Amazon's refreshed devices and your calls!

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.

I was God's mate.

I spoke to you on the Tuesday.

Thursday afternoon there's this lovely courier man at me back door with a parcel for me.

Just to thank you so much because whatever your involvement,

you've truly got some magical powers and don't ever let us down.

Join the conversation.

Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.

Helping Australians with tech questions for over 15 years.

The EFTM podcast would travel on.

Conversations with real Australians.

Real questions every week.

The EFTM podcast, thanks to SWAN.

Security you can trust.

Great to have you company.

Back for another week of the EFTM podcast and taking your calls on tech questions.

Whatever is going on.

You've got a tech problem.

Let's talk about it.

If you're looking to buy something,

I'm happy to live vicariously and spend your money for you.

That's what I do.

I do waste a bit of my own money though.

I did purchase the Asus Xbox ROG Ally X just because,

like, see, in this job you get a lot of cool stuff.

I got a toaster a few weeks ago.

It was $600 but it's not something I would have bought.

And it's really just something that's going to stay in the office for the next time.

I have some segment about how some cool gadget, you know what I mean?

Because my wife doesn't want it at home because it's not pink.

That's how gadgets work in my house.

It doesn't suit my decor so the wife doesn't want it there.

But I look at the Asus ROG or the Asus Xbox ROG and I go,

I know they're going to send one for us to review.

But I'm not going to be able to keep it, am I?

It's $1600.

They're going to want that back.

So I just bought one.

Boys are going to love that.

It's going to be good.

It'll be good for travel too.

I'm going to take it with me.

Play Formula One when I travel.

Lots of things.

Anyway, yes, if you want me to spend your money for you,

I'm here for you.

No dramas at all.

Can do.

Very, very good at it.

Amazon launched some new devices a few weeks ago.

We'll cover those today with the boss of Amazon Devices.

Excuse me.

He will join me on the show.

So we'll unpack everything that's coming up with Amazon's latest security cameras primarily

later on the show.

So I look forward to that.

Plus, we've got your calls on a range of things.

We're going to follow up with Keith on his Google photos or his photo storage questions.

We're going to talk security cameras, wireless microphones and preserving memories.

That's going to be a good chat and more on fast NBN plans.

Lots of that over the recent weeks, I know.

But there's always someone that needs that help.

So I'm happy to try and provide it wherever I can.

It has been a very, very busy year.

I was looking at the EFTM disclosures and commercial interests page and how many trips I've done

this year.

It's been a lot.

I think this is the last week of travel.

I'm in the US this week with Amazon.

Amazon Fulfillment.

See, I think I said a few weeks ago, they're a very complicated company.

But with Amazon Fulfillment, we're checking out their latest robotics and delivery programs.

But when we get home.

And I'm home on Friday.

I think I'm grounded until we leave for CES on the 31st of December.

Jacko and I are going to leave on the 31st.

Stig's going to leave on the 1st of January and we'll have a lot of video content for you

across the couple of weeks in the early January.

The coolest and most interesting gadgets we can find in Las Vegas.

So looking forward to that.

If you're not following on socials, what are you doing?

If you're not following on WhatsApp, what are you doing?

The WhatsApp channel is a fun little thing.

I throw quizzes and polls and things out there now and then.

And of course, we appreciate your support in the EFTM man cave.

Now a quick one for people who are traveling overseas.

I have mentioned AeroLo a lot over the years to people that ask me about travel stuff.

They've set up a discount code, 10% off discount code EFTM.

So if you are buying, what about this?

I was in Italy a few weeks ago.

And I bought an AeroLo SIM and I forgot to use the discount code.

I'm a genius.

Absolute genius.

So if you are traveling, buy yourself an overseas SIM in the country of your need from AeroLo

and you can do that with a 10% discount.

There you go. Just type EFTM off you go.

Done deal.

No commercial.

I'm not getting a kickback.

I'm not being paid by them.

They simply said, did you want to do it?

Because I've mentioned them so many times.

Yeah, fine.

Works for me.

It's good for you, the audience.

That's the way I like it.

So there you go.

If you're traveling, grab yourself an AeroLo SIM with a 10% discount.

Thanks to the discount code EFTM.

Let's get on with your calls and we'll talk Amazon devices here on the EFTM podcast.

This is the EFTM podcast.

Great to have you company and you can get in touch anytime.

0477657657.

Just send us a text or a WhatsApp and we'll get in touch with you.

Keith's on the line.

Good morning, Trevor.

Mate, we spoke recently on a few shows ago talking about photo options

and I think you were going to try Google Photos.

How have you gone?

I did it and I wished I would have done it a long, long time ago.

Thank you so much for referring me to that.

I'm having a ball with it.

Remind me and our listeners who might have missed the call.

What was your keen objective?

What was the core need?

Look, I've been saving my photos to a portable hard drive

and I've been saving my partner's photos to a portable hard drive.

She has something like 17,000 photos that I have about two or three thousand

and I've been trying to organize them into files and everything

and I thought there's got to be an easier way to do this

and that's why I reached out to you to say, hey, is there something out there?

How long have you had the photos in Google Photos?

Now do you reckon?

