The EFTM Podcast – Can AI help you during your working day?

As far as technology goes, Artificial Intelligence is a legitimate and generational game-changer. How are you using it?

Get in touch with Trev by texting 0477 657 657 thanks to Vodafone – we’d love to hear from you. This week we hear from a man with a new gadget that Trev hasn’t heard of – that’s what we want – your reviews!

Plus questions about Apple ID and devices, Mobile plan savings, Chromebook options and loving Foxtel – yes, Loving Foxtel!

Show Transcript (AI Generated):

Trevor   [00:01:03]

Great to have your company. Thank you for listening once again to the EFTM podcast as we push our way through April. Uh, it’s great to have your company, and, uh, I enjoy sitting back on a Tuesday and having these chats with you and Anyone who calls, uh, this is a Talkback Technology Show. It is all about trying to help you out where I can. Uh, so if you’ve got a tech question, we just want to brag about tech, something tech in your life, uh, get in touch. I’d love to talk to you about it. I’m happy to just shoot the breeze. You don’t have to have a problem. Um, but if you’ve experienced something, you’ve learned something, you’ve tried something, anything other people could benefit from knowing it, then let me know. Uh, just send us a text, 0477 657 657. Thanks to Vodafone. That’s the number. Producer Rob will be in touch. We’ll line you up, we’ll get you on the show. We record on Tuesdays at lunchtime and try and publish the episode as quick— as close to and as quickly after the recording as we can. And if you’re listening in the Two Blokes Talking Tech feed, thank you for listening to this show as well as Two Blokes and the EV show, the movie show, and whatever other shows you listen to in that feed. It’s appreciated. If you haven’t bothered at any time to leave a rating or a review at the Apple iTunes Store, then you should do that. The podcast app allows you to, uh, to do this with great ease. So please be willing to. No one’s done that for a long time. Um, someone did it in October last year. I feel like I’ve read that one though. Um, and there is also some form of commenting on Spotify. It’s very hard for me to find them. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s very hard to find them, uh, in our kind of back-end system. Um, it tries to tell me when there’s comments, um, but, but I don’t know where to find them. It’s a very weird setup and system that they have, um, but it comes up somewhere, but unfortunately it’s very hard for me to see. So, uh, with apologies to anyone who has been leaving comments and whatnot, thank you. And please rate the show on Spotify as well, because that obviously helps. All these things just help the algorithms, you know what I mean? Sometimes people are just browsing the internet and they’re looking for, uh, for things to talk about or things to listen to. Uh, this helps, this helps them find them. Um, but yeah, I don’t know, I’m looking through the thing now and I can’t quite see where there’s any comment, but it’s definitely come up before in my back end. It’s come up where I can see what’s happening. It might be a different app I’ve gotta download or something, but anyway, they don’t make it easy, put it that way. But anyway, I’d love to hear from you no matter what the case. Best way to do it, the easiest way to do it is the text line, also WhatsApp, 0477 657 657. If you’ve got the EFTM app, then easy, just click Ask Trev on there. And there’s always prizes to win, folks. This week we’re giving away a robot vacuum, Ecovacs latest T80S. It’s a $1,799 robot vacuum, folks, with the roller mop and everything. This is pretty much all the latest EcoVacs technology in, uh, you know, slightly more affordable product at $17.99. So well worth a look. And, uh, if you haven’t entered, do it now and do it daily. That’s the thing, remember, you can enter every day. I’m not going to send reminders out every day, but thousands of people do enter, and many of them every day. So get on it, folks. Um, but in the meantime, lots of people to talk to today, so let’s get cracking with your calls.

VOICE OVER   [00:04:47]

Tech, cars, lifestyle— this is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long. You can text Trev now thanks to Vodafone on 0477 657 657.

Trevor   [00:05:00]

That’s it, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you if you’ve got a tech question, or maybe you just want to talk about some cool thing that you just bought and you want to brag about it. We’re cool with that as well. Uh, you can get in touch, as we said, as Deeksy just said, 0477 657 657. Joseph’s on the line. G’day, Joseph. Hi, Trevor. Mate, what can I do for you?

Joseph   [00:05:22]

Um, actually, I’ve got two things. Yeah, one, one is that one is a, uh, well, issue which actually might lead into buying, and the second one is a buying question as well.

Trevor   [00:05:32]

Well, let’s go. What’s the first one?

Joseph   [00:05:34]

The first one is this, um, I have a friend who is, uh, in her 80s. Uh, she has an iPhone, uh, SE third, I think it is third. Yeah, the last one anyway. Um, it’s getting a bit old, uh, and, uh, I was looking at possibly changing her to a 16E or 17E, which is the closest thing to the SE, I believe.

Trevor   [00:06:01]

What do you think? She’ll hate not having the home button. That’s the biggest change she’s going to be up for.

Joseph   [00:06:06]

Yeah, that’s, that’s my, what’s, that’s my concern.

Trevor   [00:06:10]

However, I will say, before we get on that, I will say though, the, the main thing I would do, no matter who it is in your life, no matter how old they are and how used to that home button they are, all you’ve got to teach them is the swipe up. And it’s hard because when you say swipe up from the bottom of the screen, my mum does this with her Google Pixel. She swipes up from like a centimeter above the screen. No, no, you’ve got to swipe off the screen and all the way up. Once you teach them that as being the home button, I think it’s perfectly understandable. And from there on, you don’t need the home button. So, mate, as long as someone like you is there to help, I think you’ll be okay.

Warren   [00:06:47]

Yeah.

Joseph   [00:06:47]

But the real issue is this, Trevor, that she originally did this under a previous married name. Yeah. And she wants it back into her, you know, her other name.

Trevor   [00:07:05]

Sure.

Joseph   [00:07:07]

And the issue is, you know, how to do that without losing the stored contacts and all that sort of stuff. In the cloud, right?

Trevor   [00:07:18]

Well, the first thing to do is do it all before you buy a phone. So there’s, there’s nothing to stop you changing details. Um, the best— and again, sit side by side, do this with her— but you want to go to appleid.com. So if you get the phone, bring up a laptop or a computer, sit at that and go to appleid.com. When you click on that, you can change your name, uh, you can change your date of birth, you can look— with a lot of things, it’ll make you verify it and update it and things, but But for example, you can change your email address, you can change your phone number, you can do it all in there. And there’s no issue there at all. You can add multiple phone numbers, you can add multiple email addresses. It’s weird.

Joseph   [00:08:01]

My—

Trevor   [00:08:02]

here’s the only thing I’d say to you, just out of a little bit of extra context on changing email addresses. My Apple ID account is an email address. I don’t use for anything else. Now, to be clear, it forwards to me. So if you send an email to that account, it’s still— I still get it. But the actual email address is one that I’ve— I simply don’t use anywhere else. It might have 20 years ago. And I think that’s a good thing in some ways because it reminds me whenever I’m logging into Apple, it reminds me, hey, this is kind of important. Because if I was to hand over to you my email address and password for Apple ID, you know, the things that you could do with that are pretty extraordinary. So just be cautious about, you know, why you’re changing it. Because if it’s only her that’s ever going to see it, apart from the shudder that I might give you from a previous marriage or whatever, there’s no requirement to change it, is all I’m saying. So just do what she’s comfortable with, but do it all at appleid.com. And that should then be reflected on the phone.

