Welcome to
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User Friendly 2.0 with host Bill Sikkens,
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technology architect.
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And this is User Friendly 2.0.
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Welcome to this week's show.
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Weclome Gretchen. Welcome.
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Bill. Hello there.
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So, you know, it's weird
how fast the year is going by.
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We're just talking about it.
It's our 10th week already, and.
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But a lot of interesting things to cover.
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This week
we are going to be talking about face.
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A lot of listener
questions have come in about this.
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And it seems to be a problem
that's getting worse.
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And what this is referring to
is hardware devices that look just like
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and are sometimes sold for a price,
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just like the real thing,
but aren't the real thing.
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I ran into this myself,
and we'll talk about that a little bit
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and some of the problems
that this is creating.
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We're also going to be
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talking about something else,
a little bit of retro tech today.
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At the end of this segment,
listener questions have come in again.
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What are all the plugs on the bottom
of different video game console spawn?
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A lot of these haven't been used,
so they're kind of there.
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But, you know, it's a good question
and one that we are going to explore
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just a little bit.
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So that will be
what we are going to cover this week.
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And before we do all of that, let's go
ahead and see what's in this week's news.
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All right.
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Can friction maxing fix your focus.
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And what is that or I don't know Gretchen
what is picture focus
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I don't know about mine
because I needed to figure out
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what this even was
talking about. Like, I'm not.
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See what this is.
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BBC reporting on this and what they are
talking about is the fact that technology
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is creating a situation
where we don't have the attention.
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Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking at something
else, the attention span that we used to.
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So, that being said, yeah,
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it is actually causing some problems
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and attention span is getting shorter.
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Critical thinking capabilities, weakening
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emotional intelligence,
fading, beetle memory getting worse.
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These are all sound like bad things,
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and there is still high levels
of stress and loneliness.
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And what's going on
here is the fact that we have
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modern technology,
especially with the onset of AI.
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We don't do a lot of our own
research anymore.
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Everything is done through electronics
and that kind of thing
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when it comes to this stuff.
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And what friction maxing is, is
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the idea of rebuilding tolerance
or inconveniences
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and then doing things that might be
a little bit old school, like reading,
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that kind
of a thing using analog solutions
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in my case, where I really ran into this
playing a cassette tape, somebody,
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it sent me.
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I really didn't have the patience
for trying to figure out where the time,
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or that was really something
I, I didn't even realize it until later
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because it's like,
this is really kind of annoying.
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I, I know,
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and it's something that was very much
the normal and nobody cared about,
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but that's just an example
of this type of thing.
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And some research has been done to this.
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And one of the best ways to handle
this is taking technology breaks again,
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going old school maybe on some things or,
doing an analog kit.
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You're going to go for a picnic,
bring a sketchpad, bring a book to read.
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Don't bring your phone, don't
bring your laptop, tablet.
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You know, that kind of thing.
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So it is another part of this.
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It's kind of a footnote.
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A study just came out that
in a lot of schools,
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high schools, middle
schools, that type of thing,
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instead of books,
they're giving the students Chromebooks,
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you know, which is a type of a laptop
computer or iPads or whatever.
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And they're finding that
that is affecting things, too,
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with critical thinking
and all that in schools.
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It's just not where it once was.
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So we don't want society to get,
you know, stupider,
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which could very easily happen
for lack of a better term.
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Right.
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But it could happen
with these type of things,
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is there are a lot of people
that are finding that really don't know
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how you would go to a library
and look something up
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in an encyclopedia, you know,
that's made out of paper or whatever.
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How do you find the phone number?
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Isn't this is not a new problem.
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When I was originally going
to become a school teacher.
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So I did a small stint with a middle
school teacher when I was in college.
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And she said that the children
are having a difficult time.
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Their attention span has been shortened.
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And she felt that
it was about the same amount of time
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between a television show, commercial
break, television show, commercial break.
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It was like
the kids needed the commercial break.
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They weren't able to concentrate
more than that amount of space.
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So and this was,
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80s when this lady was telling me this.
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So this has been building
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and building and building.
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Yeah. It's an ongoing problem.
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We're really seeing the end of the other
end of it.
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Now, one of the things is
you look at schools, schools have a budget
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and it actually costs less to use
electronics than to buy books every year.
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And the other things
that would be related to that.
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So, you know, from that standpoint,
it does solve some problems.
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But like what you're talking about
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with the commercial break
and timing yourself, that
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it's turning into these type of things
where there's a lot of distractions.
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Now, I know here in Oregon
and a lot of other places,
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the schools are requiring that students
have their phones off during the day.
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The idea of having a portable phone
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when I was in high school
would have been really weird, but,
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most do,
and there's a lot of good reasons for it.
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Safety, if you're stuck somewhere,
that type of a thing.
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And I think that having access to help
when you need it and access to
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communication when you need it outweighs
some of the disadvantages of this.
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But certainly turning the phone off
during the day while you're at school.
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And one thing they can do with school
electronics is be able to,
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you know, go through
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and figure out what is available
and what's not on these devices
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so that the students are
are not being distracted by social media
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and other things that would distract them
with their phones.
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But even so, it's still creating
a very different way.
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And critical thinking and other things,
and is creating a situation
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where there just isn't the focus
there used to be.
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So, you know, technology
solves a lot of problems,
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but this is one
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that I think
that we're going to have to work for
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is to make sure
it doesn't become a new problem.
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And unfortunately, a lot won't.
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Ram prices have skyrocketed
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by 200 to 300% in early 2026.
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Yeah, so if you needed to buy memory for
anything, you've probably noticed this.
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If you haven't, you will soon
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because the price of most technology
is going to go up.
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You do this pretty much anything
that is computerized electronics,
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not just your laptop, desktop
or phone, require memory.
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Even my 1986 pinball machine
I'm still restoring requires memory.
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It's just part of anything
that uses a microprocessor
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or microcontrollers
or even TTL logic, that kind of thing.
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And we saw a spike in memory prices
back in the late 90s.
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I remember that there were break
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ins at computer labs and stuff,
people stealing the Ram out of computers.
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And I have a funny feeling
we're going to see this again
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because what's happening here,
like you said in the headline, is 2020
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5th July of last year, 32 gigabyte Ddr5,
which is, format of memory
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that's used in a lot of computers,
would be about 95 bucks.
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You could even get it for 80
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if you didn't care if the memory lit up,
which I don't, like.
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There's physical RGB
lights and stuff in this stuff, which,
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you know, it's kind of cool, I guess,
but it saves money not to do that today.
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That same hit is on and I found it.
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The cheapest was $350 for refurbished
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and retail prices were between 5 and $600
for the same thing.
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Not faster, not a different brand,
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same apples to apples comparison.
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In Europe, prices peaked in February
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of between 430 to €490.
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It is just really, really expensive.
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And then the other part of it too is even
finding it sometimes what's happening
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is memory allocations are limited
on what can be manufactured,
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and AI data center builds are getting this
where they're actually sending people
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to the manufacturers to buy everything up
before it even hits the market.
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Crucial, which is a brand that makes
a lot of memory, isn't even selling
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to the consumer market anymore.
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Just the data centers.
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And this type of thing is causing a huge,
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huge lack of supply,
which is what's running the prices up.
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And, you know, I was thinking I,
if my desktop I 128 gigs of Ram,
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for the purpose I run
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virtualization and, you know, do editing
stuff and I wait a little bit longer here.
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I could just sell the memory
and pay off my house.
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They're going to shoot themselves
in the foot, because if we don't
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have computers and electronic equipment
that we can use
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to access the AI type stuff,
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well, who's going to use it?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Yeah.
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All right.
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AI is a bubble. It's going to pop in.
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Yeah.
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I don't think it's a nail on the head here
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a little bit too,
because that's the reason.
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You know common question is well why don't
they add varsity because of that reason.
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There will be eventually a point
that the sales of memory two
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AI data centers will stop
or at least slow down.
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And at that point,
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they don't want to have so much production
that there's a glut on the market,
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you know?
So that's that's where that's going.
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But it's creating this problem.
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All right.
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Meta workers say they're seeing disturbing
things through users smart closets.
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Yeah.
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This follows right
under the topic of creepy a little bit.
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Yeah.
When you think about what's going on here.
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So what this is referring to
is meta glasses, which is a product
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that Facebook has had out for a while
now, and it's basically a pair of glasses
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we've talked about on on the show
before that have a video camera on it,
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and you can take photographs
and you can take video with them,
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obviously with a video camera.
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Now I have a set of these,
we won't tell meta, but I,
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did a jailbreak on my
and redid the firmware a while back
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because I use them
for a different purpose now.
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But the idea of having that convenient
is something that is kind of cool.
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You just have the thing on the side
of the glasses and you're recording.
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But what a lot of people don't know about
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is these videos aren't
necessarily private, especially if you're
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sending them up to the meta
I for search or whatever reason.
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This is not done on your glasses
or your phone.
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It's sent out to a data center somewhere,
and that video is now accessible by,
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in this case, anybody that works for meta,
that has rights to that
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and what they're doing
is it's not necessarily nefarious.
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They do content review.
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So if you had things like,
you know, child pornography
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or something that someone was recording,
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the idea is just to be able to catch it
and shut it down.
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I think that is a very good thing.
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But what happens is, is
you have to have people that review
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this content
and these people are reviewing things.
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That is not something that I or hopefully
most of our audience
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would want to just look out
and as part of their job.
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And if they refuse to do it,
they don't keep the job.
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On top of that,
a lot of this is being sent overseas,
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so it's not even contained within
the United States, but things like people
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using the restroom or, you know, adult
activities, let's just leave it at that.
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That type of thing are getting
caught on video and having to be reviewed.
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And it goes a step further
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where things like dead bodies and abuse
and all that kind of stuff.
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And yeah, they find it, they filter it
and they are catching some people
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because they're doing this.
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But still, that kind of a position I think
would be a very difficult job to do.
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The other side of it is
I think most people don't realize
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that these videos
are even accessible outside of their own,
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you know, private phone.
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Yeah, that's got to be weird.
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Yeah.
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Major retail operator files bankruptcy.
235
00:12:06,258 --> 00:12:09,261
Customers have less than a month
to use their gift cards.
