The end of Sony TVs as we know them
Plus: An AI voice keyboard for Android, two promising note apps, and why I’m giving ChatGPT’s browser another shot.
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Rich on Tech newsletter!
Hope you are having a fantastic week!
The end of an era for Sony TVs
There are a couple of things I really remember as a kid, and one of them is my dad bringing home a giant Sony stereo system that was made up of various components on some sort of rack. It had cassette players, a record player, speakers, and all kinds of buttons and switches. As a kid, I remember it feeling super cutting edge and pretty amazing.
The other thing I remember is our Sony Trinitron TV. It was the best of the best. That brand meant you had reached the pinnacle of picture quality, and that thing was a honker. It was huge.
Fast forward to when I first visited CEATEC in 2011, Japan’s tech show, and I was presented on the show floor with every single Japanese brand name I had grown up with as a kid. Sony. Toshiba. Yashica. Sanyo. Nissan. Toyota. Hitachi. It really occurred to me in that moment that Japan was the place for high-quality electronics.
Fast forward to today, and we’ve seen pressure from China on just about every industry, including electronics. Now Sony is essentially ceding its TV business to TCL, an upstart that most people in the U.S. hadn’t even heard of until a few years ago. They became well known for their Roku TVs, and now they’re recognized for delivering a lot for the price.
Sony and TCL will work together. Sony brings the picture and audio smarts. TCL brings the manufacturing expertise. The Bravia name will live on with these new TVs. This won’t happen overnight, and it still needs approval, but the bottom line is clear. This is a huge shift in the TV industry.
A better talk-to-text keyboard for Android
If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know I’ve talked a lot about these AI talk-to-text keyboards, especially the one I like from Wispr Flow. I’ve been using it for a long time on the iPhone, but I’ve been waiting for one of these to come to Android. This week, it finally happened. There’s now an AI talk-to-text keyboard for Android phones.
Typeless has released its voice-to-text keyboard for Android. You can download it and start using it immediately. You get up to 4,000 words a week for free, and they also have apps for the iPhone, Mac, and Windows.
I’ve been testing it out, and there are a couple of things I like, and a couple of things I don’t like.
What I like is the accuracy. These keyboards don’t just do a straight transcription. They’re actually recording your audio, listening to everything you say, and using AI to understand context and intent. If you misspeak or throw in an extra word, it figures that out and cleans it up. The result is text that’s far better than what’s typically built into your phone’s keyboard.
What I don’t love is the design. The Typeless keyboard is essentially one large microphone button, which takes some getting used to. You can make corrections with your voice, and that does work, but I think it would feel more natural if there were a traditional keyboard in the middle with a microphone button off to the side. That setup would make it easier to smoothly switch between talking and typing.
Right now, it’s a little cumbersome to keep switching back and forth between a standard keyboard and the Typeless keyboard. That said, it shouldn’t stop you from trying it. I definitely recommend downloading it and giving it a shot.
Typeless says it doesn’t train its AI on your data and doesn’t store your voice recordings on its servers.
As for Wispr Flow, which is still my favorite on the computer and the iPhone, the company says the Android beta is coming soon. It’s taken a while, though, and Typeless has a working option right now.
Why I’m giving ChatGPT’s browser another try
Also this week, I found out that ChatGPT has updated its web browser, Atlas, to let you lean more on Google for searches.
I originally downloaded Atlas (Mac only for now) when it first came out because I love the idea of having ChatGPT built into my web browser so I can use it side by side with what I’m working on. One of the big benefits is that ChatGPT can actually see the tab, page, email, or content you’re working with, so it understands what you’re asking questions about.
Now you can set search so it prefers Google. It doesn’t always default to it, but it often will, and that alone makes the browser a lot better.
I’ll tell you the killer features. There are really two of them.
First is email. I respond to a lot of emails every week, and ChatGPT can see the email I’m replying to. When I write my response, it can help polish it into something clearer and more aligned with how I normally write.
The second is text selection. You can highlight any text on your screen. If you’re writing something like this newsletter, you can polish just that section, rewrite it, or do basically anything you want with that selected text.
You might be saying that Google’s Chrome browser now has Gemini built in, and that Gmail does too. And yes, that’s true. Gemini is great at a lot of things, but I find it just doesn’t understand the way I write as well as ChatGPT does, especially when it comes to email responses.
I won’t say Atlas is perfect, but it’s built on a Chrome base, so extensions work. And for now, I’m giving it a real try.
Two note-taking apps worth a look
Also this week, I found a couple of new note-taking apps that have a lot of promise. In fact, two of them that I wanted to run by you.
You know I’ve been using Obsidian, and I like it because it’s open to a community of developers who create plugins, and it lets me store all of my files in my own cloud storage. You do have to pay to sync notes across devices, although you can sync for free if you’re on an iPhone.
Overall, it’s been pretty good. I don’t love the entire format of the app. It can feel a little clunky, and markdown isn’t my favorite. Still, I’ve stuck with it because I like the long-term aspect of owning my data at all times.