Joseph   [00:09:11]

Okay.

Trevor   [00:09:12]

Yeah.

Joseph   [00:09:13]

The only reason is, is that she gets real annoyed because, you know, when she goes to send an email or reply to somebody, it turns up with the old email address from— sure, you know, and no matter how much I show her how you can actually change that by just, you know, bringing it down and picking the right—

Trevor   [00:09:33]

right. So then, so then maybe you need to delete that old account from the phone because it sounds like there are multiple email accounts on the phone if you’re able to drop down down and choose one. So I would also, while you’re there, so update the appleid.com and then go to, go into Settings and Accounts or Settings and Mail and look at the accounts list and delete the accounts that you don’t want on there anymore.

Joseph   [00:09:59]

Yeah, well, again, I’ll have to check if there are still things, you know, invoices or whatever, whatever coming through from Sure. But that email address.

Stuart   [00:10:11]

Yeah.

Warren   [00:10:11]

Okay.

Trevor   [00:10:11]

You can definitely change the name on the account for sure.

Joseph   [00:10:14]

Oh, okay. All right.

Trevor   [00:10:16]

Now, so by the way, this 16E is the best value. 17E is obviously newer and better, but you can get the 16E now basically on special. Let me see if they’re still on. They were discounted for a while there. They’re not super discounted. I can see one at Harvey Norman for $900. Looks like JB’s got them iPhone 16 at $899. They’re not, they’re not massively discounted, to be honest. But, but yeah, the 16 is pretty good value. But mate, if the 17 is very, very close in price, then to get the 17 because it’s going to last longer.

Diane   [00:11:01]

Yeah.

Trevor   [00:11:02]

Yeah. So just think about that. All right.

Joseph   [00:11:04]

Yeah.

Trevor   [00:11:04]

Okay.

Joseph   [00:11:06]

The other question is, is really related to me. Um, I’m having problems with my MacBook Pro, 15-inch, uh, 2019. Um, it just seems to, um, for some reason or other, when I try to open something like Word or Excel, it’ll just go around and around and around and around. And when I look to see if I can force quit it, it says not responding.

Jamie   [00:11:34]

Right.

Joseph   [00:11:35]

So I’m thinking of, of changing it completely, but I’m just wondering, um, whether I go for a Mac Mini or the new MacBook Neo.

Trevor   [00:11:46]

Interesting, interesting question. So are you saying— sorry, now what are the options? MacBook Neo, or are you talking about a physical computer like the Mac Mini?

Joseph   [00:11:54]

Yeah, the little— yeah, they’re physical.

Trevor   [00:11:57]

Yeah, because I have screens, got a screen and stuff like that, keyboards and all that stuff. So the thing about your MacBook Pro is it’s the last of the Intel generation. So it was the last one before they started doing their Apple Silicon, the M1 chip and all those different things, right? So it It is obviously aging, but the great thing about Apple devices is they’re very easy to refresh. So if you back up the data you need, I would wipe that thing. I would give it a new lease on life and see whether a fresh install actually gives you a better experience. However, if you’re willing to go to a desktop, I would argue that the MacBook Neo is not even comparable to a Mac Mini. Yeah, you’re talking $999 for the M4 chip, right? And the MacBook Neo, its chip is years before that. It’s not even an M processor, it’s an iPhone chip. So the, the power and performance and speed you’ll get from a Mac Mini at $999 without even speccing it up is excellent. And honestly, it’s probably Apple’s best value product performance for dollars. Do you know what I mean? Like, it is such good value at $999. I bought a— here’s how much I love the Mac Mini. I specced one up, like, and I went spec spec. I think I spent $3,000 on it. Like, I got all the cores and all the bits and all the memory. And it runs our entire podcast studio. So all— if you’ve seen our video podcast, the screens, it’s running 3 screens at 4K. Like, it’s unbelievable what that device can do. But even the basic $999 Mac Mini will put your existing MacBook Pro Intel edition to dust. It really will.

Joseph   [00:13:50]

Yeah. Yeah. The other reason is that I do a lot of online teaching and that, you know, so I’ll need a video.

Trevor   [00:13:59]

Oh, just buy yourself a webcam, you know, no dramas at all there. Cheap webcam. Just make sure you get a 1080p one. Just get yourself a webcam and you’re good to go.

Joseph   [00:14:11]

Yeah. And, and the other thing that I thought also was with the Neo, I don’t have enough ports to the things that I’ve got hanging off this MacBook Pro.

Trevor   [00:14:20]

So yeah, if you’re on that, look, remember the Mac Mini also only has USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, so you will need the odd converter for your USB-A stuff. But you know, that’s the thing when you buy a webcam, make sure it’s a USB-C one. So don’t, don’t— anything new you get, make sure they’re USB-C compatible so that you’re making full use of all the ports.

Stuart   [00:14:43]

Yeah. Okay.

Jamie   [00:14:44]

All right.

Joseph   [00:14:45]

All right.

Trevor   [00:14:45]

Good luck.

Joseph   [00:14:45]

Great.

Trevor   [00:14:46]

All right, mate, you’ve got some work to do.

Joseph   [00:14:48]

Yeah, give my regards to Steve, Steven the Rabbit, when you see him.

Trevor   [00:14:53]

I will, mate. I will.

Joseph   [00:14:54]

Thanks so much, fellow countryman.

Trevor   [00:14:57]

Good on you, mate. Cheers.

Joseph   [00:14:59]

Okay, thanks. Thanks, Trevor. Thanks for calling.

Trevor   [00:15:01]

No worries at all, mate. Thank you. Yeah, it doesn’t matter what your question is or who— if it’s for someone, you can give tech support to other people through my knowledge. I’m happy for you to do that. We can chain the knowledge along and do it that way. Totally fine. Thank you for your call, Joseph.

VOICE OVER   [00:15:16]

This is the EFTM podcast.

Trevor   [00:15:19]

Take any calls. We’d love to hear from you. Stuart’s on the line today. Stuart.

Stuart   [00:15:24]

Hi Trevor, how are you?

Trevor   [00:15:25]

Very well. You’re up on the Central Coast of New South Wales, mate?

Stuart   [00:15:28]

That’s right, yep.

Trevor   [00:15:29]

God’s country. You’re not a Woi Woi High boy as well, are you?

Stuart   [00:15:35]

I did go to Woi Woi High for 2 years. I was an ’80s boy and then yeah, 11, 12, went to Woi Woi.

Trevor   [00:15:39]

You’re 11 and 12. So what years? What actual annual? 90s, 2000s? What are we talking about?

Stuart   [00:15:45]

1990, finished year 12. So maybe 3 years before me. Yeah, yeah.

