May 10 & 11, 2025 Show Notes
Esquimalt Buccaneer Days / Mother's Day / Weekend Edition
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm on C-FAX
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
Aitan Roubini
Guest Co-Host
Victoria Mac and iOS User Group (VMUG) President and MacZen.ca owner
eMail: Support@MacZen.ca
iPhone +1 250-813-1323
Join Aitan and Charles and me for the May 2025 VMUG meeting, on Zoom, at 7pm this coming Wednesday, May 14. If you're not a VMUG member, you can take part as our guest, using this link:
The Podcast
Listen now:
SoundCloud
Tech Talk - May 10, 2025 by Tech Talk with Alan Perry
It’s a Mother’s Day weekend edition of Tech Talk! Alan Perry welcomes Aitan Roubini, President of the Victoria Mac and iOS User Group, for a lively look at the latest in tech. From the newest online scams to avoid, to smart travel tech tips, and the top stories in tech this week—plus your live questions answered on-air!
Or, you can subscribe to "Tech Talk with Alan Perry" (it's free) on any podcast app including these…
1) Watch out for fake Shaw "closing old Mailbox versions" emails
The emails — which are coming from a @blink.jo address (that's in Jordan, in the Middle East!) look like this screenshot…
In the actual email, if you were to mouse over the "Check For Update" link they want you to click on (or hold your finger on it on a phone or tablet), you'd get a pop-up revealing that that link would take you to Linki.ee/shawweb — which is a fake Shaw webmail log-in page (hosted in China) that looks like this…
Notice that they deliberately misspelled "password" using two v's to try to evade scam filters!
If you type in your @shaw.ca email address and password, the hackers in China will immediately gain access to your email account, and will start forwarding a copy of all your incoming messages to themselves. They'll then trigger password reset emails for any financial and other accounts they can find and then lock you out of your own accounts and start stealing your money and identity.
NEVER click on links in emails like this!
2) Watch out for scam Costco emails offering $2/year memberships
The emails, which look like the screenshot here, are coming from email accounts in Germany (.de), and say you can save 95% if you answer three questions.
If you hover your mouse over the "Claim Now" button on the actual email (or hold your finger on the button on a phone or tablet), you'll see that button will take you to a fake Costco webpage (footballswap.de) also in Germany.
Answer three basic demographic questions and you'll be taken to a (fake) Costco membership renewal page, where they'll want you to give them your membership number and password, plus your credit card info to pay the "$2 loyalty discount renewal fee".
If you give them that info, they'll try to buy things on your Costco account, and at the same time, they'll start racking-up fake charges on your credit card.
NEVER click on links in emails like this!
4) WhatsApp provides no cryptographic management for group messages, so an insider or hacker could add rogue members
We're often asked why we prefer the Signal messaging app to WhatsApp, and here's one more reason: while a team of researchers has found that WhatsApp does what its parent company Meta says it does, they also discovered that it — along with other messaging apps like Messenger, and WeChat and the now-retired Skype — lack something important which only Signal has — cryptographic management.
This means a hacker or someone on the inside at WhatsApp could add a rogue participant to a WhatsApp group chat. Signal, by contrast, includes cryptographic assurance that only an existing group member designated as the Group Admin can add new members.
That's not foolproof, as we discovered last month, when then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz mistakenly added The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg to the group chat and no-one else in the chat noticed.
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.
10a) The end of an era: Skype is now just a memory
More than two decades after it burst onto the tech scene as an easy and free way to chat, call, and later to video-chat with people anywhere in the world, Microsoft pulled the plug on Skype on May 5.
It may be hard to believe for younger people, but Skype used to be the main way we stayed in contact with friends, family, and colleagues around the world. Skype was first released in 2003 and, after going through several owners, was finally purchased by Microsoft for $8.5 billion USD in 2011.
Microsoft says usage — especially paid usage — of Skype dropped so much as people switched to mobile phone messaging apps, it wasn't worth them maintaing the Skype infracstructure.
