Speaker 1: It's time for Tech Tuesday with Rich Tomorrow. Rich is
Speaker 1: heard Saturday's eleven am to two pm right here on KFI.
Speaker 2: He's the kt LA tech reporter, heard.
Speaker 1: Every day or seen every day Instagram at, Rich on
Speaker 1: tech website, Rich on tech dot TV.
Speaker 3: Good morning Rich, Hey, good morning to you.
Speaker 2: Bill.
Speaker 4: I'm just checking to see if Apple Maps had changed
Speaker 4: the Gulf of America. Yet doesn't not on my phone
Speaker 4: Google Maps has I know that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm wondering. You know what. I guess it's going
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 1: It's going to hit because, as I've often said, as
Speaker 1: America goes, there goes the world in many many instances
Speaker 1: financial and this one. It depends on how much pressure
Speaker 1: Trump puts on this. He may very well say that
Speaker 1: to a country, especially a small country, if you don't
Speaker 1: call it Gulf of America, we are going to invade
Speaker 1: you in what ype you out completely? So I think
Speaker 1: they're yeah, I know, I think it may be really serious. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's get to a couple of topics, and that is
Speaker 1: T Mobile expanding, Starlink star Link satellite connectivity. And now
Speaker 1: we're going to see the majors Verizon AT and T users.
Speaker 1: I guess be able to use Starlink. I guess they
Speaker 1: move over. Hey, this is the I know Starlink is
Speaker 1: Elon Musk, and I'm assuming this is one of the
Speaker 1: profitable ventures. This is part of visionary of Musk. Tell
Speaker 1: me if I get this right. The satellites that are
Speaker 1: going up are about the size of a shoebox. Matter
Speaker 1: of fact, I understand that after you buy shoes, he
Speaker 1: actually uses the actual shoe box, and they are all
Speaker 1: over the world. So he puts one of his spacecraft up.
Speaker 1: Out they go like, you know, little bugs, like a
Speaker 1: swarm of bees, and then they connect.
Speaker 2: First of all, will you explain what's going on with that?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: So, I mean traditionally we've had satellite connectivity for you know, many,
Speaker 4: many things, right news radio. You've even had satellite internet
Speaker 4: for many years, and satellite phone calls. The difference was
Speaker 4: those satellites were big and slow. So if you had
Speaker 4: something like Hughes, you know, via sat in your backyard,
Speaker 4: it was mostly reserved for people who are desperate because
Speaker 4: the connectivity was so slow and it was fixed by
Speaker 4: the way. So what Elon Musk did and what Starlink
Speaker 4: did was they're launching many many tiny satellites. Like you said,
Speaker 4: so they're almost blanketing the Earth with these satellites, which
Speaker 4: gives you a faster, better signal everywhere. So right now
Speaker 4: I'm looking at t mobiles website. They've got four hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty one satellites launched so far, and just to
Speaker 4: give you an idea, they're going to keep going into
Speaker 4: the thousands, because that's what Amazon's doing as well. This
Speaker 4: year they're going to start launching their first I think
Speaker 4: they said eighty three planned launches for this year and
Speaker 4: they're looking at like thirty five hundred satellite So this
Speaker 4: is big business. It keeps a lot of people employed.
Speaker 4: It's also connecting the world in an entirely new way.
Speaker 4: So if you look at what you just said, with
Speaker 4: the profitability and all this stuff, we are just at
Speaker 4: the beginning where every single airline wants to have this
Speaker 4: connectivity on their planes because guess what, you can now
Speaker 4: stream full length movies, TV shows, downloads are just as
Speaker 4: fast as your house as they are up at thirty
Speaker 4: five thousand feet. Same thing with the smartphones. We've had
Speaker 4: this idea of the smartphone, it works, it doesn't work. Now,
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, starting now we have no more
Speaker 4: dead zones. You could be on the top of the
Speaker 4: mountain anywhere in the US theoretically later on anywhere in
Speaker 4: the world and still have a signal. And right now
Speaker 4: it's starting out with just you know, texts and things
Speaker 4: like that, but soon it will be pictures. Later it'll
Speaker 4: be live video streaming wherever you want in the entire world.
Speaker 4: This is just unheard of, you know, in the past.
Speaker 1: Now we're talking lower thorbid, which means I assume they
Speaker 1: have to act like cell phones, where the towers bounce
Speaker 1: signals off each other and then they go wherever they want.
Speaker 2: That's number one and.
Speaker 1: Number two. Aren't they going to run into each other?
Speaker 1: When we're talking about ten thousands.
Speaker 2: Of these things?
Speaker 4: I know someone clearly keeps a grid of where these
Speaker 4: things are. But if you look at like any animation
Speaker 4: of you know, what Starlink puts out or what Amazon's
Speaker 4: putting out with their project Kiper, I mean you just wonder, like,
Speaker 4: how the heck is there enough space up there for
Speaker 4: all of these satellites that they're blanking us or blanketing
Speaker 4: with us with. But somehow, Look, those are people much
Speaker 4: smarter than me, Bill that are figuring out how this
Speaker 4: is all going to work. But at some point there's
Speaker 4: probably going to be talk about like how much space
Speaker 4: there is up there and how much room we have
Speaker 4: to put these things. I don't know. At this point.
