Amazon Opens Up What?; What's A MESH WiFi Network?; Test Driving The Mercedes GLC 300

• Amazon opens up more partner stores for easier returns

• Why Mesh WiFi networks are the best way to go

• Test driving the Mercedes GLC 300. An inexpensive SUV but here's why...

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Hi Texan is Michael Garfel Michael Garfield. Michael Garfield's joining the high Tech Texan.
Michael Garfield is here with a hightech texting items to make life easier,
new technology. So Michael Garfield hassomething you might like. Texan.

(00:25):
Michael Garfield is your high tech Texan. Three decades helping you make magic with
your gadgets. Heard worldwide on theiHeartRadio Act. Now your high tech Texan.
Michael Garfield. Well, look atAlander. Why don't you if you're

(00:49):
listening live, It is Saturday,it is July first, and you know
how I usually opened the second halfof my show by saying it's halfway to
half hour. People, it's halfwaythrough the end of the year. Oh
mid the days are getting shorter,but dang they are still hot. Welcome.

(01:10):
It is Michael Garfield, the longrunning, well over two decades high
Tech Texan show. Still here,folks, still still here, at least
this week on the beginning of avery nice holiday weekend. We do wish
everybody a happy July fourth, HappyIndependence Day, America, the greatest country
and the history of the world.Even though iPhones aren't made here or even

(01:33):
the Samsung androids. It's still onehell of a country, certainly it is.
Hey, listen, whatever you're doing. If you are in town in
the Houston Southeast Texas area, thanksfor tuning in as you always do.
If you're listening on iHeartRadio or apodcast, will you see you could take
the dulcet tones of my voice prettymuch anywhere. Just download the iHeartRadio app
and you should be set to go. Number of things that we are going

(01:55):
to app about today. It's gettingeasier and easier to return items from Amazon
and other places like this where it'swhere we can order. We could just
walk into stores and return them.You know, we can do this at
Whole Foods. I'll give you aname of another place where Amazon is now
infiltrating where you can just walk aroundthe corner if you don't like something and
just send it back. Very simpleto do. You got what's up with

(02:17):
the deal. There's two things thatare skyrocketing in prices right now. Number
one is Sarata sauce. Okay,I like me some Sarata sauce, and
I probably should hoard the thing,But I have no clue why it is
so expensive. I'm not gonna talkabout that, But how about printer ink.
Not I don't print nearly as muchas I used to anymore. But
I'm gonna give you some tips onreally how to maximize your printer pretty much,

(02:40):
how to try to save on printerink. And tip number one is
if you have to print something,go to your office and do it all
right, But if you have todo it at home, I'll teach you
about that. What's Michael driving?You know? Each week I do get
the test drive a really cool car. This past week I was a named
Mercedes Bins G S three hundred,which is an suv. It's a relatively

(03:04):
inexpensive I say, relatively inexpensive MercedesBins suv. I know why it's relatively
inexpensive for Mercedes because they made someshortcoasts over here. It's not the typical
Mercedes. But that certainly drove well. And I'll give you some tips in
my thoughts whether you should be interestedin an suv like that. A number
of other things, plus your phonecalls, even on a holiday weekend.

(03:25):
Calum Reid is here and along withthe other staff, he's pushing the buttons
and answering phone calls. The numberit's a callin shellis is what we do
on Saturday weekend shows. Seven onethree, two one two five nine five.
Oh, that number has not changedin what the twenty two so years
that we have actually been here onthis radio program. So feel free to

(03:46):
call in. I'd love to hearwhat you are drinking by the pool,
if you got a gool cool cocktailthat you want to share with, If
you can tell me where, ifyou're going to um how you spend in
the July fourth, You guys outof time. You're going to a concert.
If you're listening live right now,you have no thing to do tonight,
I know, or later this eveningdown in Texas City at Logo mar
Live Joe Nichols, Remember Joe Nichols, country singer, nineties man. He

(04:11):
is going to be performing in afloating stage on the beautiful Lagoons, the
White, the Crystal Blue Lagoon ofLogo mar checkout logo mar live dot com.
There are plenty of tickets on saleand it's a really neat atmosphere.
So you bring your bathing suit andyou see a stand in the water and
white sandy beaches. You go purchasesome cocktails and you listen to some some

(04:33):
fun, fun music out there.So that's happening tonight. But if you've
got anything else going on, I'mmore than happy to hear that from you.
Got some got some kind of badnews, kind of getting well,
let's just say sad news. Earlierthis week that my dream, another one
of my dream jobs, has nowvanished. It has gone into my dreams.

(04:54):
It didn't happen. You know,everybody wants to do something that they
love to do. They think theycan do whatever it is, whatever industry
you're in. And you know I'vebeen I studied in the media. I
have a Radio Television of Film degreethat I graduated from the University of Texas.
Wanted to be behind the mic,in front of the camera. I've
built a nice career here for twentyplus years, doing some radio pop on

(05:17):
TV quite frequently. But a dreamjob came up a few weeks ago and
the last it's already been replaced bya guy who pretty much has every other
job in the media. Wheel ofFortune, Baby, it is gone.
Two weeks ago, Pat say Jacksaid he was retiring from the iconic game

(05:38):
show Wheel of Fortune, and theyfound its newest valve seller ladies and gentlemen.
One of my coharts here at iHeartRadiowith his What I Lost count eighteenth
job. Ryan Seacrest will be yournew host of Wheel of Fortune. You
know, I'm glad that Seacrest isfinally getting a break in the business.
Here does the deuce just having somuch bad all of his career? That

(06:01):
was quick Sony Pictures TV. Theydidn't want to flirt with any game show
drama after everyone finally forgot about whathappened to Jeopardy remember that the fiasco after
Alex Trubett passed away. Seacrest isinheriting a wheel that has been spinning for
like forty eight years on air.I remember watching this when I was in

(06:25):
college. In Jeopardy two was inthe eighties, and Wheel of Fortune they
had about forty million nightly viewers backin the eighties. Now it's about eight
point six million nightly viewers. Ohdarn, eight point six million. Seacrest.
I've never met Seacrest. Listen,the guys seems affable and I'm not
ragging on anything good for him.Apparently he's got a hell of a better

(06:46):
agent than I do. But he'sSkyrocket of fame. By interviewing those hopeful
pop stars attractive people who couldn't singan American Idol that was in two thousand
and two. And the man alwaysseems to be juggling like five jobs at
once. I mean as the NewYear's Eve events, He DJs A radio
shows Los Angeles. He was onthe Kelly Ripper Show for six years morning
talk show, which, by theway, he left a few months ago.

