Oct. 25 & 26, 2025 Show Notes
Pre-Halloween Weekend Edition
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon PT
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm on C-FAX
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
Your crew this weekend:
This week, we recorded Tech Talk on Friday afternoon; we'll be back live next Saturday)
Kyle Wilson
Guest Co-Host
Colwood-based IT Specialist, Wikipedia Administrator, and a Business Insider contributor
X & BlueSky: @KWilsonMG
1) Watch out for a direct message on social media from someone who says they're dying and have left you some money
The scam begins when you get a DM (Direct Message) a DM on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, X, or other social media app.
Here's a screenshot of one of these.
The melodramatic message (from a brand-new account): terminal illness, last goodbye, “I left you some assets.” At the bottom, a ready-made username and password for a crypto site you’ve never used (blurred-out in my screenshot).
It’s designed to feel urgent and personal, so many people tap before they think.
The illusion:
The moment you log in with the credentials from that DM, a glossy, mobile-friendly dashboard flashes a huge balance. There’s motion (numbers “update”), a believable “history,” and a big Withdraw button right where your thumb expects it. On a small screen, it looks like a real account with real money…
The moment you log in with the credentials from that DM, a glossy, mobile-friendly dashboard flashes a huge balance. There’s motion (numbers “update”), a believable “history,” and a big Withdraw button right where your thumb expects it. On a small screen, it looks like a real account with real money…
The trap:
When you try to send that balance to your own wallet, the site asks for a withdrawal key belonging to the original account holder — the one from the DM. You don’t have that key, and Support won’t give it to you. External withdrawals are a dead-end by design.
When you try to send that balance to your own wallet, the site asks for a withdrawal key belonging to the original account holder — the one from the DM. You don’t have that key, and Support won’t give it to you. External withdrawals are a dead-end by design.
The detour they push you to take:
Support suggests using Internal Transfer instead. Conveniently, they also offer to help you create a new user “in seconds,” and this new account will have its own key (because you created it). That makes it feel like you’re finally doing something legitimate: “I’ll just transfer the funds to my new account and then withdraw.”
Support suggests using Internal Transfer instead. Conveniently, they also offer to help you create a new user “in seconds,” and this new account will have its own key (because you created it). That makes it feel like you’re finally doing something legitimate: “I’ll just transfer the funds to my new account and then withdraw.”
The paywall you only meet once you’re invested:
But then, you discover that internal transfers only work on “VIP” accounts. To upgrade to VIP, you must pay for a membership. Many victims pay here, assuming it’s a one-time hurdle before they can finally withdraw…
But then, you discover that internal transfers only work on “VIP” accounts. To upgrade to VIP, you must pay for a membership. Many victims pay here, assuming it’s a one-time hurdle before they can finally withdraw…
Why nothing real ever leaves the site:
After you upgrade and attempt the internal transfer, the site can:
After you upgrade and attempt the internal transfer, the site can:
- demand another fee (a “limit lift,” “tax,” or “security key”),
- fail silently and push you to support, or
- “complete” the transfer inside the fake ledger while still blocking any external withdrawal.
Victims end up paying for the privilege of moving fake numbers between fake accounts—then paying again to “unlock” a withdrawal that never happens.
Why do people keep paying up?
- The balance looks real, so every new hurdle feels like bureaucracy, not fraud.
- Paying once creates sunk cost: “I’ve already invested—one more step and I’m done.”
- Internal movements inside their dashboard mimic progress, even though no on-chain transfer ever occurs.
- A mobile flow encourages momentum—it’s always “one more tap” to finish.
Never pay to “unlock” money.
If funds are yours, you never need to buy permission to move them.
2) If you got a text this week about a lawsuit against Rogers, Fido & Chatr, it's not a scam: the class action suit has been approved
The Superior Court of Quebec has given the go-ahead to a class action lawsuit against Rogers and its subsidiaries, Fido and Chatr, over a national outage that occurred in April 2021.
This isn’t to be confused with the infamous July 2022 outage that took out Rogers’ wireless and internet service for multiple days across Canada.
As part of the approval, the Court directed Rogers to spread the word by texting everyone who was a client at the time.
