Tonight on CEP: We torment some scammers! I have a recording of a Jamaican-style scammer who called me and said I won a new car! I told him I don't want another BMW because, frankly, I had one in the past, and it broke down on me all the time. Wait til you hear his explanation!!

The guy told me that before I can obtain my winnings, I NEEDED TO PAY HIM 10% for "tax obligations"! A...ha.

We did a little tango regarding the proper percentages and bargained over amounts. I take them on a most beautiful dance that leaves him stewing in disbelief.

So I hope you love the episode, and feel free to keep sending in the love letters and hate mail. Get the book at thecomputerexorcist.com

Today on CEP! Retired car dealer, author, and talk show host Dom Genova joins us to wrap up our conversation on avoiding crooked car dealers.

• Having experience as a Big 3 exec and later on owning small-town car dealerships, he's sat on both sides of the desk, and his book shares his insight with you. This parallels my career, where I come at the IT industry from the consumer's perspective, being on your side of the desk.
• Some of them have a "bug zapper" business model! Attract people to the dealership and then zap em!
• Dom's thoughts on Tent Sales: If putting them in a tent down the street lowers their prices...
• Fake Monroney stickers!
• What is an "ad car"?
• When an automaker promises to donate money to some charity, whose pocket does that money come from?
• FREE TV or FREE CRUISE?
• What's the #1 mistake made during a car deal?
• Dom's 4 Corners
• Finally, we read an article exposing what information your car is collecting about about YOU. That data is sold to third parties, who "package" them into "data products" and resell them.

Buy Dom's book at dontbetaken.com and my book at thecomputerexorcist.com !

Today on CEP! I interview very special guest Dom Genova. He's a retired car dealer and currently the host of The No-Nonsense Roundtable Show on WYSL. He exposes crooked car dealer sales tactics and teaches people how to avoid them. We discuss:

• The Agricultural Model - rather than trying to get what you can from people in the moment, ideally you cultivate a lifelong relationship so your clients bring their kids and grandkids to you.
• A hugely scummy tactic where they write "Your Payment is $299" - but is it monthly?
• No-nonsense car dealer means removing all the shady invoice padding. It also means not accepting nonsense from customers!
• Dom's "7% Rule" - now it all makes sense!
• People out there are suffering unnecessarily, at the hands of crooked car dealers and incompetent computer guys. Dom taught me: You can't save ALL the ducks, but you're called to save the ones you can.
• Article: During the chip shortage, Toyota went back to real mechanical keys - and people didn't mind because they're overwhelmed by senseless technology anyway.
• When you open the door, some cars now shine a light onto the asphalt proudly displaying the brand... in case you forgot.

Get his book at: dontbetaken.com

Special thanks to our musicians: Opening theme is Departure by Egzod and closing theme is Cannibals by Youth Medium.

It's our 150th episode! We celebrate by inviting special guest Connor Peters from Rochester's very own Locke Identity Networks. Whether you're a consumer or small business, they deal with password management so you don't have to.

• Privacy vs. Security - is it really one or the other?
• Password Recovery is the weakest link (and everyone's pet peeve)
• Why should some faceless Big Tech firm be in control of your life? Locke's alternative is called Security through Community.
• Complicated passwords vs long passwords
• Skylux - white-glove service because you don't have to log into any apps
• What are passkeys and what are their pros and cons?
• Imagine a seamless experience instead of hassle. Small businesses just want things to JUST WORK!
• Hyundai promises "software-defined vehicles", ensuring that they, and bad guys, can control and modify your car. "Anytime you have a backdoor, there's a front door."
• There's a new form of human treachery called SURVEILLANCE PRICING - you're now charged an amount based on who you are, where you live, how much money you have, and how badly you need a product. What's NY State's solution, and what's the real solution?

Find out more about Locke at www.locke.id and talk to you next week!

Tonight on CEP!