(07:11):
But this do you know why?This is one of the coolest gigs
in the world. His new gig, this wheel of fortune. Hosting a
game show is one of the mostenviable jobs in Hollywood because it's it's stability.
It pays a ton of cashow alot, and you work just a
few days a month. There's nota big time commitment for this dude,

(07:32):
so he's probably gonna get more gigswhen unless I know what's up with Hell,
I'll take Vannah White's job. Vannaactually was rumored to be on the
Successor list. Nope, I don'tknow if she's gonna stay on the Seacrest
takes over, but I think she'saggressively negotiating her first pay raise in eighteen

(07:53):
years. I don't want to knowhow much he has paid for me.
She does. I don't watch theshow, but the last night check she
doesn't even physically turn the letter.I think she walks and she touches a
letter and they electronically do something great. Gig gone. Alas, I'm stuck
here in Houston hosting a radio show. But alas, I'm here for you,
at least for the next hour andforty five minutes. That's what I'm
doing. Hey, Michael Garfield comingback. We're gonna talk about a lot

(08:15):
more fun things. Seven one threetwo one two five nine five Oh.
That is what's going to be up. Tell you how I'll sablings and printer
ric and if you have some Amazonproducts to return, got a lot easier
for you. Hey, happy summer, stay cool. We're gonna be right
back. And here's Michael Garfield.This is in d call the high Tech

(08:39):
and show what is going on?Seven three two one two five nine five
oh. This portion of the showbrought to you by US Coins and Jewelry.
Big shout out to Kenny and MattDuncan. People listen, who wants
a row X and we want somejewelry? People who wants some good If
you have a coin collection. Ihad a stamp collection. I wasn't big
into coins. I know my momand my uncle's were too. But it's

(09:00):
Katie Freeway just near Voss. They'vebeen here for about thirty years, family
owned business. They are so good. So many people here at our radio
station they go there. We buyjewelry. We sell our jewelry over there
too. But if you've got theRolexes, people are really kind of looking
at my impressive watch that I'm wearingon my wrist. I did get it
at US Coins and Jewelry. Oneheck of a deal. You don't need

(09:20):
to mention, well, feel freeto mention my name when you go in.
We go to US Coins and Jewelrydot com. If you're not listening,
if you're not in the Houston area, go online too, because they
do deals and they have so manygreat things in that store, Texas memorabilia,
state flags. But if you havea Rolexler or any jewelry that you
want to sell, take it tothem first, because these things are viable
people. They'll give you a topdollar and if you're looking to buy one,

(09:43):
there are certainly some really good pricesto US Coins and jewelry. As
we look at the clock, itis about, oh, what about twenty
minutes past the hour. And wedo think if you're tuning into the MG.
Michael Garfield program, wherever you're doing, if you're out by the pool.
I was actually out by my poolwhen actually a few days this week,
but it was Tuesday or Wednesday.My cousins came to town and they're

(10:05):
still in town. So if Jenniferand Ryan and Lily in Austin they're listening,
this is what cousin Michael does.He's on the radio. They know
what I do on the radio.But we were out. We were hungry,
and uh, we got some pizzaand we were trying to figure out
where to get pizza. I'm notthe biggest pizza guy, you know,

(10:26):
Carbs or whatever, but I forgot. I didn't forget. It was pretty
smart. We got Fat Boys pizzaand my buddy George, George Mallock.
I don't know if he's listening rightnow. George has been around this city
for a long time. I usedto know my man when he was at
Fleming Steak House and he did somestuff at Bucky's. But I think he's
what is either regional manager I thinkof. It's called Fat Boys Pizza,

(10:48):
and there's there's one location now.It's in Richmond, Texas on the West
side, and they have the largestpizzas you've ever seen. It's it's almost
a novelty. The they're three footdiameter pizzas, and so I just wanted
to impress you know these, Imean, my kid and there my cousins
are real acute. They're small,they're what are they They're like eleven years

(11:11):
old and I think nine years old. Literally there it's they're taller in diameter
than I think my youngest little cousin. So George actually he personally delivered these
two massive pizzas from Fat Boys Pizzaand just we're snacking around the pool and
so very very it's good stuff.I was in a pizza eating contest when
they opened about two months ago.I could not eat the slice of pizzas

(11:33):
so big. You have seven anda half minutes to do it, and
I couldn't even finish a slice ofpizza and seven and a half minutes.
Joey Chestnut, however, killed oneof those in thirty nine seconds, So
they're going again. There goes mydream job. Of Wheel of Fortune.
There goes my dream job of actuallyeating that fast too. But that was
good stuff. So noway, ifyou're by the pool, you're eating,

(11:54):
you're drinking. I do hope you'reyou're having fun. Saw this on Actually,
if you're around a TV, Ithink it's coming this Wednesday, the
day after July fourth, July fifth, I think in the morning on channel
two KPREC no relation to KPREC Radio. Currently there is a story coming that
my buddy, reporter Bill Spencer isdoing. We tape this gosh well over

(12:18):
a month ago, and it's aboutreturning items that you bought online, particularly
I think from Amazon, because Amazonand a lot of other online retailers they're
trying to make it more simple ofreturning things to entice you to buy stuff

(12:39):
because in the past, you know, if you want to return something,
you've got to get the box,you got to wrap it up, you've
got to go print out a label, and generally you have to get charged
and then it goes back in yourcredit card a few weeks later. The
whole thing. Amazon has done areally and this is not an Amazon commercial
whatsoever. I an Amazon, It'sit wasn't dot Com and then many of

(13:01):
these other stores do it. Onlinesites do it too. They're making it
easier. But Amazon to me becauseI did a story for NBC National News
Today's Show last year about the samething. Amazon obviously owns Whole Foods,
so they have physical locations that arerelatively potentially near by you. If you
buy something from Amazon and it didn'tfit, you don't want it, you

(13:26):
could walk into a Whole Food mostWhole Foods, maybe all of them,
I'm not sure. And there's alittle kiosk that returns things from Amazon.
You don't even need a real box. There's a person sitting there. You
do need to go on to yourAmazon account and go to returns. You
will know. You can do iton your phone and you'll get this QR

(13:50):
code. You take the product,you take the QR code to a Whole
food store, they will bag itup, print a label, it out
to where whoever you bought it from, and then immediately you're gonna get credit
on back on your credit card.It's it's it's it's amazing, it really
really is. And the point ofbringing about this stuff is it's more than

(14:13):
just Amazons, is more than justWhole Food stores right now. They just
open it up. Welcome to Staples. Early this week they said they're gonna
colla. Amazon is gonna collaborate withStaples to allow shoppers to drop off returns
without the need to include the labelor the box to all the Staples stores

(14:35):
by the end of this month ofJuly. That's I mean, that's eight
thousand locations. And again, thisis what you do. You go to
Amazon's return center, you generate alittle QR code. You then show it
along with the return item at adrop off location. Holes did this,

(14:56):
Auso to Coles. Let me sayto Coastal do this Kohl. They the
partnership. They could drop off Coalsremains among the locations. Okay, you
could do it at Coals. Youcould do it at physical Amazon stores.
I have no clue or a physicalAmazon stores at least here in Houston Whole
Foods without it. And you coulddo it at UPS stores too. Did
not know that. And Amazon,I think they said a few months ago

