Apr. 11 & 12, 2026 Show Notes
🎙️ Show airs live
Saturday: 10:05am-Noon PT
on C-FAX 1070 in Victoria and
on CKFR AM 1150 in Kelowna
🔁 Rebroadcast
Sunday: 1:05pm-3pm PT
on C-FAX 1070
🎧 Podcast
Anytime
anywhere you get your podcasts
Your crew this weekend:
Ricky Winter
Co-Host
Tech Experience Manager at London Drugs Tillicum
Store +1 250-360-0721
1) If you have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Apple has released a surprisingly-large bug-fixing update
The update is iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26.4.1, and those who've installed it say it was around 600MB in size, and took about 10 minutes to install.
On my iPhone 16 Pro, it was 654MB.
This update does not patch any more security holes; it just fixes things that weren't working properly.
In order to install the update, your device will have to either have at least 50% battery or be charging.
To get this update without waiting for it to be delivered by Auitomatic Updates, on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings> General>> Software Update.
On a Mac, click on the Apple logo in the upper-left. In the window that opens, click General in the sidebar, then click Software Update on the right.
2) Watch out for new scam Canada Revenue Agency texts
With tax season upon us, scammers are busy pumping-out scam texts in hopes of gaining access to your money and identity.
One of the newest ones avoids scam filters by sending the scam message as an image, as shown in the screenshot below, which was shared by astute "Tech Talk" listener Cair…
The text of the scam CRA image is immediately followed by a text containing a link they hope you'll click on, in this case, the link is for unknown link — which takes you to a fake CRA sign-in page that looks just like the real CRA sign-in page (see screenshot below) — except this one is hosted on a website in Thailand (most browsers will flag this as being Dangerous)……
If you click on the Sign-In Partner button, it takes you to a page with logos for all the main banks and credit unions here in Canada…
…and if you click on your bank or credit union, it takes you to a realistic-looking but fake sign-in page for your institution (mine is Royal Bank)…
If you type in your log-in info, you've just given the overseas scammers access to your account.
In most cases, your bank or credit union will text or email you a code before granting access, but the scammers know that, and you'll be redirected to a screen asking you to put in that code.
If you do, the scammers will be into your account and will immediately start initiating money transfers to themselves via untraceable crypto-currency.
NEVER click or tap on links in texts or emails like this!
3) Watch out for a new Facebook pop-up scam
This scam starts when you unknowingly click on a poisoned or hijacked link on Facebook, which is usually an item about celebrities or something that's making headlines.
You get taken to a webpage that looks like this…
If you click on the link, it takes you to a fake Facebook log-in page hosted on an overseas website.
If you put in your Facebook password, you'll almost immediately get a message saying that you're being sent a security code to prove it's really you, and instructing you to type in that code…
What's happened is that the scammers have triggered a password reset request to Facebook, and the code you'll get is a real one from Facebook.
But if you type that code into the box on the webpage, you'll be giving the overseas scammers what they need to change your password and lock you out of your own account, so they can take it over and try to scam each of your Facebook friends!
NEVER give anyone a security code sent by Facebook.
If you get a text, email, or pop-up claiming to be from Facebook about your account, don't touch it, and go directly to your Facebook app or to Facebook.com and check your account status there.
5) A great way to not get scammed financially: "Never trust a call from the bank"
Some things in life are complicated, but here's a simple adage that can save you a lot of stress and grief: "never trust a call from the bank".
TD Bank has an excellent website detailing why you should not trust someone who says they're calling from your bank…
…and here's an example of what can happen if you ignore that advice…
CBC
Winnipeg woman slams bank's decision not to refund her after 'dumbfounding' scam | CBC News
A Winnipeg woman who lost thousands after scammers got into her bank account almost two months ago says she's "absolutely shocked" her bank's fraud department denied her appeals to refund her — disbelief she said comes in part because of how clearly fraudulent some of the transactions the bank allowed were.
6) Anthropic has created a new version of its AI engine that's found a myriad of security holes in every operating system and web browser
Anthropic's new Claude Mythos AI engine is so powerful, the comapny is only releasing it to select people at tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, to give them time to hurriedly patch their operating systems and browsers.