• We finish up our 15,000 download celebration by slaying more articles.
• iPhone assembler Foxconn proposes a new open platform for EVs. Sounds like a great way for EV startups to get going without reinventing the wheel, pun intended.
• California allows digital license plates, a pointless idea fraught with subscriptions and complexity, with no benefit. It brings a whole new meaning to the term "garbage plate"!
• Every time Google is exposed in the news for doing something nasty, business doubles over at Duck. This is an article about such news articles! In this case, Google now wastes their own energy force-attacking AI results before the organic search results, and to their surprise, people aren't happy. "What, you aren't just accepting whatever we foist on you?"
• We also explain the terms I've coined: Anti-improvements and runaway brains. We enter the mind of the relentless perfectionist, and Mike brings up a great point: Rather than nervously guarding your position, just enjoy being on the top of the mountain for a while because someone will eventually knock you off.

Do you have any friends who are frustrated by tech? Thanks for telling them about the show!

Tonight on CEP! Dr. Mike joins us to celebrate 15,000 downloads, and we slay some articles.

• Shout out to Every1Camp.com, a new camp in Rochester for kids with disabilities.
• We discuss the new horror called "ambient computing" - where gizmos all around your house monitor your every move and then collaborate. Most of it will result in preemptive suggestion attacks, in other words the tech makes assumptions about what you want, and then starts doing things you never told it to do.
• Cars that display video ads on their evil dashboard screens.
• We call it "The False Promise of Technology" - the utopia never happens, but instead we see a decline in the quality of life, chaos, anti-empowerment, control, and helplessness.
• Rumor has it, New Orleans just replaced 911 dispatchers with AI dispatchers, which will result in a plethora of miscommunication.
• "We've already seen how restrictive and insanely incompetent ALL of this technology is. Just wait until it controls more of your life. More helplessness is coming."
• "A third of all actions performed by Alexa, it does proactively." In other words, presumptive auto-attacks, or helicopter parenting.
• Of course, all of this will be subjected to the eternal cat and mouse battle of cybersecurity, and your tech will blow false alarms against you. More fear and uncertainty.
• "DARE to keep kids away from technology." What's the antidote to this dystopia of tech-addicted braindead kids?
• 80s dystopian movies like "Chopping Mall" were prescient: They SAW where this was heading.
• What will save us? Smallternatives and good old human apathy. Let the big guys dry up.

Check out my tech tip videos by searching for "the computer exorcist" on your favorite social media site!

Tonight on CEP! It's one big scam call!

• A scammer calls me asking for Foghorn Leghorn by name! Yes, I've been using the name so often, that the name is now reflected in the databases the scammers sell to each other!
• Wait til you hear how they pronounced Wisconsin!
• She tells me that someone from "Consumers Clearing House" is coming to give me a huge "cash awerd"!
• Her false attitude is so saccharine it's disgusting - but I turn it against her at so many points. The awkward laughs are abundant.
• I then twist the knife into her by thanking her over and over again for helping the helpless seniors.
• She then has the audacity to give me a sneaky survey to figure out if I own my home, and ask for the types and amounts of my investments!
• At one point, the "senior attorney" gets on, and warns me not to talk to other scammers! I told her I give money to anyone who calls, and that piqued her interest.
• I then told her some other guys called and offered me more prize money, so I might go with them instead!

Thanks for telling your friends about the show, and stay tuned for the new book!

Today on CEP!

• Companies using zero-trust are still hacked, claim it's because they're not using enough zero-trust. Paranoia ensues, and employees are even more infuriated than ever before. (As if they didn't have enough stress already!) The great irony is, we're so jaded from all the trillions of confirmation popups, so scammers are taking advantage of that.
• The Spectrum Loop Story - Wait til you hear what happened when my client tried to cancel Spectrum.
• When a Tesla's accessory battery dies, you can't roll down the windows, or open those silly electrically-actuated doors. Real physical door handles are there, but they are UNLABELED, so if you aren't a mind-reader, you won't be able to get out of the car. Many people worldwide are stuck in their cars, often in extreme temperatures.
• The AAA finds that Automated Emergency Braking sort of works, but isn't reliable. Designers can't get it right, but they've already moved on to developing full autonomy, because Jenga.
• The "Matter" protocol is developed to allow all of these new cloud-controlled gizmos to be controlled more simply. Hopefully this means the end of each gizmo being controlled by a totally different ultra-proprietary app and password.
• Finally, in good news, a lady invented a Rotary Un-Smartphone. It's a cell phone with nothing but voice call capabilities, protecting you from the frustration of using a touchscreen.

