Episodes

  • HOT 288: Understanding What IP68 Means - Is Your Device Truly Water Resistant?
    Oct 11 2026

    On this week's episode of Hands-On Tech, Clyde, who is shopping for a new phone after his last one died in a sink full of dishwater, asks what an IP68 water resistance rating actually promises, whether it wears off as a phone ages, and what to do in the first few minutes after a phone gets wet.

    Send in your questions for Mikah to hot@twit.tv, and he'll answer them in a future episode!

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

    Sponsor:

    • scribe.how/hot
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    22 mins
  • HOT 289: Understanding Email Tracking Pixels - Are Tracking Pixels in Emails Real?
    Oct 18 2026

    On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah answers a question from Lyle who wants to know whether a coworker can really tell when he has opened her emails.

    Send in your questions for Mikah to hot@twit.tv, and he'll answer them in a future episode!

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

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    17 mins
  • HOT 290: Protecting Yourself From Sim Swapping - Are Text Message Codes Safe?
    Oct 25 2026

    On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah answers a question from Otis, who relies on the 6-digit text-message codes his bank sends at sign-in but has started to worry about SIM swap attacks, and wants to know whether those codes are still worth anything and whether he can lock down his number at the carrier.

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

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    22 mins
  • HOT 292: Home Network Setup Advice - Intergrating Two Wi-Fi Systems in Home Network
    Nov 8 2026

    In this episode of Hands-On Tech, Mikah answers a question from Bruce, who has just moved into a new home with an ASUS AX6600 XT8 AiMesh system on wired Ethernet backhaul plus two pre-installed Araknis access points, and wants to know how to combine them under a single Wi-Fi network name and manage device handoff between the two brands, or whether switching the ASUS nodes to access point mode would be the better approach.

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

    Sponsor:

    • NetSuite.AI/HOT
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    32 mins
  • Join Club TWiT
    Nov 8 2026

    You can help support what we do at TWiT by joining Club TWiT. You'll get ad-free versions of our shows, access to the Club TWiT Discord, chapter markers, in-app transcripts, and custom programming such as Stacy's Book Club, Mikah's Crafting Corner, Off By One with Jeff Atwood, and the AI Users Group.

    Join today!

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    Less than 1 minute
  • HOT 285: Are My AI Chatbot Conversations Private? - The Risks Of Sharing Information with AI Chatbots
    Sep 20 2026

    In this week's episode of Hands-On Tech, Wendell asks Mikah whether his wife is right that typing into an AI chatbot is no different from a Google search, and wants to know where those conversations go, who can see them, whether they're used for training, and if any settings can turn that off in both ChatGPT and Gemini.

    Send in your questions for Mikah to hot@twit.tv, and he'll answer them in a future episode!

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

    Sponsor:

    • trustedtech.team/twit
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    18 mins
  • HOT 291: Internet Cookies - Browser Cookies & Online Privacy
    Nov 1 2026

    On this episode of Hands-On Tech, Bill writes in to ask what cookies actually do, whether rejecting them on every site's banner accomplishes anything real, and whether there's a way to stop being asked dozens of times a day.

    Send in your questions for Mikah to hot@twit.tv, and he'll answer them in a future episode!

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

    Sponsor:

    • joindeleteme.com/twit-biz
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    26 mins
  • HOT 287: Are There Risks to Scanning QR Codes? - The Security Concerns Behind Scanning a QR Code
    Oct 4 2026

    On this week's episode of Hands-On Tech, Barry asks whether anything inside a QR code can actually hurt you, or whether the real danger lies somewhere else, and what a person should check before scanning one out in the wild.

    Send in your questions for Mikah to hot@twit.tv, and he'll answer them in a future episode!

    Host: Mikah Sargent

    Download or subscribe to Hands-On Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-tech

    Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
    Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

    Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

    Sponsor:

    • NetSuite.AI/HOT
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    16 mins