Apr. 19 & 20, 2025 Show Notes
T-C Book Drive / Easter Long Weekend Edition
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm on C-FAX
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
The Podcast
Listen now:
Or, you can subscribe to "Tech Talk with Alan Perry" (it's free) on any podcast app including these…
1) If you have an Apple iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV, please update it (again) ASAP to fix two more critical security holes
Apple has pushed out small — but important — updates to fix two security issues which hackers are exploiting to steal data.
1a) For iPhones and iPads, the update is iOS/iPadOS 18.4.1
We recommend you install it without waiting to get it via Automatic Updates by going to Settings, General, Software Update. It's less than 300MB for most users.
1b) For Mac computers, the update is macOS Sequoia 15.4.1
Click/tap on the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of your screen, choose System Settings, and in the window that opens, click General in the sidebar, then click Software Update on the right.
1c) For an Apple TV, the update is tvOS 18.4.1
- Go to Settings > System > Software Updates and select Update Software.
- If there's an update, select Download and Install.
- Wait for your Apple TV to download the update. Keep your Apple TV connected and plugged in to power until the update is complete.
After the update downloads, your Apple TV will restart, prepare the update, then install it. When the update is complete, your Apple TV will automatically restart again.
2) Watch out for online crypto-currency scams that appear to be endorsed by PM Mark Carney and the CBC
This professional-looking scam from overseas is flooding social media platforms and websites, and looks exactly like a news story on CBC's website…
The only real clue is that the website is NOT the CBC, but a page at MomentBeat.com/m09sjs which is a website registered in Reykjavik, Iceland!
The fake news story includes numerous links to a supposed crypto-currency initiative called CanFirst which PM Carney supposedly announced in response to the Trump administration tariffs…
The CanFirst links on the webpage all take you to a website called QuickSmartInvest.com which is hosted on NameCheap.com and registered in Reykjavik, Iceland…
If you fill in your contact info, overseas scammers posing as Government of Canada CanFirst agents will call you within minutes and encourage you to invest a mimimum of $250.
If you give them your credit card info, within minutes, the scammers will be using your card info to buy items online which they can quickly resell.
ALWAYS check the website of any purported news story to make sure it's real, and NEVER provide your personal info regarding anything financial without checking first with someone you trust!
3) Watch out for a new round of fake "your Cloud storage account is going to be deleted" emails
This is not a new scam, but it seems to be making a big comeback, with emails like this…
The scam emails, which are not poorly written, are getting through spam filters because the scammers are using spacing and symbols in the sender's name and subject…
If you click or tap on the "Update my payment" button, you're taken to a fake Apple iCloud website, at LoveHistoricalFiction.Superweb-Console.com — which is registered in Sydney, Australia.
There, you're asked to put in your Apple ID email address and password. No matter what you put in, you'll then be taken to a fake payment page where you're urged to put in current credit card info to supposedly reactivate your cloud storage account.
If you do, within minutes, overseas scammers will be racking up scam charges on your credit card account, buying merchandise online which they can quickly resell online.
NEVER click on links in emails like this!
If you want to see where you are in terms of iCloud storage, on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings> (your name)>, iCloud, iCloud Storage.
4) If you're a fan of legendary late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, watch out for fake social media posts about a new biography
Charlie died in London in 2021 at the age of 80.
6) RCMP issues warrants for users of cybercrime subscription service 'LabHost'
Even cyber-criminals resort to subscribing to site where they can access hacking tools!
Roughly one million Canadians have been affected by scams facilitated by LabHost, a subscription website full of tools for criminals to phish and steal from people.
The ringleader behind LabHost was recently jailed in the UK, so now, the RCMP’s Cyber Coordination Centre and various other police forces in Canada are working together to press charges on Canadians who used LabHost’s tools.
Since April 14, 2025, police have executed 10 search warrants against Canadian LabHost users and plan to conduct 118 enforcement actions against the suspected offenders. This is part of a more significant global push called Project NOVA, as law enforcement in 12 countries work together to stop people from using LabHost’s toolset.
Tech Deals This Weekend
Apple AirPods are on sale at London Drugs this Easter long weekend
All three models of Apple AirPods are on sale this Easter long weekend at London Drugs stores and online: the newest 4th-gen base model is $10 off; the 4th-gen with Noise Cancellation are $20 off, and the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro are $30 off…
Windows 11 Pro desktop PC bundle with 24" monitor, keyboard and mouse: $350
When Tesseract Computers reopens on Tuesday after the Easter long weekend, Gary Beyer will have four-only, refurbished business-grade Dell 5070 desktop Windows 11 Pro PCs powered by 8th-gen Intel Core i3 processors, with 8GB DDR4, a new 256GB SSD.
