Aug. 2 & 3, 2025 Show Notes
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon PT
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm on C-FAX
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your guest co-hosts this weekend:
Charles Martin
Co-host
Victoria Mac and iOS Users Group Program Director & AppleInsider.com Weekend News Editor
Phone +1-888-718-4598
Kyle Wilson
Co-Host
Colwood-based IT Specialist, Wikipedia Administrator, and a Business Insider contributor
X & BlueSky: @KWilsonMG
1) If you have an Apple device, there's an important new update out for you
For iPhones and iPads, it's iOS/iPadOS18.6, and it includes 24 security fixes, as well as bug fixes.
Get it without waiting for an Automatic Update by going to Settings, General, Software Update.
If you have an older iPad which can't run iPadOS 18, because of the significance of the issues being fixed, Apple has released a special Security Update, iPadOS 17.7.9, which you can get the same way.
2) For Macs, Apple has released separate macOS Security Updates for each of the last three versions of the Mac operating system
- macOS Sequoia 15.6, which fixes 81 security holes as well as some bugs
- macOS Sonoma 14.7.7, which fixes 50 security holes as well as some bugs
- macOS Ventura 13.7.7, which fixes 41 security holes as well as some bugs
If your Mac is too old to be able to be upgraded to macOS Sequoia, you can see from the Updates list above that Apple can only fix some of the security holes in your Mac. Please consider getting a newer Mac, so you can be fully protected!
4) Watch out for emails which contain scam receipts for substantial online purchases which you didn't make
These clever scam emails are usually for items like antivirus protection subscriptions, as shown in the screenshot below…
If you scroll down, you'll see that they make it appear that your credit card has been charged a hefty amount — in this case, $376 USD (about $518 CAD) — for a Geek Squad subscription, and give you a phone number to call if you the purchase was made in error…
…if you call the phone number in the email, you'll be connected to someone at a scam call-centre in India, and they'll "offer" to reverse the charge, but will want you to let them share your screen to make sure it goes through. If you let them do that, they'll make it appear you got a refund 10x the amount, and then pressure you to send them the difference. They'll often also try to secretly transfer money out of your account to themselves.
NEVER call phone numbers in emails or texts about items or services you did not order!
If you're concerned that one of these is real (they never are), you can go online and check your credit card or bank account transaction list.
5) If you're travelling to Bali, watch out for this "cabal of furry thieves" looking to steal your iPhone and other valuables
The macaque monkeys will barter with monkey handlers for your valuables back in exchange for mangoes and other fruits or, occasionally, the odd raw chicken egg. It truly is a monkey's business.
(Gift link!)
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.
12) Rogers Has Pulled The Plug on a $9.7M Highway 3 Cell Expansion Plan
A Rogers project aimed at expanding cell service along Highway 3 in British Columbia has been cancelled, according to the provincial government.
In an emailed obtained by iPhone in Canada, on July 22, the B.C. Ministry of Citizens’ Services confirmed that Rogers will no longer move forward with the project, which was supposed to bring new cell towers to a 92-kilometre stretch between Hope and Keremeos.
The province explained due to challenges Rogers faced with identifying and planning for the cellular sites along this mountainous roadway, inflationary costs of infrastructure development during that time, and fiscal constraints within the telecommunications industry, Rogers was not able to move ahead with this project.
The $9.7 million project was first announced in March 2022 and was meant to add 11 new cell towers in an area with major coverage gaps. At the time, the province committed up to $3.1 million through the Connecting British Columbia grant program, administered by the Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Although the project has been shelved, the government says cellular access along Highway 3 remains a concern.
“Improving cellular service to improve safety and security along roadways remains a priority for the Province,” said a client relations coordinator with the ministry’s Connectivity Division. “While a new project for the area has not been identified, it remains a key roadway where improved service is acknowledged to be needed.”
Highway 3 runs through mountainous terrain prone to natural disasters like landslides and flooding. Coverage gaps are particularly common between Hope and Manning Park, and between Princeton and Keremeos.
The province says it still has a Cellular Expansion Fund in place to support future infrastructure efforts from other providers.
For now, with Rogers signed onto SpaceX’s Starlink Direct to Cell, which is also available for non-Rogers customers, that may give connectivity for those in need and with supported devices.
iPhone in Canada | Canada’s source for Apple, telecom, tech news, and deals
Province Says Rogers Pulled Plug on $9.7M Highway 3 Cell Expansion | iPhone in Canada
A Rogers project aimed at expanding cell service along Highway 3 in British Columbia has been cancelled, according to the provincial government. In an emailed obtained by iPhone in Canada, on July 22, the B.C. Ministry of Citizens’ Services confirmed that Rogers will no longer move forward with the project, which was supposed to bring new
13) Rogers has postponed the start of the shutdown of its 3G network by one week, now to August 7
In a move likely designed to give staff more time to deal with unanticipated problems, Rogers has decided to push back its 3G network shutdown plans another seven days so it will now begin on August 7.
