speaker 2: Yes, there are.
00:39:03
Speaker 1: Still people I missed flights. I said, Dad, I booked you like the big front seat. He's like, well, we were not in that because we missed our flight. Thanks Jet blue ninety nine dollars, rescue fares for stranded Spirit passengers with caps up to two ninety nine, expanding flights, and key markets like Fort Lauderdale. So that's on my Facebook page, Facebook dot com, slash rich on tech. Let's go to Bill and Little Rock.
00:39:28
Speaker 6: Bill.
00:39:28
Speaker 1: I hope you didn't have a Spirit flight plan, did you?
00:39:34
Speaker 7: No?
00:39:35
Speaker 2: Okay, well you're good. Then what can I help you?
00:39:38
Speaker 7: With?
00:39:41
Speaker 3: Text messages? When you open them up and it's got that blue linked to it. Okay, so as long as you don't press on that link, you're good. As far as spam.
00:39:59
Speaker 1: And yes, typically yeah, typically, yes, you're talking iPhone, I'm guessing.
00:40:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
00:40:06
Speaker 1: So the iPhone, if it suspects that the message is spammy or scammy, it will not that the link will actually not highlight and blue. So you have a little bit of protection there that is not fool proof. Don't email, don't send me the angry emails, not you, Bill, but the rest. You know, it's not foolproof. But if if Apple determines that it's a spammy message, it does not highlight the link in blue. So that's one little line of defense. And also, you know, you have to remember the way the iPhone is architected, the there's not really Now this is going to get a little bit technical, but so actually the main way that people get into the iPhone like and hack it is through text messages. Historically it's because they find some sort of exploit and they figure out a way to send you a message and you click the link and it installs something on your phone.
00:40:58
Speaker 2: So but that is.
00:41:00
Speaker 1: Very very very rare, like very very rare for most people. You're gonna be just fine, now, I would say, just the thing to be worried about is really when you click those links if it's a phishing website, And in that case, you don't really unless you're using the Chrome web browser. Safari does a little bit, but Chrome does a really good job at scanning those links and making sure that they're not gonna get you into a phishing situation. I'm just looking to see if there's any options inside messages. Let me just go into the settings here, let's see screen text message filter, so you can. Yeah, So I would just say in general, you're you're probably gonna be fine, Like, just them sending you that message is not going to like hack you most ninety nine point nine nine percent of the time, and so that's it. So are you getting a lot of what do you get? You're getting like a lot of spam messages or what bill?
00:41:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, I get a lot of crap on it, and some of them are legitimate, and I'll open up the message, but I don't click on that blue highlighted link right now.
00:42:12
Speaker 1: Do you have to spam filter turned on for the messages or no?
00:42:16
Speaker 3: No, I don't know how the phone works.
00:42:20
Speaker 1: Well, there is if you go into your settings on the iPhone, you go into settings, you scroll all the way down to the bottom. They'll make these easier to find. You tap apps, and then you scroll all the way to the middle to the MS where it says messages. You can find the settings for messages and you can look in there and it will tell you it will there's a toggle for text message filter. You can turn that on, and then there's filter spam, and so that will cut down on a lot of those spam messages that you get. But again, if Apple determines that it's spam, Like I'm looking at a message right now that's from Amazon, and yes, I can tap the blue link, but if I look at a message that it has decided is spam. The link is not in blue. You actually and this is why this is another thing to be on the lookout for. This is why spammers have gotten and scammers have gotten very sophisticated. They say, please reply why to activate this message? And so when you interact with a message, all of a sudden, the links turn blue on an iPhone And the reason for that is because they say, Okay, well, now you've determined that this is something you want to interact with. Now we're going to activate those links. But again, just activating those links is not really going to harm you. It's more what you do with that link. And so that's when you have to be on guard, is when you click that link if it's from your bank or anything like that. You know, banks and stuff usually don't send links because they know that these scammers are doing the same thing, so they try to. It's it's just very tricky. You just have to really look at all the signals from the message and that's the return center, how it's come in the messaging everything. Like one of these messes in my spam is actually for my rental car and it went to the spam filter. But I can tell to a legitimate message and it's not necessarily a spam message. So that's what's to look out for. Bill, Thanks for the call today, appreciate it. Eight eight eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one.
00:44:21
Speaker 2: I'm gonna see if I have a oh.
00:44:23
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna mention this for my my LA listeners. This is a big deal in la uh. Fubo, you know the streaming service Fubo. They now have Sportsnet LA so you can stream the Dodgers without cable. This is a brand new option. Fubo has added Spectrum sportsnet La.
00:44:43
Speaker 7: Uh.
00:44:43
Speaker 1: This is the channel that carries most Dodgers games and this is brand new for the twenty twenty six season. Why is this a big deal? You know, if you watch sports, they all have their own channels now, and they're usually exclusive to some sort of carrier or platform because you know, they make money on this stuff. So Sports Net LA has been one of the hardest channels to get because it's been locked behind traditional cable, mostly Spectrum, and then they kind of open it up.
00:45:10
Speaker 2: They've got it.
00:45:11
Speaker 1: I think it's on Direct TV as well. But with this deal now Fubo now streams local Dodgers games over one hundred and forty regular games, plus pre show and postgame shows only in the Southern California market, So if you live outside Southern California, you're not going to get this. You don't have access. This doesn't mean every single Dodgers game. Some are still national broadcasts that are on like ESPN, Fox or Apple TV.
00:45:35
Speaker 2: Plus.
00:45:35
Speaker 1: I know it's so confusing for sports now. It really really is. You have to figure out where it's playing and if you have access to where it's playing. But Fubo base plan this is Remember this is like full on cable, so you're getting like two hundred channels, not just this Sportsnet seventy three dollars a month, seventy four dollars a month. The first month is about fifty dollars. But I got an email. Let's see, I got I got a fine. Where that email came in from Fubo I mentioned, let's see where is it here?
00:46:12
Speaker 2: Dave.
00:46:12
Speaker 1: Dave wrote me, I want to thank you for your information on Fubo now being able to broadcast the Dodgers. You basically saved me one hundred and fifty dollars a month because of this information. So he probably had some big old package from either Direct TV or Spectrum that was paying a ton of money for now he could pay. You know, it's still expensive seventy four dollars a month, but you're getting all your cable included and DVR and all that stuff, and you know you can cut the cord. You still need the Internet. People realize, you know, if you're trying to cut the cord and get rid of your cable package, keep in mind you probably need to keep that Internet. You need Internet to access Netflix, Paramount Plus, YouTube TV, Fubo, all these streaming services. You have to have a base internet to get them. It doesn't just magically appear on your Fire TV stick or your Roku or your Apple TV. You need a way to get that programming, and that is the cable and the cable companies know this, which is why they charge a lot for cable. I think I'm up to every month, it just keeps going up. I think I'm up to one hundred and five dollars a month now for my Internet. I love it. It's good, but it's expensive. And by the way, when I first started it was probably I don't know sixty bucks a month. I mean, it just keeps going up. But I know I get it. We all need it, and that's where we're getting our stuff. From eight to eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. If you're on the website, it's richon Tech dot tv. I've got all the show notes there. Be sure to check out my newsletter subscribe to the podcast so you can listen to this show on demand. Coming up, we'll take more of your calls and i'll talk those airline battery rules so you know what you can bring on and what you can't.
00:47:48
Speaker 2: Coming up right here on rich on Tech.
00:47:56
Speaker 1: Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking tech Triple eight rich one on one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. You might have heard that airlines are tightening their rules on portable chargers known as power banks, you know, those little portable batteries. So here's what you need to know. I get a lot of questions about this. People say, Rich what can I bring on board? What can I pack in my carry on? You know they say no lithium ion batteries. Does that mean I can't have an air tag in my luggage. No, that's not what that means. They're really looking for in your in your checked baggage. They don't want loose lithium ion batteries, and that includes the portable batteries. But that's really what they're looking for. And so I would just be upfront with the person when you're checking in your luggage to say, here's what I have if you're questioning it, right, like, don't just throw stuff in there and say no, I have no no battery in there. Like if you do tell them, most of the time it's fine. I've I travel with so many gadgets and I've never had a problem. But the big change when it comes to portable chargers for your carry ons is that most airlines are limiting you Okay, most of them are limiting you to just two of those portable chargers and they have to be one hundred WAT hours or less. And that's a little confusing because most of the chargers are rated in millionamp hours, so you have to do the conversion and so one hundred what hours, let's see, one hundred WA hours to millionamp hours is gonna be about maybe yeah, well, see this is the problem. It's all about the voltage. But you're gonna be fine if you have a standard power bank that's about twenty thousand million hours, which is what i'd recommend for you know, travel, you're gonna be fine. So if you have one of those standard power banks, you're gonna be no problem. The other thing is that they want you to keep them visible and within reach at all times, so they don't want you to put these in the overhead bins anymore. And they also don't want you to recharge your portable charger on the plane, so even if you could plug it in, they don't want you to do that. Why it's because every single person has one of these now on the plane, and when you have that many people with them, there's bound to be an issue. And you know, it could be a fire, could be you know, you drop them, could be short circuiting. A lot of these things are cheap, people buy off brands. They're not perfect, so you just have to be very aware of these rules. Bottom line, make sure if you have one of these portable batteries brant in your carry on, keep it within reach, make sure it's not you know, over the size limit. Don't recharge it on the plane. A twenty thousand million. Our battery bank is just fine. And all the rules. I kind of went through all the different airlines. They really spell out their rules. American is the strictest. They have that new policy that just started. They're the strictest. Southwest is pretty strict. Yeah, I mean they're all. They all are slightly different, but I linked them all up on my website Rich on tech dot tv. I'll put that in the show notes so you can see exactly what you need to know. But yes, an air tag, some sort of portable tracker in your luggage. Just find no problem there. Let's go too, Barbara Line too, you're on with Rich.
00:51:02
Speaker 7: Hello, I love your show. I always learned something. I have a small ukulele band, about eight people, and we have all of our songs on Google a Google drive. So I send that link out to my people and we have a several hundred songs in there. My question is is there any way that when we show our songs on our iPads, and we all use iPads, can we write on our music right now? We cannot, And when we meet each other, we say, oh, right there, I wish it were a different chord or something like that. And if we could write on our screens with our magic pencil iPad pencil, we could all have music that matched.
00:51:44
Speaker 6: I need your help.
00:51:46
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so you're hold on So you're saying you want to change what it says in real time. You want to write on that on that page? Like, so are these saved as PDFs? How are they saved?
00:51:57
Speaker 6: Yes?
00:51:57
Speaker 2: They are, okay, And you want to be.
00:51:59
Speaker 1: Able to write, say you're you're at your gig, you want to write on your iPad. You want that to show up on everyone else's instantly.
00:52:07
Speaker 7: I know that that might be difficult. But if each of us could pick up our own pens and write on them. But yes, ideally it would be that. But if we all have to buy on song, which is the only one I know that might do that to the other members, it's too pricey, okay?
00:52:23
Speaker 2: And which one is that called? That's called on song?
00:52:25
Speaker 7: Yes, I have on song on my iPad and I can write on my music, but my other people can't see it because they don't have that.
00:52:33
Speaker 2: Right, Well, can you export it once you write on it?
00:52:37
Speaker 3: Uh?
00:52:38
Speaker 7: No, it doesn't save it to do that.
00:52:40
Speaker 2: It doesn't save it.
00:52:40
Speaker 1: Interesting if it saves.
00:52:42
Speaker 7: It on my iPad, it doesn't save it if I hit it and say send. What I'm doing so far is I send myself an email of that song. Open it in my email, I can write on it. Then I can send it back to on song, and then I can send it out.
00:53:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's a lot of steps. Well, I don't. I mean, I'm looking at this this app called staff Pad. Have you heard of that one?
00:53:10
Speaker 7: I have not? We do spell it for me.
00:53:11
Speaker 5: I didn't understand you s T A F F P A.
00:53:15
Speaker 7: D oh staff yeah pad.
00:53:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that one looks like it might be exactly what you need. I don't know if it's gonna sink, but it looks like I'm looking at some of the some of the documentation here, and it looks like you can, you know, export these things if you need to. It looks pretty full featured. Let's put it that way. So I would check that out.
00:53:36
Speaker 7: I will. Some people have talked about a thing called four score, but I don't even know how that's spelled.
00:53:42
Speaker 2: Okay, I let's say four score.
00:53:45
Speaker 1: I mean there, this is the thing about apps like this, Okay, It's like basically It's one of those things where you just have to kind of download it and try it and see if it works for exactly what you're talking because they're all going to do different things. Now, this one, the four score, does say it supports Apple pens, but again, you would need it where it would mirror what you're saying or what you're writing on a different device, So I would check out. I'm gonna link all these up that I found. I found Staff Pad. There's one called Fender Studio, which you know, it says it sinks to your preferred cloud, which is good, or between applications, so that's kind of nice. But I think I think you could do what you're talking about. I would also upload or download the Google Drive app to your iPad and you can upload directly to there. That might be a lot easier than just emailing yourself. Thanks for the call, Barbara, sounds like a cool gig. More rich on Tech right after this. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich de Mirro here hanging out with you, talking technology. Just thinking more about Barbara's question. She wanted to be able to write on her music on the iPad and then have that information kind of mirrored over to her colleagues and she's like emailing herself PDFs and stuff like that. But she said she used Google Drive. So there's a files app on the iPhone that's actually pretty handy. So I mean, that's one way of doing it. Instead of using the Google Drive app, you can just use files and that's going to be more included. But also I'm trying to see if see like Dropbox and a couple others like integrate directly into the.
00:55:20
Speaker 2: Files app.
00:55:20
Speaker 1: I got to see if Drive does that as well, because that'd be an easier way to just upload right through there and then you can share it right now, she's like emailing herself everything. It was like kind of a not very simple all right, And I put the links on the website rich on tech dot tv with all the apps that we talked about. Let's bring on Jimmy Doheeney from one of my favorite websites. I refer to it often, not only on this show, but also in my everyday life looking for those promo codes. How many times have you searched online where you're looking and looking and trying and trying and none of them work. Well, I will tell you in my experience if simply codes has a site and sup at the top. It's probably gonna work. I don't know how they do it. I guess we're going to find out. Thanks for joining me, Jimmy.
00:56:03
Speaker 5: Awesome.
00:56:05
Speaker 2: So do you know that your site is better than most?
00:56:09
Speaker 8: We like to believe we are, And that really kind of ties into all the work we do around verifying Goupon codes just really built around that core idea of a code you can't trust, it's basically worthless.
00:56:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:56:22
Speaker 8: So, I mean you've probably seen this, but tons and tons of codes out there. When you try them, they're expired. So that really kind of goes back into all the data where we actually found about one and four codes are expired. And that's what we built. It is really this multi layered system to help us break that and help us really deliver the best codes to shoppers.
00:56:42
Speaker 1: So give me some background on these codes. Why are there so many websites that purport to have codes? I mean, I'm guessing I know the answer. It's all because of the referral traffic, right, But like these websites they say, oh, we've got a code for this, and you click it and of course it doesn't work. But what they get a little commissioned off whatever you buy or something.
00:56:59
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's it's really the core business model, and it's not always intentional on those coupon sites behalf. You know, coupons are a really difficult challenge. They have a short shelf life and really to invest in heavily testing coupons, making sure they're still working. They may have been working a day ago, but they expired, and a lot of these platforms out there, they just don't have the capabilities to regularly test codes every single day, make sure they're still working. Make sure you have the correct restrictions, because sometimes a code that doesn't work for your car may work for my cart. And so that's really what drills down into how do you have the best codes with the deepest data just to deliver that to users.
00:57:39
Speaker 1: And so you've got five hundred and forty five thousand stores, every code is verified, and then so how are you doing this differently? Like how did you approach this differently where you're figuring out that these verified codes actually work.
00:57:54
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's something that we've built over the past few years. It's really this multi layer system testing with our AI agents. We have real shop or feedback flowing into our platform, giving us feedback on codes every day, as well as we have a whole community of humans actually testing codes. So all in all, we're testing about two hundred thousand codes every single day, taking down ones that stopped working and pushing ones up that are still working or even just live updating all their data. And so that pure volume is really what allows us to maintain really that accurate database.
00:58:27
Speaker 1: And what I love the website is simply codes dot com. By the way, what I love about it is when you go to like one of the storefronts, there's not just the code, but there's so much like nerdy information. And that's why I knew you guys were legit, because you don't just have all this info like randomly. Like you've got like every you got like your savings intelligence, you've got your top savings hacks, you've got similar deals. Then you've got all the codes below that, You've got the code activity, like how many people use codes, a live feed of you know, who's using them the best times, single use codes from the community, So that's like to get around, you know, if there's like a referral or something like that similar codes, and then you've got like a screenshot of the website where it says, here's where you can find the promo code box.
00:59:13
Speaker 2: All kinds.
00:59:14
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just amazing. I mean it just goes on and on. So who's behind this company? Like, do you are you guys like just savings nerds or what.
00:59:22
Speaker 8: We definitely are savings nerds. I mean, just you know here here at simply codes. You know, we're all about making online shopping just easier. You know, we've were shoppers ourselves, and that frustration of adding all these products to your cart, trying to find a working code, it was frustrating. That's what really has led us to bringing all this data to the forefront and just helping consumers make a better decision when shopping. And if it comes down to that first code you copy works, that's that's the ultimate result that we're always looking for. And so that's what bleeds into all that data. And it's hard to it's hard to say, hey, here's we all a ton of data behind every single code. How do you pack that up so that it's not overwhelming to the consumer but still gives them enough data to be confident. And here's what this code means and even little things like that screenshop down below. There are a lot of stores where they're checked out, they almost hide the coupon box. The more that we can help educate consumers on the best ways to save, how to save, even diving to things like gated coupon offers nowadays, you know, how do you how do you activate those offers?
01:00:32
Speaker 5: That's that's the best of What.
01:00:33
Speaker 1: Does that mean? What's a gated Is that like is that like somehow hidden or something? What does that mean?
01:00:38
Speaker 8: Yeah, gated offers, Uh, you know, it's a fairly broad range of meetings, but essentially there's some sort of requirement that you need to hit in order to get that offer for your car. A lot of times that may mean signing up for the brand's newsletter, joining their loyalty program, downloading their app. And that's actually something that tons of brands now. They're hiding these coupons behind their apps. When you downloaded, that's where you find a code that is nowhere available nowhere else online. But even you know, gated offers like signing up for their text messages. That's that's a big trend that we've seen more and more brands leaning into, and so the brands. Really, they still want you to buy and they want want to help you save money. They're just being a little bit more deliberate. And really who gets the best price?
01:01:24
Speaker 1: And are most of these I mean to some companies they do the thing where like the code will be right on the homepage, right, it'll be like save thirty, you know whatever. But a lot of these, it's like some of them are tough to find, and a lot of it's through like influencers or like through like some sort of advertisement. And how do you know you're getting the best deal? I guess is the endgame there?