236
00:12:09,895 --> 00:12:13,132
So the retailer
that they're talking about here
237
00:12:13,132 --> 00:12:16,469
is, Eddie Bauer, which is kind of sad
238
00:12:16,469 --> 00:12:20,306
because this was a long and a nice story.
239
00:12:20,306 --> 00:12:23,309
It was, you know, one of the places
you went that was a little bit,
240
00:12:23,776 --> 00:12:26,912
you know, a little bit of a step
above a lot of different other things.
241
00:12:27,012 --> 00:12:29,915
So you have until March 12th.
242
00:12:29,915 --> 00:12:32,551
If you have a gift card for any of our,
make sure you use it
243
00:12:32,551 --> 00:12:35,554
because that's like a week
or give or take you go.
244
00:12:35,988 --> 00:12:39,959
And what it is is
the stores are in a shutdown point.
245
00:12:39,959 --> 00:12:43,329
All sales made in stores are final
and cannot be exchanged returned.
246
00:12:43,829 --> 00:12:45,331
And what this is, is in the United States.
247
00:12:45,331 --> 00:12:48,467
In Canada, the retailer has filed
for chapter 11 bankruptcy,
248
00:12:48,968 --> 00:12:52,605
and they are shutting down and auctioning
off their brick and mortar operations.
249
00:12:53,639 --> 00:12:55,941
I had about 180 retail outlet stores
250
00:12:55,941 --> 00:12:59,612
in the US and Canada, and those are
the ones that are shutting down.
251
00:13:00,112 --> 00:13:04,049
So it looks like the gift cards
won't be usable online either.
252
00:13:04,049 --> 00:13:06,118
It's just at the end of that. That's it.
253
00:13:06,118 --> 00:13:10,389
So if you have an Eddie Bauer card,
dig it out from wherever it's sitting.
254
00:13:10,623 --> 00:13:12,358
Find something to buy.
There's plenty of stuff.
255
00:13:12,358 --> 00:13:15,060
With the closing sales, you're
probably going to get a better deal.
256
00:13:15,060 --> 00:13:17,830
But if you don't do it here, by the time
257
00:13:17,830 --> 00:13:21,667
it shuts down and closes,
they just aren't worth anything anymore.
258
00:13:21,667 --> 00:13:22,434
And that's March 12th.
259
00:13:22,434 --> 00:13:23,969
And this is one of the problems
with gift cards,
260
00:13:23,969 --> 00:13:25,738
because you're paying for something.
261
00:13:25,738 --> 00:13:26,872
And depending on the credit
262
00:13:26,872 --> 00:13:31,577
of the retailer or whoever
is going to honor that card to do it.
263
00:13:31,577 --> 00:13:34,213
And if they don't, you're
kind of just not your money.
264
00:13:35,347 --> 00:13:38,350
Yeah, that's really sad.
265
00:13:38,884 --> 00:13:40,085
All right.
266
00:13:40,085 --> 00:13:44,123
Dramatic changes have been observed
in one of the universe's
267
00:13:44,390 --> 00:13:47,193
biggest stars.
268
00:13:47,193 --> 00:13:51,497
And this is not Hollywood
now, one in space.
269
00:13:52,031 --> 00:13:53,465
All right, religious reporting.
270
00:13:53,465 --> 00:13:55,134
Will Durham wrote the article.
271
00:13:55,134 --> 00:13:58,604
And what we are looking at here is a store
272
00:13:58,604 --> 00:14:01,607
called w o g 64.
273
00:14:02,174 --> 00:14:05,144
And they're saying it's
the stellar equivalent of Jimi Hendrix.
274
00:14:05,144 --> 00:14:08,147
So we do have the Hollywood
equivalent here just a little bit on this.
275
00:14:10,282 --> 00:14:11,550
What's happening is, is
276
00:14:11,550 --> 00:14:14,820
it is progressing
a lot faster than most stars do.
277
00:14:14,820 --> 00:14:18,190
It went from red to yellow
and these type of a thing and something
278
00:14:18,257 --> 00:14:21,193
that, yellow hypergiant,
279
00:14:21,193 --> 00:14:25,464
usually takes billions of years
in time to accomplish.
280
00:14:25,464 --> 00:14:27,099
And this is happening very, very quickly.
281
00:14:27,099 --> 00:14:28,534
Now, I don't know about that. Gretchen.
282
00:14:28,534 --> 00:14:30,102
You can speak to this.
283
00:14:30,102 --> 00:14:30,669
I looked it up.
284
00:14:30,669 --> 00:14:33,405
The Death
Star only took 19 years to build,
285
00:14:33,405 --> 00:14:35,941
and the second Death Star was, like,
three years.
286
00:14:35,941 --> 00:14:37,676
So that's not billions of years, right?
287
00:14:37,676 --> 00:14:41,480
And it didn't take them very long to blow
it up, either, when they finally decided.
288
00:14:42,147 --> 00:14:46,051
And I have a funny feeling that, you know,
stars that go like this do live hard
289
00:14:46,218 --> 00:14:49,555
and quickly and, that will be the case
here, most likely with this.
290
00:14:50,122 --> 00:14:54,660
But it is, again, a just a you know,
we really don't know a lot about space.
291
00:14:54,660 --> 00:14:57,830
And I think the more we learn
the more we figure out what we don't know.
292
00:14:57,830 --> 00:14:59,865
Even things like the Voyager,
293
00:14:59,865 --> 00:15:02,368
being outside of the solar system
now, that kind of a thing
294
00:15:02,368 --> 00:15:05,371
and finding all kinds of things
that they didn't think would be the case.
295
00:15:05,871 --> 00:15:07,940
And, you know, so,
296
00:15:08,974 --> 00:15:09,275
kind of cool
297
00:15:09,275 --> 00:15:10,542
this a
little footnote on that, by the way,
298
00:15:10,542 --> 00:15:13,879
they think they're going to be able to
extend the batteries now into the 2030s.
299
00:15:14,380 --> 00:15:16,582
So I don't know if somehow
they got recharged remotely.
300
00:15:16,582 --> 00:15:20,653
Maybe we got maybe,
maybe some little gray alien stuff here.
301
00:15:20,653 --> 00:15:22,755
We'll fix that for. Yeah.
302
00:15:22,755 --> 00:15:26,926
You know, talk about a, battery charging
service that's not at a gas station.
303
00:15:26,926 --> 00:15:29,228
You know, that's really remote.
304
00:15:29,228 --> 00:15:31,830
Yeah.
305
00:15:31,830 --> 00:15:35,434
Dear HBO Max, Paramount+
306
00:15:35,434 --> 00:15:38,671
streaming services will merge
after Warner Brothers discovery deal.
307
00:15:39,805 --> 00:15:42,841
So we talked about this
a little bit in Netflix,
308
00:15:42,841 --> 00:15:46,612
wanting to buy, Warner Brothers discovery
that has not happened.
309
00:15:46,612 --> 00:15:51,283
Paramount is now in
the bidder's seat on that.
310
00:15:51,717 --> 00:15:56,422
And if it's approved, because somehow
this isn't a monopoly, but with Netflix,
311
00:15:56,422 --> 00:15:59,425
it was
somebody I'll need to explain that, to me.
312
00:16:00,192 --> 00:16:03,195
But in any of it,
maybe less of a monopoly is,
313
00:16:03,429 --> 00:16:07,166
a situation here
where if that happens to save money
314
00:16:07,166 --> 00:16:10,169
and I can understand this,
they would put the apps together.
315
00:16:10,769 --> 00:16:13,505
So there's pushback on this happening
316
00:16:13,505 --> 00:16:16,508
because HBO has always been
a very specific brand,
317
00:16:16,809 --> 00:16:19,712
usually with, quality programing
and even back
318
00:16:19,712 --> 00:16:23,215
in the ancient days of cable, where
you had a converter box to receive it,
319
00:16:23,615 --> 00:16:26,051
if you subscribed to HBO,
it was a very specific thing,
320
00:16:26,051 --> 00:16:28,520
and you would kind of get
what you paid for.
321
00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,658
And some of these other streaming services
are not like that so much.
322
00:16:32,658 --> 00:16:36,762
Now, I won't say, you know, here
that, Paramount is bad.
323
00:16:36,762 --> 00:16:39,231
It's not at least in my opinion,
I have that.
324
00:16:39,231 --> 00:16:40,566
And, I get their
325
00:16:40,566 --> 00:16:43,569
app is a freebie through one of my credit
cards, so, you know, I use it,
326
00:16:44,069 --> 00:16:45,971
but putting them together does seem like
327
00:16:45,971 --> 00:16:47,406
they're putting two different things
together.
328
00:16:47,406 --> 00:16:51,276
Along the same reasons
why discovery did not merge their app
329
00:16:51,276 --> 00:16:54,646
as it is now, with Warner Brothers.
330
00:16:54,646 --> 00:16:56,682
Because one is like home repair and stuff
331
00:16:56,682 --> 00:16:59,852
like that, and the other one
is a completely different idea.
332
00:17:00,452 --> 00:17:01,820
So it'll be movies.
333
00:17:01,820 --> 00:17:03,155
Yeah, movies. Exactly. Right.
334
00:17:03,155 --> 00:17:05,491
And other content. But,
335
00:17:06,558 --> 00:17:08,460
it's going to be
interesting to see where this will happen.
336
00:17:08,460 --> 00:17:11,163
It will bring other things
like sport offerings,
337
00:17:11,163 --> 00:17:13,365
TNT, CBS sports, that kind of thing.
338
00:17:13,365 --> 00:17:16,468
So, you know, at the end of the day,
it's going to make for a streaming app
339
00:17:16,468 --> 00:17:17,569
that does a lot.
340
00:17:17,569 --> 00:17:20,239
And there is a lot of streaming fatigue
right now with having to get
341
00:17:20,239 --> 00:17:23,275
a lot of different things for, you know,
you want this and you have to go to that.
342
00:17:23,275 --> 00:17:24,343
And then the other one's a different one.
343
00:17:24,343 --> 00:17:26,378
So I think it'll help
a little bit with that.
344
00:17:26,378 --> 00:17:28,814
But we don't want to see
the whole monopoly thing here either,
345
00:17:28,814 --> 00:17:31,817
because that's going to run up prices
even more than they have in.
346
00:17:32,251 --> 00:17:35,020
So, you know, I can kind of understand
both sides of the coin.
347
00:17:35,020 --> 00:17:39,124
But here from a situation of what's going
on, if the merger is approved,
348
00:17:39,525 --> 00:17:41,193
then that is what's going to happen.
349
00:17:41,193 --> 00:17:45,264
And I would imagine that one out
probably would cost a little more.
350
00:17:45,264 --> 00:17:46,899
Maybe not.
We'll have to see how they do that.
351
00:17:48,667 --> 00:17:49,201
Yeah.
352
00:17:49,201 --> 00:17:55,274
All right MIT creates injectable
gel capable of repairing nerves.
353
00:17:55,274 --> 00:17:57,076
Yeah, that'd be nice. One.
354
00:17:57,076 --> 00:17:57,443
Yeah.
355
00:17:57,443 --> 00:18:00,612
Would you know
the only the only problem with this
356
00:18:00,612 --> 00:18:03,615
is that, MIT
doesn't seem to know anything about it.
357
00:18:04,283 --> 00:18:09,321
Oh. And, you know that that's a
that's a thing.
358
00:18:09,321 --> 00:18:09,621
Right?
359
00:18:09,621 --> 00:18:10,556
So I am.
360
00:18:10,556 --> 00:18:15,561
The reason I included
this is because we talk a lot about what
361
00:18:15,561 --> 00:18:19,231
you see online and the fact that you can't
take everything at face value.
362
00:18:19,832 --> 00:18:20,833
Yeah.
363
00:18:20,833 --> 00:18:24,703
This is something that that is based on
something that MIT is doing,
364
00:18:25,037 --> 00:18:29,174
which is actually quite amazing,
but has been taken to this idea of,
365
00:18:29,641 --> 00:18:32,311
you know, being injectable
and just kind of fixes you like Star Trek.
366
00:18:32,311 --> 00:18:34,513
We're not quite there yet.
367
00:18:34,513 --> 00:18:36,715
But what they are looking at doing
368
00:18:36,715 --> 00:18:40,018
is having a hydrogel
that will help nerves heal.
369
00:18:41,653 --> 00:18:42,621
They're designed to mimic the
370
00:18:42,621 --> 00:18:46,158
body's natural tissue, provide a scaffold
where nerve fibers can grow
371
00:18:46,658 --> 00:18:50,229
and release healing molecules that reduce
inflammation and guide nerve growth.
372
00:18:50,229 --> 00:18:53,232
And yes, I did read that off the press
release. Now,
373
00:18:53,365 --> 00:18:57,870
in studies, to an extent,
this type of thing is working.
374
00:18:58,470 --> 00:19:00,739
It has not been demonstrated
on humans yet.
375
00:19:00,739 --> 00:19:05,177
It's still lab and animal testing where
they're looking at this kind of thing and
376
00:19:06,411 --> 00:19:10,315
so it's more like a back to tank idea
where you, you dip
377
00:19:10,315 --> 00:19:14,419
your, your arm or your hand into a
like a healing solution
378
00:19:15,087 --> 00:19:17,990
instead of having it
injected into your body.
379
00:19:17,990 --> 00:19:20,125
Or what am I misunderstanding?
380
00:19:20,125 --> 00:19:21,126
The description of this
381
00:19:21,126 --> 00:19:24,696
is more like surgeons reconnect nerves
and use this technique to get it to heal.
382
00:19:25,597 --> 00:19:27,266
So I don't even think we're there,
I think.
383
00:19:27,266 --> 00:19:27,933
But the thing of it
384
00:19:27,933 --> 00:19:31,403
is, is being able to reconnect
nerves in of itself is a big deal.
385
00:19:31,737 --> 00:19:32,638
Oh yeah.
386
00:19:32,638 --> 00:19:33,238
You know,
387
00:19:33,238 --> 00:19:34,840
but yeah, it's not a gel
where you inject it
388
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:37,476
and all of a sudden,
you know, everything's happy, you know.
389
00:19:37,476 --> 00:19:39,278
So better back to the do you know,
390
00:19:39,278 --> 00:19:42,281
do you understand what I'm talking about
when I say back to tank.
391
00:19:42,314 --> 00:19:43,916
Yes. Yeah. And okay.
392
00:19:43,916 --> 00:19:47,553
But again no, this looks like this
requires a surgical procedure.
393
00:19:47,853 --> 00:19:51,690
They're also looking for a real roll out
of anything like this for 10 to 20 years.
394
00:19:51,690 --> 00:19:54,726
Beyond,
where they're at now in the testing phase.
395
00:19:54,726 --> 00:19:57,729
But, you know, I like
I like to see stuff like this,
396
00:19:57,896 --> 00:20:01,033
despite the hype on Instagram, with it
being able to reconnect
397
00:20:01,033 --> 00:20:04,803
nerves in of itself is a big deal
and a huge thing for quality of life
398
00:20:04,803 --> 00:20:09,241
for people that, have had damage,
you know, so it's a good thing to see
399
00:20:09,241 --> 00:20:12,211
it happening, but it's not quite to the,
400
00:20:12,244 --> 00:20:15,447
extent that, it was pushing.
401
00:20:15,447 --> 00:20:16,982
So anyway.
402
00:20:16,982 --> 00:20:19,518
All right, so another question that comes
403
00:20:19,518 --> 00:20:22,287
in, we've been talking retro tech,
404
00:20:22,287 --> 00:20:24,089
and I'm going to just cover this
very briefly
405
00:20:24,089 --> 00:20:26,325
because we don't have a lot of time
here left in the segment.
406
00:20:26,325 --> 00:20:30,062
But a lot of people are asking questions
about the different gaming consoles.
407
00:20:30,062 --> 00:20:33,031
So like Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox,
that kind of thing.
408
00:20:33,298 --> 00:20:37,336
And over the years, a lot of these
consoles have had ports on them.
409
00:20:37,936 --> 00:20:40,472
And the original Nintendo had one
410
00:20:40,472 --> 00:20:43,475
on the bottom, and a lot of the others
have followed suit.
411
00:20:43,675 --> 00:20:46,612
And these type of things were put out
for the idea of future proof
412
00:20:46,612 --> 00:20:48,213
and to some extent, these consoles.
413
00:20:48,213 --> 00:20:51,483
But in a lot of cases
they were never used.
414
00:20:52,050 --> 00:20:56,288
Now, from a technical perspective,
what we're dealing with here is something
415
00:20:56,288 --> 00:21:00,192
where it's an expansion port that can
access usually the system bus in some way
416
00:21:00,659 --> 00:21:04,029
be able to interact with the hardware
or the computer that's inside the console.
417
00:21:04,863 --> 00:21:06,498
So that's kind of cool.
418
00:21:06,498 --> 00:21:10,769
You know, if you could do it, Nintendo
offers plenty to offer some things.
419
00:21:10,769 --> 00:21:13,138
The original one was going to be a modem.
420
00:21:13,138 --> 00:21:16,074
Yeah, some of the other ones,
they were going to make a disc drive.
421
00:21:16,074 --> 00:21:18,944
I believe that was a game
where that was going to go
422
00:21:18,944 --> 00:21:21,513
for being able to save stuff,
and that kept getting delayed.
423
00:21:21,513 --> 00:21:23,081
Delayed. It did finally come out in Japan.
424
00:21:23,081 --> 00:21:26,551
We never had it here,
but that would have been a use for this.
425
00:21:26,551 --> 00:21:29,988
And you see this, you know, I'm
picking on Nintendo a little bit here,
426
00:21:30,422 --> 00:21:31,490
but there's some other things too.
427
00:21:31,490 --> 00:21:35,594
Sega Genesis, had a port
originally planned for modems
428
00:21:35,594 --> 00:21:38,597
and now working to access
external peripherals,
429
00:21:38,997 --> 00:21:41,700
diagnosis of which is what
it actually ended up being used for.
430
00:21:41,700 --> 00:21:42,567
And the only thing
431
00:21:43,635 --> 00:21:43,869
you know.
432
00:21:43,869 --> 00:21:45,103
So you see this across the board.
433
00:21:45,103 --> 00:21:48,106
The Super Nintendo had one
for a CD-Rom drive
434
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:51,443
they were going to put together
in partnership with Sony,
435
00:21:51,843 --> 00:21:55,180
which won a different direction
when Nintendo decided to,
436
00:21:55,947 --> 00:21:56,782
do some other things
437
00:21:56,782 --> 00:21:59,785
that Sony was unhappy about,
which is how we got the PlayStation
438
00:22:00,519 --> 00:22:03,422
that was originally going to be the
the Nintendo PlayStation.
439
00:22:03,422 --> 00:22:04,923
Yeah.
So these things go a different direction.
440
00:22:04,923 --> 00:22:07,893
Some parts of this are research
and development, that kind of thing.
441
00:22:08,093 --> 00:22:10,829
One of the biggest ones,
I think literally was
442
00:22:10,829 --> 00:22:13,932
the still, what they called the fat model.
443
00:22:13,932 --> 00:22:17,402
And it had this giant compartment
on the back and,
444
00:22:18,070 --> 00:22:20,739
it was meant for a hard drive upgrade.
445
00:22:20,739 --> 00:22:23,875
There was one game that they did
come out with that in one game did use
446
00:22:23,875 --> 00:22:27,212
it, Final Fantasy,
I think it was 11 or 1 of them.
447
00:22:27,212 --> 00:22:28,947
Ten, 11, something like that.
448
00:22:28,947 --> 00:22:31,083
Yeah, the $100 upgrade.
449
00:22:31,083 --> 00:22:33,218
But most people used it to hide
the sandwich.
450
00:22:33,218 --> 00:22:36,788
Extra TV remotes, you know, as gold bars.
451
00:22:36,788 --> 00:22:39,458
I hope not one
of the first or someday, but,
452
00:22:40,692 --> 00:22:41,793
you know,
453
00:22:41,793 --> 00:22:45,530
but again, and then after the fact,
what happens with a lot of these
454
00:22:45,530 --> 00:22:49,534
things is in most console lifespans,
they will reissue.
