The EFTM podcast – Laptop advice and a call from an Apple Watch – your tech questions answered!

Laptop advice and a call from an Apple Watch – your tech questions answered!

Podcast: The EFTM Podcast
Date: 19 October 2026
Host: Trevor Long
Callers: Sandra, Damien, Dianne, Andrew, Simone, Greg

---

[00:00:03] VOICE OVER: The EFTM Podcast. Talkback Technology. Got a question about tech? Trev’s here to help. Not sure what to buy? Ask Trev. Australia’s number one talkback technology podcast.

[00:00:33] VOICE OVER: Join the conversation. Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev. Helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years, the EFTM Podcast with Trevor Long.

[00:00:44] VOICE OVER: Real Australians, real questions, every week.

[00:00:50] VOICE OVER: You can text Trev now, thanks to Vodafone, on 0477 657 657. The EFTM Podcast, thanks to TCL’s range of SQD Mini LED TVs. TVs built for a brighter Aussie living room.

[00:01:06] Trevor: Great to have your company on the EFTM podcast. Thank you to TCL for their support, making TVs for that Aussie lounge room. The SQD Mini LED range, and there’s one, there’s one to win right now on the EFTM app. What about the timing? Uh, we’re giving away a 65-inch C7 SQD Mini LED TV from TCL. It’s about $2,500. Recommended retail price, and we’ll give that away, uh, on about the 2nd of November. Um, so I’m running this one for 2 weeks, so it’s only the 2nd day, so get in there. And remember, you can enter every day. I, I see the numbers, right? I’ve got the stats in front of me from every competition this year, and you’ll see in the EFTM magazine we’ve given away over $47,000 worth of prizes this year. I’ve loved it, it’s been great fun. But I look at the number of individuals and the number of entries, and it’s definitely not 7x You know, it’s— the number of entries should be 7 times the number of people, but it’s not. People enter once or twice, maybe 3 times. You enter every day, you increase your chances. It’s as simple as that, and it’s a random draw, so good chances. So you could have 14 chances. If you miss the first day, Monday, then fine, it’s Tuesday if you’re downloading on day 1. You’ve got 13 chances to win. All right, so Great opportunity to win a brand new TV. TCL will ship it to your home and you could have that ready for Christmas. So epic stuff. And we appreciate TCL’s support of EFTM, uh, this year and, um, hopefully ongoing through 2027 as well. So great to have them on board the EFTM podcast. Um, we’re going to talk iPhone Duo with Stephen Fenech this week on, um, Two Blokes Talking Tech. There is— I wrote a story on the weekend about how the delays— so if you order one today, it’s going to be February. I talked about on the Today Show this morning as well. Plus we’ll talk a bit more about the Duo and stuff on, on the— on Two Blokes Talking Tech this week. That’ll be out on Thursday at 5 PM is when you can listen for that. But yeah, it’s fascinating to me how that demand has just absolutely skyrocketed. One thing I will say though, well, I haven’t published this anywhere yet, but my great mate Adam, my schoolmate Adam Wyatt, not, uh, not Clipsy that comes to CES, my mate Ism, uh, who is behind everything in the back end of the app, so all of the EFTM ID stuff, all the win competition stuff, all the back end that I can use to find the competitions and draw the winners and all that kind of stuff, um, has been helping me build it out a little bit so the EFTM ID is the central space where we know who everyone is and we can get you the magazine. So I have a magazine mailing list, but I’d like not to use it. I’d love you to, uh, because a lot— I got caught out last year, like 10 or 20 of them got sent back to me. It’s not a big deal, but that’s 10 or 20 bucks I didn’t need to spend on postage, folks. Um, so I’d love you to update your address. Now, I think it works. Let’s have a look. But if you go to eftmid.com, so eftmid.com, you’ll get a very— do it on your mobile phone because it’s just a simple made-for-mobile page. You’ll just see the EFTM logo and a subscribe to EFTM magazine link. Enter your phone number, send a verification code, and you’ll get one of those SMS codes. Put that in and it’ll take you to a page to update your details. Now you can also update your email address there because a lot of people have done that and it’s been manual process for me to update them. But then you can do a proper address search, find your address, save it, and Bob’s your uncle. Now, if you log in and your address appears, don’t freak out. Where we— because the database of magazine deliveries we had from last year didn’t have phone numbers in them. But I said to Adam, look, with the EFTM ID, we know your phone number, your email address, and your name. Okay, that’s the EFTM ID database. So if in the address database, the magazine database, we do have a matched name and a matched email address, then show them the address and let them update it. So don’t be freaked out if your address is there, it’s because you got the magazine before. But anyway, I’d love you to log in, eftmid.com, if you’re, uh, If you want the magazine this year, we’ll get that to you in mid to late November. So that would be awesome. So, uh, yeah, eftmid.com, log on, update your address, and you’ll get the, uh, you’ll get the magazine sent to you in late November. I’ll send out an email blast and everything later on to get everyone to update that soon. So that’s what’s happening. The magazines— I’m just waiting for a South Australian permit for the car giveaway. Like, the magazine is done. I’ve finished it. I haven’t touched it for days. Matt’s spell checker, Matt, has read it, and producer Rob has read it and found mistakes. They both found a few niggling mistakes, which I struggle with. So it’s ready for print. I just need a permit from the South Australian government to run the competition. And once we get that, we will throw the permit number into the magazine and hit print. And frankly, if they don’t grant it, then if you live in South Australia, I’m just gonna cancel.

[00:06:33] Trevor: I’m not gonna do it there.

[00:06:36] Trevor: Luck. Uh, terms and conditions will say to all Australian residents except those in South Australia. Um, it’s so frustrating the way they do things. But, and for people like me who are trying to do it the right way, costs thousands of dollars to apply for these permits, and they make it very difficult even though I’m following the letter of the law, unlike some other bazillionaires who try and flout the law. Whatever. Anyway, um, so yes, that’s all we’re waiting to do, and then it’ll go to print and you’ll have it in mid-November, folks. Can’t wait. Uh, we’re going to take your calls, right now on the EFTM podcast.

[00:07:11] VOICE OVER: Tech, cars, lifestyle. This is the EFTM podcast with Trevor Long.

Sandra — Laptop with a bigger screen

[00:07:17] Trevor: Great to have your company and would love to help out if I can. Get in touch. Just click Ask Trev in the EFTM app. Sandra’s online. G’day, Sandra.

[00:07:24] Sandra: Hi, Trev. How are you?

[00:07:26] Trevor: Yeah, really well. What can I do for you?

[00:07:29] Sandra: I was making an inquiry about a laptop. Now, my level of technology is probably like a minus 12 on a scale of 1 to 5.

[00:07:42] Producer: Cool, cool, cool. Okay.

[00:07:43] Trevor: You know, that’s, that’s a regular, that’s a high number for me. Don’t worry.

[00:07:47] Sandra: Yeah. Oh, it’s insane. And so I seen this laptop and I can’t remember where I saw it advertised, but I do remember thinking, wow, that looks awesome. I had a quick Google thinking that the ad would pop back up somewhere.

[00:08:00] Trevor: You would think the way ads follow us around that when you Google the thing you’re looking for, you would just get nothing but the ad.

[00:08:06] Sandra: No, that’s— well, I couldn’t find it again, and I thought, you know, and I listened to you on Triple M with Tanya and Steve, and I’m like, you know what, he’ll know, he’ll know.

[00:08:15] Trevor: All right, describe to me what you saw.

[00:08:19] Sandra: Okay, so it was a laptop or notebook, whatever you call them, and it, it looked like two iPads that like you fold in half and fold out and it splits apart.

[00:08:32] Producer: That—

[00:08:32] Sandra: I can’t even describe it, that That’s where that -5 score comes in.

[00:08:36] Trevor: Okay, well, so is it that you have multiple screens on the laptop? So when you open it up, there’s a keyboard at the bottom and then there’s 1, 2, 2 or 3 screens to look at? Or is it that when you open the laptop, there’s no keyboard, there’s just 2 touchscreens, like 2 tablets?

