This week’s TechtalkRadio Show kicks off with Andy, Shawn, and Justin joking about cold basements, impulse buying, and Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals before diving into a discussion with former FBI spy hunter and cybersecurity expert Eric O’Neill, author of Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime. Eric explains why he hates the Hollywood “hoodie hacker” stereotype and argues that today’s cybercriminals operate more like spies—well-funded, organized, and focused on long-term reconnaissance and deception. He walks through how overseas criminal syndicates abuse the dark web, cryptocurrency, and lax enforcement in countries like Russia and China to attack victims in the U.S. with little fear of being caught.

From there, the conversation gets very real about modern scams: AI voice and video deepfakes used for “family emergency” scams, social media “fun quizzes” that are actually fishing for password reset information, and toll-road and smishing (SMS phishing) texts that weaponize urgency and fear. Eric stresses that everyone is a target, not just big companies—criminals simply look for whoever is most vulnerable, especially seniors and teens. His core advice: assume every unsolicited email or text is a potential viper, don’t click deal links in emails (go directly to the retailer’s site instead), enable two-factor authentication everywhere, and never pay scammers via wire transfer, crypto, or gift cards. He also recommends using credit cards over debit for fraud protection. Check out Eric’s Website at https://www.ericoneill.net

Shawn confesses to an expensive impulse buy: the Analog 3D, a high-end, hardware-accurate recreation of the Nintendo 64 that outputs in 4K and supports original cartridges and controllers—but he can’t find any of his N64 games. Cue memories of GoldenEye, Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 and the possibility that “Steve” might still be “borrowing” his carts. Justin follows with a deep dive into his heavily modded Steam Deck OLED, wrapped in real leather from dbrand, customized with copper-infused buttons designed to develop patina, and upgraded Hall-effect joysticks. He talks about tearing the handheld apart, troubleshooting joystick issues with AI tools, and that classic “one screw left over” moment, all while Andy points out how AI is speeding up creative work—from fixing graphics to solving hardware problems.

Listener questions round out the show. Martin in Vail asks about smartwatches for an iPhone, and Justin and Shawn recommend sticking with Apple Watch unless you need serious fitness and outdoor tracking, in which case Garmin shines with better GPS, battery life, and health metrics. Shawn also vents about Apple’s sometimes maddening notification behavior and how he fixed messages going only to his Mac instead of his watch/phone. Adrian in Irvine asks about secure email in light of concerns over big tech scanning messages for AI training; ProtonMail gets a thumbs-up overall, with a side note about recent worries over dormant address recycling. Justin’s Website of the Week is point.me, a service that helps combine travel points across multiple programs to unlock flights and hotel stays—complete with a real-world success story from their friend Matt flying upgraded to Spain on points. The crew wraps with holiday well-wishes, a shout-out to a YouTube viewer, and a joking plea for any listeners with spare Nintendo 64 cartridges to send them Shawn’s way.

Got a question for the show? Email techguys@techtalkradio.com, and catch more at techtalkradio.com.

Please Share, Listen, Subscribe to the Show on Spotify, Spreaker, iHeartRadio, YouTube and Our YouTube Page. Connect With Us on social media – See the Video of this Show on our YouTube Page and Now on Spotify as well.

Also Available on KGVY AM/FM, Amazon Music, PodBean and other Delivery Networks!

For this Weeks TechtalkRadio Show, Andy, Shawn and Justin open with the busy schedule for Shawn due to Sports Coverage at the University. Justin, however, now has his Valve Steamdeck and gives us the breakdown of his first impressions of this, going so far to say it will change his gaming experience forever. His first purchase was South Park Snow Day and Justin tells us why he liked it so much. Shawn tells us how iFixIt has stepped up the Right to Fix with a page dedicated to the Steam Deck.  Justin tells us the best way to buy the Steam Deck. Wyze announces a new Indoor/Outdoor Camera, Shawn likes it for some of the new features however understands some of the hesitation from users to buy a new Cam from them due to the security issues they have had documented in the past.

World Back Up Day happens Annually March 31st as a reminder to take the pledge to make backups of your Data. The Guys talk about Hardware such as Synology for Computer Systems and iXpand Drives from SanDisk for Mobile Devices. They Also talk about Software they use such as Acronis and a Limited Free choice called EaseUS Todo Backup. The best advice they share however is, to Do it. Make that backup.