455
00:22:50,168 --> 00:22:54,873
So you had a PlayStation two then, or
whatever it was called that removed this.
456
00:22:54,873 --> 00:22:56,875
And now all of a sudden,
if you have people that have bought
457
00:22:56,875 --> 00:22:59,311
whatever peripheral
it is, it won't work anymore.
458
00:22:59,311 --> 00:23:01,246
We saw that on the Atari 7800.
459
00:23:01,246 --> 00:23:02,247
They had an expansion port
460
00:23:02,247 --> 00:23:05,250
that was never used
and then just kind of done away with.
461
00:23:05,250 --> 00:23:09,421
So the one thing about it is, is we're
seeing these things used in homebrew.
462
00:23:10,021 --> 00:23:13,258
So a lot of developers
now, it's a lot easier to build things
463
00:23:13,258 --> 00:23:14,092
where you will connect
464
00:23:14,092 --> 00:23:17,929
a Raspberry Pi or a domino
or something to these expansion ports,
465
00:23:18,296 --> 00:23:21,900
which is a lot more powerful than
the original console ever would have been,
466
00:23:22,267 --> 00:23:25,270
adding all kinds of features
and different things like that.
467
00:23:25,771 --> 00:23:28,940
I have one on my Atari eight computer
that allows it to go online.
468
00:23:28,940 --> 00:23:31,243
The component that allows that to happen
469
00:23:31,243 --> 00:23:34,780
is something like 10,000 times
more powerful than the actual computer.
470
00:23:34,780 --> 00:23:37,516
But hey, it works and it works well.
471
00:23:37,516 --> 00:23:38,083
All right.
472
00:23:38,083 --> 00:23:41,153
Next segment we're going to be
talking about faces is user friendly.
473
00:23:41,153 --> 00:23:43,121
2.0 we'll be back after the break.
474
00:23:43,121 --> 00:23:46,057
Series from the future.
475
00:23:46,057 --> 00:23:49,161
He's got a really big computer
476
00:23:49,728 --> 00:23:52,864
and he uses it every day.
477
00:23:53,265 --> 00:23:56,401
And he usually uses it in every way.
478
00:23:56,835 --> 00:23:58,770
I see you before, you know.
479
00:23:58,770 --> 00:24:03,508
I'm not that sure
because he's eager to welcome back.
480
00:24:03,508 --> 00:24:05,076
This is user friendly 2.0.
481
00:24:05,076 --> 00:24:07,212
Check out our website user friendly
dot show.
482
00:24:07,212 --> 00:24:10,148
That is your one stop for all things user
friendly.
483
00:24:10,148 --> 00:24:11,683
Send us your questions, your comments.
484
00:24:11,683 --> 00:24:14,686
We do our programing
based on what you want us to cover
485
00:24:14,686 --> 00:24:17,823
and that's how we find out
and on that line.
486
00:24:18,223 --> 00:24:21,226
We've had a lot of questions
coming in about FAQs
487
00:24:21,426 --> 00:24:25,063
and this is nothing new,
but it is getting a lot worse.
488
00:24:25,630 --> 00:24:29,968
And what we're talking about here
is the things that are manufactured
489
00:24:30,402 --> 00:24:33,572
that look just like a real brand,
that maybe even say
490
00:24:33,572 --> 00:24:37,242
the name of the real brand,
but are not made by that manufacturer
491
00:24:37,476 --> 00:24:40,645
and therefore are usually inferior
and don't work as well.
492
00:24:41,313 --> 00:24:44,683
And I talked about this
when it happened to me a while back.
493
00:24:44,683 --> 00:24:49,154
I was working on my home
network and I had to get your, your neck,
494
00:24:49,187 --> 00:24:52,557
your switches, Ethernet switches
and everybody that doesn't know
495
00:24:52,557 --> 00:24:54,493
these are just devices
that are part of your network
496
00:24:54,493 --> 00:24:57,929
where you kind of plug everything
in, it concentrates it, puts it together,
497
00:24:57,929 --> 00:25:00,932
and then figures out
what goes where from the internet.
498
00:25:01,433 --> 00:25:04,369
So it's a device
that's been around for a very long time.
499
00:25:04,369 --> 00:25:07,772
But as things have been upgraded,
I had originally gotten a set
500
00:25:08,073 --> 00:25:11,176
that were 2.5 gigabit, and I had used them
501
00:25:11,810 --> 00:25:14,613
for about a year
and a half was no problem.
502
00:25:14,613 --> 00:25:17,716
Well, recently I had to make some changes
to my network for my backups,
503
00:25:18,350 --> 00:25:21,920
and all of a sudden we started
having all kinds of just weird problems
504
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:24,923
that wouldn't work
for doing the backups properly,
505
00:25:25,190 --> 00:25:28,927
but you couldn't even see the
the backup storage device on the network
506
00:25:28,927 --> 00:25:30,695
and then start digging into it
507
00:25:30,695 --> 00:25:34,299
and figuring out, well, my woman
that's on Wi-Fi, I can get right to it.
508
00:25:34,900 --> 00:25:37,168
But the stuff that's on the wired network
doesn't work. Well.
509
00:25:37,168 --> 00:25:41,072
It turns out after wasting about six hours
trying to figure out what's going on
510
00:25:41,072 --> 00:25:43,441
because it did not occur to me
to check this.
511
00:25:43,441 --> 00:25:45,143
The switches are fake.
512
00:25:45,143 --> 00:25:47,812
So they did. You pop it open?
513
00:25:47,812 --> 00:25:48,480
Yeah.
514
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:49,481
Oh, geez.
515
00:25:49,481 --> 00:25:51,483
Okay. Yeah, yeah. Well, of course I did.
516
00:25:51,483 --> 00:25:53,018
I wanted to see
what was actually going inside.
517
00:25:53,018 --> 00:25:55,020
And now they're branded Netgear.
518
00:25:55,020 --> 00:25:57,656
I got them off eBay, which is always.
519
00:25:57,656 --> 00:25:58,924
Yeah, you know,
520
00:25:58,924 --> 00:26:02,060
you're not guaranteed anything there,
but I usually buy and I've had pretty
521
00:26:02,060 --> 00:26:02,761
good luck with it.
522
00:26:04,095 --> 00:26:07,632
You know, all the express, it's like if
you get the real item, you're doing well.
523
00:26:07,632 --> 00:26:09,601
But, this was something that was.
524
00:26:09,601 --> 00:26:12,203
And they were very well made.
525
00:26:12,203 --> 00:26:15,473
Metal case, all the stuff that you would
expect from the original thing.
526
00:26:15,473 --> 00:26:17,242
So I pulled the inside out of it.
527
00:26:17,242 --> 00:26:20,011
And what was very interesting
is the largest component
528
00:26:20,011 --> 00:26:22,213
in there was where all the plugs were.
529
00:26:22,213 --> 00:26:23,481
And then there was a ribbon cable
530
00:26:23,481 --> 00:26:26,618
that went back to this little tiny
PC board with a blob on it,
531
00:26:27,085 --> 00:26:28,620
and the other end went to the power
supply.
532
00:26:28,620 --> 00:26:31,623
Pick a blob. What? It was a blob.
533
00:26:31,890 --> 00:26:35,160
A lot of times
when they manufacture processors or chips
534
00:26:35,493 --> 00:26:37,562
and want to either do it
cheaply or do something where
535
00:26:37,562 --> 00:26:40,765
you can't figure out what it is,
instead of putting it in a plastic package
536
00:26:40,765 --> 00:26:44,269
like what we all think of as a chip
looking like it'll have the silicon
537
00:26:44,269 --> 00:26:47,505
sprayed on the board
with just some kind of gunk put over it,
538
00:26:48,406 --> 00:26:51,309
glue or whatever the case may be,
so that you can't get into it.
539
00:26:51,309 --> 00:26:53,178
It's cheaper to manufacture it that way.
540
00:26:53,178 --> 00:26:55,246
And that is not how Netgear
makes the request. But
541
00:26:56,281 --> 00:26:58,950
so and I can I can really speak to that
542
00:26:58,950 --> 00:27:02,387
because when I finally did
get my real Netgear switches from Netgear,
543
00:27:03,321 --> 00:27:06,324
I took them apart
and there's a lot more going on inside
544
00:27:07,025 --> 00:27:09,361
just because, you know,
it works properly and magically.
545
00:27:09,361 --> 00:27:14,265
When I put these on my network,
it automatically cleared everything up.
546
00:27:14,265 --> 00:27:17,335
It's like, sorry, are you
are you saying that we need
547
00:27:17,335 --> 00:27:22,040
to open our equipment to see if it's real?
548
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:24,009
I'm not advising that.
549
00:27:24,009 --> 00:27:26,378
Especially if you don't know what you're,
you know, doing with that.
550
00:27:26,378 --> 00:27:30,548
You can have mains voltages and
other things and certainly mess stuff up.
551
00:27:30,548 --> 00:27:32,851
And if it's working
okay, you're probably fine.
552
00:27:32,851 --> 00:27:36,421
But you want to make sure that number one,
if you get something used.
553
00:27:37,155 --> 00:27:40,425
So this would be eBay
and Facebook Marketplace or even new
554
00:27:40,458 --> 00:27:43,895
through some of these platforms,
certainly AliExpress and some of those
555
00:27:44,396 --> 00:27:48,867
to be a little bit skeptical and maybe
check it out if the thing comes in
556
00:27:48,867 --> 00:27:51,870
and it's really lightweight or there's
something it feels like it's off,
557
00:27:52,437 --> 00:27:54,906
it might not be the real thing.
558
00:27:54,906 --> 00:27:58,376
And this is actually something
that, in addition to being annoying,
559
00:27:59,010 --> 00:27:59,711
can be dangerous.
560
00:27:59,711 --> 00:28:01,413
And we're going to get to that here
in a little bit.
561
00:28:01,413 --> 00:28:05,183
So what we've done is a little research,
with the help of ChatGPT,
562
00:28:05,316 --> 00:28:09,387
to put together
a list of different devices,
563
00:28:09,654 --> 00:28:13,591
different pieces of hardware
that are coming up.