[00:08:52] Sandra: Correct, yes. And, and, and the one of the tablets is the keyboard.

[00:08:59] Trevor: Yep.

[00:09:00] Sandra: And then I think it also turns into a bigger screen. I think I saw that.

[00:09:05] Trevor: All right. So there’s a product called the ASUS ZenBook Duo.

[00:09:11] Sandra: Okay.

[00:09:11] Trevor: Which is a laptop. Looks like a laptop, but it has two screens. There are, you know, one, one on the bottom, one on the top. But it also has— the time I’ve used it and reviewed it, it also has a keyboard that you can kind of sit on top of the screen if you wanted to have a physical tactile keyboard still.

[00:09:35] Sandra: Yes. Yes. This is— I think this is it, Trevor. I think this is it.

[00:09:39] Trevor: I’m blown away that you had that advertised to you. But the other thing that is cool about it, you can stand it on its side and have two tall screens as well. Tell me why you want this device, though.

[00:09:51] Sandra: Well, I have a dinosaur of a laptop, and I know it’s time for an upgrade. And I’m Honestly, wasn’t even thinking about an upgrade until the other one died. And I saw this one and I just thought, you know what, you look interesting. The ad sold the product. But yeah, I just think if I’m going to spend money on— because I don’t do technology— if I am going to spend money on some technology, then I want to get more out of the device than what it actually is intended for. So this particular laptop looks like it can do more than just laptop.

[00:10:26] Trevor: And do you feel like you’ll get that because you need more screens. So you like to have two screens, one for emails and one for the work you’re working on. Or is it the dual screen format that you like?

[00:10:36] Sandra: I think it’s more getting into a bigger screen because at the moment my computer through an old cable plugs into my television. So I plug my laptop into the television so I can actually see it bigger. So I think it’s more just getting the screen bigger so I can see what I’m doing in detail.

[00:10:58] Trevor: Honestly, I don’t— I think the money you would need to spend on the ZenBook Duo, uh, is— I don’t know that it’s what you really want, is what I’m saying.

[00:11:08] Sandra: Okay.

[00:11:09] Trevor: I think, I think that it’s— so I think that it’s great for people that are doing, I don’t know, graphic design or something like that. But if, you know, working on a laptop and looking for a bigger screen is you, then I would simply say your next laptop should firstly, A, have a bigger screen. So do, do you carry it much? Like, are you a you know, walking around with your laptop, going to the airport, traveling with a laptop, or is it pretty much at the desk and then move it somewhere else kind of stuff?

[00:11:37] Sandra: It lives in front of the television at home.

[00:11:40] Producer: Okay.

[00:11:40] Sandra: So, so I’m measuring plans like architectural and just measuring plans. So all those small little bits of writing need to kind of pop off that screen for me.

[00:11:50] Trevor: So what I think is best for you is a 16-inch laptop, right? So it’s bigger. Yeah. Your current laptop is probably 13 inches. Maybe 14, right? So a 16-inch laptop screen is, is far bigger. It’s not a television, not at all.

[00:12:06] Producer: Yep.

[00:12:06] Trevor: But then what I like is just having a second, an extra screen for the laptop. But I was going to say to you, just there’s all these great affordable, super thin, super light second screens. But are you just going to plug it back into the TV again?

[00:12:22] Sandra: No, the whole idea is to move out of the lounge room and back into the office.

[00:12:27] Trevor: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. So why not, why not go One step. Do you need to replace your current laptop? Is it dying? Is there a reason you need to get rid of it?

[00:12:35] Sandra: It’s going to die soon. It’s fairly old. It was a hand-me-down and I’ve had it for 5 years and it was— it’s probably a 10-year-old laptop. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to boot up.

[00:12:49] Producer: Horrible.

[00:12:50] Producer: Even.

[00:12:50] Sandra: Yeah, it’s horrible. Minimal storage, like even the internet. If I, you know, connect it to the internet, I’ve got to let the internet warm up before I can jump straight online.

[00:12:59] Trevor: So do you, in that, in the office where you want to get back to working from, do you sometimes want to sit in there and have other content, you know, like Netflix or Stan and those kind of things, or is it just purely the office?

[00:13:12] Sandra: Well, I do run the Netflix through the computer as well because I don’t actually have a smart TV.

[00:13:17] Producer: Okay.

[00:13:18] Sandra: So I’m really behind when it comes to technology.

[00:13:20] Trevor: I want you to look up, I want you to look up a Samsung smart monitor. Yep. Now these are— there’s a 43-inch version that’s currently, by the way, at JB Hi-Fi, $650. That is so cheap. That is unbelievable value. So it’s a 43-inch screen. That is like— I don’t know how big your lounge room TV is, but this is the size of some people’s lounge room TVs. Okay. It’s a big screen. Put that on your desk, right? So you’ve got a big screen on your desk. It’s a monitor. It’s made for plugging your computer into, right?

[00:13:56] Sandra: Yep.

[00:13:56] Trevor: And then go and buy a new laptop. Frankly, doesn’t matter what you buy, just get yourself a nice new laptop that’s going to do all the things you need it to do. And then when you plug that laptop into this Smart Monitor, you’re getting the best of both worlds. You’re getting the biggest screen that you can look at your plans on, but it’s in the office.

[00:14:13] Sandra: Yes.

[00:14:13] Trevor: So that’s a win. And here’s the other thing, the Smart Monitor itself connects to the internet and has a remote control like a TV so that you can watch Netflix Prime and Disney and all that on the smart monitor.

[00:14:26] Sandra: Okay, wow. So it’s like a mini smart TV?

[00:14:28] Trevor: Correct, very, very much so. But its primary purpose is being a 4K monitor for your laptop, which means you’re getting high detail for those plans.

[00:14:39] Sandra: Yes, yes, and that’s really what I’m looking for.

[00:14:42] Trevor: Now, what cable are you plugging the TV into on your laptop right now?

[00:14:47] Sandra: That’s a great question.

[00:14:48] Trevor: It’s the HDMI.

[00:14:50] Sandra: No, it’s blue at either end and it’s a very funny shape.

[00:14:53] Trevor: It’s, it’s an HDMI. Is it like a— not a pentagon or not a hexagon. It’s like a—

[00:14:58] Producer: it’s a thin—

[00:14:59] Trevor: it’s thin but quite wide. So like as wide as your thumb, but, but, but like 4, 5 millimeters thick.

[00:15:06] Sandra: Yeah. So, and the top of it is longer than the bottom of it.

[00:15:09] Trevor: It’s an HDMI.

[00:15:11] Sandra: Yep. Okay. HDMI.

[00:15:12] Trevor: So, so you could, you could buy this monitor today It’s got an HDMI port in the back. Oh, you could try this today with your current laptop.

[00:15:24] Sandra: Oh, wonderful.

[00:15:25] Trevor: And then upgrade your laptop and get even better performance.

[00:15:29] Sandra: Okay.

[00:15:29] Trevor: Yes. Samsung Smart Monitor, 43-inch.

[00:15:33] Sandra: Love that.

[00:15:35] Trevor: Get it at JB Hi-Fi, $650. That’s on special.

[00:15:39] Sandra: Yeah. Wow. And JB, they’re good for everything technology too.

[00:15:41] Trevor: They are. They’re great. Absolutely.

[00:15:43] Sandra: That’s great. Now, just quickly, what would you recommend for a little laptop?

[00:15:46] Sandra: I don’t do a great deal on it.

[00:15:46] Sandra: Luke, Literally just the program I use is cloud-based online. Perfect. And that’s really all I do on the laptop. Everything else is on the phone, you know, email and banking, all of that.

[00:16:00] Trevor: You know, you can do all that on your laptop as well. My God, people that only use their phone for email. It’s amazing.

[00:16:08] Sandra: Well, because I don’t get a lot of time to sit in front of that laptop. And when I do—

[00:16:12] Trevor: You’re out and about.

