Weekend of September 6, 2024

We've joked about our phones listening to us at all times.

Turns out, it may not be a joke.

We'll tell you all about this bombshell next on Into Tomorrow.

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Welcome Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline,

the interactive program with the latest in high-tech products and services

and the experts who bring them to you.

This is Into Tomorrow.

Here's Dave Graveline.

We're here to make sure you're always one step ahead in the tech game.

Welcome Into Tomorrow.

I'm Dave Graveline.

I'm Chris Graveline.

And we've got a jam-packed show for you again this week.

We hope you subscribe to our free once-a-week tech newsletter

and our free once-a-week podcast, which is likely how you're hearing this now.

Yeah.

But a lot of folks are listening to our 24-7 stream,

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Mash that follow button.

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or your touchpad or your phone screen.

Okay.

So don't mash it too hard.

But in fact, do subscribe to our free podcast.

You know, it's our 29th year on the air covering consumer tech.

This for the weekend of Friday, September 6th.

Oh, my gosh.

It's already September.

Mm-hmm.

We've got elections coming up.

We've got elections coming up very shortly.

So before we know it, come on now, get out and vote.

Do your civic duty.

And don't just assume that you're just going to cancel someone else's vote

or it's not going to matter.

It does matter.

Get out and vote.

If you don't vote, you can't complain for the next four years.

There you go.

We make that a law.

We should do that.

Get Congress to pass a law.

We've got some tech news and commentary for you

and then a bunch of other stuff.

For example, those predicting big doings from Apple this month.

This month, we're correct.

The date is the 9th.

So right after this weekend's show, the event is called Glow Time.

Oh, please.

And multiple product announcements will be on the agenda

along with updates on Apple Intelligence.

There's those weird two words together again.

The company's take, of course, on AI.

And they're going to try to tell you that that's what AI stands for.

Of course.

Well, yeah, absolutely.

Some marketing guy got paid or gal got paid a lot of money.

Mm-hmm.

For coming up with that.

And they go, ooh, ooh, AI stands for Apple Intelligence.

No, it doesn't.

Not at all.

Tech Radio reports that elsewhere it appears whatever foldable device

Apple is working on for maybe the iPad, the MacBook,

has been pushed back to, get this, 2027 or 2028.

So don't hold your breath for an Apple foldable.

That's not so much Apple Intelligence, apparently.

No.

But they're pushing it back,

and they're still going to consider a foldable one day.

Mm-hmm.

The next century.

To celebrate and announce the Nintendo Museum

is opening its doors on October 2nd in Japan.

Cool.

The House of Mario has held a special event

to show some of Nintendo's history.

Various displays reveal how things have changed over time,

from Mario and Zelda's presentation

to the technology fueling everything from the NES to the Nintendo Switch.

But what's catching people's attention

is one wall that pokes fun at you.

It pokes fun at Nintendo's history outside of video games.

History, history, history.

Founded back in 1889,

the company initially focused on making handmade Henefuda playing cards.

I've talked about that in This Week in Tech History.

Yes.

I've also talked about,

which I don't imagine they would probably show off at this event,

is their history of love hotels.

And if you wonder what a love hotel is...

Man, that's crazy.

Yeah, you don't have to wonder.

You don't have to wonder.

It just, exactly.

Love hotels.

They were...

Very involved in that years ago.

But also on display is the Nintendo Baby Stroller,

which was released in the 1970s.

A baby stroller?

Yeah.

Did it play games?

I don't think so.

No, probably not.

But wow.

And all along, this is Nintendo.

Yeah.

And then they came out with gaming and made it killing that way.

I think you even said in your This Week in Tech History piece

that it became Japan's third most profitable company.

Yeah, third most valuable company.

Gosh.

Unbelievable.

Pretty wild.

Kentucky is launching the Wrong Way Driving and Integrated Safety Technology System.

First of all, by the time you say it, you better pay attention to the road.

It's designed to prevent, of course, wrong-way crashes on interstate.

The pilot program will test cameras, radar, and LIDAR technologies

in Fayette and Jefferson counties where wrong-way incidents are most frequent.

Funded...

Partially by a $5.14 million federal grant,

the system will detect wrong-way drivers and alert other drivers and first responders in real time.

Not sure how it's going to do that, but using some of the newer technology for $5 million,

they're going to hopefully cut down on wrong-way drivers.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, before I do this next story, let me put my phone deep inside this drawer here.

Uh-oh.