564
00:28:13,591 --> 00:28:16,127
More and more is fake. So don't worry,
we didn't hallucinate here.
565
00:28:16,127 --> 00:28:19,130
I actually did check each one of them
and they are correct.
566
00:28:19,464 --> 00:28:21,099
So, yeah,
567
00:28:21,099 --> 00:28:23,702
we're not going to talk about a technical
device here that doesn't exist.
568
00:28:23,702 --> 00:28:24,602
At least I hope not.
569
00:28:24,602 --> 00:28:27,105
And anyway, but that being the case,
570
00:28:28,073 --> 00:28:30,575
the list
that kind of finally got put together,
571
00:28:30,575 --> 00:28:34,446
you start to think the first one
is counterfeit USB drives and SD cards.
572
00:28:34,446 --> 00:28:37,449
Now, we actually did talk about this
on the show once before.
573
00:28:37,982 --> 00:28:40,285
And what this basically is, is you
574
00:28:40,285 --> 00:28:43,354
get, something
that's an unbelievable deal, by the way.
575
00:28:43,354 --> 00:28:46,357
That's the other thing to take a second
look at,
576
00:28:46,591 --> 00:28:48,860
flash drives, two terabytes
577
00:28:48,860 --> 00:28:51,863
USB for $9 is the example given here.
578
00:28:52,030 --> 00:28:54,332
Now, if you go on and price
something like that,
579
00:28:54,332 --> 00:28:57,302
in a lot of cases, the capacity
that's claimed doesn't even exist.
580
00:28:57,769 --> 00:29:01,372
And if it does, it's going to be a lot
more than $9 for something like that.
581
00:29:01,372 --> 00:29:02,440
Right.
582
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,743
And what they're doing in a lot of cases
583
00:29:04,743 --> 00:29:07,746
here is the device itself is actually real
584
00:29:07,846 --> 00:29:12,183
and it's been purchased, used or,
you know, from something that's old tech
585
00:29:12,183 --> 00:29:15,620
or whatever the case may be,
and they've changed the capacity on it.
586
00:29:16,020 --> 00:29:17,756
So they've gone in and hacked the device.
587
00:29:17,756 --> 00:29:21,826
So that will report that it's two terabyte
when it's really maybe only 32 gigabyte.
588
00:29:22,827 --> 00:29:25,830
And so when you start using it, it works.
589
00:29:25,830 --> 00:29:26,698
That's the other thing too.
590
00:29:26,698 --> 00:29:29,834
But what generally happens in these things
is, is you're going through
591
00:29:30,201 --> 00:29:32,904
when you hit the real limit
on whatever it is,
592
00:29:32,904 --> 00:29:34,372
it doesn't know
to tell you that it's full.
593
00:29:34,372 --> 00:29:37,408
So it just starts overwriting from
the beginning again, so you lose data.
594
00:29:38,343 --> 00:29:39,911
Lovely.
595
00:29:39,911 --> 00:29:43,081
You know, especially if you're using them
for backups or that type of a thing.
596
00:29:43,381 --> 00:29:46,718
And you won't realize that usually until
after the return period is gone.
597
00:29:47,385 --> 00:29:51,122
So you know, that's, that's a big concern.
598
00:29:51,122 --> 00:29:54,526
Next one on the list is fake
power supplies, fake chargers.
599
00:29:55,493 --> 00:29:58,630
And this is one of the ones
where things can get dangerous.
600
00:29:58,630 --> 00:30:03,001
And I've actually seen this where it's
claimed to be made by a company, you know,
601
00:30:03,001 --> 00:30:06,838
a valid vendor like Apple for a phone
charger or Samsung or something.
602
00:30:07,205 --> 00:30:10,408
And I ran into this once where it
the one I got was a fake.
603
00:30:10,408 --> 00:30:13,411
I figured it out when the plug broke
before I plugged it into the phone.
604
00:30:14,012 --> 00:30:14,913
Which was a good sign.
605
00:30:14,913 --> 00:30:17,882
But what's happening here is that you
606
00:30:17,949 --> 00:30:20,952
miss a lot of the safety components.
607
00:30:21,386 --> 00:30:24,289
So voltage regulation being one.
608
00:30:24,289 --> 00:30:29,427
And what that's talking about is
if you have your expensive
609
00:30:29,427 --> 00:30:32,430
iPhone or Samsung
phone, it's a grand or more
610
00:30:32,530 --> 00:30:35,300
and you want to recharge it
and the phone's expecting a five volt
611
00:30:35,300 --> 00:30:38,303
charge line or whatever
it is, I'm just using that as an example,
612
00:30:38,870 --> 00:30:42,340
and you plug it in and the voltage
coming to it says it's five volts,
613
00:30:42,941 --> 00:30:45,810
but is fluctuating around
and is much higher or lower.
614
00:30:45,810 --> 00:30:47,946
That can damage your
device or even destroy it.
615
00:30:49,380 --> 00:30:51,649
And that's
616
00:30:51,649 --> 00:30:54,652
bad if you spend a lot of money
on one of those iPhones.
617
00:30:54,686 --> 00:30:57,655
Yeah, and frankly,
that's not even if you don't because,
618
00:30:57,655 --> 00:30:58,756
you don't want that to happen.
619
00:30:58,756 --> 00:31:03,061
And the thing of it is,
is that type of thing, in addition
620
00:31:03,061 --> 00:31:07,265
to being able to screw up your device,
there are examples out there of it
621
00:31:07,265 --> 00:31:08,299
causing fires.
622
00:31:08,299 --> 00:31:11,302
You know, one of the examples
we're giving here is electrocution,
623
00:31:11,436 --> 00:31:14,706
risk of damage to devices,
which we just talked about.
624
00:31:15,273 --> 00:31:17,208
But the thing of it is, is, yeah,
you have a charger.
625
00:31:17,208 --> 00:31:20,912
And if it doesn't have heat protection
or voltage protection and something
626
00:31:20,912 --> 00:31:24,115
short circuits
where instead of it turning off, it's
627
00:31:24,115 --> 00:31:28,519
going to start on fire
and it's not worth saving the few bucks.
628
00:31:28,519 --> 00:31:29,220
And again,
629
00:31:30,154 --> 00:31:30,788
look at it.
630
00:31:30,788 --> 00:31:34,158
If the price is something completely
unusual or something feels wrong about it
631
00:31:34,158 --> 00:31:37,428
when you get it,
have a little suspicion, you know.
632
00:31:37,428 --> 00:31:37,562
Yeah.
633
00:31:37,562 --> 00:31:38,496
And then the thing is,
634
00:31:38,496 --> 00:31:42,367
is, okay, you're you're assuming
that you're talking to adults.
635
00:31:42,834 --> 00:31:45,303
What if your kids are also using
this stuff?
636
00:31:45,303 --> 00:31:48,139
Yeah.
And they're not going to know any better.
637
00:31:48,139 --> 00:31:49,574
And simply overheating could burn them.
638
00:31:49,574 --> 00:31:50,942
I mean, you know,
there's all kinds of things
639
00:31:50,942 --> 00:31:53,011
that could happen
that it doesn't go things.
640
00:31:53,011 --> 00:31:56,180
And, you know, fake Apple
chargers are one of the most counterfeited
641
00:31:56,180 --> 00:31:59,183
electronics in the world just because
they're expensive for the real thing.
642
00:31:59,484 --> 00:32:01,653
But you see this everywhere else.
643
00:32:01,653 --> 00:32:05,223
And on that train of thought
is counterfeit lithium batteries.
644
00:32:05,223 --> 00:32:07,992
This gets really dangerous.
What could go wrong here?
645
00:32:07,992 --> 00:32:09,127
Hey, Bill, I'm going to throw that to you.
646
00:32:09,127 --> 00:32:10,561
What would happen if you had a counterfeit
647
00:32:10,561 --> 00:32:13,564
lithium battery with no, protection on it
at all?
648
00:32:14,432 --> 00:32:15,733
Well, they explode.
649
00:32:15,733 --> 00:32:18,603
Yeah. And little, you know, minor cabinet.
650
00:32:18,603 --> 00:32:18,870
Yeah.
651
00:32:21,339 --> 00:32:22,140
To put it mildly.
652
00:32:22,140 --> 00:32:23,174
And obviously,
653
00:32:23,174 --> 00:32:26,277
you know, I make a little bit light of it,
but we shouldn't because that is very,
654
00:32:26,277 --> 00:32:29,280
very dangerous.
And batteries are expensive.
655
00:32:29,314 --> 00:32:32,116
Another reason they get away with this
kind of a thing.
656
00:32:32,116 --> 00:32:36,487
Camera batteries, power tool batteries,
cells, different things like that.
657
00:32:37,422 --> 00:32:42,093
Some of the things are the capacity on
it will be a lot more than it is now.
658
00:32:42,093 --> 00:32:45,163
I ran into this once with a DeWalt
659
00:32:45,163 --> 00:32:50,268
and what makes a lot of power tools,
and they use, in my case,
660
00:32:50,268 --> 00:32:53,705
I think it was 18 volt batteries
that go on these to run them.
661
00:32:53,705 --> 00:32:55,974
And I needed a second battery
and I ordered one.
662
00:32:55,974 --> 00:32:57,942
And this was through Amazon.
663
00:32:57,942 --> 00:33:01,879
And I got the battery and didn't
think about it too much.
664
00:33:01,879 --> 00:33:04,148
I charged it and used it a little bit,
665
00:33:04,148 --> 00:33:06,617
and then came back a couple of weeks later
and it wouldn't charge anymore.
666
00:33:06,617 --> 00:33:07,585
So it went that way.
667
00:33:07,585 --> 00:33:10,588
And I look at it's
the same color, same plastic, same molds.
668
00:33:10,855 --> 00:33:14,592
It doesn't say DeWalt anywhere on it did
on the packaging, but not on the battery.
669
00:33:15,026 --> 00:33:16,661
Now, fortunately,
I was still within my return
670
00:33:16,661 --> 00:33:18,262
window on it,
so I was able to send it back.
671
00:33:18,262 --> 00:33:19,964
But, and it wasn't even cheaper.