Google Photos, when I spoke to you, I think I did it pretty well straight away

so a couple of weeks.

And how long did it take?

Because one of the core things about Google Photos for me is it's smart.

It's ability to start kind of categorizing things for you.

So for example, and I mentioned this to you, face recognition or person recognition.

How quickly until it started coming up with some faces you could name?

Oh, but pretty well straight away.

You go to photos and there's, you know, I think I'm trying to think what it is.

But yeah, you go to photos or something like that and you get all these different faces

and I go, oh, I know them.

So just clicked on that and asked for a name.

You put the name in hit done and it goes through and looks for photos similar.

And I've had some of me, I'm 69 now, when I was like a baby

and when I was a teenager and it's, and you say Keith

and then it says, are you the one of the same person?

Yep.

And it just joins up all the way through.

You know, it's the best thing about it is when you spend it a bit of time.

So you say to yourself, look, I've got half an hour.

I'll just click, you know, it's got suggestions and, you know, it gets, it gets them wrong.

Don't get me wrong.

It confuses my kids with each other sometimes.

But normally, normally when they're in the background of a photo

or side on or something like that.

Yes.

And so you can say, yes, it's them.

No, it's not.

Yes, it's them.

No, it's not.

You're like filling out a survey.

And I think that's really powerful to give it that learning

because it's never going to be smart enough on its own.

Have you tried random searching for things like red car or, you know,

blue sky or anything?

Not as yet.

Because I remember you told me that because I only just finished uploading

all those photos only a few days ago.

And I've just been going through and the strange, all these colored

dark people came up and think, oh, who the hell are they?

Then I remember I went to Fiji.

So yeah, I'm still sort of playing with it, but I'm having fun.

The thing is, I've now got in Google photos started with 100 gigs.

I had to take another 100 gigs.

I'm up to about 170 gigs I've used.

Yeah.

Well, look, the investment in that storage space, I think is one of the

best investments you can have because you think about that little portable hard drive.

You took it with you on a plane and your baggage got lost.

You left it at home and, you know, there was a disaster there.

You know, the cloud while obviously not foolproof because, you know,

that's the world could come to some sort of disaster.

It's probably the most reliable of all storage.

So you're in a good spot for long term backup as well, mate.

I'm glad you gave it a crack and I'm glad it was positive from the get go.

I'm just so happy that you came up with the program that is more

than what I thought it would be.

And I'm just over the moon, Trevor.

Thank you so much.

Great stuff, mate.

Good to hear from you again.

You too.

Thank you.

Good on you.

So there you go, Keith.

Asked, answered and solved.

That's what we like.

We like that.

And I'm really glad he gave it a go because some people are a bit reluctant

to use the cloud in those kind of ways, but I'm such an advocate of Google Photos

and I have been for a long time.

It's just such a powerful tool.

Join the conversation.

Head to eftm.com and click Ask Trev.

Great heavy company.

Let's keep going with calls.

David's on the line today, David.

Hey, Trev.

How are you?

Good.

Mate, what can I do for you?

Hey, I just saw you an email the other day.

Just something I've been thinking about doing for a while now with my man

because I thought, you know, I know a lot about his life, but I don't really know

much at all.

If that makes sense.

And he's getting, he's turning 80 next year and I was kind of thinking,

well, I need to kind of do something about that.

You know, like, I know my brother's got a lot of our families,

what you call history and background and stuff, all written down like

from my grandmother's side and things like that.

And, you know, sort of in paper and clippings and things like that.

But really over the last, you know, I think his lifetime,

there's nothing that's really been written down.

We haven't done any of that kind of stuff.

It's kind of scary, isn't it?

And you get to our age and we're probably a similar age.

You start thinking about that.

Like I spent, mate, at the airport last week,

like so literally a week ago, I was flying to Europe and I,

I don't know why.

I think I got an email from Ancestry about some sort of match

and I logged in and I went down a rabbit hole for a good hour,

just matching up people and putting in data I knew

and I even went searching an old newspaper site looking for stuff

and I had the same basic thought that you had there,

which was I just don't know enough about my mum's life.

So what are you going to do about it?

Yeah, see, my brother's got all that kind of stuff

and like he's got all that Ancestry.com

and all that kind of stuff and that's all fine.

But a lot of the stuff is the things that my kids have

similar age to yours and they kind of go,

oh, some of grandpa's stories are funny and this and that.

And it's like, you know, I know as a kid,

I've got some little cassette tapes that I've got recordings

of, you know, my mum talking to me as a kid

and things like that.

And, you know, we take a thousand videos of each other,

but I live about six hours away from where my old man is now

and I was thinking, you know,

I need to actually just sit down within one day

because I'm not the kind of person to sit there

and write stuff down because I find that just too boring.

But I prefer to have a phone conversation

or a conversation.

I'm thinking what I'd like to do is get those, you know,

those lapel mics and either have it connected to my phone

or to a camera and just basic and just sit there

and just basically yarn and record it down

because he will tell me story.

I could tell you stories now,

which would probably get us both in trouble.

But yeah, stories that when he was in his 20s

and when he was working in his 40s

and coming up and things like that.