Microsoft is offering to replace Skype with the free version of Microsoft Teams, its corprate messaging service, and is allowing Skype users to log in to the Microsoft Teams app and have their Skype message history, group chats, and contacts all automatically available without having to create another account…or they can choose to instead export all that data to preserve it.
10b) Microsoft is also phasing-out support for calling domestic or international phone numbers
If you have a current paid Skype calling subscription, you'll be able to continue making and receiving Skype calls until your subscription expires. More info is at the link below…
Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers have 60 minutes a month of free calling via Skype to phone numbers around the world, and that will continue until March of 2026.
11) Freedom Mobile is now including more data plus phoning and texting, on its 30-day "Roam Beyond" World Travel Passes
If you're only planning one or two international trips in the next year, you can save money by going on a cheaper Canada/US/Mexico plan from Quebec-based Freedom Mobile, and then buy a 30-day "Roam Beyond" travel pass just before you head overseas.
Freedom has now upped the data included in those passes, with a choice of two options:
- $30 for 5GB of 5G data good in 100+ countries + unlimited calls within a country and back home
- $50 for 10GB of 5G data good in 100+ countries + unlimited calls within a country and back home
These passes work on both Canada-only and Canada/USA/Mexico plans.
If you plan on making multiple trips to the USA and/or Mexico, you'd be better off subscribing to one of their "Roam Beyond"plans, which include much more data…
You have to stay on the above plans for at least three months.
12) Nearly half the new Canadian phone activations in Q1 went to Quebecor, most of them on the Freedom Mobile network
Quebecor has a huge market share in Quebec under its Vidéotron brand, and now Freedom Mobile is helping expand the company’s share across the rest of Canada, esppecially here in BC.
Quebecor says it gained 54,000 new wireless customers in the first three months of this year, which is 45%of all new wireless customers in Canada in Q1. Most of them were people switching to Freedom Mobile from Bell, Telus, and Rogers and their budget brands.
Freedom's rates are about 20% less than the big three, and they're included Canada/USA/Mexico calling and roaming in most of their plans, plus their no-extra-cost "Roam Beyond" service, which is proving very popular with Canadians who travel overseas.
Freedom Mobile is in the midst of its phased rollout of 3,800MHz spectrum across its 5G+ network across BC, Alberta and Ontario, which is increasing network capacity and offering improved connectivity with download speeds that beat 1Gbps.
Bell reported that it lost roughly 1,000 net wireless subscribers in the first three months, while Rogers says it added 34,000 net wireless subscribers in the Q1 of 2025. In the same quarter, Telus reported adding 20,000 net wireless subscribers.
13a) If you have an iPhone, ask Siri to remember where you parked
A new update to Apple's Siri digital assistant eliminates the need for the Find My Car app.
Now, when you've parked (or when you're leaving some location without a vehicle), just say, "Siri, remember where I parked my car".
When it's time to return to you car (or the location without a vehicle), simply ask, "Siri, where did I park my car?" and you'll see the same dialog box to guide you to where you parked.
If you use Apple CarPlay, it'll automatically "park" you when you unplug your phone or turn off the ignition.
If you don't get this option, go into Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on System Services, and scroll down and turn on Significant Locations.
13b) If you have an Android phone, use the free Find My Car app to find your way back to any spot
If you want to be able to easily find your way back to some spot, use the free Find My Car app.
You don’t need to actually have a car; if you want to find your way back to your hotel or AirBnB, for example, set the location of your "car" when you leave, and off you go.
You can even snap a picture, and add notes to the saved location.
When you want to find your way back, tap the "Find my car" button in the app, and choose whether you want walking, driving, or transit directions back to that spot.
15) If you want a new iPad, buy one now while stores have stock, and before prices might go up globally to offset tariffs in the USA
Apple's 11th-generation base-model iPad was released back in March, but stores are only now starting to get decent numbers of them.
The new model comes with twice the storage — 128GB — and is about 25% faster than the model it replaces, but is still the same price: $499.
The Trump administration last month agreed to a 90-day suspension on tariffs for iPads, iPhones, and most other tech gear coming in to the USA from where they're made in China, but if there's no trade deal reached before than exemption runs out, Apple will likely follow the lead of other tech gear makers and increase prices globally and use the extra money to limit tariff-caused price hikes in the USA.