672
00:33:19,964 --> 00:33:21,566
It was about the same price
as the real one.
673
00:33:21,566 --> 00:33:24,335
I ended up buying the batteries
plus later. Wow.
674
00:33:24,335 --> 00:33:25,737
So I didn't save a lot on that, you know?
675
00:33:25,737 --> 00:33:28,106
So that was completely a scam.
676
00:33:28,106 --> 00:33:31,542
I know there was a story recently
that I came across to,
677
00:33:31,909 --> 00:33:35,313
somebody had a charge pack,
you know, like you used for recharging
678
00:33:35,313 --> 00:33:36,314
your cell phone on the go.
679
00:33:37,682 --> 00:33:39,851
And it was barely doing anything,
680
00:33:39,851 --> 00:33:44,288
and they opened it up, and it was three
regular lithium batteries and 12
681
00:33:45,423 --> 00:33:47,191
fake batteries every.
682
00:33:47,191 --> 00:33:49,427
Yeah.
683
00:33:49,427 --> 00:33:50,795
And then I kind of.
684
00:33:50,795 --> 00:33:52,630
You're talking like a power bank,
probably.
685
00:33:52,630 --> 00:33:54,132
And, Yeah.
686
00:33:54,132 --> 00:33:56,434
And, you know, and again,
that type of a thing, it's one thing
687
00:33:56,434 --> 00:33:58,503
when it's annoying and just doesn't do
what it's supposed to do.
688
00:33:58,503 --> 00:34:02,206
But the other side of it, again,
no thermal protection that can cause
689
00:34:02,206 --> 00:34:05,810
overheating of fires, as you say,
of explosions, which has happened.
690
00:34:06,344 --> 00:34:08,713
This is one of the reasons
they have to regulate lithium batteries
691
00:34:08,713 --> 00:34:11,282
when you get on the planes,
because this has actually happened.
692
00:34:11,282 --> 00:34:13,251
It's not a theoretical thing.
693
00:34:13,251 --> 00:34:16,154
And, sometimes even with the real stuff
when it's effective.
694
00:34:16,154 --> 00:34:22,326
But you definitely see this among the,
the fake things and are definitely,
695
00:34:22,693 --> 00:34:24,896
something, again, that can screw up
your device
696
00:34:24,896 --> 00:34:26,531
certainly won't hold a charge
for very long.
697
00:34:26,531 --> 00:34:29,567
I like what you're talking about
and can burn down your house.
698
00:34:29,567 --> 00:34:32,570
Yeah, you're good. Stories about kids
toys.
699
00:34:32,904 --> 00:34:35,006
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. How big?
What is that?
700
00:34:35,006 --> 00:34:38,342
There is a chip that goes on
most lithium things.
701
00:34:39,010 --> 00:34:42,013
Cell phones, a lot of it
where it will stop
702
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,483
the charging at a certain stage,
usually about
703
00:34:45,483 --> 00:34:48,453
99, 98% of acts charge
704
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,722
so that it doesn't go over
and cause an explosion.
705
00:34:52,223 --> 00:34:53,157
Right.
706
00:34:53,157 --> 00:34:55,193
And a lot of these big ones, they,
707
00:34:56,260 --> 00:34:57,528
they don't include that.
708
00:34:57,528 --> 00:35:01,666
And the reason why I know about these is
that they don't include those on a lot of,
709
00:35:03,267 --> 00:35:06,737
RC cars,
which my stepson is very much into.
710
00:35:06,737 --> 00:35:10,475
So you have to get what's called
they have a chip that it plugs into that
711
00:35:10,475 --> 00:35:13,478
allows it to charge correctly.
712
00:35:14,245 --> 00:35:17,748
You know, it's and the other thing of it
too, is it's just a great thing really,
713
00:35:17,748 --> 00:35:19,417
because one of the devices
714
00:35:19,417 --> 00:35:22,620
that does regulation like
this is a component called a thermistor.
715
00:35:23,221 --> 00:35:24,589
And there's a lot of other ways to do it,
716
00:35:24,589 --> 00:35:26,190
but it's one
that's been around for a long time.
717
00:35:26,190 --> 00:35:29,994
And being into repairing the old arcade
718
00:35:29,994 --> 00:35:32,997
cabinets,
these were used long line protection and,
719
00:35:33,197 --> 00:35:37,001
costing about a buck 68 to replace
the one that goes on the line voltage.
720
00:35:37,568 --> 00:35:40,138
So something that would into a low voltage
battery pack would of course
721
00:35:40,138 --> 00:35:40,905
be a lot cheaper.
722
00:35:40,905 --> 00:35:43,107
That's not a lot of money really,
when you think about it.
723
00:35:43,107 --> 00:35:46,878
And again, some places,
if you went to AliExpress
724
00:35:46,878 --> 00:35:49,881
and you know it's $0.10 for this,
okay, it's going to be fake.
725
00:35:49,881 --> 00:35:52,917
But when you're getting some of
these devices off reputable retailers,
726
00:35:53,084 --> 00:35:56,754
which even in some cases include BestBuy
and Amazon like we talked about,
727
00:35:57,221 --> 00:35:58,456
that's pretty bad.
728
00:35:58,456 --> 00:36:02,193
And again, it's
something that is becoming a lot worse
729
00:36:02,193 --> 00:36:04,061
and moving on to the next one here.
730
00:36:04,061 --> 00:36:07,098
This one is interesting
and speak computer processors.
731
00:36:08,099 --> 00:36:11,302
And this one would be really bad
732
00:36:11,302 --> 00:36:15,506
because you're looking at a situation
where this stuff's expensive.
733
00:36:16,073 --> 00:36:17,642
So if you're doing
building your own computer
734
00:36:17,642 --> 00:36:21,078
or if you're a company that, you know,
like Dell or something that buys
735
00:36:21,078 --> 00:36:24,081
an Intel processor,
that type of thing ended up with fakes.
736
00:36:24,415 --> 00:36:25,917
It could really screw things up.
737
00:36:25,917 --> 00:36:30,087
And at your best,
it might be a relabeling of a lesser CPU.
738
00:36:30,855 --> 00:36:34,392
But you know, some of what
this talks about here is, seller
739
00:36:34,392 --> 00:36:37,395
sending a CPU shaped piece of metal.
740
00:36:38,162 --> 00:36:41,132
And, I think you would realize that one,
I would hope, but
741
00:36:41,732 --> 00:36:44,936
if what they're banking on is there's
going to be a certain amount of people
742
00:36:45,336 --> 00:36:47,672
that would get the box in the mail
that it's somewhere
743
00:36:47,672 --> 00:36:50,675
until they get around to their project,
which is after the return window,
744
00:36:51,209 --> 00:36:53,144
and then they can't
do much about it. You know,
745
00:36:54,111 --> 00:36:55,346
it's,
746
00:36:55,346 --> 00:36:57,815
it's it's a crazy thing,
but we're seeing it all around.
747
00:36:57,815 --> 00:36:58,716
Next item on the list,
748
00:36:58,716 --> 00:37:01,719
which we kind of already talked about,
is fake network equipment.
749
00:37:03,221 --> 00:37:04,255
Oh, boy.
750
00:37:04,255 --> 00:37:07,258
And that's exactly what,
what happened here?
751
00:37:07,491 --> 00:37:10,127
Some of the other things
that came up with this is,
752
00:37:10,127 --> 00:37:12,630
name brand Cisco being one of them.
753
00:37:12,630 --> 00:37:16,567
That is faked a lot is two things
you want to be careful of.
754
00:37:16,867 --> 00:37:20,404
Number one is these type of devices
usually have firmware,
755
00:37:20,871 --> 00:37:23,608
which is software that runs the device
that's built into it.
756
00:37:23,608 --> 00:37:27,712
Most electronics of that nature a routers
certainly does that type of thing.
757
00:37:28,412 --> 00:37:32,083
But this can be very compromised
on the fake one
758
00:37:32,383 --> 00:37:35,419
and also have backdoors
that other people can get into it.
759
00:37:35,419 --> 00:37:38,923
If someone can get into a backdoor
on your network router, they can get there
760
00:37:38,923 --> 00:37:41,559
behind your firewall usually,
and they can get to,
761
00:37:41,559 --> 00:37:44,295
you know, anything in your network
that's even real.
762
00:37:44,295 --> 00:37:45,129
Yeah,
763
00:37:45,129 --> 00:37:46,530
some of the cases are really bad
764
00:37:46,530 --> 00:37:48,432
where they can turn on the camera
on your computer
765
00:37:48,432 --> 00:37:50,368
and watch what you're doing
without you knowing about it.
766
00:37:51,802 --> 00:37:53,604
Those type of things,
767
00:37:53,604 --> 00:37:56,641
certainly getting financial information
and all that kind of stuff.
768
00:37:56,941 --> 00:37:59,510
And the other thing of it
is, too, is you don't know what's in it.
769
00:37:59,510 --> 00:38:00,911
Like my switches.
770
00:38:00,911 --> 00:38:01,646
Same type of thing.
771
00:38:01,646 --> 00:38:04,649
I have no idea who made them,
772
00:38:05,049 --> 00:38:07,184
you know, and now a dumb
773
00:38:07,184 --> 00:38:10,187
switch doesn't have firmware,
so I didn't have the back door problem.
774
00:38:10,421 --> 00:38:13,791
But a lot of, networks,
most networks actually use smart switches
775
00:38:13,791 --> 00:38:16,794
where you can configure them
and everything, and those do,
776
00:38:16,994 --> 00:38:19,964
I don't need it for what I'm doing, but
777
00:38:19,964 --> 00:38:21,866
certainly most commercial networks
would have that.
778
00:38:21,866 --> 00:38:25,436
And I think a lot of home ones do as well,
you know. So,
779
00:38:26,737 --> 00:38:29,006
it definitely creates a problem.
780
00:38:29,006 --> 00:38:33,444
And one other note on this,
this is not a new thing, but on a lot
781
00:38:33,878 --> 00:38:37,248
this came up really in
the 90s is a big problem.