So let me tell you, in a pitch to prospective customers,

one of Facebook's alleged marketing partners explained how it listens to users' smartphone microphones

and advertises to them accordingly.

Uh-oh.

As 404 Media reports, based on documents leaked to its reporters,

the TV and radio news giant Cox Media Group claims that its so-called active listening software

uses artificial intelligence to, quote,

capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations, end quote.

We've been on a lot of Cox radio stations over our many years on the air.

Yeah.

And this is the same company.

Yeah.

Whoa.

This pitch goes on to say that advertisers compare this voice data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers.

In the same slideshow, Cox counted Facebook, Google, and Amazon as clients of its active listening service.

Oh, my.

After 404 reached out to Google about its partnership,

the tech giant removed the media group from its site for its partnership.

Oh, my gosh.

Which prompted Meta, the owner of Facebook,

to admit that it is now reviewing Cox Media Group to see if it violates any of its terms of service.

Because basically, that's funny that Google and Meta, Facebook, are saying,

no, no, no, no, no, you can't do that.

Because they've been doing it all along.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

How hypocritical.

But that's very bizarre.

Yeah.

And because, you know, companies like Google bury so many things in their terms of use,

I'm sure if, you know, Cox Media, if you have any of their apps for any of their radio stations,

you probably have agreed to allow them to actively listen to you.

And do they claim that this is, like, embedded on what kind of phones?

It doesn't go into that kind of detail.

It just mentions, because they're doing this to try to pitch this service to their customers.

To advertisers, basically.

To say, we'll listen for you and tell you what people are asking about or curious about.

So they essentially have confirmed that your phones are listening to you at all times.

Which we've been saying for years.

They do anyway.

And of course, if you have a personal assistant, a Google or Google Home or Alexa, if it's

close enough to what you're listening to right now, Alexa, play Into Tomorrow with

Dave Graveline.

That should launch our most current podcast.

But we've said they're listening all the time, too.

So, I mean, Amazon enters the picture as well and goes,

Uh-oh, somebody actually said the secret stuff out loud.

And that's what Cox Media did.

Wow.

Unreal.

What do you think about that?

800-899-INTO.

I want to get your opinions.

The folks listening.

Participate and win stuff.

We've got new items on the prize list this week.

So Chris is going to tell you about those shortly.

But do join us.

If you don't want to do it the old-fashioned way with that 800 number, you can visit our website.

And click on the Ask Dave microphone to the right at IntoTomorrow.com.

During these difficult times, we understand how important it is to stay healthy and safe.

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Does pulling a gray hair really cause more to grow in its place?

In which case, Chris, you'd have no goatee left.

With this week's Into Tomorrow wellness tip brought to you by Human Touch, here's Victoria

Ladak.

Thanks, Dave.

For those of you who have plucked those pesky gray hairs from your head, you don't have

to fear that they are coming back with a vengeance.

The idea that pulling a gray hair will cause 10 more to grow in its place is simply not

true.

Plucking a gray hair will only get you a new gray hair in its place because there is

only one hair that is able to grow per follicle.

Your surrounding hairs will not turn white until their own follicle pigment cells die.

If there is a gray hair you must get rid of, very carefully cut it off.

Plucking can traumatize the hair follicle and repeated trauma to any follicle can cause

infection, scar formation, or possibly lead to bald patches.

For Into Tomorrow, I'm Victoria Ladak.

Back to you, Dave.

You know, I've had a plucking problem.

I've had a plucking problem.

Well, apparently you have no more living pigment cells.

Because my hair is all white.

Yeah.

As is my goatee.

Do you like the goatee instead of the whole beard?

Sure.

You don't care.

I don't care.

Other people have told me that, oh, it looks nice.

I thought the whole beard was hiding my chubby cheeks, but I've lost so much weight that

they're not as chubby anymore.

But you need the goatee to hide your turkey neck.

That doesn't help because it's not a, what's that band?

CC Top?

Yeah.

Thank you.

It's not a, that band.

It's not a long ZZ Top goatee.

It's just a little bit of hair.

See, I keep my slightly long goatee to hide my second chin and third chin, fourth chin.

I see.

And it's very gray now.

Yeah.

Getting there.

Mine's all white.

I know.

I get it.

IntoTomorrow.com is where we would love to meet you.

And also, the Into Tomorrow wellness tip is brought to you by Human Touch.

How can a massage chair change your life?

Visit Humantouch.com.

And find out.

