10 Ways To Improve Your Cell Signal; Is Now The Time To Get A Foldable Phone?; How To Regain Some Of Your Private Data

• 10 ways to improve your cell signal

• Is now the time to get a foldable phone?

• How to regain some of your private data on the internet

Episode Transcript

(00:06):
Is Michael Garfier Michael Garfield. MichaelGarfield's joining us and the high Tech Texan.
Michael Garfield is here with a highTech Texans items to make life easier,
some new technology, and Michael Garfieldhas something you might want. Michael
Garfield is your high Tech Texan.Three decades helping you make magic with your

(00:32):
gadgets. Heard worldwide on the iHeartRadioAct. Now your high Tech Texan,
Michael Garfield. Happy November. Didyou be listening live? It is finally
November, and yeah, I'm notone of those guys. Let's say,
you know what, Gosh, it'salready November. It's been a long it's
a little it's been a long thefreaking year, and it is about time

(00:55):
that we get into the holiday season, which is my busy season because this
is one of the major things thatI do. I am your guy,
your boy, your friend, yourPowell, your Bobby who can actually help
you decide whether you should buy youshouldn't buy a product because this is what
we do on the High Tech Textand Show. Michael is the name Garf.

(01:17):
If we're tight, feel free totext me if you really know the
number, I keep that number.I may change that number. I'm getting
more spam on my cell phones,which is one of the things that we
can't talk about. I do alot of consumer reviews and products. It's
not just technology, not just TVs, not just phones. I do talk
about cars. I have been reallyrolling around in some sweet test automobiles.

(01:42):
I get to brand. I get, if not one, sometimes two automobiles
a week, not from a dealership. I get them straight from the manufacturers.
I like them. I don't likethem. I like some things about
them. I love saying love somethings about them. Had an electric one?
Got an interesting election story. Ifyou've listened to my show, I've
got a Is it a love haterelationship with electric cars? I think that's

(02:08):
what it is. I don't knowif I would ever buy an electric car,
but I like electric cars. Iwill explain that later. Some of
the things that we were also talkingabout countdown. I got ten ways to
boost your cell signal. You everhad problems still nowadays in the twenty first
century, where your cell signal isjust crapola, Well, it doesn't matter

(02:29):
if you've got an Android or aniOS operating system or what have you.
I can actually give you some waysto improve your cell signal, and some
of which I actually have used myselfrecently because I've been in places in my
travels where it's still ain't even nearfive G, so I'll tell you about
that. Privacy continues to be anissue. There is an app I mentioned

(02:49):
it a few weeks ago. I'mgonna go over it again because I've actually
used it right now. It's howto keep your data private, and it's
really begetting a lot of traction whereit can help you regain control over your
data, and I'm gonna tell youhow to use it. Also, AI,
artificial intelligence man that has been inthe news more in the past three

(03:12):
weeks that I could think of yourPresident, Joe Biden and what's going on
in the White House. They hada press conference earlier this week of how
dangerous and scary AI is, howthey're going to really start slowing it down
so it doesn't go crazy. Itis scary of some of the things and
the deep fakes and the videos thatartificial intelligence could do. And then there

(03:36):
are things that you ask yourself,do we really need AI? Case in
point, A new Beatles song wasreleased this past week by my count and
I am a music trivia buff twoof the Beatles are dead, sorry to
actually bury the lead, and anew song came out thanks to artificial intelligence.

(04:00):
Now listen. Another thing that youmay know about me is I am
not a Beatles fan. The Beatlesreally were not a big thing in the
eighties. They were not, soI'm not a big Beatles fan. There
were Smidge before my time. Eventhough there are younger people who love the
Beatles. But I'm not a Beatlesguy. Even AI could not help make
this Beatles song good. Oh Iwent there. Oh, I absolutely went

(04:23):
there. This is what you're gonnaget from me. It is no BS.
Listen to people. I have aBS degree from the University of Texas,
and it does not stand for theBachelor of Science. If you know
what I'm talking about, I'm gonnatell you it like it is. And
I'm gonna start with this one ofthe most exciting and most fun weeks that
I've had in a long time.Because and I want you to sit down.

(04:44):
If I'm based in Houston, theHouston area, I have been here
for thirty years. I am originallyfrom Dallas. Parents still live there,
still live in the same house Igrew up with that was the years where
I was. I learned to speak, I learned to read, I learned
to write, I learned to cheerin root for sports teams. I learned
all my friends. That's where Igrew up. I'm still a Dallas boy,

(05:08):
so I have a lot of listenersin the DFW Metroplex. But the
Metroplex this week, my friends,the name has changed. It is metro
Flex because it is the home ofthe world champion Texas range As. A
lot of people tell me, Michael, you're based in Houston. Really,
you really want to ease down whenit comes to alienating your listener base.

(05:32):
Listen. I have a listener basenow that's all over the world. And
that's not a brag, but that'son iHeartRadio, which is an app that
has heard of the world. Iappear regularly on a Dallas radio station,
I Pop on Dallas or DFWTV.I have a lot of a ton of
my friends still up there, SoI'm not trying to alienate anybody from Houston,
because for some reason, when Igrew up, I did not understand

(05:54):
that Ustonians really don't take too kindlyto the city of Dallas. Because me
growing up in Dallas. We hadzero issue with Houston. In matter of
fact, I was jealous of Houstonbecause Houston's a larger city, per se
thing just Dallas, and I'm like, Okay, not a big deal.
I come here and people, oh, you're from Dallas. It's like they
it's like I shot JFK or something. By the way, I was not

(06:15):
born when that happened, so Dowaya lot of people did not the Houston
Astros fans, and I am aHouston Astros fan. I am. I
used to live next door to JamesMouton, longtime left fielder. The kid
grew up with them, kids thesame age I used to go and I
still go to the Astros scams.We as a radio station and our sister
station here at iHeart Houston. Webroadcast the Rockets. We broadcast the Astros.

(06:39):
I'm a fan past seven years ALCSALCS people let me talk about the
Texas Rangers and just suck it up. I am in my fifties, let's
just go that way. For aslong as my life has been around.
The Texas Rangers were can't say itover the air, I can say it
on a podcast. They were crappedas a little kid. I was a

(07:00):
little league kid. I used togo with my team. I used to
go with my dad. I usedto go with my friends, my friend's
dad's. We used to sit inthe worst stadium in Major League Baseball was
Arlington Stadium. It was the hottestplace that you could ever imagine because we
didn't have a dome that was airconditioned like Houston. Another reason to be
jealous of Houston. I sat inleftfield bleachers with my glove on, waiting

(07:20):
for a foul ball, which Inever caught. In the seventies late seventies,
I rooted for Jim Sunberg, Tobyhare Of, Mike Cargrove, Fergie
Jenkins people. I go back.I am a massive Rangers fan. I
was a member of the Doctor PepperJunior Ranger Club. I go back for
years and years. It was horrible. Rangers made it to the World Series

(07:40):
and twenty ten loss. Rangers madeit to the World Series. In twenty
eleven, I got to go toone game. We were not only one
strike away from winning the entire WorldSeries. Twice it happened David Freeze came
on and he screwed that up.It has been years last Saturday Game two,
I said, screw it, I'mgoing to the World Sit drove up
to Dallas, went to Arlington.Three of my best friends, like kids,

(08:05):
bought tickets. Was not cheap.We lost that game. We did
not lose anymore because the Texas Ranges, the greatest road team in the history
of World Series Playoffs, has wonit. So to all my people growing
up who are living in the MetroFlex right now, I salute you.
This has been one unbelievable week.I've already getten a memorabilia. I've got

(08:26):
the front page of the Dallas MorningNews and it's really nice, and i'ma
say this. I actually wasn't scared, but I was wondering what was going
to happen when I, who livesin the Houston area for thirty years right
now, and I have so manyHouston centric listeners, fans, viewers,
whatever you want to call them.Every time I post something about my Cowboys

(08:48):
or my whatever, I get crapand I'm thinking, oh, goosh,
here we go. So on Wednesdaynight, when that final out came and
I am screaming and waking up myneighbors, and I take a sip of
my pappy van Winkle, twenty threeyear old Family Reserve bourbon. I post
it online my feelings about my TexasRangers. I'm thinking my comments. I