782
00:38:37,248 --> 00:38:42,353
Is cache memory was a new thing or 86,
microprocessors
783
00:38:42,353 --> 00:38:45,823
in that era started having cache 386,
some of the higher end ones too.
784
00:38:46,357 --> 00:38:49,727
And you would get a motherboard which had
what looked like cache memory on it.
785
00:38:49,727 --> 00:38:52,196
But if you looked at it,
the prices weren't hooked up to anything
786
00:38:52,196 --> 00:38:54,332
and force
it didn't work and it wasn't real,
787
00:38:54,332 --> 00:38:56,667
but they could charge a lot more money
for that, you know?
788
00:38:56,667 --> 00:39:00,338
And again,
the consumer may not know what's going on.
789
00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:01,439
And even,
790
00:39:01,439 --> 00:39:04,275
you know, hobbyists who builds their own
computer might put this thing together.
791
00:39:04,275 --> 00:39:08,379
And unless they start benchmarking
or going in to try to enable this stuff,
792
00:39:08,612 --> 00:39:12,550
they may never actually see it,
that it's not really there.
793
00:39:12,550 --> 00:39:14,185
You know. So
794
00:39:15,152 --> 00:39:15,553
I don't know.
795
00:39:15,553 --> 00:39:19,023
And again, I'm not trying to give
everybody a downer, but this is something
796
00:39:19,023 --> 00:39:23,527
that we need to be aware of
because it can cause very bad things.
797
00:39:23,527 --> 00:39:27,264
Break HDMI and display cables
is the next one on the list.
798
00:39:28,132 --> 00:39:31,302
And if you go
if you've ever gone to certainly
799
00:39:31,369 --> 00:39:35,306
to a retailer like BestBuy and bought,
say, a monster eight K
800
00:39:35,673 --> 00:39:39,543
HDMI cable, you need to have one
won the lottery, probably.
801
00:39:39,977 --> 00:39:43,814
But to that point is
these are generally very expensive.
802
00:39:44,348 --> 00:39:47,685
And if you look on an O or,
you know, on Amazon, I can get that exact
803
00:39:47,685 --> 00:39:50,721
same able to that
brand or eBay for something for,
804
00:39:50,755 --> 00:39:52,823
you know, a 10th of the price.
805
00:39:52,823 --> 00:39:55,993
And it might look just like it
when you get it, but it will not work
806
00:39:56,494 --> 00:39:57,128
very well.
807
00:39:57,128 --> 00:40:01,465
And, you know,
and the other thing of it is too is, HDMI,
808
00:40:01,665 --> 00:40:04,969
Bluetooth, all of these type of things
have versions in of himself.
809
00:40:05,603 --> 00:40:09,106
So if you need the latest version of HDMI
because you're run in, let's say,
810
00:40:09,106 --> 00:40:12,009
a 4K television with Dolby Vision
and all the other,
811
00:40:12,009 --> 00:40:14,111
you know, goodies
that you would have on that,
812
00:40:14,111 --> 00:40:16,313
and you get an HDMI cable
that's branded that,
813
00:40:16,313 --> 00:40:18,149
but an older version,
it's not going to work. Right.
814
00:40:18,149 --> 00:40:19,583
And you're not going to know what's wrong.
815
00:40:20,651 --> 00:40:22,086
At least at first.
816
00:40:22,086 --> 00:40:24,922
It'll feel like the television
isn't working quite right or,
817
00:40:24,922 --> 00:40:26,657
you know, something else.
818
00:40:26,657 --> 00:40:29,894
And it, definitely is a problem.
819
00:40:29,894 --> 00:40:34,965
I have not run into this personally,
but I know that there are those that have.
820
00:40:35,566 --> 00:40:39,003
And again, and this one's
a little bit harder to deal with because
821
00:40:39,003 --> 00:40:41,972
Best Buy and I will pick a one on them
for this
822
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,975
does really mark up their cables.
823
00:40:44,975 --> 00:40:45,876
Yeah.
824
00:40:45,876 --> 00:40:48,312
They are a lot more expensive
than they should be.
825
00:40:48,312 --> 00:40:50,981
And in some cases
you can really find a better deal.
826
00:40:50,981 --> 00:40:54,518
If you look online and you know
other retailers and that type of a thing,
827
00:40:54,985 --> 00:40:56,020
but then it's hard to know.
828
00:40:56,020 --> 00:40:58,022
Is it just a better deal
because they've marked it up
829
00:40:58,022 --> 00:41:00,991
versus is it fake
or is it an older version?
830
00:41:01,292 --> 00:41:05,162
So exactly how do you know
that you've gotten a bad cable?
831
00:41:06,497 --> 00:41:09,233
Well, I did a little
research and got an old pagan ritual
832
00:41:09,233 --> 00:41:12,369
from the old gods,
and I asked them, oh, okay.
833
00:41:12,369 --> 00:41:15,372
Well,
I'm like a little intense for some people.
834
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,242
You know, it might it might not be the way
some people want to go.
835
00:41:18,242 --> 00:41:19,643
And I'm kidding about that, of course.
836
00:41:19,643 --> 00:41:22,713
But, some of the things
is, is the fact that it won't work.
837
00:41:22,713 --> 00:41:22,980
Right.
838
00:41:22,980 --> 00:41:24,482
That is your first clue.
839
00:41:24,482 --> 00:41:27,151
Flickering different things like that.
840
00:41:27,151 --> 00:41:29,553
The device is going back
to a lower resolution,
841
00:41:29,553 --> 00:41:31,922
not doing
what they're actually supposed to do.
842
00:41:31,922 --> 00:41:35,259
The other thing of it is, if you look
at it in the build, quality is really bad.
843
00:41:35,793 --> 00:41:38,762
Commercially produced high end cables
aren't going to look like that.
844
00:41:38,762 --> 00:41:41,632
You do when you spend more money,
you get a better product.
845
00:41:41,632 --> 00:41:43,200
In that sense.
846
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,971
And you know, a situation
is where with this, it's really just the
847
00:41:48,072 --> 00:41:50,641
you have to run it and
use it and see if it doesn't work right
848
00:41:50,641 --> 00:41:53,611
or if it looks off,
or if it's really just too good of a deal.
849
00:41:53,611 --> 00:41:53,978
Yeah.
850
00:41:53,978 --> 00:41:57,047
You know, I was looking at that, hairdryer
cable that,
851
00:41:58,115 --> 00:42:01,218
that went south on me
and I was looking at it thinking,
852
00:42:01,452 --> 00:42:03,487
should that have really done that?
853
00:42:03,487 --> 00:42:05,055
Because it yeah, it looked bad.
854
00:42:05,055 --> 00:42:09,360
And I was kind of surprised
when I saw that big flash come out of it.
855
00:42:09,994 --> 00:42:12,897
You know, I was looking at,
for some reason, the, brushes on this.
856
00:42:12,897 --> 00:42:15,900
A real quick aside, Gretchen
had a hairdryer that blew up on her.
857
00:42:16,467 --> 00:42:17,201
Was made.
858
00:42:17,201 --> 00:42:22,206
The, brushes on the motor were plastic
with a little tiny piece of metal
859
00:42:22,206 --> 00:42:25,543
in the middle, and it's a slippery motor,
and that's why it failed like that.
860
00:42:25,543 --> 00:42:28,812
Shorted out just because,
like I said, that's that was a con air.
861
00:42:28,846 --> 00:42:30,314
That should have done that.
862
00:42:30,314 --> 00:42:30,781
And it did.
863
00:42:30,781 --> 00:42:33,951
It broke from the heat and, you know, wow.
864
00:42:34,552 --> 00:42:36,020
I mean,
I think if I'm going to double check that
865
00:42:36,020 --> 00:42:38,923
because none of the internal components
said Con Air, come to think of that.
866
00:42:38,923 --> 00:42:42,326
So you think that was a con air?
All right.
867
00:42:42,359 --> 00:42:43,627
I look at it. I still have it.
868
00:42:43,627 --> 00:42:44,194
I'll look at it.
869
00:42:44,194 --> 00:42:47,197
So all right,
let's get into the scary stuff okay.
870
00:42:47,765 --> 00:42:49,667
This is the stuff that really can cause
problems.
871
00:42:49,667 --> 00:42:52,403
Counterfeit
automotive parts are becoming a problem.
872
00:42:53,437 --> 00:42:54,204
Oh, things like
873
00:42:54,204 --> 00:42:57,207
brake pads, putting fake brakes,
874
00:42:57,975 --> 00:43:02,947
anti bad air bags being filled with cloth
or paper instead of the actual inflators.
875
00:43:03,781 --> 00:43:06,150
Oh boy.
876
00:43:06,150 --> 00:43:08,552
Yeah,
I think about putting that in your car.
877
00:43:08,552 --> 00:43:10,354
Get an axle.
I mean, you know, that could kill you.
878
00:43:10,354 --> 00:43:12,289
I mean, it's not funny that really good.
879
00:43:12,289 --> 00:43:15,225
Oh, I'd be better off without the airbag.
880
00:43:15,225 --> 00:43:16,860
Exactly, exactly.
881
00:43:16,860 --> 00:43:19,797
And, you know, in these type of things,
882
00:43:19,797 --> 00:43:22,933
another area was in the white,
883
00:43:23,667 --> 00:43:27,471
aviation had a problem with this,
that the company was sending
884
00:43:27,471 --> 00:43:31,442
the companies that were doing
the repair work on commercial planes
885
00:43:31,442 --> 00:43:34,712
like Southwest Airlines
and United and stuff like parts,
886
00:43:35,479 --> 00:43:37,915
and they were not charging
less for them either.
887
00:43:37,915 --> 00:43:40,684
And the airlines
got them thinking they were reputable.
888
00:43:40,684 --> 00:43:43,587
And when this came out,
they had to ground a lot of aircraft
889
00:43:43,587 --> 00:43:46,890
and go through and check and see if
the repair components they used were real.
890
00:43:47,625 --> 00:43:47,825
Yeah.
891
00:43:47,825 --> 00:43:52,596
You know, anything like the one where the
panel went flying off the off the plane?
892
00:43:53,998 --> 00:43:56,266
I don't
know if that was directly related to that.