Claude Mythos has found literally thousands of major flaws in every web-browser and operating system, and if bad actors got their hands on that info, they could easily cripple banking systems, communications systems, power grids, water treatment plants and much more around the world.
In perhaps what's one of the most eyebrow-raising findings, Mythos Preview managed to follow instructions from a researcher running an evaluation to escape a secured "sandbox" computer it was provided with, indicating a "potentially dangerous capability" to bypass its own safeguards.
Tech Deals This Weekend
Freedom Mobile and Public Mobile are continuing the price war, even as most other brands have stopped
Although the deals being offered are not as good as they were at the height of the price-war a few weeks ago, Quebec-based Freedom Mobile which is owned by Quebec-based Vidéotron, and Public Mobile which is a ultra-budget self-serve brand owned by Telus, are both still offering deals that are cheaper than before the price-war started.
Freedom's current deals, which are valid through the close of business on Monday, are the best…
Freedom's plans all include Canada/USA/Mexico calling and data roaming, but also include a monthly allotment of "Roam Beyond" data good in 120+ countries, as well as unlimited calling in any included country and back to Canada. The bst part is, all the plans are available to current customers as well as to new customers.
Public Mobile has again cut its rates to match Freedom's.
However, Public Mobile's $35/month plan is Canada-only calling and data, and none of their plans include any overseas service, and none let you share your data via tethering or a hotspot…
Freedom's coverage is also the best of the big four carriers, because the agreement that saw them sold by Shaw when Rogers bought Shaw, allows Freedom customers to roam seamlessly at no charge onto the networks of Rogers, Telus, and Bell when they're beyond the reach of the fast-growing network of Freedom towers. That deal will continue for seven more years to give Freedom time to build-out its nationwide network.
North America/European/UK travel power charger on sale for just $10 at London Drugs
No more needing separate chargers for here and Europe! You can now get a Joby 20W USB-C fast-charging power charger that works here in North America and has a snap-on adapter for use in the Europe and the UK. They're usually $40, but while they last, they're on sale for just $10 — a $30 saving — at London Drugs stores (not online)…
We took two of them to Europe last summer and used them in France, Czechia, and Germany to charge our iPhones and also Suzanne's iPad and Apple Watch, while visiting our former homestay students and their families.
Hisense portable AC units: $150 to $250 off at London Drugs
Portable air-conditioning units always sell-out when it gets hot, but if you want to make sure you have one, London Drugs has two highly-rated models by Hisense on a hefty discount this weekend.
- The 8000 BTU model is $449 — a $150 saving
- The more-powerful 12000 BTU model is $549 — a $250 saving
Five only: Windows 11 laptops for under $400 on Monday
Afforable laptops are becoming very hard to find because of the skyrocketing prices for solid state drives and RAM, but Gary and Chris at Tesseract Computers just got their hands on a few more rebiurbished 15" Lenovo laptops, and they'll sell five of them for less than $400 when they re-open on Monday.
These are good basic laptops, great for surfing the web, emailing, editing documents and spreadsheets and watching YouTube. If you want to edit 4K videos or play powerful games, these won't have enough power to do that stort of stuff quickly.
Tesseract Computers is open 9am-5pm weekdays in their larger location at 720 Broughton Street in downtown Victoria.
Tech News Of The Week
Items start at #10, so the numbers don't get thrown-off if we add more security items above!
Tip: if an item in these Show Notes has the icon on the right in the upper-right corner, you can click/tap on it to make the additional info open in a new tab.
10) TSN and YouTube Premium subscription rates are both going up
If you subscribe to ad-free YouTube Premium as we do, you'll notice that your next bill will be higher (here in Canada and in the USA).
Google which owns YouTube, has implemented its first rate hikes in three years, boosting an Individual Plan subscription by $2/month to $16/month. A Family Plan subscription (which is a much better deal as you can share it with up to five people), is going up by $4/month to $27/month.
There's also YouTube Premium Lite, which is ad-free except when watching music videos or Shorts; it now costs $9/month, up $1/month.
Meanwhile, BellMedia (the parent company of C-FAX) has announced that it's upping the price of both the annual and monthly subscriptions to its TSN platform.
Starting next week (Apr. 14, 2026), the monthly price will increase to $30/month, up from $25/month.