[00:16:14] Sandra: Measure the— Yes, constantly. So I got you. Do all those things.

[00:16:17] Trevor: You can’t go wrong with, uh, brands these days. I’ve said this a lot lately, but you know, the big brands are HP, ASUS, and Lenovo. They’re all excellent. Um, the price point for you, just so that— and not knowing a lot, but knowing enough that I, that I don’t want you to have to get a new laptop regularly, I think you should spend between $1,000 and $1,500. And I think anything in that price range or on the fringe of that price range at JB’s in those brands is going to be amazing.

[00:16:47] Sandra: And I’ll get longevity out of them because I find with technology, and there’s another reason I don’t do it, the sooner you get something, it’s already updated and you have to—

[00:16:55] Trevor: if you bought, if you bought a $700 laptop, I’d say to you, listen, it’s gonna, it’s gonna get you 2, 3 years. If you buy a $1,500, $1,600 laptop, that’s a 5-year laptop. All right, every day of the week. Every day of the week.

[00:17:07] Sandra: All right, love that. Tax deductible.

[00:17:10] Trevor: Have a look at the— and I’ve mentioned this to a previous caller only, only recently— the A14 from ASUS is a beautiful laptop, and the Omnibook 5 from HP is also an excellent laptop.

[00:17:21] Sandra: I’m just going to write that down.

[00:17:22] Trevor: Omnibook, Omnibook 5, ASUS ZenBook A14. And remember, Samsung Smart Monitor 43-inch.

[00:17:34] Sandra: Love it. I’ve already written that one down.

[00:17:36] Trevor: Well done. All right, happy shopping, Sandra.

[00:17:39] Sandra: Thank you so much, I appreciate your time. Thank you, my pleasure.

[00:17:42] Trevor: See ya.

[00:17:43] Sandra: Okay, bye-bye.

[00:17:44] Trevor: Uh, no worries at all. Um, just spending other people’s money. What do you do for a job? I spend other people’s money on the phone. Love it. Uh, thank you so much for getting in touch, and hopefully that will solve the problem. See, no, I don’t think she needed the thing that was in the ad. That didn’t feel right. I, I don’t know. But I think we’ve ended in the right spot for Sandra.

[00:18:09] VOICE OVER: The EFTM podcast, thanks to TCL and their range of SQD Mini LED TVs.

Damien — Calling in from his Apple Watch Ultra 4

[00:18:18] Trevor: Get in touch anytime you want to have a chat about tech. You can send me a text, 0477 657657. Damien’s on the line. G’day, Damien.

[00:18:26] Damien: Hi, mate, how are you?

[00:18:26] Trevor: Mate, very well. Now, You’re not talking to me on your phone?

[00:18:32] Damien: No, I’m not talking on my phone. I’m talking to you through my watch like we did. Yeah, like we did the test 6 years ago.

[00:18:37] Trevor: Roll back a minute here. Where are you sitting? Are you like, you’re in your car? You’re in an office, mate?

[00:18:43] Damien: I’m in my car right now. The office is a bit busy, so I’ve walked— I parked outside. Just, just thought I’d come out and have a chat with you.

[00:18:49] Trevor: How are you? Describe how you’re sitting though, like your hands on the wheel, hands in your lap, hand— watch up to your face. What are you doing?

[00:18:56] Damien: Hands in my lap. I’ve got my AirPods in.

[00:18:58] Trevor: Ah, okay, perfect. Right, so AirPods to the watch, the watch is doing the connectivity, so we’re not, we’re not live to the watch because I was thinking, mate, honestly, the quality is unbelievable.

[00:19:09] Damien: No, I’ve got the AirPods in, so I thought I’d, I thought I’d make it good for your radio show, mate.

[00:19:16] Trevor: Yeah, okay, no, it sounds great. Have you done— do you— is this the kind of thing you would do, leave the house without your phone and need phone calls?

[00:19:23] Damien: Well, I have in the past when I used to— well, before I have a 3-year-old, I used to do a lot of running. So you’d leave your— you could leave your watch phone at home, do your running and go have your music going. If someone rang you while you’re running, you could just take the phone call.

[00:19:35] Producer: Yeah.

[00:19:36] Damien: So I have done it in the past, but it’s not something I do all the time. But you know what, it’s just ease of use. If the phone goes flat, at least I’ve still got the watch because you’re paying—

[00:19:46] Trevor: what is a watch plan now? 5 or 10 bucks a month.

[00:19:49] Damien: $5 a month with Optus. But you know me, I’m on some good deals. I ring them up and go, hey, what are you going to do for me? Sort of thing.

[00:19:55] Trevor: You know, you’d be proud of me. Yesterday I got an email telling me that my $339 annual Bloomberg subscription was being renewed, and I thought, I do like— I read it now and then, and I do try and support media organizations where they have paywalls, and I do use their content, right? So I like to subscribe where I can, but I thought, $339? I don’t I don’t use it that much. So I hit cancel. What do you think the first thing that popped up was?

[00:20:20] Damien: Discount?

[00:20:21] Trevor: Yep. $149. And I’m like, there you go. I just hit cancel, folks. What are we doing here? That’s unbelievable.

[00:20:30] Producer: So yeah.

[00:20:30] Trevor: Yeah. So what are you paying? Hang on. Let everyone in on the secret. What are you paying?

[00:20:35] Damien: I’m only paying $5 a month. But you know how I signed— remember Optus had 3 years ago that really big issue with, with the—

[00:20:44] Trevor: yeah, we were—

[00:20:45] Damien: IDs and all that. Oh yeah. Well, a month before that they started charging everyone $5 a month that had the share plans that they said like 10, 15 years ago, sign up now. Otherwise I rang them up saying, no, you’ve changed the terms of my contract. Well, for 3 years they’ve given me $20 off a month, which ends in 5 days’ time. So I’m about to ring them up going, hey, do you want to lose me as a customer after 20 years? Because I’m going to start walking. And I’m sure they’ll do something for me because they always do because they don’t want to lose me.

[00:21:14] Trevor: Well, you have to let me know whether you do or don’t, because there has to be a limit to their generosity, surely.

[00:21:19] Damien: Well, after 20 years, it hasn’t— keeps going. But at the same time, I’ve started looking—

[00:21:24] Trevor: I don’t think it’s loyalty that wins you. I think it’s just purely the deal that exists at the day. No one cares about loyalty anymore, do they?

[00:21:32] Damien: They do and they don’t. They do. They do thank me on the phone. They’re like, oh, thank you for being a loyal member for 20-odd years. I said, well, you keep looking after me and I won’t go.

[00:21:39] Trevor: Yeah, it’s not rocket science.

[00:21:41] Damien: Is it? No, but mate, the reason I was ringing you about the watch is I wanted to give you some features that I’ve really picked up since. So I bought the 6.

[00:21:50] Trevor: What watch are we on?

[00:21:53] Damien: Ultra 4.

[00:21:54] Trevor: The latest generation released weeks ago.

[00:21:57] Damien: Yes. So I’d had a 6 for 6 years because that came out. Yeah, it came out 6 years ago, the 6. And at the time I thought it was a great, great watch. I could do everything. But then the battery life started really deteriorating probably 2 years ago. And 12 months ago I was going to get the 3. And I saw that the 3 just didn’t offer against the 2 enough to go, I need to get that. So I just held off.

[00:22:20] Trevor: But you didn’t have a 2. That doesn’t make sense. Like the 3 still was way better than a Series 6. That’s a huge jump up.

[00:22:28] Damien: It would have been, but I just held off. I just went, I need you though.

[00:22:31] Trevor: You knew that if you waited a year there’d be more.

[00:22:33] Damien: Well, there was going to— it’s just they were using the same chip in the 2 as the 3.

[00:22:38] Trevor: Yeah.