He'll bundle them with a new 24” LG or Samsung LCD monitor, plus a new wired Logitech keyboard and mouse, all for just $350.
Four bundles only, at Tesseract Computers on Tuesday in downtown Victoria.
Best Buy has a big five-day tech sale on this long weekend
The sale ends at close of business on Easter Monday.
Tech Deals This Weekend
Refurbished Epson Eco-Tank printer/scanner/copiers are on sale this weekend at London Drugs
We're big fans of Epson's Eco-Tank all-in-one printers, which come with bottles (not cartridges) of ink in the box — enough ink for literally two years of printing for most people! They also copy and scan, and work both wired and wireless.
With new models on the way, London Drugs has refurbished models on sale this weekend, and we have no hesitation recommending these refurb units, as they come with a full warranty and are virtually indistinguishable from new ones, but at an even greater saving.
The ET-2850 (above), feeds paper from the top, allowing you to use card stock or photo paper or legal-sized paper. It's regularly $400, but a refurbished one is on sale through Thursday for $190.
The ET-4850 (above), which has an ADF (automatic document feeder) for scanning letter and legal pages, is regularly $600, but a refurbished one is on sale for just $260 this weekend.
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.
It's Times-Colonist book drive drop-off weekend!
The first phase of the annual Times Colonist book drive and sale is this weekend, when volunteers collect books, which will be sorted and put on sale to raise money for literacy projects two weekends from now, in the hugely-popular annual Times-Colonist Book Sale.
Volunteers will be ready to accept your unwanted books in the parking lot of the Victoria Curling Club at 1952 Quadra Street from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday.
More info is below…
10) Reminder: Skype will be shut down on May 5; if you still use it, you can migrate to Microsoft Teams before then
If you've received this email from Microsoft, it's not a scam! Skype, the once-ubiquitous messaging platform which was the first mainstream tool for global messaging and audio- and video- chats, is being shut down two weeks from now, because very few people are still using it…
If you have lots of chats and contacts in Skype, you can migrate them to Microsoft Teams at no cost, but you must do this before Skype is shut down on May 5.
Here’s how to get started:
- Download Teams on your device from the official Microsoft Teams website.
- Log in with your Skype credentials.
- Start using Teams Free with all your Skype chats and contacts ready to go.
Until 5 May 2025, Teams Free users can call and chat with Skype users – and Skype users can do the same with Teams Free users, ensuring you stay connected on both platforms.
- If you have a paid Skype subscription or Skype Credit, you can continue to use it, for now, but after May 5, you'll have to use the web-based Skype DialPad to make a call…
11) Bell unveils "Ahlo" — an exclusive new budget Canadian smartphone brand
Bell (the parent company of C-FAX), is now offering a decent new Canadian-designed smartphone for just $1 a month for a limited time. It's called Ahlo, and it has some decent specs...
It has a 6.6" screen, runs Android 14, has 5G connectivity, a 50MP triple-lens rear camera system, a 32MP front camera, a 5,000 mAh battery, and a fingerprint scanner, and comes with a two-year warranty. Bell isn't saying who makes the phone, or where its being made, but people who've taken one apart say its powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon SM4450 chipset and has 4GB of RAM.
The Ahlo phone, which Bell says was designed here in Canada, has a suggested retail price of $270, but for now, Bell is offering it for $1 a month on a two-year service contract starting at $25/month.
iPhone in Canada Blog • Leading Tech News for Canadians
Bell Launches Ahlo Smartphone Brand for $1/month [Update] • iPhone in Canada Blog
Bell has introduced a new budget smartphone brand called Ahlo, designed in Canada with a focus on essential features, strong performance, and an affordable price tag. The Ahlo smartphone (runs Android 14) is now available for $270 outright or as low as $1/month on select plans through Bell, Virgin Plus, and major retailers including Best
12) Rogers-owned Fido is now charging $5/month to new clients who want to be able to use the Rogers network of Wi-Fi hotspots
If you sign-up with Fido and want to be able to access the Rogers cross-Canada network of Wi-Fi hotspots, you'll now have to pay $5/month for that…
Existing Fido customers can still use their hotspots at no extra cost, for now; this is currently only for new subscribers.
You can get better deals elsewhere; Freedom Mobile currently has the best rates: $19/month for 1GB/month of Canada/USA/Mexico data plus unlimited calling to, in, and back home while in Canada, USA and Mexico. Freedom also has a $34/month plan with 10GB/month of Canada/USA/Mexico calling and data.