So, if you're shopping for a new iPad, (or other tech gear, for that matter), we suggest you buy if when it's available, especially if you see a sale, before prices go up.
16) With the shutdown of 3G service starting with Rogers in July, make sure older flip-phones and smartphones will continue to work
3G cell service, which made texting possible, was introduced here in Canada more than 20 years ago, and has since been succeeded by 4G, LTE, and more recently 5G service, which uses different frequencies and is vastly faster.
As a result, all the major Carriers here in Canada are preparing to shut down their 3G cellular transmitters later this year, beginning with Rogers, who will pull the plug on their on July 31. Telus will follow suit at the end of December, and Bell is expected to do the same sometime this winter, too.
There are only a few 3G flip-phones still in use, but if you have one, it's time to replace it with a newer phone, one that not only runs on the 4G or 5G frequencies, but which also supports VolTE service.
VoLTE stands for Voice over Long-Term Evolution, and is the technology that allows voice calls to be transmitted over 4G LTE networks which results in higher call quality, faster connection times, and better overall reliability.
So, if you have a flip-phone, or a smartphone that's more than eight years old, we suggest you go to the store or carrier where you got it, and find out if it supports not just 4G LTE, but also VoLTE, and if not replace it with a newer phone that does.
crtc.gc.ca
3G network phase-out: essential information for cellphone users
Mobile service providers in Canada and globally are actively phasing out, or have already phased out, their older third-generation (3G) cellular networks. As a result, some older cellphones may no longer be able to make or receive calls and/or texts, including emergency 9-1-1 calls, or use data services once your provider has phased out its 3G network.
If you're buying a new budget phone (a phone costing less than $100, for example), it's essential you make sure that it not only supports 4G LTE, but that it also supports VoLTE service, because if it doesn't, you'll be able to use the internet and text people, but you won't be able to make or receive phone calls!
17) If you have a bunch of books to sell, here's how to find out how much they're worth
Going through the library of somone who's passed-away or who can't read any more, can be daunting, but there might be some valuable gems in there, so here's how to find out.
The best website for estmating the value of books is BookScouter.com — you just have to remember that the prices are in US dollars…
If you have just a few books, you can type in the ISBN number (the barcode on the back cover) of each book to get an estimated value.
If a book is too old to have an ISBN number, you can use the AbeBooks.com website, where you'll need to type in the autor and title…
If you have LOTS of books to go through, we suggest you buy an inexpensive handheld barcode scanner on Amazon (we can't find any local stores that carry them). You can buy a wired one which plugs into a USB port on a laptop or computer, or you can spend more for a rechargeable wireless one.
Here's one which is both wired and wireless, which I've bought for several people…
Amazon.ca
NETUM Bluetooth Barcode Scanner, Compatible with 2.4G Wireless & Bluetooth Function & Wired Connection, Connect Smart Phone, Tablet, PC, CCD Bar Code Reader Work with Windows, Mac,Android, iOS
NETUM Bluetooth Barcode Scanner, Compatible with 2.4G Wireless & Bluetooth Function & Wired Connection, Connect Smart Phone, Tablet, PC, CCD Bar Code Reader Work with Windows, Mac,Android, iOS : Amazon.ca: Office Products
If you have LOTS of books to go through, you can create a Word document or Excel spreadsheet to keep track of the books and their values.
You can print out the result and take it with you to a store like Russell Books, to help them more quickly figure-out how much they can pay you for the ones they think will sell.
18) Please put key medical info and emergency contact info in your phone: it can save your life, literally
If you have a medical emergency, having critical health info and emergency contact info in your phone can save your life, or make it easy for a good samaritan to contact a loved one if it's not serious enough for paramedics to be called.
iPhones and Android phones both allow you to store invaluable health info (like allergies, blood type, heart conditions) as well as who to contact if something's happened to you, in a way that it can be accessed by anyone who finds you even when your phone is locked.