[00:22:39] Damien: So I was like, well, it’s not enough. There’s not enough for me to go. And I just turned cellular data off for 12 months because the battery was just getting drained with the cellular data on. So I haven’t used it for 12 months on its own. Anyway, I’ve got this watch, and mate, can I just say, the 50-hour battery life that they talk about, uh, it goes beyond that. Yeah, it’s unders— it is absolutely under. So in the morning, I go have a shower, and I’ll just put my watch on charge for 20 minutes, and it’s basically topped it back up to full every day for 20 minutes.

[00:23:07] Trevor: That’s very good.

[00:23:09] Damien: So, mate, this watch is amazing.

[00:23:11] Trevor: Now, it’s a vastly different watch. It’s a much bigger watch. Do you prefer the look of the Ultra? So much bigger.

[00:23:17] Damien: I do. I do like the bigger screen. It’s got a keyboard on there now. I can still use my old, my old wristbands. Like I had the one that they gave me to start with, but then I was going swimming and I went, let’s just put this other one on. And it looks— she suits it nice. One of those cheap aftermarket bands I’ve had for the other watch, Series 6, they all fit. So So, mate, I can tell people, if you’re gonna look at watches, skip the 12, just go straight to the Ultra for the extra dollars. It is so much worth it.

[00:23:48] Trevor: It is a beautiful watch. It does so much. But what are you primarily using it for?

[00:23:53] Damien: Oh, mate, Apple Pay, sleep. Oh, I use the sleep app now ’cause it goes all night.

[00:23:58] Trevor: So you wear it to bed?

[00:23:59] Damien: I wear it to bed. I’m monitoring my sleep. I know when I’ve got like the different things.

[00:24:03] Trevor: You’ve got young children. Sleep is bad. What do you wanna know?

[00:24:06] Damien: Mate, don’t get me started. And I’ve got another one on the way.

[00:24:11] Trevor: So it’s— hey, congratulations, mate.

[00:24:13] Damien: Cheers, mate. I don’t know what I’m doing to myself. I have a teenager right now. Why am I going back again?

[00:24:19] Trevor: No, that’s a good gap. That’s a good gap.

[00:24:22] Damien: It is for childcare fees.

[00:24:25] Trevor: Trust me. Oh yeah. Well, listen, the only advice I’ve got for anyone is 3 kids is a lot if you want to travel.

[00:24:33] Damien: So I’m not doing 3. We’re cutting it to— we’re cutting it to—

[00:24:36] Trevor: cutting literally, mate. So what’s happening?

[00:24:38] Damien: No, no. Well, IVF. So we’re not, we’re not going back.

[00:24:41] Trevor: Just not going to try again.

[00:24:42] Producer: Yeah, fair call.

[00:24:42] Trevor: Yeah. I learned very quickly that— so my son, my oldest, came with us for the start of the trip, as did my father-in-law. And when, when they left, we went from 3 hotel rooms down to 1. And it’s so much cheaper to travel with 1 hotel room.

[00:24:57] Producer: I bet.

[00:24:58] Damien: I bet.

[00:24:58] Trevor: 3 kids is a lot. Anyway, well, that’s exciting, mate.

[00:25:01] Damien: Well, I’ve kept with the 15 Pro Max. I didn’t upgrade that yet because I remember, I think it’s about 3 months ago, I rang you and said I just got a new battery and a replacement screen for $800. And that phone works great. I’ve got no issue with the phone.

[00:25:13] Trevor: It’s a great phone.

[00:25:14] Damien: I, I can’t justify the Duo. The features, I think it loses a few features compared to a Pro Max.

[00:25:21] Trevor: Well, obviously cameras.

[00:25:23] Damien: Yeah. If they did a Duo Pro Max, probably that would be something I would look at because— but I want to see the screen. I know me and you’ve talked about the Samsung in the past and I say the curve and the bend in the middle from looking at the Apple, you can’t see it, but I want to see it firsthand to see how good that is.

[00:25:37] Trevor: When will you go and look at one?

[00:25:39] Damien: Probably this weekend if I can get into the store. I live 2 minutes from an Apple store.

[00:25:44] Trevor: So what if it blows you away?

[00:25:46] Damien: I still won’t buy it because it does. It’s, it’s a back— I still think it’s a backward featured phone in that sense.

[00:25:53] Trevor: It’s basically if you look at it from a feature set, it’s a it’s a foldable iPhone Air with a better camera.

[00:26:01] Damien: Exactly. But it’s still not— it’s not— they need the Duo Pro Max and then that’ll, that’ll wow me.

[00:26:07] Trevor: That’s a really interesting point. Maybe in the years ahead there’s a Duo Pro, better cameras and maybe different chip.

[00:26:15] Damien: Yeah, that’s— I think the camera still is a vital part because the zooms and things like that, I do like those features, especially at the footy. The low light mode. So I definitely notice that when especially like with a young son, like you go take some photos at night and he’s run— let’s say he’s running around or even he’s asleep, you know, the wife goes, ‘Is he asleep?’ You can take a photo in low light without a flash on and it looks like you’ve got the flash on. That’s how good— that’s, that’s amazing. It’s an amazing feature.

[00:26:44] Trevor: So I agree. I agree. So, well, mate, well done on the watch. Congratulations. That’s a long time to hold on to a watch too, for a man that does love his gadgets.

[00:26:52] Damien: Well, mate, it was a present to myself as well after—

[00:26:55] Trevor: So your wife was aware of that?

[00:26:57] Damien: Yeah, she was aware. She’s like, are you sure you want last year? You don’t want the new one? I said, no, I’m going to hold off. I’m going to hold off. And then I got a good work bonus. This is what I’m spending my bonus on. So part of it anyway.

[00:27:07] Trevor: Yeah, because the next year’s bonus is going on the kids.

[00:27:11] Damien: Exactly.

[00:27:11] Trevor: The one after that and the one after that.

[00:27:14] Damien: No, part of the bonus also going to the MCG on Boxing Day for the last time ever, probably for 50 years the way I’m going.

[00:27:20] Trevor: Nah, mate, in— I’ll tell you how that’ll work. It might be a long time. But you’ll— do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl for the second one? Or are you saying—

[00:27:27] Damien: not yet. We find out next month.

[00:27:28] Trevor: Okay. I mean, at the very least, there’s a big chance you and your son will be at the MCG in 10 years. Like, those moments become awesome. That’s the great thing about having kids where you go like, I wish we could do that together. It’s like, you know, we talk about the Formula One, we talk about Bathurst. It’s like just even just talking about doing it, you know, we took him to the F1 last year.

[00:27:50] Damien: When that— but he came on the Saturday when it was really hot and then all the mud happened and they went home and I stayed for the race last year. But we’ve gone to the Broncos together. He knows the Broncos theme song. He loves Reece Walsh. He loves Paddy Carrigan. He just looks at, you know, so I’ve got— I’ve trained him well not to like Penrith. That’s the main thing.

[00:28:06] Trevor: Well, that’s all that matters. Well, mate, good one. Congratulations. Love the— I love the short review and sounds good through the AirPods, mate.

[00:28:15] Damien: Oh, mate, it’s a great watch. Like I said, if anyone’s contemplating between a 12 and an Ultra 4, The Ultra 4, if this battery life’s great, mate, I’m probably going to hold on to this watch for another 6 years at least as well. It makes sense the way that they’ve developed it.

[00:28:28] Trevor: So, all right, mate, well done. Thanks for getting in touch.

[00:28:31] Damien: No worries, mate. Have a good day.

[00:28:32] Trevor: Cheers, buddy. Thanks very much. Damien there, who did call us 6 years ago from his Apple Watch, and there you go, his next Apple Watch is working a treat and better battery life than expected on the Apple Watch Ultra 4.

[00:28:45] VOICE OVER: This is the EFTM podcast.

Diane — Digitising old photos and slides

[00:28:48] Trevor: Great to have your company and love to hear from you. If you want to talk tech, get in touch. Send me a text 0477 657 657 or use the EFTM app and click Ask Trev. Diane’s on the line. G’day, Diane.

[00:29:02] Diane: Hi, Trevor. How are you?