If you have an annual TSN subcription, when it renews, you'll be paying $250 a year, a huge hike of $50 a year from the current $199/year!
Sadly, the Crave Premium and TSN bundle couldn’t avoid the price hikes, as it just got bumped up from $33/month to $38/month.
11) Google now allows you to change your @gmail.com address while preserving all your content and settings
If you have a Gmail account but don't like your @gmail.com address — maybe it refers to an aspect of your life that's changed — you can now finally replace it with a different @gmail.com address.
What happens is that you add a new @gmail.com address to your account, and then make that your primary address, turning your current @gmail.com address into an alias, so you can continue to get mail sent to the old address. If you want, you can later delete the old address.
You can only do this once every 12 months.
You cannot do this if you have a Google Chromebook, or if you use Sign in with Google for non-Google sites, or if you connect remotely with Chrome Remote Desktop.
Google says this ability is being rolled-out around the world, so if you try to make the change and don't see the option to do that, try again in a few days.
12) MacBook Neo has sold so well that Apple has a dilemma as it's rapidly running out of the 'binned' A18 chips that power it
One of the ways Apple has been able to make money selling the MacBook Neo for just $799 is by powering it with 'binned' A18 Pro processors. A binned chip is one which didn't quite meet the grade when tested after manufacturing, and which would usually get tossed in a bin and recycled.
The A18 Pro chip used in the iPhone 16 Pro has a six-core GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), but during the manufacturing process, some GPU cores turned out to be faulty, and those chips were binned.
Apple brilliantly designed the MacBook Neo to run on a five-core GPU, so it could power them with A18 Pro chips that were made with only five fully-functioning GPU cores.
These so-called "binned" chips with a 5-core GPU are effectively "free" to Apple, given that they otherwise would have been discarded.
Herein lies the dilemma.
The MacBook Neo is selling so well that Apple's supply of the binned A18 Pro chips with a 5-core GPU will "run out" before the company is able to fully satisfy demand for the laptop.
Apple's initial plan was to have suppliers build around five to six million MacBook Neo units before ceasing production of the model with the A18 Pro chip, but demand is so strong that it appears Apple will run out of A18 Pro chips to put in the MacBook Neo before the second-generation MacBook Neo powered by binned A19 Pro chips is ready next year.
Apple is unlikely to mark the MacBook Neo as temporarily sold out, so it may be forced to take action, but profit margins might be affected.
A18 Pro chips are manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3E, and Culpan said TSMC's N3E production lines are currently operating at maximum capacity. As a result, Apple may have to pay a premium to restart A18 Pro chip production for the MacBook Neo, which would lower its profit margins.
Apple would have to disable a GPU core on these chips to ensure that they have only a 5-core GPU, like all other MacBook Neo units sold to date.
Alternatively, Apple could reallocate some of its chip production that was originally planned for other devices, but the cost would still be higher than what it paid for its initial batch of A18 Pro chips.
Time will tell!
MacRumors
Apple is Reportedly Facing a 'Massive Dilemma' With the MacBook Neo
The all-new MacBook Neo has been such a hit that Apple is facing a "massive dilemma," according to Taiwan-based tech columnist and former Bloomberg reporter Tim Culpan. In the iPhone 16 Pro models, the A18 Pro chip has a 6-core GPU. During the chip manufacturing process, however, sometimes a CPU or GPU core can turn out to be faulty.
13) All Kindle models before 2013 will be cut-off from accessing the Kindle Store as of May 20
if you have a Kindle model that was made in 2012 or before, starting five weeks from now, your device will be cut off from accessing the Kindle Store.
This means that starting May 20th, you'll no longer be able to purchase, borrow, or download new content via the Kindle Store.
Owners of Kindles made before 2013 will still be able to read books already downloaded to their devices and will be able to access their accounts and Kindle purchases through the Kindle mobile app, Kindle for Web, and newer devices. If the older devices are deregistered or factory reset, users won’t be able to re-register them after the May deadline.
Amazon says "these models have been supported for at least 14 years—some as long as 18 years—but technology has come a long way in that time, and these devices will no longer be supported moving forward."
14) iPhone Fold is said to be on track to launch this September
Apple Inc.’s first foldable phone is on track to arrive during the company’s normal iPhone launch period later this year, people with knowledge of the matter say, rebutting concerns about major manufacturing snags.