01:01:44
Speaker 8: Yeah, So that that really comes down to really how how you search as a consumer. You know, absolutely a lot of brands do do a great job of showing at least one, you know, the most relevant offers on their homepage. Influencers is something that obviously it's it's or I see that on my social media feed. One interesting thing with influencer codes is they're actually getting worse for consumers, meaning the average discount has been declining since the data we have Back in twenty twenty two, the average was around nineteen percent off that you would get from an influencer. Now in twenty twenty five, that's actually down to about fifteen percent. So really it's something that brands are still heavily leading into influencers, though the average discount you're getting from them has gone down a little bit. And when we broke that data down even further, the code that you're finding outside of influencers on a verified coupon platform. By joining these kind of gated platforms with these brands, that's where you'll actually get a little bit better of a discount. And so spending extra thirty seconds just to really research around before you make that purchase can really help you save a lot of money.
01:02:53
Speaker 1: It feels so good when you pop in that code and it just lights up, and it's like, dang, you got it. You get some sort of discount. I don't care what the discount is. If I'm shopping online and my wife gives me such a hard time about this, because I will spend a half an hour looking for a code.
01:03:09
Speaker 2: If I can't.
01:03:10
Speaker 1: Now, I will tell you my Like I said, my biggest secret is simply codes dot com. I will go there ninety nine percent of the time. It works and it's easy to find. But there are some things that are a little bit trickier, and it you know, it takes a couple of minutes to like look around and find something. But I always want to find something, and I always come from the I guess this is my question for you. If there is a promo code like option on the site, is there guaranteed to be a promo code or is that just you know, sometimes it's just coded into the system.
01:03:40
Speaker 8: So a lot of brands will almost always have that coupon code box available there. There are a lot of brands that they may not have an active code at that time. So what one brand in particular that I'm really fond of.
01:03:52
Speaker 5: Nike, they regularly have a code.
01:03:55
Speaker 8: Now about once a quarter they'll have an actual coupon, but that box will always be living in chuckout, which I agree with you.
01:04:01
Speaker 5: If if I see that.
01:04:02
Speaker 8: When I'm checking out, I'm going on that hunt. I'm trying to find some way to save money. And even if it's just a couple percent or a couple of dollars, that reward you get from entering that code, having that light up and say you save money, that's really rewarding. And so actually, what I've started to do and what we see a lot of our users doing is really flipping their shopping search. So instead of starting and saying, all right, I want Nike, I'm gonna go to Nike dot com, think about what products you're actually looking to buy. Start looking at what retailers sell that product. Then you know, leverage a verified coupon platform, So start seeing what codes do those retailers offer, and we're actually seeing this is a lot of time, these smaller D two C type platforms, they're the ones that will actually have these great site wide discount codes. They can get the same exact Nike product or or any any brand product and actually save money.
01:04:56
Speaker 1: On Yeah, that's actually a good point because a lot of these things, like you say a D two C direct to consumer products, there's so many that you know we're all buying, like brands that you see advertised on social things like that. The instinct is to go to Amazon and just buy it, but a lot of times that's not necessarily the cheapest way to get it, Like if you go directly to their website, they may have a twenty five percent off code code or deal for like new customers, which can be significantly better than what Amazon is offering.
01:05:23
Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly, And I mean Amazon is great for convenience, but a lot of these brands, they're on Amazon almost as a need for kind of growing brand awareness, and so they are leveraging those coupons on their own site as a way to draw users and bring them into their ecosystem.
01:05:40
Speaker 1: All right, we've got about thirty seconds simply coodes dot com. Anything else we should know before we bookmark this site?
01:05:48
Speaker 8: I mean, honestly, you know, the biggest thing is be smart when you're shopping these days. You know, things are expensive, it's hard to save money, but there are great deals out there. And we're entering into this great peak season from summer where more and more discouncert rolling out with Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day. So if you're shopping, keep an eye out leverage platforms like simply codes to help save the most money.
01:06:11
Speaker 1: All right, Jimmy Doheeney from simplycodes dot com, thanks for joining me today. I really appreciate it.
01:06:16
Speaker 5: Awesome.
01:06:16
Speaker 1: Thanks Rich all right, I'll put a link to simply Codes on the website. Rich on tech dot Tv. No promo code there, it just works. Coming up, we'll take more of your calls at Triple eight rich one on one and I'll tell you why Microsoft this is a big deal, says you don't need anti virus.
01:06:35
Speaker 2: Wait what I'll explain coming up next. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
01:06:41
Speaker 4: Now.
01:06:41
Speaker 1: Sure if you've noticed the bumper music today is all kind of inspired by big movies. These were featured in movies. We watched Kindergarten Cop last night with the kids. You know, it is tough with a family of four to find a movie that everyone can agree on. Right, you've a kid that a kid that's like more of a teenager, You've got a younger child. You got my wife who wants like a comedy, like action and then or a romantic comedy would be her ideal. Then you've got me, who you know, like a wide swath, but a good raunchy comedy. I always love when I say something in Bobo just looks like wait what. But like my friend Brian Bishop, bald Brian, he had a recommendation on his newsletter this week.
01:07:32
Speaker 2: Let's see what is his newsletter? Bald Brian newsletter. You gotta remember what it's called, Oh, Baldywood. How could I forget that?
01:07:39
Speaker 1: Baldywood? But yeah, he had a recommendation for this movie called, uh, let's see what was it?
01:07:45
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, how do I access this?
01:07:48
Speaker 1: Come on, Brian, where is it funniest movie I've seen in years? And it was called Pizza Movie and it's on Hulu and he said it's it's really funny, but fair warning, this movie is not for everyone. So anyway, that's the kind of movie that intrigues me. I'm like, oh, it looks funny. It's a kid from Stranger Things and it looks great, Like that's a movie I want to watch. It's R rated college comedy. So I'm like, okay, cool, that sounds great. But of course my kids can't watch that. My wife may or may not like that kind of humor. So my point is we ended up watching Kindergarten Cop. It was it was a crowd pleaser. I'van rightman, I mean, it's you know, how could you go wrong? He's done a bunch. And the sad part is about watching old movies is that I just look at everyone in that movie. I'm like, oh my god, they're dead, they're you know, ninety now, they're no longer acting. You know, it's just wonder like it's just wild or the kid in the movie is now like fifty. It's just anyway, what was my point with all that? I don't feel makes me feel old. I mean, I don't remember Kindergarten Cop as a kid. What year did that movie come out? Probably the nineties, right, it was the nineties.
01:08:57
Speaker 2: I mean Art Schwarzenmaker was young and actually buff.
01:09:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh dude, the guy was so buff. Like they did one shot of him where you saw like his biceps and it's just like, whoa, that guy was built. Okay, I don't know what my point of all that was. But anyway, let's see what else Microsoft says you do not need anti virus.
01:09:19
Speaker 2: Wait, what.
01:09:21
Speaker 1: Microsoft finally is saying what a lot of people like myself have been saying for a while. The built in anti virus on Windows eleven is now enough protection for your PC.
01:09:32
Speaker 2: This is wild.
01:09:34
Speaker 1: They did a whole blog post about it. I will link it up on my website so you can read it. Rich on tech dot tv. By the way, this is episode one seventy two, so if you want to find the show notes, it'll all be there. Their built in system is called Microsoft Defender. It comes pre installed. Most of it is turned on by default and it runs in the background. And it's not just basic antivirus, because if you're paying for antivirus a lot of it, there's a delineation free versus paid. Sometimes it may not be scanning files in real time. Microsoft does. They check apps before they run, and it uses you know, the cloud to spot new stuff as it emerges and like send that info to your computer. Then they've got smart screen which warns you about risky websites and downloads. And then they've got ransomware protection that locks down your important folders. So these are all things that are built in. Microsoft says if you put these on and you don't disable them, that will cover most everyday threats without extra software. That is a big claim. Here's the key piece of advice from Microsoft. Don't run more than one antivirus at a time. So if you're running third parties, should probably turn off the built in stuff. If you're running the built in, you probably shouldn't have third party because that will slow down your system. So many of these people that are running antivirus, their computers like slowed to a halt. They're like, why, well, you're running this program that's not coded very well. This is a pretty big shift because you know, we know Windows as assystem them that like you have to protect and now it's a little bit of a paradigm shift for that protection to be built in. But not everyone agrees you should ditch your antivirus software completely. Some experts are saying, if you have a specific situation, like you share your computer with a bunch of people, you manage multiple devices, you want other features that are built in like identity, THEFT, VPNs, parental controls. You know your antivirus software may offer those as well. Let's see what else. But yeah, I mean, the main thing here is that all these operating systems are taking a que from Apple and with the iPhone, iPhone is the most locked down system you can have. You cannot figure out how to install an app on that system outside of the App store, most people can, and that's the way most of these other operating systems are getting, like anything like Chrome, Chrome, Books, all these operating systems are getting where it's like tougher to kind of put third party stuff on there because it keeps them safe. So I think if your takeaway here is that you want to go to go to your Windows computer, go to that little search bar. And by the way, this is mostly for Windows eleven. Windows ten, you know that's going out of style. It's probably not as up to date as Windows eleven, So I would just I would say this probably applies to Windows eleven only. But go to your little search. Type in Windows Security and you'll see there's a whole bunch. It says virus in threat protection, account protection, firewall app and browser control, device security. Tap every one of those. Make sure they have a green dot. Make sure they have a green check mark that means they're turned on. My app in Browser Control was not turned on. I had to turn that on. Device security, make sure that's turned on. And then there's one more place you want to look controlled folder access. This is for randomware or ransomware. So type in ransomware protection and make sure that is toggled on. And if you toggle that on, it'll make it tougher for some of your some of these random programs to get access to your core files. Obviously, read the blog post before you make any changes to your computer or ditch anything, because everyone's situation is different. But I've been saying this for a while. What's built into Windows is probably enough The bigger threats these days are really phishing emails and texts and bad websites, So be careful out there. Rich on Tech dot TV episode one seventy two for the notes on that. Coming up, We'll take more of your calls at Triple eight rich one on one eighty eight seven four to two.
01:13:35
Speaker 2: Four one zero one.
01:13:39
Speaker 1: Welcome back to rich on Tech rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology, Triple eight rich one on one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. I'm always concerned with giving out the number this late in the show because we're already slammed, and you know, I don't know how much more can we handle.
01:13:59
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
01:14:00
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess a good problem to have, but I still have like a thousand stories to get through. One hundred emails from you this week, let me do one from Gianetta in Florida. My son is in prison and he says you're great. He listens every Saturday and has other people listening too. I'm seventy eight with arthritis and I can't drive anymore, but I'd love to be able to go shopping on my own again like I did for sixty years. Are there any cars that fully drive themselves so I can just sit and go where I need and are any of them affordable? Well, first off, thank you to your son and his friends listening from jail. That's very special. Here's the deal with self driving cars, so there's really not I mean there. Look, the easy answer is a Tesla and it does have self driving. But the thing is, and they're probably the most advanced in that area when it comes to something a consumer can purchase, But here's the thing. You still have to pay attention and to take over. And it's not perfect. So I use it on a daily basis to drive me around, but it's not like you. I mean, it has actually gotten to the place where you can push a button from your driveway and it will back out of your driveway, drive you wherever you want, and almost pretty much park where you need to park. But is it like you would still have to be able to drive like it's not in a place where we're at the level where it's fully autonomous. So that's number one. If you want something fully autonomous, you'd have to go to a ride service like Waimo, where the car does drive itself and you sit in the back like a passenger. I don't know if that's available where you live, but that's an option. Zookes is also an option where that's same thing, but also not in a lot of places. But why not just use uber lyft there you go, Just call an uber Lyft. You'll have an actual human driver and they will bring you wherever you need to go. And that's probably the easiest thing at this point. So you don't you don't need to pay. I mean, you know, you said if are any of them affordable? None of those things I mentioned or foot Well, you know that the zooks and the Waimo may be affordable, but those are per ride tesla. You gotta buy a whole new car to get that. So I would say, bottom line, uber lyft. They'll pick you up, they'll drop you off, and if you talk to them nicely, they may even help you with your luggage, your stuff. I don't know, That's what i'd recommend. All right, Let's let's try a call real quick here because I've got so much. Let's see, let's go to Debbie in Wisconsin.
01:16:31
Speaker 2: You're on with Rich.
01:16:33
Speaker 9: Hi, Rich, how are you?
01:16:34
Speaker 2: I'm doing?
01:16:34
Speaker 3: Well?
01:16:35
Speaker 2: What's up?
01:16:36
Speaker 9: Thank you? Well, I had a good lemma. I tell him in the beginning about I have voicemails from my love whould pass away, and after like I would save voicemails purposely, save.
01:16:52
Speaker 3: Them on my phone.
01:16:54
Speaker 9: Yes, very important, but after thirty days, if I don't resave those voicemails, they get automatically erased. But then I had remembered about virtual voicemail, which I choose pick and choose what to delete there because it also will save every voicemail I have, you know, through regular voicemail, And I'm like, I don't want this junk stuff here in virtual I just want to save what's important to me or dear or phonier or whatever. But I only have I only did that purposely saved with three from my love instead. So I'm just wondering there's a way I could get the voicemails that I had saved previously that were automatically deleted back.
01:17:41
Speaker 2: How long ago is this?
01:17:43
Speaker 3: Oh boy?
01:17:44
Speaker 9: I mean, well he passed away to be a year and a half.
01:17:47
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but I say me.
01:17:49
Speaker 9: Too, But he's in a good place. He's proud of me for me calling. Oh my gosh, you have no idea, he would listen and I never I think he goes deep call, which I call it contack.
01:18:01
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that means a lot to me. Uh well, hey, here's the deal. I mean, I a year and a half a year, Well, these voicemails if they this is so? Were these voicemails saved through your carrier?
01:18:13
Speaker 4: Like?
01:18:13
Speaker 2: Was this like an eighteen T Verizon T mobile something like that?
01:18:17
Speaker 9: I just go I was buying the Boost phone and I was just resaving them. I mean remember usually yeah, you know, but they didn't get as an important until I knew he was sick and cycle right, and I think, and you know, if it is what it is? But I heard half rich, How do you know if you don't ask.
01:18:38
Speaker 2: It, probably you don't know.
01:18:40
Speaker 1: If you don't add one hundred and they're probably they're they're probably gone.
01:18:43
Speaker 2: I will say that. But now you do you have an iPhone? Do you have an Android?
01:18:48
Speaker 9: What do you have androids?
01:18:50
Speaker 2: Okay?
01:18:50
Speaker 9: How many times I'm sort of technology?
01:18:54
Speaker 1: Okay, So but you've got the Visual Voicemail app. So when you go on there is there like a deleted folder or any thing like that that you can find on there. Have you looked You've poked around the app enough to know that they're not lingering anywhere.
01:19:06
Speaker 9: Yes, And I'm wondering if it is an apps because I think it's automatically built into my phone. Okay, I could pay for premium, but I don't, and I think they even really I can repoke.
01:19:17
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, it depends on the provider, depends on the cell company. Some of them do charge for visual voicemail. And you could download an app, but but I would check with boosts see if there's an app that you can download, see if that has some of these old messages in there, if you can download that, And then also I would I would call them and just ask them say, hey, look, I'm trying to retrieve some of these old voicemails. I know it's a long shot, but I'm just curious if you keep them on your servers or anything like that. And the answer is probably no. I mean, I hate to say, but like you have to know. I mean, you got to think how many million you got, one hundred million customers of just AT and T, then Verizon, then T Mobile and these voice scails.
01:20:00
Speaker 9: Isn't any different for me because I buy my service monthly by the card. Well not anymore now I pay you know, it's automatic, But for a long time I would just reboot through the card I picked up at Walmart.
01:20:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I would say in that case, they probably keep those voicemails even less, just because it's much more of you know, it's it's more of a temporary account.
01:20:21
Speaker 9: So you just did the same thing for me that simply codes did for me.
01:20:26
Speaker 4: Both.
01:20:26
Speaker 9: You save me from the group called pizza. The I ta paying the asphalt.
01:20:33
Speaker 5: Because sometimes it takes away.
01:20:35
Speaker 9: I had a problem on practicing patients. And it's true, you know, I don't pray for things because you Yeah, thank you so much.
01:20:43
Speaker 1: All right, really well, Debbie, thanks for the call today. I really appreciate it. I'm so sorry. If you're a loss, and I would, I would do that. I would call Boost just just out of curiosity. See give your account number, see what they say. I think they're lost. In general, I get a lot of emails, a lot of questions about voicemails. So number one couple things to do if you want a voicemail. If there's a voicemail on your phone that's important to you, save it today. So go through on both iPhone and Android. If you have a visual voicemail app, you can press the share icon and it will share out the audio of that voicemail wherever you want. You can email it to yourself. You can upload it to cloud storage. If it's a phone that's old or you don't have visual voicemail, you have to press and hold the number one on your phone to dial voicemail. Just put your phone on speaker and use another phone or friend's phone to record that message. You have the audio of that message, and then email that to yourself. And then if you want to keep your emails long term, like I do that, I keep a bunch on my phone. If you want to keep them long term, sign up for a third party email service like I have Google Voice, so when my voicemails go there, they are saved forever. I was scrolling back the other day. I've had that for since about two thousand and seven. I could scroll all the way back to like two thousand and seven and still listen to my voicemails because it never goes away. Now that may have changed within you know whatever. But there's other programs like youmail dot com. You can subscribe to that and they will save your emails for much longer than your carrier. So if these things are important to you, take the time to set it up. Make sure that you're saving these email, these voicemails in a place that will last forever, because most of the time you cannot get them back. That's just the reality. Like I was saying earlier, with one hundred million customers each thirty second voicemail, think about how much space that ends up taking up on these carrier servers. They want to get rid of them, they want to cycle through them. That's why they don't last very long. They say these are going to expire, or they don't give you enough space. You know, they only give you a certain amount of visual voicemail space on your your voicemail box for a reason. They don't want you to clog up their systems, so they do get rid of these things. So Debbie, thanks for the call. Appreciate it. What a fine person. I love that, She said her loved one new rich On Tech that call rich On Tech All right, before we go to break, Kim sent through a story out of San Francisco. There was a passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to San Diego had to arrive late because someone was bringing a humanoid robot on board and talk about a giant lithium battery inside. So they started as a seventy pound robot. They started asking all kinds of questions, delayed the flight, and they ended up having to buy a seat for this robot, and they took out his battery. I guess they took out they had to get the robot down to seventy pounds. Oh, they didn't mention the battery in the story. They were overnighting extra batteries. It was just a weight issue. Why do you have to be under one hundred pounds, I wonder interesting? Anyway, that's I mean. I guess maybe as a as AI is embodied in more of these humanoids, because you know, people are falling in love with AI. People are literally in love with their AI chatbots already today twenty twenty six. Imagine when these AI chatbots are in a robotic body. Okay, people are really gonna be falling in love with these things. I mean, this is what kinky. Oh yeah, I didn't even mention that aspect. When the robots, you know, when people start fooling around.
01:24:28
Speaker 2: God, they're already doing it. I mean, this is what's happening.
01:24:33
Speaker 1: Wasn't there a whole movie based off of but based I'm sure there's plenty A guy fill in love with his oh her, Yeah, yes, but that was just like I wasn't even embodied.
01:24:42
Speaker 2: I don't think. I think it was just like a voice.
01:24:44
Speaker 1: But imagine when these things are embodied and some of the parts work, if you know what I'm saying. I mean, it's like game over for humanity. This is it, folks telling you all right? Eighty eight rich one on one eighty eight seven four to two four one zero one. Coming up, I've got a list right here of about one two be four about ten new apps and websites that you need to know about. They're all very good. I will detail them coming up right here on rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech, rich DeMuro here talking technology the website rich on Tech dot TV. One of Bobo's favorite songs here.
