HaaS: Hay as a Service – Mac Geek Gab 876

Listen as John and Dave share your Quick Tips about Safari Picture-in-Picture, the caveats of Finder’s Drag and Drop, Apple Remotes, and more. Lots of suggestions and ideas about note-taking and idea capturing on-the-go in the episode, many of them from y’all! Then your two favorite geeks even have time to answer a few questions, including a clever workaround for blocking SMS spam. Plus… HaaS folks! It’s gonna be big! Or at least amusing. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things!

Lawyers: Turn off Alexa and Google Home Before Confidential Meetings

Lawyers who are working from home are encouraged to turn off devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home because these products may eavesdrop.

“Perhaps we’re being slightly paranoid, but we need to have a lot of trust in these organizations and these devices,” Hancock said. “We’d rather not take those risks.”

The firm worries about the devices being compromised, less so with name-brand products like Alexa, but more so for cheap knock-off devices, he added.

It’s definitely not just cheap knock-offs.

Turn Your Phone Into a Universal Remote and Control Multiple Smart Home Devices: $19.95

We have a deal on Hombli, a smart IR remote control that turns your iPhone or Android device into a universal remote for multiple smarthome devices. The Hombli acts as a hub, and you control it with a companion app. With it, you can access over 80,000 devices from popular brands including Samsung, Sony, and Philips, and you can use hands-free voice commands using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. This device is $19.95 through our deal.

Should You Warn Your Guests About Smart Devices?

David Murphy asks if people are morally obligated to inform their guests that their home contains smart devices like HomePod, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home. Given the fact that these devices can listen to you, should you post a sign in your house that says, “Warning: This Area Under Surveillance?”

If you’re simply sporting a smart speaker, I think announcing its presence is less of a deal—overkill, really. But if a camera is recording me at any point, and that’s something you can view later, I think it’s the friendly thing to do to let me know before I start gossiping…or worse.

What do you mean by worse??