(09:11):
cannot wait to unfriend everybody because theseHouston people are just gonna tip typical.
I haven't chipping my shoulder and Dallassucks. Props to you Eustonians. As
of right now, still haven't gottenany crap. It's listen, hey,
Half of it is like, ifthe asterisk can't be in there, at
least we have another Texas team.And if not, do what Thumper did,
the great character from the Bambi movieback in the nineteen fifties. If

(09:35):
you can't say anything nice, don'tsay anything all. But I'm gloating right
now with my Texas Rangers World championshat, and I thank you for indulging
me in that coming up holiday giftguide time. You can call me a
seven one three two one two fivenine five zero with any questions you know
it to get me. I'm asize large. If you want to get
me any World Cities memorabilia, you'regonna go straight to my heart and you

(09:58):
go straight to the first CA orI'm gonna pick up. Also, how
is your Halloween? Oh I gotstories, people, Michael Garnfield, here's
the World Champion Award winning Well,I didn't get a trophy. High Tech
Taxi show right here on KPRC Radioand iHeartRadio. Not only was this a

(10:24):
great week because my childhood baseball team, the Texas Rangers, win their very
first World Series ever, people,it was also a Halloween. And if
you listen to me for a while, I'm gonna tell you something. Halloween
is my favorite holiday. It's aholiday or is it a mini holiday?

(10:45):
Am I? And I I don'tcare how you how do you categorize it?
It's fun. I don't get intothe scary stuff with the witches of
the week end of the Warlocks andeverything. No, no, no,
I'll say it again. Man,whenever, what other time of year,
what of the world can you knockon somebody ring somebody's doorbell that you do

(11:05):
not know and they give you candy? Case close, case close. Halloween's
the greatest thing ever, by theway, So not only on Halloween,
which was Wednesday, Tuesday night,which I really didn't do anything. It's
sad my kids are grown and Iprobably would have put on a costume in
gone truck or treating if Game fourof the World Series was not on,

(11:30):
but I had to stay home andwatch it, so I kept myself company.
I live in a community. It'sa gated community, and so I
didn't have any I had to say, had some candy hanging around, but
I don't. I really didn't needto expect a lot of kids coming.
Did not get a lot of kidscoming to I didn't get any kids coming
to the door, which is goodbecause I probably would have answered it because
I was too glued to the TVwatching the other Rangers win that Game two

(11:50):
versus the Diamondbacks. So it's uh. The next day, obviously it's the
World Series, the Game five,the deciding game five, and so the
Texas Rangers Wednesday. Now I'm ona high because it's a sugar high because
I've loaded up with my reeses.I then my team wins, and then
the rest of the week it's halfpriced candy. By the way, I'm

(12:13):
open phone lines right now, andhey, callum, how are you do
you mind me talking about your TexasRangers. I know you're an Astros fan,
would you indulge me? The Astroshave had a lot of success,
give me a little love. Thankyou so much, that's all. It
just indulged me. Here do youlike candy? Callum? Have you calem
my producer? Here is on theother side of the glass. Have you
seen any what's the best deal incandy? Do you buy it a fifty

(12:37):
percent off or do you wait untilit's seventy five percent off or maybe ninety
percent off? The problem is themore you wait, the more the candy
goes and disappears. There's a lotof people who will buy it at the
fifty percent mark. I'm kind ofthe sixty to seventy five percent markof guy.
And I go to the very smallwalgrains in CBS's and I don't need
candy corn, I don't want to. I just it's just anything with the

(12:58):
Reeses, the His pumpkins. Ilove the consistency of the Reese's pumpkin,
nice and soft. I'll take anytime. If it's chocolate and peanut butter,
give it to me. So ifanybody out there seven one, three,
two, one, two, five, nine and five, oh,
I don't know, if you wantto call and give a tip of where
you keep your witch store has agood stash of candy on sale, but

(13:20):
weird looking. I mean, they'vegot to make room for Thanksgiving. There's
is there, there's a there's somefall candy like Hershey's Kisses makes fall colored,
you know, foil wraps, andthen comes to Christmas candy. But
Halloween was awesome, so uh coolest? What was it? If I sa
Travis Kelcey and Taylor Swift, Idon't know. I did not go to

(13:45):
one Halloween party boohoo again because Iwas I was in Dallas, and I
was in Arlington this past weekend andI was watching the World Series. So
this was kind of a weird halloweenishto me. But I will take this
every year if my team is inthe World Series. So I didn't see
a lot of fun costumes. Ifyou want to X me, you can
go to x dot com used tobe called Twitter, High Tech Texan h

(14:07):
I G h T E c hT E x A n uh send me
a photo of your creative Halloween costume. And I have a lot of gift
cards hanging. I I have agift card for red River, Cantina,
Great text Max place out in Richmond, Texas. Oh my god, the
Caeso Blancos just out of this freakingworld. If I see some out of
this atlandish I saw some Benny Hannahgift cards. If I see some fun

(14:31):
things that really tickle me a funnybone, I will I'll d M you
back and I will send you somecredit cards. I want the most creative
outfits that you wore. Don't give, don't give me, or you were
your kids? You or your kidsstill party and I have I have ways
to prove that. There's your phonenumber and again high tech textan you can
hit me on Instagram, Facebook threads. Also, I'm on there too.

(14:54):
What do we want to talk aboutover here? I would go through some
emails? Uh no, do Ido? I want to do the I
wanted? Do I really want topiss off the Beatles? But yeah,
let's go ahead. So there's thisnew Beatles song out anybody Beatles fans?
Palm are you a Beatles fan?You're way young? Calum hel what are
you twenty three? Okay? Therewas this really popular band from England that

(15:16):
Paul McCartney used to be in beforehe went solo. All right, it
was called the Beatles. Okay,that's the easiest way for me to break
it down, really and pretty much. They were around for you know,
six years, nineteen sixty four tonineteen sixteen nine issues, so kind of
broke up and it's it's it's thede leite. And then one of the

(15:37):
founders was shot and murdered horrible andthen and then then the basis, you
know, he died, and there'sthis drummer with a weird name he's still
living doing about I'm not I'm justnot a Beatles fan. But anyway,
the point is a new Beatles songwas released this week, which was not
the my high point of the week. So the high points of this week,

(15:58):
let's let's just go back. Rangersin the World Series. It was
Halloween, the Dallas Cowboys went andI also went to the Cowboys game up
in Arlington, so that was agreat weekend. I got a Rangers game,
I got a Cowboys game candy onsale. And then there's the Beatles
that rings way lower over here.I heard I've heard, I heard about
a minute of this Beatles song.And what happens that The story is this,

(16:18):
you know, it's one of theselost tapes that have been found that
everybody had to you know, useart use artificial intelligence to actually clean it
up. But apparently John Lennon yearsand years ago, he was jacking around
in his apartment with a tape recorderor something and he laid down some tracks
and he did something but it wasscratchy, and then George Harrison he didn't

(16:44):
like it. So, uh wasit? Peter Jackson is at his name,
the guy who did Lord of theRings. He also did that that
documentary a few years ago about theBeatles, And so apparently he found these
things and he used artificial intelligence,artificial intelligence to clean this a new song
up and then Ringo Star the drummerand Paul McCartney, they collaborated. They

(17:12):
approved it in the estates of youknow, George Harrison and John Lennon approved
the whole thing, but this artificialintelligence, they they cleaned it up.
Hey, I just don't like anyBeatles songs. This is not even near
a top fifty Beatles song I justdid. If please call me tell me
I'm wrong and let me take thisfrom a technology an AI standpoint, Is

(17:37):
this the right thing to do?Is it freaky when you hear a voice
of someone who has been dead?Was it December eighth, nineteen eighty So
it has been forty three years thatJohn Lennon has been gone forty three years,
and his voice all of a suddenis in a new song. Does
that not freaky? Deeckey, I'msorry they did this with Michael Jackson.

