Rich On Tech

Rich mentioned two helpful travel sites in his Newsletter: PointsYeah allows you to search across multiple points and rewards programs at once for flights and hotels, and Turbli allows you to check the turbulence forecast for your flight.Rich says the Nothing Ear buds are excellent.Rich talked about portable chargers for your smartphone. The more mAh, the more charges you’ll get (10,000 is a good bet); look for USB-C charging in AND out for faster charging. Anker and Belkin are good bets.Keith in Andover, Kansas wants to know which AI to use. Rich likes ChatGPT for general, overall chatbot activities, Gemini for access to real-time information and the web, Claude for excellent language and summarization skills, CoPilot for creativity and Perplexity AI for “book reports” on a topic.Roxton in Ventura is having issues with his Moto 5G.Instagram is testing unskippable ads.Netflix is ending support for second and third-generation Apple TVs on July 31, 2024.Jay from Woodland Hills has a Samsung S10 and wants to put an AirTag equivalent in his car and wants to know which one. You want a tag that works on Android’s Find My Device network. Rich says to look at Chipolo and Pebblebee but the shipping times are delayed.Sean in La Costa, CA wants to switch back to an Android after using an iPhone for a bit. Rich recommends iMazing, AltTunes and SMS Backup & Restore.Apple says it will support the iPhone 15 and later models for at least 5 years, but historically, they have done software updates for six years.Rich highly recommends the $500

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Rich discusses how Google’s new AI Overviews feature got out of control and how the company plans to improve it.Here’s the latest issue of Rich’s newsletter. Sign up using your email to get it in your inbox.Mark in Lomita asks about a dash cam under $200. Rich mentioned Nexar, Vantrue & VAVA.The FBI helped to take down a major international botnet. Here’s how to check if your computer had malicious VPN software installed.John in Fallbrook has an Arlo Pro camera that won’t connect to his WiFi.Terysa in Harrisburg, PA asks how password managers work.Fran in Studio City has questions about a new TV.Google has unveiled a smartwatch for kids called the Fitbit ACE LTE. The one thing to know is that the smartwatch is cellular connected but not assigned a traditional phone number. All calls and messaging are handled through the Fitbit app.Amazon partners with Grubhub to give Prime members free Grubhub+ indefinitely, and you can now place orders through the Amazon app.Dan in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA needs to change his passwords. Rich recommends using the Google Password Manager on Chrome and iPhone.JP Schmetz, CEO of Ghostery, digital privacy expert and advocate, will discuss tools, browsers, AI privacy, and legislation like the American Privacy Rights Act.“Granny” wants to know the best antivirus software for her Windows computer.Android devices are being enrolled in Google’s new Find My Device network. Here’s the opt-out page.Ed in Las Vegas wants to know if there’s a difference between Amazon Music Prime and Unlimited.Anil Sabharwal of Google Fitbit will discuss the company’s new connected smartwatch for kids, the FitBit Ace LTE.You can now find games to play on YouTube.Philo now offers a free level of its streaming service with 70+ ad-supported channels; no credit card is required.

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Rich talked about going to Seattle for two Microsoft events. One focused on their new CoPilot+ PCs and the other was the Microsoft Build developer conference.Rich talked about the new Recall feature on Windows computers that remembers everything on your screen.Bill in Julian wants a printer that he can print with from his phone but has no WiFi. Rich suggests looking for a printer with WiFi Direct capabilities. Bill mentioned he has a car with a record player!Rick in Pasadena isn’t happy about the T-Mobile price hike, especially since he’s on a plan with a price lock guarantee.Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, to talk about Microsoft CoPilot+ PCs and the Microsoft Build conference.Michelle in Long Beach is getting an error on her iPhone even when she tries to buy a free app.Want a Samsung SmartTag2 Bluetooth tracker for $1 instead of the $30 it usually costs? Matt Swider of The Shortcut has the deal.Google is having issues with its new AI Overviews feature.Tim in San Francisco is looking for guidance on developing his mobile app idea.Rich is super impressed with Google Photo’s Unblur feature, which is available on Pixel 7 and up and rolling out to other devices now.John in San Clemente wants to know how to take a photo of a menu in Europe and have his phone translate it. Rich recommends Apple’s Translate app, Google Translate and even ChatGPT!Don’t fall for Scareware! Here’s what to do if you see a pop-up that says your smartphone is infected with viruses.Tim Stevens, freelance automotive journalist, to talk about his recent article about EV Myths.Debbie in Fallbrook, CA can’t get clear images texted to her phone anymore.Southwest Airlines prices are now displayed on Google Flights.Hal in Florida asks how to learn to use AI like ChatGPT.Sharon in Lake Stevens, Washington, doesn’t want to pay for cloud storage. Rich recommends Amazon Photos...