Apple is scheduled to introduce the foldable model in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been announced. Apple’s phones typically hit store shelves the week after they’re unveiled.
Current rumours suggest that the foldable iPhone will feature a display that's around 5.5" (14cm) when it's folded in half, and a larger 7.8" (19.8cm) iPad-like display when it's opened up.
Apple’s stock took a hit earlier this week after Nikkei Asia indicated the iPhone Fold was having serious production issues. Clearly, sources within Apple were motivated to share positive news via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
Not long ago, Gurman himself said that he was expecting an iPhone Fold release date that was a little bit later than iPhone 18 Pro. That’s still very possible, but it sounds like Apple is internally feeling optimistic about its targeted September launch.
Gurman says…
While the complexity of the new display and materials may limit initial supply for several weeks, Apple is currently operating with a plan to put the device on sale around the same time — or very soon after — the new non-foldable models, the people said.
Gurman adds an important qualifier: “Still, the release is six months away and production has yet to ramp up. That means the timing isn’t final.”
15) "Canada Strong Pass' giving free access to National Parks and National Historic Sites and more will return from June 19 to Sep. 7
Great news if you're planning summer trips and activities: the Canada Strong Pass program, which includes free access to National Parks and Park Reserves (Including Gulf Islands and Pacific Rim National Park Reserves), National Historic Sites (like Fort Rodd Hill in Colwood) and National Marine Conservation Areas and more across Canada, will be returning starting June 19.
The program will also include free or reduced admission at partner museums including the Royal BC Museum here in Victoria, and reduced rates at Parks Canada campgrounds.
Although the word "Pass" is in the program name, you don't need to obtain an actual pass; starting June 19 and continuing through September 7, all or National Parks, Historic Sites, National Marine Conservation Areas and partner museums will simply become free.
The "Canada Strong Pass" program also includes free VIA Rail travel for those 17 and under when accompanied by an adult, and discounted rates for those 18 to 24.
www.canada.ca
Canada Strong Pass
This summer, we choose Canada! From June 19 to September 7, 2026, discover a wide range of experiences - from majestic parks and captivating museums, to inspiring historic sites and unforgettable train journeys. The Canada Strong Pass makes exploring our country more accessible than ever.
16) free CoreTemp software is great for monitoring how hot a Windows PC is running
If you have a Windows computer that has started to suddenly shut off for no apparent reason, or if the cooling fans start running a lot louder on a regular basis, it may be that the processor is overheating.
That could be caused by a buildup of dust, or the thermal paste that transfers heat from the chip to the cooling system could be drying-out.
An easy way to find out is to install and run the free CoreTemp software developed many years ago by Arthur Liberman. It's a tiny bit of software that gives a clean readout of the temperature of each of your computer's CPU and GPU cores, as shown in thsi screenshot from my desktop PC…
You can download the latest version of CoreTemp for Windows for free, here…
17) Listener question answered: which is the best free app for scanning the barcodes of food products here in Canada?
Two answers: if you just want to know how Canadian a product is, we recommend the Buy Beaver app. But, if you want to know the ingredients in a product, and how good or bad they are for you, try the free Yuka app…
17a) The free Yuka app analyzes the health impact of food products and cosmetics, and recommends healthier choices
The free Yuka app, which has more than 82 million downloads on iPhones and Android phones, uses your phone's camera to scan the barcode of any food item or cosmetic product.
It then gives you a 1-to-100 healthiness score, along with details in categories such as additives, sugar, calories, fibre and saturated fat, and recommends similar products which are better for you.
Here are two examples which I just scanned…
The first one is a box of Cheez-It Crunch white cheddar baked snack crackers, which got a horrible score of just 3/100…
The second one is a tub of BC-made "Spread'Em" cashew-based non-dairy garlic and chive dip, which got a score of 57/100…
17b) The popular Buy Beaver "How Canadian Is It?" app is free and available for Android phones and iPhones
Created by the two Montreal guys behind the increasingly-popular IsItFromCanada.ca website, the free Buy Beaver app does a superb job of ranking from 1 to 5 how Canadian a product is.