John in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

We haven't heard from John in a while.

Welcome into Tomorrow.

I wanted to call up and get everybody to start using a password manager.

I personally use Bitwarden, but I really don't care which one people use as long as it's secure

and hasn't been hacked recently.

I won't mention names.

Bitwarden is free to use.

It is open source.

If you want to support them, $10 a year.

It gets you a lot more features, but you don't have to.

And I finally converted my entire family to using this.

Thank goodness.

No more crazy, short, you know, ABC dot one, two, three passwords.

We're using 20 character passwords everywhere we go.

And I know they're never going to get hacked.

So even if they get stolen as they will be, because all these companies are getting breached, there's no way that they're going to.

Be able to decrypt my 20 character or more password.

So definitely recommend people to use a password manager.

This is 2024.

This is not 1999.

You have to stop using a little notebook and reusing the same password over and over.

Don't do it.

Anyway, keep up the show.

Well, hearing you guys and looking forward to seeing what's coming up next.

Well, thank you, John.

We appreciate that.

See, listener helping other listeners, our favorite calls.

And that's a good example.

But now, do people wonder, do they have to remember the 20 character password that it generates?

No, that's what these password managers are for.

Yeah.

Because then it saves the password.

When you go back to this site, it asks if you want to use your saved password from this system.

The Apple has that kind of, or the iPhone has that built in.

The Apple.

Would that be a Granny Smith or a Red Delicious?

A Red Delicious.

Got it.

But that's great advice from John.

And that's the kind of stuff that we love sharing with our audience.

So if you've got similar tips, now, it doesn't have to be about passwords.

It has to be about anything involving consumer tech.

Then, by all means, let us know.

Oh, I just got my monthly T-Mobile bill was paid.

Oh, look at that.

Yeah.

Good to know.

And thanks, John.

Now I have to go change a bunch of my passwords.

You better.

Mm-hmm.

Well, there's a few things I say never to use for your passwords.

Don't ever use your child's name, your pet's name.

Yeah.

Or any combination thereof.

Because they're too easy for people to just go look on your anti-social media and go,

oh, there you go.

There's the dog's name.

I'm going to try that.

Oh, look at that.

I'm in.

Those are just not a good idea.

Yeah.

It's also sad when I get into my password manager on my iPhone and it says, oh, this

is a compromised password.

You've reused this password, you know, 52 other times.

Are you sure you want to keep using it?

And you answer yes.

Yeah.

Oh, bad, bad, bad.

Cameron in Hattiesburg, Mississippi listens on.

Super talk, Mississippi.

Or Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Is it Hattiesburg?

Yes.

Well, okay.

Hey, Cameron.

I was wondering what you would recommend for the best wireless charger device.

Ooh.

Well, Cameron, the best charger will depend on what phone you have.

A small consideration will be MagSafe.

If you have an iPhone, MagSafe chargers can hold the iPhone in place, which means that

you'll find some chargers that will put the phone at eye level or hold it tighter but

allow you to reposition the phone.

Now, it's not a huge advantage.

It's just an option.

If you're interested in MagSafe and your phone happens to be an iPhone 12 or newer, then

you can obviously look at Apple's own chargers.

But there are also plenty of other options.

For example, Anker sells a two-in-one charger for an iPhone and an Apple Watch for about

40 bucks.

Now, the main thing that will determine which charger is best for you is the power of the

charger and the power that your phone can take advantage of.

For example, if your phone can use it, a 20-watt charger will charge your phone much faster

than a 10-watt charger.

Go figure.

Yeah.

The difference in prices based on wattage will be less than the difference based on

brands.

Like a 10-watt Belkin charger is going for around $35 right now, as are Apple's own MagSafe

chargers online, while a generic two-pack from UTech is selling for $25 and a generic

20-watt charger is selling for $14.

Wow.

So you can save a lot of money.

Just make sure it works.

Now, the technology behind all of these chargers.

So you can go with a cheaper option, and it will work, but it may not deliver the power

it's supposed to deliver, or it may not come with a power adapter, or may come with one

rated for less power.

So paying a little extra for a brand name may actually help you out in the long run,

especially in this case, Cameron.

Yes.

I mean, asking us which wireless charger.

I mean, we say this a lot of times with, you know, hearkening it to, you know, pick a girlfriend

for me because everybody's different.

Everybody's different.

You know, shop at a store, whether it's online or in person, that you can return the thing.

If it doesn't work for you, you know, then you take it back.