Speaker 4: It's also new that I think that that's not really
Speaker 4: an issue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy stuff.
Speaker 1: Maybe like the airline, there are certain altitudes that goes
Speaker 1: one way and then you go the other way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fascinating stuff.
Speaker 1: And incidently, back to the first statement I made, and
Speaker 1: tell me.
Speaker 2: If it's true or not, because I just this was
Speaker 2: just supposition.
Speaker 1: It is profitable for SpaceX or whatever, the Starling Company,
Speaker 1: whatever he calls it.
Speaker 3: I believe so, yes, it is profitable.
Speaker 4: And because this is such a growing business, and by
Speaker 4: the way, so many of these airlines are I mean,
Speaker 4: there's just so many industries that want satellite connectivity in
Speaker 4: a fast way. So to me, the possibilities are endless.
Speaker 4: We were at CES this year and you know, by
Speaker 4: the way, every car is going to have this in
Speaker 4: the future, because already we're seeing some of the new
Speaker 4: car companies, like this car company Scout, they are building
Speaker 4: starlink into their new evs that are coming out in
Speaker 4: a year or so. So again, I mean the money
Speaker 4: that is going to be flowing through this industry. This
Speaker 4: is why you see these launches every couple of day,
Speaker 4: you know, out of southern California or wherever they launch
Speaker 4: these things. Is because you know, and I've seen this.
Speaker 4: It's like ten or twelve little satellites all linked up together.
Speaker 4: It looks like Santa and It's reindeer up in the sky.
Speaker 3: When they launch these things.
Speaker 2: It's wild, it really is.
Speaker 1: Okay, Rich, new cheap iPhone is expected this week, So
Speaker 1: tell me how you can connect the word cheap with iPhone,
Speaker 1: because I don't get it.
Speaker 4: Well, considering the standard iPhone starts at about eight hundred dollars,
Speaker 4: this one is about half the price at four hundred,
Speaker 4: but this new one might be a little bit more.
Speaker 4: We're expecting maybe closer to that five hundred dollars price point.
Speaker 4: But this is the iPhone s. This has always been
Speaker 4: kind of their entry level phone, you know, but it's
Speaker 4: gotten better over the years. I mean, this one has
Speaker 4: pretty much everything you need. It's got you know, oh well,
Speaker 4: it did have a home button until this time around.
Speaker 4: So now it's got the.
Speaker 3: Face ID, it's got the latest chips that you got,
Speaker 3: you know, all the.
Speaker 4: Apple Intelligence features. It's got USB Sport so that's nice, which.
Speaker 3: You know all the modern phones have.
Speaker 4: And again this is just this is Apple's device that
Speaker 4: when you go into the store and you think everything
Speaker 4: else is too expensive, and they say, well we do
Speaker 4: have this one, and you go, what's the what's the
Speaker 4: problem with it?
Speaker 3: Like that does everything you need and you say, okay,
Speaker 3: we'll get that.
Speaker 2: So what's the difference you have?
Speaker 1: What's what's the differen thing eleven dollars phone and a
Speaker 1: five hundred dollars phone.
Speaker 4: Well, really it comes down to the screen quality, you know,
Speaker 4: the really.
Speaker 3: The quality of the device.
Speaker 4: So the features that you you know, the higher end
Speaker 4: features that you get. So for me personally, you know,
Speaker 4: comes down to the screen. It comes down to It
Speaker 4: used to come down to the processor, but they fix
Speaker 4: that as well. So and now of course you're getting
Speaker 4: the Apple Intelligence which is interesting. So without seeing the
Speaker 4: actual device just yet, I can't tell you like what
Speaker 4: you're not getting, but at this point it's it's just
Speaker 4: your basic phone. They've added so much to this entry level,
Speaker 4: entry level model that it's a really good value for
Speaker 4: the price. And unless you are a super super duper
Speaker 4: power user that needs all of the lenses on the camera.
Speaker 3: You know you'll be fine with just this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's I'm looking I'm getting a new phone.
Speaker 2: Of course i am.
Speaker 1: Because one of the things I love about Apple is
Speaker 1: when the battery goes south, the battery goes south, and
Speaker 1: you have a deal with T Mobile and they have
Speaker 1: a deal where you're not paying interest.
Speaker 2: They add twenty eight cents to.
Speaker 1: Your bill and before you know it, your fifty six
Speaker 1: you own the phone or whatever the hell they do.
Speaker 2: So they make it very easy to buy a phone.
Speaker 1: But the way you describe it is what am I
Speaker 1: doing with an eleven hundred dollars phone when I can
Speaker 1: get everything there.
Speaker 2: I don't care about pictures.
Speaker 1: I'm not looking at broadcast quality video or commercial photos.
Speaker 1: You know, it makes no sense for me to spend
Speaker 1: eleven when I can spend five. Boy, I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm more on Thank you for this segment.