[00:29:04] Trevor: I’m very well. Very well. What can I do for you?

[00:29:07] Diane: Well, in my email I did say that I’ve got these photos and they’re mine and my parents, and I’ve got slides. From both my parents and, you know, from our early days when we used to have slides.

[00:29:22] Trevor: Yep.

[00:29:23] Diane: And I want to digitise them. Is that the word?

[00:29:27] Trevor: That is the word.

[00:29:29] Diane: And I have listened to you recommend the— oh, what is it now?

[00:29:36] Trevor: Which one? The Epson?

[00:29:38] Diane: The Epson.

[00:29:39] Trevor: Yep. Unbelievable. For the photos, but not for the slides.

[00:29:42] Diane: For the photos. Yes.

[00:29:44] Trevor: It’s such a good device.

[00:29:46] Diane: I might have mentioned slides, but I—

[00:29:48] Trevor: I did a review, I think I did a video, it might be on AFTM, a review as well, um, of a thing called the Kodak Slide N Scan. Right now, this thing originally, I think I got it from Amazon overseas, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it now locally on Amazon. I don’t think it’s in any store, so I hope you’re a bit of an Amazon shopper.

[00:30:07] Diane: I’m not, but I can become one.

[00:30:10] Trevor: You listen, I’m about to create a big problem for you because it’s the greatest thing ever once you do it. Like You buy so much, just little things. You just— because it just comes to your house when you’re ready. Like, you don’t need it right now, you just order it. You’re like, oh, a parcel arrives. Oh, it’s that thing I ordered, you know. So good. So if you search Kodak Slide and Scan, there’s a couple of versions, but basically you’re looking at about $350 for this thing.

[00:30:37] Diane: Oh, that’s cheap actually.

[00:30:39] Trevor: But you know the negatives in the back of the little envelope with all the photos in it?

[00:30:44] Diane: Yes, and I’ve got all them.

[00:30:46] Trevor: Yep, so you can use that. So you could actually scan the negatives instead of the photos, right? It’s a very manual process, but it’s rewarding in that sense. So while the Epson FastPhoto is phenomenal, it’s just so fast and it just happens, um, and it’s brilliant for doing your printed photos. If you believe that you have the negatives for most, if not all, those printed photos, then the Kodak Slide-N-Scan does something different, and that gives you the opportunity opportunity to actually essentially reminisce at the same time and somewhat catalog as well. So what happens is it’s actually, it’s a weird, it’s a simple little box. It’s really just a kind of a light and then a computer. Think of it like a digital camera. So it shines the light through the, through the negative and then you see it on a, on a physical screen. So like a little tablet screen and you can adjust the brightness and stuff if you like. But once you’ve found the right brightness, it just, you just slide each one of them through and then you press a button to take the photo and it saves those photos on a little SD card just like your digital camera does. And then you can just import those photos onto your computer and do what you would normally do with them. And so you just, you literally just slide the negatives through and then there’s a little, a little plastic mount that it comes with to put your slides in. So different sized slides, different sized film. Yeah. And you just slide them in and you take a photo and off you go. And it’s— yeah, it’s unbelievable. Really cool little gadget.

[00:32:21] Diane: Thank you.

[00:32:22] Trevor: Oh, you’ll have a great time once you work out the settings. So what I would say to you is spend a bit of time on the first few, you know, spend a bit of time making it look good because the way it looks on the screen is how it’s going to look when you save it. But once you’ve done that, you’re just sliding them through and you’re reminiscing. You’re taking every photo and you’re, oh, have a look at this. And you’ll be— oh yeah. A very slow process, one photo by one photo, but a wonderful thing to do.

[00:32:52] Diane: That absolutely sounds fantastic, and I knew you’d have the magic answers for me.

[00:32:57] Trevor: Well, I do my best.

[00:32:59] Diane: You do, you do a really good job. I love it.

[00:33:03] Trevor: All right, well, thank you for asking the question, Diane, and I hope that’s the perfect product for you. And don’t blame me for your Amazon addiction once it exists. All right. You know, you can get like—

[00:33:15] Diane: My neighbors use Amazon.

[00:33:17] Trevor: They always get You know you can get toilet paper on Amazon subscribed? No, it’s stupidest. I’ll give you a really stupid analogy, right? But I think the average household, if they tried, they could work out, you know, what they go through in a month or a week.

[00:33:31] Diane: Yes.

[00:33:32] Trevor: And you know, you could just go, I want to buy a dozen and I want it delivered every 2 weeks. Thank you. We did that with Diet Coke. My wife drinks a certain amount of Diet Coke, and it was just enough that we could just subscribe to Diet Coke.

[00:33:48] Diane: That’s ridiculous.

[00:33:49] Trevor: I’m telling you, Diane, you’re about to be in real trouble.

[00:33:53] Producer: I think so.

[00:33:54] Diane: I think so.

[00:33:56] Trevor: Good luck. Let us know how you go with this scanner in a little while.

[00:34:00] Diane: Yeah, thank you, Trevor. I really appreciate your help and advice.

[00:34:04] Trevor: No worries at all.

[00:34:04] Diane: Listening to you each week.

[00:34:05] Trevor: Thank you so much.

[00:34:06] Trevor: Good on you, Diane.

[00:34:07] Trevor: Cheers.

[00:34:08] Diane: Bye-bye.

[00:34:08] Trevor: Thanks so much. Good on you. Uh, Diane’s lovely. Before we came on, she said, and don’t you think that people don’t miss you? I miss missed you. And you know what, here’s the interesting thing about that. You gotta remember that there’s this kind of percentage of these calls that are actual podcast listeners. Then there’s a percentage of callers who are just people that are on the website and sent an Ask Trev. And then there’s people who hear me on the radio and send those messages. And you kind of, you don’t know who each one is. But when someone like Diane said to me, we missed you and I’m glad you’re back, but I’m glad you had a holiday, is what she said to me before we recorded. I thought she’s a podcast listener. Because how else would you know I was gone? Like, nothing else really stopped. So yes, lovely to hear from Diane, and thank you for listening, Diane. Enjoy your Amazon addiction.

[00:34:58] VOICE OVER: You’re listening to the EFTM podcast. Join the conversation. Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trent. Trev.

Andrew — Upgrading to the iPhone 18 Pro

[00:35:13] Trevor: Great to have your company, and I would love to hear from you if you want to talk tech. Get in touch. Andrew’s on the line. G’day, Andrew.

[00:35:19] Andrew: Hey, Trev, how you going?

[00:35:20] Trevor: Mate, very well. We haven’t spoken for a little while. I don’t think we’ve spoken since Forza Horizon came out and I found all the roads and then I left.

[00:35:26] Producer: I just—

[00:35:27] Andrew: it’s just like that.

[00:35:29] Trevor: I can’t do— I’m just— I’m too old to game. But, but, but I’ve marked out my diary for Grand Theft Auto 6. Is that your kind of game as well?

[00:35:39] Andrew: Oh yeah, no, I’ve got it on pre-order.

[00:35:41] Trevor: Okay, yeah, you’re gonna take a couple of days off, you know?

[00:35:43] Andrew: Yes, I’ve already asked.

[00:35:46] Trevor: I said to someone on the radio this morning, they go, is this really a big deal? I went, listen, trust me, there are people taking annual leave, uh, for a week. And they go to me, what are you going to do? I said, I’m going to try and block out 2 days. If I could get 2 free days to just have a bit of fun, I’ll give it a crack. But then all the the, what do they call them, sweats will get in there and it’ll make it, you know, too much. Although it’s not an online game to start with, is it?

[00:36:08] Andrew: So no, that’s, that’s good.

[00:36:09] Trevor: It’s just a playable game.

[00:36:12] Andrew: Yep. So the online will be coming sometime next year, sometime 2032.

[00:36:18] Trevor: Um, exactly. That’s not why you rang though, mate. What can I help you with?

[00:36:22] Andrew: Um, yeah, no, I was, uh, you’re interested in new tech. I recently finally upgraded the 13 Pro to an 18 Pro.