Thanks for telling your friends about the show! If for some reason you like me, check your favorite social media site for my new Mini Tech Tips!

My apologies to Karl for not being able to fit him in last week's episode, so because of that, today's episode is All Karl All The Time! What follows can only be described as performance art, the likes of which we haven't seen since Pee Wee Herman.

• In his first call, a scammer called Karl Mailchimp and said he had a fraudulent charge on his apple account. Karl said it might've been his grandson playing farming games. absolute gold.
• He then tried to get Karl to connect to "apple secure server", which of course really means some tool used to hijack people's phones. (Warn your friends!)
• This week's tool is called "Awesun Remote Desktop". When the scammer tries to get him to search for his remote control tool, Karl tells him that his grandson set his phone to Spanish.
• Hilarity ensues as Karl takes him on a beautiful journey through the Spanish language. Eventually the guy goes on google and looks up instructions on how to change the language back to English!
• Some instant-classic Karl lines include: "Holy friggin' cow!" and "I don't even know what he bought!"
• When it comes time to download the App, of course the app store attacks for a password, which Karl doesn't have on hand. He thinks on his feet, and more hilarity ensues. Even the scammer is holding back a laugh at one point.

He then gets a scam email urging him to call "Robin Hood Tech Support". So of course he invents a new persona on the spot: "Pastor Cal Ripken Jr.", and promptly takes him for a ride.

The scammer tried to scare him into thinking there was a withdrawal happened from Hong Kong. When he questioned Cal's name, Cal gave a most indignant speech that had me in stitches. Then the scammer really gave himself away by asking if he had any money in any other crypto accounts! When asked for the name of his church, Cal came up with another subtle cultural reference on the spot.

So thanks to Karl for making my podcast way funnier than it usually is, and stay tuned for more mischief! thecomputerexorcist.com

Tonight on CEP! I realized I haven't published a Torment a Scammer episode in a while, so here you go!

• Foghorn Leghorn gets a call saying he won $2.5M and a (used?) Mercedes-AMG! The scammer said he was "American Cash Awards" then said he was Bank of America.
• Our next perpetrator is Nancy, whom I call "Mancy". She sent me an email from "@pple Support", which is of course an attempt to get through spam filters. She told me I had a "security problem" where I clicked on an ad which allowed a hacker to connect to my computer. She's actually not far from the truth, but conveniently omitted that SHE'S the one making these ads that DECEIVE people into thinking they have security problems. She then told me about her "secure server" which is actually the tool she uses to break into people's computers. While waiting to connect to "senior technician", we got a chance to get to know each other. I commended her for her efforts and reminded her about karma.
• The last one sends me an email saying my "Appl Pay" has been used at an "Appl Store". Of course he couldn't tell me which product or store. When he asked me what browser I have, I described the Firefox icon in the best possible way. Toward the end he suspected I was a YouTuber...

As always, hilarity ensues. Thanks for sharing this episode with your friends, and stay tuned for the book, coming out very soon at thecomputerexorcist.com

This morning on CEP! We plow through more "ketchup" articles.

We give thanks for some treacherous ones that never came true:

• The NTSB wanted to implement breathalyzers in all new cars. It would add massive cost and complexity, blow false alarms, and of course those who want to get around it will find a way.
• NY State wanted to implement "intelllligent speeed assistance" in cars, in other words auto-attack if it thought you went too fast.

We also celebrate two really good ones that are still thriving:

• Toyota's hydrogen engine for semi trucks: Why reinvent the wheel when you can just make a new engine for preexisting trucks!
• The Fairphone - a phone that's not glued together and not designed to die ASAP. You're encouraged to repair it and use it as long as possible!

and two of the usual:

• AI designing your next car.
• An article from 2015 that exposes how Microsoft tried to retrofit its nagware and legal spyware into its older products.

The book should be coming out this month! Get the preview edition on PDF at thecomputerexorcist.com

Tonight on CEP!

• Marc finds an article that explains the extreme disparity between backward, slow, reactionary government, and ultra-rapid Silicon Valley. Disaster will ensue.
• BMW's unpopular heated seat subscription service surfaces in South Korea.
• The delusional "recurring revenue" cult spreads to other automakers.
• What's going to save us? Laws that prohibit rentals? That would just create tons of chaos. So what's going to save us? I've got the answer.
• Unbeknownst to most of humanity, every picture you take is usually sucked into a cloud service. Lately, the cloud service is starting to peruse your photos and accuse you of things as it sees fit. Disaster ensues.