And, you know, it's really interesting stories

that I know my kids would find funny.

And look, I forget half of them until he tells me again

because you just forget over time.

And I thought, well, it's something easy you can do

just by sitting down having a yarn do 20 minutes,

half an hour at a time.

And even I was over thinking, you know,

before chatting to you today that I know that you can actually,

you know, upload audio clips into AI widgets

and things like that

and they can basically transcribe it as well.

So you can actually have it transcribed as well

doing it that way, like from an audio conversation.

So it's long and short of it.

When I look on the, you know, JB or whatever it is,

you know, 20-odd different lapel mic, you know,

all from DJI and other brands there.

And I was just saying, what's kind of best value?

And the other one I was considering doing is that I do have

a decent Sony RX100, I think it's a 3, Mark III.

It's about four or five years old.

And I was just wondering, can you connect those kind of mics

to those kind of cameras as well?

Yes, you can.

So, you know, the camera brings a new level of complexity

in some way, but also, gosh, you think about those moments

and you think about the moments between now

and the end of his life

and you think about after that.

And though just video of him talking would be just phenomenal,

right?

So look, I think it would be great

because I think about bringing,

I've got a whole friggin' video podcast studio here.

I'm like, if my mum wasn't five hours away,

I'd have her here every week and we'd just talk.

But I'm also stupidly disorganised and busy

and therefore I just haven't found the time to do it.

So my first protocol is just to do what you've initially said,

which is just get yourself a wireless mic.

Now, you can go to Harvey Norman, you're a Griffith, right?

Yeah, great.

Yeah, so you go to Harvey Norman,

they'll have a RODE wireless micro there.

The wireless micro is a great device

because it just plugs, you've got a USB-C phone

like the charging cable.

Yeah, correct.

So USB-C, a little tiny dongle in the bottom of that

and then you each get a microphone

and they just open up the voice note app.

Like you don't have to do anything special,

just open up the voice note app and hit record.

And just give yourself a little bit of structure

because it's not going to happen in one session, remember, too.

This is definitely going to be multiple business, right?

It'll just be over time, yeah, correct.

It's like, hey, let's talk about your teenage years, boom.

And that's what you call that one.

And then you do work.

No, we don't want that recorded.

But you do.

You know what I mean?

That's the great part about it, right?

Yeah.

So actually, brilliant, easy done tick the box.

And you're right, upload somewhere

that will do the transcripts.

You might pay a little bit for that,

but I wouldn't be too stressed.

It's going to be worth the transcript.

But that will work.

So that can get done after the fact.

That can get done later, so to speak.

Whereas if you don't have these conversations

or these recordings now,

it may be too late and 12 months, 24 months, however long.

Now, when it comes to the camera, you can get...

There's two things you can do.

Firstly, set the camera up just by a cheap tripod.

Point it at him.

Don't put you in it.

Just point it at him, head and shoulders nice and tight

and just get him telling the stories, right?

And now there's two issues.

One, yes, you can get microphones

that will plug into the camera

and the road, for example, has a little adapter

that allows you to plug it into a camera instead of USB-C.

The thing is you've got to choose one or the other.

So you've got to choose...

Yeah, gotcha.

...am I recording the audio on my phone

or am I recording the video with audio on the camera?

You're going to sync them both up later, yeah.

So that's the option is to go,

well, look, I'm never going...

If I'm to fast-forward through my thought process here,

I would record with lapel mics into your phone, the audio,

every single time.

Just do it that way all the time

so that you just always got a process forward,

getting the transcription done, categorizing it.

And mate, imagine how ChatGBT could then go,

just upload all the transcripts and have it go.

Can you sort this into chronological order

of his life or whatever?

So just every now and then get him to say,

what year are we talking about?

Or how old were you at the time or whatever?

Yeah.

And then if you would choose to use this Sony now and then,

one or three times out of 100 doesn't matter.

What you do is the Sony will record audio

without a microphone plugged in.

And you can test that yourself just by hitting record.

But all you need to do is at the start of the session

where you are doing video, just do this.

Clap.

One clap is all you need.

So what you do is when you do need to sync it up,

you're just syncing the clap in the audio with the recording.

So it's that easy mate.

You just clap with your hands and it's a piece of audio.

Because in reality, what are you going to use the video for?

You're going to use it for some funny highlights.

You're going to use it to share with the family.

It's going to be three minutes clips as opposed to the hour

that you spoke for.

So all you got to do is find that three minutes of audio.

You don't have to sync up the whole bloody hour.

No, no, no.

It's only going to be just there.

There's going to be more of the audios.

The more of the audios, the easier.

Because a lot of people have to sit there and have a chat rather

than having a video on them.

They get a bit more.

And you said he lives six hours away.

So what I would do is with the kids,

I'd go and buy the mics and I would get the kids

to tell a story so that you can record it

and then find your process first.

So can you put the audio directly into chat GBT

and get transcriptions?

I don't think so.

But are there other services that will do that?

It won't take more than an hour of Googling

to find a solution to that problem.

And then work out which...

Well, like is it a subscription?

Are there free ones?

Do all that research first,

because you don't want to get halfway through this.