The Lex Group, the Quebec law firm behind the suit, claims many Canadians suffered damages as a result of the outage: some people may have incurred medical damages because they couldn’t access services like 9-1-1, while others who depend on their phones for work — delivery drivers, for example — may have lost income.
If the lawsuit is successful, class members would be eligible for compensation from Rogers.
If you were affected by the April 2021 Rogers outage, there’s nothing you need to do. The next step for the lawsuit will be a trial to determine the validity of the claims, which will likely be held next fall, unless there's an out-of-court settlement.
Rogers says it's already credited affected customers and looks forward to defending itself.
3) Watch out for texts sending you a refund because of a billing discrepancy
The texts, as shown in the screenshot from Tech Talk listener Peter in Kelowna, claim to be from your network provider, but never say what company, and give you a link to click on to access a supposed refund being issued to you to correct a billing error…
The generic link — NetworkRefundProvider.com — is another giveaway. But if you click on it, it takes you to a fake Interac web-page, showing a refund and urging you to click on your bank to deposit it. And if you do, it'll take you to a fake (but real-looking) log-in page for your bank or credit union…
The scammers are hoping you won't notice that website address at the top of the screen (it could be at the bottom of the screen on your phone) is not for your bank but for a scam website overseas, and that you'll give them your banking info so they can steal your money.
They're they're also hoping that you use that same password for other accounts, like your email, or social media, so they can also steal your identity.
NEVER click on links in texts or emails like this!
4) Watch out for scam speeding fine texts
This scam is not new, but in the past couple of weeks, people have reported getting a new round of these texts.
Interestingly, many people say the texts claim they were caught speeding in Alberta, not here in BC, as shown in the screenshot.
The message urges you to click on a link to pay your fine, warning that if you don't, it may result in additional fines or enforcement actions.
The link — in this case OverdueTicketInfraction.info — takes you to a fake PayBC webpage…
The links in these scam texts take you to overseas websites that look like the real "PayBC Online" web-page, where you're instructed to provide your name, address, and credit card or bank account info…
…but the websites are fake. The real PayBC website looks like this…
If you give the scammers your card info, within minutes, they'll rack up scam charges on your credit card or drain your bank account.
NEVER click on links in texts or emails like this!
7) The Government of Canada is creating a new Financial Crimes Agency to help people avoid, and recover from, online scams
The federal Liberal governemt says it's going to create a financial crimes agency to tackle online scams, all part of a national anti-fraud strategy.
Canadians lost an estimated $643 million to fraud in 2024, a nearly threefold increase since 2020, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which estimates only five to 10 percent of scams are reported.
Among the government's proposed measures is a plan to amend the Bank Act so that it requires banks to have policies to prevent and address fraud, including additional steps to make sure people know the risks when they make eTransfers to strangers, or when they transfer money to accounts outside of Canada.
The agency will serve as the lead enforcement body for combating financial crimes — including fraud and money laundering — and for recovering criminal proceeds.
8) Tinder dating app is adding "Face Check" ID verification to combat bots and scammers
The dating app Tinder has launched its industry-first Face Check feature here in Canada, marking a major step forward in preventing fake profiles and reinforcing trust among users.
This new safety tool requires users to pass a liveness check via a short video selfie whenever the app’s systems flag unusual behaviour.
Face Check prompts users to take a brief video selfie to confirm they are a real, live person, and match their existing profile photos. This liveness test detects three-dimensional facial movement, preventing spoofing with photos or deepfakes. If the attempt is successful, users regain full access to the app. If not, their account remains locked until they verify.
Face Check is distinct from Tinder’s standard Photo Verification, which earns a blue checkmark through a similar but optional process. Tinder says Face Check is mandatory in Canada for any profile showing signs of suspicious behavior, rather than being based on user request. It employs immediate biometric matching, then deletes video data within 24 hours, per Tinder’s privacy controls.
Canadian users flagged by automated systems or moderators will see a Face Check required prompt. Following on-screen instructions, they film a guided video selfie. AI processes the video in real-time, comparing the facial geometry to profile images, and unlocks the account once matched.
