Tech, Travel, AI, & Audio Cool Stuff Found

This week on Mac Geek Gab, hosts Pilot Pete and Dave Hamilton delve into a plethora of Cool Stuff Found. There are too many to list, but they include a new listener find, YouGetSignal, an open port check tool crucial for maintaining seamless connectivity by revealing blocked and open ports in user networks. The discussion then transitions to the controversial tool, watermarkremover.io, which removes watermarks from photos. Despite its impressiveness, it elicits ethical questions about intellectual property theft. Drawing parallels with Napster’s decline and Apple Music’s affordable, legal alternative, they underline the importance of accessible legal choices over morally questionable methods. With the show’s ethos in mind, “Don’t Get Caught” using such tools without considering their implications.

The conversation later veers towards technicalities and challenges in the digital age. They clarify a detail about the Eve weather device, explaining its connection via matter and thread instead of Wi-Fi, and express their plan to further explore this topic in future episodes. They also introduce SMTP2go.com, a free service acting as an SMTP server, ideal for sending emails from custom domains. A lighthearted discussion ensues about the comical possibility of massive email volumes due to increasing listener counts.

As they wrap up, your two favorite geeks emphasize nurturing the geek culture, fostering a community bound by common interests. Pilot Pete exemplifies this by blossoming into a geek, courtesy of the show, reminding listeners of the transformative power of shared knowledge.

Chapters/Timestamps/Stuff mentioned:

• 00:00:00 Mac Geek Gab 992 for Monday, July 24th, 2023
  • The MGG Discord Server is Live!
  • The MGG Merch Store is Live!
• Quick Tips
  • 00:00:01 Bob-990-Use macOS’s Built-in Wi-Diagnostics
  • 00:03:55 Tony-QT-Reply to Messages with Voice on Apple Watch
    • Eats Shoots and Leaves
  • 00:06:21 QT-Rename an SD Card that’s locked
  • 00:07:52 QT-Allow for Urinal Inspiration
    • Business Brain Podcast
  • 00:11:31 Ben-QT-Quit the Dock to Empty Trash Again
  • 00:12:56 Bob-QT-990-Ideas for Remembering Ideas
  • 00:15:58 QT-Invoke Emergency Call and Medical ID
• Sponsors
  • 00:17:31 SPONSOR: Hello Fresh. Skip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, and affordable. Visit HelloFresh.com/MGG50 and use code MGG50 for 50% off plus free shipping.
  • 00:19:21 SPONSOR: Notion Projects includes new, powerful ways to manage projects and leverage the power of their built-in AI features, too. For a limited time, try Notion Projects for free when by visiting Notion.com/MacGeekGab.
  • 00:20:42 SPONSOR: This Week In Tech: Every week, This Week in Tech gives you a no-holds-barred, deep dive into how big tech influences our culture and our lives.
• Cool Stuff Found
  • 00:21:37 David-CSF-988-There IS a Qi Mouse: Corsair Dark Core
    • JoinHoney.com/MGG
  • 00:24:40 Matt-CSF-Espanso, a free, github-hosted Text Expansion tool
  • 00:26:22 Donna-CSF-Aldi’s Wood Grain Wireless Charging Clock
  • 00:27:53 CSF – Outdoor Movie Screen
  • 00:29:18 CSF-JBL Flip 6 Portable Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
  • 00:31:38 Greg-CSF-MakePass to Convert Barcodes into Apple Wallet
    • Genius Scan
  • 00:34:13 Blake-CSF-SpaceReclaimer to Free Up Storage on Apple TV (and only Apple TV)
• AI CSF
  • 00:37:02 Tony-CSF-Use Siri and ChatGPT with S-GPT
  • 00:40:32 CSF-Opera Generative AI Browser
  • 00:41:19 Robert-