[00:36:30] Trevor: Hey, that’s a good jump from— it’s funny because I was looking at my daughter the other day who’s using my wife’s old 13 Pro. She’s— we took it on— she was on holidays with us, and I thought to myself, do you know what’s great? She hasn’t complained about that phone. Like, she hasn’t complained to me at all. Now there’s, there’s one of the lenses I probably need to replace. It’s got a bit, a bit of a little bit of a scratch on it. Um, but I, I felt good that the 13 was still a strong phone given a teenager was okay with it. So what prompted the upgrade? Was it Was it a frustration around the 13 or was it the time was enough between phones?

[00:37:04] Andrew: No, it was mainly the initial iOS 27 jump. It drained the battery for the first few days, which was a bit of a concern. It’s leveled out a bit now, but there were other little niggling things that were starting to go on the 5-year-old phone, like the back button on most of the apps is up in the top left-hand corner so that it wasn’t working as well as it used to.

[00:37:31] Trevor: You’re right. And did you start to feel left out of things like Siri AI or anything like that? Because all the Apple intelligence stuff is not available on the 13 as well.

[00:37:41] Andrew: Correct. I was being a bit of a techie. I was wanting to try that. So it wasn’t full FOMO, but it was, it was of interest.

[00:37:50] Trevor: And so you’ve upgraded to the 18 Pro.

[00:37:54] Andrew: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[00:37:55] Trevor: And how long have you had it? You got it working? You’re running it?

[00:37:58] Andrew: Yeah, yeah. It’s been working for about 2 or 3 weeks.

[00:38:00] Trevor: Hey, do you know how long it took you to A, enroll in Siri AI, and B, how long it took your phone to index?

[00:38:09] Andrew: I don’t know the exact, the exact number.

[00:38:13] Trevor: Like you weren’t noticing it days later, for example?

[00:38:16] Andrew: No, it was, it was only 2 or 3 days.

[00:38:18] Trevor: All right. That’s interesting. And have you noticed anything about the Siri AI stuff yet? Because I don’t think it’s obvious, but I think when it happens it becomes a bit of a game changer.

[00:38:31] Andrew: The photo recognitions are like, it’s like when you ask it to find a particular photo, it’s got a red car or green, whatever, that is working a bit better than the old phone.

[00:38:44] Producer: All right.

[00:38:44] Andrew: Okay.

[00:38:45] Trevor: And what else has happened? What are you feeling about the phone? Do you No regrets. You’re loving it.

[00:38:51] Andrew: I’m loving the bigger— the bigger— the screen feels slightly bigger, slightly brighter. The phone’s physically bigger. It’s like thicker. So it is.

[00:39:02] Trevor: Isn’t it weird that they— the phone, the Pro phones, the best phones got thicker and the camera’s brilliant.

[00:39:10] Andrew: The being in architecture, being able to set it to 24 or 48 megapixel for the real nice shots when we’re out on site is great.

[00:39:21] Trevor: I feel like that’s an underplayed problem with the phone, is that its best and often its most marketed features are actually things you need to opt into. So if you really want the best photos, you do need to go into the settings and turn on all that stuff. And the, the reason— I think you, you would understand this, you would probably know this better than anyone— is if, if they made that default, people’s phones would fill up so quickly because the, the photos are bigger. File sizes, but—

[00:39:49] Andrew: oh, exactly.

[00:39:49] Trevor: Damn, they’re just better.

[00:39:52] Andrew: I went— I opted for the 512 this time with a little bit of extra storage, even though I wasn’t running out of storage on the 256. Yeah, I had, I had like 5,000 photos on the old phone and it was— I still had 60GB free.

[00:40:05] Trevor: Wow. And anything you’d suggest to people who are contemplating the 18? Any pros or cons?

[00:40:13] Andrew: No, it’s, it’s, it’s, I guess my biggest pro was the— and the biggest change for me was the island.

[00:40:20] Trevor: Dynamic Island.

[00:40:21] Producer: Wow.

[00:40:21] Trevor: That’s been around for a while. But you’re right, it’s still a big change for people coming from 13s and so.

[00:40:27] Andrew: Yeah, I was actually worried it was going to— it was going to get in the way. This black dot sort of semi-floating off the edge of the screen, but you don’t notice it. And it’s the information that it gives you is brilliant.

[00:40:41] Trevor: Isn’t it crazy good? Flight information, sports information, playlists. I mean, it’s— they’ve done it very well.

[00:40:53] Andrew: Big thing for me is the hotspot. It lets you know that your phone’s hotspotting. Yeah, just little things like that.

[00:41:00] Trevor: Oh, there is too. Yeah, that’s right. I kind of— yeah, I don’t notice those ones.

[00:41:04] Andrew: Yeah.

[00:41:05] Trevor: And also, you like— I’m looking at mine now And the little orange light is inside the island letting me know that the mic’s working.

[00:41:15] Andrew: Yeah, exactly.

[00:41:16] Trevor: It’s as opposed to being somewhere else. And having minimized that, and by the way, the movement of the infrared camera for the Face ID, have you noticed? Can you spot that little spot on the left-hand side of the top corner?

[00:41:29] Andrew: Yeah, I do. I do see it, but I’ve learned to ignore it.

[00:41:34] Trevor: So, but let’s be honest with each other. Is it a frustration or is it just a recognition of, well, it’s better than having a bigger island.

[00:41:42] Andrew: It’s, you know, I’ve gotten used to it. Yeah, it was, I was a bit worried having this smaller island, but it, because it expands to the what it needs to when it’s got information. I think it’s actually better.

[00:41:55] Trevor: Yeah, right. Well, very good, mate. Congratulations on the purchase. Enjoy.

[00:42:00] Andrew: Yeah, it’ll be good. And my son’s eagerly awaiting me. The only The only problem I’ve actually had was the— it was a bit clumsy and going from the older authenticator to the one on the new phone, my two-factor.

[00:42:17] Trevor: What do you— which one do you use?

[00:42:19] Andrew: Microsoft.

[00:42:20] Trevor: I don’t use it. I use Authy.

[00:42:22] Andrew: Yeah.

[00:42:23] Trevor: Why is it different?

[00:42:24] Andrew: It’s to actually get everything working authorized on the new authorization app. I actually had to authorize the the app from the old authorization app on the old phone.

[00:42:36] Trevor: Oh, that’s a, that’s a trigger. That’s a trick for young players. If that’s not the first, because, you know, sometimes that’s not the first thing I do. Sometimes it might be 2 days before I use the Authy app. So if I’ve already formatted the other phone, there’s a bit of drama.

[00:42:48] Andrew: Yeah, exactly. This is one of the things that stopped me from going from the 17 originally because I was a bit worried about all the different two-factor I had.

[00:42:57] Trevor: So I’ve said, yeah, so mine, maybe it, maybe it’s not as secure as Microsoft, but with Authy I just install the app, I put in my phone number and my password and then everything’s there.

[00:43:11] Andrew: Yeah, yeah. Now that’s what they say is it uses apparently the Microsoft one uses the Apple Keychain, right? But it still needed me to authorize the new app from the old app.

[00:43:24] Trevor: Dude, that’s a wire. Sorry, lucky.

[00:43:27] Andrew: Yeah, my phone keeps— my old phone keeps telling me whenever I use it, hey, do you want to format me now? I’m like, no.

[00:43:33] Trevor: Yeah, I’ll hang on to you for a little bit longer, thank you very much.

[00:43:37] Andrew: Exactly.

[00:43:37] Trevor: And what’s your son waiting for?

[00:43:39] Andrew: He’s going from a 13— sorry, from an 11 to a 13 Pro.

[00:43:44] Trevor: Oh, he’s taking your 13?

[00:43:46] Andrew: Yeah.