01:25:33
Speaker 2: This was his choice.
01:25:35
Speaker 1: Yeah but this fit in the theme. This was a major anthem for a major movie. And yeah, so good good tune.
01:25:44
Speaker 2: Got a bunch of.
01:25:45
Speaker 1: Emails about this. Microsoft is killing off publisher, So if you still use publisher for flyers or newsletters. You need to know this information. It's going to reach end of life in October twenty twenty six. After that, it's no longer included in Microsoft three. If you're a three sixty five subscriber, you will not be able to open or edit publisher files at that After that date, the app will basically just disappear. So if you bought a standalone version like you got this physical software, support will end, but you may be able to still run it, just without updates or support, so like it'll still function on your system, it just will not get any updates and you won't have support for this. Microsoft says most of what people do in publisher flyers, brochures, business cards, newsletters can already be done in Canva. Oh I'm sorry, I mean Word or PowerPoint. Okay, So if you have old files, Publisher uses thepub dot pub format that is not widely supported outside the app, so they say convert your files before October or you may not be able to open them later. Easiest option is to open your file and publisher choose files save as PDF. If you want to keep editing, convert it to PDF, open up that PDF and word. Obviously there's gonna be a lot of if you know, like all the formatting is going to be broken, probably, so just be aware of that. If you have a lot of files. They suggest using a PowerShell script to bulk convert. If you don't know what that is, it's probably not something you're gonna be able to do easily on your own, so you might need to enlist some help. That's for people like schools, offices, anyone that has a lot of these documents. So long story short, Yeah, publisher is going away October twenty twenty six. Come up with a plan and switch to PowerPoint word Canva. There's a whole bunch of ways to make flyers and things nowadays online besides this proprietary program.
01:27:36
Speaker 2: So there you go.
01:27:37
Speaker 1: All right, speaking of programs, I've got a whole bunch to tell you about. I'm gonna get through a bunch of these theser I bookmark all these things all the time that I come across, and these are some of the notable ones from the past couple of weeks. So number one, this app is super super cool, not for everyone, Like you may not need this, but I certainly do, and it's really cool. It's called dual Shot Recorder and it's an iPhone app that records vertical in hers at the same time. So if you are shooting stuff for social media, there's always this struggle do I record it vertical? Do I record it horizontal? Now you get both and you get both files in your camera or your camera roll, and you can use one for TV one for social It's ten dollars and it's iOS only. And there are a whole bunch of different brands of this out there, but the one to know is from Derek Downey Junior. He's the original and it's been number one on the App Store for photo and video. I'll put the link on the website, but that's dual shot Recorder. Then if you're on Android, there's a new Android weather app called gradient Weather, and this one's just a beautiful weather app. So if you like kind of like that Pixel weather, this kind of looks like that, except just for anyone. You don't have to be on a pixel So gradient Weather it's all about visuals, no ads, no tracking, and you've got a whole bunch of great widgets as well.
01:29:00
Speaker 4: Well.
01:29:01
Speaker 1: I believe some things are paid, like the basics are free, but there are some in app purchases Yes. And then there's a new app called Memo dot Ai. This is from another great app called Notepad. Let's see Memo dot Ai. Oh nope, Plan sorry nopeplan dot co slash memo And this is an iPhone only voice notes app that converts whatever you talk into structured notes, so summaries, action items, and key insights. This is for power users because it's not cheap. It's seventy nine dollars a year. But if you're the kind of person like me that's always taking voice notes, this is a great app for you. I use a whole bunch of these apps. This is, this is this is looks like a good one. The one that I use is voice, Notoes dot Com and Whisper Memos. I have a whole bunch. Alp and Glow. Alpen Glow is for it. Basically, it tells you if it's going to be a good sunset or not. So this is really for photographers, but for anyone if you're on vacation, whatever you want to know, you can know the exact time for Golden Hour and also if the sunset's going to be any good. So that's cool. That's Alp and Glow. There's one called US National Parkfinder, and this is an interesting one. This looks like it was coded with ai Vibe coded, but you can see you can pick the best national park based on where you're starting, distance, best months ratings, and stargazing potential.
01:30:24
Speaker 2: So it's really cool. It's got all.
01:30:25
Speaker 1: Sixty three parks and it's just an easy way to slice and dice and figure out which one to go to.
01:30:32
Speaker 2: Clove app.
01:30:33
Speaker 1: This one is awesome, awesome, awesome iPhone and Android. It's a recipe saver app. And what's cool about it is that it's super it's free, so Clove dot Kitchen and you can import recipes from anywhere. We're talking reels, TikTok, regular web page, YouTube, and it scans the information and puts it in a perfect format. It is really really good Clove dot Kitchen. And then NASA has something called your Name in landsat. This is an interactive little thing from NASA that spells out your name using real satellite images from the Earth. And finally, blank dot Page. If you just want something to write, you want a blank page, just go to blank dot Page.
01:31:18
Speaker 2: It's pretty cool.
01:31:19
Speaker 5: All right.
01:31:20
Speaker 1: I'll link all these up on the website. Rich on tech dot TV back after this. Welcome back to rich on tech rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology. I know. I give you a lot of apps just now before the break, a lot of handy apps and websites. They are all linked up on the show notes. Just go to rich on tech dot TV Episode one s two should be right at the top of the page. If not, just scroll down to where it says radio show and in there is everything we talked about, not just that, but all the things I mentioned, all the helpful tools and tricks and tips. It's all right there rich on tech dot TV, all right. Joining me now is the CEO of Jubilee TV, A shish Arga Wall.
01:32:12
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show.
01:32:16
Speaker 5: After initially covered or launch. Excited to be here.
01:32:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we did.
01:32:22
Speaker 1: We did a segment for TV a couple of years ago, and as I understand it, the takeaway for me is that this is a box that you connect to your TV and it kind of lets you control someone else's TV, but also makes that TV easy for the people.
01:32:38
Speaker 2: That live there to control, especially if they're older. Is that Did I do that properly?
01:32:45
Speaker 5: Yes?
01:32:45
Speaker 10: Exactly, Probably better than me So what we are is a system that connects a caregiver's phone or app into a senior's TV, allows the caregiver to support the seniors remotely, but also allow seniors to age independently with dignating their own home. It starts by the first main scenario, as you can see, like caregiver can see what's in the TV. They can put any shot or content, fix any issues, mom logs out oft Netflix.
01:33:13
Speaker 5: They can do that. That's how it started. But then you add connection to it.
01:33:17
Speaker 10: They can do video calls, share photos, reminders, group calling, which Grandma happy birthday?
01:33:22
Speaker 5: You know, the whole family jumps on.
01:33:24
Speaker 10: And now the third layer that we build is the camera and the microphone give you like rich insights onto what's happening with mom, so you can stay ahead of mom's journey as she ages through the years.
01:33:38
Speaker 1: Oh interesting, Okay, so that's a new aspect to it. So I'm looking at the website. It looks like since we talked, you're now doing kind of a monthly where you you know, the hardware is included in the monthly fee. Is that or I guess you have a bunch, but that's is that how most people are doing it, you think.
01:33:54
Speaker 10: Yeah, so you know, we try to make it easier. So it's a rental model now, so you just pay per month, use it until you know, most people use it until mom passes away, and then they return the box because you don't need it afterwards. So makes it really easy for them to come into the system, use it as long as says they need it, and turn it back.
01:34:15
Speaker 1: I didn't know this conversation was going to get so dark so quickly. Oh my gosh, but it's a reality of you know of these systems. But okay, so tell me why you came up with this.
01:34:27
Speaker 10: Look, I have three kids, I have four sits of parents in laws and parents, and my wife and I both work, and COVID kind of like they deteriorated so fast it was really tough to handle, like just absolutely crazy. And people who live this realize right away when that happens, it's like you are in a quick sign.
01:34:47
Speaker 5: Nothing pulls you out.
01:34:47
Speaker 10: So I started to think about what will make me take care of them remotely, Like how can I I want to be there at twenty four to seven, I just can't be there, So what can sort of try and at least be my help. But right, and when you think about it, what do I really have for them? I have empathy, that's great, But.
01:35:07
Speaker 5: I also have eyes and ears. I have a brain that can see what's happening. How can I make that?
01:35:12
Speaker 1: So?
01:35:12
Speaker 10: How can I first start with making their TV because they watch six hours of TV really really useful because they're isolated if they don't watch right content six hours of watching eighty four percent of the time they're watching news to get anybody depressed, not alone.
01:35:28
Speaker 5: Us or to say that.
01:35:30
Speaker 10: So that's how it started, and then I started to extend it more and more over the last year year and a half, where now it almost literally replaces my need to be there twenty four to seven. So in the middle of the night, I don't need to go figure out what's happening in the room. The system tells me your mom got up, she went to the bathroom, she came back in, she turned on the TV. She didn't turn on the TV. I can send a photos. You know, people have done church service remotely. People have done so many things. So the idea is we're doing the show remotely. This wasn't possible twenty years ago. Why can't I take care of my parents remotely as much as I can. So that was the genesis of the whole thing. And now a year and a half later, we have forty five thousand active users that use the app five point eight times every single day.
01:36:14
Speaker 5: That's how much they right.
01:36:17
Speaker 10: And they do not cancel, and I know it will get down, but they do not cancel until they don't need it anymore.
01:36:23
Speaker 5: And they only need it, don't need it anymore than moms you know, gone. So it was the impact.
01:36:30
Speaker 1: Okay, So and let's just explain what this is. A physical box that you put on top of your TV because it just have that camera and microphone. It's got a remote control that is very easy for a senior to use. It's got big buttons, they're colorful. It's got the volume up, the volume down, the channel the numbers, unlike most traditional streaming remotes that are just like, you know, a play pause kind of thing. So once you install this, explain the logistics. So when I remember going hands on, it reminded me of like a sling box. It's almost like you can monitor everything. That's like you could see your loved ones TV screen on your phone.
01:37:07
Speaker 5: Right.
01:37:08
Speaker 10: Yeah, meaning a large part of our team. In fact, one of our big investors came from slim Box, so there is a genesis to that as well.
01:37:16
Speaker 5: So you're right.
01:37:17
Speaker 10: So the box is a microphone and a camera and a really powerful always on a engine that's you know, but you connect it to all your devices. Well, it's Soroku, your set up box, your DVD player. It's a one time setup that takes twenty minutes.
01:37:30
Speaker 5: And I do it for my parents. So I buy the box, I go to the home, I put it in. Done.
01:37:36
Speaker 10: Now for them, let's start with them. There are four ways as they age they can use it. They can use the most powerful remote that we have, which is very simple to use, very powerful. They can just say Netflix. They can just say a show. You can say ABC, the TV turns on and they're watching. So no, no more apps, no more confusion. They just say what they want to say. Right, they can just say NBC. So it's really simple for them to use. But as they age, it goes through systems where you have a small remote cover they want don't want to use complicated buttons, you can put it in and towards the very late they have a six button like a dementia friendly remote. We're all going to live with dementia, which is a proven fact now unless there's medical breakthroughs. And at the very end, they don't need to use the remote at all. I can drive the whole experience for them remote.
01:38:22
Speaker 5: So that's how it starts.
01:38:23
Speaker 3: Right.
01:38:24
Speaker 10: You can put any show of content. I can turn on the TV, turn it off. I can program at six o'clock every day, turn it on, play Wheel a fortune for them, right, So that's how it starts. Now on my side, I can see what's on the TV. If they log out on Netflix, I can actually put in the Netflix password for them from here, so I don't have to go drop everything and go do that for.
01:38:43
Speaker 2: Them, right, Because that's what's happening.
01:38:44
Speaker 1: You get that call from mom or dad or family member like and they just say, like, on my TV, I have a black screen. You're like, okay, well tell me more. Or it's like, oh, the volume is not working, or Netflix is logged out, or I don't know how to access this program. It's like you can't see the screen. So it's really tough to give that remote support. And of course we're all busy and working and things, and this is why the elderly don't call their loved ones because they're worried about interrupting them. That's why they're scammed at the end of the day. So this kind of bridges all that.
01:39:17
Speaker 10: Yeah, and then you start to build on that. Right, once you have fixed the underlying thing, Now let's try to move towards happiness and joy. Like when my mom calls my kid, Now that's a grandma grandkid connection on a big screen, which is fundamentally since there you're not watching nose hair anymore. Like you know, you've seen those where are you grandma? Like you know, people running away. It just turns the whole scenario into delight. I can send any number of photos, I can send videos.
01:39:45
Speaker 5: You know, things like that. So now my mom is actually using that TV screen far more effectively.
01:39:51
Speaker 10: I can put a yoga video, I can take her to virtually to Ireland by because somebody is going.
01:39:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:39:58
Speaker 10: So there's so much content and goodness through the TV that her life now is more happy. And then right, yeah, okay, let's go down that.
01:40:06
Speaker 1: Well, we've only got about a minute. But I'm curious how long you've been doing this now, so.
01:40:12
Speaker 5: We launched, you know, it's really been two years since launch fifteen months. Okay, good growth, rapid usage, that's still a baby.
01:40:22
Speaker 2: But what have you learned in that time? What have you learned?
01:40:26
Speaker 5: This is a massive problem. We are only scratched the tip of the ice work right now, and there's a lot more to do. But amazing journey so far, amazing growth, amazing usage.
01:40:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I imagine that you probably get the most the most love from the caretakers that purchased this and set it up at their loved ones homes, because they're the ones that say, oh my gosh, you really a lot of relief in knowing that they not only have that control, but they can finally like actually help their loved ones.
01:40:56
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:40:56
Speaker 10: Game changer, life changer. I've saved all since and thousands of dollars. I don't need to put mom into a home anymore.
01:41:03
Speaker 5: Those other things we hear.
01:41:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at the website. So the website is get jubileetv dot com. Get jubileetv dot com. You can rent this monthly. It looks like it's about thirty nine dollars a month. For the year, it's about three eighty nine and that includes all the software that includes the subscription and the box right and the membership.
01:41:25
Speaker 2: Yeah okay, all.
01:41:26
Speaker 1: Right, Ashish Arkawall, thanks so much for joining me today. Thank you rich great to really appreciate it. Sure beats the uh hold on, let me run right over. Let me try to You know, like when your loved one is calling you with a TV or an internet problem, it is like you can't feel right until you've fixed it. That's the bottom line. Rich on tech dot tv is the website to go for more information. When we come back, we're gonna open up the feedback. Welcome back to rich on tech. Two quick stories before we get into the feedbag, which is overfloweth this weekend. First off, you knew this was gonna happen. TikTok is so influential. Now Netflix has a TikTok style clips feature inside the app. So it's a vertical video feed where you can scroll through various of course Netflix shows. It's gonna be clips from those shows personalized to you and not just to scroll through and laugh and see little scenes and things, but in the hopes that you might want to watch the full content and also discover things you may not discover. So again, this is called clips. The idea is that you might watch a short clip of a show first to laugh a little bit, and then maybe watch that show, that movie, that comedy special later and add it to your watch list. So check that out in the Netflix app. It's not not arrived in mind just yet, but it's probably rolling out. It's called clips. And then this has been a long time coming. YouTube TV finally let you build your own multiview. You can watch four channels at once, and you can choose which channels those are. So yes, YouTube TV has had multiview for a very long time, but they kind of gave you the combos, or they gave you the channels that you could choose from for your combos. Now you can just choose pretty much any channel. There may be some limitations. It's only live TV, can't do DVR on demand stuff. But oh, it's also rolling out slowly. I hate those terms because you probably want this right now and it may not hit your TV for a bit, but you are finally in control. And I will just mention that one of my dreams when I first started out in TV journalism was I wanted this is how old I am. I wanted like a bunch of TVs, like five different TVs mounted on my wall, or I guess you couldn't been mounted them back then. They were like CRTs, but you would put five TVs and each one be playing like a different channel, like channel two, channel four, channel five, channel seven, channel, you know, eleven, and you can watch everything at once. And of course now you just do that with any TV with YouTube or a lot of these streaming services. But I did have one news director at a TV station that I guess he posted it. I never went to his place, but he told me he had this, and I was like, well, that's what I want in my house. Okay, let's open up the feedbag. Speaking of streaming, Johnny and Staten Island, Hey, Rich, I was catching up on your recent broadcast and I ran into this issue with cord cutting in sports. I tried to find a Knicks playoff game figure to be on MSG or ESPN. Nope, it was on Amazon Prime. Then I tried to follow the Yankees on Yes, that wasn't there either. It feels like games are spread across Netflix, Amazon, everywhere else. It's getting ridiculous trying to keep up with the team. You basically need multiple subscriptions. Yes, you do, and you need a way to find where those games are playing. The ESPN app is pretty handy with that. Charles in New Jersey, Rich, I want to share two tools I've been using for a long time.
01:44:57
Speaker 2: You Mail.
01:44:57
Speaker 1: Oh, we talked about that this show. It's been fantastic stick for blocking spam calls. It's also got more voicemail features in the carriers. It's not cheap, but for me, it's worth it. I also use privacy dot com for virtual credit cards. You can create single use cards, set spending limits, or lock them to one vendor. It's perfect for free trials or sites you don't fully trust. Charles, I'm familiar with email, and yes, privacy dot com is excellent, especially for free trials that you are inevitably going to forget to cancel. It is the best Men in Redondo Beach says Hey.
01:45:31
Speaker 2: Rich.
01:45:31
Speaker 1: I ordered a new phone from a T Mobile kiosk at Sam's Club. Had it shipped to a UPS access point with a signature required. I got the delivery notification an hour later another email saying it had been picked up. The UPS store confirmed someone took it. They told me the person showed up with a passport matching my first name. Video showed someone in a cap and sunglasses. I even signed up for ups my choice to prevent this kind of thing.
01:45:54
Speaker 2: Have you heard of this?
01:45:56
Speaker 1: No, but yes I have heard of thieves targeting phone deliveries in particular. I guess the weak point here is that ID verification. You know, sometimes people do this as just like they're going through the motions, but they really do need to check to make sure it matches. Hopefully you're not on the line for any of that. You should not be.
01:46:17
Speaker 2: Let's see Denise.
01:46:18
Speaker 1: Says Hey Rich About a year ago, I traded in my MacBook Air for an iMac because I wanted a bigger screen for writing at home. I loved it, but I miss being able to move around the house. Then I saw your segment on the MacBook Neo and decided to get one. It took a few weeks to arrive, but I just got it and I love it now. I feel like I've the best of both worlds and I'm already using it for my dining room. Just wanted to say thanks.
01:46:39
Speaker 2: For the great advice.
01:46:40
Speaker 7: Thank you.
01:46:42
Speaker 1: Let's see here Mitch and Denver listening on six point thirty K how Hey, rich. I listened to you often, or maybe it's khow one of those. I'm a cybersecurity practitioner with over forty years in the industry. Yeah, one of the old guys. Sometimes they yel at the radio when you say things. But this is the first time I actually writing in. You were talking about recording apps and I wanted to point something out important. In healthcare, there are ongoing lawsuits claiming practitioners didn't notify patients their data was being shared with third parties and didn't have proper agreements in place, which could violate HIPPA. Also, recording laws vary by state. Some require all party consent. The rules can differ whether it's phone call or in person. Your callers may not think about that, but when you're giving advice on the radio, it might be worth adding a disclaimer so people don't unknowingly.