Six months of seven hours of conversations

and then go, oh, this is a crap system.

It's going to charge me.

Find those things first.

Do it early and get the process down pat.

Yeah.

No, too easy.

Sounds like fun.

Not anywhere at all.

No, it should be good.

That's awesome.

Well, mate, good luck.

Go with Rode because they're Australian made,

but the DJI ones are just as good,

just similar price.

But yeah, I'm just a fan of Rode

because they're literally made in Sydney.

No, mate, Australian made is always better.

Always a win.

All right, mate, good luck.

No worries.

Thanks for getting in touch.

Now he's making me feel guilty

because I need to go and do the same thing.

And I can't complain that, you know,

I don't have the technology.

It is what it is.

I need to get my stuff together, shall we say.

Anyway, what a great idea

and what a great process

and a very easy one to be part of the show.

Thanks to Vodafone,

you can text 0477657657.

Look, breakings in aggravated burglaries concern us all,

but what if you could prevent these crimes

before they even happen?

SWAN has been a trusted name in security

for over 35 years,

and their MaxRanger 4K long-range wireless cameras

can help any Australian home be kept safe.

Unlike regular wireless cameras,

these use a new Wi-Fi technology

with a stronger signal

that can transmit through obstacles

like walls, ceilings and trees,

and they can transmit further

with a long-distance range of up to 600 metres.

You can see everything in 4K day and night

and prevent crime with AI, people and vehicle detection

that triggers sirens, lights, mobile alerts and more.

Visit your SWAN reseller or swan.com

that's S-W-A-N-N.com

the MaxRanger 4K.

It's the strongest wireless

for maximum home security from SWAN.

Great heavy company and always plenty to talk about

in the world of tech,

and Amazon have come out strong

in the last little bit

with some big new device announcements,

including a huge update

to their security camera range,

both Ring and Blink.

So let's not have me just try and unpack it.

Let's bring in Mark Fletcher,

Manager Director of Ring and Blink

in the APAC 4 Amazon.

He's on the line.

Good day, Mark. How you doing?

Good day, Trevor. How are you?

Very, very well.

This is quite a large announcement for Amazon

and obviously you look after Ring and Blink,

but we're talking about an announcement

where they came out with everything

from new speakers, new Fire TV

to your security range.

This would have to be one of the biggest

sets of announcements in one go

that we've seen from Amazon, don't you reckon?

Absolutely.

It was a huge, huge success overnight.

It was amazing.

The amount of range that's come out

from lots of devices is...

I've been in with the Ring and Blink business

for over 12 years.

This is our biggest effort we've done.

Wow, wow.

And it's fascinating too,

because obviously it's an ecosystem,

right?

I was actually talking to some of the team

at EFTM and we were talking about

who's going to review what and what and it's like,

it's a big commitment for people

to move ecosystems because

if you're in the Ring ecosystem,

for example, you partner up

and you get yourself an eco speaker

or an eco show and you're starting

to see the cameras.

So there's a real benefit to the ecosystem too,

which is part of why you bring these announcements

together, I assume.

Yes, yeah.

We try to make it as seamless as possible.

You know, bring it all together.

You know, people are looking to upgrade

or looking to diverse.

They might be moving from a doorbell to a camera.

So we want to make it as easy and seamless

as possible.

They are able to connect to their

Amazon device.

So yeah, we're really excited by the

new launch of these products.

I want to start with Ring,

because Blink, I don't think we've spoken

since Blink even launched in Australia.

So in terms of Ring,

there's a core underlying

concept that you've brought to this,

which you're calling retinal vision.

Explain to me, is that a physical

technology or is it software?

Is it an overarching kind of principle?

What is retinal vision?

Okay, great question.

Yeah, so, you know,

in summary,

basically, tune in the cameras to

ensure the hardware and the powerful

processing work seamlessly.

So actually, we've been doing this

for over 10 years.

So Ring retinal vision is really

around the advancement in imaging

technology.

Now, for those people that are really

in the tech, you know, so what it does

is there's a multi-step process.

So we're taking image

sensors using BSI pixels

for superior low-light performance.

And we are pairing this

with a custom design,

large aperture design

lenses which capture more

light to ensure consistent

sharpness across the frame.

And so what we're doing with that,

we're combining our deep engineering

knowledge with AI

tuning and we're

delivering high quality

footage across

the wide range of scenarios.

So in simple terms,

you can take like a car manufacturer.

For example, you know,

the example that I like to give is

you've got a Ferrari versus a minivan.

You've got a V6. The foundations

are the same, but of course,

when you tune it up, you know,

that engine, you get double the power.

So that's what we're doing.

We're doubling the power.

So we're really, really excited about that.

So basically, is that

only in the newer model?

So now you'll see the models

that you bring out from here forth

including retinal vision.

Is that the concept is to

draw a line in the sand and say,

right from now on, our product range

will include this and this is how this will work.

Absolutely. So we're

including for all the new doorbells

and camera, we've got retinal vision

and to take it a step further,

we've got retinal tuning.

So that what that does, it also

is customizes the clarity of the camera

at the specific install location.

So we use

video quality multiple

multiple times per day

and we're trying to optimize the best

picture quality for each specific scene.

