The Computer Exorcist Podcast

Tonight on CEP! My special guest is Rochester's own Warren Buff-It! No, he's not the Oracle of Omaha, but he details cars for the stars. We discuss:Some of us aren't cut out for corporate, and that's okay!Starting a small business, being free to be who you were meant to be, planting seeds, and leaving a legacy.Chasing dollars versus being your passionPreserving your reputationTons of menus but nobody can figure out the heated seats or radiosSqueezing the balloonCarBravo, GM's surprisingly good answer to CarvanaNew car screens as the latest way to over-stimulate and controlThe thankful demise of in-dash app stores that bring you to Dunkin DonutsCaptive audience vs Taking care of peopleCountry songs about self-driving trucksHow Bluetooth car locks can be easily hacked - and how one journalist took a potshot at TeslaCloud-controlled cars, and the unsurprising news that GM user accounts were hackedThe gorgeous Mercedes EQXX goes 626 miles on a single charge, with juice to spare! Where did they go wrong with the production model?BMW's IDrive 8 - how it took everything from version 7 and threw it out the window, proving yet again that most software gets worse with each new version.And finally, some of the coolest cars Warren has detailed over the years.Help raise awareness for cloud-controlled cars! Tell your friends about the show!

Tonight on CEP! Another Torment-a-Scammer Medley!One scammer noticed my number and hung up immediately. Another hung up when she heard Foghorn. I have a feeling they're on to me and have me flagged in the Secret Scammer Database.Apple impostor calls me up and says I have a problem with Apple Pay... It was a CLASSIC support scam where they told me to download "security softwares", which is actually a fully legal remote support tool that allows them to take over a victim's PC. I took them for a wild ride. "You want me to search for some tigers? I found some beautiful tigers!"One scammer made the mistake of asking me how I control my diabetes...The next guy asks me flat out for my social security number, and we have a little circular argument about it.A Medicare back pain guy calls and we bond over Walker Texas Ranger.The last guy wants my Medicare card number, and my doctor's name. It turned out to be one of the funniest ones yet.Finally, Karl Mailchimp returns to torment a Norton impostor! With Karl, you're always in for a good time.If you want to join the good fight, be sure to sign up for the technician webinar waiting list at becomeanexorcist.com!

Dr. Mike joins us for the ten thousand download celebration!The industry is realizing what Marc's been saying for years: Storing your passwords in your browser is an excellent way to hand them to bad guys.Microsoft was apparently nostalgic for Y2K: This week's Outlook flaw was a Y2K22 bug that couldn't handle emails dated 2022!MS Word spellchecker now attempts to make your writing more woke. Politics aside, why would we let the most incompetent organization ever dictate how we speak?Culture peaked somewhere around 2008. Everything else since then has been worse.Insecurity and peer pressure lead people to buy iPhones so their text messages show up in green. People are only buying it for this petty reason.Apple, Verizon, Microsoft, and others have grown not by merit but by growth schemes.Bad guys can hijack people's computers and harness their computing power. Norton saw this and said, "Hey, why don't we do this too!" The inside scoop on the Norton Crypto-mining Scandal.How Middletown, OH fell to a ransomware scheme, which implies their IT staff doesn't have Computer Exorcist training.If you know of any organization that would like to actually be protected from ransomware, send them to TheComputerExorcist.com !

The fascinating insightful Kenley C. Vogt returns to finish up our discussion on computer history and why he wrote a book to teach kids the fundamentals of AI usage.How cable companies added up old analog channels to bring you a fast Internet connectionMultiplexing: How fiber optic companies pass multiple signals through the same piece of glassWhy PC salesmen are so arrogant (Like economics, the industry is all man-made and arbitrary!)How these power-hungry AI data centers will eventually (hopefully) give way to more distributed forms of computingWhy schools are always behind on technology, adopting it after the students have.Why we should learn to do math without a calculator first, before learning to use it.Why we should learn to think for ourselves before just diving in to AI.How programmers need to STOP and THINK before acting!Then finally we discuss his book: "The Adventures of AI and the Little Learners"Can AI be my friend? How does AI work? Can I trust AI results? Will AI replace my teacher? How to use AI in the classroom?Buy his book "The Adventures of AI and the Little Learners" on Amazon!

Tonight on CEP! The fascinating insightful Kenley C. Vogt joins us to talk tech ethics, computer history, and his career as a network engineer:How TV repair guys would deliberately fry tubes just to confirm their claim that you needed a new one.How TV salespeople would deliberately lower the focus on a TV, just to sell you a pricier model.How two 1952 IBM computers played checkers against each other... and learned from their mistakes.Self-healing networks, a 1986 AT&T StarLAN running at 1 Megabit!, and an early 90s Nortel network running at 100!His experience designing cutting-edge networks for IBM, Steven Spielberg, Kodak, Hawkeye, and a Russian embassyBusiness and computer history: How we got to where we are now.Stay tuned for next week's episode where Kenley discusses his book, "The Adventures of AI and the Little Learners", available at KenleyCVogt.com

Today we continue our new format of blazin' through articles. For each news flash, I give my insightful commentary:"New World" is a fake online world people use to escape their depressing lives. It's being overrun by AI bots, so people in third-world countries are finding it harder to make a living on it.Tesla is the first foreign automaker in China that didn't have to partner with a local company. In return, China hopes to learn from them, as they did with Apple.Rather than make reliable cars, Stellantis is now chasing a pipe dream of milking us for fees while we drive.The class action against Zoom for failing to encrypt communications, and then sharing them with vendors and governments.Apple and Google's duopoly relies heavily on the App Store scandal. If it weren't for app stores, we could use any brand of anything to go on any mobile website.Tesla crashes into a bus - which raises the question - what happens when cars are hit with update attacks that cause them to smash into things?Many/most Alexa devices are gifted for Christmas, and then never used again. Amazon might not mind, because people leave them plugged in...Every time Google is caught doing something nasty, business soars over at DuckDuckGo.MD governor uses an ephemeral messaging app - but how many others do, too?iPhones are still locatable when the battery inevitably dies - and even if someone factory wipes it.Someone was so fed up with an evil program, they got a job at the company just to fix the problem, then walked out.Join the good fight and become a licensed Computer Exorcist at becomeanexorcist.com

Tonight on CEP, we torment more scammers!First one was a "card accident" scammer. i told him my arms fell off, and when he asked for details, i told him I couldn't remember.Next one was a guy claiming to be Geek Squad, then later on claims to be PayPal, then later on Norton.Then we have a Medicare scammer trying to sign me up for food cards. I ask him what kind of food I can buy with the card, tell him all my favorite foods, and then I start ordering food and ask if he'll deliver it to me!...and finally, the moment you've all been waiting for...My buddy Karl Mailchimp has returned to debut his new character: Tony Penisa.Tony is a friendly baseball fanatic from New Jersey. He calls a scammer in response to an Apple Pay email. He gives him the beans and it's one of the most epic Torment-a-Scammer adventures we've ever had... "Oh that's a half a W, it's a V! My bad!"If your friends want a career protecting people from technology, send them to becomeanexorcist.com

Today starts Marc's new format of reading headlines of tech articles and summarizing them more quickly so we can breeze through the backlog:We discuss flaws in battery packs that cause EVs to set on fire, and the goal of making designs (and people) that are more tolerant to faultsApple shocks the world by throwing us a bone, allowing us to repair screens on our own iPhones... buy why is it pointless and also what's the ulterior motive?Apple's "mea culpa", offering MacBook Pros with actual Pro features again, like HDMI and SD cards. They also got rid of the horrific TouchBar, a tiny screen that danced around and taunted you when you needed to press a Function key.Marc's rant about "Pro" everythingBig Media panicking over Substack, a platform that allows independent journalists to be independent, and lets readers subscribe to the journalists they like.Yet another GoDaddy breach, this time 1 million websites left wide open. They'll try and blame your computer, and blame you for not going back in time and buying their "protection plan". Learn how to abandon them.Let me know what you think of the new format, and buy a preview edition of my next book at the bottom of: https://thecomputerexorcist.com/edutainment/book/

It's another Torment-a-Scammer episode!One Medicare scammer lady calls me claiming to be "Allied Health" but I mis-hear it as "Airline Health". I tell them my doctor is Guido Sarducci, and when they ask for my Medicare card, I read the backs of all the cards I have in my drawer.Next, I call a Support Scammer and claim there are North Korean cookies in my computer. I then ponder what North Korean cookies would taste like. First he claims to be Amazon, then he claims to be Microsoft. When he asks what brand of computer I have, I tell him it's a Kaypro (those were from the early 1980s).The final one is a most epic interaction with a pharmacy scammer. I make him think I'm vulnerable and gullible with "I don't know, every time someone calls, I just keep buying more pills!" I then rattle off a whole list of drugs, and he offers to mail me all of it, and even encourages me to resell it! Then I hear one of his colleagues doing a tech support scam in the background, and he drops his facade.Hope you have a blast tonight, and warn your friends not to call Support Scammers!Visit thecomputerexorcist.com to buy a preview edition of my forthcoming book.

Today we celebrate 9000 downloads! Marc goes over some topics including:What to do if your hard drive dies and you have no backupWhat software to use for podcast interviewsThe spirit of peaceful debate and the message of peaceThe world's first known AI-fueled killing - how AI egged on a paranoid man"Everybody Hertz" - how power plant generators are designed to go offline to protect themselves, but it can cause a chain reaction that spreads to other power plants.How Covid affected church attendance, and those who live-stream church miss out on one fundamental benefit.Thanks for telling your friends about the show! Get the preview edition of my next book at thecomputerexorcist.com

Tonight on CEP!A Ransomware organization masquerading as a cybersecurity firm!NY State offering a Drivers License app on your Phone??? Really? As if smartphones were reliable???Facebook to drop their facial recognition system... now that they've got what they wanted.A company equating itself with simplicity, then offering "further intricate refinement".iPhones that stay trackable even when they're powered off. Good if you want to find it, but bad if someone wants to find you.FSF newsletter pointing out that millions of AI "bots" are now scouring the web for information, overwhelming the websites they visit.Buy a preview edition of my next book at thecomputerexorcist.com !

Tonight on CEP!Marc recounts a harrowing tale and thanks those who saved him from it.Ever wish you could scrub your social media posts without completely deleting your account? There's finally a tool for that, and it's brilliant.There's yet another form of car theft made easy thanks to the wonders of car electronics. We were told that electronic FEEEATURES were a convenience, but really they're a massive security hole. Marc explains how it works in Plain English.We then talk about Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's very realistic approach to business. He knows MS is no longer a monopoly, and rather than be in denial, he's admitting it and opening up slightly to other platforms. However, the claim that Windows 11 is "calm, security, and openness" is far from correct.Thanks for telling your friends about the show!

Tonight on CEP! It's another Torment a Scammer episode!I start breaking character and telling scammers to do something better with their lives. One guy told me he has hopes and dreams, so I turned him on to my Become an Exorcist site. Plot twist ensues.A diabetic "PARMAcy" scammer calls me up - I throw her a curveball about my glasses, and she doesn't notice it at all.A loan shark scammer calls me up and tries to lend me $100k - I promise to spend it only on my favorite food...Phone Scammers have an Evil Database that associates victims' names with phone numbers - so in my case, they're now calling and ASKING for Foghorn Legorn!They try and ask me what cable company I'm with, so I ask them, "Well, what company are you from?"I have a lot of fun misinterpreting what they say, and in a lot of cases it goes right over their headsHope you love these clips - more to come! Join the good fight at becomeanexorcist.com

Tonight, CEP's favorite mechanic returns to discuss:Pipes vs hoses on cars - ease of manufacture vs ease of repairBMW iDrive va Mercedes voice COMAND vs Lexus touchpads vs Audi confusionRather than have one universal EV charging adapter, of course the industry has come up with several, with the ensuing sub-industry of adaptersRobotaxis: Who's liable, especially if you're loaning your own car out to moonlight as one?ZipCharge Go - the EV equivalent of a gas canSolar roof panels on Fisker carsEdible car wiringThe future of the auto industryJoin the good fight at thecomputerexorcist.com !

Tonight on CEP!Apprentice Palmer brings his uncanny technical sense of smell to help me thrash some articles. (He's the guy who's been manning the fort so I can go on the book tour!)We read several articles on the same topic: The Windows 10-11 End of Support, or what could be the greatest Cash Grab I've ever seen.People are under the impression that their computers are going to get viruses or cease to operate after an arbitrary date in October of 2025. Microsoft is encouraging them to buy new PCs.The requirements to upgrade your current PC to Windows 11 started out very arbitrary and excluded recent and powerful PCs. When PIRG stared them down, MS relented, but they didn't bother telling anyone about their relaxed requirements.As such, an estimated 240-400 MILLION PERFECTLY GOOD COMPUTERS are at risk of being thrown in the landfills.One article claims they'll all be recycled, yet another article reports that only around 22% of ewaste is recycled.In reality, you can keep using those machines for at least another 3-5 years. After that, we can bypass the requirements and upgrade your older PC to Win11 (and beat it up so it's usable) or liberate you from the Microsoft Circus with a product called Mint!"We deserve better than a world where nothing's designed to last."Buy the preview edition of my next book at thecomputerexorcist.com !

Tonight on CEP!A blast from Marc's past emerges to talk about his new bookS!Author Billy Swan discusses "Junior's Tale", his comfort story of self-discovery.He also published a book of group-activity short mysteries "Quick Cases for Clever Minds" that actually bring people TOGETHER!While he used AI to assist him in writing the short mysteries, he describes the painstaking care and "moral brakes" he applied, rather than just have it to spit something out and publish it.Was Riding the Short Bus any worse than riding the Long Bus?Finally, we discuss a really funny Ezra Dyer article that some people can relate to!Learn how to protect people from technology at becomeanexorcist.com and check out Billy Swan's books on Amazon or click here:Junior's Talehttps://www.amazon.com/Juniors-Tale-Familiar-Billy-Swan/dp/B0FDRD5BRX/Quick Cases for Clever Mindshttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FGZ5YM97?binding=paperback

Tonight on CEP! Economist and IT bureaucrat James Coffin joins us for a one-hour special. We react to articles and expose some of the hypocrisy and outright madness going on in the realm of our government's environmental policies - LEARN how they incentivize tech companies to make garbage, by reimbursing them for recycling their own products!Reading an email from an Apple impostorSurprise-attack deprecation - how the industry randomly removes useful features your organization relies on."I haven't seen any artificial intelligence that's intelligent."The vocabulary of IT: How the industry creates new terms willy-nilly, and people (and AI) are expected to keep up with it.WD was caught in a bait-and-switch, inserting slower chips in their products without noticeThe complex 14,000-mile supply chain scattered across the globeLinux is now usable on newer M-chip Apple computers: How that will lead to the liberation of many Apple computers, but also iPhones and iPads as wellAn exploit in Apple Pay, how Visa was right to avoid overreacting, and our discussion on how wireless payments in general are massive security hole!Canon being sued for making multi-function printers that refuse to scan whenever they're out of ink!CA's sequel to Cash for Clunkers - and the adverse effects that they didn't bother to consider, that will harm the poor and the environment"If you actually care about the environment, stop making laws and start actually doing something!"How CloseTheLoop.com helps curb the ewaste nonsenseDiscussing Aaron Clarey's video "Why are corporations even in business?" and how offshoring in the 1980s sparked the cheapening of productsSick of hearing about these scandals? Join the good fight at becomeanexorcist.com

Tonight on CEP!Author Monty LeBlanc returns to finish discussing his book, Somnium Pandorae.We continue our discussion on the effects of AI-curated feeds - our attention spans are so roasted, we crave shorter and shorter videos to give us dopamine "hits", and are less prone to deep thought, deep work, or critical thinking. "AI has hacked our brains, and now real life feels slow in comparison."We discover a recent viral video "AI 2027: A Realistic Scenario of AI Takeover"People now consult AI for therapy and medicine, and even use it as a substitute for a boyfriend/girlfriend.We also explain ways to avoid the doomsday scenario - Nip it in the bud, raise your kids right, teach people to think critically.Technology can be used for good! RAISE AWARENESS for what's going on, and stop feeding the beast.AI divides us to conquer us. Get out of your own customized echo chamber and hang out with people from all political persuasions. You'll soon learn they're people just like you, and we're all being pitted against each other.Marc explains how he combats the endless feed with a "Finiteness Room" in his house. It has books, VHS tapes, DVDs, and this thing called quietude.Buy Monty's book Somnium Pandorae on Amazon, and mine on thecomputerexorcist.com

Tonight on CEP!I've been saying that AI could possibly ruin the world - but at the very least, it'll make us dumber and keep us isolated in pods, feeding us data and harvesting our behavior.Network engineer turned author Monty LeBlanc joins us to explain how AI is already in control, doing just this.He explains how those algorithms, the curated "For You" recommendations, and your Facebook feed, are all DESIGNED to keep you reading, watching, and scrolling.He exposes how shadow banning works, and how we're already in the Matrix, except in reality we each get our own algorithmic simulation.The few techies who are aware of the impending threats are too scared to say something, lest they lose their job. However, he and I and maybe some of you, are exposing what's going on.He uses humor, snark, and analogies to explain everything in Plain English (sound familiar?) and even gives translations at the end of every section for Gen Z readers!Buy his book Somnium Pandorae on Amazon, and mine at thecomputerexorcist.com, and stay tuned for Part 2 next week!

Tonight on CEP!The brilliant software developer/psychologist/linguist Udochi Okeke returns with more mind-blowing projects.As if resurrecting an ancient alphabet (Nsibidi) weren't enough, she's now producing a kids' cartoon to pass on the Igbo language to them. She's also creating an Igbo character universe - think "Nigerian Cocomelon"!She then explains how culture is truly passed down - not just through the media or even museums, but through each one of us, who lives and breathes that culture. This dissemination ensures the culture will live on.We discuss how people in the West are shaped and molded into one of a few distinct shapes, in order to conform to what we think the job market will want them to be.In Igbo culture (and in one of my next books), people are encouraged to discover their unique calling: What is the problem in the world today that only you are uniquely equipped to solve?We spend a few minutes explaining how AI will ruin yet another thing, in this case children's educational programming. It'll also ruin the lives of those hoping to create quality content for a living!Finally, we discuss a few funny scammer emails and explain what to look out for.Learn Igbo at mmutadiuto.com , and of course check out my books at thecomputerexorcist.com