Your Roku is about to look very different

This week, I crisscrossed the country to check out the latest from Roku. The streaming platform wants to predict what you might want to watch next. The question is whether you’ll find that helpful or annoying.

More on that in a second, but first a few observations from the trip.

One of my travel rules: always keep an eye on your seat assignment before a flight. You never know when a better seat will open up. Sure enough, about a day before takeoff, I was able to snag an aisle seat that was much more to my liking.

It was also my first trip with a new carry-on suitcase, which I splurged on. So far, I’m impressed. It has what feels like a million compartments and, most importantly, a built-in but removable garment bag. That’s key for the kinds of trips I take, where I usually need to pack a few pressed shirts. My previous carry-on was an Amazon Basics model that cost about $75 and somehow survived five years of heavy travel. It exceeded all my expectations.

Another travel rule: never rely on inflight Wi-Fi for anything important unless it’s powered by Starlink.

On my flight to New York, the connection was so bad I eventually gave up trying to work. On the flight home, I decided not to buy Wi-Fi at all, which turned out to be the right move. The system had issues throughout the flight and at one point the crew had to perform what they described as a “hard restart,” causing every screen on the plane to go blank, even for passengers in the middle of movies.

One thing that did impress me: the airline must have known how poor the service was on my outbound flight because they automatically refunded my Wi-Fi purchase without me even asking.

I also always download my own entertainment before every flight. This time I loaded up a handful of movies, including Marty Supreme, which I absolutely loved. Great performances, a unique story, funny dialogue, and just the right amount of absurdity.

While I was in New York, I stayed in Chinatown, an area I’d never stayed in before. That’s where one of my favorite newer Google Maps features came in handy.

If you haven’t tried Ask Maps yet, give it a shot. You’ll find it right below the search bar in Google Maps. Instead of searching for a specific business, you can ask for exactly what you’re looking for.

Best lunch under $10? Ask.

Best smash burger nearby? Ask.

A great old fashioned in a dimly lit bar? Ask.

So far, the recommendations have been spot on. It feels a bit like having a knowledgeable local guide in your pocket, and I’ve found myself using it all the time.

Roku’s redesigned home screen is the biggest overhaul the company has made in more than 10 years.

That’s a big deal when you consider more than 100 million households use Roku. When a product is this popular, every change is risky. People tend to like Roku because it’s simple. Change too much and you risk upsetting your biggest fans.

So what’s actually different?

The first thing you’ll notice is that Roku no longer treats your apps as the star of the show.

Instead, the top of the screen is now dedicated to recommendations. Roku calls it “Top Picks For You,” and it’s designed to predict what you want to watch before you even open an app. It might be a live sporting event, the next episode of a series you’re watching, or a movie Roku thinks you’ll enjoy.

Below that is a new “Quick Access” section that adapts to your habits. Think favorite apps, frequently used shortcuts, and things Roku notices you use most often.

One feature I really like is the new Subscriptions section. Tell Roku which streaming services you pay for and it will surface shows and movies from those services in one place. If you’re tired of opening Netflix, then Disney+, then Max just to see what’s new, this could save some time.

The familiar app grid is still there. It’s just been pushed farther down the page.

And yes, there’s now a large ad on the home screen. You can tell Roku you don’t like a particular ad, but you can’t remove the ad space entirely.

The temptation for longtime Roku users might be to immediately turn everything off and go back to the old layout. You can do some of that. Roku lets you disable many of the recommendation rows and personalization features in Settings > Home screen.

My advice? Give it a week.

Roku told me its recommendation system gets noticeably better after learning your viewing habits. Whether that’s true will vary from person to person, but I think it’s worth living with before making a final judgment.

Personally, I spend way too much time scrolling through streaming services trying to decide what to watch. By the time we finally pick something, the pizza is cold and we’re nearly ready for bed.

That’s why I think Roku may be onto something.

Roku seems to understand that the biggest problem in streaming today isn’t finding content. It’s finding something worth watching among the various services we’re already paying for.

