Jesse Mueller I’ve been fielding a number of calls about emails from Netgear lately, about a “Product End of Service Notification”. Some people think they are scams, while others believe the messages and want purchasing advice. If you get one of these messages, Don’t Panic. It’s probably not as bad as you think, nor is it worth … Read more
Starting a business? Running an online marketplace? This is a quick PSA to say: Don’t Pay for Reviews. I know, I bet this sounds like common sense advice, but for some, the temptation may come knocking. Don’t compensate anyone to leave you a positive review. If you get any emails or offers to boost your … Read more
Reading can turn into an expensive hobby, unless you remember to use your local libraries. And the Library Extension is made to help with this! You can use this freebie in your browser to make it easier to check your library for book titles, as you shop on other sites. If you want to try … Read more
I see more and more people buying Grey Market Computers, but most of the time, it’s by accident. They didn’t know there was something amiss or abnormal. I’ve touched on grey market tech before in my traptop posts, but this topic deserves one of my Too-Many-Words write-ups. Black & White & Grey In the US, … Read more
Estate planning involves wills, POAs and beneficiary selections… and also your Google account? Yes, Google has a tool for you to use as you plan for what happens when you are no longer around. Anyone with a Google account can use the Inactive Account Manager. This allows you to designate someone(s) to have access to … Read more
Meta/Facebook/Instagram all offer various “badges” to their users and customers. Some are for free, while others you have to pay a subscription fee to get. But please be warned: If you get an email that says you’ve been granted a free badge, it is probably a scam. Here are more details on Facebook Badge phishing: … Read more
A sneaky way of getting people to click on spam is to send a note that claims “your email couldn’t be delivered.” Let me show you some examples of the subtle Undeliverable Phishing that I’m seeing these days: As spam goes, these are pretty convincing. The sender addresses usually look legit, and the undeliverable-verbiage is … Read more
Utility Scams are on the rise. You could encounter these via email, text message, phonecall or even at your door. Here are some examples to learn about and be ready to dodge: Slamming In some states, you are allowed to switch your energy supplier to save money on (for example) your natural gas bill. This … Read more
Yes, there has been a recent class action suit against YouTube, and now that it’s wrapping up, you can consider getting involved. The case revolved around your children watching YouTube while Google allegedly collected data about them. Were your kids’ privacy violated? Google has settled the matter to the tune of $30M, and admitted no … Read more
Google Maps is amazing: One of its abilities is to drop you down to a photographic “street view“. You can see what it looks like to stand on the street of so many locations, all from the comfort of home. While this is useful and fine for public buildings and such, it may also raise … Read more