Feb. 8 & 9, 2025 Show Notes
Super Bowl / Invictus Games / Weekend Edition
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
Charles Martin
Co-host
Victoria Mac and iOS Users Group Program Director & AppleInsider.com Weekend News Editor
Phone +1-888-718-4598
Join Charles, Aitan and me for the February VMUG meeting on Zoom at 7pm this coming Wednesday, Feb. 12, when Charles will be demo'ing the new Hearing Test and Hearing Aid feature on Apple AirPods Pro 2nd gen…
Zoom Video
Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting
Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, conference, huddle, and training rooms, as well as executive offices and classrooms. Founded in 2011, Zoom helps businesses and organizations bring their teams together in a frictionless environment to get more done. Zoom is a publicly traded company headquartered in San Jose, CA.
The Podcast
Listen now:
Or, you can subscribe to "Tech Talk with Alan Perry" (it's free) on any podcast app including these…
1) Watch out for scam phone-calls claiming your credit card has been locked for security reasons
The synthesized voice calling from a 1-800 number claims your card has been locked 'for your protection' after a sizeable international transaction was attempted, as shown in the voicemail transcript.
The robot caller encourages you to call their 1-800 number to get your card unlocked.
DO NOT CALL — IT'S A SCAM.
If you call, you'll be connected to someone (at an overseas call-centre) who will claim to be with your credit card's Fraud Team. To unlock your card, they'll try to get you to give them the three digits on the back of your credit card — which is precisely what they need to rack up fake charges on your card.
If you ever need to contact your credit card issuer, call the number on the back of the card — not some number you were given in a text, email, or phone-call.
In case your card is stolen, it's a good idea to take a picture of your credit card (front and back) and store it in a locked folder on your phone.
2) Watch out for fake emails that appear to be from Facebook, warning that someone just logged into your account
The emails look like this screenshot…
The email claims a new user logged into my account from an iPhone 13 Pro, and offers two buttons to tap on or click on — "Report the user" or "Yes, me". But both buttons have the same effect — they trigger an email from your email account to a raft of overseas addreses which all start with the first part of your email address…
If you send that email, within seconds, you'll get a personalized email back that appears to be from Facebook, thanking you for reporting the 'scam' and advising that your Facebook account is being locked for your security, and that they'll email you a code in a separate email so you can change your password, and asking that you email them back with that code. Seconds later, you'll get an authentic email from Facebook, with a Password reset code…
If you email that code to the scammers pretending to be Facebook Security, they'll immediately use that code to change your password, locking you out of your Facebook account. They'll then use your FB account to try to scam your all your friends — and you'll be virtually powerless to stop them.
NEVER click on links in emails like this. If you think an email like this might be real, open your Faceook app or log into to Facebook.com, and click on Account> Settings and Privacy> Settings> Password and Security> Personal Details, and see if under Contact Info a new email address or phone # that is not yours has been added. In almost every case, it has not — the email was a scam.
If your Facebook (or other social media platform) is locked, you'll discover that when you go to get into it.
4) If true, this is HUGE: UK secretly orders Apple to let it spy on iPhone users worldwide
The Washington Post is reporting that the UK government has ordered Apple to create a "backdoor" that would let intelligence officials secretly access encrypted iCloud backups of users' info, including emails, text messages, photos, documents, and more.
Apple currently cannot access encrypted backups of iCloud users, and UK officials claim that'is being exploited by terrorists, and people involved in child porn, drug-smuggling.
The secret order, issued last month, is based on rights from the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act from 2016, dubbed the Snoopers’ Charter. Officials have reportedly asked Apple to create the ability to access every user account, not just UK users. In addition, the Act compels Apple to not reveal the access request to users.
5) Victoria resident loses $900 to scam involving fake police officer, Canada Post
Victoria police have issued a warning about a “sophisticated” scam involving bitcoin and fraudsters impersonating a Victoria police officer and a Canada Post representative.
Someone claiming to be a Victoria officer claimed the person was being investigated for fraud and should withdraw $3,000 from the bank.
Bottom line: if someone urges you to send money via Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, it's a scam.
6) Ransomware payouts declined in 2024
In part thanks to greater public awareness of scams, including our humble efforts, the overall amount of ransomware paid in 2024 was down 35% from 2023. However, the 2024 estimated total still amounted to a staggering $814 million.
