Hands-On Tech (Audio)

On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent tackles a listener's question about Apple Watch connectivity options, specifically whether notifications can be received when the iPhone and Apple Watch are on separate Wi-Fi networks without cellular service. Send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah helps David use his PlayStation 3 controller on a Windows machine to play Windows Flight Simulator. Mikah also showcases a cool resource for viewing pictures and documentation for older technology! Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah helps Doug find a Windows-equivalent version of Mac's Time Machine backup application. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On this week's episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah helps out Dustin with what storage option he should get when upgrading to a new iMac. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent tackles Kevin's question about connecting a wired printer to a mesh network. Kevin had previously used a powerline adapter to connect his non-WiFi printer to his conventional network but now needs a solution that works with his new eero mesh setup. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent answers a question from Wayne about streamlining a process to organize his recipies copied in Apple Notes and reformat them in HTML. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent helps Will with his question about porting his landline number to an old Google Pixel 5 phone and using it as his home phone, as well as whether he should create a new Google account to do this. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent answer a question from Juan about setting up his Synology NAS device to create backups of his iPhone or iPad when it gets plugged into it, as well backing up the photos off the devices and into a Shared Photo Library in iCloud. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, David asks Mikah about trying to understand YouTube and copyright laws and why some videos using copyrighted content can remain on YouTube for some time while his own uploads using similar content get blocked and taken down despite not being the original creator. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent helps Derek with why his AirPods Pro are automatically and randomly connecting to his wife's iPhone despite never being paired with her device. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent answers two questions from Kevin: about how to control multiple roller shades with different remotes from a smartphone via Wi-Fi, and connecting a printer that's currently on a power line network to his eero Wi-Fi system. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah answers a classic question for viewers: Do I really need malware protection for my Mac computer? Also, Glenn writes in to follow up on his concerns about Siri being activated in different rooms within his house! Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent helps Jerry, who is experiencing issues getting iTunes to recognize their iPhone 16 on their Windows PC. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent addresses a question from listener Faye about the setup they should go with to start with voice acting, covering how one should approach getting into voice acting and providing some resources for Faye to look into. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer at hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On Hands-On Tech, host Mikah Sargent addresses a listener's concern about their Apple devices seemingly listening to conversations in their office and offers a few way to disable this functionality. Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On Hands-On Tech, Mikah helps Mark rein in Siri after a recent update caused Mark's Siri to start having activation issues and responding inconsistently to voice commands. Send in your questions for Mikah to answer at hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Want access to the ad-free video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

On Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent helps Richard figure out why there are duplicate photos of the same picture in his photo folders! Plus, Mikah answers Lance's question about Windows 11 and some devices being labeled as removable external storage devices. And Mikah shares a follow-up from Jack about his problem with his Gmail storage space. Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

On Hands-On Tech, Mikah helps Lars, who is seeking help for a friend who is being flooded with spam emails and is looking for a way to filter out the spam emails! Mikah strongly recommends transitioning away from ISP-provided email addresses, as they often get shuffled between companies and can face service disruptions There are also some options to consider when moving from an old email account, such as setting up auto-responses directing to the new address or configuring your new email account to pull from your old account. Mikah suggests two things to do. The first is to create a Gmail account to leverage its excellent spam filtering capabilities, then configure it to pull mail from the Cox address and connect it to Outlook. The second option is to use local spam filtering software like Mailwasher, which offers Bayesian filtering that learns from user input to improve spam detection over time. Other software options to consider are Spambully, Spamfighter, and clean.io, though some may not work without MX record access. Read the official blog post about the change to Hands-On Tech. Send in your questions for Mikah to answer! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah Sargent tackles a unique smart home dilemma from a viewer named John, who runs his home automation through Android while his wife uses Apple devices. John wants to know if he can use an old iPad as a home hub to give his wife easier access to their home's smart features, like thermostats, greenhouse controls, and outlets, without having to go through his phone. Android-first setup is actually advantageous, as it means devices are already configured independently rather than being locked into Apple's HomeKit ecosystem For HomeKit-compatible devices, adding them to the wife's iPhone/iPad is as simple as scanning the HomeKit codes in Apple's Home app Some suggested approaches for the iPad hub: Use as a portable control panel that can move between rooms Mount it permanently as a dedicated control center using a device such as elago's Home Hub Mount, which allows for clean cable management. Mikah recommends using Home Assistant (home-assistant.io) as a powerful third-party solution that works with more devices than just HomeKit or Google Home, has robust automation capabilities, and has apps for multiple platforms, making it accessible to both users. Mikah also emphasizes the importance of "smart," which means proactive automation, giving examples like automatic fan control based on humidity sensor readings, proximity-based lighting control, and custom scenes triggered by pressure sensors. Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Mikah addresses a listener question about why their TCL TV and cable box sometimes turn on automatically after a power outage. He explains the likely causes and offers troubleshooting tips. Mikah also shares an important follow-up from a previous episode about internet speeds and the limitations of the Apple TV 4K's Ethernet port. Main Topic: Richard asks why his TCL TV and cable box sometimes turn on by themselves after brief power outages Mikah explains that TCL TVs have a "Fast TV Start" feature that keeps the TV in a powered-on state to maintain network connections, causing it to turn back on when power is restored HDMI-CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) allows devices to communicate and control each other, which may cause the cable box to turn on when the TV powers on Mikah advises checking the TV and cable box settings for features like Fast TV Start, sleep/hibernation modes, and HDMI-CEC to adjust the behavior Many smart home devices, such as lights and robot vacuums, also have auto-on features that should be configured to prevent unexpected behavior after power outages Follow-up: Thomas points out that in a previous episode (195), the Apple TV 4K used to test internet speeds has a maximum throughput of about 990 Mbps due to its Gigabit Ethernet port For the listener (Ross) to accurately test their 2.5 Gbps internet speed, they should ensure their Mac supports the full 2.5 Gbps that the adapter provides The Apple TV 4K's Wi-Fi 6 support may allow for faster speeds than its Ethernet port, depending on the router and environment Don't forget to send in your questions for Mikah to answer during the show! hot@twit.tv Host: Mikah Sargent Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit