The sneaky accident scene scam you need to watch for
Plus: Google’s new Gemini superpower, my mission to build a home NAS, and Apple’s updated $599 iPhone
What a week. I had just gotten off the phone with my wife when she called back minutes later. I immediately knew something was wrong. Turns out, she had been involved in a car accident. I dropped everything and raced out to meet her where it happened. Although she told me the intersection, I barely heard it. I just opened up Find My on my phone and navigated to her location, hoping it was current.
Details of the accident are still being sorted out.
But when I arrived, I saw several cars involved and since it was on a busy street, the scene was quite chaotic, with a mix of officials, witnesses and those involved.
An accident scene is sensory overload. There’s a lot going on and you’re trying to keep everything straight. In the process, we learned about a scam that police say happens at accident scenes. People show up claiming they have video of the crash and ask for your phone number so they can text it to you. Later, they may call pretending to be from your insurance company or saying your car sent a crash alert and they can dispatch a tow truck. Accept that tow and you could end up facing extremely high fees. According to officers on the scene, they see this happen multiple times every day.
Then there’s the exchange of information and photos. A nearby witness had security camera footage they wanted to AirDrop to my phone but it kept failing. Apple’s newer safety system, which presents a code on your phone to confirm transfers with strangers, is an absolute pain in a moment like this when every second counts. We tried no less than a dozen times to get the transfer to work before finally texting the video instead.
Then there’s the issue of video and photo quality. Someone nearby captured video of a car that may have been involved, but their video quality was set so low that when you zoom into the plate it’s nearly impossible to make out.
My wife’s dash cam seemed to capture every bit of her driving that day except the moment of impact, which is the part I actually needed. I’m still trying to retrieve the footage from it. I often get a lot of questions about a good dash cam and I don’t have a perfect recommendation here. Ideally it would record the front, interior and rear view of the car. I’m spoiled since Tesla captures no less than seven angles all around the car and inside on a loop.
And don’t get me started on automated systems. As I tried to get in touch with my insurance company and roadside assistance, each one wanted me to navigate through a phone tree. Worse, those same systems were voice activated, so every time someone spoke in the background it messed up the entire flow. Then they tried texting me a link to complete my request. In a moment like this, all you really want to do is speak with a helpful human. It was all very frustrating to say the least.
As for the scam tow drivers, they kept calling my wife’s phone since she originally gave out her number in her initial daze and panic, so I finally answered. They said they were with the car company, mentioned the brand by name, and said they could tow it right to the nearby facility. I told them it was funny because my car doesn’t have a way to alert them to this kind of thing and the police here said this is a scam. They immediately hung up.
Thankfully she’s okay and recovering, but something like this takes time. There’s the shock of the situation, the time you spend figuring everything out and so much more.
But I’ve been reading a book called The Laws of Human Nature, and the first chapter is all about being rational and thinking instead of overreacting. I truly believe it helped me respond in a calm manner at the accident scene and keep perspective throughout all of this. I’m not sure why bad things like this happen, but it’s how you handle them that matters most in life. You can let it defeat you or you can see it as a temporary roadblock.
This too shall pass.
Google finally added the Gemini feature I’ve been waiting for
I’m pretty excited about two pretty big tech breakthroughs this week. Let’s start with Google.
They finally added a feature I’ve been wanting for a very long time: the ability to use Gemini to sort through Google Drive. I’ve had bits and pieces of this over the past year or so, but they finally turned it into exactly what I wanted, which is the ability to have Gemini reference a specific folder on Google Drive.
Why is that handy? Because I can now use AI to slice and dice my entire note-taking system, which means I’ve switched back to Obsidian.
The thing about Obsidian is that it stores your files locally, which means you can sync them with services like iCloud or Google Drive. In my case, I’m using Google Drive, because everything I do inside Obsidian is reflected there.
Then I can go into Gemini and ask questions about anything inside my Obsidian notes.
