Dec. 14 & 15, 2024 Show Notes
Tuba Christmas / Candy Cane Lane / Weekend Edition
๐๏ธ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon
๐ Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm
๐ง Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
Terry Sirup
Computer Tech and Store Sales Manager
Priority 1 Computers
3060 Quadra, across from White Spot
store 250-475-7510
Our 2nd Computer Bundle Silent Auction for
donated by Francis, Terry, and Richard at Priority 1 Computers
just raised $2500!
This 2024 auction bundle, which is worth more than $1900, consists ofโฆ
- a powerful custom-built Windows 11 desktop PC powered by a 12th-gen Intel i5 processor, with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a new gen-4 1TB WD SSD, a Cortsair 850w power supply, WiFi and Bluetooth, all housed in a Fractal Design Focus 5 Tower w/ cable management
- a new Lenovo ThinkVision s24i-30 23.8โ IPS monitor
- a new Logitech MK270 wireless keyboard-&-mouse combo
- a new Logitech C270 720p webcam
- a one-year Priority 1 parts and labour warranty, plus a one-year Bronze CarePlan including no-charge cybersecurity protection and Remote Support
- delivery, setup, (and data transfer if desired) anywhere on the south island by Alan Perry
Frank was the high-bidder at the end of the program at $2500.
Congratulations and thanks, Frank โ and thanks to all the other bidders!
Congratulations to Alan Morriss, who won our first Computer Bundle Auction this past week; he had the high bid of $1550, which Gary Beyer at Tesseract topped-up to $2000!
Great local Christmas events this weekendโฆ
firstandlastchance
First & Last Chance Christmas Craft Shows - Sidney, BC
[First Chance, Nov. 2-3, 2023 & Last Chance, Dec. 13-15, 2023] Celebrating the spirit of Christmas since 1989, First & Last Chance brings together 80+ exceptional artists and artisans each year to showcase and sell some of their finest and unique handcrafted works from Vancouver Island and BC's coastal islands at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney, BC.
1) Critical security updates released for iPhones and iPads
Apple has released a large update for iPhones and iPads โ iOS/iPadOS 18.2 โ which brings new features, especially for iPhone 16 models โ but also 20 security updates, several of them critical, along with a swath of bug fixes.
If you have an older iPhone or iPad which can't be updated to iOS/iPadOS 18, because of the importance of the security fixes, Apple has released a special update โ iOS/iPadOS 17.7.3 โ to patch as many of the holes as they can on an older device.
Get the update by going to Settings, General, Software Update.
2) Important security updates released for Mac computers
Apple has released updates which fix security holes, some of them critical, as well as bugs, in the three latest macOS operating systems.
The updates are macOS Sequoia 15.2 (42 security updates), macOS Sonoma 14.7.2 (25 security updates), and macOS Ventura 13.7.2, (25 security updates).
To get these updates, click on the Apple logo in the top-left of your Mac screen, then click on "About This Mac", and then on "Software Updates".
Be aware that if your Mac can't be upgraded to Sequoia 15.2, your Mac is more than seven years old and can only be partially patched. We urge you to consider replacing it with a newer Mac.
3) Important security updates and bug fixes released for Apple Watch and Apple TV
In tandem with the security and bug fix updates released this week for iPhones, iPads and Macs, Apple has also released updates for Apple Watches โ watchOS 11.2 โ and for Apple TV boxes โ tvOS 18.2. The updates fix 15 security holes in eachโฆ
Tech Deals This Weekend
Fido and Koodo offering 100GB plans for as low as $34 per month
Fido โ the budget brand of Rogers,and Koodo โ the budget brand of Telus, are both offering plans with lots of data at a hefty discount, without you having to wait for Boxing Week.
Fido's best plan is great if you call people in the USA or in select overseas countries but don't plan to travel outside Canada. You get unlimited calls and texts to Canada, USA, and six more countries, plus 80GB/month for $34/month.
Update: this weekend, this plan includes a 20GB data-bonus, so 100GB/month for $34/month, which beats Koodo's new offer, which is unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting plus 100GB/month of data for $44/month. Koodo's offer is Canada-only calling, so Fido beats them on that too.