They both have a system that lets that info be digitally transmitted to paramedics if someone uses your phone to call 9-1-1, so they can give life-saving instructions to the person who's helping you.
Apple Support
Set up your Medical ID in the Health app on your iPhone - Apple Support (CA)
Medical ID helps first responders access your critical medical information from the Lock screen, without needing your passcode. They can see information like allergies and medical conditions as well as who to contact in case of an emergency.
I have several clients who are alive because they had this info on their phones when they had medical emergencies — everything from a pacemaker that failed, to a severe allergic reaction to a grand mal epileptic siezure. Please — don't just put this info on your phone, but also help someone who you care about, put it on theirs!
19) Reports suggest only iPhone 17 Pro models will be released this fall, with other models being held back till a year from now
According to The Information, three unnamed sources in the supply chain claim that Apple is going to stagger iPhone releases into a fall and a spring pattern, starting this fall. There is no further specific detail about the change, but the sources say the more expensive models will launch first.
That would certainly mean models such as the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but it's also possible that Apple will launch its first iPhone Fold at the same time.
If the report is correct, the move of the base iPhone 17 to a launch in spring 2026 could mean that Apple ties it in with an iPhone 18e. The first model in that range, the iPhone 16e, was launched in spring 2025, as a replacement for the iPhone SE.
A staggered released schedule would also give Apple more time to adjust where iPhones are made, to minimize the impact of tariffs on iPhones and other products made in China, if a trade deal is not worked-out.
Apple is racing to shift the production of iPhones destined for the USA to India from China, and there are reports some production is also now going to be shifted to Brazil…
20) Microsoft has unveiled its latest flagship "CoPilot+" Surface Pro tablets and Surface laptops, both with powerful new NPU's for AI
Microsoft has released new Surface Pro tablets and Surface laptops which have powerful built-in NPU's (Neural Processing Units) built-in for blazing fast AI takes powered by CoPilot+.
They're ultra-thin and light, but pack impressive power at lower prices — both have a 45 TOPS NPU, and are powered by the Snapdragon X Plus processor, which is reportedly faster than both the Surface Laptop 5 and the MacBook Air M3.
Microsoft says its new Surface Laptop is the thinnest and lightest Surface Laptop ever, crafted for portability, performance, and AI. It'll be available starting on May 20 for $1199 CAD, and will be available in Ocean, Violet, and Platinum colour options. The Surface Laptop has a 13"/33cm full HD display with thin bezels, an AI-enhanced camera with Auto Video HDR and AI noise reduction, and a built-in fingerprint reader.
Next is the new 12"/30cm Surface Pro, which will also be available on May 20 starting at $1099 CAD. It has a 2-in-1 form factor, providing the functionality of a laptop and the portability of a tablet. It has a built-in adjustable kickstand and detachable keyboard, as well as the Surface Slim Pen, which magnetically attaches to the back of the tablet, and is also available in Slate, Ocean, and Violet.
Microsoft Devices Blog
Introducing all-new Surface Copilot+ PCs: The Surface Pro, 12-inch and Surface Laptop, 13-inch
Copilot+ PCs continue to define the next wave of personal computing — fast, long lasting, secure PCs that are purpose-built to unlock AI experiences that empower us to get more done. Today, Microsoft and Surface expand the Copilot+ PC family with t
21) We'll find out in August if Google has to sell off its Chrome browser, or share its search technology, to resolve anti-trust case
US District Court Judge Amit Mehta last year ruled that Google violated antitrust law by illegally maintaining a monopoly in search. The past few months have seen the US DoJ make its case for what the remedy should be — which is primarily that Google be ordered to sell-off its Chrome web-browser — with a decision from the judge expected in August.
Alphabet Corp., which owns Google, is hoping to overturn the anti-trust violation ruling on appeal, which would make moot any decision on a remedy.
In the meantime, one of the key bits of remedy testimony was from Apple's Eddy Cue, who testified that AI engines like ChatGPT and CoPilot have become so useful, that web searches are dropping as people ask AI chatbots instead. That caused Google stock to drop within hours by more than 7%.
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.
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…