You might remember I mentioned Craft as my other favorite note-taking app, which I’m still mostly using for producing my radio show. That has its own AI assistant built in, as do many of the other note-taking apps.
But I really like the idea that I own my own files inside Google Drive. That’s especially useful for building a long-term personal knowledge base.
The other nice thing about Obsidian is that it connects with lots of other services. For instance, my Voice Notes app feeds right into Obsidian. Tasks can feed into Obsidian as well, along with a bunch of other apps.
So what does this all mean?
It means I now have a bookmark to an AI chatbot that essentially acts as a frontend to my personal filing system, covering every note I’ve taken. And it’s already pretty good.
Since I often jot down notes about my kids and the silly things they say, I can now just ask the AI to tell me something funny one of them said and it will pull up an answer.
The one caveat is that you do have to be on Google’s paid AI plan to use this feature.
Google also upgraded Gemini’s capabilities across its Workspace tools, including Docs, Sheets, Slides and, of course, Drive.
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My mission to build a personal home NAS
The other big breakthrough is that I’m finally on my way to setting up a personal NAS system. If you’re not familiar with NAS, it stands for Network Attached Storage.
Right now I store all of my photos in Google Photos, and of course I have Google Drive. But I also have scattered data all over the web on different cloud storage services, plus a few hard drives around the house.
What I want to do is consolidate everything so I have a copy of it all on a physical drive in my home.
It doesn’t need to be super fancy. I ended up going with the UGREEN DH2300, which is a two-bay NAS. That just means it holds two hard drives.
With that setup, you can replicate the first drive to the second drive. Whatever is on the first drive is copied to the second one. If the first drive fails, the second one acts as the backup.
I went with a 16TB drive to start.
So far I’ve been very impressed with both the look and the setup of the NAS, but I will tell you if you’re thinking of putting this thing in your living room, it can be loud, apparently depending on the drives you pick to put inside. Think of it as an internet-connected hard drive that lives on your home network. You can sync cloud storage to it, or just store your own files there and access them from anywhere.
The other big brands in this space are Synology and QNAP. UGREEN is actually a relatively new name in NAS, but I really liked the reviews on this device. I also see UGREEN at a lot of the tech trade shows and they consistently do a great job making useful tech accessories at a good price. Their products are usually very fully featured.
I’ve used Synology in the past and it was fine, but their consumer base model isn’t quite as powerful as the one I ended up getting here.
My current plan is to do a Google Takeout of my Google Photos into Google Drive. As those giant zip files arrive in Drive, I’m going to have the NAS automatically pull them down and store them in a separate folder that isn’t synced back to the cloud.
That means I’ll end up with a full physical copy of my Google Photos library on a drive in my home, while still keeping everything in the cloud as well.
I’ll keep you posted on the progress. We’re talking about four terabytes of photos, so this is definitely not a fast process.
One privacy trick everyone should be using: email aliases
Have you heard of the concept of email aliases?
Instead of using your real email address, you use an alias. It’s a random email address that simply forwards messages to your main inbox.
They’re actually pretty easy to set up if you pay for iCloud. Apple has a built-in feature called Hide My Email that lets you create aliases instantly.
You might have even seen it before. On an iPhone, just go to Settings → your Apple account → iCloud → Hide My Email, and you can create a new email address right there.
You can also use other services that offer email aliases. Some free services will give you a limited number of aliases to start. Check out Addy.io or Alias Email.
The best part about these email addresses is that they don’t reveal your real email. That’s especially helpful when it comes to data breaches.
You can also disable them anytime. That means if you sign up for something like car dealership emails or a random website and start getting spammed, you can simply turn that alias off and the messages stop coming through.
Apple’s most affordable iPhone gets a few upgrades
The iPhone 17e is Apple’s most affordable phone. It sells for $599, and this year brings a couple of upgrades, including MagSafe, which lets you attach magnetic accessories to the back of the phone.
