LA Wildfires, CES 2025 Highlights & Top Landline Alternatives

Jan 12, 2025

Guest

Nick Russell

Guest

Lance Ulanoff

Guest

Matt Swider

Nick Russell, VP of Operations at WatchDuty, discusses how their app provides crucial alerts during LA's devastating wildfires. Lance Ulanoff from TechRadar highlights the exciting innovations showcased at CES 2025, including AI gadgets and smart home products. Matt Swider shares insights on the revival of TiVo as an operating system and the merger of Hulu + Live TV and Fubo TV. The guests also talk about portable battery options for emergencies, emphasizing the importance of technology in crisis management and community support.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Early CES Departure

Rich DeMuro had to leave CES 2025 early due to the LA wildfires.
He describes the emotional impact and the dichotomy of experiences in the vast city.

ADVICE

Portable Power Banks

Raul from Arcadia asked about portable power banks.
Rich DeMuro recommended Jackery, Goal Zero, EcoFlow, and Anker.

ANECDOTE

Solar Hat

Rich DeMuro showcased EcoFlow's solar-powered hat.
It charges phones in two hours but looks like a witch's hat.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Rich gave an update on the Wildfire situation in Los Angeles, and talked about balancing CES coverage with the fires happening back home.

Raul in Arcadia asked about portable batteries. Rich mentioned Jackery, Goal Zero, EcoFlow’s Solar Hat and Anker.

🔥 Nick Russell, VP of Operations at Watch Duty, will share how the app is helping communities stay informed during the LA County fires.

Susan in Santa Monica wants to get a smartphone. Rich mentioned refurbished iPhone and Pixels for the phone and pre-paying for a year of service for the cellular.

A caller wants a “landline” style phone service. Rich mentioned Ooma as his top pick, then Vonage and MagicJack as others offering similar options.

Rich discussed some of the interesting gadgets he saw at CES 2025.

Rich explained how AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Spectrum, Uber and Lyft are responding with wildfire relief for customers.

🤖 Lance Ulanoff, Editor at Large for TechRadar, will break down all things CES 2025!

Meta has changed its content moderation policies.

Apple says Siri protects users privacy and interactions are not used for advertising.

Grok from xAI is now available as a standalone app for iPhone.

✨ Matt Swider of The Shortcut will dive into all things CES 2025!

TiVo is coming back as the operating system in a Sharp smart TV.

Hulu + Live TV and Fubo TV are combining into one service.

Sony and Honda’s joint EV, the AFEELA 1 is now available for reservations in CA. It’s $89,900.

Dell is rebranding its computers as the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max.

RichOnTech.tv Links may be affiliate.

Rich DeMuro talks about tech news, tips, and gadget reviews and conducts interviews in this weekly show.

Listen LIVE from 11 AM - 2 PM PT on KFI AM 640 and syndicated on 350+ stations nationwide.

Stream live on the iHeartRadio App or subscribe to the podcast.

Follow Rich on X, Instagram and Facebook.

Call 1-888-RICH-101 (1-888-742-4101) to join in!

Listen free on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts and Spotify

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

Paid subscribers get ad-free, HQ audio.

NEW: Search show transcripts with AI using RichOnTechGPT!

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.