IntoTomorrow.com, and be sure to call in, win stuff.

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Welcome back into tomorrow.

I'm Dave Graveline.

We're in our 29th year covering the latest.

In all sorts of consumer tech, including gadgets and gizmos and tech trends and expert insights on all things consumer tech related.

Delighted that you've tuned in.

Even more delighted when you call in and participate.

So don't hesitate to do that anytime, 24-7.

While any activity, and we talk about this on the show a lot over our 29 years, that diverts a driver's attention from driving is dangerous.

And most of you know.

As a former police officer, that's certainly an issue that I'm always concerned about.

Data consistently is showing that cell phone use is one of the most dangerous forms of distracted driving.

I know that we see it all day, every day, and hopefully you're not among those doing it.

But we're joined by two experts today on the program.

First, the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Cambridge Mobile Telematics is Ryan McClendon.

Ryan, welcome into Tomorrow.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure.

And also joining us, Department VP for Personal Lines from American Property Casualty Insurance Association, Robert Passmore.

Hey, Robert, welcome.

Thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to have you both.

First of all, Ryan, is cell phone use while driving increasing?

And, of course, I have my views, but I want to hear from your perspective.

Why is it so dangerous?

So there hasn't been a year since smartphones have been released that we have seen distracted driving go backwards until actually 2023.

And we just released a report on this topic, but the macro story doesn't change.

That the amount of time that Americans are spending on their smartphones while driving is increased exponentially since the first introduction of the smartphone.

And it increased dramatically in 2020 when about the minute that schools started to close and workplaces closed, the amount of distracted driving increased about 30, 40%.

And the reason that that is so significant is because distracted driving both causes crashes and also creates the conditions for those crashes to be very severe.

Wow.

And it's...

And I'm sure in your background and your experience in law enforcement, it's hard to know if a driver was on their phone at the time of the crash.

Yeah.

What we have been able to do is we have been able to understand the behaviors that are present in a driver's trip that causes the increase in crash risk.

But then we also can detect the behaviors that are present right prior to a crash.

And we can say definitively that 34%.

Of crashes that we have detected on about 37 million drivers have been engaged in their smartphone about a minute prior to that impact occurring, and that impact, when it happens, is at 40% higher speeds on average, and that mileage increase is very important to understand that the physics that are imparted at the time of that crash are directly related to the severity of that crash.

Yeah.

And I think it's really important to understand that the physics that are imparted at the time of that crash are directly related to the severity of that crash.

The amount of damage, the costs, the injuries, and the fatalities.

And if you look back four years ago, you will see a 16-year high in fatalities inside the vehicle, and unfortunately still continuing to this day about a 42-year high in fatalities outside of the vehicle.

And that's because drivers' eyes are not on the road.

They're on something else.

And, of course, most people won't admit that they were on their phone.

So if you can do it with other tech...

Then that's a good thing because it's continuing to prove that we've got to stay off our phones while driving.

Yeah.

More important than proving one direction or another is providing the feedback to the driver before it even happens.

And the thing about distracted driving is people have become so casually involved in this risk activity and not even realizing it.

People already overrate their own individual safety to the point where I believe it's 90%.

90% of drivers believe they're better than average.

And, obviously, that doesn't work, right?

The math doesn't math in that case.

No, you can believe what you want, but it's not accurate, right?

Right, exactly.

And, you know, and what do people get from a feedback mechanism?

It's pretty limited.

They only get information from law enforcement if they get stopped.

They get information from other passengers in their car or people outside of the car giving them friendly hand signals.

But in reality, we really don't get a lot of feedback on our own individual driving that we can believe.

And that's where...

Insurance telematics programs have been really kind of, I think, you know, a major breakthrough in safety

because it provides feedback to drivers as they're driving, you know, after the trip, not during the trip,

but after the trip, they get information on their individual driving.

And the amazing thing is the insurance industry has given incentives to those drivers, put money in their pocket to be safe.

And, unfortunately, that's what it takes.

I mean, if you can pay someone to be safer, the chances are you're going to get their attention

and perhaps they will infect.

In fact, be safer.

Well, you're paying for other people's risk.

That's just the nature of the way that insurance works is it's looking at risk as a totality.

And Bob Passmore from APCIA can talk more about the specifics behind this.

But, you know, unless you have some way to show that you are different than the average,

then just the functionality, the way that things work is that if overall risk increases,

then, you know, your price goes with it.

Yeah.

Oh, for sure.