If you plan on traveling outside Canada, Freedom Mobile continues to have the best rates, especially if you're going overseasโฆ
All of Freedom's monthly plans now include Canada/USA/Mexico calling and texting, and their $45 and $55 plans also include Roam Beyond service which lets you make unlimited calls within 106 countries and back to Canada, plus unlimited texting, and 10GB or 20GB of roaming data.
Freedom Mobile has home internet on sale for 30% off
Freedom's home internet was already noticably cheaper than the rates from Telus and Rogers, and for a limited time, they've made it substantially cheaper. Freedom buys internet access from Rogers and Telus at wholesale rates, and then resells it to its mobile customers.
The best deal is Internet 250Mbps for $59/month, which is a $26/month saving โ that's 30% off!
If you live alone and just do emails and surf the internet and watch YouTube, Netflix and other streaming services, Internet 75 is on sale for $40/month, a saving of $25/month or 38%.
If you do gaming, or have multiple people in your home who'd use the internet at the same time, Gigabit Internet (1000Mbps) is on sale for $74/month, a saving of $31/month or 30%.
Note that you have to be a Freedom Mobile customer to get Freedom Home Internet. If you've already got a great mobile plan with another carrier and don't want to switch, you can sign-up for Freedom's $5/month budget mobile plan and not use it.
Malwarebytes Premium anti-malware: $20 off at London Drugs
We all use Malwarebytes Premium anti-0malware on our computers โ Windows and Macs โ and a three-licence pack good for one year of full protection on any combination of three Windows, Mac and Android devices is on sale for $35 โ a $20 saving โ at London Drugs until Dec. 19.
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) Apple Intelligence features now available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, along with useful new features on all iPhones
Applei's iOS 18.2 update released this week brings the second wave of Apple Intelligence features to the newsest iPhones which have enough power to handle them (we're talking iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 16 series), but it also brings some sure-to-be-popular new features to all supported iPhones and iPadsโฆ
- categorized emails (which you can uncategorize if you want)โฆ
- the ability to temporarily share the location of an AirTag to help you get reunited with the item
- a switch to make the volume slider stay visible even when your device is locked (Settings, Accesibility, Audio & Visual, Always Show Volume Control)
- the ability to set your default calling and messaging apps. (Settings, Apps, Default Apps)
- you can now search for things in Apple Music and the Apple TV app with natural language, and the app will understand what you're looking for.
If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or 16 series iPhone, here are the new Apple Intelligence features you can now useโฆ
One of the most-popular is sure to be the ability to create custom emoji's with Genmojiโฆ
10b) Apple Intelligence comes to the newest iPads
11) Time changes may (finally) be about to end, now that US President-elect Trump has come out in favour of ending them
In a post on his "Truth Social" social media platform, the incoming US President says his party will end end the time-change practice after he returns to office in January.
โThe Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldnโt! DST is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,โ he wrote.
Setting clocks forward one hour in the spring and back an hour in the fall is intended to maximize daylight during summer months, but has long been subject to scrutiny. Daylight saving time was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942. Lawmakers have occasionally proposed getting rid of the time change altogether. The most prominent recent attempt, a now-stalled bipartisan bill named the Sunshine Protection Act, had proposed making daylight saving time permanent.
The measure was sponsored by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom Trump has tapped to helm the State Department, so that gives Trump's vow added impetus, as does the support of Elon Musk, who'll be co-chairing an effort to reduce US government bureaucracy.
The BC government agreed three years ago to end the time-changing when the US western states do, so 2025 may finally be the year that happens.
12) The days are numbered for home phone service
Stats Canada says 28% of Canadians have already cut the cord and now have only a mobile number, and that percentage is increasing month-by-month.
There are several reasonsโฆ One, home phones, except in a few cases, don't work when the power goes out because the calls are now carried over the internet, while mobile phones continue to work. Two, home phones cannot be used to receive text codes which most online services require for fraud prevention. And three, people can only reach you on your home phone number when you're home.