(18:02):
I am a big Michael Jackson fanbecause that was my era, and after
he died, just In Timberlake andanother producer I forget, they came out
and they came out with a prettygood song. But it was a version
of Michael's vocals that they found.I put it together. It was one
of his best songs, but itwas great. It was I didn't think

(18:25):
it was freaky. It was justbecause I'm such a Michael Jackson fan and
had a really good beat. Ithought it was nice. But I don't
know if anybody just thinks that itis. The point is artificial intelligence.
This can be done after people aregone and people who don't exist. They
can do videos and they can imitate, imitate their voice. I mean,

(18:45):
if you think about it, wedon't need the Beatles, we don't need
Michael Jackson, we don't need youtoo. We don't need any artists right
now. And this is why artists, and this is one of the reasons
why there was a big breakdown witha writer's guild strike and the and the
actors. What is artificial intelligence goingto do to content? And do me

(19:08):
a favorite? Colum? Do notplay it? I don't want. I
don't think we even can play theBeatles song because it's gonna cost a bazillion
gazillion dollars if we even have totry to play this thing. I don't
want to hear it. I don'tplay any any Beatles songs. But if
you listen to this, I justif you're a diehard and I gotta take
a break right now. If you'rea diehard Beatles fan, let me hear
from you. Is this good?Is it? Is it? Is it?

(19:32):
Why did they? Why did theydo this? I don't think any
of them, the two estates andthe two living ones, I don't think
they need the money. Is itfor the fans? Is it to keep
their name and their albums? Youknow, playing on iHeart and Spotify and
all these other things? We don'tknow? All right, there's my Beatles
ramp, anything anybody else that canreally tick off? I mean I have
a seven one three two one twofive nine five, Oh Dames Michael's the

(19:56):
high Tech textas show making of songs. After I just went pretty much lights
out on the old love Field's newsong that just came out. Did Callum
has that has our sister station Sundayninety nine? Have they flipped to all
Christmas music yet? It's it's ifthey did not flip, it's got to

(20:19):
be any day. It's a it'sa big deal here Sunday ninety nine.
It's wonderful radio station Dana in theMorning, she's great on her for two
decades plus. Christmas music puts everybodyin the mood. Anybody in the mood.
And you know the number one Christmassong everybody is wait for Calum do
not. You don't play this either. Mariah Carey. I got to love

(20:42):
what Mariah Carey did this week.It was it was it was really it
was some good bs. I likedit. She sent out a tweet on
x dot com. Mariah Carey tweeted, really like a thirty second video.
It's a brand new shot. Sheshe was frozen inside of a big ice
block. And this came out theday after Halloween, so they had these

(21:07):
scary pumpkin people holding up hair dryersmelting the ice obviously the symbolism Halloween is
over and guess who's inside waiting tosing the song? Mariah Carey, who
either a lost a ton of weight, Semaglue tide, or she used some
artificial intelligence to make her look great. Any Way, she's melted and she

(21:32):
comes out and it's like it's time. And they did like a ten second
thing All I Want for Christmas?Is you good? That's good? I
like it. I like that.However, after the ten or fifteen second
snippet of All I Want for Christmas, I'm already sick of All I Want
for Christmas, which reminds me whenis love actually being shown? Which is
that song was in Love Actually,which is easily one of my top three

(21:56):
movies of all the time. Weand Christmas People iconic holiday song, the
unofficial song of the holiday season.It's an earworm Thing's been out since nineteen
ninety four, same year my oldestson was born. Every year since it's
been released, it's back on thecharts leading up to Christmas. Last year,

(22:21):
it was one of the twenty fivesongs the Library of Congress chose to
add to the National Recording Registry.I think this. My show was number
twenty six on the list, soI just missed it. I love this
story. There was a bar inDallas. For all you Houston Eustonians who
hate Dallas, You're gonna love this. A bar up in the Dallas area

(22:42):
went viral about two years ago becausethey banned the Mariah Carey song to be
played before the month of December.That's smart marketing right there. That is
pretty smart marketing. But alas itis November. Starbucks Duncan, they've added

(23:02):
they put peppermint and other holiday drinkflavors on their menus. This past week,
Rocket Fellow Centa just announced it's selectedits twelve ton tree this year.
Who was ready for the holiday season. It's big And that's one of the
things that I'm gonna do if youare looking for I'm gonna put out my
holiday gift guide. I usually dothat probably mid November, right before Black

(23:22):
Friday. I'll go through some ofthe Black Friday deals if you are looking
already, because there some deals outthere. Television I saw I was looking
for TVs. I need a newTV, a flat screen in my backyard,
and I just want a cheap oone because they make expensive ones that
are humidity free and sun free anddust free. Televisions could be so inexpensive

(23:48):
you can replace them almost every year. I saw one. I saw about
forty three inch one. I sawit as low as about one hundred and
fifty nine dollars, and I forgotwhat cheb brand it was, got where
it was. But be on thelookout for television sales. This is a
big time of year. I rememberwhen flat screens, digital TVs or HDTVs,

(24:11):
however you wanted to find them.They were the rage back in two
thousand and two, three four five, you know, because they were so
expensive, but you would you you'dsee these Black Friday sales and then Black
Friday. This is when Black Fridayyou physically had to go to stores.
It wasn't too much online and youhad to line up, and so the

(24:32):
doors would open at midnight on Thanksgivingnight. So after you eat all your
food and finish watching the Cowboy game, you took the nap, and then
you go and wait in line.The doors open at twelve and they would
have these Lost Leader deals where youwould get a fifty h HTV for four
hundred dollars because at that point therewere thousands of dollars and they only had

(24:55):
like ten of them. Oh,I'm sorry, I'm not the first time
who've lined up Pearson's Tuesday Morning.That's okay. Nowadays, almost I can
I'm gonna say almost every household buthouseholds. Let's put it this way.
My listeners and the demographic over under, you've got at least three TVs hanging
on your wall. In some casesyou have over ten hanging on your wall.

(25:18):
So televisions aren't that nearly as bigas a deal as they were twenty
years ago. But still you dohave to replace some of these things.
And the technology has certainly improved.You know, you have smart TVs and
TVs that you know you don't needa wire to get the cable because they
scream that they stream in the wholething. So watch out for that.

(25:38):
If I don't know if they're gonnathere's gonna be Black Friday deals, but
they can't get I'm not gonna saythey can't get. But if you're looking
for a thirty two inch diagonal thirtytwo inch class is what we have to
use the term television, Yeah,you probably can get those around one hundred
dollars. I mean, I founda forty three inch class television for one

(26:00):
fifty nine. It's not the greatestthing, and I probably watch so.
I would not recommend a one hundredand fifty nine dollars or so television to
be your main living room television.If you watch that thing at a regular
basis, then you have to youknow, it doesn't. The ones I'm
looking at has sixty hurts, whichis the refresh rate, which is okay

(26:22):
if you just kind of watch somethinghere and there. I watch sports,
and the refresh rate means if you'rewatching a football if you're watching Tyreek Hill
from the Dolphins, who can run, you know, twenty five miles an
hour. You know, I don'twant a little kind of ghost behind him.
I want a quick refresh rate.And that's why you look for something
around a one hundred and twenty hurts, if not even higher. I think

(26:44):
one hundred and twenty firsts is decent. You don't really need to go anything
higher. You don't need to goanywhere. Four K is fine. It's
tough to find a TV that doesn'thave the ability to show things in four
K. The problem is there's nota lot of four K content. There's
not a lot of four K deliveryprocesses. Even the Comcast cable they may
have one or two or three ahandful of channels that can deliver four K

(27:07):
TV. You really don't need afour K do not even think of getting
an eight K There are sixteen KTV. Just feel free to just throw
your money and burn it if youwant that. So to be able to
look out for those deals. Andagain, this is what I'm here for.
And I know I do this liveplausibly live on Saturdays from eleven to
one in the morning and in thenight. I am around during the week

(27:30):
where pretty much I just kind ofputs around. I don't do much.
I run, try to keep healthy, you know, just you know,
read my emails and I respond toyour email. So that's you, that's
your TV things. And so keepon the lookout. I will be updating
a lot more things, and Ido more than just tech two. If
you want phone advice. Also,I'm into I got a lot of home

(27:52):
appliances. Home appliances are big,you can call them technology because you know,
I hear fryars and the all inone devices that cook, the that
that dehydrate, that toasted bake.I got one of those two. I'm
also I mean, I'm really gettinginto decorating and betting and new sheets because
I've got this, Like, ijust ordered a new duvet and duvet cover.

(28:12):
And I'm telling you something. Ihave given you advice right here on
my show for a quarter of acentury, ah twenty five years or so
on television radio. Can can someoneout there help me? How in the
world do you get that duvet insidea douve cover? Because I just cannot

(28:34):
figure it out? Open phone linesnow on that one seven, one three,
two one two five nine five.By the way, I got this
different color schemes and patterns. Igot to the number of different you know,
how much cotton in there? Andwhat's the thread count? I'm gonna
do. These will be on myHoliday Gift Guy, which I'll post on
my website High Tech textan dot comh I G H T E C h

(28:56):
T E x A N. Speakingof streaming, when I come back,
got a big question. Streaming isgetting very expensive, especially if you have
all these streaming channels from Hulu toDisney to Netflix to Amazon to everything.
Question, is streaming video worth itnowadays? I got my thoughts on that

(29:17):
coming up on the other side.Final segment, This first hot work of
the High Tech Texans Show. Hopeeverybody is having a wonderful day or nights,
depending on what time or where you'relistening to this. We do it
on Saturdays. This is the firstSaturday of November. Just lovely weather.

(29:41):
Can you imagine for all the peoplein Texas and certainly Southeast Texas, if
the weather was this nice year round, this would be San Diego, and
our prices would be like San Diego. You know, you laugh, the
heat and humidity, and you know, I've talked to city leaders, community

(30:02):
leaders. It is the thing thatkeeps everything are cost relatively cheaper than anywhere
else in the country because eight monthsof the year, it's just it sucks.
The hit. It's the only youhave to joke to get around.
Oh my goodness, you live inyou used to deal with all that humidity

(30:22):
or you know Texas is in Dallasis so hot and dry. You know,
the humidity is easy to get around. Well, it keeps my skin
nice and moist. I'm really eightyfive years old, but I don't look
at It's the only way you canget around and joke point is this is
the weather. If you're a runnerlike me, awesome, get out and
start running because it is fattening.Season two coming up as I sit here
and I try to kill the allthe fifty percent off Alloween candy that I

(30:47):
went out and bought. Uh,if you want to get in and say
hi, it's seven one three twoone two five nine five zero out an
email. People say, Michael,listen, I know you were. You
give great recommendations on products. What'sthe craziest product that you've seen recently that
you can give someone as a giftor a gag gift. It's a good
question. I saw, I got, I get. I get hundreds of

(31:12):
emails a day with press release towhat everything. Some company that does memorabilia
from movies, they they they sendout, Oh, here's some of the
hot eyems for for for Christmas,for the holidays. Let me see if
I can pull this thing up.Oh here it is here this yeah,
okay, here you go. Here'shere's your answer. Uh. Back to

(31:33):
the Future phenomena movie eighties. Loveit one of my favorite movies. Just
beautifully written, it's directed. Everythingthere is a replica Back to the Future
Flux capacitor that Christopher Lloyd signed theChristopher Lloyd Signature Edition prop replica mart of

(31:56):
the flux capacitor. How freaking coolis that? That is good? I
need I need two of those.I need two of them. If you
could have one prop from any EVshow or movie, what would it be?
Will be a high tech Texan It'son threads or on X let me

(32:16):
know seven one three two one twofive nine five zero. I would love
to have the ss MENO shipwreck andput in my backyard. That would be
pretty cool. That would be nice. I don't know, it's I love
back to the future. I justI guess I could hang the flux capacity

(32:37):
Marty. What else? What elsedoes this company sell collectibles? Over here?
Uh? Uh? Oh? Amen in black neuralizer? Men in
black neuralizer? You know that littlething that you put the sunglasses on and
then you know, here's the month, the date, the year, and
it takes you back in time andyour whole memory wipes out. How cool?

(32:59):
If it acts would work, thatwould be awesome. Any actually?
Uh over under Calum ready to playthe over undergame? How much is a
limited edition mid in Black Neuralizer propreplica? Over under, No, sir,
your way under six hundred bones,six hundred dollars. Oh, by

(33:22):
the way, I didn't even tellyou know how much the a flex capacitor
with Christopher Lloyd's signature is fifteen hundreddollars. Mm hmm, I'm gonna pass
on that one. Gonna pass onthat one. Let me let's let's get
to this point over here, becauseI tease this one streaming t this is
a segue. I am a professionalkid, so I can do this like
streaming TV? How many? Howmany streaming services do you have? The

(33:45):
point is is it even still worthit? Netflix? Apple, TV,
Plus Hulu, Amazon, they won'tstop hiking their streaming priceless. Probably still
better than cable, but is itworth it? Two thousand and seven,
fifteen years it was Netflix that firstunveiled its streaming video service. That was

(34:09):
pretty cool. No more did youhave to get the DVDs that you had
to return Netflix DVD customers. Theywere paying between six bucks to eighteen dollars
a month with access to a thousandmovies over a web browser. Nope,
no more. Was forever ago Netflix'smost premium four KSE streaming plan. It

(34:32):
costs now twenty three dollars a month. The standard without ads is fifteen dollars
a month. Was not just Netflixpeople over the past year, and I
take notes about this, Apple TVPlus doubling its original price started at five
dollars going to be ten dollars amonth. Disney Plus they had a big
price increase. I'm not trying tobe dramatic over here, but subscribing to

(34:58):
the streaming services that you use themost, it's probably still a bit cheaper
than going for a typical cable plan. If you're in the Houston area,
we've got Comcast Exfinity. Most popularplan has about one hundred and twenty five
channels. Maybe it's when it wasat sixty seventy eighty bucks a month,
But then again, wait a minute, you have to also bundle your internet

(35:21):
access everything. I get a billabout two hundred and fifty bucks a month
that I don't even just it's sonot worth it. The tax is and
the fees and everything. People haveargued that streaming prices hiked, all these
hikes of the dollars, it's goingto signal the end of the cord cutting
dream. I don't think so justyet, because cable prices were already high

(35:42):
a few decades ago, and they'verisen considerably since then. If anything,
I think the case for cord cuttingis even stronger now because there's so much
content available on streaming services. Youlike Ted Lasso, you ain't gonna get
that on cable, you gotta getit on Apple Plus. You want the
marvelous Missus masel Well, you gotto get Prime Video. So there is

(36:05):
some really good show content. Contentis king. This is why you listen
to this radio show for my stuff, right listen. Nobody likes to see
their favorite services get more expensive.No, itse is. It's but I
think it's worth acknowledging that why streamingservices were so cheap to begin with.
Was it a loss leader? Wasit trying to get you as to shift

(36:25):
what your practices. Netflix launched itsstandalone streaming subscription. It was eight bucks
a month, I think, andthat held pretty much basically for about ten
years or so, and then itjust incredibly went up. Is that the
writers is the production. It's alot of things that are happening now.

(36:47):
They're cutting back on passwords. Netflixjust had a phenomenal quarter because Netflix stopped
password sharing. No longer can youuse or share passwords with your ex wife
or whoever you've got to You gotto subscribe yourself. They just added a
million people. Yes, it stanksthat Netflix and all these other streaming services
are getting more expensive, but atthe end of the day, so far,

(37:14):
I'll take these prices over the higherprices before this streaming era ends seven
one three two one two five ninefive. Oh, if you want to
weigh in on that, we haveone more hour, so don't go anywhere.
The next hour we're going to talkabout how to keep your data private.
A few weeks ago, I talkedabout this new service that you can

(37:37):
sign up to. It's called PermissionSlip, and it can help you regain
control over your data. I'm gonnashow you tell you more about it.
I've used it, I'll tell youhow to use it. I like it
so far. You're not gonna believewhat Google now does. And where was
this when I was in school whereI hated math? This is unbelievable.
The types of the days, theera that we live in. And I
talk about not only cars and trucks, and I'm going to give review some

(37:59):
of those that I'm driving around in, but also somebody asked me if I
used a dash cam, a camerathat fixed the dashboard. There's a lot
of reasons why you may want touse a dash cam. I'm gonna count
down some of the best, justa few of the things that you expected.
I wur Number two, the HighTech Texan Show coming back is Michael

(38:28):
Garfer Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joiningus in the High Tech Texan. Michael
Garfield is here with a high TechTexan items to make life easier, some
new technology. So Michael Garfield hassomething you might want. Michael Garfield is
your high Tech Texan three decades helpingyou make magic with your gadgets. I

(38:57):
heard worldwide on the iHeartRadio Act.Now you're high Tech Texts and Michael Garfield
every time, and I must sayit, Actually, you say it with
me. People. It's halfway tohappy hour. That's right halfway through the
High Tech Textans Show. No matterwhich version you're listening to at twelve noon,
should you be listening on KPRC ninefifty A, certainly it's happy hour?