Trevor   [00:15:51]

Because I only did, I only did 11 and 12 as well. That’s, that was, that was all I did. And now it’s a big campus across Yemina High and everything. So it’s a, it’s a weird different world up there. Sure is. What can I do for you, mate?

Jamie   [00:16:03]

Yeah.

Stuart   [00:16:03]

So I’m I’m with Optus and I’ve had a— I’ve been on an almost 3-year plan with them. I’ve got a Samsung Fold 5 and a small business plan with them. It ends in August and they’ve just put up the price of my plan. So I feel like it started at $49 a month. Now then I went to $55. Now it’s about to go to $60 a month on top of the device repayments. You know, it’s a bit of an expensive phone.

Diane   [00:16:35]

Yeah.

Stuart   [00:16:36]

But I do love the phone, actually. But yeah, so it just got me thinking, if I was to— so it’s about— I think it’s $288 left to pay on the device repayments. If I was to sort of port away from Optus now, would I— would I— would they just charge me the $288, you know, on the next bill when it cancels? And then, you know, I can go look at— I think I looked at Boost Boost was like $21.67 for a, for a 6-month plan, which is obviously a lot better than $60 a month on the plan. So I was thinking, is that the best way to go? Because I’ve also got off to SubHub. I’ve got 3 subscriptions to get the 10% saving there. So then also what happens with those 3 subscriptions?

Trevor   [00:17:23]

That’s a good point. So SubHub. So let’s just talk about that for a second. So So what subscriptions have you got within it?

Stuart   [00:17:31]

Netflix, Prime, and Microsoft 365.

Trevor   [00:17:35]

And how much are you saving a month?

Stuart   [00:17:38]

Oh, it’s not much. Like, it’s 10%. So whatever Netflix is, 30, Prime another 10, it’s a bit less than that. But, and then Microsoft Office be 14, 15 or something. So whatever, 10% of that, it’s not much.

Warren   [00:17:52]

Yeah.

Trevor   [00:17:52]

Let’s call it $10 a month. Yep. For simplicity. Well, you will need to talk to Optus to confirm, but my guess is it’s been a long time since we’ve had actually contracted monthly plans. You are more likely contracted for the phone. So as you say, you’ve got to pay out on the phone. That’s normally where you’re at. Are you looking to switch to the Telstra network or are you saying Boost just because of a deal you found?

Jamie   [00:18:17]

Yeah.

Stuart   [00:18:18]

And you’ve spoken about it and yeah, that’s all really.

Trevor   [00:18:21]

I only say that because, you know, I’m a SIM. Which is on the Optus network, also have 12-month plans. So, you know, if you’re happy with the coverage that you’re getting, then you’re in a good place. Do you know how much data you’re using every month?

Stuart   [00:18:33]

It’s not a lot. Like, I do actually listen to podcasts all day long. Like, I’m a mobile detailer on my own, earpods in, whatever, and I just listen to podcasts all day. But actually looked at it recently and it’s not that much. So I mean, I don’t know, maybe a couple of gigs, like nothing. Yeah, exactly.

Trevor   [00:18:51]

So, and this has been my biggest bugbear. I had one of the telcos ring me. In fact, it was Optus. I’ll tell you this. They rang me and said, oh, we’re putting our prices up. We should let you know. But of course we’re offering more data and data that people don’t need. Yeah, we don’t need more data. We do not need more data. No, no one is using all their data. You know, it’s just, it’s unbelievable.

Stuart   [00:19:10]

From 70 to 80 gigs.

Trevor   [00:19:15]

I looked at mine. I get 250 gigabytes a month. Like, what are we talking about? I don’t use 30. It’s remarkable. So, you know, even at the— so, so let’s just talk Amaysim for a minute, right? Amaysim’s 150GB plan— actually, no, let’s not look at that one, that’s only half a year. 200GB plan, right? So that’s more than 10GB per month, is $270 in advance, right? So $270 upfront. You’ve also got to pay your $288 exit fee. We know that, right? So you’re looking at $558 for 12 months if you kind of just bundle that exit fee in, right? Yeah. What’s remarkable though is if you then go, okay, let’s divide what I’m paying there by 12. So 12 months in advance for a May SIM on the Optus network, your phone is paid out and you own it because you love it. You’re paying upfront, you’re paying $558, which is $46.50 a month. Yeah, which is going back to less than what you were paying when you first got the plan.

Joseph   [00:20:23]

Yeah.

Trevor   [00:20:24]

And mate, who cares about the $10 you’re saving on SubHub? Because add that on and you’re still lower than what you’re currently being asked to pay for, um, for the plan. And that includes the buyout. If you ignore the buyout, okay, if you ignore the buyout and just go sunken costs, I’m going to buy the phone, $300, it’s $22 a month to be on a Maysim.

Stuart   [00:20:45]

Yeah, well, that’s what the Boost is, $21.67 for 6, you know, over 6 months. And one of the things is I use my phone, small business on the road. I take payments with my phone. So I really wanna make sure I’ve got a good, the best network. ‘Cause you know, there’s a couple of weird spots on the coast.

Trevor   [00:21:01]

Yeah, tell me how you want to do it. It’s a bit of a pain. So mate, you know, the great thing there is again, you’ve got that Boost Mobile option. They’re 12-month SIMs. Look, they’ve gone up in price. We have to admit it used to be cheaper, but whatever, their entry-level one is now $300 for a year. But mate, $300 for a year is $25 a month.

Stuart   [00:21:22]

Yeah, yep, absolutely.

Trevor   [00:21:24]

For a person like you who knows full well you’ve got a great phone, you love your phone, you’re looking after it, probably got it in a case. And you know what? Yes, there’s a new one gonna come out in 6 months. Yes, there’s whatever, it doesn’t matter. Keep that phone. If you can just say to yourself, I’m gonna keep this phone, phone and I’m going to pay $25 a month now on my mobile plan. And then really what I would say to you is what’s your option for your next phone? So actually set a plan to buy the next phone because that phone you’ve got now is going to be worth something to trade in, right? That phone you’ve got now, what is it, like a Galaxy S25 Ultra or something? What have you got?

Stuart   [00:22:01]

No, the Fold 5.

Trevor   [00:22:02]

Oh, Fold, beautiful.

Stuart   [00:22:03]

So actually though, just on that bit of an issue. So this is my second Fold 5 with Optus. About, I don’t know, a year ago, the factory screen protector started to bubble on the crease.

Trevor   [00:22:18]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Stuart   [00:22:19]

Which then eventually destroyed the screen, the actual screen of the internal screen of the phone. And I sent it back to— I went and bought a little $200 phone for it because I was going to be without my phone for a couple of weeks. They sent me a— that was destroyed. They sent me a refurbished Fold 5. This is my second one, so I’m a little worried that’s going to happen again. Yeah, I want to get rid of it. I think after my— after August, when I would have paid the device repayments anyway, I’m actually thinking I might get rid of it and look for something else.

Trevor   [00:22:52]

Do you— are you sticking with the Fold? Are you desperate for the Fold?