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Rich talks about the AI war between ChatGPT and Google.Manny in Covina wants to know how much an old computer textbook is worth.Netflix signed a three-year deal with the NFL; they’ll start by showing two games on Christmas Day 2024.Mark in San Diego is getting rid of DSL and wants to know if Internet Air is reliable. Rich says to compare what’s available in his area using SpeedTest’s ISP tool. Also, check to see what the AT&T internet speed is on your smartphone using Fast.com or an app called Meteor.Twitter has completed its rebranding to X.com, and now all URLs point to X.Microsoft’s Free PC Manager makes it easy to free up storage space, clear cache and find duplicate files.Kathy in Orange County can’t find the voice input on her keyboard ever since she updated her Samsung phone.Kate wants to know about traveling to the UK. The best apps for taxi rides, walking tours and a guided Beatles tour. Rich recommends checking out Mindtrip.AI and GuideGeek.AI for the answers. Google is also launching an AI trip planner soon.Samsung, Google and Apple all have new accessibility features.Angie in Los Angeles is looking for a simple phone for an 80-year-old family member. Rich mentioned looking at dumbwireless for ideas, blindshell phones and Samsung’s Easy Mode.Wen in Yorba Linda wants to know if they should use an iPad Air, iPad or MacBook Air M1 for general web browsing.Rick in Torrance wants to know if the Pixel Watch 2 is suitable for heart rate monitoring.C. Scott Brown, Senior Editor at Android Authority, will discuss Google IO 2024.Hugo shared an update about the Sonos app redesign.Linda in Burbank says her landline is vital. California might not

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Rich remembers his colleague Sam Rubin.Apple unveiled new iPads at an event called Let Loose. We saw new iPad Air and Pro models, a new Apple Pencil Pro, and updated Final Cut and Logic Pro apps.Jeff, in Fort Worth, Texas, is trying to connect LED lights that use 2.4 GHz to his Google Nest Wifi.Chris Sheldrick, creator of the app What3words, will explain how to use it to tell someone your exact location using simple words.Samsung is rolling out Galaxy AI features to more devices, including the S22 Series, the Z Flip 4, the Z Fold4, and Tab S8.John in Lake Forest and his Mom is addicted to home shopping channels. Is there is a way to restrict them. Rich says to check parental controls on the device.Serphane in Studio City wants a TV with dedicated bright and dim buttons. Rich says a universal remote might do the trick to quickly change the settings.Marcel in Brooklyn wants to know how to lock down his social media accounts like Instagram. Rich recommends being aware of scam messages trying to hijack your password and turning on two-factor authentication using an app.Craig in Iowa wants to know how to find the AI features on his Samsung S24 phone.Brad in West Los Angeles wants to know how to connect the iPhone 15 in Europe.WSJ says T-Mobile and Verizon are in talks to split up U.S. Cellular towers and spectrum.Eli Blumenthal of CNET joined to explain how your cell phone carrier tracks you and how to change that.Rich in Colorado Springs wants to know when to use a VPN.Linda in Burbank wants to know what will happen to the MVNO carriers when there are just three big networks in the United States.Rich talked about Moms and technology, 47% own a smartwatch, 43% listen to a podcast weekly and spend an average of 4 hours and 4 minutes online daily.Textnow has an interesting new plan called Free Essential Data, which gives you free access to text, talk, and essential data for email, maps, and rideshare apps.Google unveils the Pixel 8a for $500 and it gets seven years of software updates.Olga...