(39:20):
Man. We got football college,great day, lots of stuff going
on. If you're listening to therepeat show, which is eleven at night
to one in the morning. It'smidnight right now, just after midnight.
Y you could be happy hour,depending on what shift you were working and
how big are you you want toparty, But technically I'm going to give

(39:43):
your permission to have happy hour allday, especially you late night listeners now,
because you are just a few hoursaway from gaining one hour of sleep.
This is my semi annual reminder tocheck your clocks now, folks,
we get the fall back, youget an extra hour sleep. This was

(40:05):
a big thing back obviously when Iwas a kid, you know, in
the seventies and eighties, because theclocks, most clocks had to be manually
reset. Today, our phones resetautomatically. A lot of cars, most
cars they'll reset automatically, depending hownew or how and certainly how old your
car is. If it doesn't,what are the ones that we forget about?

(40:30):
Microwave ovens, there's not many thatare technically advanced to reset them back.
I have a clock on my Ihave two. Most of us.
If you have a microwaven, ifyou have a stove or an oven,
they have clocks on them and thenyou have to reset those that I am
I'm meticulous though I don't like anythingbeing one minute off. I mean,

(40:52):
I live and work in a mediumwhich is radio and media itself, where
we live by the second. Imean when Callum he looked at me,
and my producer says, okay,talk open the microphone, get out of
this hard break because we've got togo to a commercial. My life is
to the second. I mean,yes, it's an ADHD thing, but
yes, this is how I amvery meticulous, and it bugs the hell

(41:15):
out of some people. But Idon't like any clocks in any any direction
I'm looking. I don't want itto say twelve oh eight, and I
don't want the one on microwave tosay twelve oh nine. They better be
synced almost to the second. Sowhen I reset my microwave in my stove,
I'm you know, they're relatively they'rethey're within arm's reach. I've got

(41:35):
a pretty long wingspan. I'm sittingthere with my fingers on the buttons,
going bit to make sure that theyset and the times are the same.
I know I'm a weirdo, butother than that, let's see, I
do have I have an old fashionedclock radio, and if you've listened to
me, long enough. You know. One of my famous funny questions,
what is the oldest piece of technologythat you have in your house? And

(42:00):
if you were some my ilk agearound there. I still have an old
fashioned clock radio. It's digital,don't get me wrong, but I have
to reset it and reset it.Nowadays, kids don't even have clock alarm
clocks. If you will, theyuse their phones. But I do have
to set my alarm clock or myclock radio next to my bed. I

(42:22):
do have one of my cars,it's a two thousand and five. I
have a two thousand and five car. I don't drive it too much,
but I do have to set thatmyself. And in my living room I
got a really nice actually it's mydining room. I got a really nice
big wall clock that just runs ina battery, So now I have to
set that. Other than that,I think everything automatically, does it buty

(42:42):
way? Just a reminder. Andby the way, I always listen to
every time the radio announcer or theTV folks back in the day saying,
hey, it's time to fall backor spring forth. They always used to
say, and it's also time tocheck your batteries and your smoke alarm.
So I do that just because thatbrings me back going. Yeah, I
have the power now to tell peopleto check their batteries on their smoke alarm.

(43:04):
That doesn't warn you. So anyway, congratulations for getting another hour.
I'm also one of the very fewpeople and I'd love to hear from you
seven one three, two one twofive nine five. Oh. You could
also hit me on all of thesocial media high tech textan if you spill
it out. I'm one of thevery few people who like when it gets

(43:27):
darker earlier. It's a it's avery small group of people this coming.
I don't know. A few hoursfrom right now, by Sunday the sun
will start setting. It like fiveo'clock or five thirty or six. It
gets darker earlier. I mean,kids don't like it because, hey,
they have less time outside to play. I like it for one or two

(43:50):
reasons. Number one, I lovewinter more than I do summer because,
as pretty much almost a lifelong textan, I hate the summers. I hate
the heat because I run. Iam a runner for thirty plus years.
I do not like running when it'sone hundred and five degrees with one hundred
percent humidity. So during the summer, I have to run kind of at
night or well, I don't likerunning in the dark when the sun goes

(44:12):
down, so I start running atabout seven seven thirty, which screws up
my entire night. You know,I don't. You don't want to eat
dinner before you run, because that'snot good because you're you know, you
got food and your stomach and it'sbouncing around. But then by the time
you run and then you start eating, it's late. And then sometimes you
can't go out and hang and goto dinner or go to events because I
know I want to run. Itjust it screws up everything. So Number

(44:34):
one, I like winter better.And when it's winter, I do no
just from my body clock, itgets darker earlier. Now when it gets
darker earlier, it's cool outside.I can run throughout almost all the day,
but certainly after work five o'clock,right when the sun starts going down,
I can run earlier, which meansI have the rest of the night
to go out. I could party, I can hang, I can eat

(44:54):
later. That is pretty much whyI like when it gets darker early.
It's weird, it's my thing.But this is why you listen to me,
and this is why you love me. Michael Garfield is the name.
It is called the High Tech Textand Show. Should we get actually,
should we talk about something of content? What I just gave you is content.
This is me looking at you Callumand all these buttons in front of

(45:17):
me and just bs ing. Thisis why I have a degree in this
thing. I have a BS degreeand it does not mean Bachelor of Science.
And kids do not try this athome. I've done this for well
over two and a half decades.When we come back, I am going
to tell you about about phones.About two things. Foldable phones had a
very big year. I would evendare to say they had a very they

(45:38):
had a breakout year. They stillmake up a very small percentage of all
of the phones out there. Butthese are foldable phones and flippable phones,
and it's still I've had one,two, I've played with several different manufacturers.
I currently carry a foldable phone andit's so funny because what I I'll
show it to people as recently aslast night eight excuse me while I whip

(46:01):
this out, and I'll show thisphone, and it's so funny looking at
their eyes. They did not knowit exists. Do you know why people
don't know that foldable phones exist?Because Apple doesn't have a foldable flippable phone.
So many people think there's only anApple and iPhone. Well, you
know me, I am an Androidguy, and not just a Samsung.
I have a one, plus Ihave several others. Are they here?

(46:22):
Should you get one? I'll tellyou about that. But also, more
importantly, it doesn't matter if youhave an iPhone, doesn't matter if you're
an Android. Does it really tickyou off when it's twenty twenty three,
almost twenty twenty four, why arecells signals still tough to get wherever you
are? I was driving somewhere alsoyesterday, late afternoon, and I was
in a patch near the Galleria inHouston, and like, I couldn't get

(46:43):
a signal. I couldn't figure outwhere I was the map for probably about
a minute and a half. Andit's like, what's going on. I'm
gonna give you ten ways to boostyour cell signal people, you tell me
where you can find content like thisanywhere else. My name is Garth.
We're gonna come back to the highTech Texas him. Hey, Hey,
what do you say Rangers to win? Today. I'm sorry. I'm still

(47:07):
on the Texas Rangers high as wecontinue the high tech textan show. How
many how many different types of peoplehave I have I ticked off in this
past hour and fifteen minutes. Uhproba some Astros fans because for some reason
they don't like Texas Rangers fans,which is just that's that's that's that's crap.
Uh. Definitely I pissed off someof the Beatles fans because I am

(47:30):
not a Beatles fan, and Ilast hour I talked about the Beatles new
or new ish song that came outearlier this week, which is I heard
a minute, I could even lasta minute. It's it's I don't think
it's a good song. But thenagain, I mean, I respect the
Beatles for what they did of creatingI mean, a whole new genre of

(47:52):
music and pop culture without a doubt, But I just I just didn't get
into their songs. Didn't get intotheir songs. And now there's this new
artificial intelligence. That's why I gotinto it. They took a John Lennon
vocal track that he recorded on inhis room on some small, old,

