Nerd and Normal

With so many companies and emails offering online services, should you pay for them, do you need them and what does it all mean.
Gareth and Matthew also look at the different file formats used by computers and programs.
#cloudservices #fileformats #googledrive #icloud #dropbox #onedrive

This week Gareth and Matthew look at the Age Verification coming to your devices and the security and personal issues it might cause.
In the US California has already implemented laws requiring device makers to have age verification services on the new device on start up. They will also be required to put age verification into older devices.
#ageverification #apple #microsoft #android

This week Gareth and Matthew look at free programs to make your Windows computer work better, and free-er than you might think.
Here is the full list of programs and links to download them.VLC Media Player https://www.videolan.org/iTunes https://www.apple.com/itunes/Audacity https://www.audacityteam.org/Bitdefender Free https://www.bitdefender.com/en-us/consumer/free-antivirusMalware Bytes https://www.malwarebytes.com/Firefox https://www.firefox.com/en-US/Ublock Origin https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/Wiztree https://diskanalyzer.com/Winaero Tweaker https://winaerotweaker.com/Open Shell https://github.com/Open-Shell/Open-Shell-MenuCobian Backup https://www.cobiansoft.com/Google Docs https://docs.google.com/Google Sheets https://sheets.google.com/Libre Office https://www.libreoffice.org/Thunderbird https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/EMClient https://www.emclient.com/
A couple of extrasSumatra PDF https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/free-pdf-readerFoxIt Reader https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/
Comment below if you want walkthroughs on how to use the programs.

Gareth and Matthew talk to Vanessa Claire from Wisteria Weddings about how professional photographers can use AI.
Vanessa also explains how photographers deal with AI content appearing on the internet making it difficult to tell real from fake.
You can find out more about Vanessa and Wisteria Weddings here https://wisteriaweddings.com.au/

Matthew and Gareth look at the Australian government's deal with Anthropic for their AI to used for government services as well as the recent Anthropic Claude Code leak.
They also look at which AI service, Google Gemini, Anthropic Cluade, Open AI ChatGPT and XAI Geok, is right for you.
#ai #anthropic #grok #gemini #chatgpt #claude

This week on Nerd And Normal Gareth and Matthew look at what has changed with the Social Media landscape after the Australian under 16 ban and the recent law suit in The USA.We also look at the new Adult content ban effecting Australians.

This week Matthew and Gareth explain what happened with the 2026 NAPLAN tests and why there was an issue. They also look at why current Solid State Drives in computers can die losing all your data as well as how to clean "Viruses" off your Android phones and tablets and why they aren't actually viruses.
#naplan #andriod #solidstatedrive #ssd #virus

This week Matthew and Gareth spoke with  with Dr Caroline Murtagh, a general practitioner from Lara, Victoria about how she uses technology to help her patients remain as health as possible.
They talked about electronic medical records, telehealth consultations, and the challenges of AI in medical diagnosis, as well as role of technology in patient care, including the use of wearable devices and the potential risks of patients using AI for self-diagnosis.

Matthew and Gareth talk about how to recover money you have lost in a scam and who is responsible.
The Australian Scams Prevention Framework can be found here http://bit.ly/4swPgd4 and the website for the Australian Financial Complaints Authority can be found here https://www.afca.org.au/
#scamrecovery #bankingscam #financialscams

Gareth and Matthew look at the way telephone systems and the way we connect to the internet has changed over the years.