And, of course, Ryan,

and states around the country have different laws regarding cell phone use while driving.

Many are finally getting the big picture.

But what do you think is the most effective type of law and why?

Hands-free.

The types of laws that just say you can't text while you drive are limiting

because the amount of activities that we do on our phones are much bigger than texting.

People are on Instagram.

They're on TikTok.

They're shopping.

They're answering work emails.

All that activity happens on the smartphone today.

You can trade stocks, buy options, do all sorts of things on your smartphone.

So if the law just limits you to texting, then, you know, then you're okay to engage

in those other activities.

That doesn't make sense.

So hands-free laws do make a difference.

Of course, laws by themselves aren't, you know, aren't going to change behavior, but

it is the right step in the right direction.

Oh, for sure.

And now, Bob, a couple of questions for you anyway.

Many drivers, I'm sure, note that they haven't had any recent claims.

They haven't had any tickets.

They wonder why their premiums are rising.

So what's the main reason auto insurance premiums are rising?

And does cell phone use play a role in that?

Well, there are two key drivers to what we all pay for auto insurance.

And those are the number of claims, which the, you know, distracted driving plays into,

and the cost of the things that are paid for as a result of those claims.

So when the cost of the things that auto insurance pays for goes up,

then auto insurance premiums goes up pretty much for everyone.

And that's even if you haven't had a claim or haven't had a ticket.

In fact, if you have had an accident or a traffic ticket,

that increase is likely going to be significantly more.

You know, we've all seen the impact of inflation and, you know, felt it in our daily lives.

And that has certainly been, you know, the cost of auto and things,

the things that auto insurance pays for has certainly been affected as well.

In many cases, those costs have risen faster and

continue to rise.

Some examples are over the last five years,

auto insurance repair costs are up by about 21%.

The cost of parts is up nearly 40%.

The cost of labor rates for auto collision repair is up between 6% and 10%,

depending on where you are.

And a lot of that is driven by the more sophisticated technology in our vehicles.

That also is resulting in longer repair times,

which means higher rental car expenses too.

And of course,

the cost of that,

the cost of medical care for those injured in accidents,

medical care costs continue to rise.

And that all goes into into that feeds into that trend as well.

And the result is that countrywide auto claim loss is an expensive,

expensive spike to about $1.12 for every dollar that insurers are taking in premium.

So the result is what we're seeing now

in across the country is insurers are trying to catch up to those increasing

claims costs and increasing premiums.

Can consumers do

anything to help lower our insurance premiums?

I mean, you know, you have certain things over the years.

Yeah. If you've got an alarm and well,

most new cars, it comes that way or, you know, there are certain things I'm

guessing, but what do you guys recommend on a regular basis?

First and foremost, shop around.

Every company sets its prices according to its own criteria.

And they're all a little different.

So you may be able to get a better price

from another carrier or at least know that you're getting the best price from

the company you're with right now.

Same goes with discounts.

I mean, you make sure you ask to see what discounts are available.

You know, different companies offer different discounts.

Like you made you made a good point there.

And other things, another thing to look at is look at your deductibles.

There are more smaller claims and bigger claims.

So you can often save a lot of money if

you can increase your comprehensive or collision deductible.

And if your car is older and the average car on the road these days in the United

States is about 12 years.

Old. Take a look at its value and decide

whether or not it's still worth paying for collision and comprehensive coverage.

And finally, you know, consider a telematics based insurance program.

As is, you know, Ryan talked about incentives.

Insurers offer, you know, a 10 to 15 percent discount just for signing up.

And you can earn a much higher discount just based on how you drive it.

And perhaps more importantly, you get real time feedback on a ride on drive by drive

basis on how you do.

You know, you can see how often you

speed and how often you you brake hard and how often you interact with your phone.

You may not be aware of just how much you're interacting with your phone.

All these things, you can get this kind of feedback and you can change your

behaviors and make yourself a better driver and perhaps save some more money in the process.

And I can hear my audience yelling at me.

Yes, but does they also report all of that information to my insurance company?

Well, these are these are things that are

done by your insurance company.

They'll give you a cell phone device or a cell phone app that will track how you drive.

And it doesn't happen without your knowledge.

You have to actively put this device on your phone in order for you to share

that information with your insurance.

And just like you can save on your premiums if you become or are a safer driver.

I'm sure they'll also increase if you're

showing your insurance company that you are speeding too much.

You are on the phone, you are doing these distracted driving things.

