The Computer Exorcist Podcast

Friend of the show and economist Nevin Hira joins us today to give us great insight into: the Indian Caste System - what is it and how it is configured India's ultra-competitive IIT tech schools, and how many people vie for admission to them How Silicon Valley has a microcosm of India, and how they bring the caste system with them The only true way to stop hunger in our world (it involves dump...

Huge announcement - we've surpassed 6,000 downloads! Today we delve into the SHAKEN/STIR scandal - YET ANOTHER example of how my industry tries to solve a problem by slathering ultracomplexity and centralized control all over it. Spoiler alert: It doesn't work, it burdens the good guys with more "diiiigital certificates" and, in case you haven't noticed, the bad guys just laugh...

Today on CEP! Facebook stops NYU researchers from studying their own volunteers Hackers are using CAPTCHA to scam people (Are you surprised?) A Georgia school district puts cameras in classrooms (Imagine how much the contractor charged them!) "Tech workers are richer but less happy than most" (I explain why) "HP disappoints" (Are you surprised?) Modern man's progress (correlate...

Tonight, on CEP! Some well-intentioned pea-brain suggests we include breathalyzers in every steering wheel of every new car. Great idea, but since 99% of all technology fails 99% of the time, most cars in the world will blow false alarms and stop working. This also contributes to the avalanche of new features that make cars too complex to fix, meaning they'll be put in the landfill sooner. Car...

Tonight, on the first CEP of the new year! We expose what Microsoft Edge does to you, the consumer, and ask the question: Is it legalized malware? We discuss the helpful feature that didn't make it to Windows 11, and the terrifying anti-features that did We discuss the only person in the computer industry with something called "self-control". Get this, he doesn't just desperately c...

Tonight we wrap my interview with the brilliant Jamarri from Ascension Hosting: Louis Rossmann being nominated for a government position, allowing him to call out Apple and others for their horrific lack of ethics The possibility that someday someone in government might actually care about saving money Most people currently in government think Outlook is acceptable AI video generation How to tell...

Tonight on CEP! We interview the brilliant prodigy Jamarri from Ascension Hosting. He's half my age and twice my IQ, so put on your seat belt while we explain AI to you: The latest developments in AI, and what it can now do LOCALIZED AI: keeping AI home, away from the Cloud The current major AI contenders What is Hugging Face? Asking AI to really "think" something through will yield be...

Tonight we play "ketchup" on our huge backlog of articles. I'm also moving to a new format where I "raise the plow" slightly, reading more headlines per episode and avoid digging too deep into each article. This should also reduce the beating of the many dead horses I've accumulated over the years. Here's what's on the menu for tonight: Texas residents realize their...

Tonight on CEP! Co-host Dr. Mike joins us to slay some articles. Tesla releases Full Self-Driving Beta 9, with a caveat: Most things are fixed, but some new things are broken. Alas, that's how all update attacks work! At least Elon gives us a warning that should be applied to all software: "so please be paranoid." Dr. Mike makes a great Simpsons analogy. GM sues Ford for using the name...

Tonight on CEP! Marc discusses: An article from 2021 predicting that all those pie-in-the-sky pledges to build only EVs by 2025-30 wouldn't come true. (Hint: The prediction was correct.) Akio Toyoda explaining that if Japan went all-electric, it'd run out of power in 6 months. I add to it that the real environmental impact is in the MANUFACTURING. If you're building cars that are desig...

Tonight, another Torment a Scammer medley with Mister Leghorn! American-sounding AI voices read off poorly-written scripts "Sir, you will hear a sound of music." "Oh, well I quite enjoyed The Sound of Music!" A real lady sounds so robotic, she makes Marc think she's an AI A scammer informs me that if I push the button on my Medical alert necklace, firemen and EMTs will emerge f...

Yes, it's another Torment a Scammer Medley! Tonight, Foghorn Leghorn encounters the following: "Geek Tech", a fake company which claims to be a product (er, service?) of Geek Squad A Medicare impersonator who just woke up A DirecTV impersonator claiming they're a cable company rather than a satellite provider. When he chastises me for wasting his time, I turn the tables and remind...

