Nov. 23 & 24, 2024 Show Notes
Pre-Black Friday Weekend Edition
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
Ricky Winter
Co-Host
Tech Experience Manager at London Drugs Tillicum
store 250-360-2753
1) Apple has released a critical security update for iPhones and iPads — iOS/iPadOS 18.1.1
The update, which is about 340MB in size on an iPhone, fixes two critical security holes in the software that runs websites and apps — holes which hackers have been using to get into devices.
To get this Update without waiting for it to be installed automatically, go to Settings> General> Software Update.
2) Apple has released a matching critical security update for Macs
The update is MacOS Sequoia 15.1.1 and it fixes the same security holes in WebKit and JavaScriptCore which hackers have been exploiting to gain access to Macs.
To get the update, click on the Apple logo in the upper-left of your Mac screen, then click on About This Mac, and next, on Software Updates. and follow the prompts.
3) If you have an older iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Apple has released special critical security updates for them
Because of the risk posed by the critical security holes which the latest updates patch, Apple has released special updates for older devices which are no longer supported.
For older, unsupported iPhones and iPads, the special update is iOS/iPadOS 17.7.2.
For older Macs, because they can't handle the fixes issued for macOS, Apple has released a special update for the Safari web browser, Safari 18.1.1 for macOS Ventura and macOS Sonoma.
This is a gentle reminder that unsupported devices — we're talking iPhones and iPads that are more than six years old and Macs that are more than seven years old — can only get partial protection, and if you have one, we urge you to get a newer (not necessarily new) device to stay safe!
5) LondonDrugs.com is requiring users to change their password as part of an upgrade to a more-secure online shopping platform
The next time you go to log-in to LondonDrugs.com, you'll get this pop-up after you log-in…
You'll then get an email containing a link to reset your password. (Check your Junk folder if you don't see it in your inbox.)
The good news is, you can use the same password for their new system as you used for the old one!
6) VPN provider NordPass has released its (depressing) 2024 list of the most-commonly-used passwords
Canada fared only marginally-bettrer than most other countries; the Top 20 most-commonly-used passwords here could all, with one exceptrion, be cracked in less than one second. The exception was "9-11-1961" which takes less than 9 seconds to crack. (Thse numbers refer to the date when Hurricane Carla struck the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane.)
The top 20 most commonly used passwords this year here in Canada are: qwerty123, 123456, qwerty1, password, 123456789, 12345678, qwerty, 9-11-1961, secret, 12345, password1, abc123, 1234567890, Qwerty123, Password, 1234567, iloveyou, hockey, 123123, and canada.
Tech News Of The Week
Items start at #10, so the numbers don't get thrown-off if we add more security items above!
Tip: if an item in these Show Notes has the icon on the right in the upper-right corner, you can click/tap on it to make the additional info open in a new tab.
10) CityFone, Zoomer Wireless, and SimplyConnect are all shutting-down, as part of Rogers getting out of the prepaid business
Budget prepaid Canadian carriers CityFone, Zoomer Wireless, and SimplyConnect have all announced that they're shutting down next month.
This is because they wholesale mobile service from Rogers, but Rogers and Fido are both getting out of the prepaid business, effective Dec. 16.
CityFone, Zoomer Wireless, and SimplyConnect are offering special deals in partnership with Red Wireless to switch customers to over to monthly plans on Rogers, but the rates are not that good…
If you're on a prepaid service now, here are your best options:
1) Freedom Mobile has monthly, annual, and now six-month prepaid plans starting at just $5/month.
In the run-up to Black Friday, they also have two great unadvertised deals, which you have to ask for:
- For $10/month, you get unlimited Canada/USA/Mexico calling and texting.
- For $15/month, you get the same + 1GB/month of data good in Canada/USA/Mexico
If USA/Mexico calling, texting, and data-roaming isn't something you'd use, Freedom Mobile also has a prepaid $119/year (= $10/month) plan which gives you unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting, plus 15GB of data to use during the year.
They also have a $149/year plan (= $12.40/month) which gives you unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting plus double the data — 30GB for the year.
If you're a really light user, you can get unlimited texting and two hours of calling/month for just $5/month...
