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Tech News and Commentary
Dave and the team discuss Peloton threatening to brick treadmills, a bill to limit the power of large tech companies, Starlink going global, Instagram on computers, insuring space passengers, Verizon’s smart display, a virtual SIM test-drive of T-Mobile, Android TV users, AI policing Facebook, and more.
Norm in Broomfield, Colorado listens to the podcasts on TuneIn and is calling via the AskDave button on our site and asked: “Question on all the new high power charging devices, specifically for Apple devices. There are built-in safety factors but they require a special high power cord, I think. Can you give me some advice? Do I throw away my old Apple lightning cables and just stick with the new USB-C cables or the new USB to lightning cables that are made for these devices?”
Norm, it depends on what youre plugging your phone into.
The USB standard is able to negotiate how much power to feed a device, but newer versions of the iPhone can take advantage of more power.
For example, the iPhone 11 was reported to be able to take advantage of at least 22W of power while charging, the real number may be higher since these were informal tests by reviewers. 22W translates to a 4 amp charger, but you can plug your iPhone straight into a MacBook Pros 87W charger and it will feed the iPhone with no issues.
If you want to take advantage of that kind of high powered charging, then yes, you should probably replace the stock USB cable. Those are usually estimated to be roughly 12W cables, so youll want a higher gauge cable.
Having said that, phones charge pretty quickly even with stock chargers so dont expect a bigger charger and a sturdier cable to get you to 100% in 3 minutes, it will still take a fairly normal amount of time for the phone to charge.
Bob in Hendersonville, Tennessee listens to the podcasts and asked: “Wondering about a situation where a lot of people know me and I know them, but I don’t know what their name is. Wondering if they’ve created an app that will use facial recognition and tell me who that person is.”
Bob, hopefully not.
That seems like a huge violation of peoples privacy and a horrible idea that will almost certainly lead to even more people (especially elderly people who tend to be less aware of technologies like that) being scammed by people pretending to be their long lost friends or relatives.
Theres too much facial recognition as it is, if you want to know who the person is you can always sneak a picture and ask your phone. If youve ever tagged them on the device itself or any of the creepy social networks weve come to accept, you can probably already get a name.
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