Rogers has changed the wording on its website and is is reaching out directly to customers who remain on 3G to let them know they have another week to upgrade their phone or change to a different carrier. The first regions to go offline will be parts of Quebec and the Ottawa area, but the rest of the country will slowly go offline after that.
The shutdown was originally planned to start on July 31. It meant that anyone with a really old phone that only uses 3G would no longer be able to get online or make calls. Rogers also started charging customers who continued to use 3G a one-time $75 fee and a monthly $3 fee.
However, there have been numerous hurdles with tonnes of modern phones because once 3G goes away, there is no default standard for calling on 4G that every phone supports. Instead, there are numerous different Voice over LTE (VoLTE) standards, and there is no guarantee that your phone and carrier will support the same bands, especially if your phone is older than 2019 or from another country.
It sounds like Rogers has realized that the shutdown is gong to affect lots of people who should not be affected, and is buying time to reach out to those customers in hopes of avoiding a lot of bad PR.
14) AppleCare One Launches in US, But Not (Yet) in Canada
Apple has launched a new monthly service called AppleCare One (leveraging its Apple One moniker), letting U.S. customers bundle protection for multiple Apple devices under one plan. The service is not, however, being offered in Canada right now.
iPhone in Canada | Canada’s source for Apple, telecom, tech news, and deals
AppleCare One Launches in U.S., But Not in Canada | iPhone in Canada
Apple has launched a new monthly service called AppleCare One (leveraging its Apple One moniker), letting U.S. customers bundle protection for multiple Apple devices under one plan. The service is not currently available in Canada. Starting at $19.99 USD (about $27 CAD) per month, users can cover up to three Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads,
Starting at $19.99 USD (about $27 CAD) per month, users can cover up to three Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches. Each additional device costs $5.99 USD (about $8.17 CAD) per month. Apple says you can save $11 US per month versus signing up an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch individually with AppleCare+.
AppleCare One Coverage includes accidental damage, 24/7 support, and battery service. Theft and loss protection—previously only available for iPhones—is now extended to iPads and Apple Watches under this plan.
Customers can also add older devices to their plan, as long as they’re in good shape and under four years old. Devices already owned can be enrolled even if they’re outside Apple’s usual 60-day AppleCare+ window.
No word yet on when—or if—it will roll out in Canada. Earlier this year, Apple increased the price of AppleCare+ in the US, and many suspected Canada might be next.
15) A Florida jury found Tesla partially at fault in a fatal crash
The jury determined that Tesla was 33% responsible for the fatal collision when its Autopilot failed to prevent an accident; the driver received the other 67% of the fault. The company will have to "pay as much as $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages," according to the New York Times.
17) Barring a win on appeal, Google has just 14 days to comply with an antitrust ruling requiring it to change how it does business
Google will be required to allow app developers to use alternative payment providers, among other changes. It will, however, be at least 2026 before Google Play will be forced to host other app stores.
18) Google is backtracking on plans previously announced to deactivate shortened goo.gl links
While the company prevented users from creating new links in 2019, existing ones have continued to function. The company had previously announced plans to deactivate all of the links on August 25, 2025, and will still do so for any currently showing a deactivation message.
Of the company's decision to reverse plans, Google noted that they "understand these links are embedded in countless documents, videos, posts and more, and we appreciate the input received.”
19) Koodo Prepaid Users Hit With Surprise Booster Expiry Change
Koodo prepaid customers may be in for a surprise: the company now says its booster add-ons will expire—even though its support site still claims they won’t (because it’s an AI summary of the features).
Until recently, Koodo’s prepaid boosters, like data or long-distance minutes, were promoted as “not expiring” as long as your base plan stayed active. That’s still what it says on Koodo’s support page. But the company has updated other parts of its website this week, now stating that Canada-wide data and talk add-ons expire 30 days after purchase, while U.S. roaming add-ons expire in 15 days.
Prepaid boosters are meant to be flexible top-ups that carry over month to month. Customers often rely on them to avoid surprise charges or to stockpile data. But now, reports iPhone in Canada, buried in the fine print, Koodo notes that these add-ons are only usable if your base plan is still active and will be removed if your account is deactivated.