And this only works

because of our custom edge

AI silicon.

Because essentially the placement of a camera

can really determine how good a picture you get.

You can put a camera in a beautifully

all day shaded spot

and there's no real fluctuation in the image.

But if you put like my front door,

if you're kind of looking outwards,

my doorbell is literally looking into the sun

from 4pm.

So the comparison of the image

in the evening versus the morning

are vastly different. So are you

looking at the image across the day a couple of times

and going, actually if we just tweak it this way

you'll end up with a better picture

overall.

Absolutely. Yeah. So as I said

we're taking a video

sample multiple

times per day over the two weeks

and we're optimizing it.

And at the same time

as you mentioned, we're providing

adaptive night vision

so giving you that vibrant color

in those low lights. So all

the doorbells and cameras moving forward

we'll have that as well. So physical

product wise, there is

a bit to get through. You've got

Spotlight Camera Pro,

Floodlight Camera Pro, Wide Video

Doorbell and Outdoor Camera Pro

are they all new or is there just

a couple of new and that's the entire

lineup. Because that's the thing that I'm

trying to struggle with the amount of announcements

it's quite

a large range.

Yeah. So we're really refreshing.

This is only just the start. So

on the Ring portfolio

we've got six devices,

six cameras. So

as you mentioned we start with the doorbells

so we've got the Wide Video

Doorbell Pro and what we've

done is we're listening to our customers

and what we've done is we've got three different

types of doorbell pros. We've got

hardwire, we've got

plug-in and we've even now got power

over in Ethernet.

So giving that better image

clarity with Retinol 4K

and 10x enhanced

zoom. So we're really going

to the next level with our doorbell

pro and giving the customers the different

options. Is battery

a thing of the past really for video doorbells?

Not at all.

We've

been very successful with the doorbells

but right now we're just refreshing

the Wide Doorbells and

hopefully later on you'll see something.

And I understand so

Wired is legitimately the old school

Wide Doorbell power over

Ethernet. I understand if you've got the Ethernet run there.

What do you mean by plug-in? Is that

you actually use a power point?

Yeah. So basically

we provide you a plug-in adapter and so

if that might be underneath

the floorboard or could be underneath

or above the

ceiling.

So the electrician could

plug that in as well.

That's actually a slightly better option for some people than

the traditional Wide Video Doorbell.

I like the concept of that.

So then we've got indoor and outdoor camera.

We've got the indoor camera

and the outdoor camera. Absolutely.

So we'll start with it. We're

still on the outdoor so we've got the spotlight camera pro

and we've got the

camera pro both illuminating

outdoor spaces. Both providing

retinal 4K

giving you that 10X

enhanced zoom so you can catch

details in the distance like

faces and number plates

again having low light

sights

giving you that full color

so and of course

with that illumination

either have 600 lumens or the floodlight

actually has 2,000 lumens

so really excited about that.

And then on the indoor side

yes we've got the indoor 2K

which gives you that true life

video with retinal 2K

adaptive night vision

clear a picture in the darkness

with 4x enhanced zoom.

So really excited about that one.

So how do you, the final thing before we talk

Blink is obviously subscription

it's a big part of the camera's

systems at the moment from across

wide range of brands.

What's the basic pitch to

a ring customer to go

I'm going to get a subscription

because of this.

Yeah it's a great question

firstly you don't need a subscription

our products all work without

but you get these advanced features

I always think about

for a cup of coffee it's $4.95

a month

basically we're providing you

with these deep

integrated features

such as

storage

advanced motion detection

so we really want to provide

the deep insights for our customers

to get the best out of those cameras

and doorbells.

And you've also got coming down the track

video descriptions which is becoming

a huge thing for the industry

being able to give a bit more descriptive

information to people with their

notifications.

Yeah we're really excited

if you noticed we launched this year

smart video search

so that was AI to let you

find specific moments

in your ring history but later on

we've got smart video description

and so that reduces

that motion fatigue

so it distinguishes between what's urgent

and everyday activity

with a glance at your phone

and so it gives the customer

which we call neighbors

that text description of

motion activity what's happening

with their doorbell and camera.

It's fantastic I've been using it lately

Trevor it's brilliant you know

so I'm outside the house and I know

what's going on in the back garden

I can see my kids playing

and it actually says

person playing with a football

or someone peering over the fence

it's brilliant to give you that

peace of mind.

Now moving to the blink range

just before we get into the detail

we need to understand where blink

sits for you because here you are

I'm assuming working with

resellers and customers across Australia

with two different brands

is this a QANUS Jetstar

style approach where you get

the whole thing you choose Jetstar

it's just exactly what it is

it gets you there and you've got a seat

where does blink sit for you in the market

is it about a price point?

Yeah you know we've always distinguished

a separate brand so blink

is an inventive brand

and it gives our customers tremendous

value it offers the simplicity

the affordability

the ease of setup

and of course everyone loves it

about their long lasting battery

so you know up to two years worth of battery life

and that's really essential

for those people that are looking

for you know get into the smart home

security that's accessible

for everyone.

The QANUS Jetstar is a pretty phenomenal

little camera for

what is it just 59 bucks in Australia?