If you don't plan on calling or travelling outside Canada,Freedom now has 100GB/month Canada-wide data plus unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting for $40/month.
13) Rogers is now offering a global coverage plan — but so far, only to Quebec residents
Rogers has become the first major carrier to offer a global roaming plan to match the popular "Roam Beyond" plans which Quebec-based Freedom Mobile has been successfully using to poach customers for two years.
The only catch is, Rogers' new $75/month 250GB 65-country plan is only available, for now, just in Quebec, where Freedom and its sister brand Videotron are the dominant carriers.
Rogers is also now offering a $55/month 175GB Canada-USA-France plan, but again, only in Quebec.
iPhone in Canada Blog • Leading Tech News for Canadians
Rogers Launches 250GB Global Roaming Plan, But Not for Everyone • iPhone in Canada Blog
Rogers has debuted a global roaming plan that includes talk, text and data, but only for customers in one province: Quebec. That’s because in Quebec, the ‘Big 3’ face regional competition from Quebecor’s Videotron. The Rogers plans in Quebec are as follows for bring your own device and after a $10/month autopay discount: $45/100GB $55/175GB
14) This October: that's when the EU says its new Entry/Exit System, or ESS, will go into operation
The European Union now says its new Entry/Exit System, or ESS, will go into operation sometime in October, and then the ETIAS VISA Waiver system for people visiting from outside the EU will go into effect next spring.
So, if you're heading to Europe between now and then, this means you'll still just need a Canadian passport.
Once the ESS is up and running, you'll have to have your fingerprints scanned and a photo taken of your face when you first enter and leave any of the 29 countries in the European Union's Schengen Zone. There'll be no charge for this, and it'll replace the current manual passport stamping system.
You'll be able to save time by doing part of the procedure in advance on an ESS mobile app, which is supposed to become available early this fall.
16) If you're a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscriber, there's an important 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, and OneDrive), 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.
17) Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders will now begin on Apr. 24
Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders were originally set to go live on April 9th, but Nintendo delayed them in the U.S. and, later, here in Canada, in response to USA tariffs.
Nintendo now says stores will be able to accept pre-orders starting at 12:01am on Thursday the 24th — or whenever retail outlets choose to open that day — and without any increased price, so $630 CAD. However, accessories will now carry a higher pricetag.
The eagerly-anticipated new Switch 2 console is slated to become available starting June 2nd.
Alongside the new pre-order date, Nintendo also finally confirmed Canadian pricing for Switch 2 games and accessories, with Mario Kart World costing a whopping $110 here.
18) If you have Bing Wallpaper installed on your computer, here's how to turn off the new annoying overlays
Bing Wallpaper is a popular free download for Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers which puts a superb high-quality wallpaper image from around the world on your desktop each day.
Here's today's image, which is Zion National Park in the USA:
You can download the free Bing Wallpaper app here: Bing.com/apps/wallpaper
But, the latest version has added several text overlays, which many of you have said you find annoying.
Here's how to turn them off…
- Open the Bing Wallpaper pop-up by clicking on the stylized blue "b" you'll see in your lower-right taskbar. (If you don't see it, look for a ^ on the lower-right and click that to see overflowing icons.)
- In the pop-up, click on the gear icon in the lower left.
- Turn OFF the switches for
- Learn More Widget
- News and Events Widgets
- Recommendations
- When done, click on the X in the upper-right of the pop-up to make it go away.
If you want to learn more about the Picture Of The Day and why it was chosen for that day, here's a hidden website which you can bookmark: Peapix.com/bing/ca There, you'll find a repository of all the daily pictures going back to 2010! Click on any picture for more info. Here's the info for today's pic:
19) US federal judge says Google has illegally built a monopoly, may be ordered to sell off Chrome, but is appealing
In a landmark ruling, a US federal judge in Virginia has concluded that Google has illegally built “monopoly power” with its web advertising business, a ruling that could reshape the basic economics of running a modern website.
This ruling — the third of three which Google has now lost, could force Google to divest Chrome web-browser or part of its online ad business.
A hearing on what remedy is needed is set for Monday, but Alphabet Corp., Google's parent company, is likely to appeal the decision which could delay any potential remedy for months or years.
CTVNews
Google is an online advertising monopoly, judge rules
Google has illegally built 'monopoly power' with its web advertising business, a federal judge in Virginia has ruled, siding with the Justice Department in a landmark case against the tech giant that could reshape the basic economics of running a modern website.
20) EU is delaying levying billions in anti-competitive fines against Apple and Meta because of the ongoing tariff battles with the USA
The European Commission has delayed enforcement actions against Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), citing growing geopolitical tensions with the USA.