Stuart   [00:22:56]

Oh, I love it. But in this— in this world, this economy, I may have to go to something a little bit cheaper. I hear you talking about the Pixel 10. Maybe I’ll jump ship. But I’ve been— I’ve been Samsung since, I don’t know, I don’t know, S5, S7, something. I don’t know.

Trevor   [00:23:10]

But you know, the most underrated Samsung phone is actually the standard Galaxy S26. Yeah. Or even the S26 Plus. No. So you know why no one really talks about them? Because Samsung don’t offer them to us to review. Like, if I, if I wanted to review a Galaxy S26, I’m going to go and buy one. Now, they don’t sell them in the same numbers as they do the Ultra.

Warren   [00:23:31]

I get that.

Trevor   [00:23:32]

But also, people don’t talk about them enough because they don’t push it. They push the big one, they push the expensive one because it’s better on a plan and there’s bigger margins. The standard S26 or S26 Plus, great phone. The— even when they bring out the FE edition, like the S25 FE, that what they call the Fan Edition, mate, they’re great phones, great screen, same software, all those cool features, more features than you’ve currently got because that’s a couple years old, that phone. So if you can bring yourself to go, you know what, I’m gonna I’m going to be smart on my budget. It is an annoying thing because I’ve normally just, you know, gotten this cool phone every year on these plans. But you now know why, because they drive the plans up and they suck people in to stay with them. So as much as it’s a grind, I think, you know, downgrading yourself to a different phone when that one gives itself up, like push that one till the end.

Stuart   [00:24:26]

Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie   [00:24:27]

Okay.

Trevor   [00:24:27]

But remember, $25 a month. That’s what you’re going to be paying for the mobile plan. So the other $40 a month that you were going to have to pay, or let’s just call it $30 a month, you know, that’s the money you’ve got to spend on a phone. And by the way, remember you were paying $60 a month plus the device repayments.

Stuart   [00:24:48]

Absolutely. It’s big.

Trevor   [00:24:51]

How much are you spending a month on the device?

Stuart   [00:24:54]

Oh, well, because I think it’s like 70 plus the 60 plus all the subscriptions. It’s like 178 a month for everything. Yeah, it’s—

Trevor   [00:25:05]

yeah.

Stuart   [00:25:06]

And that’s what I was wondering with the subscriptions. Like, if I pulled away or cancel, I can’t find any options on in the SubHub where you just like can remove them from SubHub but not cancel the subscription. They all just want to cancel it.

Trevor   [00:25:21]

Yeah, you need to, you need to look at the migration of them. So I would reach out to— so Microsoft 365 would probably be the most problematic because they’re not normally one that, you know, you go back and forth on. But Amazon, is it linked to your email address or an Optus email address?

Stuart   [00:25:39]

Um, be mine.

Trevor   [00:25:40]

Yeah, well, mate, then I just think you go to amazon.com.au and change the billing.

Stuart   [00:25:46]

Right, okay. Yep.

Trevor   [00:25:49]

And the same with Netflix, change the billing.

Stuart   [00:25:52]

Yeah, right.

Trevor   [00:25:53]

Gotcha. And at worst, open up a tech support query with them to say, “I want to do that.” Mm, yep.

Stuart   [00:25:59]

Okay, I’ll try that.

Trevor   [00:26:00]

All right, mate, good luck. And just gotta eyes on, focus. You’re gonna be good with your money. That’s what you’re gonna do. And you’re gonna save. You’re gonna save big time. Once you own a phone outright, you’re gonna save big time and it’s worth it. Yeah, yep. Can’t wait.

Joseph   [00:26:15]

Thanks, Drew.

Trevor   [00:26:15]

All right, mate, good on you. Thanks for getting in touch.

Stuart   [00:26:17]

All right, cheers.

Trevor   [00:26:18]

Cheers, buddy. There you go. Look, it is hard, but he’s paying 100 and something bucks a month. So 70 plus 60, it’s 130-odd. There’s some more going on there. That was a lot of money. Oh, plus the subscription, yes. So let’s just call it, forget the subscriptions, let’s just call it 70 and 60, 130 a month. And his device still works, right? So he’s going from $1,560 a year to $300. That’s $1,200 a year saved. In a year and a half, you’ve got enough for a new phone. That, that’s the way I look at it. And you don’t have to buy a $3,000 phone. If you want to, then you just budget that and you go, I’m gonna, I’m gonna budget that, I’m gonna put away $25 a month to pay for the next one. And then you get in a cycle. If you really do want to upgrade regularly, do it every 3 to 4 years and trade in, trade in, take advantage of those deals.

VOICE OVER   [00:27:17]

Australians with tech questions for over 15 years. The EFTN Podcast with Trevor Long.

Trevor   [00:27:27]

Great to have your company and happy to help you if you’ve got a tech question anytime you like. Jamie’s on the line. G’day, Jamie.

Jamie   [00:27:32]

Hi, g’day, Trev.

Warren   [00:27:33]

How you going, mate?

Trevor   [00:27:34]

Really good. What can I do for you?

Jamie   [00:27:37]

Oh, mate, yeah, look, I’ve got an old Chromebook that I’ve had for a hand-me-down from my mum and Yeah, I was sort of in the market for looking for either a new Chromebook or— I think they’ve probably died out a bit now— the old Chromebox. I had one of those previously as well, like an Acer one, I think it was.

Trevor   [00:27:54]

Oh, right, an actual little desktop-style machine.

VOICE OVER   [00:27:57]

Yeah, yeah.

Jamie   [00:27:57]

I think I initially bought it off Amazon, you know, from the US or whatever, and it’s sort of past its use-by date. And the Chromebook that I’ve got, you know, it’s only a sort of budget one, and it really doesn’t, you know, perform very well. Lags and whatever else. So I’ve got a set up at home with 2 monitors that I’d like to sort of, you know, use the 2 monitors and have something that works a bit, you know, a bit more streamlined.

Warren   [00:28:24]

Yep.

Jamie   [00:28:26]

Just for booking travel and, you know, surfing the net and doing all that sort of businessy stuff, personal business stuff.

Stuart   [00:28:31]

Yeah.

Trevor   [00:28:32]

What’s your budget?

Jamie   [00:28:34]

Look, I’d like to only spend $500, but I think I’ve had a bit of a look and I think I’ve probably got to spend more than that, maybe around $1,000, possibly even more. But I’m happy to do that, you know, like, because I have a purchased a Chromebook or a laptop for that matter, probably 5 years now.

Trevor   [00:28:51]

And have you had any constraints with having a Chromebook? Are you still happy to have a Chromebook?

Jamie   [00:28:57]

Yeah, I mean, I’ve got a Windows laptop that I’ve got for work, so I can use that if I need to. But yeah, I just like the idea of being signed into all the Google products and the email and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, that’s right. All the passwords and everything. So it just works better with Android phone as well. So yeah, it just all works in nicely, bit like with the Mac and iOS, I guess.