$59 2K video resolution

it can be used both

indoor and outdoor it has that colour

vision noise cancellation

smart detection

package detection has all the features

that you know someone that's getting into

the smart home security today

will love very affordable.

And here's the thing that I'll give you

credit for in terms of invention

just doing something different rather than

creating a camera that either

tilts and pans and zooms so that you can

see more or has some

obscure lens that gives you a wider

angle you just go on you know what

here's a mount that you can get

which you can then put two

mini 2Ks in and then I assume

what you do in the app is you say these two

are linked together and it creates one panoramic

view from those two cameras

it's called the arc.

Yeah exactly it seamlessly stitches

the 180 degree view

eliminating that complexity

of multiple camera setups

and the great thing about the blink arc

is you know it was because

of our customers they

you know they wanted something like

a pan and tilt but they didn't

want they wanted to see the whole

the whole information of what's the whole

video what's happening around their house

to get that full 180 degree

view and so this is what

we came up with and we only developed it

within like 60 days

and this was direct response

direct response from our customers

well speaking of customers what is it

today that incentivizes

people to get home security because I

feel like we had this huge growth period

and you were a big part of that especially with Ring

pushing the video doorbell

market and then that led to the kind of security

camera market I feel like we plateaued

a bit and and there's always

and I guess it's terrible to say but there's always

enough stories of you know crime and

things going on that does incentivize some

people but what's that what's the

what's the pushing point now to get people

over the line is it ease of

availability like you know bunnings and things like

that or or is it price point

what do you think it is that's going to drive

the next demand for security

cameras for Australians

well we're really committed

to the Australian market you know we heavily

invest you know

in here you know our mission

you know we're driving that vision of

making sure that we're keeping customers

our neighbors safe you know

you know research shows that you know

80% of Australians are willing

to invest in home security

annually so that that's

a clear indication that

safety is still the top priority

for families across the country

and this is why today

as we've announced you know all these

you know 10 different types of doorbells

and cameras that we've

that we've invested

in for the Australian market so

we're really excited to bring that new level

and this is just the beginning this is

just the beginning for us Trevor but a long

way to go so we're really excited it's

a pretty exciting market overall there's

so many players in this space

I mean look I'll say the good and the bad

I love the the the brands

that are existing in this space

in major retail and Amazon you know

Yalo, Uniden, Swan

you guys ring blink but I

worry about the the social

media market that's being created I keep seeing ads

on social media for some great

young startup who's created this thing but it's

just a it's just a camera he's flown in from China

and that's our biggest challenge

I think in this market is making sure people understand

the benefits the pros and cons of

different camera choices and I assume

from your point of view it's it's history

it's it's the market that you've created over

many years and the software

and smarts that comes with it that

incentivizes people to your both your

brands. Yes

it really has been you know the quality

of the both blink

and ring brands is really

superior you know the people our

customers trust us you know

we're making sure that you know it works

they can go home they're satisfied

if there's something wrong they can return

it we really want to make sure we build

that trust you know we create

this ecosystem for them so

that they can ensure that they can rely

on blink or ring when they're

at home they're away you know

with their loved ones so they can see

what's going on there so that's really

important for us awesome mate

I really appreciate your time on what is going to be

a very busy day for you congratulations

and good luck with the products

thank you Trevor

the EFTM podcast

thanks to SWAN home

security to connect, detect

and protect

get in touch love to hear from you Rogan's on the

line today Rogan

hey Trevor how are you? Yeah really good mate what can I do for you?

Mate

I've just moved in on your home

been building for over

12 months and what a relief

yeah trying to

yeah it's a journey

that's for sure but

mate I'm looking at home security cameras

I'm sort of a

a bit of a propeller head

who likes to sort of geek out on some of the tech

but lately

just fallen behind with

kids and work sort of being able to get up to speed with

you know what's out there what's good

what's not what's a sort of waste of money

type scenario so

I'm flying a little bit blind where normally I'd feel like

I'd be all over it

okay so what are you looking for?