(15:24):
at some point they're gonna start charginga fee on some returns at UPS locations,
maybe an extra dollar fee if theygo to a UPS store. Not
sure about that, But why wouldyou do that now that you've got a
whole foods and you've got tons ofstaples over here, so it I like
this. I don't buy a lotof things online as mister high tech as

(15:46):
I am. I just, Ijust, I especially don't buy a lot
of clothes because I like trying onclothes. I actually got stocked. It's
my word, don't worry about it. Screwed. Actually, that's probably a
better way to put it. Abouta month ago, I'm on you know,
I'm on Facebook, and you seeyou ever see these ads pop up
on Facebook? And I'm gonna goahead and read this company but I can't
even name the company because it's fromJapan. I don't even know what it

(16:07):
is. Maybe from China, I'mnot sure. I apologize. And it
was I like wearing pants, umjoggers, hot new thing called joggers,
you know, sexy looking joggers,and here's this ad, and I was
just I was, I'm not asucker, but these these these things are
like fourteen ninety nine. They lookcool, they stretch, they were neat,

(16:30):
you know, like that. Andthen you know, I put my
credit card in and I swear it'sit. If you don't like it you
can return. It took like threefreaking weeks. You talk about a slow
boat from China. They finally arrivedmy mailbox. I'm all excited, and
this was so not what it wasadvertised. These things are like polyester crap
that I could have sewn together,and I'm at I'm not that good of

(16:53):
a sewer. No returns. Theonly way you can return this thing.
That's they were damaged. I'm littlethinking. They're sitting on my dresser for
about a month right now, andI'm thinking of, like I don't know,
hutting them up and returning him sayingthat came like this, which I'm
really actually not gonna do that.Be careful what you're shopping for, and

(17:14):
make sure you read all the ruleson returning things. I guess I didn't
read well enough on this one.Buy from a reliable and a reputable online
store. Would you do that please? I did not in this case.
The fact that's Amazon's making it easyto return. But before you hit the

(17:37):
click to buy, please make surethat you read those things that say,
hey, here's the return policy.If you do want to see that story,
I think it's gonna be on Channeltwo. I think it's early in
the morning. I think it's likesix in the morning, but then it'll
be online on kpars or click toUston dot com. Bill Spencer, good
reporter, fun guy, probably oneof the best tennis players in the state
of Texas. True story, crazyhair. He and I compare right here

(18:00):
together. He came over and wetake this thing about a month ago,
and you can see some of thetips coming up. And so that is
a little little radio TV little lookat No, Nope, not Ryan Seacrets,
just Michael Garfield. That's all yougot right now. Questions about that.
I'm here for you at seven onethree two one two five nine five
when we're gonna take a break.When we come back, I'm gonna talk
about I compare Amazon. Amazon,you know, is a membership. You

(18:25):
have to have a membership thing.So you're paying one hundred and thirty hundred
forty bucks a year for they Icompare this to Sam's in Costco that people
don't compare it to what you needto Sam's a costco have been around for
a long time. It's a membershipfifty sixty bucks. Some cost more than
that. Some people don't even realizethat way with this, Costco membership is

(18:45):
probably gonna give me the same discountas Amazon membership and Vice first ever two.
Costco, by the way, ischanging one of its policies, and
I'm not too happy about this.I will tell you what that is coming
up right here on the high Tickdex and show. We all missed the

(19:07):
bottom of the hour. You know. I see it's a radio term because
as I look at my actually lookingbeautiful watch that I got from US Coins
and Jewelry, it's the bottom ofthe hour. It's Mexic. It works
out that way. Happy July first. If you're listening live at KPRC nine
to fifty, Michael Garfield t oM. The original Michael. That's me.

(19:29):
I've been doing this for twenty twoplus years. Started out as a
pure technology stuff and now it's it'sall consumer lifestyle things. Got a car
review coming up, a new MercedesSUV that I was testing. Again,
this is pure content. Nothing ofthis is sponsored, sadly, but I
am a member of the Texas AutoWriters Association Association. I liked this one

(19:52):
particularly because this had heated seats,and I'm gonna give you a little bit
of my hippa right now? Isthat Calum, I'm looking at you this
it Can you give me it thumbsup? Can I give it? If
I talk about my health, that'sokay. I give him a hippa.
I've been this has not been avery healthy month for me, and I'm
a healthy dude. And if youknow, it's really nice. Some of
my listeners, like Michael Man,you've been kind of quiet on social media

(20:14):
and haven't heard from me or seenyou much out and about. I haven't
been feeling great this month. Firsttime I have a sinus infection. I
have never in my life had asinus infection. So it took me weeks
to figure out what's going on becausethe last doctor that I thought I needed
to see was an eat NT.I didn't even I don't think I didn't
even know what eat NT stood for. That's how out of sync I am

(20:38):
with I've never had a sinus infection. I go, I find any ant
and she shoves this camera up mynose and hello, I got swollen.
It looks like a mountains up there. And so now I've been on steroids
and I don't know. Then myback hurts, and then the left side
of my I'm trembling on the leftside of my bought. I don't know
it. It is not bad,right. The point is the heated Hey,

(21:00):
let me get background right. Ifyour car has heated seats, you're
thinking, why in the world willyou want to eat it seats? And
you're in Texas and why do youwant to eat it seats in summer?
If you're back hurts and you sitin the car a lot, it actually
works very well, and so uhthe massaging Actually some of the seats and
vehicles now massage. I've actually wentto a chiropractor and I've been to a

(21:23):
chiropractor before, and I gotta sayit made me feel better because my back
was hurting. A big, bighello to uh doctor Gunner Hollier h O
L L E R. He runs. He's out in Katie, Texas.
By the way, he's out.It's called HD Performance Chiropractic. HD Performance

(21:44):
Chiropractic. He's a good dude,fun guy. And I walk in and
there's like this skeleton in his office. Not as scares you when you walk
in and there's a skeleton you're office, but he but it's it's there so
he can show you your vertebrae.He's there. He's there to show you
that. Let's hope it vertebrate doesn'tlook like this. But anyway, he
adjusted me and put these little stem, little electrodes on there. I wish

(22:08):
I was I was were I wasjoking with him. I can how come
these electric stem can't be in thesecars that I'm driving for a tomus to
to really give me that stem insteadof the heat massage. But anyway he
did was able to fix me up. So for some reason, you do
need a little uh hiroaction like that. I'll just just this is a personal

(22:29):
opinion to doctor Gunner Hayer h dphirohi r O dot com very easy to
get into, so I thank youfor that. I do need another stretching
out. By the way, ifanybody cares, phone number here seven one
three two one two five nine five. I talked about Amazon and Amazon what

(22:51):
is their annual fee right now?It's one hundred and forty bones. Hundred
and thirty five bones. You doget Prime video, you know, you
listen, You get a number ofdifferent things. You get free delivery on
a lot of the stuff from youknow, within two days or something.
But it took me a while two. The reason I got Amazon personally because

(23:15):
I wanted to watch the marvelous MissusMasil, which just ended its five year
run, which was great, bythe way, and it's going I may
actually cancel right now. I don'tget a lot of stuff from from Amazon.
But here's the reason why. Ialso am a member of Sam's Club
and Costco, and to some extent, Amazon can can be lumped in there.

