Switchback: Talking Tech (Nov. 7)

Interesting question. I use my smartphone and  Evernote's voice memo function for this, truth be told. But you could also look into a digital recorder, such as the kind reporters use. You could also look at something like the Livescribe Echo, which is a pen with recording capabilities. A pen that records audio may also have the added bonus of making you feel like a spy.

Any other suggestions?

Haven't used it, so no comments on if its cool or whatever. But I want to go ahead and raise some privacy questions: In order to process this stuff, does Amazon have access to every piece bit of audio in the device's vicinity? Does it store it all? If so, for how long? These aren't unique questions to this device -- if you have a Smart TV, read the privacy policy...

In this vein, I just got myself one of those Sonos speakers and am enjoying it a great deal. I talk to it but it doesn't answer.

One of the interesting things about tech is that it often winds up bridging the partisan divide. In the most recent Congress, tech folks have been frustrated that seemingly bipartisan policy solutions get undermined simply because the Senate wants to score points against the House, or vice versa. So in terms of gridlock, the change in Senate control could be a good thing. But as I note in my morning-after coverage, it all depends on how serious Republicans are about governing. If they spend the next two years sending Obama poison-pill legislation that he's forced to veto, then the gridlock effectively just moves west by a few blocks.

Forgive the self promotion, but I had a look at this question a few weeks back. One thing to add there is that there are strong political reasons for Republicans to align themselves with tech -- to be gauche, they have to do with cash and cachet -- so that might be a motivator. But you never know. Tech indeed doesn't break down cleanly along party lines, so maybe we're at a point where people are tired enough of fighting to spend time considering some questions they might actually governing on. 

I use Google Voice on iOS 8 and it works fine for me. I don't have any solid facts for you on the question of phasing out -- it hasn't been supported and updated super well in the past few years as we all have moved away from making actual calls on our phones. Officially, I haven't heard anything about my questions on a phase-out. But they did recently integrate it with Hangouts, so you could certainly see things headed in that direction.

Messages is nice for Google Voice substitute in the "I can use my phone through my computer" sort of way. But it doesn't have what I think is the killer feature of Google Voice -- the ability to forward calls from multiple places  to a separate number.

I honestly can't, though the conspiracy theory part of my brain has some ideas. 

Seriously, though: lots of things cause Bluetooth interference -- physical barriers, confounding signals, etc. -- but I can't think of anything super obvious in that area off the top of my head. Would love to know if other people have experienced the same thing.

This seems to call for a field test.

Sen. Ron Wyden has been one of the most vocal critics of the NSA to date. But I suspect the more time passes and the further we get from the revelations, the less appetite there'll be for doing something about it.

Wyden for sure, and Rand Paul has been vocal, too. It will be interesting to see if more folks take up the issue now that we're in that brief period between elections. There will be hearings, and politicians can quickly discover their interest in the issue as it starts rising in the public consciousness and on their hearing schedules. 

I kinda hate myself for even saying it, but I'm curious where to get to on this stuff when it comes to the 2016 presidential election. 

Nancy.

I already said I feel bad!

When Jeff Bezos is around, I try to ask him real questions. And I, like you, haven't seen anything about Echo's privacy policy posted yet. I'm working on it. 

I haven't had as much time with the Note 4 as I have with the Plus, to be fair, so this is sort of a flash-review, and I don't have a definitive answer.

I'd say the Note 4 is most suited to people who like to use the stylus. If you're a phone note-taker or someone who likes to draw quick charts and diagrams, for example, then it's kind of a no-brainer. It also has that gorgeous Samsung screen.

The iPhone 6 Plus is thinner and a little easier on the pockets than the Note 4, and they've compared pretty well when it comes speed in my daily use. (I haven't actually done a speed test on them, though.)

The Note 4 also seems, to me, to be a little overpriced for what it is when compared to other big Android phones on the market. But, as I said, I haven't had as much time to play around with all of its features.

The deal is this: Amazon launched a Fire TV stick last week -- while I was on vacation, so excuse me if I miss a trick or two --  for $40. (Well, $39.) It supports Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, ESPN and, of course, Amazon Prime. Prime has been a major gap missing from the stick's biggest competitor, Google's $35 Chromecast.

It's probably more worth it for Prime members than anyone else, since you'll have access to all of the streaming shows that come with your Prime membership.

As for whether you can use it with your television, that depends. The stick plugs into the HDMI port on your television, so if you have one of those you *should* be good to go. It also has a micro USB charging port, so you'll need an outlet as well.

Perhaps.