2,000 TOPS - VoIP Woes, Rogue Voice Memos, and Pet Tracking

From Microsoft's controversial Recall feature and Apple's WWDC predictions to smart home devices and wildlife conservation, Leo Laporte and Mikah Sargent provide insightful answers to listener questions. Sam Abuelsamid also shares his expertise on the powerful chips used in self-driving cars and gives a virtual tour of a historic Detroit train station.
- Microsoft makes changes to its Recall feature in response to privacy and security concerns, making it opt-in and adding encryption improvements.
- Google loses some ground in its antitrust trial as the Justice Department is denied a jury trial after Google reimburses government agencies for alleged overcharges.
- New York state passes legislation banning addictive social media algorithms for users under 18, requiring platforms to provide chronological feeds instead.
- KZbinr faces federal charges for shooting fireworks at a Lamborghini from a helicopter, highlighting the dangers of extreme behavior encouraged by the platform.
- Joe from San Jose, Costa Rica has trouble reading his DJI drone's SD card on his Windows computer. Leo and Mikah suggest trying different card readers and adapters, and note that a quick format may not fully test the card's health.
- Chris from Miami discusses upgrading to the new 1TB iPad Pro for better performance and a larger screen. Leo and Mikah note that while the binned M2 chip in lower storage models offers similar real-world performance, the mental satisfaction of having the best specs may be worth the extra cost for some.
- Jim, a Hollywood sound mixer, is writing a 2,000+ page book on sound recording but faces issues with his manuscript freezing due to its size. Leo and Mikah suggest alternative software like Scrivener and Nisus Writer Pro that can handle large documents better than Word.
- Sam Abuelsamid shares insights on the powerful NVIDIA DRIVE Orin and Thor chips used in self-driving cars to process data from multiple cameras, LiDAR, and radar sensors in real-time.
- Richard from Minnesota wants to switch his landline to a VoIP service but faces issues porting his number from Windstream. Leo and Mikah recommend trying different VoIP providers and escalating the issue with the FCC if needed.
- Ben from Louisville, Kentucky is excited for Apple's WWDC and considers installing the iOS 18 beta on his iPhone 14 Pro and iPad. Leo and Mikah strongly advise against installing early betas on primary devices due to potential bugs and instability.
- Trent from Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia accidentally triggers voice memos when closing his iPhone's wallet case. Mikah discovers the issue is related to the "Raise to Listen" feature in Messages settings and provides a solution.
- Chuck wants to track his outdoor cats with an AirTag that notifies him when they're nearby. Mikah recommends using a dedicated pet tracker with geofencing and explains the ecological impact of outdoor cats on bird populations.
- Elieazar seeks a Drobo alternative for USB mass storage with data redundancy. Leo suggests OWC's Mercury Elite Pro Quad or Express 4M2, generic RAID boxes, and cloud backup services like Backblaze.
- Taher experiences issues with passkeys not syncing between his Mac and iPhone. Mikah advises creating the passkey on the most frequently used device first and considering a third-party password manager for better cross-platform support.
- Old Chef Guy and Leo discuss running AI models locally for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to query PDFs and transcripts, and speculate on potential applications like an AI version of Security Now's Steve Gibson.
Hosts: Leo Laporte and Mikah Sargent
Ask The Tech Guys episode 2028
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TWiT.tv is a technology podcasting network located in the San Francisco Bay Area with the #1 ranked technology podcast This Week in Tech hosted by Leo Laporte. Every week we produce dozens of hours of content on a variety of programs including Tech News Weekly, MacBreak Weekly, This Week in Google, Windows Weekly, Security Now, and more.