01:47:28
Speaker 2: Break the law. Keep up the fight. There's no shortage of work to do.
01:47:31
Speaker 1: Yes, no matter what you hear, any advice you get in life, don't just follow it blindly. Always do your own research. But I will say that hip of stuff I'll just here comes the angry emails is so annoying. I went to a dermatologist the other day. I'm not kidding. It's like, oh, come early for paperwork, like seventy five pages of just like, here's how we're sharing your info.
01:47:51
Speaker 2: Here's do you care? Can we talk to it?
01:47:52
Speaker 1: Can we leave a voicemail with yourself? It's like, I don't care, I don't care. Just tell me what it is and let me know. And anyone who picks up the phone my house tell me kids. By the way, if you're putting off getting like a mold check or any sort of like any doctor situation, just go. It is so much better to know. Like I'm like sitting there, like I haven't been to the dermatologists in like years. I'm like, oh, they're probably gonna find something horrible. The lady takes one look and she's like, yeah, you're fine, Like no worries. It's like, Okay, how much better did I feel after that? But yet I took me like three years to make an appointment anyway, Hiju Julie writes in Hey, Rich, I emailed you because I couldn't open some attachments in a text message. I really needed them because are from my husband and his funeral was this weekend. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. You suggested tapping the contact name at the top, going into the infosection and clicking the photos.
01:48:44
Speaker 2: I went back.
01:48:44
Speaker 1: I tried it and it worked. Crazy that they show up there but not in the conversation, but I'm so glad I found them.
01:48:50
Speaker 2: Thank you again. You have a house full of rich On tech fans here. Thank you, Julie.
01:48:54
Speaker 1: I am so sorry for your loss. Alan, Hey, rich I love listening to your show. It's both educational and fun. Thanks for doing what you do, Nancy, no help needed, just want to know I appreciate you. Deb in Oshkosh w hby Rich I love your radio show, Betty and upland I subscribe to your newsletter and listen on KFI and with the Bill Handle segment you do. Your segments have been so helpful to this eighty eight year old lady who doesn't have the technology instincts needed in today's internet world.
01:49:23
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for what you do.
01:49:26
Speaker 1: And Jerry writes in from Denver, love your show on KOA. And Neil from Ohio love the ORB app you introduced us to last week. Thank you for your public service. Yes, get that app ORB. I think it's ORB dot app, orb dot net. Oh my gosh, game changer. Absolutely love that.
01:49:46
Speaker 2: That's gonna do it.
01:49:46
Speaker 1: For this episode, you can find links on the website rich on tech dot tv, follow me on social media at rich on tech. Next week, I'm gonna explain wireless charging. Plus we've got the founder of save wise to talk about money saving tip. Thank you so much for listening. I know there are so many ways you can spend your time. I do appreciate you spending it right here with little old me. One reminder before I go, please, please, please please do not drive distracted. Those texts can wait. I know they're tempting. We all want to write back to them.
01:50:17
Speaker 2: They can wait.
01:50:18
Speaker 1: Thanks to everyone who makes this show possible. Bobo today on board, Kim on the phones. My name is rich Demiro. I will talk to you real soon
Speaker 1: Uber wants you to book more than just rides. Now they handle hotel rooms. Motorola goes Hollywood for the launch of its latest foldables. Are you ready for a razor again? What you need to know about the airlines, New rules on lithium batteries, plus your tech questions answered? What's going on on rich dmiro And this is Rich on Tech. This is the show where I talk about the tech stuff I think you should know about. It's also the place where I answer your questions about technology. I believe the tech should be interesting, useful and fun. All right, let's do it. Let's open up those phone lines. Kim, you're ready, triple a rich one oh one. That's eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one eight eight eight rich one oh one. Give me a call if you have a question about technology. Email is also open. Just go to rich on Tech dot tv and hit contact. Give me a call if you have a question or need some tech advice. All right, We've got a couple of great guests this week. Jimmy Doheeney is going to join us from the only website that I used to check for online codes, simply codes. He will talk about how to get the best deals, avoid bad coupon codes, and just be an overall smarter shopper. And then later we've got Jubilee TV CEO Ashish Agarwall. He's gonna explain how his device can make your TV simple to monitor, connect with, and care for aging loved ones at home. Did a story with him for TV a couple months ago, maybe probably a year ago at this point, and it's a very interesting system he's got set up. Well, thanks for joining the show. I'm so happy to be back in this seat chatting with you. Was in New Jersey last week for my brother's wedding, so that was very exciting, lots of fun. I was actually the officiant. I talked all about it in my newsletter this week and this was the thing. So my brother told me, you can write the whole ceremony. I interviewed them, I looked up all the quotes and things like that, but don't use AI to write it. So I really sat there and wrote out the whole thing. You know, I typed it out, but I used a eye to polish just a little bit. But in the end it came out great. It was kind of fun to do that actually, and I didn't feel nervous necessarily, but I really didn't want to mess up their big day, so I was like, all right, they're gonna trust me with this.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: But it was great.
00:02:23
Speaker 1: Everything went off without a hitch. And in New Jersey, the weather was not very good last week except for the day of their wedding, and it was perfect. So that was a great start to their wedding. It was such a nice time to see everyone. Beautiful location. New Jersey can sometimes get a bad rap, but you know, there are very beautiful places there, really really beautiful. I mean they called the Garden State for a reason. There is a lot of greenery there. So that was really fun. And now they are vacationing on their honeymoon. So congrats to Justin and Darcy, and thanks for allowing me to be a big part of your ceremony. There. Let's talk about Motorola this week. I was in back in Hollywood for a Motorola event. So you remember back in the day when you had a Motorola phone. We all had them, right, you had the Razor, you had the Star Tac depending on your age, maybe you had that big brick phone. Motorola was it when it came to smartphones back in the day. Now, they did say their razors are the number one flip phone in the world, so worldwide, the Razor is the number one flip phone. So it's still doing well. But now they've got a whole bunch of new flip phones and a new foldable phone to kind of hopefully sell more phones. So they did this big event. You know, typically these these tech launches are at like a corporate campus or some sort of event center. They did THEIRS at a Hollywood studio. They did a carpet like, it wasn't a red carpet, it was a blue carpet, and they did a fashion show. So I didn't really know what to expect. But we get in there and all of a sudden, the lights go down, the music starts pumping, and all these I don't know if they're actors and fashion models. They started walking out with the phones just like a runway show. And it was kind of silly, but I was like, I mean, how could you not smile? So they were all using the flip phone and it was really it actually worked. Paris Hilton was there and it's funny. Just give you a little perspective. The last time I was at an event with Paris Hilton, was a BlackBerry event in Hollywood, So this was probably going on, I don't know, sixteen fifteen years ago at this point. So anyway, but now she's with Motorola and she's been at a bunch of Motorol events, so that's been ongoing. But they launched four foldable phones, okay, three flip style razors, and then that book style fold Okay, So the flip raisers are all about style. So they come in a whole bunch of different colors, right, and they've got a little screen on the outside, four inch outer screen, seven inch inner screen, and keep in mind this flips open like the old razor, except it's all screen now, no buttons, right, and all these colors. So they've got a blue color, orient blue. They've got a cocoa which is a darker wood inspired look. They've got a mountain view green. They've got a bright white with almost like a diamond finished. They've got a violet ice, hematite, metallic gray, and sporting green. So you can see what they're doing here. And they had all these colors on display. Pantone, they had all these on display, so they're really kind of positioning these as a fashion accessory, trying to get away from the boring black phones that everyone has. Maybe something that shows off your personality a little bit more. So those are the razor flips. Now you've got the razor fold. This is their book style. This is kind of the answer to the Galaxy Z fold. Also the pixel fold. So you open this one like a book and it opens up to an eight point one inch screen inside. And they've got the largest battery on a foldable, six thousand millionamp hours, sixteen gigabytes a RAM, which is good. And I snapdrag and trip, so the specter really good on this.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: Now.
00:06:03
Speaker 1: The price is also really high, nineteen hundred dollars, and I would say I love the feel of this phone. They did not give me any review units, so I don't have any samples. But I will tell you I love the software on Motorola phones because it is very clean, and that is a great thing when it comes to Android. You know, Samsung, they're fine, but they Samsung really makes the software their own. With Motorola, it's much closer to stock Android, which I personally just really like. And so I think the big question here is are the cameras good on these phones, and I'd need some testing to figure that out. But they're also fun, and they also have some interesting features built in. Like they've got this chop feature, like you karate chop kind of like I don't know, you just chop the phone twice. That'll turn on the flashlight. You can twist the phone to open the camera, give it another twist and that will flip it to selfie mode. And then they've got a cam quarter mode where you can kind of half fold the phone and hold like a camquarder, and then you can twist it left and right and that will zoom in the camera. But they're also stealing kind of one of Samsung's features that horizon locks, so that even though you're twisting the camera, the level stays the same, it just zooms in. So that's kind of neat. Where do these phones not hold up? From what I'm reading the software updates, so a lot of these manufacturers, now, the Samsungs of the world, the Googles of the world, they're giving you seven years of updates. Apple about six years, So these only get about three years of major Android operating system updates and five years of security updates, so a little lag there. So who are these four? I mean, I think it's for anyone who wants something that's a little bit different, right, Like, maybe you don't want a Samsung, maybe you don't want a Pixel, maybe you don't want the iPhone. I will say, I think it's gonna be tough for people to give up their iPhone to switch. At this point, you know that Apple ecosystem is so tight. You've got your photos in there, you've got your messages in there, you've got to iCloud, you've got find my, You've got all your family members' locations in there. You've got air tags, you've got iPads and MacBooks that all sink. So Apple did this for a reason. They made such a tight ecosystem because they know the more you get in, the more the longer you're using an iPhone and all of Apple products, the tougher it's going to be to get out. And that's why I always talk about third party independent software apps and programs because I don't want to be locked in, because I know it's tough to get out. And I talk to people. Of people I talked to, they say that phone's pretty cool, but there's no way, I'm getting out of that Apple ecosystem. And Apple knows that their software and services keeps growing and growing and growing. They're just making money on people having these devices, paying into iCloud, paying into Apple Music, paying into you know, all these other services, Apple TV Plus, and then they bundle them Apple Fitness.
00:08:51
Speaker 2: I mean, think.
00:08:51
Speaker 1: About all the things they do, and ninety nine percent of it only runs on an iPhone. Apple TV Plus is one of the main exceptions. You can get that pretty much across all different platforms. But these are also leaning into nostalgia. Like I said, one of my first phones was the Star Tak, that bulky battery that pull out antenna. My mom and my sisters love their razors, the really thin phones. They had them in pink. I think my mom's was silver. And my favorite phone before the iPhone was the Moto Q, which was Motorola's take on a smartphone and the competition to the BlackBerry. So we'll see, maybe people that are Android will switch over. I would like to get some at least the flip or the foldable into review to check it out because, like I said, I do really like the software, but will the razor make a comeback.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: We will see.
00:09:39
Speaker 1: Did I mention pricing? They start at eight hundred dollars. I would say the top of the line flip is about fifteen hundred dollars and then the foldable like that that fold book style. You're talking nineteen hundred dollars. So not cheap, that's for sure.
00:09:53
Speaker 2: All right.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: I'll put up more information on the website rich on tech dot tv. If you want to see my video coverage from the event that Rolla held in Hollywood, you can go to my Instagram at rich on Tech. All right, we're just getting started here. We've got so much to talk about on the show. I've got so many handy apps for you. We've got great guests, all the news of the week, plus your phone calls at triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. You are doing something smart. You are listening to rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Simiro here hanging out with you talking technology. Triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. I mentioned I was at my brother's wedding, so I rented a car. I don't know why my rental car luck is so bad right now. But uh, anyway, I returned my car, and I'm not kidding. It was so like chaotic at the airport that someone just jumped into the car and took it and drove off with it. And like I'm assuming it was like an employee of the rental car place, but I realized, like most of the time they kind of talk to you and they check you out and they scan the little code whatever, but this guy just jumped into the car and drove it off. And I was like afterwards, you know, we started walking to the airport. I was like, wait a second, what if that car was just stolen, Like what a scam that would be, where like someone just literally hangs out at the exits where you return these rental cars and just drives them off. But I guess maybe I don't know anyway, maybe the facility is or security you can't really get out. But anyway, so I was freaking out because usually when I rent a car, you get an email receipt right to your email like instantly, right with like Hertz and Avis. Well this time I didn't, and I was like, oh my gosh, I bet you this car was stolen. So I'm gonna be on the hook for this. And it was a big car like I rented, like the biggest cars. We had my in laws with me, So I was like, I'm gonna be on the hook for this one hundred thousand dollars car. It was like a giant Ford expedition, like Max or something. Long story short. Two days later, I get a receipt in the mail or the email. I was like, Oh, it was just one of those moments where I was like, that would be the perfect scam. But now that I think about it, I think to get out of those rental car facilities, you do have to go through like a big barricade.
00:12:04
Speaker 2: Now I know why.
00:12:05
Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Bill Line too, Bill in Los Angeles. What's up, Hello, Billy.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I'm here. Every once in a while, I got a message on my phone. I got viruses on my phone, and I wondering, what's the best site we're getting rid of those viruses.
00:12:40
Speaker 1: On the iPhone? Yeah, okay, Well, the good news is there are no viruses on the iPhone. So what you're seeing as a complete scam. Those are notification pop ups, and they could be coming from a variety of places, and a lot of the times they're coming from websites that you're visiting. They could be coming from apps that you've installed, and they could be coming from those are the two main places on an iPhone, so they're usually it's it's usually just bogus notifications. So what I would do is for you, there's no you don't have an you don't have a virus on your phone. I can tell you that unless you are sideloading an app on the iPhone somehow, which would be nearly impossible unless you are an expert in the iPhone. I'm not even sure how to do that. But unless you've jail broken the phone, which I don't think you have, but that is the only way you would actually have a virus. So I think you're probably fine. And what I would do if I were you, I would go into your web browser. And I'm guessing you Safari, so I would go in there and I would clear everything so it says clear history and website data, and I would clear everything there and that will help get rid of all of those pop ups. Because what's happening is it sounds like some of these websites are sending you notifications because you've either agreed to that or you are they're in the background on your phone or something like that.
00:14:07
Speaker 2: So that's number one.
00:14:09
Speaker 1: Number two, you probably want to block your pop ups, so go into your settings on your iPhones. You go Settings, Apps and then Safari and then scroll down. You can see all the options in there, so block pop ups.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: That's what I do. Number one.
00:14:25
Speaker 1: Number two, I would do, let's see where is it privacy and security, make sure all those things are turned on, and then I would also do the clear history and website data. And once you do that, that should really get rid of a bunch of that stuff. And I'm looking if there's anything else that you need to do in there. Yeah, I think that should be fine. Now, if you're using Chrome, you can go into Chrome and Chrome Settings and do the same thing. So the notifications. If an app is sending you notifications like that, I would go through your list of apps and delete any apps that you do not need or recognize, and then I would do the software updates on your phone and I'll restart your phone. But that's really what it comes down to, Bill, is that these these apps and websites are just spamming you. They're not you're you know, anytime you see those big pop ups that say warning you have a virus on your iPhone, and it's like a countdown, it's flashing screen. That's all nonsense. Happens on Windows, happens on Android. And it really comes down to these bad guys just sit there and figure out ways of tricking us, and so they take things that we know and love. Notifications are great, you know, websites actually have a reason to send you notification sometimes, but they they reverse engineer and they figure out, like how can I use this in a nefarious way, and that's what they do. They scare you. I've seen people they send me screenshots of their computer. The whole notifications are all filled with your virus, this that you need to update, you got to get more cloud storage.
00:15:52
Speaker 2: It's all a joke.
00:15:54
Speaker 1: There is one app if you want to verify that your iPhone is secure. It's called I Verify Basic, and they do charge ninety nine cents, but it's the only app I know of that can actually look for kind of spyware and stuff. You have to understand the way that the iPhone operating system is created. Everything is sandboxed, which means nothing can kind of look and snoop into other places that isn't just for that app or that you've allowed for Apple. Like you know how when you open up an app and says, hey, can we have access to your photo library? Yes, it does that for a reason. It's to protect you. You're saying, okay, fine, you can look at my photos. Otherwise an app can't look at your photos. Hey, can we have access to your contacts? They can't just look at your contacts without you saying yes, hey, can we have access to your camera? Can we have access to your microphone? And by the way, you can rescind all of this stuff. If you don't want an app to have access to those things, you can go into your settings and change that stuff. So if you go into your settings on the iPhone and there's a privacy there's an entire section for privacy, privacy and security. Just look through there. You can see it has access to your calendar, contacts, your files, your health stuff. It's always a good idea to just look through there, especially location. A lot of these apps do not need access to this stuff. Same thing on Android, so you are in control and yes, anytime you're using an online service, or an app. There's of some information and some data about you that's flowing outwards to that app, but you should be in control of how much of that information is flowing out. Great question, Bill, Thanks for the call today. Eight eight eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four two four one zero one. Give me a call if you have a question or need some tech advice. The website is rich on tech dot TV. Back after this, Welcome back to rich on Tech. Kathy and Chicago Rights and Hey, Rich, do you use a to do app on Android? The one I love isn't cloud based, so every time I get a new phone, I have to retype everything, which is a pain. I've tried Google's app, but I don't like it, and I can't seem to find one that works for me. My whole life is in my to do list, so I figured I would ask Kathy. I've tried all of them, every single one of them, and I think that, like, if you look at the most popular, which is probably like to doist, I would say that's probably up there with some of the best Google tasks. I understand you don't like, but that one's simple because it integrates with Gemini and also Gmail. But the one that I go back to and I personally use over and over is Microsoft to Do. And the reason I like Microsoft to Do is because it is free, it's fully featured, it is cross platform, which means it works on both iPhone, Android, Mac PC, and it has my absolute favorite feature that I think you'll enjoy as well, and that is it starts every day fresh, so you decide what's on your to do list for that day.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: What does that mean.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: It means that instead of just having a list right now, I have a list to forty nine to doce I can see that list, but my day has one to do that's today, That's the thing I have to accomplish today. And yes, you can set recurring tasks can I love the sound it makes when you click the task to be done with it. I love the lists you can make, But my favorite thing is how you can add stuff to your day, so every day is a fresh, blank slate. And the reason why that's handy is because sometimes you don't want all of your tasks in front of your face every day. You just want the things that you need to accomplish that day. So when I get up, I kind of write the things I need to do that day, and then I look at the other tasks and you can just easily carry them over by right clicking and says add to my day. And so this is a very simple task system, but it's also very full featured at the same time. And you can also get it to integrate if you're using the iPhone with Siri, so you can set the Microsoft to Do app as your defaults where your tasks will go. When you say, hey, Siri, set a task for this, or set a reminder for this, you can instead of it going to the default reminders app on the iPhone, you can set it for the Microsoft to Do list. So anyway, it's called Microsoft to Do. I know it's not the sexiest dancer in the world, but it works and I go back to it. And believe me, I've tested every single to do app in the world. There's not one that I have not tested. There's one called twos that I really like. That one's I mean, there's every one of them. There's not one that I have not tested. I'm trying to think of a tick tick or whatever it's called. That one I've tried. There's just so many. But you know, but again, This is very personal, so whatever works for you is the best.
