Join Aitan, Charles, and me for the November VMUG meeting, on Zoom, at 7pm this coming Wednesday, Nov. 11th. If you're not a VMUG member, you can take part as our guest at this link…

Or, you can subscribe to "Tech Talk with Alan Perry" (it's free) on any podcast app including these…

Take part on Saturday morning when we're live:

Scammers routinely send out fake emails about problems with your Microsoft, Apple, Google, Netflix, Amazon, Rogers, Telus, or other account, so we figured it was just a matter of time before they started doing it with AI chatbot accounts, and here they go!

The scam ChatGPT Plus emails look like this screenshot…

The scam email mimics the style and colours of ChatGPT emails, but it's coming from (highlighted in yellow above) @vattanfallse.com — which is not ChatGPT or their parent company OpenAI. We couldn't find the actual website.

The email claims there's a problem renewing your ChatGPT Plus subscription, and the Update payment method button they want you to tap or click-on takes you to Auth-ChatGPT.fakura-loopia.com — a website hosted by a Swedish web-hosting and domain registration provider, and it instantly bounces to…

…which is a fake ChatGPT Plus log-in page hosted on a website belonging to ParkMan Oy, a Finnish parking technology company.

The scammers are hoping you'll giuve them your email address and ChatGPT password, and they're hoping you use that same password for your email account, so they can begin to steal first, your identity, and then your money.

NEVER tap or click on links in emails like this!

Devices running some configurations of Alpine Linux, and possibly other distributions, are affected by a decade-old vulnerability that allows attackers to log into devices by using any password of 256 characters or more.

The vulnerability exists in the interaction between OpenSSH, the code library implementing SSH connections, and musl, a lightweight alternative to the libc library that, unlike most other Linux distributions, is used in Alpine.

Further, OpenSSH using musl (pronounced muscle) must not use PAM (pluggable authentication modules), a framework that handles user authentication and account-access checks.

Alpine is a lightweight, widely used Linux distribution.

Other platforms may be affected if they use the same configurations.

Feel free to bookmark that page, as we'll keep updating it with screenshots of the latest scams!

If you’ve spent any time on Facebook, TikTok, or any other social media site over the last couple of days, you’ve likely seen people claiming that your iPhone is spying on you — specifically, with a feature called “Journaling Suggestions".

One post I stumbled across on Facebook made it sound rather frightening, warning me that the feature shares my FULL NAME and EXACTLY where I’m located to anyone nearby. The post told me to go and toggle the setting off immediately because it was “Very scary stuff!!”

However, as is often the case with these things, this isn’t exactly true.

The Journaling Suggestions setting was added to iPhones last year as part of the iOS 17 update that introduced Apple’s Journal app. You can find it by opening the Settings app, selecting Privacy & Security > Journaling Suggestions. From here, you’ll find two toggles: Prefer Suggestions with Others and Discoverable by Others. At the top of the page is also a list of what data Journaling Suggestions can pull from, including activity, media, contacts, photos, and significant locations.

Posts on Facebook, TikTok, and other social media posts claim that these features make your iPhone visible to other people nearby and blatantly share your name and precise location with strangers.

Those claims are clickbail — they're inaccurate.

On the Journaling Suggestions page is a hyperlink called “About Journaling Suggestions & Privacy”. Tapping on this presents an entire page explaining how these features work, including this section:

“Journaling Suggestions uses on-device processing to intelligently group moments and events, in order to provide you with personalized suggestions. Using info stored on your device, Journaling Suggestions can recommend to you special moments to remember and write about. You control which suggestions are shared with journaling apps that use Journaling Suggestions.

“Journaling Suggestions uses Bluetooth to detect the number of devices and contacts around you without storing which of these specific contacts were around. This info is used to improve and prioritize your suggestions. It is stored on device, and is not shared with Apple.”

So, it is correct that Journaling Suggestions does use your contacts and location to power the feature. However, it never shares your name, location, or other info with other people.

But — and here's where it gets interesting — if you're listed in someone’s contacts, and you're near this person or talking to them, and that person has Journaling Suggestions on, even if you don’t use Journal, Journaling will suggest to that person that you be included in their journal for that day.

Remember — this setting is set to on by default. If that makes you uncomfortable, here are your options:

To do that, open the Settings app, select Privacy & Security and then Journaling Suggestions.

At the top of the screen, tap on Turn Off All in blue, and then below, turn off both of the two toggles: Prefer Suggestions with Others and Discoverable by Others.

But, even if you leave the app on your device and don't turn off Journalling Suggestions, you can relax — it's not stealing and harvesting your personal info the way many people online are claiming.

If you do lots of printing, either inkjet or laser, Gary at Tesseract Computers in downtown Victoria has been able to buy reams of multipurpose paper at a great price, and he's passing the savings onto us.