Trevor   [00:29:20]

I mean, the Chromebook, I’ve had the ASUS CX14. My kids have used that at school. Oh yeah, I’ve had a play around with it. It’s got 128GB of storage. It’s about $750. See, Chromebooks don’t need a lot. Chromebooks really don’t need a lot. And when you spec them up, so like if you go to JB’s, there’s a 14-inch Lenovo there that’s, you know, got 256GB of storage and it’s $1,400. You say, what am I paying the extra for? It’s got a touchscreen and it’s an OLED screen. You know, there’s some— but if you’re going to hook it up to some monitors, mate, then I don’t know why you would worry too much about the OLED screen and having the better screen.

Jamie   [00:30:04]

So that’s right. Yeah, the screen, I’ll just have to have that, you know, closed once it’s connected via USB-C. Yeah. Which is what I was doing with the old one. There’s just the old one, just, you know, it’s probably past its use-by date as well and it just Yeah, it’s just slow to use. You have to, you know, you click on something and it takes a few seconds to sort of do anything.

Trevor   [00:30:23]

Yeah, but honestly, I think, I think you’re right. 500 is probably not enough for what you want.

Joseph   [00:30:30]

Yeah.

Trevor   [00:30:30]

Because you got to remember when you’re, when you’re hooking up to those two screens, this thing is pumping out those two screens. So yeah, you’re asking a little more of it. So, okay. But I think the ASUS CX14 is a great little Chromebook. I think you should be able to get one for under $800 and I think it’ll do everything you need it to do.

Jamie   [00:30:47]

Okay, that sounds good. And just one more question, just on the— I found a Promethean Chromebox. Now I’ve never heard of it before.

Trevor   [00:30:54]

Neither have I.

Jamie   [00:30:55]

No. Okay. No, that’s interesting. Yeah, because it— yeah, they were about $423. I do like the idea of a Chromebox and I know that they’re not readily available anymore and they’re quite expensive, but I do like the idea of that because, you know, like I don’t need the display. I’m not using it as a portable device. But yeah, maybe I’m better off just to stick with it with the Lenovo. The problem with the—

Trevor   [00:31:20]

Asus is the one I was looking at. Look, the problem with the Chromebox is they’re built for people who are doing things like, you know, running kind of content off the network and all that kind of stuff. It’s like an interface to the network, to content. I don’t think they’re built for everyday use like you’re talking about. They may have been originally. Yeah, yeah. But I think in your price point, if you end up with a Windows computer, it’s going to be be slower and more laggy than what you’re talking about with Chromebook. So I think, I think the Chromebook is the sweet spot for you.

Jamie   [00:31:56]

Asus.

Trevor   [00:31:56]

Yeah.

Jamie   [00:31:56]

Yeah. For about $750.

Trevor   [00:31:58]

Yeah.

Jamie   [00:31:58]

About. And the other thing, just. Yeah. The other thing I did do, just to let you know, I did try out Samsung DeX on my tablet.

Trevor   [00:32:05]

Oh, did you?

Jamie   [00:32:06]

Yeah, I did. It works really well, but it doesn’t support dual external displays. But it actually was faster than— it was actually faster than the Chromebook, which was surprising.

Warren   [00:32:16]

Yeah.

Jamie   [00:32:16]

So it’s a shame that— I mean, I know you can sort of do a bit of Frankenstein work and get, you know, with some adapters or whatever. But yeah, it’s probably not worth it. So I’m better off just to get a Chromebook, I think.

Trevor   [00:32:28]

And the dual displays are critical for you, are they?

Jamie   [00:32:31]

Yeah, well, I sort of had like I’ve got an office at home and I mean, I don’t use the work laptop from home much anymore. I used to work from home a lot more, but yeah, it’s more like if I am at home, I do 4-on-4 off. So when I’m at home, I just want like a good setup for, you know, doing what I need to do, booking travel and, you know, all that sort of stuff. You know, if I’m looking to purchase something, I mean, in the in the market for maybe an electric bike as well. So yeah, I just love having those, the dual displays.

Trevor   [00:32:58]

Yeah, yeah, fair enough. Well, mate, I think the ASUS Chromebook is for you.

Jamie   [00:33:01]

Okay, awesome. Thanks, Trev. Thanks, everyone.

Trevor   [00:33:03]

No worries at all. Thanks for getting in touch.

Jamie   [00:33:05]

Cheers, mate.

Trevor   [00:33:05]

No worries at all. Cheers. Yeah, I mean, they’re a great device, and it’s funny because I wouldn’t normally go that hard on the recommendation, but because of his experience with the Chromebook, it just makes sense.

VOICE OVER   [00:33:20]

You’re listening to the EFTM podcast. You can text Trev now thanks to Vodafone on 0477 657 657.

Trevor   [00:33:36]

Great to have your company and would love to hear from you if you’ve got a tech question or you want to talk anything tech in your life. Diane’s on the line. G’day, Diane.

Diane   [00:33:42]

Hi, Trevor, how are you?

Trevor   [00:33:44]

Really good. What can I do for you?

Diane   [00:33:46]

No, you asked to speak to me.

Trevor   [00:33:47]

Oh, we’re going to talk about Foxtel, right?

Diane   [00:33:50]

We were, absolutely.

Trevor   [00:33:52]

Tell me, tell me your Foxtel story.

Diane   [00:33:54]

Okay, I’ve had Foxtel since I think it was Austar. Um, I think it was originally Austar.

Trevor   [00:34:00]

Yeah, so are you, uh, do you live in the metro area or regional? Because Austar was very much satellite.

Diane   [00:34:07]

Um, no, I was in, I was in the Sutherland Shire. Okay. Um, so I don’t know, whatever the first— I, I got the first pay service that was available.

Trevor   [00:34:17]

Galaxy even.

Diane   [00:34:18]

Oh, look, I’m 76, come on, give me a break. So yes, I know I’ve never not had Foxtel.

Trevor   [00:34:27]

Yeah, right.

Diane   [00:34:27]

Um, and there’s a number of reasons, um, which you obviously want to know why. First of all, I was lucky enough to go to Las Vegas last year with my boys and to see my fabulous Sharks play, and, um, I recorded all the games on my Foxtel box and a lot of the shows that they did before and after. So we could come home and watch them. So I do that. I record if there’s a cooking show on and I want a particular recipe, I record that. I record football matches if my husband’s not around and I don’t think they’re all on streaming.

Trevor   [00:35:02]

Right.

Diane   [00:35:04]

So they’re my main reasons. I hate fast forward on streaming. The ads are ridiculous. You get about 15 minutes of ads. So So if it’s on my Foxtel box, I can fast forward it.

Trevor   [00:35:16]

So it’s safe to say kind of having Foxtel is more like the old VHS experience for you because if you tape something, you can fast forward through to what you want, you can get back to where you want, you can put on what you want when you want, as opposed to every bit of content on Foxtel is available on streaming somewhere, but you’re definitely going to be faced with pre-roll and mid-roll ads that you can’t skip. That’s one of the biggest negatives for you.

Diane   [00:35:37]

Yeah, there is. Well, with all the Las Vegas games beyond there from last year, yes, they would They would be.