In tonight's solo teaching episode, Marc discusses: A very cruel joke called the "Virus Shield Chromebook" - who perpetrated it and why it's a huge waste FaceTime calls are now available to users of non-Apple devices! Was it magnanimity on Apple's part, or was it something else? FINALLY - a laptop that's not only repairable, upgradeable, but also Open Architecture! This mea...

It's another Torment a Scammer Episode! I received one of those fake emails that claimed I was on the hook for some McAfee software. (OF COURSE, ALL OF THESE ARE FAKE. THEY ARE DESIGNED TO GET YOU RILED UP SO YOU CALL THEIR EVIL IMPOSTOR HELP DESK.) So, I decided to call, or rather, Foghorn Leghorn did. When I got too much for them, they told me not to worry about it, so I kept calling them ba...

Today we celebrate surpassing 5000 downloads!!! Since I don't buy likes or otherwise puff up my numbers, those are all real "viewers like you". Thanks for continuing to spread the word. First I explain what I've been up to and how I'm transforming my career into public speaking. Then we do a few interesting articles: Excelsior Pass, which was a power grab gone wrong (as everyth...

Today we welcome the amazing Jenny Tiffany. She makes brand new 80s music and album covers, and sells them on... brand new cassette tapes (and MP3s). In a world of cloud-controlled products with forced obsolescence, she's my favorite contrarian. Tonight we discuss: The divergence between digital creativity and factory control WHY people are still attracted to records, tapes, and broadcast tele...

Are you stuck in your life? Do you know anyone who is? You'll want to hear today's episode with John D. Hanson. WOW do we have some mind-blowing concepts from this brilliant man. John is one of the few people lucky enough to have escaped Rochester, and once he did, immediately found acceptance and success in greener pastures. He enlightens us with revelations I wish I'd learned sooner:...

Shoutout to listener Steve T who heard about me on the War Room with Jim Quinn. He said he loved these scammer episodes, so I'm dedicating this one to you. The first one is a tech support scammer. My personal favorite moments: "What's your name again, young lady?" - "(Sigh) My name is Andy." "You don't need to subscribe the Twitter." "Do you have some hearin...

Tonight we host the very funny Las Vegas comedienne April Biggirl Lee! She's one of those people who's just naturally funny and can light up a room with her train of thought. Our first article is a funny one, perhaps because it's so realistic: A family summons a priest to perform an exorcism on an HP DeskJet. Our next article isn't as funny, but just as scary. Without anybody's...

It's our 75th episode!!! Tonight we wrap up our discussion with Steve the Anecdotal Engineer. We discuss a really genial new invention that harvests all that wasted 5G energy in the air! We wrap up by "delineating" the difference between "support" and outright cloud control. It's an important distinction! Thanks for telling your friends about the show!

Tonight Steve the Anecdotal Engineer returns. He explains: The different processor types (CPU vs GPU) and what they're good at. The different architectures (Motorola, PowerPC, Intel/AMD, ARM) Why are these new Apple chips screamin' fast, and what are the tradeoffs? Stay tuned next week for the conclusion of this discussion, where I throw an article at him and he explains how it works.

It is important to me that the general public know at least a little bit about the tech products they use every day. So tonight I introduce to you, Steve the Anecdotal Engineer. He uses analogies to explain technical concepts very clearly so they're easy to understand. We explain: What is RAM? What is a hard drive? What is a processor? What are processors? Where are they made? What are they ma...

This week concludes our two-parter with Mike from McGyver Tech. Yes, the "parallel universe" Marc even shares his love for imagery in brand names. He's so resourceful, there ain't nothin' he can't solve. Tonight's article exposes JUST HOW MUCH data is copied out of your smartphone when you link it to your car. Marc spends most of the episode saying things like: "THA...

During the darkest days of my career's "busy period", I thought I was the only IT guy in the world who was both ethical and competent. I am thrilled to report that I was wrong. Tonight's guest, Mike Cowan from McGyver Tech, is based in LA and heard me on a Pittsburgh talk show one morning in 2017. He called me up and said "Hey, we think the same way." It would turn out that...

Tonight we discuss: How free software is marginalized - In other words, there are things in modern life that can't be done with free software, and instead require some proprietary technology. However, I argue that it's a lot better than it used to be. Using a password manager, especially with "sugggeeeesssted" passwords, means relinquishing control of your life to someone else. If...