00:20:36
Speaker 2: But that's what I use.
00:20:36
Speaker 1: Thanks for the email. Today, let's go to Dennis and Marina del Rey.
00:20:42
Speaker 2: Dennis, what's up, hey, Rich?
00:20:44
Speaker 4: First of all, I really enjoy your program, and any of your sponsors that I visit, I let them know that I've heard it on the KFI radio.
00:20:52
Speaker 2: Oh well, excellent, Well thank you for that.
00:20:55
Speaker 4: Anyway, occasionally here in Marina del Ray we have power outages and it happens in the evening and all of the powers out I want to be able to listen to iHeartMedia on my phone. But the problem is if I drain my phone battery down. I do have a heart condition, so if I needed to call medical attention, you know, my phone would be totally drained down. Now, I have some lithium batteries, you know, back up one of those the rectangular things. But the problem is with that you have to recharge it from time to time, and usually when I go and grab it, it's discharged. So what I would like is a battery backup that's double A batteries because I've probably cut one hundred double A batteries. So is there such a thing or is the power drained so much that the batteries wouldn't handle it?
00:21:42
Speaker 1: Ooh, that I don't think. I mean, I'm sure those exist, but I would not recommend it. I don't think it's the best solution. So Number one, you're going to be burning through a lot of batteries. That's number one. Number Two, the amount of power that your phone needs to stay powered is probably just out run these batteries.
00:22:02
Speaker 2: And so I'm.
00:22:03
Speaker 1: Curious, why are these things? I Okay, there's a couple of solutions for you, Dennis, which I think are going to be way better. Number One, if this is happening quite often, I would recommend a larger like a portable power station. Have you heard of those?
00:22:17
Speaker 4: Right now? It doesn't happen that often. It happens in every couple of months.
00:22:21
Speaker 2: Okay, But but to be prepared.
00:22:23
Speaker 1: But I agree, I mean, in Los Angeles, you know the power now.
00:22:27
Speaker 2: It's funny.
00:22:28
Speaker 1: When I first moved into my home, we had some significant power outages, and I'll I'm knock on wood, they've we've not had one in a while. But I do, I am prepared with all this stuff, and I do think about all this stuff. So I would recommend getting a portable power station. And so the brand I like Eco Flow. They've got some great ones on their website. And these are giant, So we're talking not giant, We're like they're too big. But it's like we're talking. You know, one of those little portable battery packs that you have, you know may last for like two charges of your phone. This is going to last for way more than that. And this also, so we're talking, you can get one. I'm looking at this one for three hundred and forty nine dollars, which is incredible, and I'm looking at the and this, by the way, has a real plug as well, so if you want to plug in something that's not USB, you can and it's got all the connections. So it's got up to twelve hours of home battery backup. That means so it's nine hundred and sixty wat hour capacity, So that's that's a huge capacity, right, And that's three hundred and fifty bucks, which is not that bad. And then you can also add solar, so if you want a solar panel, you can add that to it, and so that means you're going to be capturing the sun and this thing could be charged theoretically forever, but it's a great I think it's a great thing for everyone to have in their home if you live in an area where you've even experienced one power out, because we're so dependent on our phones and with something like this, you can really have a lot of power. Now, I'm trying to think, so if we do nine hundred and sixty kill a, what our capacity in terms of MAH. I'm trying to see if I can convert this into MILLIONMP hours? Okay, so that's about that's about three hundred million amp three hundred thousand million hours, so that would be oh my gosh, that would be thirty of those little portable power banks you would have at ten thousand million powers. I know this is getting very complicated, but my point is it's like thirty times the backup and these things, by the way, when you charge them. I talked to a company about this. I said, how you know, like how much charge should you be losing on these things? And they said, it's only a couple of percentages every month, are every six months, so I would I would check on these things every six months. So what you do is you power it up in a good time, you know, when you have power, put it in your closet, and then when the power goes out, you pull this thing out. You could plug in a light. They've got a picture of a guy plugging his refrigerator right here. Refrigerator right there. But that's what I would recommend. The battery backup. I'm sure if I searched Amazon, you might be able to find one, probably Energize or makes it or something like that portable. I'm gonna see if I can find one portable charger powered by double A batteries. Let's just say curious if they even make these things.
00:25:17
Speaker 2: They do.
00:25:18
Speaker 1: They've got a couple brands. I mean, I guess as an emergency it's seven bucks. I mean, Dennis, I like how you call in. I'm like, all right, here's your three hundred and fifty dollars solution. Your solution is like six dollars and fifty cents. So look, if it makes you feel better, sure go with it. I just think that having one of these portable battery backup backups is just going to be infinitely better, and they shouldn't lose, they shouldn't be dead when you go to use it again. The other brand that is very much into solar is Goal zero. They make a lot of these solar battery banks and all kinds of stuff solar oriented. My only trouble with those is you have to remember solar is going to be very slow to recharge these. So it's good over time and long term, but you know in the short term, the battery that's on it is going to be a lot better. Jackerie is also a brand that makes these portable power stations. You can check out Eco Flow Jackerie. But I think that every home should have one of these. Like I've got mine at the ready, all the time, ready to go. It's I check on it, make sure it's charged up. If there's ever any sort of inclement weather like we have wind, we have rain, whatever it is, I'm going to pull this thing out and have it ready to go just in case because we have And by the way, charge your phone too. There's so many people I know they wake up and their phone is like, you know, their phone is on five percent.
00:26:41
Speaker 2: Don't do that. Don't do that. That's not not what you want to do. I'm just still laughing. And it's only three hundred and fifty bucks.
00:26:47
Speaker 5: Oh you can fix it.
00:26:48
Speaker 2: For six bucks.
00:26:49
Speaker 1: It's not gonna be as good in a similar shake, and I do believe me. I take this stuff into into consideration. Thanks for the call, Dennis, really appreciate it. Speaking of emails, I got an email from a listener her name Wendy in New York.
00:27:01
Speaker 2: She listens over there.
00:27:02
Speaker 1: She said she was hearing me talk about in Cogny, so she signed up with my code and get this, she had over four hundred data brokers that they already removed her data from four hundred brokers, her personal info. That's why I recommend in cogny. Most people don't realize that your personal data is constantly being collected, packaged, sold, and that's how you end up with spam, scam calls, even targeted phishing emails. Your stuff is out there, it's easy to find. Wendy said that while she was listening to the show, she got a suspicious email that looked legitimate. Turns out it was a hacked account. Luckily she knew to double check before clicking anything thanks to listening to this. That's the kind of edge you want in Cognate works behind the scenes to request removal of your data from hundreds of these broker sites, and they keep following up so it stays off those sites. So take your personal data back within Cognate. It's spelled i n Cogni get sixty percent off their regular price when you use my name rich At in cognate dot com slash rich. That's sixty percent off when you use my name rich At in Cogni dot com slash rich once more in Cogni dot com slash rich. You'll be glad you signed up. Eight eight eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. Coming up, I'll tell you how Uber now let you book hotel rooms and why it could save you some money, plus more of your calls, your emails, and much more right here on rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology. Triple eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. New feature on Uber this week. You can now book hotel rooms directly inside the Uber app, so no need to jump to a third party site. They're working with Expedia, so they've got access to all the hotel rooms everywhere. Seven hundred thousand worldwide. Verbo vacation rentals are coming next. The idea here is that Uber, like a lot of apps, they want to be your one stop shop. They don't want you to just book a car. They want you to do everything that has to do with travel and getting around. And so now there's a new hotels tab you can filter by price, ratings, amenities, and book using the credit card that's already any information that's already stored in your Uber account. And that's another big benefit of these apps because they have your information. You already trust Uber with your card now and your information now it's easy. You don't have to sign up for anything else. So here is the part that gets really interesting if you're an Uber because I would not think to do this generally, but if you're an Uber one member, they've got a rolling list of about ten thousand hotels that are going to be up to twenty percent off. That's huge. And some of the websites, all you know, the blog websites, they already looked like the points guy and stuff, and they compared a bunch of prices and they did find that the prices you get on Uber are cheaper than what you could typically get at that hotel. The trick is you have to be an Uber one member. That membership is generally about one hundred dollars a year. But I would not pay full price for that because I've gotten it for the past couple years discounted. Sometimes on Black Friday they run a deal. Sometimes they just run an offer inside the app. If you are open Table Gold, you can get six months free of that. So there's a lot of ways to save on that. Uber one membership should just be on the lookout for that. But here's the other interesting part. Not only do you get up to twenty percent off these hotels, but then you get ten percent back in Uber credits. So that's where it can get really interesting. I know, when I travel for business, two nights at a hotel could be seven eight hundred dollars, So getting ten percent back, you're talking eighty dollars back in Uber credits, and that would go to me. So even though you're using your company's you know, your company's card to maybe pay for the hotel, you get back those credits. So that's very interesting for someone that's booking a lot of hotel rooms. Now, now here's the thing. The downside to this is that if you book through Uber you're probably not gonna get your hotel loyalty perks or points, especially from some of those big chains like Hilton or Marriott. They want you to book direct, and so you do have to kind of weigh the advantage of getting that credit versus what you might get for your perks. Now, I don't know if that's always true because I mostly booked direct, but you know, that's typically how it works. Let's see anything else that's interesting there. No, I think that's just it hasn't showed up on my app just yet on my Uber app. But I'm looking forward to seeing how this works because a lot of times, if I'm booking for work, I don't need all the perks from you know, my status at whatever hotel chain, and usually the status doesn't get you much anyway, and the points are like okay, whatever. So I think that's a really could be a big win for a lot of people. So check it out inside Uber. Now you can book hotels.
00:31:53
Speaker 2: Let's go too.
00:31:56
Speaker 1: Chime in Sherman Oaks eighty to eight Rich one oh one eighty eight one zero one chime You're on with.
00:32:03
Speaker 6: Rich, wonderful second time caller, Hi Rich, Hi. Before I get to my main topic. I just want to let you know that when I visit your site in a Linux text browser, I get a five twenty two er or something about cloudslayer or Something' is like, oh wow, yeah, I know some of us who are blind like to use Linux or you know, text browsers like links l y n X.
00:32:28
Speaker 2: Okay, interesting, I'll look into that.
00:32:30
Speaker 6: The The other thing is that back on October twenty eighth, CNN launched a subscription service, which luckily I get authenticated through direct TV. That is the issue. The issue is that no matter which connect the TV, Google, you know, Streamer, Roku, Amazon, Fire, none of them have accessibility on this particular app. I tried everything I could think up to contact CNN or developers or somebody, phone numbers listed on their website. Nothing. And I don't really feel like waiting till Paramount acquires them for them to change it later this year.
00:33:11
Speaker 1: It's probably not going to get better. So what are you trying to get? What type of feature are you looking for?
00:33:18
Speaker 6: Okay? So, like, for example, on the Roku, when I launched the app, the Roku screen reader, which is actually pretty bad actually, but I mean it does work. It says launching CNN and it says nothing else. Nothing. You can't you try, You go up and down with the arrows, whatever, you hear nothing. The only thing if you're lucky enough to land on one of the feeds of CNN or CNN International or whatever, it will start playing. But you get no navigation.
00:33:50
Speaker 1: Right, So even though you're moving the whatever the pointer on the screen, it's not reading you what those buttons do exactly.
00:33:58
Speaker 6: And that's on all three, you know, Amazon, Google and the Roco. It's the same thing. And I've tried. I called Amazon and they said, oh, we don't know who the developer is.
00:34:09
Speaker 1: They don't know. I just looked it up. I've got it right here. It's uh, you've got I mean, there's someone contacting. There's an email for closed captioning. I tried that, okay, the IP closed cap.
00:34:21
Speaker 6: I tried calling the phone number listed on there, Uh, with a Cathy somebody or who's the contact? That number is always.
00:34:30
Speaker 2: Busy, always busy.
00:34:32
Speaker 1: Okay, Well this should be a So here's the deal. I talked to Amazon a couple of weeks ago at the Season Assistive Tech Conference, so I do know that they do have people at work on this, But you're right, it's like this has to be that something that the app developer codes in so that it works with the accessibility features built into these streaming services or these you know, these platforms. So that's the problem. And it sounds like, and I'll be completely honest, I think because they're in the process of being acquired, that's is that my understanding that their CNN is part of what they're going to become part of Paramount?
00:35:05
Speaker 6: Well maybe, okay.
00:35:07
Speaker 2: I mean I'm not I'm not up on that one.
00:35:09
Speaker 6: I mean, even before when CNN had a streaming thing called CNN Plus, it was the same thing, it's the same platform.
00:35:18
Speaker 2: Interesting it didn't work.
00:35:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I mean I've tried looking for to contact CNN announcers you know that. I thought, well, maybe they could pass it along or something. You can't And of course I don't have social media and Linux, uh you know, in a command line set up, so it's you know, I don't know what would happen if I had a graphical if I could reach out to somebody.
00:35:40
Speaker 1: Well, that's that is frustrating, I would say. The only I mean, so tell me about an app that works. Well, I've got less than a minute, tell me about an app that works well. And I guess just the idea is that just getting this out there, maybe we'll hear from someone.
00:35:52
Speaker 6: That says, yeah, I'm just trying to think. I mean, al Jazeera works fine. I watched their news. I don't always agree with their content, you know, but I like what they do a TRT world, I mean.
00:36:05
Speaker 1: Okay, so there are apps that actually do this right as.
00:36:08
Speaker 6: Well, Oh yeah, definitely, but there are also ones that do it wrong.
00:36:12
Speaker 1: And these people, you know, these app developers, I understand that they're doing a lot, and there's a lot of different platforms out there, but they may not realize just how important these features are to someone like you, Chime. And so I do know that from talking to some of these companies there is much more emphasis on this sort of thing these days than there ever was. So I think that's a good thing. Hopefully someone from this app will hear this and get things fixed. Thanks for the call today, Chime more rich on Tech. Right after this, welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich DeMuro here hanging out with you, talking technology ad eight a rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four two four one zero one got.
00:36:55
Speaker 2: Lots to talk about on the show.
00:36:57
Speaker 1: We'll take some of your calls, some of your emails, talk about the tech news of the week. Got a list of so many things. Every week. We're gonna talk about the new airline battery rules. Do you see that Spirit Airlines no more?
00:37:12
Speaker 4: No more.
00:37:12
Speaker 1: Spirit Airlines just gone. They canceled all their flights. I mean, so many people probably impacted, just scrambling, you know, because of that.
00:37:22
Speaker 2: So not fun when that happens.
00:37:24
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of all the airlines that have gone out of business since I've been around. There's been a lot over the years, but that one was kind of a quick one. It was just like overnight, boom, We're done. We're canceling our flights. So if you do have I'm not just complaining here about that. If you do have a ticket on Spirit, some information to know other airlines. So first off, if you booked a ticket direct, you're gonna be getting an automatic refund from Spirit, So hopefully that will happen automatically. If you book through a third party like Expedia or something like that, you will have to contact them to get your refund. But the other airlines are kind of helping, pitching into help. I don't know how much help that's going to be, but United is giving is offering stranded Spirit passengers price capped replacement flights mostly two hundred dollars up to three hundred dollars for two weeks within with proof of booking. American similar offering rescue fares on overlapping Spirit routes and putting bigger planes and adding flights where possible. Delta reduced non refundable rescue fares for five days across Spirit markets. Let's see Southwest Airport only, so you got to go to the airport to get these. That's interesting. Airport Only discounted fares about two hundred and four hundred dollars based on distance through May sixth, on overlapping routes, plus the status match for Spirit Elite. Spirit had an Elite program. You could be Spirit Elite.
00:38:54
Speaker 2: Wow.
00:38:55
Speaker 1: I know they had those big front seats. I booked my Data Spirit flight and he missed it. He actually missed his flight.
00:39:02
Speaker 2: Yes, there are.
00:39:03
Speaker 1: Still people I missed flights. I said, Dad, I booked you like the big front seat. He's like, well, we were not in that because we missed our flight. Thanks Jet blue ninety nine dollars, rescue fares for stranded Spirit passengers with caps up to two ninety nine, expanding flights, and key markets like Fort Lauderdale. So that's on my Facebook page, Facebook dot com, slash rich on tech. Let's go to Bill and Little Rock.
00:39:28
Speaker 6: Bill.
00:39:28
Speaker 1: I hope you didn't have a Spirit flight plan, did you?
00:39:34
Speaker 7: No?
00:39:35
Speaker 2: Okay, well you're good. Then what can I help you?
00:39:38
Speaker 7: With?
00:39:41
Speaker 3: Text messages? When you open them up and it's got that blue linked to it. Okay, so as long as you don't press on that link, you're good. As far as spam.
00:39:59
Speaker 1: And yes, typically yeah, typically, yes, you're talking iPhone, I'm guessing.
00:40:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
00:40:06
Speaker 1: So the iPhone, if it suspects that the message is spammy or scammy, it will not that the link will actually not highlight and blue. So you have a little bit of protection there that is not fool proof. Don't email, don't send me the angry emails, not you, Bill, but the rest. You know, it's not foolproof. But if if Apple determines that it's a spammy message, it does not highlight the link in blue. So that's one little line of defense. And also, you know, you have to remember the way the iPhone is architected, the there's not really Now this is going to get a little bit technical, but so actually the main way that people get into the iPhone like and hack it is through text messages. Historically it's because they find some sort of exploit and they figure out a way to send you a message and you click the link and it installs something on your phone.
00:40:58
Speaker 2: So but that is.
00:41:00
Speaker 1: Very very very rare, like very very rare for most people. You're gonna be just fine, now, I would say, just the thing to be worried about is really when you click those links if it's a phishing website, And in that case, you don't really unless you're using the Chrome web browser. Safari does a little bit, but Chrome does a really good job at scanning those links and making sure that they're not gonna get you into a phishing situation. I'm just looking to see if there's any options inside messages. Let me just go into the settings here, let's see screen text message filter, so you can. Yeah, So I would just say in general, you're you're probably gonna be fine, Like, just them sending you that message is not going to like hack you most ninety nine point nine nine percent of the time, and so that's it. So are you getting a lot of what do you get? You're getting like a lot of spam messages or what bill?
00:41:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay, I get a lot of crap on it, and some of them are legitimate, and I'll open up the message, but I don't click on that blue highlighted link right now.
00:42:12
Speaker 1: Do you have to spam filter turned on for the messages or no?
00:42:16
Speaker 3: No, I don't know how the phone works.
00:42:20
Speaker 1: Well, there is if you go into your settings on the iPhone, you go into settings, you scroll all the way down to the bottom. They'll make these easier to find. You tap apps, and then you scroll all the way to the middle to the MS where it says messages. You can find the settings for messages and you can look in there and it will tell you it will there's a toggle for text message filter. You can turn that on, and then there's filter spam, and so that will cut down on a lot of those spam messages that you get. But again, if Apple determines that it's spam, Like I'm looking at a message right now that's from Amazon, and yes, I can tap the blue link, but if I look at a message that it has decided is spam. The link is not in blue. You actually and this is why this is another thing to be on the lookout for. This is why spammers have gotten and scammers have gotten very sophisticated. They say, please reply why to activate this message? And so when you interact with a message, all of a sudden, the links turn blue on an iPhone And the reason for that is because they say, Okay, well, now you've determined that this is something you want to interact with. Now we're going to activate those links. But again, just activating those links is not really going to harm you. It's more what you do with that link. And so that's when you have to be on guard, is when you click that link if it's from your bank or anything like that. You know, banks and stuff usually don't send links because they know that these scammers are doing the same thing, so they try to. It's it's just very tricky. You just have to really look at all the signals from the message and that's the return center, how it's come in the messaging everything. Like one of these messes in my spam is actually for my rental car and it went to the spam filter. But I can tell to a legitimate message and it's not necessarily a spam message. So that's what's to look out for. Bill, Thanks for the call today, appreciate it. Eight eight eight rich one oh one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one.