An analyst for Chainalysis gave credit primarily to due to law enforcement takedowns and disruptions of the largest scam operations, but we feel that public awareness is playing a modest role as well.
Canadians may have lost more than a half a billion dollars to scams and fraud in 2024, according to estimates from BioCatch. “We can attribute much of this to the rise in social engineering scams in Canada, particularly impersonation scams, which are notoriously higher value than other fraud types. More than 70% of impersonation scam losses in Canada originate from five-figure cases, greatly boosting the country’s scam-loss average.”
Canadian Fraud News Inc. | Fraud related news | Fraud in Canada
Canadians expected to lose more than $569 million to scams in 2024 - Canadian Fraud News Inc. | Fraud related news | Fraud in Canada
In 2024, Canadian banks have seen just 34% of the reported fraud cases they experienced a year ago. And yet, Canadian retail banking customers appear on pace to lose as much as or more than the $569 million they lost to fraud in 2023 (triple what they lost in 2021).
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) How to watch the Invictus Games in Vancouver/Whistler
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Katy Perry, and Victoria's own Nelly Furtado are among the performers featured in Saturday afternoon's Opening Ceremonies for the 2025 Invictus Games in Vancouver.
The 2025 Invictus Games are an international adaptive sporting competition for wounded, injured, and sick service personnel and Veterans. The Games in Vancouver and Whistler will bring together up to 550 competitors from more than 23 nations to compete in adaptive sports, including new winter sports Alpine Skiing, Snowboarding, Nordic Skiing, Biathlon, Skeleton, and Wheelchair Curling.
You can watch the Opening Ceremonies in BC Place live starting at 1pm PST on Saturday on CTV or TSN, or on their apps or websites, and you can replay later off the TSN app or website if you miss the live broadcast.
TSN will also stream the competitions through Feb. 16th and air a nightly recap.
11) How to watch Super Bowl LIX on Sunday afternoon
Two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs will play against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Yes, this is a rematch of Super Bowl LVII from two years ago.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30pm PT, but pre-game coverage will start much earlier, at Noon PT.
Canadians can tune into CTV and TSN to watch the big game, either on their live channels or their websites or apps if you have cable.
If you don’t have cable, you can subscribe to a monthly or annual TSN pass. The $20 monthly pass should suit those who only want to stream the Super Bowl and not use the service thereafter.
TSN is available on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire Stick, Android TV, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV HD, and Roku.
You can also watch through the DAZN subscription service. DAZN costs $35 for a 30-day pass, so TSN is much cheaper if you just want to watch the Super Bowl.
DAZN is available on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire Stick, Android TV, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV HD, Roku and more.
Regardless of which source you watch, you'll be seeing Canadian ads. I've put links to long versions of the best US Super Bowl ads in our "Homework Videos" section near the bottom of these Show Notes.
12) The 4th-gen Apple iPhone SE may debut on Valentine’s Day
Apple's next-generation entry-level iPhone — the iPhone SE 2025 — is expected to look similar to the iPhone 14, but with a single camera on the rear, and may debut as early as Valentine's Day.
Apple is apparently using the iPhone SE 4 as a testbed for its first in-house modem, which replaces the Qualcomm one used now. The device is also expected to feature Face ID, an A18 chip so it can run Apple Intelligence services, and USB-C.
The price is expected to climb slightly to $699 CAD ($499 USD), due to the larger size, storage, and more powerful chip needed to run the Apple Intelligence features.
13) Amazon.ca sets up a "Made in Canada" mini-site to promote buying Canadian
While it presently looks like the current US president may back off or tone down some of his self-injurious threats regarding tariffs and other obstacles to Canadian businesses and trade, it never hurts to buy Canadian — and Amazon's Canadian store is here to help with a new dedicated "Made in Canada" product catalogue…
Categories include grocery and gourmet food, home and kitchen, clothing, health and personal care, beauty, sports and outdoor, handmade, baby, pet supplies and everything else.
If that’s not enough for you, Amazon now has a dedicated ‘Made in Quebec’ storefront as well, showcasing all the items from Quebec…
Amazon recently pulled out of Quebec entirely, which some suspected was because one warehouse had unionized.