Home phone service providers here in Canada are actively planning for the phase-out of home phone service (known as COLR or Carrier Of Last Resort), but they'll first have to show regulators that Canadians have affordable mobile coverage, and there are currently still lots of rural areas that don't have mobile service. Look for carriers to invest big dollars in the next couple of years to change that.
The list of countries which no longer have any significant home phone service is growing rapidly, and includes Korea, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Singapore, India, Nigeria, and Ghana. Many other countries are aiming to virtually eliminate home phone service within the next year or two. Some of these countries are accelerating the change by offering hefty incentives to hold-out customers.)
In the USA, which is expected to be one of the last to phase-out home phone service, AT&T has become the first carrier to give a target date, aiming to complete the phase-out by the end of 2029.
13) Virgin+ Canada has stopped selling prepaid service, but says current customers can still top-up their accounts โ for now
On the heels of Rogers and Fido shutting-down their prepaid service, retailers have now been instructed to remove all Virgin+ prepaid cards from their stores, and the Virgin+ website now confirms they are not accepting any new prerpaid activationsโฆ
The website says current prepaid customers can continue to top-up their accounts, but that's also what Rogers and Fido said before shutting-down their service months later.
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. The best deal is their $119/year plan (= $10/month) which gives you unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting plus 15GB of data, and they also have a $149/year plan (= $12.40/month) which gives you unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting plus double the data โ 30GB for the year.
Freedom has also just started offering a six-month plan for $174, which gives you 15GB/month of data, and unlimited Canada-wide calling and international texting, which works out to $29/monthโฆ
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 monthโฆ
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 monthโฆ
Rogers and its discount brand Fido have both announced that they'll be shutting-down their prepaid mobile service on December 16.
14) Air Canada is adding fast, free Wi-Fi on all North American and sun destination flights - for Aeroplan members
2025 will see Air Canada scrap its free beer, wine, and and snack service which it introduced earlier this year to match Porter Airlines, but will also see the introduction next May of fast, free onboard Wi-Fi on North American and sun destinationflights in partnership with Bell.
The only catch is, you have to be an Aeroplan member, but that's not a big catch, because Aeroplan membership is free.
Air Canada says it plans to extend the free Wi-Fi service to overseas flights in 2026.
Air Canada says 85% of its aircraft will be connected on day one, and it'll bring the remaining aircraft online throughout 2025. Free Wi-Fi will be available on Air Canada, Air Canada Rouge and โmostโ Air Canada Express planes.
16) Canada Post strike likely to be forced to end, but too late for many Christmas gifts, including some coming via other companies
The Trudeau governemt has asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to rule that the two sides in the Canada Post strike are at an impasse, and to therefore extend the current agreement which expired a year ago, until the end of next May, and to order striking workers back to work next week.
The contract extension would give an independent Commissioner time to figure-out a long-term solution. Even if workers go back next week, analysts say it's not likely much of the backlog of Christmas parcels will get delivered in time for Christmas.
In the meantime, other delivery companies which have been trying to fill the void, are struggling to cope with the demand. Here's a message being sent out by one of many Canadian online retailersโฆ
If you're expecting a package coming by Purolator, this explains the frequent status messages that refer to "delayed due to weather" or "delayed due to missed connection". Purolator is using these statements interchangeably as their system does not have an option for backlogs caused by high order volumes.
Also, if you're expecting a package coming by Quรฉbec-based Intelcom Courier, be aware that you'll get status emails from them using their new name โ Dragonflyโฆ
17) Freedom Mobile has raised the price of its cheapest mobile plans
Freedom Mobile continues to have the most-affordable mobile service plans, especially for people who are light users and/or on a tight budget, but they're no longer as cheap as they were.
Freedom still has $5/month and $20/month plans, but now, in order to be eligible for those rates, you have to be a Freedom Home Internet subscriber.
If not, the price is $5 more โ so $10 a month for two hours of calling and unlimited texting, or $25/month for unlimited talking and texting + 3GB/month of data. Both plans allow you to call numbers anywhere in Canada, the USA, or Mexico.