mate I'm thinking

I've got a two-story

house I live in a country area so

there's not a lot of

not a lot of light of a nighttime

so compared to the city where it's sort of

light everywhere you can certainly see the stars

so you know I'm kind of

thinking something I mean

we've got a big house so at the start as

a doorbell we can see somebody

the doorbell is off at the other end of the backyard or something

yeah

what sort of space do you mean you said in the country

how big is the property

is it a standard

block or is it a bit of a rural block

it's more of a rural

block

certainly not hectares

but you know

probably 2,000

square meters I'm like that

give or take so yes not a farming

type scenario but yeah pretty

something you wouldn't see in the city that's for sure

yeah of course of course

and are you looking to do

like fully wireless do you think

or have you prepared for any cabling

for power anyway

well a bit of a face

a bit of a face palm if you will

I remember speaking of electrician

well like should you do it it goes easy to do it now mate

and at the time

there's a little thing I learn about called variations

when you build a home and

they seem to be stacking up with me

so I was sort of in not much of a mood

to

put a wide system in there but I kind of regret

that at the time it would have been easier

but so now I reckon wireless for sure

and

given the nature of having two kids

under 5 and working

full time parents something that I

can leave set and forget

really would be helpful yeah totally okay look

the simple thing here is you

you've got your gateway drug which is your doorbell

and everything else

kind of comes after that

okay so

I would probably recommend

that you find

your doorbell and maybe one camera

and then look at how you expand that system

now there's I mean in your world with that

kind of property you're probably going to be okay

with any of the major systems

Arlo, Swan

Uniden, they're your big three

kind of names that you'd recognise

you know of course Google has

cameras

they're excellent but do I love

being in the Google ecosystem for cameras

that's a weird thing I love

Google in so many ways but probably not

for security as weird as that sounds

Swan has

some ones they call

Max Ranger which allows you to get

actually put them at a distance

from the home so you might be able to put one down

the front of the

block and not have any Wi-Fi

issues so that's a strong

reason to lean towards Swan

is their Max Ranger system they have

a short range like 300 metres

and then another one that is 600 metres

you know broadly it's

a very good thing to think about if I'm going

to put one on the front fence or the back fence

that kind of thing you know looking at the property

all the ones around the home are going to be fine

they're going to be fine

so mate I think

that if you were to kick it off

with a Swan doorbell for example

and then if you like

the app it's all working good then

you know upgrade get yourself a decent

Max Ranger system two camera

four camera whatever you think put them on the corners of the house

front area

the front yard like I've won in the front yard

because I like seeing the whole front of the house

I think that's really critical

so mate you can't really go wrong with any of those

brands Arlo, Swan and Unanim but for you

Swan leans towards you because of

the kind of space and the scale

yeah that makes sense

that makes sense totally

I was reading on the EFTM app

congrats on that by the way but I was having a bit of

read on

it seems to be the big debate around

having a kind of

storage in the cloud versus

hard drive type stuff

mate just go to the cloud

honestly what do we

you're not happy to pay $15 a month for some

you know security storage

honestly I get it

I get it that everyone's over subscriptions

but if you're thinking about security as being

a bad subscription then

you've got the wrong attitude to security in my mind

now Swan has a non-subscription version

something's going to be wrong there's plenty of versions that don't

but a lot of the good stuff

is in the subscription so

I prefer cloud because

I don't want to have to put an SD card in a little

camera I don't want to have the issue of internet at home

being like seriously just go to the cloud

that's exactly right

there's no way in hell

I'll be changing those cards

or remembering them so that makes

sense that totally makes sense

well good luck mate happy shopping

thanks Trevor all the best mate cheers

buddy cheers

and thanks for getting in touch

there's so much to choose

from but in that scenario just because of the

size of the property I'd stick with Swan

you can text Trev now

thanks to Vodafone on

0477 657 657

great heavy company

get in touch

you know how let's talk

anything you want in tech

Greg's on the line g'day Greg

g'day Trevor how are you?

great really really good what can I do for you?

listen I'm considering

I'm one of the fortunate few that has

fiber to the premises

mate I have a one gigabyte connection already

and I've noticed that

the lower speeds already been increased

to I think

it's a hundred megabits going on

now I'm considering

this next step to the two

gigabyte just because you can

not because you need it

yeah well

I don't know whether I need it

but you know I want it because I can

100% I'm with you all the way

you're my spirit animal with fiber

I don't have fiber so I can't get it

I'm sorry mate

you might be envious

but it just happens

but see one of the things I'm with

Ozzie now I know

there's only limited plans

currently being marketed for this

two gigabyte stuff

and if I go anywhere

I'll probably stick with Ozzie because

I haven't been able to fault them

for about four years

they are just tremendous

they actually

have enough connectivity

they provision properly

I've never had a fault with them

it's a big jump in price it's an extra

$60 a month to go

from their gigabit plan to their two gigabit

plan

yeah that's right

and I'm not sure whether it's worth it

that's the thing well here's the thing

there's no contract you're already on fiber

so you don't need

to do anything you can just ring them

and get it now the difference is

I believe

and you might be my only test case but

I think they might need to give you

a different box at home

there might be a change in

what we call the termination device

I have to have a new

NBN have to

terminate my current 4 port

NDT to put a 1 port

in because I

don't have battery backup on my

current NBN port

I also

I've noticed that through

reading about all this two gig stuff

I'm actually going to lose my telephone

well this is interesting

because I kind of got some questions

about that before it all happened

and

NBN wasn't vague about it

but you know essentially

there is a change to the way

that all kind of works

you always got a landlock do you use it though?

yeah

it hasn't rung for about 3 years

well what are we talking about

exactly

do I care about it?