When Tesseract re-opens after the weekend on Monday, you'll be able to buy a package of 500 sheets of printer/copier paper for just $6.

Most stores sell printer paper for $8.50 to $10 a package.

Tesseract is at 720 Broughton Street near Douglas.

Items start at #10, so the numbers don't get thrown-off if we add more security items above!

Although we didn't change our clocks here in BC (or Alberta or Manitoba) with the end of Daylight Saving Time last weekend, we did change the name of our time zone, and some tech gear didn't get the memo, and as a result, some devices and calendars are still out of sync.

The fixes are below, but first, here are the new Time Zones:

These new time zones have now been added to the worldwide Time Zone Database which is maintained by Los-Angeles-based IANA — the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority — but some tech firrms didn't get the memo, so some gear and programs are using the wrong time.

Here's what to do if some of your devices and/or calendars have the wrong time…

On a Windows PC: Start, Settings, Time & Language, Date & Time, turn off Set Time Automatically, and click on the name of the current Time Zone. Here in BC, scroll up and choose the new UTC -7 (Pacific Time (British Columbia)…

If you're in Alberta, choose…

In Manitoba, choose…

However, even if you do this, it's important that you carefully check your calendar app to make sure events scheduled in the coming days have not had their start-times messed up!

To fix this, open your Calendar software (Microsoft, Google, Apple) and manually set your time zone…

If not, open Settings › Calendar › View. In the time zones area you can set your current zone (here in BC that will be the new UTC-7 Pacific Time (British Columbia) and add additional time zones that appear in the calendar view.

On a Mac, open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS).

If you're using an older version of macOS:

Verify the current setting by clicking the clock in the menu bar.

Google says it will roll out a fix for Nest devices that were impacted by problems with Daylight Savings adjustments due to changes here in Canada.

A number of Nest Hub and Nest Thermostat users have reported their devices were showing the wrong time following the end of Daylight Saving Time last weekend.

This isn’t just a display bug, with real impacts including late alarms, delayed or broken automations, and altered schedules, among other impacts. The problem appears to be specific to here in BC, in Alberta, and in Manitoba, because tech firms appear to have overlooked the fact that those provinces didn't fall back and also switched to new time zone names that didn't exist in their databases.

Google says it's working on a fix…

Apple has agreed to a $1.25 million dollar out-of-court settlement to a Canadian class-action lawsuit that alleges Apple should have done more to stop gift card scams.

The class-action lawsuit against Apple was brought forward by a Canadian who had purchased iTunes, App Store, or Apple Music gift cards and lost the value of the card in gift card scams “conducted by third-party fraudsters”.

The lawsuit alleges that since the cards are used on Apple platforms, the company had control and “could have held and reversed transfers to fraudsters, and flagged suspicious transactions”.

A $1.25 million settlement was approved on Sept. 16, 2026, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, and Canadians can now file a claim before the deadline, which is Februrary 20, 2027.

You can file a claim if you meet the following criteria:

The claims website does not specify exactly how much each eligible recipient could receive from the $1.25-million settlement. However, it does state that 75% of the funds will be distributed among eligible claimants “whose report to Apple can be verified,” while the remaining 25% will be distributed to other eligible claimants.

The amount of any payment will depend on the number and value of approved claims,” states the site.

Here's where to get more info and to file a claim: GiftCardSettlement.ca

Most Freedom Mobile plans already include unlimited calling to numbers in Canada, the USA, and Mexico, as well as unlimited calling back to Canada from the USA and Mexico; it's one of thec reasons many people have switched to Freedom over the last few years.

But, some lower-priced plans as well as prepaid plans currently do not including USA and Mexico data roaming.

Freedom Mobile says that will change, starting December 8: all plans will now include Canada, USA, and Mexico data-roaming at no extra cost.

However much data you get currently per month for Canada on your plan, you'll now be able to use in the USA and Mexico as well. There's nothing for you to do; it'll all happen behind the scenes at their end.

Freedom says it may take a bit longer to convert some old prepaid plans, in which case, you'll get a text when that change is made.

It also aligns with some of Freedom’s other benefits, such as the Quebec-based carrier’s ‘Price Freeze Promise,” which pledges not to increase your wireless rates as long as you keep your plan.

If you're thinking of getting a new phone and/or switching carriers during the upcoming Black Friday week specials, this is one more reason to consider Freedom.

If you plan to travel overseas, the big reason many people sign up with Freedom Mobile is their very popular "Roam Beyond" service, which lets you use your phone in 120+ countries at no extra cost.

In case you missed it, the last few weeks have been huge for Apple, with 15 new or upgraded products being launched...

Google Maps in CarPlay here in Canada will soon let you access Google's Gemini AI engine when navigating for a conversational driving experience.