Tinder, which is owned by the same firm that owns Match.com, stresses that liveness video selfies are not retained beyond the verification period.
iPhone in Canada | Canada’s source for Apple, telecom, tech news, and deals
Tinder Debuts Face Check in Canada to Fight Bots, Scams | iPhone in Canada
Tinder introduces mandatory Face Check in Canada, a live video selfie verification feature to block bots & fake profiles, reinforcing user safety and authenticity.
9) WhatsApp is rolling out new WhatsApp tools to help people spot scams and stay safe while messaging
Group messaging: WhatsApop is launching a new safety overview that they'll show you when someone who is not in your contacts adds you to a new WhatsApp group you may not recognize. It'll include key infor about the group and tips to stay safe. From there, you can exit the group without ever having to look at the chat. And if you think you might recognize the group after seeing the safety overview, you can choose to see the chat for more context. R egardless, notifications from the group will be silenced until you mark that you want to stay.
Individual messaging: Additionally, scammers may attempt to first initiate contact with you elsewhere on the internet before asking to message them on private messengers like WhatsApp. To protect against this tactic, WhatsApp will now caution you when you start a chat with someone not in your contacts by showing you additional context about who you’re messaging so you can make an informed decision.
In addition to the new WhatsApp tools, Meta is also sharing insights on how criminal scammers target people on many apps at once to evade detection by each service…
Tech News Of The Week
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) If you've updated your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to the new version 26 OS and don't like the look, we have tips on how to fix that!
Apple's new Liquid Glass operating systems include more than 125 new features and changes, including a unified new appearance, called Liquid Glass, which has a much more transparent look.
Many people do NOT like the new look, but there are easy ways to fix that!
We've created a separate page of "iOS/iPadOS 26 Tips" on the changes, and how to mimimize the transparancy, and to use the best new features.
The link to those Notes is on our home page, but here it is below, as well…
tech-talk.ca
iOS/iPadOS 26 New Features
There are more than 125 new and changed features in iOS/iPadOS 26 — Apple's 2025 annual operating system upgrade for iPhones and iPads. 1) Apple has released bug-fix updates for its new Version 26 Operating systems, so go ahead and upgrade! Apple appears to have fixed most of the (many) bugs that
11) What caused Amazon's AWS outage that affected about a third of the internet earlier this week?
Overnight on Monday, huge swatch of the internet ground to a halt, affecting major websites and apps such as Amazon, Snapchat, airlines, banks — the one-third of the world's web activity which runs on AWS — Amazon's cloud platform.
(Microsoft and Google are the #2 and #3 cloud providers, and the three are responsible for more than 80% of all web activity.)
So…what happened?
Amazon says it came down to an issue in its largest cluster of data centres, in Virginia, which power much of the internet. Critical processes in the region's database which stores and manages the Domain Name System (DNS) records, allowing website URLs to be understood by computers, effectively fell out of sync.
According to Amazon, this triggered a "latent race condition" - or in other words unearthed a dormant bug that could occur in an unlikely sequence of events. The delay in one process had a knock-on effect which caused its systems to stop working properly. Much of this process is automated, meaning it is done without human involvement.
Within hours, tech found the source of the problem, isolated it, and slowly brought the systems back on line.
In simple terms, when you type a web address into a web-browser like Edge or Safari or Chrome, that info is relayed to a DNS (Domain Name System) which translates the website name into its digital Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is how computers access it. For example, the Tech-Talk.ca website's IP address is 3.137.108.170, which is very hard for anyone to remember!
Amazon has posted a highly-technical explanation of what went wrong and what they're doing to try to prevent it from happening again…
Amazon Web Services, Inc.
Summary of the Amazon DynamoDB Service Disruption in Northern Virginia (US-EAST-1) Region
We wanted to provide you with some additional information about the service disruption that occurred in the N. Virginia (us-east-1) Region on October 19 and 20, 2025. While the event started at 11:48 PM PDT on October 19 and ended at 2:20 PM PDT on October 20, there were three distinct periods of impact to customer applications. First, between 11:48 PM on October 19 and 2:40 AM on October 20, Amazon DynamoDB experienced increased API error rates in the N. Virginia (us-east-1) Region. Second, bet
If you want to see the IP address of a website or a computer, go to whatismyipaddress.com
12) Lossless audio is finally available on Spotify here in Canada
You have to be a Spotify Premium subscriber to get this.