[00:43:46] Trevor: That’s another strange thing. And maybe my daughter is holding back on me and she’s going to ask for something crazy at some point because my wife’s on a 17 and her 15. So basically every 2 years I get my wife a new phone. And so her 15 is just sitting at home and my daughter hasn’t asked to upgrade. And I’m like, I’m just going to leave that, you know, if she’s happy with the 13, let’s just keep going with it. You know, you need them to learn, don’t you, that the— that you’ve got to hold on to these things for a while because at some point they’re going to be paying for these things themselves.

[00:44:15] Andrew: Well, exactly. I bought the 13 outright originally, so I wanted to get as much out of it as possible.

[00:44:20] Trevor: Yeah, damn straight. Uh, good to hear from you, mate, and enjoy the 18 Pro.

[00:44:24] Andrew: Thank you, Trev.

[00:44:25] Trevor: Cheers, buddy. Thanks, mate.

[00:44:26] Andrew: Take care. Cheers.

[00:44:28] Trevor: Uh, Andrew there, long time listener, and, uh, we’ve played, uh, Xbox together a few times on the, on the online. But yeah, Grand Theft Auto 6 is not an online game yet. It’s going to be single player, which I love because Grand Theft Auto 5, if I would play it now, is awful because you just jump into a world and there’s just people there killing you. It’s just like, hang on guys, I’m just— I’m here, I’m back, I’m new. Anyway, gaming’s a tough game.

[00:44:57] VOICE OVER: You’re listening to the EFTM podcast. You can text Trev now thanks to Vodafone on 0477 657 657.

Simone — Using a VPN to watch overseas TV

[00:45:10] Trevor: Love to hear from you if you’ve got a tech you’ve got a question or you want to share with me something you just bought or you’re in the market for something, I’m happy to spend your money for you. Don’t you worry, secret shopping. I will spend your money on something very cool if you give me the willingness. 0477 657 657. Simone’s on the line. G’day, Simone.

[00:45:27] Simone: Hey, Trevor, how are you?

[00:45:28] Trevor: Really well. How can I help you?

[00:45:31] Simone: Well, I’ve been wondering about getting a VPN and I’ve done a lot of research online and I just can’t quite get the hang of how to go about it.

[00:45:40] Trevor: What do we need a VPN for? We be discussing this openly?

[00:45:47] Simone: Well, um, I guess there’s a few programs internationally that I’m keen to watch and they’re obviously restricted geographically here. So yeah, I don’t know the legality.

[00:45:57] Trevor: How often does that happen? Like, because obviously I don’t see it, but, but I said to my wife while we were in America, I think I opened up, uh, Netflix and, um, and it said Mobland coming soon or something like that, or it was another show. And I thought, that’s on Paramount in Australia. And everywhere’s different, it’s shows in different markets on different apps and different things. So is it shows that are literally not available at all in Australia or just on the wrong platform for you?

[00:46:23] Simone: Well, they’re actually foreign language ones. So in Germany, for example. So it says, you know, you can— exactly.

[00:46:32] Trevor: Wow.

[00:46:33] Simone: So yeah, just, just keen to like—

[00:46:36] Trevor: then you know what I say? I say forget the legalities. That stuff’s never going to be made available in Australia. Australia. So do your best. All right, now, okay, is it illegal? Borderline. Totally borderline. Because really all you’re doing is you’re tricking a VPN. I think you know this, but I’ll explain for everyone. A VPN is simply you using a virtual private network to show yourself on a diff— from a different computer, which is often used to protect yourself from, you know, Wi-Fi hacks and things like that, or do your banking so that you’re protecting yourself. But also it originally, it originated so that people could VPN to their computer at work and do their work from home. And nowadays we go on a VPN to Germany so that the German streaming service thinks I’m in Germany. What have you found? What have you tried and what is the problem you’re having?

[00:47:26] Simone: Well, I haven’t tried any of it because I think I just got a bit scared that I wasn’t allowed to do it in the first place. So we’d love a steer of where to go first.

[00:47:35] Trevor: Where are you hoping to do this? That’s the biggest challenge. Are you hoping to do this on your phone and watch these shows on your laptop? Or up on your big TV at home?

[00:47:43] Simone: On the big TV at home, ideally.

[00:47:45] Trevor: So there’s your problem. That’s where it gets super complicated because you essentially need to have a, a router that will use a VPN. So because when you’re at home, you know, you open up Stan or Netflix, your TV is on the Wi-Fi network, your Wi-Fi network is connected to your NBN, and all those things have numbers and codes, IP numbers that identify them as being at your place in Australia on your telco’s network. What you need is for your TV to connect through a VPN. And TVs— you can’t install VPN software on a TV, right? You can install a VPN software on your phone and put it in VPN mode, and your phone will just think it is wherever it’s meant to be. But at home, you essentially need to put in a VPN on your network and then some devices or all devices will use it. And that’s where it gets quite challenging, to be honest, um, and it may require you investing in a router that supports a VPN. It may not be that your current VPN, uh, your current router, sorry, supports a VPN. Do you know what sort of router you have?

[00:48:57] Simone: I don’t, but it sounds like it may be my phone or my laptop could be better options.

[00:49:02] Trevor: Here’s what I think you should do. Baby steps, right? What baby steps into the process? Because there’s a couple of frustrating things about VPNs. Firstly, they don’t always work. And I always say this to people, especially I’ve had people on the radio say to me, I’m gonna— I’m not gonna pay for all these bloody streaming services anymore, you can get it all for free online. Like, okay, sure you can, whatever. But in the end, what happens is these companies, Netflix, you know, all the biggest entertainment companies in the world, they don’t They don’t want VPNs because it restricts their business. So they, they identify VPNs and they essentially shut them down. They don’t, you know, send them lawsuits, but they— what they do is they block access from VPNs. So you may find that you’ll sign up to a VPN, then you’ll connect to Germany streaming service and it’ll go, you’re not in Germany. And you’ll be like, oh man, I said I am. But it’ll be a different VPN you need. So there’s a couple of things I would do. First thing you do is pick a VPN provider to try. Um, now ExpressVPN, NordVPN, they’re your big two. Like, they are— they’re the big brands. They will charge you money, they will sell you a VPN, and they’re definitely the ones that most people are using. And the good thing about that is they’re probably going to be the most dynamic in terms of identifying when they’re being blocked as well. So maybe a good reason. So first and foremost, just grab one of those, subscribe to one of those, and install it on your laptop. And then, and then learn how to turn it on and off, because you really don’t want to be on the VPN all the time. Because if you leave it on all the time, you’ll find the internet becomes slow. You know why? Because you’re doing everything by Germany.

[00:50:42] Simone: Yeah, right.

[00:50:43] Trevor: So if your VPN is turned on, then when you go to eftm.com, you’re going out to Germany. Germany and back here to Australia for me to say, here’s my stuff, instead of just showing him my stuff. And that, that’s fine, but you’ll, you’ll notice the difference. It’s like when we went from, you know, dial-up to ADSL, there was a difference and you would notice it. So you want to learn firstly how to turn it on, how to turn it off. Hopefully it’s a right-click of a button to turn it on, turn it off. Hopefully you can choose that really you only ever want to connect to Germany and that’s your default. Turn it on, turn it off, turn it on, turn it off, and do, do what you want to do. And there’s a cool way of testing that as well. Things like um, there’s, uh, there’s a website called whatismyip.com. I’m just typing it now. And when you go to whatismyip.com, it comes up and says your IP address is this number, we, we believe you’re in Sydney, postcode this, we think your ISP— like it says to me right now, you’re on Aussie Broadband, you’re in Sydney. It doesn’t say my suburb, but it says I’m in Sydney. But if I turn— and now if I turn on my VPN and say Germany and I hit refresh on that page, it theoretically should say Germany, da da da da. So play around with learning how it works, turning it on, turning it off, uh, going to something like WhatIsMyIP to understand what it’s showing the world, because that’s what your computer is presenting to the world. And then fire up that streaming service.

[00:52:10] Simone: Awesome.