Trevor   [00:35:44]

Okay. But here’s the thing, probably hard to find, you know, because there’s so much content. When you look at— so if I look at KO Sports, for example, which I think is an unbelievable website and streaming service.

Diane   [00:35:55]

Okay.

Trevor   [00:35:56]

Who did the Sharks play? No, they didn’t play at Vegas last year. They did. Who’d they play?

Diane   [00:36:01]

Yes, they did. That’s why we went.

Trevor   [00:36:02]

Sharks v—

Diane   [00:36:04]

they played Penrith.

Trevor   [00:36:05]

Penrith.

Diane   [00:36:06]

And we lost.

Trevor   [00:36:07]

Oh no.

Diane   [00:36:08]

It was a close game. The atmosphere. Anyone who can get to Vegas to watch their team play, is it worth it? Oh, absolutely worth every penny. I had the best time of my life.

Trevor   [00:36:19]

Oh, had you been to Vegas before?

Diane   [00:36:21]

49 and 51.

Trevor   [00:36:22]

Had you been to Vegas before?

Diane   [00:36:24]

Yes, 4 times.

Trevor   [00:36:25]

Oh, well, I love the place.

Diane   [00:36:27]

I want to go. I would— invite me, let me go for the tech show this year. I’ll give my ITs to be there.

Jamie   [00:36:34]

So there you go.

Trevor   [00:36:35]

So was that— I’m trying to look here. I’m looking on their website. Was it March 2023?

Diane   [00:36:42]

25? We left on the second. I think it was the last Saturday in February. 27th, 20— 27th. It was the last Saturday in February.

Trevor   [00:36:51]

Now I’m watching the game. I’m trying to zoom out and find a wide shot where we see whether— I don’t think this is Allegiant Stadium. I’m looking wide. Were they wearing the black jerseys with the gold?

Diane   [00:37:03]

Oh, come on. No.

Trevor   [00:37:06]

As if you don’t remember. As if you don’t remember.

Diane   [00:37:09]

I don’t know.

Trevor   [00:37:10]

I think this is Allegiant Stadium that I’ve just found here. Yes.

Diane   [00:37:14]

You know why?

Trevor   [00:37:14]

Because I think it’s the short, you know, the end goal area is quite short.

Diane   [00:37:19]

Yes, it is. So the sidelines, it is not as wide.

Trevor   [00:37:22]

So all I did on KO, not to sell KO to you, but all I did on KO was search Sharks Las Vegas and up it came. So and that, that took me no time. And, you know, I can on KO on the, on the website, you can skip where you want to go, when you want to go. And there’s no ads during the games, only at halftime. And on Kayo, the ads are actually embedded in the program. So it’s not like your Channel Nine or Channel Seven catch-up where the ads are kind of forced upon you in that way. Anyway, look, I’m not trying to sell Kayo to you because you’re bloody happy with Foxtel. What does it matter?

Diane   [00:37:57]

But I, I record. I don’t watch anything live on free-to-air.

Trevor   [00:38:01]

Yeah, right.

Diane   [00:38:02]

Every show that I watch is recorded on my Foxtel box.

Trevor   [00:38:05]

Yeah. Wow.

Diane   [00:38:07]

So it does. And I’m also telling him I’m presently down the South Coast. Okay. We’ve got a holiday house down here and we only have streaming Foxtel. Well, we’re watching the footy over the weekend and several times it knocked out. I had to keep reconnecting.

Trevor   [00:38:24]

Yeah, it’s frustrating. It’s not the same as, you know what, you’re selling the box back to me. And the other thing is it’s bloody expensive to have all the streaming services now. It used to be that it was so cheap you had to get all the streaming services, but now nowadays. What are you paying for Foxtel every month? Do you know?

Diane   [00:38:36]

I’m paying $62.

Trevor   [00:38:39]

$62 with sport?

Diane   [00:38:41]

Yes.

Trevor   [00:38:42]

Do you know how much Kayo costs?

Diane   [00:38:45]

Yeah, that— I used to have it for my husband, but he refused to pay for it, so I, um, I cancelled it.

Trevor   [00:38:50]

Yeah, it’s like $40 now.

Diane   [00:38:53]

Oh really?

VOICE OVER   [00:38:54]

Yes.

Diane   [00:38:54]

Seriously? I’m paying $62. I get the movies, I get the sports.

Trevor   [00:38:59]

With movies? Did you negotiate that with them?

Diane   [00:39:03]

Um, it was $58 and they put it up to $62 last year, and I’m still paying $62 coming out of my account.

Trevor   [00:39:12]

I’m just looking at their website, Foxhill’s Winning Deals.

Diane   [00:39:14]

Don’t dump me in, I might lose it.

Trevor   [00:39:16]

No, no, $69 a month per month on a 12-month plan, normally $108. So I wonder if it’ll go up after that if I was to sign up again. It doesn’t say you get movies for that. It says HBO Max, which is a streaming service, Foxtel Plus, and does have the sport. But you get the movies as well.

Diane   [00:39:38]

Yeah, I do. I’m sorry about that.

Trevor   [00:39:40]

They are loving you as a loyal customer. That’s what it seems to me.

Diane   [00:39:43]

Well, I would hope so. But can I give you— I don’t want to keep you. I know you’ve got lots of things to talk about. I found something very interesting now, and this Here’s a plug for streaming, I guess. I want to watch Outlander, right? Right. But I want to watch it when it all— Series 8, when it all came down. Well, when I went on to Foxtel to have a look because I’ve been overseas, they’re only— I can only find from episode 4 upwards and they only have each episode on Foxtel box for 4 weeks and then it disappears.

Trevor   [00:40:14]

Oh, really? Well, that’s where you need Netflix, I guess.

Diane   [00:40:18]

So no, no, it’s not on Netflix. Not Series 8. Series 8.

Trevor   [00:40:24]

Series 8, 10 episodes. You’re right, it’s only on Foxtel and Binge. And then, and then they’re only there for 4 weeks and then they disappear.

Diane   [00:40:32]

They are. But I went on to ChatGPT because other people have been complaining about— I know I’m not allowed to say.

Trevor   [00:40:37]

No, that’s good. I love it.

Diane   [00:40:39]

And so I did a search and, and it, and it told me, don’t just put in Series 8, put in Series 8 Binge episodes 1 to 3, and I actually found it embedded in Foxtel Go.

Trevor   [00:40:54]

So it is still there.

Diane   [00:40:55]

It is still there on Foxtel Go, but it’s not— if you go in your Foxtel box and look on your Foxtel programs, it only gives you now it’s episode series 8, episode 5. The other 4 are disappearing. Don’t ask me how.

Trevor   [00:41:08]

Outlander, is it?

Diane   [00:41:10]

Yes.

Trevor   [00:41:10]

So I’m now looking at Binge. Which, which has— it has season 8 episodes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Diane   [00:41:19]

Okay, well, that’s, that’s, that’s on Binge. But if you go into the Foxtel Guide, it’s only got— when I try to look to record it, it’s only got the current one, episode 5.