(23:41):
It's a membership where you can getproducts. In many cases, you
could walk into a Costco or Sam'sright now and you don't even have to
wait one to two days for yourstuff to be delivered from Amazon, and
you're gonna return it right there,and they're cheaper. But the other the
other plus and I've I've been tomy parents have been members of Sam's actually

(24:03):
in Costco for years, and Iremember going a long time ago. I
remember going to college and when you'rea college kid and you're hungry, you
know, like the cool thing isyou walk around Sam's on a weekend and
you start snacking because they used tohave all those samples. It's tough.
Now I saw what Costco is doing. Costco is doing what Netflix is doing.
They're stopping the no sharing concept.If you don't have your own Costco

(24:29):
card, you ain't gonna be ableto borrow one right now. I mean
it used to be as long asyou walk it. You know, they
have people at the front door andand they you have to show, you
have to flash your card, soI cant. I could borrow my parents
card or something just to flash andwalk in and start snacking around, and
then I could buy a metric tonof turkey or something if I ever wanted

(24:49):
to. But they're getting serious aboutpreventing non members using other members cards to
enjoy all those fun riches. Soyou're hungry for the dollar fifty hot dog,
you're going to have to pay upand get your own Costco card.
They rely very heavily on membership fees, membership fees, and I got a

(25:14):
stat for you people. Membership aloneto Costco last year brought in four point
two billion dollars membership fees. Youknow, they're trying to offset its prices
in the low margins and in inflationright now too. And Costco's profits have
dipped four percent last quarter. Andif you if you want to so if

(25:37):
you need some rotisserie chicken back thereyou're going to have to join the ranks
of Costco's cardholders, which right nowone hundred and twenty five million Costco cardholders.
How much as I need a reason, how much as a membership?
Let me quickly figure this thing outover here at Costco? What is it

(26:00):
called the gold Star membership? Isthat what it is? Sixty bucks?
There's an executive membership, it's onehundred and twenty bucks. There's your Amazon
right there alone. I don't knowwhat that offers too, but they're doing
but they're kind of doing what Netflixis doing. I've been talking about that
for six months. I told youfinally came to a fruition of a month

(26:22):
or so ago. Netflix started crackingdown on password sharing and they immediately saw
a huge spike in subscription sign ups. That's the whole point. Anybody got
any Costco stories? Gallo? Youlike Cosco? Did you ever go to
Costco or Sam's and just walk aroundon like on Saturdays, it's like a

(26:45):
buffet. You go to the frozenfood aisle and then somebody, here's Tina
Salmon. Oh you want some dip. Oh here's a free five hour energy
type of thing. Oh, youwant to try this beautiful snack bar.
Oh it's awesome. I mean Iprobably on an annual basis, I'll probably
eat the sixty dollars worth of membershipfees and snacks totally. You can make

(27:07):
a lunch out of that thing Iwant if you've raise those prices. By
the way, this is what wetalked about here in the High Tech text
and show. Nothing hard hitting,but something to get you thinking and get
you fun. Seven one three,two one two five nine five oh amps
And I swear man, I'm notan Amazon pimp. Amazon note, I
told you I'm getting rid of cancermy Amazon membership. But I will type

(27:30):
this so I'm just giving you thenews because Amazon is always in the news.
I mentioned this last week. AmazonThey've just announced their Prime Day coming
up, which is their biggest garagesale in the world. It's always in
July to Day. It's actually calledPrime Days. It's two days starts July
eleventh, July eleventh and twelfth.That is Amazon Prime Days. You do

(27:56):
have to be an Amazon Prime member. Did I keep my Prime membership?
I'd never ordered anything on Amazon PrimeDay. It's for Prime subscribers. It
is one of the biggest sales inthe calendar, and Amazon is always looks
forward to this stuff. And Ido mean, I'm looking at some deals
right now, Sony and Bows andPeloton, and yet he got here's a

(28:18):
hell of a deal on a fortythree I Fire Amazon Fire TV seventy five
person off that alone maybe worth getting. I'm not even sure. I guess
that. Maybe I'll kive I've justnever bought anything from Amazon Prime Day.
To me, Amazon, and I'llsay it again, if your long time
list Amazon Prime Day listen. Amazonhas warehouses all over the world. There's

(28:41):
I drive by several of them herein around Houston area. I was driving
out on I actually I was drivingout to go to my HD Tira HD
Performance Chiropractor and Katie on I tenand I passed by a big Amazon warehouse
as just one of them. Theygotta get written. They they got crapped
just sitting in the warehouse. Holidaysare around the corner. They really are

(29:03):
for the season. You gotta getprepped. They better clear out, the
clear out the warehouse. It's agarage sale. I caught a gride.
This is me anecdotally, thinking ofall the stuff that has not selled year
round, sold year round. Theyneed to get rid of it, so
they create this Amazon Prime Day inthe heart and the heat of summer,

(29:25):
and they cut fifty percent off,seventy five percent off and boom it's gone.
Baby. There is your gride seal, there is your fire sale so
they can make away for new holidaygear. They do it every single year.
So if anybody has scored something cool, I'd love to hear from you.
Get seven one three two one twofive nine five out before we take
our last break of this hour.Michael Garfield is my name. When we
come back, I'll tell you aboutmy little driving experience to see if this

(29:47):
is Mercedes maybe right for you,and also how to save a little bit
money on printer ink. That's whatI got for you here on the high
Tech Text. And show the lastfew minutes of this first hour of the

(30:08):
High Tech Text and show it isMinguel Garfield, Miguel Michael Um. If
I l anything but Mike, myfriends and I am here for you,
give out the number seven one threetwo one two five nine five zh Calum,
hope you're well, Calum, Calum, I know, I know you
love this job. Callum does somuch here at all of our AM station

(30:29):
AM stations here in Houston. Iheart between KPRC nine fifty seven, forty
k tier H and uh KBMME sevenninety, our sports station. But aren't
you happy you're inside? Man?Aren't you happy that Eddie Martini, our
boss, actually has paid our airconditioning bill? Right now? It is
just and I'm out one of thoseI actually one of those guys who complain

(30:51):
about the heat. Man, itis just nasty outside. But anyway,
where ever everybody is right now,I hope you're having a nice, cool
day if you're inside. Movies moviesare actually good, Am I am Calum
helped me out on this, andfeel free to either talk of my or
you actually can chime in on theon the microphone. Have you seen any
movies? The Indiana Jones is thatcoming out this weekend? Have you seen?