00:44:21
Speaker 2: I'm gonna see if I have a oh.
00:44:23
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna mention this for my my LA listeners. This is a big deal in la uh. Fubo, you know the streaming service Fubo. They now have Sportsnet LA so you can stream the Dodgers without cable. This is a brand new option. Fubo has added Spectrum sportsnet La.
00:44:43
Speaker 7: Uh.
00:44:43
Speaker 1: This is the channel that carries most Dodgers games and this is brand new for the twenty twenty six season. Why is this a big deal? You know, if you watch sports, they all have their own channels now, and they're usually exclusive to some sort of carrier or platform because you know, they make money on this stuff. So Sports Net LA has been one of the hardest channels to get because it's been locked behind traditional cable, mostly Spectrum, and then they kind of open it up.
00:45:10
Speaker 2: They've got it.
00:45:11
Speaker 1: I think it's on Direct TV as well. But with this deal now Fubo now streams local Dodgers games over one hundred and forty regular games, plus pre show and postgame shows only in the Southern California market, So if you live outside Southern California, you're not going to get this. You don't have access. This doesn't mean every single Dodgers game. Some are still national broadcasts that are on like ESPN, Fox or Apple TV.
00:45:35
Speaker 2: Plus.
00:45:35
Speaker 1: I know it's so confusing for sports now. It really really is. You have to figure out where it's playing and if you have access to where it's playing. But Fubo base plan this is Remember this is like full on cable, so you're getting like two hundred channels, not just this Sportsnet seventy three dollars a month, seventy four dollars a month. The first month is about fifty dollars. But I got an email. Let's see, I got I got a fine. Where that email came in from Fubo I mentioned, let's see where is it here?
00:46:12
Speaker 2: Dave.
00:46:12
Speaker 1: Dave wrote me, I want to thank you for your information on Fubo now being able to broadcast the Dodgers. You basically saved me one hundred and fifty dollars a month because of this information. So he probably had some big old package from either Direct TV or Spectrum that was paying a ton of money for now he could pay. You know, it's still expensive seventy four dollars a month, but you're getting all your cable included and DVR and all that stuff, and you know you can cut the cord. You still need the Internet. People realize, you know, if you're trying to cut the cord and get rid of your cable package, keep in mind you probably need to keep that Internet. You need Internet to access Netflix, Paramount Plus, YouTube TV, Fubo, all these streaming services. You have to have a base internet to get them. It doesn't just magically appear on your Fire TV stick or your Roku or your Apple TV. You need a way to get that programming, and that is the cable and the cable companies know this, which is why they charge a lot for cable. I think I'm up to every month, it just keeps going up. I think I'm up to one hundred and five dollars a month now for my Internet. I love it. It's good, but it's expensive. And by the way, when I first started it was probably I don't know sixty bucks a month. I mean, it just keeps going up. But I know I get it. We all need it, and that's where we're getting our stuff. From eight to eight rich one O one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. If you're on the website, it's richon Tech dot tv. I've got all the show notes there. Be sure to check out my newsletter subscribe to the podcast so you can listen to this show on demand. Coming up, we'll take more of your calls and i'll talk those airline battery rules so you know what you can bring on and what you can't.
00:47:48
Speaker 2: Coming up right here on rich on Tech.
00:47:56
Speaker 1: Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking tech Triple eight rich one on one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. You might have heard that airlines are tightening their rules on portable chargers known as power banks, you know, those little portable batteries. So here's what you need to know. I get a lot of questions about this. People say, Rich what can I bring on board? What can I pack in my carry on? You know they say no lithium ion batteries. Does that mean I can't have an air tag in my luggage. No, that's not what that means. They're really looking for in your in your checked baggage. They don't want loose lithium ion batteries, and that includes the portable batteries. But that's really what they're looking for. And so I would just be upfront with the person when you're checking in your luggage to say, here's what I have if you're questioning it, right, like, don't just throw stuff in there and say no, I have no no battery in there. Like if you do tell them, most of the time it's fine. I've I travel with so many gadgets and I've never had a problem. But the big change when it comes to portable chargers for your carry ons is that most airlines are limiting you Okay, most of them are limiting you to just two of those portable chargers and they have to be one hundred WAT hours or less. And that's a little confusing because most of the chargers are rated in millionamp hours, so you have to do the conversion and so one hundred what hours, let's see, one hundred WA hours to millionamp hours is gonna be about maybe yeah, well, see this is the problem. It's all about the voltage. But you're gonna be fine if you have a standard power bank that's about twenty thousand million hours, which is what i'd recommend for you know, travel, you're gonna be fine. So if you have one of those standard power banks, you're gonna be no problem. The other thing is that they want you to keep them visible and within reach at all times, so they don't want you to put these in the overhead bins anymore. And they also don't want you to recharge your portable charger on the plane, so even if you could plug it in, they don't want you to do that. Why it's because every single person has one of these now on the plane, and when you have that many people with them, there's bound to be an issue. And you know, it could be a fire, could be you know, you drop them, could be short circuiting. A lot of these things are cheap, people buy off brands. They're not perfect, so you just have to be very aware of these rules. Bottom line, make sure if you have one of these portable batteries brant in your carry on, keep it within reach, make sure it's not you know, over the size limit. Don't recharge it on the plane. A twenty thousand million. Our battery bank is just fine. And all the rules. I kind of went through all the different airlines. They really spell out their rules. American is the strictest. They have that new policy that just started. They're the strictest. Southwest is pretty strict. Yeah, I mean they're all. They all are slightly different, but I linked them all up on my website Rich on tech dot tv. I'll put that in the show notes so you can see exactly what you need to know. But yes, an air tag, some sort of portable tracker in your luggage. Just find no problem there. Let's go too, Barbara Line too, you're on with Rich.
00:51:02
Speaker 7: Hello, I love your show. I always learned something. I have a small ukulele band, about eight people, and we have all of our songs on Google a Google drive. So I send that link out to my people and we have a several hundred songs in there. My question is is there any way that when we show our songs on our iPads, and we all use iPads, can we write on our music right now? We cannot, And when we meet each other, we say, oh, right there, I wish it were a different chord or something like that. And if we could write on our screens with our magic pencil iPad pencil, we could all have music that matched.
00:51:44
Speaker 6: I need your help.
00:51:46
Speaker 1: Well, okay, so you're hold on So you're saying you want to change what it says in real time. You want to write on that on that page? Like, so are these saved as PDFs? How are they saved?
00:51:57
Speaker 6: Yes?
00:51:57
Speaker 2: They are, okay, And you want to be.
00:51:59
Speaker 1: Able to write, say you're you're at your gig, you want to write on your iPad. You want that to show up on everyone else's instantly.
00:52:07
Speaker 7: I know that that might be difficult. But if each of us could pick up our own pens and write on them. But yes, ideally it would be that. But if we all have to buy on song, which is the only one I know that might do that to the other members, it's too pricey, okay?
00:52:23
Speaker 2: And which one is that called? That's called on song?
00:52:25
Speaker 7: Yes, I have on song on my iPad and I can write on my music, but my other people can't see it because they don't have that.
00:52:33
Speaker 2: Right, Well, can you export it once you write on it?
00:52:37
Speaker 3: Uh?
00:52:38
Speaker 7: No, it doesn't save it to do that.
00:52:40
Speaker 2: It doesn't save it.
00:52:40
Speaker 1: Interesting if it saves.
00:52:42
Speaker 7: It on my iPad, it doesn't save it if I hit it and say send. What I'm doing so far is I send myself an email of that song. Open it in my email, I can write on it. Then I can send it back to on song, and then I can send it out.
00:53:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's a lot of steps. Well, I don't. I mean, I'm looking at this this app called staff Pad. Have you heard of that one?
00:53:10
Speaker 7: I have not? We do spell it for me.
00:53:11
Speaker 5: I didn't understand you s T A F F P A.
00:53:15
Speaker 7: D oh staff yeah pad.
00:53:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that one looks like it might be exactly what you need. I don't know if it's gonna sink, but it looks like I'm looking at some of the some of the documentation here, and it looks like you can, you know, export these things if you need to. It looks pretty full featured. Let's put it that way. So I would check that out.
00:53:36
Speaker 7: I will. Some people have talked about a thing called four score, but I don't even know how that's spelled.
00:53:42
Speaker 2: Okay, I let's say four score.
00:53:45
Speaker 1: I mean there, this is the thing about apps like this, Okay, It's like basically It's one of those things where you just have to kind of download it and try it and see if it works for exactly what you're talking because they're all going to do different things. Now, this one, the four score, does say it supports Apple pens, but again, you would need it where it would mirror what you're saying or what you're writing on a different device, So I would check out. I'm gonna link all these up that I found. I found Staff Pad. There's one called Fender Studio, which you know, it says it sinks to your preferred cloud, which is good, or between applications, so that's kind of nice. But I think I think you could do what you're talking about. I would also upload or download the Google Drive app to your iPad and you can upload directly to there. That might be a lot easier than just emailing yourself. Thanks for the call, Barbara, sounds like a cool gig. More rich on Tech right after this. Welcome back to rich on Tech. Rich de Mirro here hanging out with you, talking technology. Just thinking more about Barbara's question. She wanted to be able to write on her music on the iPad and then have that information kind of mirrored over to her colleagues and she's like emailing herself PDFs and stuff like that. But she said she used Google Drive. So there's a files app on the iPhone that's actually pretty handy. So I mean, that's one way of doing it. Instead of using the Google Drive app, you can just use files and that's going to be more included. But also I'm trying to see if see like Dropbox and a couple others like integrate directly into the.
00:55:20
Speaker 2: Files app.
00:55:20
Speaker 1: I got to see if Drive does that as well, because that'd be an easier way to just upload right through there and then you can share it right now, she's like emailing herself everything. It was like kind of a not very simple all right, And I put the links on the website rich on tech dot tv with all the apps that we talked about. Let's bring on Jimmy Doheeney from one of my favorite websites. I refer to it often, not only on this show, but also in my everyday life looking for those promo codes. How many times have you searched online where you're looking and looking and trying and trying and none of them work. Well, I will tell you in my experience if simply codes has a site and sup at the top. It's probably gonna work. I don't know how they do it. I guess we're going to find out. Thanks for joining me, Jimmy.
00:56:03
Speaker 5: Awesome.
00:56:05
Speaker 2: So do you know that your site is better than most?
00:56:09
Speaker 8: We like to believe we are, And that really kind of ties into all the work we do around verifying Goupon codes just really built around that core idea of a code you can't trust, it's basically worthless.
00:56:21
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:56:22
Speaker 8: So, I mean you've probably seen this, but tons and tons of codes out there. When you try them, they're expired. So that really kind of goes back into all the data where we actually found about one and four codes are expired. And that's what we built. It is really this multi layered system to help us break that and help us really deliver the best codes to shoppers.
00:56:42
Speaker 1: So give me some background on these codes. Why are there so many websites that purport to have codes? I mean, I'm guessing I know the answer. It's all because of the referral traffic, right, But like these websites they say, oh, we've got a code for this, and you click it and of course it doesn't work. But what they get a little commissioned off whatever you buy or something.
00:56:59
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's it's really the core business model, and it's not always intentional on those coupon sites behalf. You know, coupons are a really difficult challenge. They have a short shelf life and really to invest in heavily testing coupons, making sure they're still working. They may have been working a day ago, but they expired, and a lot of these platforms out there, they just don't have the capabilities to regularly test codes every single day, make sure they're still working. Make sure you have the correct restrictions, because sometimes a code that doesn't work for your car may work for my cart. And so that's really what drills down into how do you have the best codes with the deepest data just to deliver that to users.
00:57:39
Speaker 1: And so you've got five hundred and forty five thousand stores, every code is verified, and then so how are you doing this differently? Like how did you approach this differently where you're figuring out that these verified codes actually work.
00:57:54
Speaker 8: Yeah, that's something that we've built over the past few years. It's really this multi layer system testing with our AI agents. We have real shop or feedback flowing into our platform, giving us feedback on codes every day, as well as we have a whole community of humans actually testing codes. So all in all, we're testing about two hundred thousand codes every single day, taking down ones that stopped working and pushing ones up that are still working or even just live updating all their data. And so that pure volume is really what allows us to maintain really that accurate database.
00:58:27
Speaker 1: And what I love the website is simply codes dot com. By the way, what I love about it is when you go to like one of the storefronts, there's not just the code, but there's so much like nerdy information. And that's why I knew you guys were legit, because you don't just have all this info like randomly. Like you've got like every you got like your savings intelligence, you've got your top savings hacks, you've got similar deals. Then you've got all the codes below that, You've got the code activity, like how many people use codes, a live feed of you know, who's using them the best times, single use codes from the community, So that's like to get around, you know, if there's like a referral or something like that similar codes, and then you've got like a screenshot of the website where it says, here's where you can find the promo code box.
00:59:13
Speaker 2: All kinds.
00:59:14
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just amazing. I mean it just goes on and on. So who's behind this company? Like, do you are you guys like just savings nerds or what.
00:59:22
Speaker 8: We definitely are savings nerds. I mean, just you know here here at simply codes. You know, we're all about making online shopping just easier. You know, we've were shoppers ourselves, and that frustration of adding all these products to your cart, trying to find a working code, it was frustrating. That's what really has led us to bringing all this data to the forefront and just helping consumers make a better decision when shopping. And if it comes down to that first code you copy works, that's that's the ultimate result that we're always looking for. And so that's what bleeds into all that data. And it's hard to it's hard to say, hey, here's we all a ton of data behind every single code. How do you pack that up so that it's not overwhelming to the consumer but still gives them enough data to be confident. And here's what this code means and even little things like that screenshop down below. There are a lot of stores where they're checked out, they almost hide the coupon box. The more that we can help educate consumers on the best ways to save, how to save, even diving to things like gated coupon offers nowadays, you know, how do you how do you activate those offers?
01:00:32
Speaker 5: That's that's the best of What.
01:00:33
Speaker 1: Does that mean? What's a gated Is that like is that like somehow hidden or something? What does that mean?
01:00:38
Speaker 8: Yeah, gated offers, Uh, you know, it's a fairly broad range of meetings, but essentially there's some sort of requirement that you need to hit in order to get that offer for your car. A lot of times that may mean signing up for the brand's newsletter, joining their loyalty program, downloading their app. And that's actually something that tons of brands now. They're hiding these coupons behind their apps. When you downloaded, that's where you find a code that is nowhere available nowhere else online. But even you know, gated offers like signing up for their text messages. That's that's a big trend that we've seen more and more brands leaning into, and so the brands. Really, they still want you to buy and they want want to help you save money. They're just being a little bit more deliberate. And really who gets the best price?
01:01:24
Speaker 1: And are most of these I mean to some companies they do the thing where like the code will be right on the homepage, right, it'll be like save thirty, you know whatever. But a lot of these, it's like some of them are tough to find, and a lot of it's through like influencers or like through like some sort of advertisement. And how do you know you're getting the best deal? I guess is the endgame there?
01:01:44
Speaker 8: Yeah, So that that really comes down to really how how you search as a consumer. You know, absolutely a lot of brands do do a great job of showing at least one, you know, the most relevant offers on their homepage. Influencers is something that obviously it's it's or I see that on my social media feed. One interesting thing with influencer codes is they're actually getting worse for consumers, meaning the average discount has been declining since the data we have Back in twenty twenty two, the average was around nineteen percent off that you would get from an influencer. Now in twenty twenty five, that's actually down to about fifteen percent. So really it's something that brands are still heavily leading into influencers, though the average discount you're getting from them has gone down a little bit. And when we broke that data down even further, the code that you're finding outside of influencers on a verified coupon platform. By joining these kind of gated platforms with these brands, that's where you'll actually get a little bit better of a discount. And so spending extra thirty seconds just to really research around before you make that purchase can really help you save a lot of money.
01:02:53
Speaker 1: It feels so good when you pop in that code and it just lights up, and it's like, dang, you got it. You get some sort of discount. I don't care what the discount is. If I'm shopping online and my wife gives me such a hard time about this, because I will spend a half an hour looking for a code.
01:03:09
Speaker 2: If I can't.
01:03:10
Speaker 1: Now, I will tell you my Like I said, my biggest secret is simply codes dot com. I will go there ninety nine percent of the time. It works and it's easy to find. But there are some things that are a little bit trickier, and it you know, it takes a couple of minutes to like look around and find something. But I always want to find something, and I always come from the I guess this is my question for you. If there is a promo code like option on the site, is there guaranteed to be a promo code or is that just you know, sometimes it's just coded into the system.
01:03:40
Speaker 8: So a lot of brands will almost always have that coupon code box available there. There are a lot of brands that they may not have an active code at that time. So what one brand in particular that I'm really fond of.
01:03:52
Speaker 5: Nike, they regularly have a code.
01:03:55
Speaker 8: Now about once a quarter they'll have an actual coupon, but that box will always be living in chuckout, which I agree with you.
01:04:01
Speaker 5: If if I see that.
01:04:02
Speaker 8: When I'm checking out, I'm going on that hunt. I'm trying to find some way to save money. And even if it's just a couple percent or a couple of dollars, that reward you get from entering that code, having that light up and say you save money, that's really rewarding. And so actually, what I've started to do and what we see a lot of our users doing is really flipping their shopping search. So instead of starting and saying, all right, I want Nike, I'm gonna go to Nike dot com, think about what products you're actually looking to buy. Start looking at what retailers sell that product. Then you know, leverage a verified coupon platform, So start seeing what codes do those retailers offer, and we're actually seeing this is a lot of time, these smaller D two C type platforms, they're the ones that will actually have these great site wide discount codes. They can get the same exact Nike product or or any any brand product and actually save money.
01:04:56
Speaker 1: On Yeah, that's actually a good point because a lot of these things, like you say a D two C direct to consumer products, there's so many that you know we're all buying, like brands that you see advertised on social things like that. The instinct is to go to Amazon and just buy it, but a lot of times that's not necessarily the cheapest way to get it, Like if you go directly to their website, they may have a twenty five percent off code code or deal for like new customers, which can be significantly better than what Amazon is offering.
01:05:23
Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly, And I mean Amazon is great for convenience, but a lot of these brands, they're on Amazon almost as a need for kind of growing brand awareness, and so they are leveraging those coupons on their own site as a way to draw users and bring them into their ecosystem.
01:05:40
Speaker 1: All right, we've got about thirty seconds simply coodes dot com. Anything else we should know before we bookmark this site?
01:05:48
Speaker 8: I mean, honestly, you know, the biggest thing is be smart when you're shopping these days. You know, things are expensive, it's hard to save money, but there are great deals out there. And we're entering into this great peak season from summer where more and more discouncert rolling out with Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day. So if you're shopping, keep an eye out leverage platforms like simply codes to help save the most money.
