Notifications of new show notes and edits are tweeted at: twitter.com/ddhart.
– They’re tagged with #Zentech.
– When what’s said is unclear to me (or I’m unfamiliar with a topic) I tend to quote (” “) verbatim.
– Editor’s comments are delimited by < >

 

I had a terrible time capturing the audio from today’s show. I managed to get about 26 min of the show with about 15 min of actual tech talk, after excluding the Community Calendar announcements.

 

Both Paul was in the studio today. Glenn called in while on the way to Albuquerque for a wedding on Saturday.

 

Paul had suggested that Glenn turn on “show location” in his iPhone. As a result, when Paul looked at “information” for a text message he got from Glenn, he was able to see his approximate location along highway 40. Paul explained it’s not obvious on the iPhone that you can go to the upper right, while composing a text message, to where it says “information” and set it to share location for the length of time you desire.

Paul said he’s been getting an increasing number of bogus phone calls coming from the local area code. Glenn has too, but he just lets them to go to voice mail if he doesn’t recognize the caller from the caller ID.

Paul said that on cell phones there’s no way to block numbers. Continuing, he said that there are 2 components to caller ID — the calling phone number and the associated caller’s name. The name is optional but modern smart phones will normally display the name too “if you’ve ever dealt with them before” and they are in your contact list. But you can’t block calls from valid caller IDs that you don’t know.

Glenn jumped in with a clarification. He said that when the caller ID number is being displayed, you can click on “information” next to the number and choose “block this caller”. Paul said you can block that particular caller but, though not likely, it’s possible to spoof a known number. The fraudsters can pick a number belonging to someone you know.

Paul went on to say that he has had calls originating from an 800 number that identifies as the IRS — the IRS says it never calls anyone back, you have to do the calling. You can get their phone number at irs.gov. Glenn added, the IRS might contact you with a postal letter. And Paul said, if there is an IRS phone number in that letter, ignore it. Use the number on their website.

Paul said there were 2 recent upgrades issued — iOS 10 for Apple mobiles and Sierra (version 10.12) for the Mac. Paul said he doesn’t like [iOS] 10 though he doesn’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with it. Glenn said he upgraded his 4-year old iPad to iOS 10 and experienced a significant slow down, and that some apps close without reason — e.g. email and the Safari browser.

Last week Glenn upgraded his iPhone 6S to iOS 10 and he says he likes it. Paul said he’s not convinced that particular upgraded is worth it. Furthermore, if you want to go back to the older OS, it’s “not possible in any easy way”, to his knowledge. Generally, the oldest models that qualify for any upgrade tend to suffer performance problems. The iPhone 5S is the oldest model that can use iOS 10. And be sure you have plenty of free memory to do the upgrade. You’ll need about 2 gig of “spare free space”.

Glenn said he was at a Shell station/Subway/Diary Queen with 4 Tesla charging stations with 1 occupied. He wasn’t sure if other types of electric vehicles, besides Tesla, can use that type of charging station, or if each car has its own proprietary plug. He said he’ll do some research on the matter.

Paul noted that in the last 8 to 10 years the average cost of the battery stack for a car has dropped from about $7,000 – $10,000 down to $3,500 – $4,000. The old lead-acid car batteries are 98% recyclable but he’s not sure how recyclable the rechargeable car batteries are. He thinks they last 6 to 7 years. Glenn said the battery in his hybrid car is warranted for 10 years.

<There was more to the show that was lost to the ether >

Last Updated 9:47 PM 10-12-2016