Of course, there’s another side to this story.

Roku isn’t just a streaming platform. It’s also an advertising company. The more time you spend on Roku, the more it can show you ads, collect viewing data, and recommend content that keeps you engaged.

During setup, I noticed Roku wanted to enable Automatic Content Recognition, or ACR. This technology can analyze what’s playing on your TV screen to help build a profile of your viewing habits.

If you’re privacy-conscious, I’d recommend turning that off.

Go to:

Settings → Privacy → Smart TV Experience → Automatic Content Recognition

Overall, I think Roku is trying to balance two competing goals: helping viewers navigate an increasingly confusing streaming landscape while also growing its advertising business.

For now, I think the redesign works.

It’s more ambitious than the old Roku experience, and definitely more opinionated. But if it can help people spend less time searching and more time watching, that’s a tradeoff many viewers will gladly make.

My wife likes listening to satellite radio in her car. (When she’s not listening to my radio show, of course.)

Her subscription was up for renewal, and I got the typical notice: the price was jumping from $6.99 a month to $26.99 a month.

Sorry, but I’m not paying an extra $20 a month for the two or three channels she actually listens to.

So I logged into the website and found Harmony, the company’s AI chatbot for account support. Then I had an idea: What if I let AI negotiate with AI?

I opened ChatGPT and explained the situation: They wanted to raise the price from $6.99 to $26.99 a month. Then I started copying and pasting. Whatever Harmony said, I pasted into ChatGPT. Whatever ChatGPT suggested in response, I pasted back into Harmony.

A few rounds later, Harmony offered $9.99 a month. Not bad. I probably would have accepted it.

But ChatGPT told me to push a little further.

One more message later and they agreed to keep the service at $6.99 a month for another year.

That’s a savings of $240 over the next 12 months, and the whole process took less than two minutes.

I know there’s a lot of skepticism around AI, but this felt like a good example of how it can save you time and money. I’ve negotiated these kinds of subscription renewals with human agents before, and it usually takes much longer.

Of course, this won’t work everywhere. Some services don’t negotiate pricing at all. You’re probably not talking Netflix into a discount. But if a company already offers retention deals, and its chatbot has the authority to make changes to your account, AI might be an effective negotiating partner.

The wireless industry seems to be splitting into two camps.

On one side, you have premium plans loaded with extras like smartwatch connectivity, streaming services, and satellite features. On the other, you have people who couldn’t care less about the perks and just want the lowest monthly bill possible.

That’s where things are getting interesting.

I recently saw a 𝕏post from friend of the show Stetson Doggett of BestPhonePlans.net, who said a new $25 unlimited plan from Total Wireless might be one of the best deals in wireless right now.

So I took a closer look.

The catch is that you need to bring your own unlocked phone and sign up for Auto Pay. If you can do that, the plan includes unlimited data, talk, text, hotspot access, international calling, and roaming. Not bad for $25 a month.

For perspective, Mint Mobile charges around $30 a month for their unlimited plan, while US Mobile has a $25 option and Visible is currently promoting unlimited service for $20 a month. The difference is that some carriers require you to pay for a full year upfront to get their lowest price.

The nice thing about Total Wireless (owned by Verizon) is that you don’t have to do that. Just bring your phone, turn on Auto Pay, and you’re good to go.

It’s another reminder that if you’ve been with the same wireless carrier for years, it might be worth shopping around. The savings can add up quickly.

I often talk about scams and you might wonder who actually falls for these things.

Well, a prominent tech YouTuber recently got scammed out of nearly $100,000. Fortunately, he eventually got the money back.

If it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.

He was traveling in Japan, jet-lagged, and got a call that appeared to be from his bank. The caller claimed there were suspicious transactions on his account and offered to help secure it.

The story sounded legitimate. The caller knew personal details about him, including information about his accounts and the fact that he was traveling.

Over the next couple of hours, he followed what he thought were security instructions to protect his money. In reality, he was authorizing transactions that sent money directly to scammers.

The part that really got me was when his actual bank got involved. The real bank representative told him, “We would never call you.”