01:06:11
Speaker 1: All right, Jimmy Doheeney from simplycodes dot com, thanks for joining me today. I really appreciate it.
01:06:16
Speaker 5: Awesome.
01:06:16
Speaker 1: Thanks Rich all right, I'll put a link to simply Codes on the website. Rich on tech dot Tv. No promo code there, it just works. Coming up, we'll take more of your calls at Triple eight rich one on one and I'll tell you why Microsoft this is a big deal, says you don't need anti virus.
01:06:35
Speaker 2: Wait what I'll explain coming up next. Welcome back to rich on Tech.
01:06:41
Speaker 4: Now.
01:06:41
Speaker 1: Sure if you've noticed the bumper music today is all kind of inspired by big movies. These were featured in movies. We watched Kindergarten Cop last night with the kids. You know, it is tough with a family of four to find a movie that everyone can agree on. Right, you've a kid that a kid that's like more of a teenager, You've got a younger child. You got my wife who wants like a comedy, like action and then or a romantic comedy would be her ideal. Then you've got me, who you know, like a wide swath, but a good raunchy comedy. I always love when I say something in Bobo just looks like wait what. But like my friend Brian Bishop, bald Brian, he had a recommendation on his newsletter this week.
01:07:32
Speaker 2: Let's see what is his newsletter? Bald Brian newsletter. You gotta remember what it's called, Oh, Baldywood. How could I forget that?
01:07:39
Speaker 1: Baldywood? But yeah, he had a recommendation for this movie called, uh, let's see what was it?
01:07:45
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, how do I access this?
01:07:48
Speaker 1: Come on, Brian, where is it funniest movie I've seen in years? And it was called Pizza Movie and it's on Hulu and he said it's it's really funny, but fair warning, this movie is not for everyone. So anyway, that's the kind of movie that intrigues me. I'm like, oh, it looks funny. It's a kid from Stranger Things and it looks great, Like that's a movie I want to watch. It's R rated college comedy. So I'm like, okay, cool, that sounds great. But of course my kids can't watch that. My wife may or may not like that kind of humor. So my point is we ended up watching Kindergarten Cop. It was it was a crowd pleaser. I'van rightman, I mean, it's you know, how could you go wrong? He's done a bunch. And the sad part is about watching old movies is that I just look at everyone in that movie. I'm like, oh my god, they're dead, they're you know, ninety now, they're no longer acting. You know, it's just wonder like it's just wild or the kid in the movie is now like fifty. It's just anyway, what was my point with all that? I don't feel makes me feel old. I mean, I don't remember Kindergarten Cop as a kid. What year did that movie come out? Probably the nineties, right, it was the nineties.
01:08:57
Speaker 2: I mean Art Schwarzenmaker was young and actually buff.
01:09:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh dude, the guy was so buff. Like they did one shot of him where you saw like his biceps and it's just like, whoa, that guy was built. Okay, I don't know what my point of all that was. But anyway, let's see what else Microsoft says you do not need anti virus.
01:09:19
Speaker 2: Wait, what.
01:09:21
Speaker 1: Microsoft finally is saying what a lot of people like myself have been saying for a while. The built in anti virus on Windows eleven is now enough protection for your PC.
01:09:32
Speaker 2: This is wild.
01:09:34
Speaker 1: They did a whole blog post about it. I will link it up on my website so you can read it. Rich on tech dot tv. By the way, this is episode one seventy two, so if you want to find the show notes, it'll all be there. Their built in system is called Microsoft Defender. It comes pre installed. Most of it is turned on by default and it runs in the background. And it's not just basic antivirus, because if you're paying for antivirus a lot of it, there's a delineation free versus paid. Sometimes it may not be scanning files in real time. Microsoft does. They check apps before they run, and it uses you know, the cloud to spot new stuff as it emerges and like send that info to your computer. Then they've got smart screen which warns you about risky websites and downloads. And then they've got ransomware protection that locks down your important folders. So these are all things that are built in. Microsoft says if you put these on and you don't disable them, that will cover most everyday threats without extra software. That is a big claim. Here's the key piece of advice from Microsoft. Don't run more than one antivirus at a time. So if you're running third parties, should probably turn off the built in stuff. If you're running the built in, you probably shouldn't have third party because that will slow down your system. So many of these people that are running antivirus, their computers like slowed to a halt. They're like, why, well, you're running this program that's not coded very well. This is a pretty big shift because you know, we know Windows as assystem them that like you have to protect and now it's a little bit of a paradigm shift for that protection to be built in. But not everyone agrees you should ditch your antivirus software completely. Some experts are saying, if you have a specific situation, like you share your computer with a bunch of people, you manage multiple devices, you want other features that are built in like identity, THEFT, VPNs, parental controls. You know your antivirus software may offer those as well. Let's see what else. But yeah, I mean, the main thing here is that all these operating systems are taking a que from Apple and with the iPhone, iPhone is the most locked down system you can have. You cannot figure out how to install an app on that system outside of the App store, most people can, and that's the way most of these other operating systems are getting, like anything like Chrome, Chrome, Books, all these operating systems are getting where it's like tougher to kind of put third party stuff on there because it keeps them safe. So I think if your takeaway here is that you want to go to go to your Windows computer, go to that little search bar. And by the way, this is mostly for Windows eleven. Windows ten, you know that's going out of style. It's probably not as up to date as Windows eleven, So I would just I would say this probably applies to Windows eleven only. But go to your little search. Type in Windows Security and you'll see there's a whole bunch. It says virus in threat protection, account protection, firewall app and browser control, device security. Tap every one of those. Make sure they have a green dot. Make sure they have a green check mark that means they're turned on. My app in Browser Control was not turned on. I had to turn that on. Device security, make sure that's turned on. And then there's one more place you want to look controlled folder access. This is for randomware or ransomware. So type in ransomware protection and make sure that is toggled on. And if you toggle that on, it'll make it tougher for some of your some of these random programs to get access to your core files. Obviously, read the blog post before you make any changes to your computer or ditch anything, because everyone's situation is different. But I've been saying this for a while. What's built into Windows is probably enough The bigger threats these days are really phishing emails and texts and bad websites, So be careful out there. Rich on Tech dot TV episode one seventy two for the notes on that. Coming up, We'll take more of your calls at Triple eight rich one on one eighty eight seven four to two.
01:13:35
Speaker 2: Four one zero one.
01:13:39
Speaker 1: Welcome back to rich on Tech rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology, Triple eight rich one on one eight eight eight seven four to two four one zero one. I'm always concerned with giving out the number this late in the show because we're already slammed, and you know, I don't know how much more can we handle.
01:13:59
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
01:14:00
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess a good problem to have, but I still have like a thousand stories to get through. One hundred emails from you this week, let me do one from Gianetta in Florida. My son is in prison and he says you're great. He listens every Saturday and has other people listening too. I'm seventy eight with arthritis and I can't drive anymore, but I'd love to be able to go shopping on my own again like I did for sixty years. Are there any cars that fully drive themselves so I can just sit and go where I need and are any of them affordable? Well, first off, thank you to your son and his friends listening from jail. That's very special. Here's the deal with self driving cars, so there's really not I mean there. Look, the easy answer is a Tesla and it does have self driving. But the thing is, and they're probably the most advanced in that area when it comes to something a consumer can purchase, But here's the thing. You still have to pay attention and to take over. And it's not perfect. So I use it on a daily basis to drive me around, but it's not like you. I mean, it has actually gotten to the place where you can push a button from your driveway and it will back out of your driveway, drive you wherever you want, and almost pretty much park where you need to park. But is it like you would still have to be able to drive like it's not in a place where we're at the level where it's fully autonomous. So that's number one. If you want something fully autonomous, you'd have to go to a ride service like Waimo, where the car does drive itself and you sit in the back like a passenger. I don't know if that's available where you live, but that's an option. Zookes is also an option where that's same thing, but also not in a lot of places. But why not just use uber lyft there you go, Just call an uber Lyft. You'll have an actual human driver and they will bring you wherever you need to go. And that's probably the easiest thing at this point. So you don't you don't need to pay. I mean, you know, you said if are any of them affordable? None of those things I mentioned or foot Well, you know that the zooks and the Waimo may be affordable, but those are per ride tesla. You gotta buy a whole new car to get that. So I would say, bottom line, uber lyft. They'll pick you up, they'll drop you off, and if you talk to them nicely, they may even help you with your luggage, your stuff. I don't know, That's what i'd recommend. All right, Let's let's try a call real quick here because I've got so much. Let's see, let's go to Debbie in Wisconsin.
01:16:31
Speaker 2: You're on with Rich.
01:16:33
Speaker 9: Hi, Rich, how are you?
01:16:34
Speaker 2: I'm doing?
01:16:34
Speaker 3: Well?
01:16:35
Speaker 2: What's up?
01:16:36
Speaker 9: Thank you? Well, I had a good lemma. I tell him in the beginning about I have voicemails from my love whould pass away, and after like I would save voicemails purposely, save.
01:16:52
Speaker 3: Them on my phone.
01:16:54
Speaker 9: Yes, very important, but after thirty days, if I don't resave those voicemails, they get automatically erased. But then I had remembered about virtual voicemail, which I choose pick and choose what to delete there because it also will save every voicemail I have, you know, through regular voicemail, And I'm like, I don't want this junk stuff here in virtual I just want to save what's important to me or dear or phonier or whatever. But I only have I only did that purposely saved with three from my love instead. So I'm just wondering there's a way I could get the voicemails that I had saved previously that were automatically deleted back.
01:17:41
Speaker 2: How long ago is this?
01:17:43
Speaker 3: Oh boy?
01:17:44
Speaker 9: I mean, well he passed away to be a year and a half.
01:17:47
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, but I say me.
01:17:49
Speaker 9: Too, But he's in a good place. He's proud of me for me calling. Oh my gosh, you have no idea, he would listen and I never I think he goes deep call, which I call it contack.
01:18:01
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that means a lot to me. Uh well, hey, here's the deal. I mean, I a year and a half a year, Well, these voicemails if they this is so? Were these voicemails saved through your carrier?
01:18:13
Speaker 4: Like?
01:18:13
Speaker 2: Was this like an eighteen T Verizon T mobile something like that?
01:18:17
Speaker 9: I just go I was buying the Boost phone and I was just resaving them. I mean remember usually yeah, you know, but they didn't get as an important until I knew he was sick and cycle right, and I think, and you know, if it is what it is? But I heard half rich, How do you know if you don't ask.
01:18:38
Speaker 2: It, probably you don't know.
01:18:40
Speaker 1: If you don't add one hundred and they're probably they're they're probably gone.
01:18:43
Speaker 2: I will say that. But now you do you have an iPhone? Do you have an Android?
01:18:48
Speaker 9: What do you have androids?
01:18:50
Speaker 2: Okay?
01:18:50
Speaker 9: How many times I'm sort of technology?
01:18:54
Speaker 1: Okay, So but you've got the Visual Voicemail app. So when you go on there is there like a deleted folder or any thing like that that you can find on there. Have you looked You've poked around the app enough to know that they're not lingering anywhere.
01:19:06
Speaker 9: Yes, And I'm wondering if it is an apps because I think it's automatically built into my phone. Okay, I could pay for premium, but I don't, and I think they even really I can repoke.
01:19:17
Speaker 1: Okay, Well, it depends on the provider, depends on the cell company. Some of them do charge for visual voicemail. And you could download an app, but but I would check with boosts see if there's an app that you can download, see if that has some of these old messages in there, if you can download that, And then also I would I would call them and just ask them say, hey, look, I'm trying to retrieve some of these old voicemails. I know it's a long shot, but I'm just curious if you keep them on your servers or anything like that. And the answer is probably no. I mean, I hate to say, but like you have to know. I mean, you got to think how many million you got, one hundred million customers of just AT and T, then Verizon, then T Mobile and these voice scails.
01:20:00
Speaker 9: Isn't any different for me because I buy my service monthly by the card. Well not anymore now I pay you know, it's automatic, But for a long time I would just reboot through the card I picked up at Walmart.
01:20:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I would say in that case, they probably keep those voicemails even less, just because it's much more of you know, it's it's more of a temporary account.
01:20:21
Speaker 9: So you just did the same thing for me that simply codes did for me.
01:20:26
Speaker 4: Both.
01:20:26
Speaker 9: You save me from the group called pizza. The I ta paying the asphalt.
01:20:33
Speaker 5: Because sometimes it takes away.
01:20:35
Speaker 9: I had a problem on practicing patients. And it's true, you know, I don't pray for things because you Yeah, thank you so much.
01:20:43
Speaker 1: All right, really well, Debbie, thanks for the call today. I really appreciate it. I'm so sorry. If you're a loss, and I would, I would do that. I would call Boost just just out of curiosity. See give your account number, see what they say. I think they're lost. In general, I get a lot of emails, a lot of questions about voicemails. So number one couple things to do if you want a voicemail. If there's a voicemail on your phone that's important to you, save it today. So go through on both iPhone and Android. If you have a visual voicemail app, you can press the share icon and it will share out the audio of that voicemail wherever you want. You can email it to yourself. You can upload it to cloud storage. If it's a phone that's old or you don't have visual voicemail, you have to press and hold the number one on your phone to dial voicemail. Just put your phone on speaker and use another phone or friend's phone to record that message. You have the audio of that message, and then email that to yourself. And then if you want to keep your emails long term, like I do that, I keep a bunch on my phone. If you want to keep them long term, sign up for a third party email service like I have Google Voice, so when my voicemails go there, they are saved forever. I was scrolling back the other day. I've had that for since about two thousand and seven. I could scroll all the way back to like two thousand and seven and still listen to my voicemails because it never goes away. Now that may have changed within you know whatever. But there's other programs like youmail dot com. You can subscribe to that and they will save your emails for much longer than your carrier. So if these things are important to you, take the time to set it up. Make sure that you're saving these email, these voicemails in a place that will last forever, because most of the time you cannot get them back. That's just the reality. Like I was saying earlier, with one hundred million customers each thirty second voicemail, think about how much space that ends up taking up on these carrier servers. They want to get rid of them, they want to cycle through them. That's why they don't last very long. They say these are going to expire, or they don't give you enough space. You know, they only give you a certain amount of visual voicemail space on your your voicemail box for a reason. They don't want you to clog up their systems, so they do get rid of these things. So Debbie, thanks for the call. Appreciate it. What a fine person. I love that, She said her loved one new rich On Tech that call rich On Tech All right, before we go to break, Kim sent through a story out of San Francisco. There was a passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to San Diego had to arrive late because someone was bringing a humanoid robot on board and talk about a giant lithium battery inside. So they started as a seventy pound robot. They started asking all kinds of questions, delayed the flight, and they ended up having to buy a seat for this robot, and they took out his battery. I guess they took out they had to get the robot down to seventy pounds. Oh, they didn't mention the battery in the story. They were overnighting extra batteries. It was just a weight issue. Why do you have to be under one hundred pounds, I wonder interesting? Anyway, that's I mean. I guess maybe as a as AI is embodied in more of these humanoids, because you know, people are falling in love with AI. People are literally in love with their AI chatbots already today twenty twenty six. Imagine when these AI chatbots are in a robotic body. Okay, people are really gonna be falling in love with these things. I mean, this is what kinky. Oh yeah, I didn't even mention that aspect. When the robots, you know, when people start fooling around.
01:24:28
Speaker 2: God, they're already doing it. I mean, this is what's happening.
01:24:33
Speaker 1: Wasn't there a whole movie based off of but based I'm sure there's plenty A guy fill in love with his oh her, Yeah, yes, but that was just like I wasn't even embodied.
01:24:42
Speaker 2: I don't think. I think it was just like a voice.
01:24:44
Speaker 1: But imagine when these things are embodied and some of the parts work, if you know what I'm saying. I mean, it's like game over for humanity. This is it, folks telling you all right? Eighty eight rich one on one eighty eight seven four to two four one zero one. Coming up, I've got a list right here of about one two be four about ten new apps and websites that you need to know about. They're all very good. I will detail them coming up right here on rich on Tech. Welcome back to rich on Tech, rich DeMuro here talking technology the website rich on Tech dot TV. One of Bobo's favorite songs here.
01:25:33
Speaker 2: This was his choice.
01:25:35
Speaker 1: Yeah but this fit in the theme. This was a major anthem for a major movie. And yeah, so good good tune.
01:25:44
Speaker 2: Got a bunch of.
01:25:45
Speaker 1: Emails about this. Microsoft is killing off publisher, So if you still use publisher for flyers or newsletters. You need to know this information. It's going to reach end of life in October twenty twenty six. After that, it's no longer included in Microsoft three. If you're a three sixty five subscriber, you will not be able to open or edit publisher files at that After that date, the app will basically just disappear. So if you bought a standalone version like you got this physical software, support will end, but you may be able to still run it, just without updates or support, so like it'll still function on your system, it just will not get any updates and you won't have support for this. Microsoft says most of what people do in publisher flyers, brochures, business cards, newsletters can already be done in Canva. Oh I'm sorry, I mean Word or PowerPoint. Okay, So if you have old files, Publisher uses thepub dot pub format that is not widely supported outside the app, so they say convert your files before October or you may not be able to open them later. Easiest option is to open your file and publisher choose files save as PDF. If you want to keep editing, convert it to PDF, open up that PDF and word. Obviously there's gonna be a lot of if you know, like all the formatting is going to be broken, probably, so just be aware of that. If you have a lot of files. They suggest using a PowerShell script to bulk convert. If you don't know what that is, it's probably not something you're gonna be able to do easily on your own, so you might need to enlist some help. That's for people like schools, offices, anyone that has a lot of these documents. So long story short, Yeah, publisher is going away October twenty twenty six. Come up with a plan and switch to PowerPoint word Canva. There's a whole bunch of ways to make flyers and things nowadays online besides this proprietary program.
01:27:36
Speaker 2: So there you go.
01:27:37
Speaker 1: All right, speaking of programs, I've got a whole bunch to tell you about. I'm gonna get through a bunch of these theser I bookmark all these things all the time that I come across, and these are some of the notable ones from the past couple of weeks. So number one, this app is super super cool, not for everyone, Like you may not need this, but I certainly do, and it's really cool. It's called dual Shot Recorder and it's an iPhone app that records vertical in hers at the same time. So if you are shooting stuff for social media, there's always this struggle do I record it vertical? Do I record it horizontal? Now you get both and you get both files in your camera or your camera roll, and you can use one for TV one for social It's ten dollars and it's iOS only. And there are a whole bunch of different brands of this out there, but the one to know is from Derek Downey Junior. He's the original and it's been number one on the App Store for photo and video. I'll put the link on the website, but that's dual shot Recorder. Then if you're on Android, there's a new Android weather app called gradient Weather, and this one's just a beautiful weather app. So if you like kind of like that Pixel weather, this kind of looks like that, except just for anyone. You don't have to be on a pixel So gradient Weather it's all about visuals, no ads, no tracking, and you've got a whole bunch of great widgets as well.
01:29:00
Speaker 4: Well.