The book, now titled "Don't Be Taken by Big Tech", is coming out soon, to a book retailer near you! Grab a preview at thecomputerexorcist.com

Today on CEP! We're coming at you from Cousin Joey's garage on the coast of Maine! We discuss:

• The 2022 prediction that electrification will make cars unattainable for the Average Joey.
• A real-world solution to BMW's unreal scheme to rent people features in their own cars.
• "Nothing controlled by software is safe."
• How Skynet is already here, it's just not run by the AI yet.
• The McLaren "Artura... has so much technology baked in," it's like a disobedient smartphone, at 1,000 times the price.
• Do TIRES pollute more than TAILPIPES?
• The Myers Manx "dune buggy" is resurrected as an EV - but is it out yet?
• What's the real solution to the complexities of life, and what should our real goal be?

Thanks for telling your friends about the show! The new book is coming out SOON!

This morning on CEP!

• What is The Second-System Effect?
• Another scam arrives in the mail: DOMAIN LISTINGS is a scam organization that tells you your website is about to expire, then asks for $288 for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
• More ways Amazon crushes its own sellers, and how incredibly ineffective Congress is to stop them. What's the only thing that can save us from them?
• The Light Bulb Conspiracy and other products designed to die.
• Should Full Self-Driving be banned? Should Waymo (ha!) be banned?
• How Instagram tracks everything you do, within its built-in browser.
• Australian courts discover the Google History Scandal, like 10 years after I broke the story. Learn how Google records EVERY SINGLE WEBSITE YOU GO TO, how 99% of users are COMPLETELY UNAWARE of it, and how Google confuses the rest of them into agreeing to it.
• Google and Apple make a CarPlay for your data, aka the Dash(board) Grab. It's nice to have information from your smartphone displayed on your dashboard, but at what cost?

Remember:

• If for some reason you like listening to me, check out the Flyover Plates Podcast! It's a comedy podcast about food and corruption in Rochester.
• Preview editions of my next book are free, but for a limited time only! Download it at thecomputerexorcist.com

This morning on CEP!

• I interview rising star YouTube gamer "Grand Captain Speedy Dash" (best gamer name ever)
• Yes, rather than watch TV shows, young people now watch each other play video games
• We discuss the upstart Amico console, inspired by Intellivision and Wii
• We then explain the DRM scandal and read excerpts from my forthcoming book!
• Any music, movies, or video games that are infected with DRM mean they're completely dependent on their creators, and can be rendered useless at any time.
• Since it can never prevent piracy, logically, it can only punish those who were trying to do the right thing and support the authors.
• The Captain brings up two great quotes from Gabe Newell, founder of Steam:
• "Privacy is not a pricing problem, it's a service problem."
• "Does nothing, still wins." pointing out that doing nothing is sometimes the right thing to do!
• So what's the answer to DRM? We explore some of the solutions that will help make life easier for those trying to do the right thing.
• Finally, we discuss Denuvo, a DRM company whose technology is repeatedly bypased very easily. It is an excellent example that highlights the utter futility of it.

Thanks for listening and grab a preview edition of the book at TheComputerExorcist.com !

This morning on CEP!

• We discuss the retirement of Microsoft's chronically insecure Internet Explorer, and what it was mainly used for.
• Volkswagen wants to set up EV battery recycling plants throughout Europe, and a comment from a techie that left us pleasantly surprised
• VW's 2026 ID.Buzz electric microbus takes a break - learn why I think they'll become collector's items!
• Microsoft created the Surface Tablet, an extremely thin and sleek laptop the size of a tablet. It was great, but brittle as a graham cracker. Then in the early 2020s, the KANO PC came along. It was fairly easy for kids to build and repair and learn on, was very rugged, and cost a fraction of the price of Surface. How do you think Microsoft reacted?
• Do you have home movies on video tape? Learn about Media Transfer Service and Kodak Digitizing
• How Facebook was caught sucking private medical information from hospital websites!

I just realized I made this summary more intriguing instead of just giving away all the answers! We'll see if it brings in more views!