His response?

“Well, you’re calling me right now.”

I could relate.

A few years ago, I was traveling in Japan when my debit card suddenly stopped working. I had to call my bank, and I remember spending what felt like an hour on the phone while they walked me through a bunch of security questions and verification steps to reactivate the card.

At one point, I actually started wondering if I was being scammed. The whole thing felt suspicious. In my case, it was completely legitimate, but it reminded me how difficult it can be to tell the difference when you’re tired, stressed, traveling, or dealing with a financial issue.

That’s what makes modern scams so tricky. The advice sounds simple until you’re in the middle of a situation trying to figure out who’s real and who’s not.

Fortunately, the YouTuber’s bank ultimately refunded the money. But his experience is a reminder that scammers are incredibly sophisticated. They create urgency, keep you on the phone, and convince you that you’re solving a problem when you’re actually creating one.

My rule of thumb remains the same: if someone is asking you to move money, transfer funds, read security codes, act quickly, stay on the phone, or keep the conversation secret, stop and verify everything through official channels.

Hang up and call the number on the back of your card.

A legitimate company won’t mind if you double-check. A scammer will.

I get a lot of questions about personal data floating around online.

Your information can show up in two very different places.

There are legitimate data broker and people-finder sites that collect and publish details like your name, address, and phone number. That’s the information services like Incogni can help remove.

Then there’s the dark web, which usually involves data from breaches. Once it’s there, it’s very difficult to control or remove. These breach notifications seem to arrive regularly these days.

For the stuff you can control, I’ve been using Incogni. It automatically sends removal requests to data brokers on your behalf.

Since last May, it’s sent 660 takedown requests for me. In the past month alone, it got 227 data brokers to stop including my information. My dashboard shows that responses take about nine days on average.

You can add email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses to cover different variations of your data.

Right now they’re offering their best discount to my readers.

Protect your identity. Get 60% off at Incogni with code RICHONTECH.

I got my first look at a foldable phone back in 2019 at Samsung’s Experience Store in Glendale. The concept was exciting, but the launch was rocky. Early review units had major issues, and many people wondered if foldables would ever catch on.

Fast forward seven years, and foldables have come a long way.

I’ve been testing Motorola’s new Razr Fold, and overall, I’m impressed. The screens are excellent, the hardware feels polished, and I actually prefer Motorola’s software to Samsung’s because it’s closer to stock Android. My biggest complaint is that it’s heavier than I’d like and the camera seems one software update away from being great.

The question I always get is: who wants a foldable phone?

For me, the answer is travelers. It gives you a smartphone and a small tablet in one device, making it easier to read, watch videos, or get work done without carrying extra gear.

The timing is interesting because Apple is expected to launch its own foldable iPhone soon. If that happens, it’s likely to bring a lot more attention to this category.

I put the Razr Fold through its paces in my latest TV review. Check it out and let me know if you think foldables are finally ready for the mainstream.

• DIRECTV is the latest TV provider to raise prices. Many customers will see monthly bills increase by $5 to $10, depending on their plan.

• Samsung Gallery will stop syncing directly with OneDrive later this year. The good news: your existing photos are safe. If you want new photos to keep backing up to OneDrive, just install the standalone OneDrive app. (Microsoft Support)

• Google says it’s working to address complaints from Fitbit users during the transition to the new Google Health experience.

• Friend of the show Krista K has updated her ▶recommendations for the best photo scanners if you’re finally ready to digitize those boxes of old family photos.

Jacinta L. asks: I keep hearing stories about scammers stealing your credit card information using RFID scanners. Do I need an RFID-blocking wallet or purse to protect myself?

My answer: Probably not.

RFID skimming is one of those things that gets a lot of attention, but real-world cases appear to be relatively rare. Most credit card fraud today happens online through phishing scams, data breaches, hacked accounts, fake websites, or stolen card numbers.

If an RFID-blocking wallet or sleeve gives you peace of mind, there’s nothing wrong with using one. Many are inex…