To enable lossless audio, tap your profile icon in the top left, go to Settings & Privacy → Media Quality, and select where you want to turn on the feature (Wi-Fi, cellular and/or downloads). You’ll know you’re listening to lossless when you see an icon in the Now Playing view or bar.
Spotify first introduced lossless audio to its platform in September, but unfortunately, Canada wasn’t one of the initial countries. Spotify said it would expand to 50 markets by October, and thankfully, we're one of them!
Lossless audio brings better sound quality when listening to music. Lossless audio preserves the full quality of the original recording, pretty much audio straight from the mastering team.
It's up to each speaker or headphone maker to support lossless audio or not; Spotify’s long-awaited lossless audio feature has officially arrived on Sonos speakers.
Apple Music introduced lossless audio four years ago.
13) If you have a Windows computer made within the past six years, we suggest you turn off its Bitlocker encryption
We're huge fans of technology that helps keep your documents, photos, passwords, music, etc. secure from being stolen or accessed by others.
But, sometimes things can go too far, and accidentally make it impossible for you to access your own stuff! In the Windows world, the chief cause of that is usually Bitlocker encryption.
To be clear, Bitlocker encryption is phenomenal for people who want to ensure that no-one can access their stuff if their laptop or desktop PC is stolen. It works by encrypting the entire drive, not just individual files, so if someone removes your hard drive and connects it to another device, they can't read the data without the decryption key.
And there's the catch for most average computer users: if you lose your 48-character decryption key, no-one can help you regain access to that drive.
The key is securely stored within your Micrososft account, but we've had numerous people who lost access to their account because they forgot their password and didn't understand the critical importance of making sure they had a current mobile number and email address on file to help.
As a result, unless you have very sensitive material on your computer and are prepared to safely store your Bitlocker decryption key in multiple places, we suggest you turn-off Bitlocker encryption.
Here's how…
1) in the seach box at the bottom of your screen, type Device Security and at the top of the column that appears, click/tap on Device Security System settings..
2) in the screen appears, if you see Data encryption, click on Manage device encryption in blue if you see that. (If you don't, your computer is either too old or not powerful enough to support Bitlocker.)
3) in the screen that appears, if Device encryption is turned on, turn it OFF, and you'll get a blue progress-bar as your drive is decrypted.
If you want to keep Bitlocker encryption turned-on, you can access your 48-character Recovery Key and then porint it out and store it in a very secure place by going to aka.ms/MyRecoveryKey.
14a) Support for Windows 10 has ended
Support has ended for Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system, which was released more than 10 years ago — back in July of 2015.
Microsoft released one final set of security patches for Windows 10 this past Tuesday, and that means that going forward, security holes found by hackers will not be patched, making computers still running Windows 10 much more vulnerable to being hacked. In fact, hackers are already exploiting security flaws which Microsoft has not found, wreaking havoc right away.
If you've had a pop-up advising that your computer can't be upgraded to Windows 11, that may not be accurate.
What that means is that you can't push a button and upgrade to Windows 11. If your computer is 11 years old or less, it most likely can be upgraded to Windows 11 via a clean install. The big question is, though, is it worth spending the money to pay someone to do that?
Depending on what you do on your computer, for most people, it's not worth upgrading a computer to Windows 11 if it's eight years old or older. A computer of that age will struggle to do anything more than surfing the web, and sending and receiving emails. Photo-editing will be laborious, and depending on the motherboard, you might not be able to watch some video-streaming services or sites like Facebook and WhatsApp, because they're now using video formats that weren't invented when your computer was made.
On the other hand, if you're a senior and you mostly just do emails and surf the web, it might make financial sense to pay to have a 9- or 10- year old computer upgraded to Windows 11, and hold off getting a new computer for another year or two.
To find out how old your computer is, type "system" into the search-box at the bottom-left of your screen, and click on "System information" at the top of the list of options that appears.
In the page that appears, look for the Processor info, which will look like these examples…
You can then use ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini or even just an internet search to learn when the processor in your PC was released. In the screenshot above, the 12th-gen Intel processor was released in 2021, just four years ago, so it's a no-brainer to upgrade it to Windows 11.