Trevor   [00:41:30]

Right, so this is where Binge wins. So Binge wins one.

Diane   [00:41:33]

Yes, yes, Binge wins, wins. But I can, I can watch it on— I can—

Trevor   [00:41:40]

I know, if you look closer, I think Foxtel Guide is basically Binge now Anyway.

Diane   [00:41:44]

Okay, well, I have to stream it to watch those few episodes.

Trevor   [00:41:46]

Oh, not the end of the world. Outlander, you must love it. It must be a good show. But anyway, I’ve never seen it myself.

Diane   [00:41:54]

Oh, oh, well, it’s, it’s pretty brutal. A lot of men don’t like it.

Trevor   [00:41:58]

Oh really? Brutal? Men don’t like it?

Jamie   [00:42:01]

Why?

Diane   [00:42:02]

Pardon?

Trevor   [00:42:03]

Why is that?

Diane   [00:42:04]

I don’t know if I can say on here.

Trevor   [00:42:05]

I’ll go if you like.

Diane   [00:42:07]

Oh, okay. Well, they have about a 10-minute rape scene with Oh, right.

Trevor   [00:42:12]

Okay.

Diane   [00:42:13]

I’m sorry about that. You want to— do you want to bleep that out?

Trevor   [00:42:16]

Okay. I certainly won’t be watching, though, that’s for sure.

Diane   [00:42:19]

No. And that’s why my husband wouldn’t watch it either. And I know, I know. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I love my Foxtel box. I’m not getting rid of it. And I just love to be able to record things and watch it when I want to watch it.

Trevor   [00:42:33]

Good on you. Long live the Foxtel box.

Diane   [00:42:36]

And I, and I love your work, Trevor. I listen to Tech like other people read, you know, recipe books or something.

Trevor   [00:42:42]

That’s lovely. Lovely.

Diane   [00:42:44]

I’m a tech fanatic.

Trevor   [00:42:45]

Good on you. Lovely to hear from you. Go the Sharkies.

Diane   [00:42:48]

Thanks. Absolutely. Thanks, Trevor.

Trevor   [00:42:50]

Good on you. See ya. No worries at all. There you go, Diane. I didn’t want to say anything, but she sent a text. That’s why she said I rang her. She said, I heard you on 2GB. 2GB, which she didn’t. She was listening to someone else. It’s probably Steven, to be honest. And because I’ve been on 2GB for so long, she’s just remembered my name and gone searching and found me. But anyway, there you go. Foxtel, still a winner for Diane.

VOICE OVER   [00:43:19]

This is the EFTM podcast.

Trevor   [00:43:21]

Great to have your company, and we’d love to speak to you about tech. If you’ve got a question, you’ve got a problem, whatever it might be, or you bought something cool, uh, get in touch. Love to hear from you. Warren’s on the line. G’day, Warren.

Warren   [00:43:33]

How you going, Trevor?

Trevor   [00:43:34]

Hey, real good. You bought something cool?

Warren   [00:43:36]

I did. I bought one of the new, uh, Pocket AI, uh, voice recorders.

Trevor   [00:43:42]

Now there was a few of these going around, uh, there was a rabbit one, there was a few of these kind of ideas. What is this one, a device of its own, or does it pair with your phone? How does it How does it work?

Warren   [00:43:55]

It pairs with a— yeah, it pairs with a Pocket AI, um, app on the phone, right? Um, it also attaches to the back of the phone with a MagSafe sort of magnet.

Trevor   [00:44:04]

Gotcha. I’m looking at it now on their website. Hey, it’s called heypocket.com. Yep, gotcha.

Jamie   [00:44:08]

That’s it.

Warren   [00:44:09]

Yeah, yeah.

Trevor   [00:44:09]

Why, if it’s an app, why does it need to be a little box as well?

Warren   [00:44:15]

Oh, you’ve got me on— I didn’t design it, mate, but I just know that, um, the box does the recording. Recording. So sorry, I do know the box does the recording and then it syncs the recording with the app on the phone. So you’re not actually recording through your phone. And I think the reason they do that is when you’re recording a conversation on the phone, it uses the vibration through the phone to record it rather than the, I guess, the speaker.

Trevor   [00:44:43]

Right. So you— does the box work on its own without the phone in anyway?

Warren   [00:44:47]

It does, it does. It works completely offline, so I carry it around with me and I just hit it once and it starts recording. I have meetings and, yeah, dialogue recorded.

Trevor   [00:44:59]

Does your phone need to be in your pocket as well? Is it doing that via Bluetooth or is it recording onto it and then when you open the app it synchronizes and downloads all those things?

Warren   [00:45:06]

It synchronizes, it synchronizes. So I can be driving along, have the—

Jamie   [00:45:11]

not sync—

Warren   [00:45:12]

not, not paired with phone, do a brain dump of ideas with information onto it, and it will then just give me a— when I sync it and it transcribes it, it will then give me a summary of the conversation or the brain dump. It’ll give me the highlights, it’ll give me what actions or to-do list comes out of that.

Trevor   [00:45:32]

Whoa, whoa, you’re selling me now. Hang on. So does it then integrate with any AI services or does it have its own AI?

Warren   [00:45:38]

It has its own. Well, that’s interesting. It has its own AI, but I I asked it, I asked it whether it would integrate with ChatGPT because I use that a lot for my business and it said we’re a separate platform. However, it gave me a text or some code to then put into ChatGPT and it basically asked ChatGPT to give it my profile or everything it knows about me and it then imported that to my Pocket AI profile. So now everything I ask Pocket AI or everything I transcribe to it, it comes back with a lot of detail that it wouldn’t normally know about me because it’s now downloaded my chat profile.

Trevor   [00:46:21]

Mate, I’ve got my finger over the checkout button, but I want it to go the other way. I want— so I’ve been actually playing a lot with AI over the last couple of weeks to try and just make me a better worker, right? So I spent some time before Easter even talking about like how I was talking to ’cause producer Rob’s a big fan of Claude. So I was talking to Claude, I’m like, how can you help me? I’m a small business operator, I work alone, and I struggle with time management and also motivation sometimes. So some days I get nothing done. And it said, okay, so what do we need to do? We went back and forth for a while, and then it came up with this project and it says to me, right, every morning ask me this, every afternoon ask me this, and let’s keep you on track. And so it’s actually, today was the first day I used it and it came up with a, it asked me too many questions then. I said, listen, shut up now, I’m done, we’re good, let’s move on. But it helped me with a bunch of things. But what I like about what you’re selling me here is, no, you’re not selling it to me, but what you’re telling me about what you’ve got is, I’m like you, sometimes just wanna brain dump. So I’m driving and if this could be in my top pocket, let alone my side pocket, I just pick a button, pick it up and press a button and it’s listening. Is that what’s happening basically?

