Tech Talk with Leith Forrest – Wednesday 4th November 2026 (FIVEaa Afternoons)
On the show: Hackers in Europe have been getting into supermarket refrigeration systems and turning up the temperature – some fridges reached 50 degrees, spoiling food – and Richard explains why leaving default usernames and passwords like admin/admin on smart devices is such a risk. New laptops, including the touchscreen MacBook Pro and AI laptops that can run models locally (max out a MacBook Pro and you’re looking at around $22,000), but for email, documents, photos, banking and streaming, $800 to $1,500 with 16GB of RAM is all most people need. Plus AI psychic apps upsetting traditional psychics, AI and jobs becoming an issue in the US midterms, Sam Altman wanting everyone’s old RAM for data centres, and why you should always check what AI tells you.
Your calls: Tia and Mark on the best Wi-Fi extender (a Google Nest mesh system rather than cheap plug-in extenders that halve your speed each time), Mark on a new Google TV and a PlayStation that won’t connect (check the HDMI cable first), Andrew from Ridgehaven on the long list of programs running in the background in Task Manager, Sue from South Plympton on whether to buy a printer (a Brother black-and-white laser for around $150), Wayne on factory resetting a phone before recycling it (back it up first), a Google Nest Hub Max that won’t reconnect after a new modem, Robert on Anthropic’s upcoming IPO, and Geoff from Dover Gardens on BigPond email troubles caused by his VPN.