In the screenshot below, AMD's A10-7800 Raedon R7 budget processor was released in 2014 — 11 years ago — and is not powerful enough to be worth upgrading…
However, in the screenshot below, the 6400T was released in 2015 — 10 years ago — but it's in what was at the time a top-of-the-line HP 27" All-In-One touchscreen computer — so it is worth upgrading to Windows 11, but only for basic use, such as surfing the web, emails, and watching YouTube...
If you decide it makes more sense to replace your computer, you can save a lot of money by buying a refurbished business-grade computer (desktop or laptop) from shops like Tesseract Computers, Priority 1 Computers or Gizmos Computers in Langford. The refurbished PC's they sell are usually ones that were used by government agencies and are three or four years old, which means they'll be good for at least several more years. They come with brand-new solid-state drives and extra RAM to make them faster, and Windows 11 Pro, and can be had for just over half the price of a new PC.
14b) If you run special software on a Windows 10 PC that won't run on Windows 11, you can pay Microsoft for extended security coverage
To give people with old custom software that can't run on Windows 11 time to get newer software than can, Microsoft is offering up to a year of Extended Security Updates (with strings attached) after Windows 10 support ended on October 14.
Be aware that if you choose this option, while your computer will remain protected, if it's old, you'll find that some services may stop working, including streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and YouTube, which will require you to be on a supported operating system.
There are three ways to get up to one year of Extended Security Updates for Windows 10:
- Pay $40 CAD
- Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points — at no additional cost
- Turn on Windows Backup to sync your Settings to Microsoft's OneDrive cloud service. While this option is in itself free, if the amount of data you're backing-up is more than 5GB — and it will be for almost everyone, then you'll have to pay for additional OneDrive storage, which currently is $19/year for 100GB, or $79/year for 1TB as part of a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription.
If you're in the EU, Microsoft has agreed to make ESU free without people needing to jump through those hoops. EU residents will just have to make sure they sign into their Microsoft account at least once every 60 days.
15) Stop using your iPhone’s 80% charging limit — it’s wearing-out your battery!
The internet is full of people suggesting you keep your iPhone battery at an 80% charging limit to help maintain battery life. I wish that was how it worked, but that feature is only to help your iPhone reduce charging cycles if you have it plugged in all day.
For example, if you’re a delivery driver and need to keep your phone plugged into your car for CarPlay all day, this feature is for you. It’s also helpful for iPads that are only being used as cash registers or stay plugged in at a desk. If you’re a regular user who charges at night or when your battery gets low, this feature does nothing but wear out your battery faster.
Recharging your phone up to 80% and then using it is actually worse for your phone than just trying to maintain a charge for as long as you can.
The real key to longer battery life is fewer charge cycles. The fewer times you recharge it, the longer your phone’s battery will last.
Other factors like heat and cold can matter a bit, but nothing is as impactful as a complete battery cycle. Brad Bennett at MobileSyrup.com has a more-detailed explanation…
16) Most Canadian snowbirds driving south for the winter are now being fingerprinted and photo'd at the border, and charged a $30 fee
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order earlier this year requiring foreign visitors staying 30 days or longer to register with the U.S. government, and warning that those who don't comply could face fines of up to $5,000 USD, or jail time.
The requirement has been in effect since April. However, as the new snowbird season kicks off, this is the first time many Canadian snowbirds are dealing with the rules — resulting in some uncertainty and frustration.
Most CBP officers are requiring people driving into the USA for stays of more than 30 days to pay $30 USD each for an I-94 (Electronic Arrival Record) which includes them being fingerprinted and photographed.
However, some CBP officers are allowing Canadian snowbirds to drive in without doing that, and instead are allowing them to register online at their destination by filling out a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) form called G-325R.
The form asks travellers a lengthy list of personal questions, such as their U.S. address, email and marital status. It must be completed within 30 days of arrival, and there’s no fee and no fingerprinting requirement for Canadians.
Nexus cardholders are exempt from the registration requirement because they submitted their data, including fingerprints, when applying for the card.