Freedom also has very affordable prepaid plans, which are $119/year (= $10/month) which gets you unlimited Canada-wide talk and tgext plus 15GB of data for the year, or $149/year (=$12.40/month) which gets you unlimited Canada-wide talk and text and double the data โ 30GB for the year.
18) Rogers rolls out "Storm-Ready" Wi-Fi with cellular backup
Rogers has started offering (initially only here in BC) a new "Xfinity Storm-Ready Wi-Fi" service, which comes with a rechargeable battery and the ability to use Rogersโ cellular network (at no extra charge) as a backup connection in the event of a power outage and/or internet outage.
Rogers says the battery will keep you online for up to four hours โ providing you either have a tablet, laptop, or a desktop PC with a UPS power backup. The company says the Storm-Ready Wi-Fi modem can also be used to enhance Wi-Fi coverage and can work as a range extender for everyday use.
This new Storm-Ready Wi-Fi service is now available as a $15 a month add-on to Rogers/Shaw internet serviceโฆ
19a) Google now helps you find location of hidden trackers used for stalking, to help stop stalkers from using Find My Device tags
Google is rolling out an update to Androidโs unknown tracker alerts that makes it easier to stop people from tracking you.
A new feature lets you temporarily pause your deviceโs location from being used by an unknown tracker tag. It also adds a new โFind Nearbyโ feature that'll help you find the exact location of an unknown tracker tag, by making the tracker emit a sound.
Apple has had a similar feature for its AirTags and other "Find My" compatible trackers, for several years.
19b) How to find and block an AirTag that's detected near you
If you've had a notification that an AirTag is detected near you, it's possible that you're being tracked by an AirTag. Here's how to find an AirTag and how to disable itโฆ
20) What caused this week's big Meta and ChatGPT outages?
Meta services โ including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Threads โ were all down for several hours on Wednesday. Meta has been tight-lipped about what the cause wasโฆ
The next day, on Thursday, the popular AI engine ChatGPT was down for several hours. OpenAI says this was the result of a new telemetry service deployment that unintentionally overwhelmed the Kubernetes control plane, causing cascading failures across critical systemsโฆ
21) Taylor Swift fans in Vancouver set a new record for the most data used at a single event โ more than 11 TB!
Fans at her final "Eras Tour" concert last Sunday night used enough data on the Rogers 5G network to stream Taylorโs entire music catalog 9,450 times!
The more than 11TB of data used easily beats the previous record of 7.4TB of data used at one of her Toronto concerts. It's the equivalent of uploading 307,000 photos and 2,180 hours of video streaming. Based on data usage spikes, the most-shared moments of the show were when Taylor Swift came on stage and the start of the โReputationโ era.
22) Popular Science has crowned Apple's Apple Vision Pro as 2024's greatest innovation
In a report that also honours everything from a transparent TV to AI-formulated vegan cheese, Popular Science has crowned Apple's Apple Vision Pro as 2024's greatest innovation.
"The device has its own hurdles to clear, but after just a few minutes of using it, it was clear that it's something different, important, and honestly pretty amazing."
PopSci also honoured Sony's A9 III for being the "first consumer mirrorless camera to eradicate wiggly images", and also Qualcomm's Snapdragon X series of chips because Qualcomm eschews efficiency cores and instead only provides high performance ones.
But it's the transparent TV and the vegan cheese you want to know about, right? The TV is the LG Signature OLED T which can slide away a layer of contrast film to leave "only the lit pixels suspended on a clear (at least mostly clear) panel", while the cheese is plant-based blue, brie, and feta cheeses formulated by Al, and sold as vegan cheese by Climax Foods.
24) We've also started compiling a list of our favourite phone apps
The "Our Favourite Apps" list โ which will have a lot more added in the coming weeks โ is on our home page, and you can also get to it by going to Tech-Talk.ca/apps.
Check out the best local Christmas light displays using the Times Colonist's interactive mapโฆ
Our favourite, so far, is the entire decorated Galbraith Close cul-de-sac in Central Saanichโฆ
We also took our international students to see the night-lluminated Butchart Gardensโฆ
โฆand finally, our "Sign Of The Week"โฆ
And so it goesโฆ