[00:52:11] Trevor: And essentially find out whether it’s going to work or not, because you’re better off before you go to the trouble of, A, investing in a new router which is fine, and then learning how to set that up. You don’t want to know that you’ve done all that and then it fails every week and you’ve got to change settings and it becomes more frustrating than just getting someone to send you a DVD.

[00:52:29] Simone: Yeah, totally. I think you’re right. I’ll stick with the laptop and test it out.

[00:52:33] Trevor: All right. Good luck.

[00:52:35] Simone: Thank you.

[00:52:35] Trevor: I don’t know any German, so I can’t even— Auf Wiedersehen!

[00:52:38] Simone: Tschüss!

[00:52:45] VOICE OVER: The EFTM Podcast, thanks to TCL.

Greg — Budget laptop, calling from the Hume Highway

[00:52:50] Trevor: Great to have your company, and get in touch if you want to talk tech, anything that’s going on in your world, happy to talk tech with you. Greg’s on the line and on the road in the truck. Greg, g’day.

[00:53:01] Greg: G’day, Trevor.

[00:53:02] Trevor: Mate, where are we trucking from and to?

[00:53:04] Greg: Uh, place called— I’ll make this left at place called—

[00:53:08] Trevor: Oh, that’d be right. We’re on the road and reception has dropped out just the way— I’ve lost you already. See, we lost you. First question, we lost you. Telstra, Optus, or Vodafone? Who are we with? Ah, God love it. He said he was in a good area too. I’m back. You’re back.

[00:53:38] Greg: I’m back. You’re back.

[00:53:40] Trevor: What road are you on?

[00:53:41] Greg: Hume Highway.

[00:53:42] Trevor: You’re on the Hume Highway and we can’t even have a conversation. What is going on with this world?

[00:53:47] Greg: I don’t know, about 20k south of Gundagai.

[00:53:51] Trevor: Really? And you can’t get service? That’s outrageous. Telstra, Optus, or Vodafone?

[00:53:56] Greg: TPG, whoever they use.

[00:53:57] Trevor: Yeah, right, okay, so you’re on the Vodafone network, but you’d also roam on Optus. So yeah, do truckers talk about mobile networks and which one’s best?

[00:54:07] Greg: Ah, yeah, normally Telstra is the best, to be honest. I use that job, so I’m gonna go to you.

[00:54:11] Trevor: Yeah, I was just gonna say, but you know what, for the 30 seconds we couldn’t talk, you’ve saved probably $20 a month. What can I do for you? We’ll quickly help you out before we lose you again.

[00:54:23] Greg: I’m looking at a reliable budget laptop that I can use the DLX compatible Of course. I only want to use it for banking and government apps and all that sort of business sort of stuff.

[00:54:39] Trevor: And what’s your budget?

[00:54:42] Greg: Uh, I could go up to a grand, but I prefer not to.

[00:54:46] Trevor: Well, I mean, keep it simple. Um, are you a Windows or a Mac man? I think you’re a Windows man, that’d be my guess.

[00:54:53] Greg: Yeah, normally, yeah. I’m not the best at it.

[00:54:55] Trevor: My computer guy lives in Bangkok now, so makes it hard to talk to Yeah, fair call. Well, mate, look, I think it’s very simple. You drive into JB Hi-Fi, and I’d like you to try and spend $800 if you could, because anything cheaper than that is going to be problematic in the longer term. All right, yeah, so this— an $800 laptop, between $800,000, is going to last you years, right? There are some pretty good deals right now. There’s a few that are discounted right now, um, like like from $1,300 down to $750. If you’re in the— if you’re in the mood to spend, I’m on their website right now. There’s at least 2 HP laptops. There’s a HP laptop, 15-inch, that’s $800. Used to be $1,600. It’s basically half price. So mate, HP, Lenovo, Asus, you can’t go wrong.

[00:55:49] Greg: Good and reliable.

[00:55:50] Trevor: Exactly. Good, reliable, good quality. They don’t look and feel cheap, so no one’s going to think you’re a cheap ass. But mate, yeah, there’s like 8 or 10 laptops at $800, so I think that’s the sweet spot for an everyday laptop that’s going to do exactly what you need, mate.

[00:56:06] Greg: Oh, if I mention your name, do I get a bigger discount?

[00:56:09] Trevor: No, they might charge you more.

[00:56:11] Greg: I remember that.

[00:56:13] Trevor: Now I lost you at the start. Where are you heading to? Sydney.

[00:56:17] Greg: Sydney.

[00:56:18] Trevor: Sydney from Melbourne?

[00:56:19] Greg: Nah, well, I did a swap over a place called Telkana, half open green city in Melbourne.

[00:56:24] Trevor: And what are we hauling?

[00:56:26] Greg: Kitchen doors.

[00:56:28] Trevor: Kitchen doors?

[00:56:30] Greg: Yeah, I really only got the— I normally take a full truck down and come back with an empty, but I got a couple off to send off.

[00:56:37] Trevor: There you go. It’s a— you know what, the logistics of the world and what makes the world go round is beyond us all. But the truckers keep the world going, we know that.

[00:56:47] Greg: Yeah, we do our best, but you know, like, there’s cowboys in every industry, you don’t ever realise.

[00:56:54] Trevor: Oh, of course, yeah, yeah, mate, don’t worry about that. Don’t worry about them, mate, we respect the good truckers, don’t worry.

[00:57:00] Greg: Oh, that’s nice to know, Trevor, that’s nice to know you got my back.

[00:57:02] Trevor: I got your back, mate, anything you need, you get in touch, mate.

[00:57:05] Greg: Just fix the mobile networks, okay?

[00:57:07] Trevor: Yeah, I’ll send this call on to Optus and Vodafone.

[00:57:11] Greg: Thank you.

[00:57:12] Trevor: Cheers, buddy. Good on you, Greg. Great to hear from you, mate.

[00:57:14] Greg: Have a good day, mate.

[00:57:15] Trevor: You too, mate, and safe trucking. There you go, out on the road, up the Hume Highway. I kept all that in because you know what? That’s life. And it’s an interesting point. See, Greg spends his life on the road. Now, he may be more like me than Stephen Fenech. Stephen Fenech is the kind of guy that will be on the phone. Paul Murray is the same. Paul Murray, good mate of mine from News 24. 24/7. Um, loves a chat, and I respect that. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t ring people enough to really notice where the mobile network does and doesn’t work, and I stream music that’s pretty much downloaded to my phone, so you wouldn’t notice. But isn’t it fascinating that a bloke that lives on the road, uh, relies on communication, was happy to forego the cost of Telstra to go to TPG so that he could stay connected, but understands the challenges of the highways. I find that fascinating. It’s a brilliant decision. Money is the smartest thing. You know, save money. Well, so there’s, you know, half a kilometer of road that he couldn’t talk on. Whatever. Save money. Get in touch, folks. eftm.com.

[00:58:29] VOICE OVER: EFTM Podcast, thanks to TCL.

[00:58:36] Trevor: Great to have your company. Did you like the new stings? Ah, we just found some fun upbeat things there for the new TCL IDs. That might have put a few people off their breakfast or driving on the road, whatever it was that caught you, caught you by surprise there. Thank you for listening, thank you for downloading. Please head to eftmid.com.au eftmid.com, eftmid.com, and update your details so that you can get the magazine, folks. And we’ll get that to you late November. I’ve got next week off because I’m heading to LA with Apple for their next event, because goodness me, they love an event, don’t they? But yes, there’s a, there’s another event next week. The invitation simply said pro and tech We get it, it’s the, it’s the MacBook Pro, maybe iPad Pros. Um, that’ll be Thursday morning about 4 AM Australian time, so we’ll have the details at efgm.com. So no podcast next week, but all the details of Apple’s event, and we’ll also do a remote recording of Two Blokes Talking Tech next week. So all the details will be there. Love your company and appreciate your support. Let’s do it all again real soon. Oh, the phone’s ringing, we’re in big trouble!

[00:59:53] VOICE OVER: The EFTM Podcast. Thanks to TCL. Brighter days. Epic plays.