Home Emergencies and Tech Troubles

Rich recapped his 20th wedding anniversary trip to Kauai, including a few tech takeaways from the islands.

Taren in Tennessee asked about getting a Wi-Fi range extender that works outdoors. Rich recommended the eero Outdoor 7 for strong, weather-resistant coverage outside.

Technology journalist and podcaster Tom Merritt, host of Daily Tech News Show, will join to talk about his favorite tech things, including the new XREAL glasses. Also mentioned: Feedly and Openvibe.

Johnny from New York writes in saying he’s having trouble sending a large video file by email. Rich suggests using the free tool Wormhole.app — it’s fast, secure, and perfect for sending big files without hassle.

Lucia from South Carolina asks if there’s a way to have her mom’s Google phone automatically answer calls on speaker. Rich says to go into Accessibility > Touch > Call Audio Routing — and set it to speaker.

Larry is starting a new job with a claims company and will be taking lots of photos. He asks which phone Rich recommends. Rich says: go with the iPhone 16 if you don’t need zoom, or the iPhone 16 Pro if you want the absolute best camera performance.

Rosita in Upland wants to free up space on her iPhone using a flash drive. Rich recommends the PNY Duo Link — it plugs directly into the iPhone and makes it easy to transfer and back up photos and videos.

Cathy called in about her water leak detector, which only works on a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network — but her router is set to 5 GHz. Rich explained that many routers have a toggle or setting to enable a 2.4 GHz network. He also mentioned the Zircon leak detector, but it also runs on 2.4.

Technology journalist Sabrina Ortiz, senior editor at ZDNET, will join to talk all things AI.

Sabrina mentioned that if you don’t want ChatGPT to train on your data, you can go into Data Controls and turn off the option called “Improve the model for everyone.”

A plumber called in to recommend the Moen Flo system for water leak detection. Rich also mentioned another option called PHYN — both are smart solutions for monitoring your home’s water use and catching leaks early.

Jim from Orange, California wants an easy way to work with PDFs. Rich recommends checking out the website ilovepdf.com — it’s free and lets you merge, split, compress, and convert PDFs with just a few clicks.

Janine writes in about receiving an email with a suspicious invoice attached. Rich says: don’t click it. Instead, you can check it out at snitcher.space or Norton Genie. You can also copy and paste the email into a chatbot like ChatGPT to help analyze it. And to learn how to spot scams more easily, visit scamspotter.org.

John in Newport Beach wants to know how to put a video on a flash drive and copy protect it so they can't copy or redistribute it. Two options to try are here and here.

Josh Gorin, Executive R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, will join to talk about how Disney uses cutting-edge tech like mixed reality and interactivity to bring park experiences to life. Mentioned: Imagineering in a Box — a free online resource for future creators, available on the Khan Academy website.

Rich DeMuro brings you the latest tech news, helpful tips, gadget reviews, and more—plus interviews with industry experts—all in this weekly show.

Call 1-888-RICH-101 (1-888-742-4101) to join in! Email your question here.

How to Listen:

🎙️ Live on KFI AM 640 – Los Angeles, Saturdays from 11 AM – 2 PM PT

🎙️ Rebroadcast on 710 WOR – New York City, Sundays from 8 PM – 11 PM ET

📻 Syndicated on affiliates nationwide

Get the podcast to via RSS, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Follow Rich on X, Instagram and Facebook.

Download the MP3 here (choose episode, then scroll to bottom of page and look for ”Download”)

Paid newsletter subscribers get ad-free, HQ audio here.

Referral links for services I like. Amazon storefront for products I like.

RichOnTech.tv Links may be affiliate.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.