CBC
Canadian snowbirds fingerprinted and photographed at U.S. border as part of new requirement
Several Canadian snowbirds reported they were fingerprinted and photographed at the U.S. border this month when registering for their winter stay, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told CBC News is standard procedure.
18) Rogers is shutting-down legacy Shaw and Rogers business email accounts and web-hosting
If you have a Shaw or Rogers business email account and/or website, Rogers is now retiring that service, and you'll need to move to a new email provider and website host.
Rogers says @shaw.ca consumer email accounts are still being supported for now, but as they prepare to retire that service as well, no new @shaw.ca email accounts can be created.
For email migration, Rogers says you'll need to contact a new provider and have them assist you in moving your email data…they are not able to assist. The same for website hosting migration.
19) Microsoft’s New ‘Mico’ AI character Is basically Clippy for 2025
Microsoft has given its Copilot assistant a new face — literally. The company introduced Mico, a small animated character designed to make chatting with Copilot feel more personal and natural.
Mico, short for Microsoft Copilot, reacts with facial expressions and colour changes during conversations, creating a friendlier and more human-like experience. It’s hard not to see shades of Clippy, the iconic Microsoft Office paperclip from the early 2000s, making this feel like Clippy reincarnated for the AI era.
The update also introduces new conversation styles like Real Talk, which aims for more natural back-and-forth discussions that adapt to your tone and encourage collaboration.
Microsoft says the goal is to make Copilot more engaging and relatable while keeping it professional enough for everyday use…
Microsoft Edge Blog
Meet Copilot Mode in Edge: Your AI browser
Up until now, using a browser has meant doing all the work yourself—typing, clicking, tab-hopping and task-juggling. Browsers have always been our gateway to the web, but they’ve never truly worked alongside us. The experience has been static for
The Clippy easter egg Kyle mentioned on-air is here! Click it enough times and you'll see Clippy in the new Mico.
The Verge
Clippy has returned as a Copilot Easter egg.
Mico is the new face of Microsoft’s Copilot assistant, debuting for users of its voice mode today. If you tap on Mico a bunch of times, an Easter egg appears where it turns into Clippy briefly. “Clippy walked so that we could run,” joked Jacob Andreou, corporate VP of product and growth at Microsoft AI, in an interview with The Verge. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/10/clippy.gif?quality=90&strip=all]
20) OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT Atlas browser with built-in AI tools
OpenAI has launched its first standalone web-browser, which it has dubbed ChatGPT Atlas. It integrates ChatGPT directly into the browser.
According to its launch page, users can open a ChatGPT sidebar in any window. From there, they can choose to summarize content, compare products, and analyze data.
Users control what ChatGPT remembers, similar to the in-browser and desktop versions. The ChatGPT Atlas Data Controls and Privacy page notes that, by default, users' browsing data isn't used to improve or train AI models.
Highlighting text in emails, calendar invites, or documents brings up context-aware tools. Chat then provides suggestions or relevant information with a single click.
While there are plenty of features unique to ChatGPT Atlas, one stands out more than the others. Agent Mode allows ChatGPT to perform tasks on the user's behalf.
OpenAI suggests that certain tasks could be completed from start to finish. It then goes on to suggest that these tasks could include "researching" and "shopping for a trip."
ChatGPT Atlas is currently available only for macOS, and only for Mac's powered by M1 or later processors.
21) Apple customers in the UK have won a £1.5 billion lawsuit over Apple's 30% commissions on apps bought via the App Store
Apple says it intends to vigorously appeal the decision, but in a landmark ruling, its been ordered to pay UK App Store customers £1.5 billion ($2.8 billion CAD) to compensate them for what's been found to be anti-coompetitive behaviour.
Specifically, the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has found that Apple requiring app developers to pay Apple a 30% commission purchases made via the App Store is excessive, breaches both UK and European Union competition laws, and eliminated all competition on the iPhone and iPad.
If the ruling is uphead on appeal, the 36 million UK residents who've bought apps on the Apple App Store since 2015, would be entitled to an average of $78 CAD compensation per user, although those who spent more on apps would get higher compensation, and those who spent less, would get less.