There's also a great website for finding where to buy all things Canadian: MadeInCa.ca
14) Inactive Gmail accounts to be purged starting March 10
If you have a Gmail account but haven't used it in a while, you're at risk of losing access forever.
Starting March 10, Google says it'll begin deleting inactive accounts that haven’t been used for over two years, as part of a broader cleanup and security policy.
According to Google:
- Inactive accounts are more vulnerable because they often have weak or outdated passwords.
- Removing unused accounts helps free up storage space and reduce ghost data on Google’s servers.
If you want to prevent a Gmail account from being deleted, follow these simple steps:
- Log in to your Google account at least once every two years
- Make sure your recovery info (phone number & backup email) are current
- Send or receive an email using Gmail
- Watch YouTube videos while signed in
15) Repeating, because it's important: if you're a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber, there's a key change you should make, to avoid a 45% price-hike!
If you have a Microsoft 365 Personal of Family subscription (which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive and Skype), Microsoft has quietly upped the renewal price by 45% to pay for the addition of CoPilot Pro artificial intelligence features. Those powerful features are impressive, but most people will never need them.
There's a hidden way to downgrade your subscription back to the previous price of $79 CAD for 365 Personal and $109 CAD for 365 Family — but you have to make the change before your subscription renews, or you'll be charged the much-higher price of $115 for 365 Personal and $145 for 365 Family.
To do the downgrade, sign into your Microsoft account at Account.Microsoft.com, click on Subscriptions, then click on Manage, and where it shows your Microsoft 365 subscription, click on "Cancel subscription", and you'll see a screen that looks like this…
Click on "Switch plan", and then click on "Buy", and it'll downgrade you, and when your subscription renewal comes up, it'll renew at the old price.
Important: if your subscription is not set for Auto-renewal, you won't get the option to downgrade. To remedy that, click on the Turn on Auto-renewal button, put in your credit card info, and once it confirms that your subscription is set for auto-renewal, then click on “Cancel subscription” and then on "Switch plan" and choose the downgrade.
16) Here's why we recommend you NOT install the DeepSeek AI chatbot app: DeepSeek's iOS app sends unencrypted data to Chinese servers
A little more than two weeks ago, a largely unknown China-based company named DeepSeek stunned the AI world with the release of an open source AI chatbot that had simulated reasoning capabilities that were largely on par with those from market leader OpenAI. Within days, the DeepSeek AI assistant app climbed to the top of the iPhone App Store's "Free Apps" category, overtaking ChatGPT.
But now, mobile security company NowSecure has discovered that the DeepSeek app sends sensitive data over unencrypted channels, making the data readable to anyone who can monitor the traffic. More sophisticated attackers could also tamper with the data while it's in transit.
What’s more, the data is sent to servers that are controlled by ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok. While some of that data is properly encrypted using transport layer security, once it's decrypted on the ByteDance-controlled servers, it can be cross-referenced with user data collected elsewhere to identify specific users and potentially track queries and other usage.
17) Weeks after parting ways with its CEO, Sonos is now laying-off 12% of its staff as it tries to recover from a horrible new app
Calling it "a horrible outcome", Sonos, which pioneered affordable home speaker systems, has announced it's cutting 200 jobs in an attempt to restructure following mismanagement and financial losses that have roiled the Santa Barbara company.
The layoffs, which represent about 12% of Sonos’ workforce, come after months of trouble, including a disastrous relaunch of the company’s app last year that left customers leery and led to Chief Executive Patrick Spence’s exit last month.
18) Spotify has signed a new Warner Music deal, paving the way for much-higher-quality streaming options
Apple Music currently has the highest-quality msuic streaming service, offering music in "Apple Lossless" format to users who have large data plans or lots of storage capacity on their devices.
But, Spotify appears positioned to catch-up, with the signing of a new music licencing deal with Warner Music which is expected to result in the streaming service offering a "HiFi Lossless" premium streaming subscription tier which it's been talking about since 2021.
19) Rogers responds to false advertising lawsuit, saying it's not doing anything other carriers aren't doing, and is being singled-out
The Canadian Competition Bureau is taking Rogers to court for offering "unlimited internet" plans when in fact, speeds drop dramatically after users hit a certain amount of data usage.