(48:13):
dirty recording machine, and artificial intelligencecleaned it up, and then Ringo laid
down some new drum tracks and nowit's a new Beatles song that's I don't
like it. So anyway, whowho else can I take off? Who
the Aggies play today? Because they'regonna lose. Aggies will lose. I'm
a nice guy and I just it'sI'm just I'm cocky because the Rangers won
seven one three two one two ninefive. Oh. No matter what FOAE

(48:37):
you use or what cell service youuse, you can call callum and if
I feel like picking up the phone, callum. Read here he's run on
the board on the other side ofthe glass. He could put you through
to me. This was a bigyear for foldable phones. Foldable phones have
been around for a while. Thisis the phones can actually for you.
Not on iPhone, folks, breakingnews. There are most every other manufacturer

(49:01):
in the world makes a phone thatflips and folds, which takes the size
in half. Some of them flipup like the old clamshell phones, like
the old Motorola rasors, if youwill. And there's glass that's actually foldable
and bindable. It's an amazing thing. There's still a niche. They really
are. It's a very small percentageof the market, but you could find

(49:23):
one from as I said, almostevery major smart phone maker except the one
from Coopertina, California. But they'vebeen around for probably five or six years.
The first models from Samsung and HuaWi. They came up about twenty
nineteen. They aren't cheap. Theyhave high prices. They do some of
them have limited software functions in thedesign somewhat can be fragile. I remember

(49:46):
there was some issues. I rememberSamsung one of their earlier foldable phones had
massive issues. But they're improved rightnow. A lot has changed over the
past few years. There are aremore of them. There's cheaper devices.
I think Motorola makes a razor that'sright, or there is a Motorola razer.
It's about seven hundred bones. Butthere are plenty of neat opportunities and

(50:13):
I like them. There are largescreens. This past July, I had
the opportunity to go to South Korea. That was pretty cool. Samsung had
a big announcement for their fifth generationof their flip phones and their fold phones,
and I got to tour the Samsungheadquarters and it's a region of the

(50:34):
world I'd never got to go to. But I met the designers and the
engineers and for a month or twoI got to play with the Samsung Galaxy
Z Flip five, the Galaxy Zflip fold or Z fold five, and
they were nice. They are good. The cameras on the flippable phones,
they still have a lot, alot to be added to just because of

(50:58):
the form factor. If a phonefolds up, there's a lot of things
you have to, you know,give way to The battery's got to be
in some cases needs to be smaller. They can't have all the five or
six lenses that some cam other youknow phones have and so you know some
of them are they it's and we'rein the learning stages, if you will.

(51:19):
So the point is when and howto decide on a flip phone or
a fold of a phone. Thefirst thing I ask you is what's your
budget? Because that's the most importantquestion, is when I asked when somebody
asked me anything, Hey Michael,what's your best favorite TV, what's your
favorite EV car? What's your favoritehow much you're willing to spend The Samsung
Galaxy Z Fold five, but eventhe Google Pixel Fold, for example,

(51:43):
they start at about eighteen hundred dollars. We got a zout that we've got.
The Samsung Flip five cost about athousand dollars. As I said,
Motorol the new motoroil eraser. It'sprobably the cheapest, around seven hundred dollars.
And that's one of now another onethat just came out, and if
you see me in the upcoming anywhere, the phone of the phone du jour

(52:06):
in the high Tech Texans hands isfrom a company called one Plus. For
about a month right now, theone Plus, it's a company out of
China sent me their brand new OnePlusopen seventeen hundred dollars. Again, they
let me play with this. Idid not buy these things, so I'm
just fair warning. I actually likethat one compared to other models of Samsung's

(52:28):
and motor Roads whatever, I thinkthe one Plus is really interesting design.
It is relatively thinner and relatively lighterthat I would think other foldle phones,
and I say folded the phones.These are phones that fold out like a
book. They open left to rightthe front screen. If you close it
and hold that closed phone, it'sroughly the same size of a regular phone,

(52:49):
maybe an iPhone. I don't know. I've never even seen an iPhone
fifteen, you know, maybe someother Samsung phones. But when you fold
it out, it doubles in sizeand the screen is pretty freaking cool,
and it's funny. When I showthese people, it's like, oh my
god, how did that happen?Is this a word? Gammy? It
folds up? Yeah, it does. One plus has really done a really
nice job of utilizing with their software. It is Android software, but they

(53:13):
have their own other software on topof the Android software to utilize that big
screen. When it's open, youcan have three different pops running and you
can configure them so you can seeall three at once. I can watch
TV on one part of the screen. I can text on another part of
the screen. It's really cool.Again, seventeen hundred dollars. As we're
talking about price over here, youalso have to be careful. Now today's

(53:35):
foldable's phones, they're pretty sturdy.They're much sturdier than the first came out
three or four years ago. Butjust by nature, they have hinges.
The screens are bendable. They're abit more delicate than regular phones. If
you drop your phone, if youhandle it roughly, if you use it
without a case, you need tobe careful or you ask yourself on a

(54:00):
foldable phone, because you don't wantthose things to break. And then it's
like when is the time to buy? And I'm not talking about when as
well. It's just a holiday season. Are they putting on sale or do
you wait until they really get evensmarter foldable phones? Just I mean all
the electronics they're released, they're releasedon a seasonal basis. Generally once a

(54:21):
year, you know you're gonna getnew phones from my from Apple, generally
twice a year you may get newphones from Samsung. They did they did
the foldable launch in the foldable andflippable launch last July, but generally in
February they come out with their typicalflagship Galaxy phones, the Galaxy S phones,
and there's new versions of software too. The Black Friday it's coming up.

(54:44):
Probably good time to look for adeal on foldable phones. Maybe they're
not going to cut them off theprice down, but maybe you're gonna get
some sort of a rebate or something. You ask yourself, what do you
want from a new phone? Howdo you want to use it? Flip
phone flip meaning they flipping from topto bottom, not left to right.
Flip phones are good for people whowant a regular sized phone that can fit

(55:07):
your pocket and your purse. Whenthe Flip five came out in July,
a lot I saw a lot ofthe marketing of the advertising, and it
seems like Samsung was marking this abit towards females, because if you look
at it, these flip phones.Let's just talk about the Galaxy Z Flip
five. It looks like a women'scompact, you know where they put makeup

(55:30):
in there and you flip it openand the top part has a mirror,
and I think the bottom party hasgot like some powder or some powder puff
or something. That's the size ofit. You can fold it up and
girls can put that in their tinylittle purses they're black purses, or if
you're or if they go to thefootball games and you need the little c
through persons. It's small. It'salso has a built in kickstand. They

(55:51):
I mean, listen, men andwomen love taking selfies. But you know
what, I think the women wentout of these selfies things. It could
stand up by itself. You canwave your hand in automatic takes a photo.
So those actually work. Well,what do you want to use from
a phone. Some have better cameras, some don't have better cameras. So
things to look out for when you'rethinking of a phone. I know I
got to take a break over here, and I didn't get to the other

(56:13):
part. When I come back onthe other side, I'm going to talk
about the connectivity. This has nothingto do with a phone model. This
has how to boost your cell phones. But if you have any questions about
phones, which one to buy,which foldable phone, or which regular phone,
then you want I am here foryou, at least for the next
what thirty minutes seven to one threetwo one two five nine five oh.
And if you don't get me duringthe radio show hours, you can always

(56:35):
go to high tech Textan dot comMichael at high tech Textan dot com,
and I will try to answer anythingas best as I can. All right,
don't go anywhere bottom of the armright now, seven one three two
one two five nine five Oh.That's how you're going to get to me.
And looking at some I gives afew callers over there, cal I'm

(56:58):
just kind of keep them on hold. Did we give anything away yet?
Callen? No, I do wantto thank one of our longtime sponsors US
Coins and Jewelry for this portion ofthe program. This is why this program
is free to listen to. Welove our partners and sponsors. You just
have to listen to me, yeah, for a few seconds about some of
these great companies. Holiday seasons comingup. If you're looking for gold,

(57:21):
they sell gold bars and Bouyon's.Kenny and Matt Duncan, the brothers who
run US Coins and Jewelry. Ilove going. They take me kind of
behind the scenes. Actually, ifyou go to my Instagram, I got
a behind the scene play by playof Kenny Duncan on he was showing me,
which I capture on videotape so youcan see it too. How he

(57:43):
grades and puts a price and buyscoins special coins. It's really cool.
It is on the Katie Freay rightat vas So, not too far from
the galleria. They've been around.It's a generational Their dad started. The
dad's still involved. But they notonly have coins where they buy your silver
and buy so if you need someextra cash this holiday season, take it

(58:04):
trustworthy. I mean I am talkingtrustworthy folks. Tons of security. They've
got cameras, they've got security officersover there, so there's no need to
be worried about bringing all your goldand silver in there. They will give
you incredibly fair value. Or ifyou want to buy golden silver, they
got it there. Love the watchesI walk around. I got my Rolex
there it is. They always havea ton of rolexus h and also jewelry.