Apple maintains that because commission is only charged on the sale of paid apps and on in-app purchases, 85% of apps on the App Store do not pay any commission at all.
And it points to its introduction of a program for small businesses where the usual 30% rate of commission is halved.
22) Kids are hollering "6-7" in classrooms: what does it mean?
If the numbers 67 come up in class, in many schools, students will should out "6 7" and wave their hands around. At home, kids will look at each other and say "6 7", leaving their parents or grandparents wondering if it's a secret code for something.
You can relax — "6 7" is a meaningless phrase from a rap song that has become a nationwide phenomenon!
The trend comes from Philadelphia rapper Skrilla’s song, though he says he never intended it to have any specific meaning or significance.
Some schools have banned the phrase, but experts say teachers’ attempts to stop it have only amplified its popularity among students.
23) Roku accused of selling children’s data to advertisers and brokers
Roku, which powers many smart TVs and streaming devices, has been accused by the State of Florida of selling children’s data to third parties without their consent.
Roku, which reaches around 145 million people across half of US households, allegedly collected viewing habits, voice recordings, and precise geolocation from kids without approval from parents, and despite clear signals that the viewers were minors.
According to reports, Roku’s Automatic Content Recognition (ARC) technology captures thousands of images each hour from smart TVs. These can be used to help track viewing activity. After collecting the data, Roku made it available to advertisers and sold it to data brokers.
Smart TV advertising is big business in the USA. So much, in fact, that Roku appears to sell its devices at a loss to power its platform revenues, which include not just subscriptions, but advertising. In fiscal 2024, it lost $80.3 million on device sales, yet it made $1.9 billion profit from its platform business.
24) Amazon is testing smart glasses for its delivery drivers so they don't have to look at their phones
Amazon is testing new AI-powered delivery glasses that give its drivers turn-by-turn directions, package details, and hazard alerts — all without needing to look at their phones.
The wearable glasses use computer vision and sensors to display info directly in a driver’s field of view, such as which package to grab, how to reach a customer’s door, and where to drop it off. The goal is to make deliveries safer and faster by keeping drivers’ eyes up and hands free.
Right now, drivers need to snap a picture of deliveries at your doorstep, which involves taking out their phones. These smart glasses look to eliminate that step.
Each pair connects to a small controller built into the driver’s vest, featuring a swappable battery and an emergency button for quick access to help if needed. The glasses can also be fitted with prescription lenses and adjust automatically to lighting conditions.
Amazon says it’s still refining the design. Future versions could detect misplaced packages, spot pets in yards, and even adjust to low light conditions. The smart glasses are part of Amazon’s ongoing push to integrate AI and safety tech into its last-mile delivery network.
26) 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.
27) Going viral made one Apple Store employee change his name
A viral Reddit post about his Apple business card turned Sam Sung into an internet joke — and eventually led him to change his name.
36-year-old Sam Struan is a pretty average guy. He lives in Glasgow, Scotland, and works as a consultant and resume writer.
But he wasn't always Sam Struan. And, for a brief moment in 2012, he experienced an anything-but-average rise to fame.
You see, he wasn't born Sam Struan — he was born Sam Sung.
When he moved to Vancouver, and got a job at the Apple Store in Pacific Centre, someone to whom he gave one of his business-cards posted it on the Reddit social-media platform, and it went viral.
Apple got in contact with Struan to ask if he knew about the post. It then proceeded to pull him off the shop floor and revoke his access to his business cards.
The store was flooded with people and phone calls inquiring if Sam Sung worked there. Fortunately for Struan, his Scottish accent provided decent cover for phone calls.
He left his job at the Apple Store in 2013 to pursue a career in recruitment. In 2014, he auctioned off a business card and some assorted bits of his uniform for charity. The card sold for more than $2,500, which went to Children's Wish.
Not wanting to be known as an internet joke, and as someone trying to build his own brand, he decided to change his last name, and chose to adopt the last name Struan, the name of one of his favorite places in Scotland — a village on the Isle of Skye.
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
A bus-shelter ad being run by Böcker, the German firm that built the elevating forklift which was used in the daring daylight Louvre jewellery robbery…
The caption, translated, reads "When things need to be done quickly".
And so it goes…