2) Chatr, which is Rogers' budget brand, has prepaid plans starting at $15/month, which gets you 100 minutes/month of calling Canada-wide plus unlimited international texting. They also have a $100/year plan which gets you 400 minutes of calling Canada-wide plus 400 outgoing texts to Canadian numbers and unlimited international incoming texts, and a new $149/year plan which gets you unlimited Canada-wide calling, unlimited international texting, and 30GB of data...
3) Public Mobile, which is the budget brand of Telus, has a $19/month prepaid plan which gets you unlimited Canada-wide calling and messaging plus unlimited international text and picture messaging, and 1GB of data per month…
4) Lucky Mobile, which is Bell's budget brand, has a $19/month prepaid plan which gets you unlimited Canada-wide calling and messaging plus unlimited international text and picture messaging, and 500MB of data per month…
Important: if you're switching from CityFone, SimplyConnect, or Zoomer Wireless to a carrier other than Rogers, the usual automatic migration process won't work. You'll have to contact your current carrier after the migration request is made by your new carrier, and ask them to release your number.
CityFone: 1-855-893-2677
SimplyConnect: 1-855-893-2677
Zoomer Wireless: 1-888-632-1527
11) Freedom Mobile has expanded its no-extra-cost "Roam Beyond" service to include countries in Central America and South America
This has been a great service for travellers, and now it's even better…
If you have multiple trips planned, Freedom's $45/month and $55/month Canada/USA/Mexico plans include no-charge national calling, and calling back to Canada, and data-roaming in 106 countries.
The service has just been expanded to include Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru and Uruguay. A PDF showing all the countries where "Roam Beyond" will work is here…
If you have only one or two trips planned beyond Canada, the USA and Mexico, you can go on a cheaper monthly plan, and buy a 30-day "Roam Beyond" pass…
The passes give you unlimited calling in the included countries and back to Canada, plus unlimited global texting, and either 1GB or 5GB of data in the included countries.
The passes are good for 30 days from the time of issue, and cost $20 for 1GB of data, or $30 for 5GB good in 106 countries. If where you're headed is not included in the 106-country list, there's also a 115-country Roam Beyond pass ($30 for 1GB or $50 for 5GB) which adds service in 9 more countries: Belarus, Cyprus, Denmark, Malta, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, and the UAE.
If you want to see who the raming partner carriers are in each country, a Reddit user (Kaiustechtok) has kindly created a spreadsheet showing many of the roaming partners…
12) Freedom Mobile has created a Change.org petition to pressure Bell, Telus, and Rogers to reduce their high roaming rates
In an unusual (but brilliant) move, Freedom Mobile has started a Change.org petition calling out Bell, Rogers, and Telus for not only having high roaming rates when Canadians travel, but also for shrugging off the CRTC when it demanded real change to roaming rates by November 4th.
As we reported last week, Telus has followed the lead of Freedom Mobile, and more recently also Koodo, and is now offering Roaming Passes which let you use your phone and data in other countries.
While the passes will save you money off current roaming rates, they're still pricey compared to Freedom's "Roam Beyond" offerings.
Rogers and Bell have advised the CRTC that they plan to offer 'improved roaming options' next year.
13) (updated yet again) Update phone #s in Contacts to include +1 for North America and + and the Country Code for overseas
Especially if you're going travelling, but even if you're not, make sure the numbers in your Contacts for people you're going to call are saved with a +1 before the area code and number if they're here or in North America, or in some cases, you won't be able to call them.
Update: We had previously suggested just a 1 for North American numbers, but we've discovered that because of the myriad of phone carriers here in Canada, the USA, and Caribbean, some calls cannot be completed unless there's a +1 in front of the area code and number.
If you're going overseas, many of you have switched to Freedom Mobile to take advantage of their "Roam Beyond" plan, which let you use your phone in dozens of countries around the world at no extra cost. Or, you may be using the Airalo app to add an overseas number via an eSIM.
But, either way, in order to call people in a foreign country when you're there, you must save their phone number beginning with + and the country code.
If you don't do that, depending on the carrier, your call either won't go through, or you'll get billed for an international call as it'll be routed back through Canada, or the first digits of their phone number will be interpreted as a country code and you'll get billed for a call to Russia or Finland or some other country!
On home phones, you have to dial 011 and then the country code and their number, but on mobile phones, you just need + and the country code and their number.