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Rich opens the mailbag to answer listener questions.Victor asked if Apple will introduce a new iPad Pro this year. Rich says Apple’s Let Loose event on May 7 is expected to unveil new models.Tish asks if she should use AT&T Internet Air or Spectrum Fiber at 1 gigabit speed.Michael, who is in Kentucky, asks how to hide his real phone number when signing up for services. Rich mentioned Cloaked, Burner App, T-Mobile DIGITS, Verizon’s Second Number and Google Voice.Sue asked why she and her significant other’s iPhone accounts seemed intertwined. Rich says to set up separate Apple IDs but link them up using Apple Family Sharing.Bonnie in Santa Barbara wonders if she should switch from faster to slower internet to save money.Brian Chesky, co-founder of Airbnb, and Jay Carney, who leads public policy, will talk about their new icons offering and more.Sara in Ventura has mistakenly locked up her phone and can’t access her two-factor authentication codes.T-Mobile now owns Mint Mobile.Roku devices will soon have home screen ads.Kathy in Laguna Niguel wants to know if she should pay to replace the modem on her solar system or connect it using a wired connection.Sam’s Club is replacing receipt checkers at the exit doors with AI and computer vision to do the job automatically.Jack Winston, founder of BePresent, discusses how the app can help users use their smartphones less.John says he’s running out of space on his hard drive and wants to know how to free up storage. Rich mentioned BleachBit and WinDirStat. You could also change the default storage location for documents.LinkedIn now has three new games: Crossclimb, Pinpoint and Queens.Brad in Key West says he lost photos on his iPhone during a recent software update. Rich mentioned checking the Recently Deleted album in the Photos App and backing up photos to a third-party service like Amazon Photos, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Photos.UnitedHealthcare says 1/3 of Americans might be involved in their data breach.Anthropic releases Claude AI as a free app for iOS.John in Bakersfield had online banking fraud and needs help.John Faulkner of Clean Fleet Report will join to give a review of the all-electric Acura ZDX.Mindtrip.AI is a new way to use AI to plan travel.The popular Arc web browser is now available on Windows.

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Rich talked about his experience using high-speed Starlink internet on Hawaiian Airlines.Perry in Glendale needs help with his Outlook. Rich says to check the Spectrum settings here.Ryan Ozawa, Native Hawaiian tech journalist and publisher of the Hawaii Bulletin, will talk about the startup scene in Hawaii.Some Apple users were unexpectedly logged out of their accounts, forcing them to reset their passwords to get back in.Rosemary in Fontana has an issue with her Fire TV stick remote.President Biden signed a law that forces TikTok to be sold to a U.S. company or face a ban.Jose in Santa Clara wants to know if he should update his router firmware.The rumor mill says Samsung’s next Unpacked event will be held in Paris on July 10, 2024.JR Raphael, tech writer and author of the Android Intelligence newsletter. JR recommended the BuzzKill app for managing Android notifications.Apple’s next event is set for May 7. The invitation says Let Loose, and it’s expected to focus on new iPads.Verizon is hiking the price of smartwatch plans by $5 a month starting June 3, 2024.Rick in San Diego is curious about the security of the permissions apps ask for on your phone.Diana in Covina asks about password manager recommendations. Rich mentioned iCloud Keychain, Google Password Manager, Bitwarden, Dashlane and 1Password.The YouTube App is taking over Apple’s TV’s default slideshow; here’s how to fix that.Have you seen the keyboard memes going around on Twitter?Troy Hunt, creator of haveibeenpwned.com, will discuss what to do when your personal information is exposed in a data breach.Rabbit R1 reviews are in...

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Rich discusses the current state of self-driving and autonomous cars.Rick in Manhattan Beach wants a way to get music onto his iPod Shuffle. Rich recommended WALTR Pro. On Windows, try CopyTrans Manager.China has ordered Apple to remove WhatsApp, Threads, Signal and Telegram from the App Store.Laura Mae Martin, Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor and author Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing.Angie in Los Angeles has a laptop with a virus and wants to bring it to a store for help. Rich recommends uBreakiFix or search Yelp for “computer repair.”Samsung overtook Apple for the top spot in smartphone sales in Q1 2024.Airchat is the hot new social media network. Think Twitter but with voice messages that are transcribed so you can see and hear what people say.Adam in Orlando is curious about searching for his personal information on the Dark Web. Resources mentioned: Google One Dark Web report, Google Results About You, Keeper Security Dark Web Scan, Aura Dark Web Scan (great results) and haveibeenpwned.com (try this first!)Rich also mentioned DuckDuckGo email protection and cloaked email addresses.Netflix now has nearly 270 million subscribers.Gus in Moreno Valley, CA says Google Chrome disappeared from his computer. Rich says to make sure your Sync is turned on and you can always reinstall to recover your bookmarks, extensions and settings.Dan O’Dowd of The Dawn Project explains why Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software isn’t ready for the streets.William in Chino says his church livestream buffers when Netflix and YouTube work fine.Bill in Santa Monica shares a story about MobileX and Walmart.Edward in Tampa wants to know if he should buy a new iPhone SE now or wait for the new one. Rich recommends checking the MacRumors Buyers Guide.Meta AI launches in a big way in the search bar in Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. Rich recommends trying out the instant AI image generator...

