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Rod Pyle: A Tour of SpaceX
Episode 1820
Rod Pyle joins Leo to talk about Tim Dodd (Everyday Astronaut), who got a tour of SpaceX's Starbase Rocket facility in Boca Chica, Texas. And his tour guide was Elon Musk. You can watch the three-part interview here. In other space news, Boeing has detached the Starliner, which has been having issues with its maneuvering thrusters before the second launch. 13 valves failed to open, and it looks as if there's severe corrosion due to moisture.
Should I Use an SEO Company?
Episode 1819
Dave fromDave has a business and he wants to know if it's worth doing SEO to get better search results on Google. Seems like snake oil. Leo says that there are legitimate SEO companies. But there's a lot of snake oil there, as well. A LOT. And an overly aggressive SEO could actually cause Google to delist him. SO if they make nonorganic suggestions that could "game the system," run away!
Johnny Jet ... Too Close to Home
Episode 1819
Johnny recently discovered his dad contracted Covid19, even though he was vaccinated. The good news is because he was vaccinated, the infection has been lighter than being unvaccinated. So being vaccinated is important, if for no other reason than it'll prevent Covid from being worse.
Johnny also says this is a good reason to keep some of your frequent flyer miles in an account for emergencies. Currently, you can get pretty good deals on using your FFMs on American Airlines at the last minute.
Can I Cast to My TV From My Cell Phone Without WiFi?
Episode 1819
WD fromWD would like to cut the cord, but he doesn't want to pay extra for the internet as well. Leo says that's what ISPs will do. If he has a cable provider also handling internet access, they'll just make up for the cord-cutting by jacking up the rate on internet access. Can he cast to his SmartTV and just use his mobile data plan? Leo says it depends on what his cellular carrier provides. Most will have data caps, but if he doesn't do it all the time, he can "cast" it. It's called DNLA, or Miracast. Samsung can do it if both TV and mobile phone are Samsung. It's called SmartView.
Zillow Wants to Buy Your House
Episode 1819
Zillow, and its competitor Opendoor, are both on a spending spree and they want to buy your home. Called "iBuying," the site is buying and flipping homes for profit. Sales are expected to reach several billion annually, but Leo says it's unclear if this iBuying trend will pay off.
Rod Pyle: Super Heavy Gets Stacked
Episode 1818
Rod Pyle joins Leo to talk about how Space X stacked their Starship and Super Heavy Booster this week, making it the largest rocket in history at just under 400' tall and 30' wide. It was part of a fit test, and the rocket was stacked for about an hour. It was a fantastic event to see live on YouTube. Plans are to launch it sometime in September or October, once they get clearance from the FAA. It'll have twenty-nine raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster, and six engines on Starship. And they are designed to be turned around and relaunched within an hour.
How Can I Get An Accurate Voice Transcription?
Episode 1818
George fromGeorge calls from overseas to ask if there is a better way to transcribe his mother's voice. He uses a Google Skill on the phone to do it, but it doesn't do an excellent job with his mother's Austrian accent. Leo says that Otter.AI is a great site for getting transcriptions of prerecorded audio. But if you want to use a Google Skill, you can either build your own skill or rely on the skills that have been built. Google also has its own Recorder site that is excellent.
Why Doesn't My 4K Smart TV Stream in 4K?
Episode 1817
Jose fromJorge has a 4K SmartTV, but when he streams YouTube on it, it's not in 4K. What gives? Leo says to make sure the YouTube app on the TV is capable of streaming in 4K. It's likely the app isn't 4K capable. What Leo recommends is to use the Roku 4K streaming device. Let it do the streaming. That way, the 4K processing will be handled by the Roku device. Also, YouTube TV charges $20 more a month for 4K streaming. So if he doesn't have that subscription, he won't be streaming in 4K.
Johnny Jet and the Cancelled Spirit
Episode 1817
Spirit Airlines has been cancelling hundreds of flights all week, stranding many customers at airports, as they scramble to find another carrier. The problem is, that Spirit doesn't have any agreements with other airlines to put you on another flight. It was so bad, that gate agents were hiding. American Airlines had problems with cancelled flights too, but it wasn't nearly as bad. Why was it happening? Johnny says that airlines weren't expecting a travel surge that happened this week and they don't have the trained staff to accommodate it.
Should I Buy My Email Service?
Episode 1817
Micah fromMicah is about to move out of Maine and wants to be able to move his email to a reliable provider. Leo says that email is too important to rely on free email. Leo recommends paying for the service. He uses FastMail. The cost is about $230 for three years (or $80 a year). Leo also recommends getting his own domain name for it. That way, if he changes providers, it doesn't impact his email. He can use Hover to register the domain.