(This is now available in the USA, and coming soon to Canada.) When using Google Maps navigation via Apple CarPlay, tapping the Gemini icon on the right edge lets you ask multi-step questions and issue commands like:

This is the first time Google Maps is offering voice assistant functionality in CarPlay. Previously, Gemini was only available when using Google Maps navigation directly on your iPhone.

Gemini in Google Maps on Apple CarPlay is available now in the USA, and will be available soon here in Canada and in other countries.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) is warning residents about an international fraud network that has cost Edmontonians millions of dollars.

EPS says its investigation into the scam revealed it had been operating since at least October 2024 and was linked to multiple call centres in Lahore, Pakistan. As part of the scam, fraudsters pretended to be representatives of telecoms like Rogers, Telus and Virgin, and offered free or heavily discounted cellphones to persuade victims to provide personal information and order new devices through their legitimate service providers.

Once victims received the phones, they would receive follow-up calls claiming the wrong devices had been shipped and were instructed to ship them to another address. From there, the fraudsters would collect the devices and resell them. EPS says it’s aware of about 100 reports of this scam in Edmonton, which it says has collectively cost residents around $20 million in losses.

EPS says a 31-year-old Edmonton man was arrested in connection with the scam and that it’s shared the results of its investigation with the appropriate international authorities.

People here in BC and in Ontario have also been targetted in this scam; this is why we urge you to not interact with unsolicited calls, texts or emails from people claiming to represent telecom companies.

A Calgary woman who admitted to stealing thousands of dollars from elderly victims was handed a 12-month jail sentence plus a year of probation after the judge refused to allow her to back out of her guilty plea.

Alana Love Duncan, 48, pleaded guilty last year to seven counts of fraud over $5,000 after she and several accomplices stole about $70,000 from seven women, who were mostly in their eighties and nineties, over a four-week period in the summer of 2023. 

The “sophisticated and predatory” grandparent scam involved Duncan acting as an “in-person courier,” noted prosecutor Don Couturier at a sentencing hearing earlier this year. In each case, the victim received a call with news that her grandson, great-grandson or nephew was in trouble and needed money.  

Duncan is the only one who has been charged. 

Following her plea, the Crown and defence jointly proposed a conditional sentence for Duncan, meaning she would serve her sentence at home under conditions including house arrest and then curfew. 

But in her decision to reject the conditional sentence, Court of King’s Bench Justice Michele Hollins noted that Duncan is currently unemployed and living at home, receiving government assistance. 

The proposed sentence, said Hollins, “would look very similar to the life she is living pre-conviction” and wouldn't “be at all acceptable to a reasonably informed member of the public.”

“She stood face to face with these people and took their money, knowing they believed they had to give it to her to help a family member in trouble,” wrote Hollins.

"Approving this conditional sentence would not sufficiently denounce these crimes."

When she learned she would be facing a jail term, Duncan then applied to vacate her guilty plea. 

On Wednesday, Hollins rejected that application, finding the proper avenue is an appeal. 

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has successfully argued a B.C. law can not be used to order it to delete an intimate image.

British Columbia’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has dismissed an application by the woman whose image was published and shared non-consensually.

Under B.C.’s law, a platform can be ordered to delete an intimate image that has been shared without someone’s consent. An administrative penalty can be imposed if a company does not comply and additional penalties can be imposed if the non-compliance continues.

X acknowledged the image of the woman has not been deleted, according to the decision.

“It has removed some posts that include the image, but only if those posts violated X’s terms of service. Various X accounts continue to post the image at issue. X continues to geoblock them as TR reports them,” Regehr wrote.

“TR does not dispute this, and it is only the sufficiency of geoblocking she takes issue with.”

The platform argued a British Columbia law can not be used to delete the image because it is a “global platform” and deleting it would have a “global effect,” according to the decision.

“Put another way, X argues that geoblocking is reasonable because globally enforcing a B.C. law about what is allowed to be posted online would violate the comity of nations. When laws could impact the sovereignty of other countries, the principle of comity affects how those laws are interpreted,” Regehr wrote.

“In short, comity may operate to limit a law’s application outside Canada.”

The tribunal reviewed an affidavit from a legal expert, submitted by X, which argued the image in question would not be illegal in the U.S. The expert noted that American courts have, in previous cases, refused to enforce orders pertaining to online content because “Canadian law generally tolerates greater limits on speech than the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” according to the decision.

The tribunal found X had not complied with the “strict terms” of the order because it had not deleted the image. But the tribunal also found X had demonstrated it had made “every reasonable effort” to comply by geoblocking the image and could not be ordered to pay an additional penalty.

https://decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca/crt/ini/en/item/530428/index.do

To eliminate people being scammed by buying fake tickets, and scammers from selling screenshots of real tickets, Rogers Arena and most other concert venues have moved away from printed tickets, and are instead using moving QR codes.

As a result, screenshots of ticket barcodes, and printed tickets, are no longer being accepted at more and more concert venues.

This means that in order to gain admission, you'll have to show the moving QR code on the ticket app on a smartphone (or on an internet-connected tablet).

Smaller venues, like Save-On Foods Memorial Centre here in Victoria, and Prospera Place in Kelowna, now require a non-moving QR code on a phone, and will not scan a printed code.

In the age of AI, what looks like a genuine photo might actually be a fake—or partly fake. That’s why tools like SynthID have been used to apply invisible watermarks to AI-generated content.

Starting with iOS 27.2, Apple now uses SynthID watermarks when you make AI-generated edits to photos in Apple Photos, or create all-new images with Image Playground.

Image Playground generates entirely new images, so it’s more what the average person would consider an “AI image.”

However, as Apple notes, the SynthID invisible watermark is also applied to genuine photos in your Apple Photos library if you use the AI-powered Clean Up, Extend, or Spatial Reframing tools to edit them.

It’s worth emphasizing the word “invisible” here. You won’t see evidence of a watermark anywhere on your photos, nor will others unless they explicitly check the image with a SynthID detector.

If you do want to check for the watermark, here ae some sites which you can go to for free and upload an image and see its result:

Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the news on X…

To no surprise, the Cybertruck’s decline largely stems from weak sales over its first four years. WIRED notes that despite Musk’s claim that there were more than a million reservations, the truck sold fewer than 50,000 units in total by March 2025.

Kelly Blue Book data suggests Tesla sold only 20,237 Cybertrucks in the US last year, which is down 48% from the 38,965 sold in 2024. Here in Canada, data from Transport Canada suggests that Tesla had sold fewer than 2,000 between 2024 and 2025. Ironically, Musk had predicted annual sales of 250,000 units.

The production wind-down announcement also came only minutes after Musk raised the Cybertruck price in both the US and Canada, with the price rising to $142,886 CAD.

To put it lightly, the Cybertruck has had a pretty tumultuous existence. When Elon Musk first stepped on stage to show off the Halo-looking thing, he tried to demonstrate the strength of the “unbreakable” glass by throwing a steel ball at it, and (shocker), it broke.

The Cybertruck has also had quite a few recalls throughout its history. The first recall was because the accelerator pedal was getting stuck due to an unapproved lubricant that reduced the pedal’s retention, and perhaps the most famous one was when the glued-on stainless steel trim on the front of the truck would just fall off after the elements got to it.

There are now more than 40 of them, and they're in a separate Travel Tech Tips notes, which you can find on our Home Page, or on the toolbar at the top of any of our Notes.

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.

Check out our new YouTube Favourites playlist #2:

YouTube.com/playlist?list=PLOKnlVLuXE5URgg0ou8uGg4CnHXcou1UA

Our original Favourites playlist maxxed-out at 5000 videos; it's here…

YouTube.com/playlist?list=FLPPpa_PY8rxt-z1RoYZ7QJ

Videos start at #40, so the numbers don't get thrown-off if we add more tech news items above!

40) Watch: Under Studio show just how far we've come in terms of computing, from the moon to Excel…

41) Watch Marques Brownlee explain why he really likes Apple's new OLED iPad mini, but says it includes a dealbreaker…

42) Watch Trevor Nace show how Journalling Suggestions on an iPhone may be tracking info about you that you don't want tracked, and how to fix that…

43) Watch Paul Fey perform the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' theme on the huge organ at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut…

On October 9, 1998, the inaugural Cops For Cancer "Tour de Rock" fundrising bike-ride down the length and width of Vancouver Island ended at Mile Zero on the Victoria waterfront after a community ride led by the Tour de Rock riders (including C-FAX's Alan Perry) and two young Honourary Team Members — Kaley and Riley den Otter. Kaleigh (riding the child's bike on the right in the picture above with Alan riding behind him and dad to the side in the green jacket), was seven years old and battling a nasty childhood cancer, and the fight was also taking a heavy mental toll on his brother Riley (riding the other child's bike on the left).

That inaugural ride raised $323,000 for research into treatments for childhood cancers, and to send kids who have or had cancer and their siblings — like Kaley and Riley — to Camp Goodtimes where they could get a much-needed break from the trauma.

Skip forward 28 years to this week, when a woman approached Alan at Costco, and Alan immediately recognized her as Kaleigh and Riley's mom. She wanted Alan to know that Kayley survived his cancer, and is now 35 years old, completely healthy, and working in IT at BC Ferries!

What an awesome update!

Alan told Kayley's mom that he still has the photos of Kaley and Riley that were taped to the bar of his Tour de Rock bike for motivation when climbing the steep hills on than 1100km ride.

They sent these photos from Valencia and from Cuenca, a 12th-century village half way between Vallencia and Madrid…