You just scan the bar-code of a product, and the Buy Beaver app gives you a 1-to-5 Canadian rating in three categories: whether it was totally or partially made in Canada, how much of the ingredients came from within Canada, and whether the brand is Canadian-owned or not…
The Buy Beaver app by Chris Dip and Alexandre Hamila is available free on Apple's App Store and is on the Google Play Store for Android devices. The product database can also be accessed on the IsItFromCanada.ca website…
18) Analysts say Quebecor, which owns Freedom Mobile, is becoming a major financial threat for Telus, Bell, and Rogers
Before the pandemic, the big three carriers were earning $400 million to $500 million a year on international roaming fees, but Freedom Mobile now includes international roaming at no extra charge in most of its plans, and as a result, Freedom has lured away a lot of customers from the big three.
David McFadgen, managing director of institutional equity research at ATB Cormark Capital Markets, highlighted Quebecor as his “favourite name in the telecom space”, explaining that "they’re including roaming in all their plans, so they’re hitting the incumbents where it hurts. Canadians can now travel the world without worrying about bill shock. It’s very appealing, and the incumbents don’t want to match that because they don’t want to lose that high-margin revenue.”
McFadgen noted that Quebecor is steadily gaining market share, a trend he expects to continue “for many years.”
iPhone in Canada | Canada’s source for Apple, telecom, tech news, and deals
Why Analysts Call Quebecor the Top Threat to Rogers, Telus and Bell | iPhone in Canada
The Canadian telecom landscape is facing a major shake-up as Quebecor aggressively targets the high-margin revenue of the country’s biggest players, and we’ve seen this through the likes of $40 global roaming plans from its subsidiary Freedom Mobile. In a recent interview with BNN Bloomberg, David McFadgen, managing director of institutional equity research at ATB
19) You can now edit comments you post on Instagram — but only within 15 minutes
Instagram has confirmed that users can now edit their comments after they've been posted.
Before today, the only solution was to delete the entire comment and post it again, a process that often felt clunky and disruptive to the flow of conversation.
The new feature comes with one specific catch i.e. you have a 15-minute window to make your changes. Once you post a comment, the clock starts ticking. If you spot a mistake or decide to rephrase your thought within that quarter-hour, you can simply tap and hold the comment to bring up the editing menu.
This time limit is likely a strategic move by Meta to prevent people from fundamentally changing the meaning of a conversation hours or days later. By keeping the window short, Instagram ensures that the feature is used for its intended purpose, rather than rewriting history after other users have already interacted with the original text.
If you find you can't yet edit an Instagram post or comment which you just made, check to see if there's an updated version of IG waiting to be installed.
On an iPhone or iPad, open the App Store, tap on the circle icon or initials in the top-left, tap on Updates, pull down in the middle of the screen and let go to have your device check for available app updates. Scroll up, and tap on Update All.
On an Android phone or tablet, open the Google Play Store, tap your profile icon (top right), tap on Manage apps & device, and look at the Updates available section — it instantly shows all apps with pending updates. Tap Update all or update apps individually.
23) We've also started compiling a list of our favourite phone apps
The "Our Favourite Apps" list — which will have a lot more added in the coming weeks — is on our home page, and you can also get to it by going to Tech-Talk.ca/apps.
24) Kathryn's Paleontology News Item of the Week: marine fossils about 450 million years old found at the summit of Mt. Everest
Kathryn's Jokes of the Week
Why don’t fossils ever get promoted?
They’re stuck in their current position.
I wanted to a joke about Mount Everest…
But it went over everyone’s head.
A team of researchers has confirmed a remarkable discovery on Mount Everest: marine fossils about 450 million years old found at more than 13,000 feet above sea level.
The finding shows that the highest point on Earth was once the floor of an ancient tropical ocean millions of years before the mountain itself existed.
The rocks discovered near the summit belong to a formation known as the Qomolangma Limestone, a type of sedimentary rock originally formed in marine environments. Inside these rocks, scientists have identified remains of ancient organisms such as crinoids, trilobites, cephalopods, and brachiopods, creatures that once inhabited warm, shallow seas.
These animals lived in the ancient Tethys Ocean, which covered much of the region hundreds of millions of years ago. Over time, the marine sediments that buried their remains eventually transformed into the rocks that now make up the summit of Everest.
…and finally, our "Sign Of The Week"…
And so it goes…