Since World Back up happens this week, an Archived Interview with Former VP of Data and Storage Technologies Todd Johnson at Kroll On Track which produces software solutions for Data Retrieval and Forensics. Todd shares some stories of Data Recovery and the impact it can make.

If your Hard Drive stops powering up, in some cases, the PCP Board of these older Hard Drives can be replaced. In this Archived interview with Kevin Shaw of OnePCBSolution, he talks about bringing a drive back to live with a PCB and Firmware Exchange.

Justin tells us about House of Ninja’s on Netflix that he’s been watching while Shawn has started watching Scrubs in Rerun/Streaming. Andy has had a hard time watching shows however the guys tell him he needs to watch Breaking Bad which Andy couldn’t get into. Andy tells about running into Actor Raymond Cruz, Tuco, in a McDonalds in Marana. 

Tune in, Stream or Download the latest in our discussion of Tech and other fun discussions!
Connect With Us on social media

Facebook @techtalkers
Twitter @TechtalkRadio
Instagram techtalkradio
Web: TechtalkRadio.Com

Subscribe and Like on Audacy, iHeart, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google, Spotify and Spreaker!

In this week’s show, Shawn, Justin, and Andy try to decide which streaming service if they had to abandon, what would it be. In this, they talk about some of the great shows and reasons to watch and which ones they have that they would choose from to eliminate. One of the Constants among the three of them is YouTube for watching demo’s, shows, classic clips. Andy found a new reality show on YouTube with good production value and is based in Arizona called Crazy Eights.

Elden Rings is quickly becoming one of the most streamed games and for very good reason. Shawn and Justin talk about the popularity of Elden Rings and what makes this RPG so different from the rest. Andy thought Elden Rings was a New Video Doorbell for the Older Crowd. Andy gets his hands on a ATEM Mini and ask Shawn about some of the key features on the Mini and why this would be a good solution on a Large Zoom Gathering that Andy have been asked to put together.

While Justin passed on his opportunity to get the Valve Steam Desk Shawn tells us about the CEO of Valve hand delivering the Handheld gaming units to buyers in Seattle. Andy shares the Sabrent USB 3.0 4 Bay Docking Station which has a comfortable form factor for the desktop. While it does some RAID configurations Justin and Shawn share the NAS devices they use. Getting your Videos and Photos digitized if you are doing it yourself can be as easy as having a company send you a box however Shawn’s explanation truly nails it.

Connect with Us on social media!

Facebook @techtalkers
Twitter @TechtalkRadio
Instagram techtalkradio
Web: TechtalkRadio.Com

Subscribe and Like on Spreaker! Spotify, YouTube, Audacy, iHeart and Apple Podcast

In this week’s show, Justin, Shawn, and Andy break down some of the events of the Weekend including the “Big Game” for Sunday. Justin isn’t entirely happy that the game won’t be broadcast in 4K and shares his reasons why he feels it should be. Shawn breaks down some of the needs when broadcasting a Sporting Event in 4k and the Cost to equip the production crew. This year will present many commercials for products featuring a wide range of celebrities which is one of the extras Andy is focused on. The guys talk about the rise in many to look at Apps and Websites that allow in some states to wager on the game and believe new allowances for some this year, wagering will be open to many consumers. Listener Ana sends in a Question about wanting to upgrade her 6-year-old Motorola Android device and looks for what could be a possible replacement. Justin responds with his experience with the Google Pixel 6 and why this would be a good upgrade.

Listener Mike also wants some suggestions on the possibility of building a Gaming Streaming PC that could be built for around $1000. Shawn believes it can be done with some reservations and looks at PC Parts Picker as a source. Andy talks about his Recent Custom build and how on a recent visit to Costco found a comparable system in Speed and Cost for almost the same price point offered a much higher end graphics card, the RTX3060. This reminds many of the trend of people buying systems and pulling the graphics cards and reselling the new build with a lower graphics card to make the difference.

Justin decides he is going to pass on his Pre-Order of the Valve Steam-Deck and tells us why and what he bought instead? His Website of the Week is a play on the popularity of Wordle, this one WorldDl, see if you know your geography! worldle.teuteuf.fr

Connect with Us on social media!

Facebook @techtalkers
Twitter @TechtalkRadio
Instagram techtalkradio
Web: TechtalkRadio.Com

Subscribe and Like on Spreaker!