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Rich discusses how we are automating jobs out of existence and the secret to keeping yours.Chuck, in Pasadena, visited a robot that made a burger chain called Cali Express. Here’s my original video on Flippy, the burger-flipping robot.The Roku hack is worse than expected. The company says it has affected more than 500,000 accounts.Dave Malkoff, a CBS News reporter, talks about reporting on the Total Eclipse. He recommended two apps, FlightRadar24 and RadarScope, for live weather radars.Udio is a new AI songmaker that’s getting a lot of buzz.Michelle, in Encinitas, CA, wants to know how her ex-husband was able to take over her email account.If you have an LG TV, you should check for a firmware update to patch a security vulnerability.Jerry in Pennsylvania wants to know why he can log into his account on one machine but not another.Virginia in Utica, NY, wants to know if she should still use AOL email or switch to Gmail. Rich mentioned a Gmail hack, a website called 10 Minute Mail for temporary email addresses, and JustDeleteMe.xyz for instructions on deleting old accounts.Meta is introducing new tools to combat sextortion by blurring out nude images in DM’s by default on teen accounts.John in Rosemead is looking for a great business card scanning app. Rich says he hasn’t found a good one yet. Popular options are Covve, CardHQ and Evernote. Rich’s recommendation: use the OCR function built into the photo app on iOS and Android and copy and paste the info into your contacts.Belkin CEO Steven Malony on innovation, careers, and sustainability in the tech space. Plus, Alisa Sommer O'Hara of Google discusses following your curiosity for a tech job.Christina in Long Beach wants to save a voicemail. Visual Voicemail allows you to export the audio file on iOS and Android.Sam in Sherman Oaks wants to know which antenna to get for over-the-air channels. Rich recommends checking out the website AntennasDirect.com.Ben has a 10-year-old MacBook and wants to replace it.Carlos in Downey wants a way to sync his iPhone photos to his computer. Rich

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Episode Summary:In this episode, Rich DeMuro shares a variety of useful websites, apps, and tech tips to make life easier and more secure. He discusses the importance of online privacy and security, offers advice on smartphone insurance, and explores the challenges and benefits of transitioning to a "dumb phone." The show also features an interview with a digital minimalist who shares insights on reducing screen time and finding balance in a technology-driven world.
Topics Discussed:- Rich shares several handy websites and apps, such as a Google image generator, a disposable email service, and tools for parsing information from images or text to create calendar events.- Online privacy and security are crucial, and everyone should take steps to protect themselves, including using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, keeping software up-to-date, and being cautious of phishing attempts.- When considering smartphone insurance, it's important to weigh the costs and benefits carefully and consider self-insuring by setting aside the monthly premium in a savings account.- Streaming services like Disney+ and Hulu are starting to crack down on account sharing, and users can expect new features to allow account sharers to start their own subscriptions or add individuals for an additional fee.- Transitioning to a "dumb phone" can be challenging but rewarding, leading to improved personal relationships, work productivity, and a more balanced lifestyle.
Resources and Links Mentioned:- Google Image Generator: google.com/search/images- 10 Minute Mail: 10minutemail.com- Agenda Hero Magic: agendahero.com/magic- The Points Guy Awards vs. Cash Calculator: thepointsguy.com/calculator- BG Eraser: bgeraser.com- Clean Text: cleantext.org- Who Brings: whobrings.com- Just Delete Me: justdeleteme.xyz- Redact.Photo: redact.photoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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