(31:15):
How many movies have you seen?This year? I get invited to
a lot of the movie screennies.I don't even go to a lot of
the moving screen screenings. I don'tknow why I haven't seen a lot of
movies. Maybe have I seen twoor three movies this year alone? But
I tell you what, it maybe worth paying the fifteen to twenty bones

(31:36):
just to go sit in air conditioningfor like, for for two hours?
Am I embarrassed to say? AndI may get people hanging up on me
or may get call ins? Whydo Why do I want to see the
new Barbie movie? Hello? Isanybody still listening? I don't have any
girls. I don't know why.They're doing one hell of a job to

(32:00):
promote this. They've been promoting itfor a year. Margo, Robbie is
hot and everything in the world isturning pink right now. So Airbnb listed
a real life Barbie Malibu dream housethat is hosted by a ken. It's

(32:23):
a it's a bio marketing stump.By the way, there's Xbox is making
a Barbie themed console. It'll bea pink console for style influencers. Aldo
is collaborating with Barbie on pink shoesand accessories. Pala has Barbie and kids

(32:46):
knee on yellow inline skates. Dude, Mattel is brilliant. Their licensing deals
have gone crazy. When does thisthing open? July twenty one? I
don't know. I want to seethat. What's that? Does that?
Does that? What does it do? Alipa, who's got that? The
new theme song. It's a goodsong. By the way, Will Ferrell

(33:07):
has a cameo in there. Ithink he's like the head of Mattel.
That's gonna be pretty funny. Soanyway, that that's if if you want
to stay cool, that's what I'mhere for. If you do, you
want to stay cool, you canalso turn your air conduction on in a
car. As I told you,each week I do get to drive test
drive some cars. These are unpaid. These do not come from local dealerships.

(33:28):
This is just my thoughts, whetherit's good and bad. This past
week um as a member of theTexas Auto Writers Association, I was driving
in a twenty twenty three Mercedes BenzGLC three hundred. So it's the smallest
suv and the first thing that Inoticed it's, you know, it looks
nice. It's a black you know. The one I got was in a
black at a big Mercedes symbolom youknow, emblem in the front. Real

(33:52):
retail price was forty nine thousand,that's the base price. The one I
had was about fifty six thousand witha little upgrades. That's relatively inexpensive for
Mercedes suv. Not the biggest suvbut it's still relatively fast two point leader
engine inline little turbo action two hundredand fifty five horsepower. Relatively okay,

(34:14):
nothing super super speedy. Uh seesfive people. You know, it's got
the keyless entry, keyless start.Nice touch screen, it's a it's a
it's a different touchscreen that what Mercedesgenerally has. You know, the old
Mercedes used to have these tablets thatkind of popped up out of the dashboard.
This is this is actually, youknow, kind of built into the

(34:35):
dashboard itself. It's about twelve inchsquarish actually touch screen. Nice digital instrument
cluster behind that. Yes, it'sgot the Apple Car Play, the Android
Auto and everything. One thing thatthis does not have. And I'm very
happy Mercedes has always bugged me withwhat they had. They used to have
a touchpad. And if you havea laptop that has a touchpad, you

(34:58):
know what it is. It's abouta two inch by two inch or a
three inch by three inch little thingwhere you put your four finger. It's
like a mouse and as you touchit, it moves. The little mouse
pointer on the screen. Works verywell on a laptop, it works very
dangerously on a car because maybe I'mthat good at operating these things. But

(35:21):
I look down at my finger tosee where I'm touching before I look up
on the screen to see where thecursor is. My eyes are now and
not on the road. I neverlike this, and Mercedes I got a
lot of flak. I've been yetLexus has done the same thing too.
Point is Mercedes has gotten rid ofit. There's no touch screen. There
is no touch pad on this Mercedes. I'll give it that. I'm wondering

(35:42):
why they kept how they kept theprice solo. I figured out why they
kept the price solo. There area lot of things in this one that
are very plasticy and is that aword. Somebody googled that plastic, not
hard cactile, wood or metal.Like I'm touching the volume up, volume
down button, maybe the air conditioning. There's this little horizontal bar. It

(36:09):
just kind of sits there and it'splastic. So take that for a grant
of salt. You want to Mercedes. You don't want to spend a ton
of money. This is a diceone, but you're gonna sacrifice some things
where it's not the highest end featuresinside. But Mercedes still has a brand

(36:30):
uphold. I'm not saying it's goingto break. It was just really weird
for me to touch something that orfeel things that were just aren't weren't as
solid as you know, you thinkof Mercedes and you think of brands like
that, it's like solid. Thiswas there was kind of plastic plasticly So
that's what I got as the Mercedesand a GLC three Hydrid. You see,
give me three minutes and I canbreak down anything for you, So
you should go. I'm not goingto tell you a Mercedes dealership. I

(36:52):
don't even know where there's a Mercedesdealership. I don't do that. This
is just me reviewing cars a fewminutes before the top of the hour.
Seven one three two one two fivenine five. Oh. Ink very expensive
right now, I don't think Ihave enough to When we come back,
I'm gonna tell you about why inkis spiking this summer, and how do

(37:14):
you practice selective printing, how canyou actually save a little bit money on
ink? And what to do beforeyour print And I'll say it again,
if you have an office and nobody'saround and you need to print out like
your resume or why did I saythat? Or if you need to print.
If your kid needs to print outsome document for school, do it
at your office, right is someoffice has allowed that thing. Anyway,

(37:37):
I will actually give you some realideas how to save money on that.
And also I still get what's upon air travel issues? Man, if
you were trying to travel out ofI AH Bush inter Continental like the past
week, how many flights were canceled? What is going on? And this
is coming up the busiest so fartravel week of the year, pandemic pre

(37:59):
pandemic levels July fourth holiday weekend?You mate, does Amtrak run through Houston?
I'd love to give you that suggestiontoo. And also, people do
still want to know some things,like Michael, my WiFi still sucks.
What is a mesh Wi Fi versusa regular WiFi? I'm more than happy
to tell you because this is thisis what I'm here for. The name

(38:19):
is Garth g r F. Beendoing this for a long time. This
is my voice. That is CalumReid. That's the whole crew on the
other side even here. Stay cool, people, You're gonna hear some commercials,
which is how this radio program continuesto remain free. Comp is what
we say. You just need tolisten to some of our big sponsors and
advertisers, so you go check thatout. Michael Garfield right here on KPRC
nine fifty am standby be back.On the other side is Michael Garl.