absolutely not

you know

but again it's the jump

and whether I need that

and I'm thinking if I go there for

2 months and it doesn't necessarily

float in the boat

mate I'll just drop back to the 1 gigabyte again

let's just address the VoIP

phone line question

by the NBN

that customers purchasing

a new Hyperfast

which is the 2 gigabit plans

will need one of our new multi gig

NBN connection boxes which there are

several versions the first one

has one port

which will suit the vast majority of customers

but for those who need it

there will also be a 4 port version

at a small additional fee

yeah that's right yes

I believe that yeah

here's the thing you've basically got a couple

options firstly just do the upgrade

mate 60 bucks let's just do it for a month

you know find out what it looks like and feels like

then you've got

2 options after that point

well I don't need it I'm going to go back

and nothing changes except you won't

get your VoIP port back because they've already

upgraded your box

so you can go back

to paying 129 a month

in an instant no dramas no lock in contract

if you feel that you love the 2 gig

but you do want the VoIP when you can pay the extra

and get the extra

yeah the extra port

upgrade however here's the kicker

I've also learnt too with this 2

gig upgrade is that the current

NECOM modem that I got

when I've got the plan goes out

the door and I need to go to this

EO

4.7 gigabyte modem

okay so let me

get the terminology right not to talk

down to you but it's not a modem

it's a router

and it's a really important thing

it's a really important thing for you when you're doing research

for buying those

first and foremost you don't need to get that from Ozzy

so that's entirely

your decision

they can't

require that you buy from them

now it's great that they're offering

Eero the Amazon Eero solution

because it means that people like you can just go

yeah okay give me the pro 7

give me 2 boxes it's like

400 bucks whatever you know just do it great

yeah excellent

but you also don't need to do that

you could just go to JB Hi-Fi

and buy a Netgear Orbi

and you're off and running

but they're absolutely right

whatever you've got now

is definitely not going to do 2 gigabit

Wi-Fi it's just not going to happen

no not at all

so I would recommend

I wish I could find it now

because someone in our man cave group

one of the moderators

I think bought

a Netgear

recently and they got it

at a steel price

now where is it

it's going to kick me because I can't find it

but I feel like they got it for like

two or three hundred dollars less than what

I had seen it for or quoted it

for yeah because

there's great deals on right now okay let's be honest

there's always good deals

so bottom line

yes you will need a new router

there's no point doing all this work

and ordering this new NTD box

and the faster speeds if you're just going to use the Wi-Fi

which won't do

I'd be surprised if it's doing a gigabit

properly on your phone to be honest but

have you done a speed test on your phone

yeah very

I'm getting about

sixteen hundred

so it's pretty it's all right

sixteen hundred

yeah

that's what I'm looking at I'm actually using

what's it called

it's a program called

actually no

let me withdraw that statement

because I think that's when I go out

and connect to Vodafone

and that just drops to follow

fifty six or something sorry

I mean

it's probably doing the gigabit

I get about nine hundred nine fifty

on mine and on most devices

no issues but yeah that's the thing

that's the first thing that needs to go

is that router

to get yourself a new one you need a Wi-Fi

seven probably you need something with

tri-band connectivity

you're going to be up for between

five hundred and a thousand bucks or more depending on what you want to spend

yeah right

yeah

again like I said

you can't take it with you

you can't you can't definitely can't take it

with you

educating my kids on that right now

that's one of anything left for you lot

make your own bloody money

what it gets a good

thought absolutely a good thought

yeah no well you should have bought

some of your Maranello last week while you were there

yeah a matchbox car

was probably going to be as good as it got for me

mine would have been

in the little glass box

that you could pack in your suitcase

I'm pretty sure those are past my budget

anything you buy at Ferrari

it's past my budget

oh I'm I'm disappointed

oh dear

good luck with the upgrade let us know how you go

once you've had the once you've had the

upgrade and I want to know after a month or so do you

keep it like that's the big question what do you

notice is it really worth it that kind of stuff

yeah

well hopefully that my wife stops complaining

to me to say that

this now

the game's not working or it's

shuttering and the TV's

not working properly and things like that

well hopefully that won't go away

I was going to stop you until your wife's always going to complain

but leaving that aside

I would argue if you're getting complaints

now about streaming

buffering sport etc

I wouldn't do anything about your

nbn until I've fixed that router

I'd get rid of that router ASAP

and I would get myself

if you only got one box just a little

netcom router I would get a mesh system

go and get a netgear orbi

put two or three of them around the house

and if you spend money

that solves all your issues

resolves itself

because actually again

I don't want to not have you have two gigabits

because how good is it

but I reckon if you spend the money on the wifi

that'll solve all your problems

and you'll feel like you've got two gigabits

because everything's working

and you actually didn't need two gigabits all along

you just needed better wifi

it's always a pleasure to talk

talk out stuff and it may

alright buddy good luck

alright mate thanks Trev

look that's a really interesting thing

his wife's having issues with streaming

and he's got gigabit speeds

which says to me the wifi's

not great

and that's probably why they're having those problems

so upgrading the wifi

is probably the most important part of that whole conversation

thank you once again

thank you to producer Rob

putting it all together

I think he's on holidays now though

he's off soon anyway

and have a great trip

I don't know how I'm going to do it without you

but I'll put it together somehow

we'll make it happen

as we push through the post season

of Dodgers baseball as well

lots going on and love to hear from you

thanks for listening, thanks for downloading

so great to have you company folks

and let's do it all again

probably next week, what do you think?

we'll do it next week

Amazon's refreshed devices and your calls!

About this episode

Ford Ranger

Request an Explanation

Want to learn more?

Help improve this episode

More from EFTM - Tech, Cars and Lifestyle