It also comes with a generous 256GB of storage by default, which is double what last year’s model offered.
The downsides? There’s just one camera lens, it doesn’t have an always-on display, and the refresh rate is still pretty basic compared to most other phones. But if you don’t know what that means, it’s probably not something that will bother you.
Overall, it’s still a fantastic device for the price. This is a phone for someone who says, “I just need a phone. I don’t really care about what it does.”
You still get all the benefits of an iPhone: the app ecosystem, the accessories, and the long-term software support. And you get all of that for a price tag that’s pretty reasonable.
Could you find a cheaper Android phone out there? Absolutely. But will it deliver the same overall experience? I don’t think so.
That said, I personally wouldn’t pay the full $599 for this device. I’d set the target price at about $100 less. A lot of carriers will offer it free with a trade-in or if you sign up for one of their premium plans, so it’s definitely worth keeping an eye out for deals.
AI scanners are now checking cars before the mechanic even looks at them
If you recall my recent car rental, I had to run the vehicle through an AI scanner. It takes pictures of the car and compares images from before and after the rental to check for damage.
Now that same technology is being used by car dealerships to scan vehicles as soon as they’re brought in for service.
Obviously it can’t look inside the engine or through the car, but it can analyze the outside in great detail. It can spot body damage, check the condition of the tires, and even scan the undercarriage. These systems are already scanning millions of cars every month, so the AI is constantly learning and getting better at identifying potential issues over time.
Now, the flip side of all this is that it could also lead to more recommended repairs at dealerships and repair shops.
But there is something appealing about the idea of an independent AI system looking over your car and documenting everything down to the smallest details before any work even begins.
Tech Tidbits
If you’re looking for an edgier Alexa voice, you can now switch to “Sassy.” Just be warned, this one isn’t for kids. The assistant can occasionally drop a bit of profanity.
Google Maps is getting a major redesign that lets you ask Maps questions using AI, and navigation is becoming more immersive as well.
Amazon is renaming its ad-free Prime Video experience Amazon Prime Ultra, and the price is increasing from $3 per month to $5 per month.
And if you’re an art fan, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has released high-resolution 3D scans of more than 100 famous objects, letting you explore them online in incredible detail.
Q&A: EV charging apps
Tony writes…
Rich, we bought a 2026 Honda Prologue EX over the weekend and we’re wondering what EV charging apps you recommend.
Congrats on the new EV, Tony.
Two apps I recommend are PlugShare and A Better Routeplanner.
PlugShare is great for finding chargers nearby and seeing real reviews from other drivers about whether the stations actually work.
A Better Routeplanner is helpful for longer trips. It plans your route and tells you where to stop and charge along the way based on your car, the distance, and available charging stations.
Drive an EV that’s not a Tesla? Let me know if you’ve found a helpful app!
Feedbag
Richard in Calabasas writes…
Hi Rich, I just wanted to say I really enjoy your show. I appreciate the way you share the latest tech news and explain the more complicated stuff in a way that actually makes sense. And I have to say, you’re also very patient with the callers. I usually listen to the podcast version on Spotify.
Danielle in North Idaho writes…
Good morning from North Idaho! First, I adore your newsletter. I’d rank myself as below-average tech savvy but not helpless, and you make things easy to read and understand for people like me. I learn something important in every issue, so thank you for that.
Well, thank you, Richard and Danielle. Notes like that truly make my day. In fact, I keep a whole folder of them on my computer. :)
Thanks so much for reading this edition of the newsletter.
Be sure to listen to my radio show Saturday at 11 a.m. on KFI AM 640. We’ve got a great guest this weekend, David Pogue.
Pogue wrote a column for The New York Times for many years, and he now has a new book out called Apple: The First 50 Years, so we’ll talk about that.
Fun fact: Apple is notoriously secretive, but Pogue was one of just four reviewers outside the company who got access to an iPhone before it launched to the public.
Have a great weekend.
Rich