01:29:01
Speaker 1: I believe some things are paid, like the basics are free, but there are some in app purchases Yes. And then there's a new app called Memo dot Ai. This is from another great app called Notepad. Let's see Memo dot Ai. Oh nope, Plan sorry nopeplan dot co slash memo And this is an iPhone only voice notes app that converts whatever you talk into structured notes, so summaries, action items, and key insights. This is for power users because it's not cheap. It's seventy nine dollars a year. But if you're the kind of person like me that's always taking voice notes, this is a great app for you. I use a whole bunch of these apps. This is, this is this is looks like a good one. The one that I use is voice, Notoes dot Com and Whisper Memos. I have a whole bunch. Alp and Glow. Alpen Glow is for it. Basically, it tells you if it's going to be a good sunset or not. So this is really for photographers, but for anyone if you're on vacation, whatever you want to know, you can know the exact time for Golden Hour and also if the sunset's going to be any good. So that's cool. That's Alp and Glow. There's one called US National Parkfinder, and this is an interesting one. This looks like it was coded with ai Vibe coded, but you can see you can pick the best national park based on where you're starting, distance, best months ratings, and stargazing potential.
01:30:24
Speaker 2: So it's really cool. It's got all.
01:30:25
Speaker 1: Sixty three parks and it's just an easy way to slice and dice and figure out which one to go to.
01:30:32
Speaker 2: Clove app.
01:30:33
Speaker 1: This one is awesome, awesome, awesome iPhone and Android. It's a recipe saver app. And what's cool about it is that it's super it's free, so Clove dot Kitchen and you can import recipes from anywhere. We're talking reels, TikTok, regular web page, YouTube, and it scans the information and puts it in a perfect format. It is really really good Clove dot Kitchen. And then NASA has something called your Name in landsat. This is an interactive little thing from NASA that spells out your name using real satellite images from the Earth. And finally, blank dot Page. If you just want something to write, you want a blank page, just go to blank dot Page.
01:31:18
Speaker 2: It's pretty cool.
01:31:19
Speaker 5: All right.
01:31:20
Speaker 1: I'll link all these up on the website. Rich on tech dot TV back after this. Welcome back to rich on tech rich Demiro here hanging out with you, talking technology. I know. I give you a lot of apps just now before the break, a lot of handy apps and websites. They are all linked up on the show notes. Just go to rich on tech dot TV Episode one s two should be right at the top of the page. If not, just scroll down to where it says radio show and in there is everything we talked about, not just that, but all the things I mentioned, all the helpful tools and tricks and tips. It's all right there rich on tech dot TV, all right. Joining me now is the CEO of Jubilee TV, A shish Arga Wall.
01:32:12
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show.
01:32:16
Speaker 5: After initially covered or launch. Excited to be here.
01:32:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we did.
01:32:22
Speaker 1: We did a segment for TV a couple of years ago, and as I understand it, the takeaway for me is that this is a box that you connect to your TV and it kind of lets you control someone else's TV, but also makes that TV easy for the people.
01:32:38
Speaker 2: That live there to control, especially if they're older. Is that Did I do that properly?
01:32:45
Speaker 5: Yes?
01:32:45
Speaker 10: Exactly, Probably better than me So what we are is a system that connects a caregiver's phone or app into a senior's TV, allows the caregiver to support the seniors remotely, but also allow seniors to age independently with dignating their own home. It starts by the first main scenario, as you can see, like caregiver can see what's in the TV. They can put any shot or content, fix any issues, mom logs out oft Netflix.
01:33:13
Speaker 5: They can do that. That's how it started. But then you add connection to it.
01:33:17
Speaker 10: They can do video calls, share photos, reminders, group calling, which Grandma happy birthday?
01:33:22
Speaker 5: You know, the whole family jumps on.
01:33:24
Speaker 10: And now the third layer that we build is the camera and the microphone give you like rich insights onto what's happening with mom, so you can stay ahead of mom's journey as she ages through the years.
01:33:38
Speaker 1: Oh interesting, Okay, so that's a new aspect to it. So I'm looking at the website. It looks like since we talked, you're now doing kind of a monthly where you you know, the hardware is included in the monthly fee. Is that or I guess you have a bunch, but that's is that how most people are doing it, you think.
01:33:54
Speaker 10: Yeah, so you know, we try to make it easier. So it's a rental model now, so you just pay per month, use it until you know, most people use it until mom passes away, and then they return the box because you don't need it afterwards. So makes it really easy for them to come into the system, use it as long as says they need it, and turn it back.
01:34:15
Speaker 1: I didn't know this conversation was going to get so dark so quickly. Oh my gosh, but it's a reality of you know of these systems. But okay, so tell me why you came up with this.
01:34:27
Speaker 10: Look, I have three kids, I have four sits of parents in laws and parents, and my wife and I both work, and COVID kind of like they deteriorated so fast it was really tough to handle, like just absolutely crazy. And people who live this realize right away when that happens, it's like you are in a quick sign.
01:34:47
Speaker 5: Nothing pulls you out.
01:34:47
Speaker 10: So I started to think about what will make me take care of them remotely, Like how can I I want to be there at twenty four to seven, I just can't be there, So what can sort of try and at least be my help. But right, and when you think about it, what do I really have for them? I have empathy, that's great, But.
01:35:07
Speaker 5: I also have eyes and ears. I have a brain that can see what's happening. How can I make that?
01:35:12
Speaker 1: So?
01:35:12
Speaker 10: How can I first start with making their TV because they watch six hours of TV really really useful because they're isolated if they don't watch right content six hours of watching eighty four percent of the time they're watching news to get anybody depressed, not alone.
01:35:28
Speaker 5: Us or to say that.
01:35:30
Speaker 10: So that's how it started, and then I started to extend it more and more over the last year year and a half, where now it almost literally replaces my need to be there twenty four to seven. So in the middle of the night, I don't need to go figure out what's happening in the room. The system tells me your mom got up, she went to the bathroom, she came back in, she turned on the TV. She didn't turn on the TV. I can send a photos. You know, people have done church service remotely. People have done so many things. So the idea is we're doing the show remotely. This wasn't possible twenty years ago. Why can't I take care of my parents remotely as much as I can. So that was the genesis of the whole thing. And now a year and a half later, we have forty five thousand active users that use the app five point eight times every single day.
01:36:14
Speaker 5: That's how much they right.
01:36:17
Speaker 10: And they do not cancel, and I know it will get down, but they do not cancel until they don't need it anymore.
01:36:23
Speaker 5: And they only need it, don't need it anymore than moms you know, gone. So it was the impact.
01:36:30
Speaker 1: Okay, So and let's just explain what this is. A physical box that you put on top of your TV because it just have that camera and microphone. It's got a remote control that is very easy for a senior to use. It's got big buttons, they're colorful. It's got the volume up, the volume down, the channel the numbers, unlike most traditional streaming remotes that are just like, you know, a play pause kind of thing. So once you install this, explain the logistics. So when I remember going hands on, it reminded me of like a sling box. It's almost like you can monitor everything. That's like you could see your loved ones TV screen on your phone.
01:37:07
Speaker 5: Right.
01:37:08
Speaker 10: Yeah, meaning a large part of our team. In fact, one of our big investors came from slim Box, so there is a genesis to that as well.
01:37:16
Speaker 5: So you're right.
01:37:17
Speaker 10: So the box is a microphone and a camera and a really powerful always on a engine that's you know, but you connect it to all your devices. Well, it's Soroku, your set up box, your DVD player. It's a one time setup that takes twenty minutes.
01:37:30
Speaker 5: And I do it for my parents. So I buy the box, I go to the home, I put it in. Done.
01:37:36
Speaker 10: Now for them, let's start with them. There are four ways as they age they can use it. They can use the most powerful remote that we have, which is very simple to use, very powerful. They can just say Netflix. They can just say a show. You can say ABC, the TV turns on and they're watching. So no, no more apps, no more confusion. They just say what they want to say. Right, they can just say NBC. So it's really simple for them to use. But as they age, it goes through systems where you have a small remote cover they want don't want to use complicated buttons, you can put it in and towards the very late they have a six button like a dementia friendly remote. We're all going to live with dementia, which is a proven fact now unless there's medical breakthroughs. And at the very end, they don't need to use the remote at all. I can drive the whole experience for them remote.
01:38:22
Speaker 5: So that's how it starts.
01:38:23
Speaker 3: Right.
01:38:24
Speaker 10: You can put any show of content. I can turn on the TV, turn it off. I can program at six o'clock every day, turn it on, play Wheel a fortune for them, right, So that's how it starts. Now on my side, I can see what's on the TV. If they log out on Netflix, I can actually put in the Netflix password for them from here, so I don't have to go drop everything and go do that for.
01:38:43
Speaker 2: Them, right, Because that's what's happening.
01:38:44
Speaker 1: You get that call from mom or dad or family member like and they just say, like, on my TV, I have a black screen. You're like, okay, well tell me more. Or it's like, oh, the volume is not working, or Netflix is logged out, or I don't know how to access this program. It's like you can't see the screen. So it's really tough to give that remote support. And of course we're all busy and working and things, and this is why the elderly don't call their loved ones because they're worried about interrupting them. That's why they're scammed at the end of the day. So this kind of bridges all that.
01:39:17
Speaker 10: Yeah, and then you start to build on that. Right, once you have fixed the underlying thing, Now let's try to move towards happiness and joy. Like when my mom calls my kid, Now that's a grandma grandkid connection on a big screen, which is fundamentally since there you're not watching nose hair anymore. Like you know, you've seen those where are you grandma? Like you know, people running away. It just turns the whole scenario into delight. I can send any number of photos, I can send videos.
01:39:45
Speaker 5: You know, things like that. So now my mom is actually using that TV screen far more effectively.
01:39:51
Speaker 10: I can put a yoga video, I can take her to virtually to Ireland by because somebody is going.
01:39:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
01:39:58
Speaker 10: So there's so much content and goodness through the TV that her life now is more happy. And then right, yeah, okay, let's go down that.
01:40:06
Speaker 1: Well, we've only got about a minute. But I'm curious how long you've been doing this now, so.
01:40:12
Speaker 5: We launched, you know, it's really been two years since launch fifteen months. Okay, good growth, rapid usage, that's still a baby.
01:40:22
Speaker 2: But what have you learned in that time? What have you learned?
01:40:26
Speaker 5: This is a massive problem. We are only scratched the tip of the ice work right now, and there's a lot more to do. But amazing journey so far, amazing growth, amazing usage.
01:40:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I imagine that you probably get the most the most love from the caretakers that purchased this and set it up at their loved ones homes, because they're the ones that say, oh my gosh, you really a lot of relief in knowing that they not only have that control, but they can finally like actually help their loved ones.
01:40:56
Speaker 5: Yeah.
01:40:56
Speaker 10: Game changer, life changer. I've saved all since and thousands of dollars. I don't need to put mom into a home anymore.
01:41:03
Speaker 5: Those other things we hear.
01:41:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm looking at the website. So the website is get jubileetv dot com. Get jubileetv dot com. You can rent this monthly. It looks like it's about thirty nine dollars a month. For the year, it's about three eighty nine and that includes all the software that includes the subscription and the box right and the membership.
01:41:25
Speaker 2: Yeah okay, all.
01:41:26
Speaker 1: Right, Ashish Arkawall, thanks so much for joining me today. Thank you rich great to really appreciate it. Sure beats the uh hold on, let me run right over. Let me try to You know, like when your loved one is calling you with a TV or an internet problem, it is like you can't feel right until you've fixed it. That's the bottom line. Rich on tech dot tv is the website to go for more information. When we come back, we're gonna open up the feedback. Welcome back to rich on tech. Two quick stories before we get into the feedbag, which is overfloweth this weekend. First off, you knew this was gonna happen. TikTok is so influential. Now Netflix has a TikTok style clips feature inside the app. So it's a vertical video feed where you can scroll through various of course Netflix shows. It's gonna be clips from those shows personalized to you and not just to scroll through and laugh and see little scenes and things, but in the hopes that you might want to watch the full content and also discover things you may not discover. So again, this is called clips. The idea is that you might watch a short clip of a show first to laugh a little bit, and then maybe watch that show, that movie, that comedy special later and add it to your watch list. So check that out in the Netflix app. It's not not arrived in mind just yet, but it's probably rolling out. It's called clips. And then this has been a long time coming. YouTube TV finally let you build your own multiview. You can watch four channels at once, and you can choose which channels those are. So yes, YouTube TV has had multiview for a very long time, but they kind of gave you the combos, or they gave you the channels that you could choose from for your combos. Now you can just choose pretty much any channel. There may be some limitations. It's only live TV, can't do DVR on demand stuff. But oh, it's also rolling out slowly. I hate those terms because you probably want this right now and it may not hit your TV for a bit, but you are finally in control. And I will just mention that one of my dreams when I first started out in TV journalism was I wanted this is how old I am. I wanted like a bunch of TVs, like five different TVs mounted on my wall, or I guess you couldn't been mounted them back then. They were like CRTs, but you would put five TVs and each one be playing like a different channel, like channel two, channel four, channel five, channel seven, channel, you know, eleven, and you can watch everything at once. And of course now you just do that with any TV with YouTube or a lot of these streaming services. But I did have one news director at a TV station that I guess he posted it. I never went to his place, but he told me he had this, and I was like, well, that's what I want in my house. Okay, let's open up the feedbag. Speaking of streaming, Johnny and Staten Island, Hey, Rich, I was catching up on your recent broadcast and I ran into this issue with cord cutting in sports. I tried to find a Knicks playoff game figure to be on MSG or ESPN. Nope, it was on Amazon Prime. Then I tried to follow the Yankees on Yes, that wasn't there either. It feels like games are spread across Netflix, Amazon, everywhere else. It's getting ridiculous trying to keep up with the team. You basically need multiple subscriptions. Yes, you do, and you need a way to find where those games are playing. The ESPN app is pretty handy with that. Charles in New Jersey, Rich, I want to share two tools I've been using for a long time.
01:44:57
Speaker 2: You Mail.
01:44:57
Speaker 1: Oh, we talked about that this show. It's been fantastic stick for blocking spam calls. It's also got more voicemail features in the carriers. It's not cheap, but for me, it's worth it. I also use privacy dot com for virtual credit cards. You can create single use cards, set spending limits, or lock them to one vendor. It's perfect for free trials or sites you don't fully trust. Charles, I'm familiar with email, and yes, privacy dot com is excellent, especially for free trials that you are inevitably going to forget to cancel. It is the best Men in Redondo Beach says Hey.
01:45:31
Speaker 2: Rich.
01:45:31
Speaker 1: I ordered a new phone from a T Mobile kiosk at Sam's Club. Had it shipped to a UPS access point with a signature required. I got the delivery notification an hour later another email saying it had been picked up. The UPS store confirmed someone took it. They told me the person showed up with a passport matching my first name. Video showed someone in a cap and sunglasses. I even signed up for ups my choice to prevent this kind of thing.
01:45:54
Speaker 2: Have you heard of this?
01:45:56
Speaker 1: No, but yes I have heard of thieves targeting phone deliveries in particular. I guess the weak point here is that ID verification. You know, sometimes people do this as just like they're going through the motions, but they really do need to check to make sure it matches. Hopefully you're not on the line for any of that. You should not be.
01:46:17
Speaker 2: Let's see Denise.
01:46:18
Speaker 1: Says Hey Rich About a year ago, I traded in my MacBook Air for an iMac because I wanted a bigger screen for writing at home. I loved it, but I miss being able to move around the house. Then I saw your segment on the MacBook Neo and decided to get one. It took a few weeks to arrive, but I just got it and I love it now. I feel like I've the best of both worlds and I'm already using it for my dining room. Just wanted to say thanks.
01:46:39
Speaker 2: For the great advice.
01:46:40
Speaker 7: Thank you.
01:46:42
Speaker 1: Let's see here Mitch and Denver listening on six point thirty K how Hey, rich. I listened to you often, or maybe it's khow one of those. I'm a cybersecurity practitioner with over forty years in the industry. Yeah, one of the old guys. Sometimes they yel at the radio when you say things. But this is the first time I actually writing in. You were talking about recording apps and I wanted to point something out important. In healthcare, there are ongoing lawsuits claiming practitioners didn't notify patients their data was being shared with third parties and didn't have proper agreements in place, which could violate HIPPA. Also, recording laws vary by state. Some require all party consent. The rules can differ whether it's phone call or in person. Your callers may not think about that, but when you're giving advice on the radio, it might be worth adding a disclaimer so people don't unknowingly.
01:47:28
Speaker 2: Break the law. Keep up the fight. There's no shortage of work to do.
01:47:31
Speaker 1: Yes, no matter what you hear, any advice you get in life, don't just follow it blindly. Always do your own research. But I will say that hip of stuff I'll just here comes the angry emails is so annoying. I went to a dermatologist the other day. I'm not kidding. It's like, oh, come early for paperwork, like seventy five pages of just like, here's how we're sharing your info.
01:47:51
Speaker 2: Here's do you care? Can we talk to it?
01:47:52
Speaker 1: Can we leave a voicemail with yourself? It's like, I don't care, I don't care. Just tell me what it is and let me know. And anyone who picks up the phone my house tell me kids. By the way, if you're putting off getting like a mold check or any sort of like any doctor situation, just go. It is so much better to know. Like I'm like sitting there, like I haven't been to the dermatologists in like years. I'm like, oh, they're probably gonna find something horrible. The lady takes one look and she's like, yeah, you're fine, Like no worries. It's like, Okay, how much better did I feel after that? But yet I took me like three years to make an appointment anyway, Hiju Julie writes in Hey, Rich, I emailed you because I couldn't open some attachments in a text message. I really needed them because are from my husband and his funeral was this weekend. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. You suggested tapping the contact name at the top, going into the infosection and clicking the photos.
01:48:44
Speaker 2: I went back.
01:48:44
Speaker 1: I tried it and it worked. Crazy that they show up there but not in the conversation, but I'm so glad I found them.
01:48:50
Speaker 2: Thank you again. You have a house full of rich On tech fans here. Thank you, Julie.
01:48:54
Speaker 1: I am so sorry for your loss. Alan, Hey, rich I love listening to your show. It's both educational and fun. Thanks for doing what you do, Nancy, no help needed, just want to know I appreciate you. Deb in Oshkosh w hby Rich I love your radio show, Betty and upland I subscribe to your newsletter and listen on KFI and with the Bill Handle segment you do. Your segments have been so helpful to this eighty eight year old lady who doesn't have the technology instincts needed in today's internet world.
01:49:23
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for what you do.
01:49:26
Speaker 1: And Jerry writes in from Denver, love your show on KOA. And Neil from Ohio love the ORB app you introduced us to last week. Thank you for your public service. Yes, get that app ORB. I think it's ORB dot app, orb dot net. Oh my gosh, game changer. Absolutely love that.
01:49:46
Speaker 2: That's gonna do it.
01:49:46
Speaker 1: For this episode, you can find links on the website rich on tech dot tv, follow me on social media at rich on tech. Next week, I'm gonna explain wireless charging. Plus we've got the founder of save wise to talk about money saving tip. Thank you so much for listening. I know there are so many ways you can spend your time. I do appreciate you spending it right here with little old me. One reminder before I go, please, please, please please do not drive distracted. Those texts can wait. I know they're tempting. We all want to write back to them.
01:50:17
Speaker 2: They can wait.
01:50:18
Speaker 1: Thanks to everyone who makes this show possible. Bobo today on board, Kim on the phones. My name is rich Demiro. I will talk to you real soon