Speaker 4: Well look, I mean, look, we'll see when this phone
Speaker 4: comes out, but yes, this is I think there's pressure
Speaker 4: on Apple from the Android side of things, where there
Speaker 4: are so many devices out there in a wide range
Speaker 4: of price tags that they have to compete and put
Speaker 4: this out. And by the way, it's still a great phone.
Speaker 4: It's you know, if you look at the real nerds
Speaker 4: like myself, we would you know, we would be like, nah,
Speaker 4: this is not for us. But for the average person
Speaker 4: that's just you know, needing their phone to check their messages,
Speaker 4: you know, take a picture or two. Again, it's really
Speaker 4: not going to be that bad. And especially with all
Speaker 4: these features they're expecting to add to this phone, it's
Speaker 4: you know, it's really you're giving up the camera quality.
Speaker 3: That's the main thing here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the speed, for example, you're browsing, the speed
Speaker 1: is going to be.
Speaker 2: Just as fast.
Speaker 1: It's a all the features, I guess I and I
Speaker 1: just don't care about pictures.
Speaker 2: I mean, I just don't. There's no one I want
Speaker 2: to picture of.
Speaker 4: Well, it's also smaller screen, so it depends, you know,
Speaker 4: it's not the screen's not as big as the standard phone.
Speaker 3: So that's another side of it.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, I'll buy that.
Speaker 4: I think Apple has a lot of success with this phone.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons I pay a premium for iPhones
Speaker 1: and I don't go to Android is because I'm just
Speaker 1: used to the iPhone, much like that PC. People don't
Speaker 1: go to Mac because they don't want to relearn how
Speaker 1: to deal with a computer. Is that one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that iPhone is one of the most valuable companies
Speaker 1: on the planet because people are just used to iPhones.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think inertia is part of it. But I
Speaker 4: think that the what Apple has done really well is
Speaker 4: the ecosystem. And I'm not talking all the accessories and
Speaker 4: cases and things like that, but you know, you've got
Speaker 4: I don't know, five hundred Apple stores, three hundred to
Speaker 4: five hundred Apple stores around the world where you can
Speaker 4: go into and you know, get help. I mean, that's
Speaker 4: that's invaluable. I mean I remember I was in Japan
Speaker 4: and I had a problem with my hard drive on
Speaker 4: my computer, and I made an appointment with an Apple
Speaker 4: you know, genius bar person. Not even thinking if English
Speaker 4: would be spoken there, I just assumed and sure enough
Speaker 4: the person they give me it's like, you know, perfect English.
Speaker 4: So it's again it's like that level of service and
Speaker 4: seamless service around the world. I think that keeps people
Speaker 4: with Apple and also knowing that their friends can you know,
Speaker 4: if you have a problem with it, you can ask
Speaker 4: your friends, but you know, you can learn the other
Speaker 4: operating system. It's really I go back and forth all
Speaker 4: the time. I try both, so it's it's a learned
Speaker 4: but that's you.
Speaker 1: Here's our one last question, and that is how do
Speaker 1: you feel about buying those protection plans on and computers? Uh?
Speaker 4: You know, I I typically do not buy protection plans
Speaker 4: because you're paying in advance for insurance on something that
Speaker 4: you don't know is going to go wrong or not.
Speaker 4: And so and I will tell you I carry every
Speaker 4: phone that I get, you know, sent and I don't
Speaker 4: you know, I usually.
Speaker 3: Put cases on them. But I think if you have
Speaker 3: a good.
Speaker 4: Case on your phone, you know, the chances are these
Speaker 4: things are much more durable than they ever have been.
Speaker 4: So the crack screen, you can, you know, it's less
Speaker 4: of a chance that that's going to happen. But I
Speaker 4: think it really comes down to it's a personal choice
Speaker 4: of are you willing to pay this premium for something
Speaker 4: that you may or may not need and you're adding
Speaker 4: you know, ten twenty percent onto the price of these things.
Speaker 3: And these companies love them, by the way, because it's
Speaker 3: pure profit.
Speaker 4: So I personally do not recommend them typically, But if
Speaker 4: you have money to burn and you don't care and
Speaker 4: you just want that peace of mind. I mean many
Speaker 4: many people do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because and the reason is they all have money
Speaker 1: to burn and they just don't care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's as it's a.
Speaker 3: Peace of mind, Bill, I mean, that's really I mean.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand you're talking about a peace of mind.
Speaker 2: I get that. I get that. That's why I've.
Speaker 1: Always ridiculous less leave, paid off my mortgage on my
Speaker 1: home as quickly as I could, just to wake up
Speaker 1: in the morning, and I own my home, and it
Speaker 1: makes no sense, no sense.
Speaker 4: I'm all about that. So I'm I'm I'm with you there,
Speaker 4: but I agree. It's like it's nobody nobody else.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's peace of mind.
Speaker 1: All right, Rich We'll catch you on Saturday and again
Speaker 1: next week.
Speaker 2: Have a good one.
Speaker 3: Thanks Bill,