(38:59):
Michael Garfield, Chael Garfields joining thehigh Tech Texan. Michael garfel is here
with a high tech texta items tomake life easier, some new technology.
So Michael Garfield has something you mightlike. Tex Michael Garfield is your high
tech Texan three decades helping you makemagic with your gadgets. Curd worldwide on

(39:29):
the iHeartRadio Act. Now you're highTech Texan. Michael Garfield. Halfway to
half the hour of be well,also a halfway through the end of the
year July first. Should you belistening? I have a lot of halfways
going on right now. I hopeyou're halfway through your cocktail. Should you
be sitting outside hopefully in a poolor wherever you are. If you're listening

(39:52):
on iHeartRadio, hopefully you're You maybe out of hot, nasty Houston right
now and sitting on a beach earningtwenty percent or what ever actually met you
money. It makes you happy.I like that big boy said, Michael
is my name, Michael Garfield.Been doing this for way so long,
two decades. Calum read happens tobe here on the other side, pushing

(40:13):
the buttons, answering the phone calls. Happy early fourth of July to you,
Happy fourth of July to so manyother people. America, the free
home of the bread baby, America, US say, great freaking country,
living people, and so we thinkeverybody fought for our freedom. And July
fourth, whatever you're doing, becareful with fireworks. Saw some funny I

(40:37):
saw some sad videos and social media, some viral stuff about fireworks being shot
off and it's horror like exploded.I'm sorry I didn't. I don't think
I've laughed as hard in about amonth, but just it's it makes you
think. Just be careful whatever you'redoing out there. I'll give you the
number here. Should you have questionsfor me, if you want a special
garf, cool cocktail, or yougot something you want to buy, maybe

(41:00):
a late Father's Day present, alate graduation president seven one three two one
two five nine five zero. Abouta month from right now, should we
still be on, We'll be doingback to school. I always talk about
laptops, desktop, small TVs,little refrigerators, and printers to printers.
The technology of printing really hasn't changedin a long time. But one of

(41:22):
the things that I noticed recently,the cost of ink has been going up.
Has anybody noticed this cost of ink? Just a little inflation or whatever
it is? And and and aprinter ink is it's it's it's akin to

(41:43):
what I say as razor blades.Printers themselves are relatively inexpensive. Razor blades
are relative razors Gillette are relatively expensive. It's the freaking cartridges of the printers
and the blades that will kill you. But it's it's Gillette's mind truck.
Buy the you know, give awaythe razor, sell the blade because you're

(42:05):
gonna need those things. Same thingwith printers. Printers are relatively inexpensive,
but you're gonna need to refill thosebad boys with ink, which you should
be doing. You should be goingto your office and printing out thing.
Actually it kind of should. Thereare a few things that you actually can
do. Someone sent me this linkof actually the question Michael, what I
need to do about the savings andmink Number one be very selective it's sometimes

(42:30):
you need to print out something tosign something. Right, Oh, here's
a document. Well, you knowyou can actually digitally sign documents, which
means you don't need to print themout. That's one thing that you can
do. You know, Adobe theAcrobat let you do that. There's a
number of different things. Ah,say you have a recipe. You see
a recipe, Oh I want toprint out this recipe. Why would you

(42:51):
print out a recipe? Bring yourphone, your tablet, your laptop to
your kitchen, follow along with itinstead of printing it out. Little things
like that. Now I can sithere and saying, oh, it's it's
it's green, it's great for theenvironment, which it really is too.
But it's gonna say your printer inkat the bottom, at the bottom.

(43:12):
Just just think about these things beforeyou print. Print a photo, you're
a print a photo. Oh mygoodness, you print a photo. It
drained ink. Before you print aphoto or an article or a document,
what I do instead of hitting print, I hit print preview. And there's

(43:32):
a thing from the file tab.It says print preview and let you see
what it's gonna look like when it'sprinted. And you may notice that there's
some photos in an article. You'reabout the print that you don't want.
Mate, and I do this alot. I try to switch off color.
I go to gray scale, maybeblack and white because color inc It

(43:54):
is a workspensive. The black andwhite it didn't. And then it's like,
where do you buy ink? AndI man, I've got this question
for years and years, A man, do I really need to buy the
HP branded printer ink form my HPor my epsin or can I stick with
a no name thing? It's atough question. I mean no, here's

(44:15):
my thought. Listen, no nameinks. They're gonna be cheaper. I
would say stick with brand name inksfrom the same company as your printer,
because they've been tested to last longerthan generic inks, So brand name anks
are going to cost you less overtime. I have personally experienced cheap ink

(44:38):
cartridges that have dried out. Theirprinter heads have dried out. There's your
performance problems. There's also ink refillingthe services. I've actually tried those before.
I think there was one called CartridgeWorld. There's one used to one
used to be right across the street. It's not there anymore. They worked

(45:00):
semi well, even though that's notofficial branded ink, but it may not
be worth the hassle. Look atthe cost, do the math to see
what you're really saving. I tryto keep the replacement ink cartridges handy in

(45:21):
case stores are closed middle of thenight, I need to print something out.
If you do that, keep thatink in the original box, which
generally has a foil bag it wassold in as if you open it and
it just sits there, oxygen itselfis going to begin drawing the ink up
over time. Once you're already screwedup and you do have some spare ink,

(45:45):
open, go ahead and put itin like an ziploc bag right now.
Seal it tightly, stop it fromdrying up. At least try to
stop it from drying up. Sothose are those are some steps that people
ask me about epsin I think makessomething called eco tank, And didn't you

(46:06):
kill O'Neil actually advertise that I havenot tried that, so I can't go
out for that. There's a numberyou get just a lot of the stuff
is common sense, but this isthe stuff that I govers because I'm a
common sense type of guy. Sothere there is your ink thing. And
again I think the number one thingtry not to print out things out more
and more people Like in my kitchenright now, I have a I have
a Google or with a Google Nest, so it's got a little screen,

(46:30):
so I can, you know,actually say hey, you know, read
me the ingredients, follow along thevideo steps of a recipe. It's sitting
on my kitchen right now. Idon't need to print out any of any
of the stuff like this. Idon't know. And I will tell you
this. Of all the printers Ihave, I have been noticed I have
been printing much less lately over oneto two to three years that I have

(46:52):
years and years ago. Yes,I don't have kids are in school anymore
they need things printed out or whatever. But I don't know about you.
So think about that. Are youprinting out less? Are you're printing out
more? So just kind of beconservative. So again, my little Mike
two cents over there. That's sowe got Michael. Is my name coming
up? More? Any issues thatI can think of? I am here
for you at seven one three,two one two five at nine five,

(47:14):
Oh, we'll be back on whatwe call the High Tech Text and Show.
And it is Michael Garfield. Thisis indeed called the High TETs and
show what is going on? Sevenone three, two one two five nine

(47:35):
five Oh. This portion of theshow brought to you by US Coins and
Jewelry. Big shout out to Kennyand Matt Duncan people listen. Who wants
a row x? Who wants somejewelry? People who wants some good?
Do you have a coin collection?I had a stamp collection. I wasn't
big into coins. I know mymom and my uncle's were too. But
it's on Katie Freeway just near Voss. They've been here for about thirty years,
family owned business. They are sogood. So many people here at

(47:59):
our radio station. They go there. We buy jewelry. We sell our
jewelry over there too. But ifyou've got the rolexes, people are really
kind of looking at my impressive watchthat I'm wearing on my wrist. I
did get it at US Coins andJewelry. One heck of a deal.
You don't need to mention, well, feel free to mention my name when
you go in. We go toUS Coins and Jewelry dot com. If
you're not listening, if you're notin the Houston area, go online too,