You're doing these things that you shouldn't be.

It depends on the program.

Some are I think most programs at this point are still discount based.

So your discount can can rise and fall depending on your your your your how you perform.

There are some that go up and go down, you know, based on how you drive.

But those are questions to ask when you're talking when you're shopping around.

Sure. How does the program work?

What things do you track?

You know.

When you sign up for the program, you can see exactly what they track and you get

feedback on it again on a drive by drive basis.

So it's still a good thing to do no matter what.

Even if you are, I don't want to say necessarily an aggressive driver, but

let's say you do tend to go over the speed limit a bit and that sort of thing.

Or you're going to be on your phone because, well, that was urgent nonsense.

You know, wait, pull off the road, especially if you are one of those people.

You can learn a lot about yourself by seeing

by by tracking your behaviors and you may not realize how often you do those things.

Well, yeah, I can tell you from personal experience, it can be an eye opening.

It's an eye opener to see those first results.

I'll bet it's like, what?

Holy cow. Quick disconnect.

No, no, because you want to learn to be a safer driver.

And I'm curious from from both you, Bob and Ryan, we hear people all the time say,

ah, see, I only check my phone at a red light or when I'm stopped for something.

And so that's much safer, isn't it?

No, not really.

There's this concept called the distraction hangover.

And it's this activity that, you know, if you put your phone away,

there's still a period of time where you're you know, you're susceptible to

distractions that just get you back on to the activity at hand.

So, you know, it's it's not it's safer than while you're moving, for sure.

But it's not safe by any means.

Yeah. Or the or the light turns green.

You're busy on your phone and now you're

being honked at by everybody behind you because you're not paying attention.

So there are other problems there, too.

Man, I wish we had more time.

We're flat out of it.

But I want to get you guys back because this is fascinating stuff.

I like how we can actually recommend these programs,

these apps and that sort of thing to a lot of folks.

So do check with your insurance company.

And Ryan from, let me see, corporate development at Cambridge

Mobile Telematics and Robert with as department VP for personal lines from

American Property Casualty Insurance Association, who we've got links for for

both of your sites, of course, we'll have them up at our site at into tomorrow dot

com. Thank you guys very much and again, look forward to getting you back on soon.

Thank you. It's our pleasure.

And again, they're long, convoluted links.

If you're driving, I don't want to distract you, for example.

So when you can off the road, not

driving, visit us at into tomorrow dot com.

And we'll have the links for both Ryan

and Robert and what their teams are very good at working on.

Stay tuned. I'm Dave Graveline.

More into tomorrow right here on the Advanced Media Network.

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Now you have a tech question, call us any time.

One eight hundred.

Eight nine nine and two one eight

hundred eight nine nine four six eight six.

Call in Winstuff.

Thank you.

Thank you, Cameron. Yes, that was Cameron.

Much younger Cameron.

Yeah.

And you'll be able to hear how much he's

grown in such a short time on next week's show.

Yes, because we're going to get him in before next week's show to tell us what

he thinks about that ROG Ally X gaming system.

That's what it's called.

Very good, because we're charging it again because

you have him this weekend so he gets to play it again.

Boy, you had to pry it out of his hands, you know, and I even told him before I

brought him back to his mother's house, you know, I'm going to spend some time

playing with this before you come back, you know, because I really want to do it.

I don't have time for that nonsense.

Nonsense.

I haven't had time to to to even look at the thing.

It's got Windows 11 built in me way too busy.

Yeah, right.

But thank you, Cam.

And your dad's going to remind folks of all the goodies that they could win.

But first, first, this portion of into tomorrow is

brought to you in part by using that connect stream and play wherever you live

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Text radio to thirty five thousand to get more info.

Again, just text the word radio to three five zero zero zero.

OK, so you added some new items this week and some pretty cool stuff,

including one item in particular, if you stand a lot for your job or you walk

a lot or whatever and your feet hurt, well, we got something for you.

Yeah.

From human.

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We've got a reflex pop up foot massager.

Nice bite at two hundred bucks.

It's not too shabby.

We keep one here and we insist people wear socks

because we don't want everybody's stinky feet in it.

But man, does it feel good.

I sat on my couch yesterday with the foot and calf massager.

There you go.

And I don't even time myself.

I just figure now I just do it until it shuts itself off.

Now that's got to be a long time.

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And other things that we have available.

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We love our Brando people and our human touch people and everyone that provides

prizes because all that a listener has to do is ask any tech question or help

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Just participate on the show.