Both Apple and Meta are currently under investigation by the European Commission for possible non-compliance with the Digital Markets Act, a sweeping EU regulation intended to rein in anti-competitive behavior by dominant tech firms.
The DMA, which officially came into effect in March 2024, empowers the Commission to impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue for violations. While decisions were initially expected by March 2025, final rulings are now being deferred because officials don's want to inflame trade tensions with the USA after President Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs over European regulations perceived to unfairly target American companies.
21) For security reasons, Android phones — like iPhones — will now automatically reboot after three days of non-use
Android is now copying a change implemented last year by Apple, which forces iPhones to auto-reboot and become harder to crack, after three days of non-use.
Google this week pushed updates to Google Play services, a core part of Android that provides functionalities for apps and the operating system itself. Listed under “Security & Privacy” is a new security feature that “will automatically restart your device if locked for 3 consecutive days".
The thinking behind adding an automatic reboot after a certain period of inactivity is to make life more difficult for someone who is trying to unlock or extract data from a phone; for example, law enforcement using a forensic analysis device like those made by Cellebrite or Magnet Forensics.
Before a phone is switched on and unlocked, certain data stored within is fully encrypted and harder to access without the user’s passcode. This is known as the “Before First Unlock” state. Once unlocked, on the other hand, some data gets decrypted and can potentially be accessed by bruteforcing the passcode or taking advantage of security flaws, which is generally how law enforcement forensic devices work. This state is known as “After First Unlock.”
22) OpenAI is considering launching its own social network to compete with Elon Musk's X and Meta's Threads
If you don't like what X (formerly Twitter) has become, and don't want to give any more info to Meta by using Threads, you may soon have a third option — a new social network created by OpenAI, the San Francisco firm behind ChatGPT.
While the project is still in early stages, CEO Sam Altman has been privately asking outsiders for feedback about the project. It’s unclear if OpenAI’s plan is to release the social network as a separate app or integrate it into ChatGPT, which became the most downloaded app globally last month.
Launching a social network in or around ChatGPT would likely increase Altman’s already-bitter rivalry with Elon Musk. In February, after Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase OpenAI for $97.4 billion, Altman responded: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.”
24) 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.
25) Scientists have found what they say is the strongest evidence yet of life on another planet
In a potential landmark discovery, scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope have found what they call the strongest signs yet of possible life beyond our solar system, detecting in an alien planet’s atmosphere the chemical fingerprints of gases which, here on Earth, are produced only by biological processes.
The two gases - dimethyl sulfide, or DMS, and dimethyl disulfide, or DMDS - involved in Webb’s observations of the planet named K2-18 b are generated on Earth by living organisms, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton - algae.
This suggests the planet may be teeming with microbial life, the researchers said. They stressed, however, that they are not announcing the discovery of actual living organisms but rather a possible biosignature - an indicator of a biological process - and that the findings should be viewed cautiously, with more observations needed.
Nonetheless, they voiced excitement. These are the first hints of an alien world that is possibly inhabited, said astrophysicist Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy, lead author of the study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
K2-18 b is 8.6 times as massive as Earth and has a diameter about 2.6 times as large as our planet. It orbits in the “habitable zone” - a distance where liquid water, a key ingredient for life, can exist on a planetary surface - about 124 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, which is 9.5 trillion kilometres.
CTVNews
‘First hints of an alien world’: Scientists find strongest signs of life beyond Earth
In a potential landmark discovery, scientists have obtained what they call the strongest signs yet of possible life beyond our solar system, detecting in an alien planet’s atmosphere the chemical fingerprints of gases that on Earth are produced only by biological processes.
27) If you want a great, secure anti-theft over-the-shoulder travel bag, the best ratings are for TravelOn bags, which you can buy direct from them, or on Amazon…
The black one is currently on sale on Amazon for $65…
Thanks to everyone who congratulated me on my 69th birthday this week!
L-R: Me, Suzanne, Ron and his wife Tamara and their two homestay students: Aoi from Japan and Lilly from Germany, and our two homestay students: Elodie from Switzerland and Klára from Czechia.
Here's one last picture in the C-FAX 1070 studios at 1420 Broad Street in downtown Victoria, before our move next week to new studios in Esquimalt…
Here's me in the original C-FAX 1070 studios atop the Central Building in 1974…
…and half a century later! (Thanks to Ron Fraser for the Broad Street pics!)
I started at C-FAX in 1971, as a volunteer Student World reporter at S.J. Willis High School in Grade 10.
Hi from my friend Rick, who's listening to us while exploring The Philippines after Japan, staying connected using Freedom Mobile's 106-country "Roam Beyond" service…
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…