Tech News and Commentary

Dave and the team discuss Best Buy turning to tech to cut waste, electric cars being required to make artificial noise in the EU, digital drivers licenses, Jony Ive leaving Apple, and more.

Robert in Atlanta, Georgia listens on AM920 "The Answer" and asked: "I have an Xfinity modem in the basement. I have a Netgear extender upstairs. They work fine together, but I'd like to go out into the garage and working out there, but the signal is very weak. I was looking at getting another extender for out there, but I was wondering if the mesh system that you guys talk about would be a better option."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/07-05-2019/07-05-2019-H3S1.mp3

Victor, if you already have that repeater working and set up - and it’s possible for you to get another one to work alongside what you already have deployed - then it will probably a lot cheaper to go that way.

Mesh systems are great, they’re seamless and can often adjust or at least give reports of what coverage is like at all points, but they’re not cheap. Even the fake mesh systems like Google WiFi cost hundreds, a new repeater may end up costing you $30 and you’ve already been able to set one up successfully.

If you’re happy with the way your current system works, expanding it is probably going to be a better choice for you than replacing it.

Chris uses a Mesh system at his house. He has the Netgear Orbi, with one satellite unit. He lives in a two-story townhouse and his router is downstairs. In his upstairs bedrooms, his streaming content was constantly buffering and he was getting a very weak wifi signal. When he installed the mesh system and placed the satellite unit upstairs, it was a night-and-day difference. No more buffering issues. Again, he only has the main router unit and one satellite. With many of these systems, including the Orbi, you can add multiple satellite units to increase the coverage in a larger home.

Shawn in Redmond, Oregon listens to the podcast and asked: "I have an iPhone 7 that needs a new battery. The one that's in it is at 61% capacity and needs to be replaced. If I was to buy a battery off of eBay or Amazon, would that battery be rejected by the phone or would it accept it? I'm assuming it would accept it, but I heard Apple has a way of detecting if you have a genuine OEM battery."

http://www.intotomorrow.com/media/podcasts/2019/07-05-2019/07-05-2019-H3S2.mp3

Shawn, Apple probably wouldn’t have much trouble detecting a third party battery (Canon for example does that), but they don’t bother to do it when it comes to iPhone batteries.

3rd party batteries are common and very easily acquired online and in physical stores.

There are two issues you need to consider, but neither of them are your iPhone rejecting the battery.

The first one is that Apple probably won’t touch your phone if it has a 3rd party battery or any other part and you bring it into an Apple store.

The other thing you should know is that it’s not particularly easy to crack open the phone and replace the battery. It’s not by any means super hard and you can take it on if you’re willing to go slow and be careful, but it’s not a user serviceable part and it does require a little patience.

Steven in Shreveport, Louisiana listens to the podcasts and asked: "I have 2 Mac ...