(58:25):
They have tennis bracelets and nice beautifuldiamond earrings and a great collectibles too,
Texas memorabilia, document state flags,comic stuff, along with their new
new end of the business called Celebritymentcelebritymint dot com. They've got coinage and
autographs of Rick Flair, Mike Tysonand what they're doing in the sports world.

(58:46):
It's collectibles. It's good. SoUS coinsan Jewelry dot Com. When
you go in, they're open everyday except Sunday. Chick fil Afe,
follow their their their their business model. Go ahead, tell you heard it
on the Michael Garfield program. Andif you don't, you know, you
don't live in Houston. They youcould trust them on the internet to US
coins and Jewelry dot com. Sowe appreciate those guys. I promised I'm

(59:07):
gonna I've only been teasing this foran hour or so. I just talked
about cell phones. Foldable cell phonesare big. Is it right time for
you to buy a foldable footable cellphone. That's up to you. They're
only going to get better, andsadly they may only get more expensive.
We're not sure, but does anybodystill have problems with getting reception? I
was driving somewhere yesterday near the Galleria, and for some reason I lost connectivity

(59:30):
for about a minute or two.I was at it was it Chimney Want
Chimney Rock near Richmond Avenue, andall of a sudden, I know where
I'm going, but I always havea map up because I look at traffic,
and all of a sudden, nothingwas moving, nothing was going on.
So I had to turn on andoff my airplane mode. And that's
one of the tips I'm gonna giveyou. I just kind of reset nothing.
I didn't turn the whole phone off, but it lost the signal for

(59:52):
some reason. Maybe it was aboutfive in the afternoon. So that's what
a lot of people are on theirphones yapp and talking looking at maps and
so traffic. Cell phone traffic signals. It's very big in morning drivetime and
afternoon drivetime, just like radio.So I'm like, I can't believe we're
in an age right now where westill have to do this. But a
lot of people when you travel,where you live, a lot of factors

(01:00:15):
doesn't matter. If it's Android drivephone, you can drop calls in.
Some of your text messages just areunsent, and that's it's a pain,
and it ticks me off. Andso I kind of compile the list of
things that to maybe help you outof one of which was turn on and
turn off the airplane mode. Itworked for me. It's kind of like,

(01:00:40):
what of my typicult? What's theeasy? Hey, Michael, you
know if I've done this show fortwenty plus years, Michael, my computer's
not working, well, why don'tyou turn it off and turn it on?
You laugh about it, but fiftyplus percent of the time that works.
Do it. You don't need toturn your whole phone on or off.
It doesn't hurt. But it's quickerjust to turn your airplane mode on,
which shuts down the cell signal suchit shuts down the Wi Fi too,

(01:01:05):
and then turn it, give itabout fifteen seconds and turn it back
on. Easy to do. Yougo to your settings and there's this icon
of an airplane and it worked forme, So that that's one of the
things that you can do. Youcan also move yourself if you're walking around,
so there's no obstructions between your phoneand any cell phone towers outside.
Now this could mean stepping away fromany metal objects, concrete walls that because

(01:01:29):
those things kill reception. Go toa window, go outside if you really
want to. Another one is thisyou may want to remove your phone case.
It doesn't hurt to remove whatever phonecase you have on your phone,
especially if it's thick, because thatphone has an antenna in there, and
the antenna could be blocked by thatcase, so it can get a better

(01:01:49):
signal. One of the other thingsyou can try always make sure your phone
is charged too. Searching for connectingto a stronger cell signalate it drains your
battery power. So if your phone'sbattery power is already low on a charge,
you may have some difficulty when itcomes to getting good service. So

(01:02:10):
there's another little tip for you.So people sometimes don't forget about the phone
case. What I'll tell you,Yeah, if you really have some issues,
and this is you gotta get alittle intense over here. Take the
sim card out of your phone,that little tiny that's a troubleshooting step.
You remove a SIM card and youplace it back in your phone with your
phone turned on. Because sometimes thatSIM card is dirty, sometimes it can

(01:02:34):
get a little moisture on there.If it has any physical detects, you
may defects, you may need toreplace that SIM card too. Now to
do that, you're gonna need thatlittle tiny SIM card tool, which is
like that little paper clip type ofthing you usually get that your little phone's
box. Sometimes you can't actually unfolda paper clip, maybe a sewing needle.
You pop it out. Do thatsim card tray is smaller than your

(01:02:55):
pinky fingernail. Do not drop it. Do not lose it because at the
end end of the day, thatSIM card is your phone number. That
SIM card has all the data thatyou have on. Don't lose that card.
So remove it, maybe just giveit a quick little blow or a
little dust off, and then thatcould work too. All the thing to

(01:03:15):
do is also check your whoever yourcell phone carrier is, check your cell
phone settings, the carrier settings,because mobile carriers sometimes they send out updates
to help improve connectivity for their calls. The data the messages and you know
anything on their network and carrier.If there are carry updates, you can

(01:03:37):
update it from pop up messages.You can also go to your settings general
and maybe network or about on thephone. You could do that too.
You can also reset your phone's networksettings too. Worst comes the worst.
People just call or i'd say callyour phone carrier. But sometimes if you
don't have self service, go onlineor actually walk into a T mobile store

(01:03:58):
at Att or Verizon store. Becausesometimes unexpected signal issues they actually can be
traced back to problems with the wirelesscarrier. A cell phone tower could be
down, the tower's fiber optic cablecould have been cut. That can cause
an outage. You know, sometimesthere's this new signal issue that can you
know, be due to a defectwith your phone or your SIM card going
bad. And I guess one ofthe ones that I get questions, Hey,

(01:04:25):
what the cell phone booster? Asignal booster? If everything else I
just said fails, you could tryto get a signal booster. I've tried
these. I can't verify that theywork on and they're signal boosters? What

(01:04:45):
they what they do? They're they'rethey're not cheap. They're you know,
they can cost about a thousand dollarsfor your entire home. Different companies you
can go to just look at cellphone signal boosters. And what you do
is you put a little antennae upin your back, y'all, and you
put a wire. Then it's likea Wi Fi thing, and your phone
didn't connects to the Wi Fi,but technically it's the outdoor signal. I

(01:05:08):
recommend this potentially only if you live, if your home, orr apartment,
wherever is in a situation is inan area where the cell phone reception is
totally crapola, where you're constantly havingconnectivity issues in your home or your office
where you spend a majority part ofyour time. At that point, it
may be worth investing into the signalcell phone boosters. But also don't forget

(01:05:32):
about this too. Most all phoneshave Wi Fi calling. I always get
out a Wi Fi signal when Ipossibly can. If I'm at a restaurant,
if I'm at a cafe, ifI'm at a bar, if I'm
there for an hour or two,and certainly when I'm at home, where
I'm at an office, get upbecause phone signals if you can't get a
cell signal. They actually can comethrough Wi Fi. It's called Wi Fi

(01:05:55):
calling on some phones, Android oriPhone, you do have to go into
your settings and turn Wi Fi callingon. And I'm telling you what this
works great when you travel because whenI travel internationally, like I when I
went to South Korea, I didnot light up my cell phone's international plan
because Wi Fi is ubiquitous almost almostanywhere in the world unless that I haven't

(01:06:15):
been in the Serengetti or I haven'tbeen in you know, safaris or things,
but cities, libraries, airports,grocery stores, cafes. Sometimes you
need to ask for the password.And to end this segment in what we're
talking about people, this is weused to worry years ago about oh,
should I get on a Wi Fisignal because people are going to steal my