That said, I’ve been playing with two other apps this week that I think have a lot of potential if you’re looking for something like an Evernote replacement.
The first is UpNote. It’s made by a very small developer team, just two people, and it has almost every feature I need, including the ability to print notes. I don’t know why so many note apps make this hard, but UpNote does it easily.
UpNote is nearly perfect for what I need, so I’m tiptoeing into it to see how it fits. The main downside is that everything is stored on their servers, which are U.S.-based. It’s not end-to-end encrypted, but it is encrypted in transit and at rest. The price, though, is hard to beat: $40 for a lifetime license, and there are apps for just about every platform.
If you want something with stronger privacy, Standard Notes is also worth a look. The catch is that you get a pretty limited feature set with basic notes unless you pay to upgrade. Paid plans start at around $90 a year, which can add up over time. That said, I love the design, and if you pay, there are a lot of great features. It was also recently acquired by Proton, which is a big name in privacy-focused tools.
You might be wondering why I don’t just use Apple Notes, OneNote, Evernote, or a dozen other apps. Believe me, I’ve tested them all. For me, it comes down to a specific combination of features, long-term viability, data ownership, and price.
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All my CES coverage, in one place
Remember CES? It feels like ages ago. Here’s an episode of Rich on Tech Weekly that compiles all of my coverage in one place. If you can, bookmark it and watch it on your TV from the couch. Since it’s almost half an hour long, that’s the best way to sit back and relax. Enjoy!
What AI coding looks like in real life
My kid has been having a field day programming websites using Gemini, and it’s actually been pretty impressive. I’ve had a bunch of ideas for apps over the years, and he’s been able to code them in literally a matter of minutes.
We’ve heard a lot about vibe coding and using AI to generate code, but this is real. These are working apps and working websites, and you wouldn’t believe the level of polish AI can add in just moments.
He’s shown me four or five apps that he’s created so far. Some were his ideas, some were mine. One of them is something I’ve wanted for a long time: a simple website where my radio show segments are constantly playing.
We built a basic site that does exactly that. Tap the button below to check out the site. Press play and it will start streaming one of my radio shows.
If you’ve ever had an idea for an app or wanted to code a website, you can now just go to Gemini and literally ask it to do it for you. You’ll be shocked at how well it works.
Gemini will generate the code, and you can paste it into something like Google Sites to quickly see how it looks, or use a service like Netlify to turn it into a working website or app. Ideas that used to take weeks or months can now be tested in minutes.
Tech Tidbits
There’s finally a deal in place that will save TikTok and allow the app to continue operating in the U.S.
You can now check out the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold smartphone at Samsung Experience Stores across the U.S. There’s still no official launch date or price just yet.
Spectrum now offers Wi-Fi 7 extenders. If your Spectrum Wi-Fi signal is spotty, you can rent one for $5 a month to help improve coverage.
Verizon has officially bought back Frontier Fiber networks it sold years ago. If you live in one of these territories, it’s worth checking current offers, which include everything from free cell service and free phones to free internet.
If you use Instapaper for your reading list, it will soon charge to sync articles to Kindle. As alternatives, you can use Amazon’s Send to Kindle website or the Chrome extension.
If you’re ordering a rideshare and only opening one app, you may be leaving money on the table, according to a new study. Bottom line: always compare prices on Uber and Lyft, because the exact same ride can often be cheaper on one than the other.
Q&A: iPad manual hunt
Michael, listening on the podcast, asks:
“Santa brought me a new 11-inch iPad, which I’m loving so far. The only problem is, it came with just a quick ‘Getting Started’ sheet. I’m looking for a full operating manual so I can really dig in and learn everything it can do. A free download would be great, but I don’t mind paying a few bucks if that’s the only option. Any suggestions?”
You’re not missing anything. Apple really doesn’t do full printed manuals anymore. Years ago, I actually wrote a book that worked as a great user manual for the iPhone, but that’s long out of date now.
The good news is that Apple does publish some excellent guides, and they’re available for just about every product they make, including the iPad. They’re all digital, and you can find them on the Apple Support website.
You can read the iPad user guide online for free. One tip: since it’s digital, it helps to have a companion device nearby so you can follow along while actually using your iPad.
Feedbag: Teaching Tech Confidence
Sienna in California writes…
I just wanted to say thank you. I love reading your newsletter every week. I’m a librarian in California and I teach a free class for seniors called “Tech Help.” I really enjoy your tech questions from readers section, and I often use things you share on Substack and on your podcast as inspiration or as a reference for my students. It really helps make tech feel more approachable for them. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Thanks so much, Sienna. It really means a lot to hear that what I’m sharing is useful, especially knowing you’re helping seniors feel more confident with tech. I appreciate you taking the time to write.
Got something to tell me? Send it here!
That’s going to do it for this edition of the Rich on Tech newsletter. You can catch my radio show live Saturday at 11 a.m. on KFI AM 640. Call in with your questions at 888-RICH-101, listen to the podcast, or tune in to 710 WOR for the replay in New York City at 5 p.m. Pacific on Sunday night.
Rich