You win.

And we always have to say no promises, no guarantees.

But let us know when you call in if there's anything in particular.

Mention a couple of items if you'd like.

We'll do our best to get at least one of those to you.

Will we not? We will.

We will. There you go.

A new way of putting out fires is patented.

A popular toy is introduced.

Oh, and Microsoft releases a new OS for a new millennium.

Guess what? It all happened this week in tech history, history, history.

Jump aboard the time machine.

You've got time to heading to yesterday with this week in tech history.

Here's Chris, Chris, Chris, Chris.

OK, in 1872 this week, Philip W.

Pratt of Abington, Massachusetts, patented

an automatic sprinkler system for putting out fires.

The system was operated by means

of a valve to which cords and fuses were attached.

The cords held the valve closed with a spring loaded lever.

In case of a fire, when the fuses ignited,

the cords burned and the valve opened, releasing a stream of water.

That's crazy.

In 1955 this week, Play-Doh was introduced.

Phil McVicker of Cincinnati was the man behind Play-Doh.

His sister in law and nursery school teacher had been complaining about the

modeling clay she had been using. It wouldn't model.

So McVicker sent her some of the non-toxic

wallpaper cleaning stuff that his company had created.

What a hit.

Soon, the Cincinnati Board of Education was using it in all of their elementary schools.

McVicker then took his invention to an educational convention where department

store Woodward and Lothrop picked it up to carry in their toy department.

That's that's the creation.

Of Play-Doh started.

Most things we are a lot of things we use started off as something else.

Yes. Started off as a wallpaper cleaner.

Or even as an accident in many cases.

And oh, look what we found.

Like post-it notes were a complete accident.

Yes. Like microwave ovens.

Yeah. Were an accident.

Oh, wow.

In 1956 this week, IBM introduced the Model 305 RAMAC

or Random Access Method of Accounting and Control.

Is that what that stood for?

Yes. A computer capable of storing 20 megabytes of data.

20 megs.

20 whole megabytes.

IBM lab leader Reynolds B.

Johnson developed a way to store computer data on a metal disk instead of a tape or

drum. RAMAC was the beginning of the disk drive industry.

Stimpy. I'm so happy.

And this week in 2000, Microsoft Windows Me or Millennium Edition was released.

It was the successor and last version

of the popular Windows 9X series of operating systems,

which began with the enormously popular Windows 95.

It also was called quite possibly the most

underhyped version of Windows ever created.

And rightly so.

We were not impressed.

That's our look back at this week in tech history.

History. History. History.

Very cool.

I like it when you bring us these kinds of things, but especially some of the off

the wall items for the Play-Doh wallpaper.

Because they're cool.

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Jamie in Tampa, Florida, did not provide their email address.

So we can't send them a prize closet email.

So if you want to win stuff, being heard is the first requirement that's happening.

But we've got to know.

We've got to know how to reach you, too.

So, yeah, Jamie, welcome into tomorrow.

When it comes to cord cutting, we have not cut the cord.

But I know friends that have, and they've asked me the same thing.

Why are these streaming services getting to be so gosh darned expensive?

Many have reported to me that they're

considering just going back to cable because they don't get good antenna reception.

So what advice would you have for those of us who want to go back to cable?

Don't do it.

Don't do it, especially if your cable company is Comcast.

But I hear your question, though, Jamie, and it's a very good one,

because streaming services are getting expensive because they're run by the same

terrible companies led by the same terrible people as cable.

And they like to squeeze the most money out of all of us that they can.

Now, as for advice for those who want to go back to cable, my gosh,

why would you want to do that? There's not much advice to give.

There's still largely a monopoly in most given areas.

So see what they can offer you and try to get a good deal for the first year.

Don't admit why you want to go back, because then they figure, ah, we got one.

Just say we're considering the possibility.

You know, we miss a couple of the channels that we used to watch on your service.

You know, what would you do if we if we think about joining you again?

You know, make it seem like it's no big deal.

You're probably not going to do it.

So give me your best offer.

Yeah, well, I did something with Comcast with Internet a few years ago,

but I can imagine it would work the same with with cable where I called because

my Internet cost was too high every month and I wanted to lower it.

And they had an introductory rate for new customers.

I said, well, I know I'm not a new customer, but will you offer that rate for me?

They said no. I said, well, then I'm going to have to go with somebody else.

Oh, we're sorry you feel that way.

So they kind of called my bluff.