Warren   [00:47:29]

Exactly, mate. It is about the size of a credit card. It’s about an 8mm thick. Button, actually two buttons, on/off, so record, stop recording. It picks up everything very clearly. The beauty of it, the beauty I find, Trevor, is it allows me to take phone calls from clients when I’m on the move. It allows me to put my own information, my own brain dump into it. It allows me to record meetings and it will give me a summary of that conversation or that meeting. It will then give me all my to-do items items that I’ve agreed to in that meeting and it will then give me a Google Task to-do item to export to Google Tasks. So it’s all in front of me and basically I’ve got a whole— I’ve had it for 4 days. I’ve got about 35 things in there already that I’m just now working my way through. So rather than getting lost in the morning, you know, what am I doing? Everything’s in front of me. I just sort of plow through it.

Trevor   [00:48:26]

Well, do you need a subscription? Transcription?

Warren   [00:48:28]

So it comes, it comes with a basic free plan, but I think it’s about $19 a month. I just upgrade to the pro version and it gives you so much more. It even gives you, it even gives you mind maps. So once it’s done the summary, the conversation, the highlights of this transcript, the bullet points, it’ll then give you your to-do or your action items or any calendar events you’ve nominated, and then it’ll put into a mind map if you’re that kind of person. And that, the other good thing about this one, or I found, is it was, it’s I think designed more for the corporate, a lot of meetings, a lot of, you know, strategic stuff. But I said to Pocket AI, a lot of my phone calls are service-based clients who want my business to come and do work for them. So it helped me design a specific template to put that conversation into. So it comes with about a dozen different templates and mostly you leave it on auto and it just finds its way. But it worked through my business with me and developed an exact template that dumps the name, the address, the phone number, the email, the task, the question, what I’ve committed to, blah, blah, blah. So I can export that straight to my CRM, log a job and check usual.

Trevor   [00:49:49]

I’m fascinated. I’ve just bought one.

Warren   [00:49:52]

So well done.

Trevor   [00:49:54]

I think for me, what I’m going to try with it is, you mentioned meetings and stuff. I don’t do a lot of meetings and most of them are Zoom and I have this AI that now joins Zoom calls and things, but I’m wondering whether I should have it sitting there listening to Zoom calls and things, the odd in-person meeting. But I think for me it’s going to be just those little, if I just keep it in my pocket and I just go, don’t forget I need to review this or don’t forget. And then that list, all I need to do is I need to then work out how to manage that list. And it may be that I don’t use Pocket for the actual management. Maybe I do export my list to Claude or somewhere else. But for the note-taking, and people are shouting at their podcast going, there’s an app for Claude and ChatGPT. You can just tell ChatGPT. But my problem is it’s a weird thing to say, but I don’t want to open up an app and say, don’t forget this and do this. I just want to press a button and do it.

Joseph   [00:50:47]

That.

Warren   [00:50:47]

This is all that. So this is all it does, Trevor. It just— you press a button, you tell it what you want. It’s not like a ChatGPT to ask a question. It’s more like, I want to do a strategic operating plan of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and just mind dump and ramble on for 10 minutes. And it would just concisely put into a summary overview, bullet points. You then transfer that to wherever you want to transfer it to. But it doesn’t have to be on your phone. You can just Just leave it in your pocket, click it, and off you go. And I got it on Thursday and I’ve had about 37 conversations with it already.

Trevor   [00:51:21]

Yeah. Wow. Wow.

Warren   [00:51:22]

And it’s just, it is doing everything. As a small business who’s just taking phone calls, emails, texts, voicemails, it’ll even record your voicemails for you. You just leave it on the back of the phone and press record. When it plays, it uses the brace of the phone to record the voicemail and put it in a to-do item for you.

Jamie   [00:51:42]

Yeah.

Warren   [00:51:43]

And it’s now created my own template that I can use. So it’s doing everything I need to do because I probably like yourself, I don’t have a lot of corporate meetings, but in my service business, I’ll look at my desk some days and go, what am I doing? Where I’m up to? And I’ve got so much stuff going on. Someone ring me, I’ll scribble something down on a bit of paper and I can’t find it.

Trevor   [00:52:07]

Yeah, mate, here’s what happened to me.

Warren   [00:52:10]

I’ll just go click.

Trevor   [00:52:12]

I have in front of me on my desk at all times an A4 sheet of paper, weirdly sideways, and I write on the right-hand side of it a list. It’s my, you know, to-do list, things that I think I want to get done or need to get done, whatever, whatever. I went to America 2 weeks ago, a couple weeks ago, for like 3 days, and I thought I’ll rewrite my list. Okay, good, done, that’ll be useful. I sat at the airport in the lounge and I was working through the list. I’m at and I left the list at the airport. I got to America and went, oh man. And there are probably things on that list that I will never remember until, I don’t know, someone sends an email saying, why haven’t you done this or that? And it’s gonna frustrate the hell outta me. But yeah, that’s what I’m looking for. So standby, gimme a month and I’ll work out whether the pocket is good for me as well.

Warren   [00:52:55]

Tell me whether it’s good, ’cause it also—

Trevor   [00:52:57]

How long did it take to arrive?

Warren   [00:52:59]

It literally about 3 days.

Trevor   [00:53:01]

Oh, okay. Right.

Warren   [00:53:02]

Cool. Very quick. It gives you a daily summary. So if you’ve missed something, you just look at your daily summary. It’s been amazing for me to just like you, I don’t wanna write stuff down. I just wanna get it on the computer and then action it. Or this allows me to put stuff into my schedules and my work templates or my admin people can do stuff for me. I can forward forward stuff to them. It takes a load off me.

Trevor   [00:53:27]

Nice. Well, thank you for enlightening me, and I look forward to having a play with it myself, mate.

Warren   [00:53:32]

My pleasure, young man.

Trevor   [00:53:34]

Good on you, buddy. Thanks for getting in touch.

Warren   [00:53:35]

Talk soon, Jeff.

Trevor   [00:53:36]

Cheers, mate. No worries. There you go. I just spent $200, uh, thanks to Warren. Bloody hell, Warren, what are you doing to me? Uh, but anyway, that’s the kind of impulse idiot I am, uh, when you’ve got adult money and you just want to be better at things, and I am genuinely trying to just be better at being organized and yeah, stuff. So we’ll see. Anyway, if you’ve discovered something cool that you think I should have or someone else should have, then let me know.

VOICE OVER   [00:54:07]

Tech, cars, lifestyle. This is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long.

Trevor   [00:54:15]

Thank you, folks. Thanks for listening. Thanks for downloading once again. And please tell your friends. It’s a very hard thing to share a podcast, but why not? Why not post about it on Instagram? Why not post an Insta story saying how exciting this episode was? Take a screenshot of your phone and share it on Instagram stories. You can tag me @travelongau. Very happy to be tagged. I might even reshare. Come on, folks. It’s the only real way you can share a podcast these days, unfortunately. Unfortunately, because I don’t do video on this show. Anyway, thank you for listening. Let’s do it all again next week. If you’ve got questions, that’s the only way to make the show happen. So get in touch, folks. Talk to you then.

VOICE OVER   [00:54:59]

You’re listening to the EFTM podcast. Join the conversation. Head to eftm.com/podcast. And click Ask Trev.