(01:06:38):
data. Never do any transactions onyour bank or anything personal on Wi Fi
and a coffee shopp because somebody cansteal your data. Yes, one hundred
percent. It is not guaranteed.No one's going to steal your data.
But people, this is almost twentytwenty four. The networks or the VPNs
virtual private networks, have greatly improvedyou do not, and I cover this

(01:07:00):
industry, I do not hear nearlyas many stories of hackers breaking into phones
and stealing signals on Wi Fi.I'm a trusting person for the most part,
and I do pretty much trust alot of Wi Fi networks and I'm
fine with that. So people thereyou go, feel free to podcast this.
Send the link to anybody who ishaving cell phone signals and you can
let them know. The High TechTection gives you ten ten different ideas of

(01:07:25):
how to improve your cell phone signal. Why I try to improve this radio
program which ends at about twelve tofifteen minutes, stand by for the big
finale over here on the High TechTextan show, first part of November twenty
twenty three. Hey, I appreciateeverybody hanging in here for about an hour

(01:07:47):
and fifteen minutes so far. Whynot just spend ten more minutes and we
have. We got the whole schlemilschla mazel here waiting for you as we
wrap up the High Tech text inthe show. Interesting things, obviously I
was. I'm still gawking and kevelingover my Texas Ranges World champions. We've
been through that. The Beatles releaseda new song that I do not like

(01:08:09):
whatsoever. Hopefully your Halloween was greatpeople, Hopefully you got some candy.
Still, I'm getting some emails overyou know this, Walgreens over here has
got seventy five percent off the ress, which is always good. So I'm
still taking those. We talked aboutstreaming video. Is streaming video worth it
versus maybe continuing cable? Right now? I think the answer is right now,

(01:08:29):
yes, streaming video is worth it. But at some point, as
the prices go up for all thesestreaming companies, it may not Ten ways
to boost your cell phone signal.We just cover that. I gave the
breakdown on foldable phones. Foldable phoneshad a very big year this year.
But should you get one, Allof that can be listened to again and
again and again, because in aboutten minutes, my man callum over here.

(01:08:53):
You were going to put that onour podcast, And you can find
this podcast I Heart Radio. Youdownload that app and you can look for
Michael Garfue, you can look forKPRC and you could just listen to your
Hearts content ova and over again.I wanted to what else did I want
to say? Promise one more thing? Data? Data privacy talked about Wi

(01:09:14):
Fi and how Wi Fi privacy hasgotten better. People used to be very
scared that I don't want to geton Wi Fi public Wi Fi system because
somebody could hack into my phone orhack into my computer. I've seen less
less stories about that right now.I think the Wi Fi networks and the
data security AU networks on the virtualprivate networks, if you use them,
that's gotten better. And so therewas a you don't hear much about that

(01:09:39):
now as we you know, neartwenty twenty four, but your data is
still the probably the top concern ofwhat everybody has every time we log on
them, every time we pick upthe phone. What can we do about
it? Well, a few weeksago they're a service of a free service
actually came about and I saw it. Actually it's from Consumer Reports and when

(01:10:02):
Consumer Reports, which has long beena magazine that you could trust because they
do not take ads, they donot take an it they tell you the
real I mean I've been reading this, My family has got this since the
seventies and eighties. I mean,before you buy cars and refrigerators, that
used to be the resource Consumer Reports. Now I am your resource that you
need to go to The point isConsumer Reports came out with an app and

(01:10:26):
I recommend most everybody trying this thing. This is not an ad is they
don't pay me for this one.This is content right over here. It's
called permission Slip. I talked aboutit about a month ago, but then
I tried it. It's very simple, permission slip. It's your online personal
data because it's everywhere all over theInternet, and there are pieces of your
data that are collected by companies anddata brokers they sell to other companies that

(01:10:50):
they can use your info to sellads that are targeted to you or whatever
your name is everywhere. How doyou fix this? How do you control
your data? Well, there's thisapp called permission Slip, and what it
does it helps you slowly bring backa bit of your personal data because it

(01:11:14):
will help you find what's out thereand does a lot of legwork of collecting
the places that might have your data, including hundreds of companies that use your
personal information. So quite simply isthis. To get started on this thing
called permission Slip, you do haveto sign up with on your email address

(01:11:35):
highly reckman. Signing up with youremail address that you use frequently when you
sign up for online accounts, rewardsprograms, whatever, because that's what you
want to kind of, you know, watch for. And once you then
do that, there's this little tabthere. It's called learn more and Take
Action. You select on this applearn more and take Action, You're going

(01:11:58):
to go to a screen that showsyou what sort of data company usually collects
and what your options are. Anddepending on the company and what state you
live in wherever you're listening right now, you have the options to stop companies
from selling your data or they candelete your account out right. So just
go through it meticulously. Now,what happens is permission slip. It submits

(01:12:21):
a request on your behalf to allthese companies. Sometimes it takes a bit
of time to have your request processedand all your information deleted, So hang
in there and be patient. Butthe fact is this is kind of an
all in one stop. Now.I do my own little data check on

(01:12:41):
a semi regular basis, and Idid it even yesterday morning when I woke
up, because I check my emailand I'm getting I get so much I'm
gonna call them spam email. ButI get all these press releases, I
mean, because I'm on so manylists of newsletters and they sell it.
What I do probably once every twoweeks or so, when I see all
this, Where did this email comefrom? I scroll down to the bottom

(01:13:03):
of each email and then I godown to managed subscriptions or change your settings,
and I click it. It goesto their website and then I hit
unsubscribed, unsubscribe, unsubscribe you fromeverything on your list. Now I know
I'm not that much of a foolto think that, Oh wait a minute,
they just caught me in a littlemoment over here the now. They

(01:13:23):
could have randomly sent me this email. But the fact is I responded it,
clicked on something. They know it'sa real working email address, and
they're going to keep sending me more. But then I also take the secondary
precaution. What I do and Iuse my I use Microsoft Outlook. Actually
I use Office three sixty five,but I have outlooked. But what I
can do is I go to thatemail and I write click on it,

(01:13:44):
and I immediately name it junk.And when you hit junk, it'll say
block sender. So I block everythingin anything coming that specific email address.
So if something comes from info atnewsletter, well I'll scroll to the bottom
of that email, and I willunsubscribe me. Then I'll go back to

(01:14:05):
the actual email, and I'm gonnajunk block anything that ever comes from info
at newsletter dot com. It's justone way to declutter your life, folks,
as we wipe up the show,there's the last thing we need is
more clutter in our life. There'sjust too much stuff going on. Our
data is out there. But I'lltell you again, if we use the

(01:14:26):
internet, if we use a phone, there's a trade off. Yes,
we still have to pay for alot of this stuff too, but data
is important and they the companies,will keep it and they'll use it.
Just try to keep your information asprotected as possible. And if you don't
want your information out there, it'stoo late. It is to even if
you don't even use the internet.My grandmother passed away last year. She
was one hundred and five years old. Never had a cell phone, never

(01:14:48):
had any never had a computer,never or anything. Her information is out
there, you know, from thegovernment, your social security number, whatever.
But if you think if you geta phone and you don't want anybody
taking your data, people, youare sadly mistaken. Because listen, every
time you turn that there's note itbecomes a brick. If you don't want
your data, turn off your phone. Because every time I use a map,

(01:15:09):
well Google knows exactly where I am, where I'm going, how long
I spent there, and everything.Be careful. The only thing I don't
take from it. I give youinformation, but I don't take anything other
than you. Love people, andthank you for continuing to give for twenty
plus years. Here on KPRC ninefifty am. We are based in Houston
on the Ihearts Radio Network. Thankyou very much to Brian Ericksson, Mark

(01:15:29):
Sherman, and Eddie Martini who runthis Houston market, and everybody else for
tuning in. I will see younext week. Go enjoy the Texas Rangers
World series. Hook them Horns,how about them Cowboys? And it's my
show. I can just yap anythingI want, but I do appreciate you
listening to my bs. Maybe it'sa Bachelor of Science, maybe it's not.

(01:15:50):
My name is Garth. Right now, this show is over