Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss back to school tax free sales, Disney bundling their streaming services, Apple blamed for 911 hangups, Microsoft’s voice recording practices, FTC looking into a deal between Amazon and Apple, and more.

Veronica in Boca Raton, Florida listens online and asked: “I have a question about the product for the cars, I think it’s called Viper. I’m not tech savvy, but is it true it can start your car remotely? Does it work for all makes and models?”

Veronica, Viper’s SmartStart should work with most cars, they’ve been making remote start modules for so long that your car would probably have to be pretty old for it not to work with them, and it will start your car remotely.

With the current models “remotely” means pretty much anywhere with an internet connection. The new SmartStart modules have their own internet connection which allows you to track your car and turn it on from anywhere.

That internet connection does mean that they come with a monthly fee, depending on what length of service time you’re willing to prepay and what services you want, your monthly cost will be somewhere between $5 and just above $8.

It may be worth talking to your insurance company to see if they’re willing to cancel that cost out since your car will be remotely lockable and trackable, but insurance companies don’t always play along when it means them getting less money from you. However, most of them WILL offer discounts if you have a trackable GPS installed in your car.

Larry in Anchorage, Alaska listens to the podcasts and called in to help other listeners

Larry recommended Virtual Box to run Windows 95 and Windows 98 games.

Thank you, Larry!

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