So I packed up my Comcast modem and Comcast is the only Internet I have in my neighborhood.

I can't get anything else. You don't have a choice.

Right.

So I figured.

There's no way they're going to call my bluff again.

At least I hope they wouldn't.

So I took the modem into the Comcast office and I said, OK, I'm here to turn in my modem.

Oh, why would you want to do that?

Yeah, well, because I couldn't afford it anymore.

And I tried to get this introductory rate and they said they wouldn't give it to me.

If you'd like to give me that rate, I will gladly keep it.

OK, sir. Well, I think we can give you that rate.

While you're here, let's upgrade your modem to the newest, latest one.

So you won not once but twice in that deal.

So you can try that even with your cable.

If even if it takes taking your cable box

and showing up at their door

to turn it in because you can't afford their service anymore.

That's true. And they may still try to gouge you.

Yeah. With services like Hulu with live TV

and YouTube TV or just regular cable over the Internet at regular cable prices.

So remember, you can consider those as well.

Overall, cable is still cable.

Their customer service is next to nonexistent.

Their prices are expensive and they'll squeeze as many commercials as they can

into a show. It's not a good experience, but streaming is trending worse as well.

So do whatever makes the most sense to you

right now and be ready to jump ship again in a year or two.

Yeah.

Because quite frankly, because of the Internet streaming is where it's going

ultimately for everything, and there's no getting around that

because people are cutting the cable to so such a huge degree anyway

that cable companies aren't supporting their infrastructure.

They're not re cabling your community.

They're not putting in fiber unless you're

going to pay a fortune for it and that kind of thing.

So what you need is fast Internet, keeping

streaming 10 meg is more than enough for most streaming unless you've got like 18

people in the house and everybody's streaming at the same time, in which case

you're going to need more, you know, speed wise, more is always better.

I've got a gig at my house and hardly ever use a gig.

But the fact is, we have it and it's available.

So if you can afford it, get a gig or get 500 meg or get whatever you can.

But keep in mind, cable in and of itself, as we know it, cable TV is going away.

No question about it.

It might be five, six, seven years totally before it's all gone.

But ultimately it's going away.

And over the air for your local channels is still the best way to go.

You were going to say something.

I don't remember what I was going to say now.

Well, why not? Because I'm Chris

Brian in St.

Joseph, Minnesota.

Welcome into tomorrow.

My question is regarding television that sound system upgrade.

Needless to say, the flat screen TVs come

with very poor sound as a general rule.

The TV that I want to upgrade does not

have an optical output or that special USB output.

So I'm kind of at a loss.

If you can give me some suggestions on how

best to upgrade the sound on this thing, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, boys.

You're welcome, Brian.

Well, if you've already have devices,

for example, that take that optical audio input that you mentioned.

Then an HDMI audio extractor may help you.

HDMI cables carry both audio and video, and they're very convenient in that both

signals travel through a single cable, HDMI audio extractors are relatively

small boxes that split those signals into just video and just audio.

And some of them do come with optical outputs.

Now, the cost is relatively low.

You can buy a 4K capable

box for around twenty five dollars, and they would allow you to connect your TV

to just about any existing audio setup that you may hopefully already have.

Now, if you need to buy new speakers, check your TV first.

If it's new, it almost certainly has the option to output audio to Bluetooth.

So if that's the case, you can look for any soundbar or home

theater system that takes Bluetooth as an input and you'd be all set.

There's also audio amps that will do the HDMI audio video splitting and allow you

to make a wired connection from your TV to a brand new home

theater system. The cost, if you go that way, will be higher.

But many people still prefer the surround

sound from a full home theater system over that of a soundbar.

Yeah. And there are, again,

soundbars that claim to be surround sound and some of them sound pretty good.

You've got one, I think, of use.

Is it a Vizio?

It's a Vizio, but it's one of those modular.

It's a soundbar.

But then you could also have add-ons, which I do.

You have the subwoofer in the rear speakers.

So it turned it into a surround system.

Correct.

So even though some claim to be just a single soundbar, surround system-like.

Yeah.

It's almost like surround system light.

Yeah. Because it's not quite that.

So, Brian, let us know if we've helped you out and what you end up doing,

because that will certainly help others. And we invite everyone to visit us.

Oh, and sign up for our free tech newsletter when you visit us at IntoTomorrow.com.

Bringing you the latest in consumer electronics and technology.

This has been Into Tomorrow with Dave Graveline.

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