Get a prevew edition of my book on PDF at thecomputerexorcist.com

Today on CEP! I interview longtime friend Pastor Domenic and we explore some profound topics:

• Are new scams truly new?
• Is all technology truly bad?
• Rather than throw our gizmos away, can we get them to those who need them?
• Where does our talent come from?
• Geofencing: You're controlled based on your location
• The European Union requiring cars to SLOW THEMSELVES DOWN according to the speed limit.
• If the robots take over, what happens to all those people who need work?
• Is the Garden of Eden scene happening again?
• Can AI have a soul?
• A group of Swedes measured how long it took to perform an operation on a modern car's touchscreen menu system versus traditional dashboard buttons.
• Tech enthusiasts who use all the latest and greatest... versus those who actually know what's going on.
• What does social media do to our brains, and what is the very accessible antidote?
• The Jitterbug Smartphone - a simple, clear, affordable way for seniors to enter the future
• You can now send your grandma on an Uber!
• Should people on the same team fight against each other?

Check out Pastor Dom's podcast at rescueandrevive.org !

Tonight on CEP, it's Torment a Scammer!

• The first call is a Paypal-Bitcoin scammer, trying to convince me that someone hacked into my computer and that's how they got into my paypal account (not at all how it works, but most people believe it). Foghorn misinterprets his instructions and take him on a wild ride.
• One lady did the usual "russia, nigeria, and dayton ohio" line, and i gave her back my usual "whoa OHIO! i heard that was scary!"
• Next, Foghorn gets a fake email from a geek squad impostor. I called and drove the lady nuts. Every time a guy asked me how I was, I'd keep saying "I'm fine, how are you?" keeping them in a loop until they realized it.
• The next caller is a diabetes testing supply spammer. i tell them that both I and my friend Ross Pierogi have the Beetus, and hilarity ensues.
• Finally, Karxl Mailllchimqp talks to a regenerative medicine spammer. He's put on hold with some very touching 80s music, and provides his commentary throughout. The part is when the lady spells his name back to him had me in stitches.

Thanks for listening and tell your friends!

This morning on CEP!

• How Apple and Facebook themselves fell for a scam!
• Whenever ANYONE puts an ad on Facebook, immediately scammers try to scare you into thinking you've violated a copyright, and lure you into a trap
• How cell phone manufacturers are FINALLY designing phones to be a little more repairable - and what it took to get them there.
• If you want to save $ and care about the environment, repair your phone instead of replacing it!
• Fan mail from clients who were told they needed overkill Internet connections
• One day, all of a sudden Twitter users noticed their numbers of followers went dramatically up or down for no reason. They were atwitter!
• Facebook has sucked SO much of our information, they admit they don't even know how to manage it! Ever notice how you meet someone and put their number in your phone, and all of a sudden they come up as a FB friend suggestion?
• Apple makes all of its employees return to the office after the pandemic, and they come up with any excuse to stay home.

Get a preview edition of my new book at thecomputerexorcist.com !

This morning on CEP!

• Nepalese youth, sick of starving while their rulers flaunted their wealth, used social media to overthrow and rebuild their government.
• Chromebooks (those cheapie laptops your school district blew millions on) come with an expiration date. Surprise! If you keep using this past the date, you miiiight get viruses, or websites won't work anymore! At that point, they want you to throw them away, but I have found a solution that could save millions of dollars, computers, and kids.
• They knocked down the 3G cell towers so we all had to buy new smartphones. But wait - what about all those connected cars? Those were just giant rolling smartphones with cellular antennae in them! You guessed it - they're hoping you put those cars in the garbage and buy new ones. Luckily, people aren't that stupid.
• In good news, companies are now allowed to produce and sell older-style cars. You know, those ones that were actually repairable and enjoyable.
• AI data centers are sucking up so much energy, that they're now having to find ways to shift their tasks to nighttime so they don't overload our power plants.
• In the 1960s, cars were actually improved instead of anti-improved, and back then they actually cared about your loyalty, so they actually encouraged you to repair your old one instead of throwing it away. Imagine what a utopia that must've been!

Get your preview copy of "Don't be Taken by Silicon Valley", available free for a limited time only on thecomputerexorcist.com !