(48:21):
because they do deals and they haveso many great things in that store,
Texas Memorabilia, State flags. Butif you have a Rolex Ler or
any jewelry that you want to sell, take it to them first, because
these things are viable people. They'llgive you a top dollar. And if
you're looking to buy one, thereare certainly some really good prices to us
coins and jewelry. As we lookat the clock, it is about,
oh, what about twenty minutes pastthe hour, And we do think if

(48:43):
you're tuning into the MG. MichaelGarfield program, wherever you're doing, if
you're out by the pool. Iwas actually out by my pool win actually
a few days this week, butit was Tuesday or Wednesday. My cousins
came to town and they're still intown. So if her and Ryan and
Lily in Austin they're listening, thisis what cousin Michael does. He's on

(49:07):
the radio. They know what Ido on the radio. But we were
out, we were hungry, anduh, we got some pizza and we
were trying to figure out where toget pizza. I'm not the biggest pizza
guy, you know, carbs orwhatever, but I forgot. I didn't
forget. It was pretty smart.We got fat Boys Pizza and my buddy
George, George Malock. I don'tknow if he's listening right now. George

(49:30):
has been around this city for along time. I used to know my
man when he was at Fleming SteakHouse, and he did some stuff at
Bucky's. But I think he's whatis he the regional manager I think of.
It's called Fat Boys Pizza, andthere's there's one location now. It's
in Richmond, Texas on the WestSide, and they have the largest pizzas
you've ever seen. It's it's almosta novelty. These there are three foot

(49:52):
diameter pizzas, and so I justwanted to impress you know these, I
mean they my kids and there mycousins acute, they're small, They're what
are they They're like eleven years oldand I think nine years old. Literally
there, it's they're taller in diameterthan I think my youngest little cousin.
So George actually he personally delivered thesetwo massive pizzas from Fat Boys Pizza and

(50:15):
just we're snacking around the pool andso very very it's good stuff. I
was in a pizza eating contest whenthey opened about two months ago. I
could not eat the slice of pizzaso big you have seven and a half
minutes to do it, and Icouldn't even finish a slice of pizza in
seven and a half minutes. JoeyChestnut, however, killed one of those
in thirty nine seconds, so they'regoing again. There goes my dream job

(50:37):
of Wheel of Fortune. There goesmy dream job of actually eating that fast
too. But that was good stuff. So noway, if you're by the
pool, you're eating, you're drinking. I do hope you're you're having fun.
Saw this on Actually, if you'rearound a TV, I think it's
coming this Wednesday, the day afterJuly fourth, July fifth, I think
in the morning on channel two kpor C relation to k PARC Radio.

(51:00):
Currently, there is a story comingthat my buddy, reporter Bill Spencer is
doing. We tape this gosh wellover a month ago, and it's about
returning items that you bought online,particularly I think from Amazon, because Amazon

(51:21):
and a lot of other online retailersthey're trying to make it more simple of
returning things to entice you to buystuff because in the past, you know,
if you want to return something,you've got to get the box you
got to wrap it up. You'vegot to go print out a label,
and generally you have to get chargedand then it goes back in your credit

(51:43):
card a few weeks later. Thewhole thing. Amazon has done a really
and this is not an Amazon commercialwhatsoever. It's an Amazon It's and listen,
Walmart dot Com and in many ofthese other stores do it. Online
sites do it too. They're makingit easier, but Amazon to me.
I did a story for NBC NationalNews Today's Show last year about the same

(52:05):
thing. Amazon obviously owns Whole Foods, so they have physical locations that are
relatively potentially near by you. Ifyou buy something from Amazon and it didn't
fit, you don't want it,you could walk into a Whole Food most
Whole Foods and maybe all of them, I'm not sure. And there's a
little kiosk that returns things from Amazon. You don't even eat a real box.

(52:30):
There's a person sitting there. Youdo need to go on to your
Amazon account and go to returns.You will, and you can do it
on your phone and you'll get thisQR code. You take the product,
you take the QR code to awhole food store. They will bag it
up, print a label, sendit out to where whoever you bought it

(52:52):
from, and then immediately you're gonnaget credit on back on your credit art.
It's it's it's amazing, It reallyreally is. And the point of
bringing about this stuff is it's morethan just Amazons, is more than just
Whole food stores. Right now,they just open it up. Welcome to

(53:13):
Staples. Earlier this week they saidthey're gonna Amazon is gonna collaborate with Staples
to allow shoppers to drop off returnswithout the need to include the label or
the box to all the Staples storesby the end of this month of July.
That's I mean, that's eight thousandlocations. And again, this is

(53:35):
what you do. You go toAmazon's return center, you generate a little
QR code. You then show italong with the return item at a drop
off location. Holes did this alsoto Coles. Let me say, did
CoA still do this? Kohl theydid a partnership. They could drop off
Coals remains among the locations. Okay, you could do it at Coals.

(53:59):
You could do it at physical Amazonstores. I have no clue or a
physical Amazon stores at least here inHouston. Whole foods without it, and
you can do it at UPS storestoo. Did not know that. And
Amazon, I think they said afew months ago at some point they're gonna
start charging a fee on some returnsat UPS locations, maybe an extra dollar

(54:23):
fee if they go to a UPSstore. Not sure about that. But
why would you do that now thatyou've got a whole foods and you've got
tons of staples over here? Soit I like this. I don't buy
a lot of things online as misterhigh tech as I am. I just,
I just I especially don't buy alot of clothes because I like trying

(54:44):
on clothes. I actually got stocked. It's my word. Don't worry about
it. Screwed. Actually that's probablya better way to put it. About
a month ago, I'm on youknow, I'm on Facebook, and you
see you ever see these ads popup on Facebook? I'm gonna ahead and
ream this company, but I can'teven name the company because it's from Japan.
I don't even know who it is. Maybe China, I'm not sure.
I apologize. And it was Ilike wearing pants, um joggers,

(55:06):
hot new thing called joggers, youknow, sexy looking joggers and here's this
ad, and I was just Iwas I'm not a sucker, but these
these these things are like fourteen ninetynine. They look cool, they stretch,
they were neat, you know,like that, and then you know,
I put my credit card in andI swear it's it. If you
don't like it, you can returnIt. Took like three freaking weeks.