Rogers has now filed a response to the lawsuit saying that most other carriers are offering the same types of plans, and that most customers never hit the thresholds where their speeds are cut.
23) 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.
24) There are lots of language translators out there, but only one really good brand — TimeKettle
Instagram and Facebook are full of ads for pocket translators, but we've tried many of them, and they honestly don't work very well…they're either really slow, or they don't do a good job of accurately translating.
The one brand that stands out is TimeKettle — they're the gold standard.
They have two new models which have simuiltaneous translation and also off-line translation for when you don't have a good (or any) cell connection.
Be sure to change the language and currency to Canada in the top-right of their website…
Homework videos (a.k.a. "time well wasted"!)
Videos start at #40, so the numbers don't get thrown-off if we add more tech news items above!
40) When 93-year-old Thelma Post gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, she sets out on an incredible quest to get back her money. Watch the trailer for "Thelma"…
Here are the long versions of the best Super Bowl LIX ads (for which Fox is getting paid $8- to $10- million USD for a 30-second ad!)…
…or watch the individual ads below…
41) Watch Shane Gillis and Post Malone in Bud Light's big game ad…
42a) Watch sloths on Mondays in one of two Coors Light big game ads…
42b) Watch Timothy Simons of Veep fame in the long version of the second Coors Light big game ad…
43) Watch Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Ludacris reprise their "Fast and Furious" roles in the Häagen-Dazs big game ad, "Not So Fast, Not So Furious"…
44) Watch Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal recreate their classic "When Harry Met Sally" diner scene, in the long version of the Hellmann's Mayo big game ad…
45) Watch Gordon Ramsay (and a cameo by Pete Davidson) in the long version of the HexClad Cookware big game ad…
46) Watch a host of brand mascots, from the Kool-Aid Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy, to the Energizer Bunny, team-up in InstaCart's big game ad…
47) Watch Willem Dafoe and Catherine O'Hara out-hustle Sabrina Ionescu, Randy Moss and Ryan Crouser out of their beers by betting that they can beat them at pickleball, in the long version of Micheloeb Ultra's big game ad…
48) Watch SEAL and Becky G, and a herd of seals in the long version of Mountain Dew's "Kiss From A Lime" big game ad…
49) Watch singer-songwriter Shaboozey stroll through New Orleans in the big game ad for Nerds Gummy Clusters…
50) Watch football player Myles Garrett and actor Juno Temple of "Ted Lasso" fame in the Oikos yogurt…
51) Watch Adam Brody summon a fleet of Pringles after he runs out of the snack, in the long version of "The Call of the Mustaches" Pringles big game ad…
52) Watch "Don't Eat Lava" the Reese's Peanut Butter cup big game ad launching their new Chocolate Lava Big Cup…
53) Watch Coach Andy Reid show his new side-hustle as a hand model in the Skechers big game ad…
54) Watch Irish actor Barry Keoghan in a role reminiscent of his film "The Banshees of Inisherin", in the long version of the Squarespace big game ad…
55) Watch David Beckham and Matt Damon in the long version of the big game ad for Belgian beer Stella Artois…
56) Watch Greta Gerwig, Charli XCX, Martha Stewart, Sean Evans and Kevin Bacon join Matthew McConaughey in the extended cut of UberEats game ad…
57) Watch Antonia Banderas and Randy Savage in the long version of the big game ad for Bosch appliances and power tools…
58) Watch Doja Cat in the teaser for Taco Bell's big game ad…
59a) Watch comedians Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson star as suburban dads alongside Chazmo, a friendly alien on his way back home, in the long version of the prequel to Totino's big game ad…
59b) …and then watch the conclusion in the actual Totino's big-game ad…
60) Watch standup comedian Nate Bargatze in the long version of the DoorDash "DashPass" big game ad…
61) Watch Kieran Culkin in the long version of NerdWallet's big game ad…
62) Watch NASCAR driver Ross Chastain in a Bud Light big game ad…
63) saving the best for last: Watch the Budweiser clydesdales in the extended cut of "First Delivery", Budweiser's excellent big game ad…
Read about the record high price of this year's Super Bowl ads here…
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…