20) Reddit has halted plans to allow subreddits to implement paywalls
While the company still wants to eventually implement paywalls and exclusive content, it currently is planning to focus on strengthening their "core product" and improve logged-in user growth.
21) Claude AI maker Anthropic revokes OpenAI's access to its models
Anthropic claims that the ChatGPT maker's use of its Claude models has violated its terms of service. The company claims that OpenAI developers were using their Claude Code tool ahead of the anticipated launch of GPT-5. OpenAI was allegedly testing Claude Code to compare it to GPT-5's performance.
For its part, OpenAI told WIRED "It’s industry standard to evaluate other AI systems to benchmark progress and improve safety. While we respect Anthropic’s decision to cut off our API access, it’s disappointing considering our API remains available to them."
Anthropic told WIRED that it will “continue to ensure OpenAI has API access for the purposes of benchmarking and safety evaluations as is standard practice across the industry” but declined to clarify how this revocation impacts that goal.
22) Meta is continuing its quest to sway top artificial intelligence researchers to join it. According to one source, it offered one researcher over $1 billion
Meta has previously focused on researchers at OpenAI but has set a new target: a small 50-person startup called Thinking Machines Lab. Most offers have been between $200 and $500 million over a 4-year span. Some of the offers would have earned the researchers between $50 and $100 million within the first year. However, one researcher was reportedly offered more than $1 billion. So far, there have been no takers.
Zuckerberg has apparently been reaching out to these prospective researchers personally, over WhatsApp.
In response to WIRED's story, a Meta spokesman said that the company "made offers only to a handful of people at TML and while there was one sizable offer, the details are off." He concluded the statement by stating "At the end of the day, this all begs the question who is spinning this narrative and why.”
23) The UK has rolled out age verification requirements for certain websites, but it can be tricked by video games
Face scanning verification implemented by the gaming communication app Discord and Reddit can be defeated by the video game Death Stranding's photo mode. Since the news broke, young Brits have been using this bypass to be accepted as adults.
When The Verge tested this, they found it "unbelievably easy" to bypass using the game's main character Sam Bridges to pass the age verification. The Verge noted how this bypass allows even adults to verify without having to hand over credit card data "with yet another third-party company" or pay for a VPN provider.
The scanning service used by Reddit, Persona, responded to The Verge's request for comment stating that they "successfully blocked well over 99% of these attempts and is highly effective" and take "protecting individuals identities…extremely seriously."
27) 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.
"Ahoj" (pronounced "Ahoy") from Alan and Suzanne in Czechia, where they and their former homestay student Majo from Mexico have been vising Klára, their former homestay student from Praha (Prague), and Klára's family…
In the beautifully-preserved 16th-century village of Telĉ, a UNESCO World Heritage Site south of Prague, L-R: Alan, Suzanne, Majo, Klara, her dad Yuri, mom Lucie and brother Matteo.
Telĉ (pronounced "Telch") is home to a castle that dates back to the 13th century, which is filled with period paintings, furniture, and medieval armour…
They also visited the small village of Jindřichův Hradec, which is home to the world's largest animated Nativity display, an intricate panorama featuring hundreds of moving figures created over sixty years…
Walking across the famous 14h-century Charles Bridge, over the Vtlava River in Praha (Prague)…
The world's largest still-operating Astronomical Clock (built in 1410!) comes to life every hour in Old Town Square in Praha, another UNESCO World Heritage Site…
"Moc děkuji" (Czech for 'Thank you very much') to Klára and her family for opening their homes and hearts to us; now, onto Germany, where our former homestay student Emma and her wonderful family were waiting to welcome us in their traditional Bavarian outfits…
On our first night, dad Markus took us to see the iconic, huge, and packed Hofbräuhaus in München (Munich), which has been serving Bavarian beer since 1589 (not a typo!)…but instead of staying there, Markus took us to the nearby Donisl gasthaus, which has been open since 1417, and it was awesome…
It is from here that I called into "Tech Talk" in the second half hour of the program.
Regular beer-drinkers lock up their steins on a stein wall for safekeeping!
After some delicious Bavarian food and music and our first German beer, which is so much better than even the best Canadian craft beer, we enjoyed the atmosphere in the nearby overlooking Marienplatz…
L-R: Suzanne, mom Elisabeth, son Vincent, Emma's boyfriend Domi, sher sister Viktoria, Emma, Majo, dad Markus, and Alan. The Leo's are a truly wonderful family, and we and Majo are really looking forward to exploring their country with them for the next two weeks.
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…