"Tech Talk" listener Vivien recently returned from England and Italy and found $80 in extra charges on her Freedom Mobile bill, even though she'd switched to them for their "Roam Beyond" coverage. When she contacted Freedom Customer Care, they explained that those charges were because she dialled numbers in England without putting in the country code, so those calls were routed via Canada. As a goodwill gesture, they removed those charges from her bill this one time only.
Regardless of which carrier you're on, we recommend you go through your contacts and, one-by-one, add a +1 in front of their number if they're in Canada, the USA or the Caribbean — even if it's a local number — or + and the Country Code if they're overseas. You can find a full list of Country Codes at CountryCode.org
Note that Caribbean country numbers use the North American calling format, so you just need a +1 in front of their area code and number.
14) We've updated our collection of Travel Tech Tips!
There are now more than 40 of them, and they're in a separate Travel Tech Tips notes, which you can find on our Home Page, or on the toolbar at the top of any of our Notes.
You can bookmark them, as we update them often, at Tech-Talk.ca/travel-tech-tips.
You can also download (and share) a printable copy of these notes below…
(click on the underlined down-arrow icon in the top-right below to download)
17) Please replace surge-protecting power bars after three years!
Numerous people ended-up with fried TV's, computers, and other electronics because of power surges during our recent 'bomb cyclone', because their gear was plugged into an old powerbar which no longer provided any surge protection.
Many people are unaware that surge protector power-bars only provide protection for two to three years, on average.
This is why we recommend you use a felt pen to write the month and year on the bottom of any power bar you buy, and after three years (two, if you live in an area where there are lots of outages or construction), replace it with a new one, and use the old one for lamps and other inexpensive gear.
18) US regulators want to force Google to sell its Chrome browser as part of the penalty for monopolizing search
US regulators want a federal judge to break up Google, to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine, after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade.
A 23-page document filed by the US Department of Justice calls for sweeping punishments that would include a sale of Google's industry-leading Chrome web browser, and impose restrictions to prevent Android from favoring its own search engine.
Although regulators stopped short of demanding Google sell Android too, they asserted the judge should make it clear the company could still be required to divest its smartphone operating system if its oversight committee continues to see evidence of misconduct.
The Washington, DC court hearings on Google's punishment are scheduled to begin in April and US District Judge AmitMehta is aiming to issue his final decision before Labour Day.
ABC News
US regulators seek to break up Google, forcing Chrome sale as part of monopoly punishment
U.S. regulators want a federal judge to break up Google to prevent the company from continuing to squash competition through its dominant search engine after a court found it had maintained an abusive monopoly over the past decade
19) Apple Music subscribers now have access to more than 100 million songs from around the world
Deb and Gary just bought a new car and wanted to know how to transfer all the music from their CD's onto their PC and then onto a USB drive so they could play them on their Acura's music system.
Before doing that, I suggested they sign-up for a free one-month trial of Apple Music, which would give them access to hundreds of millions of songs in much higher quality.
I was suprised to see that Apple Music now has more than 100-million tracks!
I had them listen to several of their favourite songs on Apple Music, and they were impressed by how much better they sounded, as well as how easily they can add them to their iPhones without having to download the tracks. I also showed them how they can see auto-scrolling lyrics, and even tap to remove the vocals from any song, if they want to sing along.
They're now on the one-month trial, and at the end of the month — we put a reminder into their calendars — they'll switch to the Family Plan, which will allow both of them, and up to three others, to share the $17/month cost.
One of the songs they played for me, which I had never heard, is a powerful version of "Amazing Grace" sung in the Catalan language, accompanied by an orchestra and Catalunya bagpipes. You can watch and listen to it in video #44 below.
21) We've also started compiling a list of our favourite phone apps
The "Our Favourite Apps" list — which will have a lot more added in the coming weeks — is on our home page, and you can also get to it by going to Tech-Talk.ca/apps.
Hi from "Tech Talk" listener Anil from Victoria, who's in Lisbon, Portugal!
Anil switched to Freedom Mobile so he could use his phone there without having to pay anything extra as part of their "Roam Beyond" service.
He texted us to say, "I have been here in Portugal for more than a week and I've used less than 1GB of data. The service is great and I don't know what I would do without it. I've used my phone for all kinds of services including ordering Uber and Bolt. By the way, Uber is better than Bolt even if it is a little more expensive. The weather has been perfect, 24° ,not a cloud in the sky and absolutely beautiful!"
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…