(55:30):
You talk about a slow boat fromChina. They finally arrived my mailbox.
I'm all excited, and this wasso not what it was advertised. These
things are like polyester crap that Icould have sewn together, and I'm at
I'm not that good of a sewer. No returns the only way you can
return this thing if they were damaged. I'm literally thinking they're sitting on my

(55:52):
dresser for about a month right now, and I'm thinking of, like,
I don't know, hutting them upin returning him saying that came like this,
which I'm really actually not gonna dothat. Be careful what you're shopping
for and make sure you read allthe rules on returning things. I guess
I didn't read well enough on thisone. Buy from a reliable and a

(56:16):
reputable online store. Would you dothat please, I did not in this
case. The fact that's Amazon's makingit easy to return. But before you
hit the click to buy, pleasemake sure that you read those things that
say, hey, here's the returnpolicy if you do want to see that

(56:36):
story. I think it's gonna beon channel two. I think it's early
in the morning. I think it'slike six in the morning, But then
it'll be online on kpears or clickto uston dot com. Bill Spencer,
good reporter, fun guy, probablyone of the best tennis players in the
state of Texas. True story,crazy hair. He and I compare our
hair together. He came over andwe take this thing about a month ago,
and you can see some of thetips coming up. And so that

(56:58):
is a littlettle radio t little lookat now. Note not Ryan Seacrests,
just Michael Garfield. That's all yougot right now. Questions about that.
I'm here for you at seven onethree two one two five nine five when
we're gonna take a break. Whenwe come back, I'm gonna talk about
I'm compare Amazon. Amazon, youknow, is a membership. You have
to have a membership thing. Soyou're paying one hundred and thirty hundred forty

(57:20):
bucks a year for they I comparethis to Sam's in Costco that people don't
compare it to what you need toSam's and Costco have been around for a
long time. It's a membership fiftysixty bucks. Some cost more than that.
Some people don't even realize that way. With this, Costco membership is
probably gonna give me the same discountas Amazon membership and Vice first every two.
Costco, by the way, ischanging one of its policies, and

(57:44):
I am not too happy about this. I will tell you what that is,
coming up right here on the HighTech Dex and show all this the
bottom of the hour. It's aradio charm because as I look at my
actually look at a beautiful watch thatI got from US points and jewelry at

(58:07):
the bottom of the hour's messy.It works out that way. Happy July
first, if you're listening live atKPRC nine to fifty, Michael Garfield t
o M the original Michael. That'sme. I've been doing this for twenty
two plus years. Started out asa pure technology stuff and now it's it's

(58:29):
all consumer lifestyle things. Got acar review coming up, a new Mercedes
SUV that I was testing again.This is pure content. Nothing of this
is sponsored, sadly, but Iam a member of the Texas Auto Writers
Association Association. I liked this oneparticularly because this had heated seats. And
I'm gonna give you a little bitof my hippa right now? Is that,

(58:50):
Calum? I'm looking at it?You this it? Can I give
me a thumbs up? Can Igive it? If I talk about my
health, that's okay, I givethem a hippa. I've been this has
not been a very healthy month forme, and I'm a healthy dude.
And if you know, it's reallynice. Some of my listeners, like
Michael Man, you've been kind ofquiet on social media and haven't heard from
me or seen you much out andabout. I haven't been feeling great this
month. First time I have asinus infection. I have never in my

(59:17):
life had a sinus infection. Soit took me weeks to figure out what's
going on. Because the last doctorthat I thought I needed to see was
an eat NT. I didn't evenI don't think I didn't even know what
eat NT stood for. That's howout of sync I am with I've never
had a sinus infection. I goI find any ant and she shoves this
camera up my nose and hello,I got swollen. It looks like a

(59:39):
mountain's up there. And so nowI've been on steroids and I don't know.
Then my back hurts, and thenthe left side of my I'm trembling
on the left side of my bought. I don't know it. This is
not bad. And the point isthe heated Let me get back around.
Try if your car has heated seats, you're thinking, why in the world
where you want to heated seats andyou're in Texas, and why do you

(01:00:00):
want to eat it seats in summer. If you're back hurts and you sit
in the car a lot, itactually works very well. And so the
massaging actually some of the seats andvehicles now massage. I've actually went to
a chiropractor, and I've been toa chiropractor before, and I gotta say
it made me feel better because myback was hurting. A big, big

(01:00:22):
hello to uh doctor Gunner Hollier hO L L E R. He runs.
He's out in Katie, Texas.By the way, he's out.
It's called HD Performance Chiropractic. HDPerformance chiropractic. He's a good dude,
fun guy. And I walk inand there's like this skeleton in his office.

(01:00:44):
Not a scar as you when youwalk in and there's a skeleton you're
office, but it's it's there sohe can show you your vertebrae. He's
there. He's there to show youthat. Let's hope that your vertebrae doesn't
look like this. But anyway,he adjusted me and put these little stem,
little electrodes on there. I wishI was we were. I was
joking with him, I can howcome these electric stem can't be in these

(01:01:06):
cars that I'm driving for almost toreally give me that stem instead of the
heat massage. But anyway he didwas able to fix me up. So
for some reason, you do needa little u hiroaction like that. I'll
just just this is a personal opinionto doctor Gunner Hawyer h h dp hirohi

(01:01:28):
roo dot com. Very easy toget into, so I thank you for
that. I do need another stretchingout. By the way, if anybody
cares, phone number here seven onethree two one two five nine five.
I talked about Amazon and Amazon whatis their annual fee right now? It's
one hundred and forty bones, onehundred and thirty five bones. You do

(01:01:49):
get Prime Video, you know,you listen. You get a number of
different things. You get free deliveryon a lot of the stuff from you
know, within two days or something. But it took me a while too.
The reason I got Amazon personally becauseI wanted to watch the marvelous Missus
Masil which just ended its five yearrun, which was great, by the

(01:02:13):
way, and it's going I mayactually cancel right now. I don't get
a lot of stuff from from Amazon. But here's the reason why. I
also am a member of Sam's Cluband Costco, and to some extent,
Amazon can be can be lumped inthere. It's a membership where you can

(01:02:34):
get products. In many cases,you could walk into a Costco or Sam's
right now and you don't even haveto wait one to two days for your
stuff to be delivered from Amazon,and you got to return it right there,
and they're cheaper. But the otherthe other plus and I've I've been
my parents have been members of Sam'sactually in Costco for years. And I

(01:02:55):
remember going a long time ago.I remember going to college and when you're
a cow kid and you're hungry,you know, like the cool thing is
you walk around Sam's on a weekendand you start snacking because they used to
have all those samples. It's toughnow I saw what Costco is doing.
Costco is doing what Netflix is doing. They're stopping the no sharing concept.

(01:03:20):
If you don't have your own Costcocard, you ain't gonna be able to
borrow in right now. I meanit used to be as long as you
walk it. You know, theyhave people at the front door and they
you have to show. You haveto flash your card so I can act.
I could borrow my parents card orsomething just to flash. You walk
in and start snacking around, andthen I could buy a metric ton of

(01:03:40):
turkey or something if I ever wantedto. But they're getting serious about preventing
non members using other members cards toenjoy all those fun riches. So if
you're hungry for the dollar fifty hotdog, you're going to have to pay
up and get your own Costco card. They rely very heavily on membership fees.

(01:04:03):
Membership fees, and I got astat for you people. Membership alone
to Costco last year brought in fourpoint two billion dollars. Membership fees you
know, they're trying to offset itsprices in the low margins and inflation right
now too. And Costco's profits havedipped four percent last quarter. And if

(01:04:28):
you, if you want to,if you need some rotisserie chicken back there,
you're gonna have to join the ranksof Costco's cardholders, which right now
one hundred and twenty five million Costcocardholders. How much as I need a
reason? How much is a membership? Let me quickly figure this thing out

(01:04:48):
over here at Costco? What isit called the gold Star membership? