MacWorld 1998

Featuring Ben Waldman from Microsoft

This clip is part of the 1998 MacWorld Expo Keynote. It features Ben Waldman talking about all the new Microsoft features.

MacWorld Expo 1998 took place six months after Microsoft committed $150 million to help keep Apple afloat. Microsoft was very quick to put together several product updates in time for the next major Expo.

This clip is from my personal VHS tape collection. I recorded the MacWorld show as ot aired live on BayTV on January 6, 1998. BayTV was a Silicon Valley 24-hour news station. They stopped airing on August 30, 2001.

This clip starts with a promo for the afternoon news lineup on BayTV

Confusing a Credit Card Scammer

What is Card Services??

I get these Credit Card interest rate calls all the time. Clearly, they are scammers trying to get valid credit card numbers.

In this short audio clip, I am confused as to what company this person is calling me from. Whenever I ask this question they always answer that they are "Credit Card Services."

Note: Never give real information to these callers. Any information they do have on you is simply by looking at the number that they called.

Ride to Cape Cod

Timelapse of the drive to Cape Cod in 2021

Last Friday I traveled from Hopkinton to Orleans, Mass. I connected my GoPro Hero 9 to my dashboard and recorded the trip to Cape Cod.

Tech Note: I recorded the video using regular 1080p settings and sped up the video footage using Final Cut Pro. I didn't put any background music in the video since it would take away from the clip

Total video time was 1 hour and 57 minutes. The time-lapse version is only 5:53 minutes.

Amazon Scam Calls

A Scam call from Amazon goes wrong for them

I get calls from "Amazon Support" letting me know that someone charged an iPhone to my account. These are scams.

The whole purpose of these scams is to get them access to your computer and then at some point they will access your bank account and then money goes missing.

Why would Amazon need to do this? Shouldn't the first step is to change my Amazon login? Then let my credit card company know about the charge?

I tried to bring up the logic in this call. They didn't want to hear logic and thought I was wasting their time.

Amazon Scam Call

If more people did this to scam calls, it would certainly prevent them from occurring.

Some day we'll look back and say, "Remember when we use to get that stupid Amazon call... ya that was fun."

Eddie Andelman

Special Guest on the Morton Downey Jr Show

Here's another clip from the Morton Downey Jr Show - The 1989 New Years Special. This clip features Eddie Andelman and his sports predictions for 1989.

Eddie was a favorite by Morton Downey Jr and he enjoyed him as a guest.

The audio on this clip is pretty bad, I still have the original tape. I'll see if there is a way to fix it.

Eddie Andelman on the Morton Downey Jr Show

Car Warranty Calls

Spoof the Call? I'll make you pay for it.

This week's media feature - Dealing with the Car Warranty Calls...

Just like most people, I get a lot of calls about how my car warranty has been expired and this is the final chance to get an extended warranty before they close the file.

Sometimes the people that call me don't know what car I have. They expect me to "give" them the information by verifying my car make and model.

Remember: When they ask to verify information, they are really asking you to give them information.

This call ends with me getting the exact car miles and calling them back with the info:

Oh, I can't call them back, because they spoof the phone number. Stop calling me with spoof numbers tricking me to think it's an important call.

Commute to Boston

Traveling the Mass Pike to Boston

Today I had to drive into Boston for work. I decided to hook up my GoPro Hero 9 camera to the dashboard and record a time-lapse of my morning and evening commute.

The video starts at Temple Street in Framingham and ends at the Christian Science Center Parking garage. The evening commute starts in the Christian Science Center garage and ends on Route 9 in Framingham.

The traffic wasn't all that bad as many people are still working from home. In a few weeks, more people will be going back into the office.

Framingham to Boston via Mass Pike

Cape Cod Commercials

Classic 1988 Commercials

This week are four classic commercials that aired in the late 1980s. These have been available on the Real Audio pages. However, the real audio player isn't available for mobile users, so I thought I make some of the popular clips available.

The Commercials

• Lobster Claw
• Pufferbellies
• Cousins
• Delauras

Enjoy the classic clips!

The Morton Downey Jr. Show

Featuring Doctor Fad

This week we are featuring another clip from "The Morton Downey Jr." show. This is another segment from the 1989 Predictions show. This was recorded on December 20, 1988. This is episode 122188.

This segment features "Doctor Fad" (Otherwise known as Ken Hakuta) talking about the latest fads in 1988.

Audio is pretty bad in this clip - not sure what happened. It could be the VHS tape slowly dying or just a bad digital encoding.

Student Loans Call and Voice Mail - Part 2

Scammers trying to get me to pay for their service

On July 12th, I blogged about the various phone calls for the Student Loan forgiveness program. These are obvious scams - I never applied for student loans. If these were legitimate organizations, they would know this.

Instead these are cold calls looking for people who are desperate enough to fall for their bait. Even the Federal Government has issued a warning about the scam in an article posted on the Federal Student Aid website.

The funny thing is, I get these calls around the same time I would get the Medical Services and the Final Expense Insurance calls.

More Calls

Here is a voice message and a call where I actually talk to a person.