893
00:43:56,266 --> 00:43:58,335
I think that that one from my
if I remember
894
00:43:58,335 --> 00:44:01,205
remembering correctly, Boeing,
which was the manufacturer
895
00:44:01,205 --> 00:44:03,707
that simply didn't
put the clamps in the door or something,
896
00:44:03,707 --> 00:44:06,710
but I would need to look that up
to be sure it wasn't fake.
897
00:44:06,877 --> 00:44:08,312
It was just simply not there.
898
00:44:08,312 --> 00:44:11,448
Which would also be a problem right?
899
00:44:11,749 --> 00:44:13,550
Yeah,
but when you think about that in Bill,
900
00:44:13,550 --> 00:44:15,719
I know you've done
a lot of mechanical work over the years.
901
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,856
Can you imagine getting a fake oil filter
and what that could do to your engine?
902
00:44:19,757 --> 00:44:22,793
Well, you know, the oil filter quality
alone matters a lot.
903
00:44:23,861 --> 00:44:26,864
Not to plug anything,
but I use Napa filters because
904
00:44:27,464 --> 00:44:30,401
just actually seeing them
cross-section is significantly better
905
00:44:30,401 --> 00:44:33,137
than any other filter
I've seen out there. The Napa gold.
906
00:44:33,137 --> 00:44:33,404
Yeah.
907
00:44:34,571 --> 00:44:34,772
Yeah.
908
00:44:34,772 --> 00:44:37,608
I mean, there are better filters,
don't get me wrong.
909
00:44:37,608 --> 00:44:40,678
Just you, you know, it's nice
and and their ratings are good.
910
00:44:40,678 --> 00:44:42,179
I don't think they're, you know,
911
00:44:42,179 --> 00:44:44,114
they're not a sponsor or anything,
but it is a good brand.
912
00:44:44,114 --> 00:44:45,616
I've had good luck with them, too.
913
00:44:45,616 --> 00:44:48,552
And it's not bad to talk about things
that do work.
914
00:44:48,552 --> 00:44:51,255
But again, if let's say that you went to,
915
00:44:51,255 --> 00:44:54,258
you know, your auto parts store
and bought your Napa filter
916
00:44:54,558 --> 00:44:57,728
and the auto parts store buys
from usually a reseller
917
00:44:57,728 --> 00:45:01,699
or some kind of a wholesale company,
and let's say they didn't know it was fake
918
00:45:01,699 --> 00:45:03,534
and somehow it got into the stream
somewhere.
919
00:45:03,534 --> 00:45:06,537
Backup channel, you know, that's
where these things can get really scary
920
00:45:07,137 --> 00:45:10,641
because, you know,
you're a business that changes oil filters
921
00:45:10,641 --> 00:45:13,777
and you didn't notice
or you didn't see what it was.
922
00:45:14,244 --> 00:45:15,145
Is it obvious?
923
00:45:16,246 --> 00:45:16,680
Not really.
924
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:18,615
Oh no. Really.
925
00:45:18,615 --> 00:45:20,050
An oil filter is a sealed thing.
926
00:45:20,050 --> 00:45:21,218
It's just painted on.
927
00:45:21,218 --> 00:45:24,288
And if it says Napa, you expect
that says Napa or whatever.
928
00:45:24,855 --> 00:45:26,356
Yeah, exactly.
929
00:45:26,356 --> 00:45:30,461
But like one of the biggest risks
in mechanics, and this comes
930
00:45:30,461 --> 00:45:35,799
from everywhere, even building bridges
and other things is bolt quality.
931
00:45:36,500 --> 00:45:38,769
Oh, yeah. You can get some really.
932
00:45:38,769 --> 00:45:41,672
There's also come in grades
for those who don't know.
933
00:45:41,672 --> 00:45:45,409
And let's say you have a grade eight,
which is a very high quality
934
00:45:45,409 --> 00:45:48,412
bolt.
935
00:45:49,012 --> 00:45:50,647
It's been happened
936
00:45:50,647 --> 00:45:52,983
where the bolt quality has been junk
937
00:45:52,983 --> 00:45:55,953
or they've been knock off bolts.
938
00:45:56,253 --> 00:45:59,389
This has caused things
like wheels to come off of vehicles.
939
00:46:00,858 --> 00:46:04,528
I mean, it can be catastrophically
damaging.
940
00:46:05,796 --> 00:46:06,897
Yeah, yeah.
941
00:46:06,897 --> 00:46:07,598
Very easily.
942
00:46:07,598 --> 00:46:10,801
I mean, you know, when you think about it,
I just at the end of the day
943
00:46:10,801 --> 00:46:13,771
and then when you think back to some of
the other things like fake brake pads,
944
00:46:13,937 --> 00:46:16,507
you would have no idea
what the quality of these would be.
945
00:46:16,507 --> 00:46:18,842
They probably work initially, but,
946
00:46:18,842 --> 00:46:21,311
you know, something goes
wrong with that system and you can't stop.
947
00:46:21,311 --> 00:46:22,179
It can kill you.
948
00:46:22,179 --> 00:46:25,115
It's not, you know, something
just to screw around with.
949
00:46:25,115 --> 00:46:28,485
Saving money
and taking it to the next topic goes in
950
00:46:28,485 --> 00:46:31,922
with most one that I would consider
the scariest is fake medication.
951
00:46:32,756 --> 00:46:35,626
Yeah,
and this very much is a global problem.
952
00:46:35,626 --> 00:46:39,062
Medication costs a lot of money
and they're finding thousands of examples
953
00:46:39,062 --> 00:46:43,233
with, hey, you're a fake insulin, fake
Covid test, which has been a big deal.
954
00:46:43,567 --> 00:46:45,836
Fake blood glucose strips.
955
00:46:45,836 --> 00:46:50,774
This goes on to a lot of other things
where your medication will look
956
00:46:50,908 --> 00:46:53,911
just like what it's supposed to do,
but the dosage might be off.
957
00:46:53,911 --> 00:46:56,113
It might not even be the medication.
958
00:46:56,113 --> 00:46:58,982
So if you're taking something like,
let's say you have heart trouble
959
00:46:58,982 --> 00:47:02,853
and you're taking a medication to regulate
that, you get a fake
960
00:47:02,853 --> 00:47:06,356
one that could easily kill you
or the wrong dosage of that line.
961
00:47:06,690 --> 00:47:10,460
Do you remember our friend Peter,
when he was still alive
962
00:47:10,460 --> 00:47:16,466
and he ended up with a, a pill
that had rice, powder in it,
963
00:47:16,466 --> 00:47:20,337
and he was allergic to rice powder,
and he wasn't supposed to have that.
964
00:47:20,737 --> 00:47:21,872
Yeah.
965
00:47:21,872 --> 00:47:23,440
And these these type of things happen.
966
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:25,843
And, you know, again,
you're looking at the distributor
967
00:47:25,843 --> 00:47:27,177
and where is all this coming from?
968
00:47:27,177 --> 00:47:30,180
And there have been shortages
during the pandemic.
969
00:47:30,280 --> 00:47:30,781
There was a time
970
00:47:30,781 --> 00:47:33,817
where you simply couldn't get medication,
even the ones that you absolutely needed
971
00:47:33,817 --> 00:47:34,985
for a while.
972
00:47:34,985 --> 00:47:39,690
And, you know, the supply lines are
something that you can't always verify.
973
00:47:39,690 --> 00:47:42,192
Another one where this is, is flu shots.
974
00:47:42,192 --> 00:47:43,660
And they've had a couple of instances
975
00:47:43,660 --> 00:47:47,064
over the years
where if both on the good side be saline,
976
00:47:47,064 --> 00:47:50,067
because that won't do anything bad to you
if you inject that,
977
00:47:50,167 --> 00:47:52,135
or other stuff that might.
978
00:47:52,135 --> 00:47:53,570
And of course,
979
00:47:53,570 --> 00:47:55,172
you know, if it's one
thing, you've got to get a flu shot
980
00:47:55,172 --> 00:47:57,474
because you don't want to get the flu
and then you get sick.
981
00:47:57,474 --> 00:47:58,575
But you got to consider
982
00:47:58,575 --> 00:48:02,212
that a lot of these type of medications
are used in vulnerable people
983
00:48:02,579 --> 00:48:04,181
that if they get the flu,
they're going to die
984
00:48:04,181 --> 00:48:06,450
or have some really bad problem with it.
985
00:48:06,450 --> 00:48:09,453
It isn't just being in bed
with chicken soup for a week or two.
986
00:48:09,586 --> 00:48:12,089
And when that happens,
987
00:48:12,089 --> 00:48:14,691
we saw a couple of children
dying from that type of a thing,
988
00:48:14,691 --> 00:48:17,694
and they did track that down
and figure out where it was coming from.
989
00:48:18,128 --> 00:48:21,465
But it was a situation
where, you know, it's just downright
990
00:48:21,465 --> 00:48:23,300
you can't trust your medication.
991
00:48:23,300 --> 00:48:25,235
You know, and that type of a thing.
992
00:48:25,235 --> 00:48:28,138
And then that coupled with the fact
that a lot of people,
993
00:48:28,138 --> 00:48:31,942
because of the cost of these things,
will buy from international pharmacies
994
00:48:31,942 --> 00:48:33,310
and all of that.
995
00:48:33,310 --> 00:48:35,112
And again, that takes it to another level.
996
00:48:35,112 --> 00:48:38,815
But if you some of these injectable
things are 3 or $4000 apiece.
997
00:48:39,516 --> 00:48:42,719
So it's like you either have a choice
of doing that or you don't get it at all.
998
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:47,591
But now, you know, it's hard to be able
to track down and know what's real.
999
00:48:47,591 --> 00:48:50,861
I don't know, I just think
this is all really scary and send this.
Speaker:
00:48:50,861 --> 00:48:52,529
If you've ever seen an example of this,
Speaker:
00:48:52,529 --> 00:48:55,198
hopefully it hasn't happened to you,
but send us your examples.
Speaker:
00:48:55,198 --> 00:48:57,000
I'd love to see this
and see what's actually happened.
Speaker:
00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:59,236
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00:48:59,236 --> 00:49:03,874
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Speaker:
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Speaker:
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Speaker:
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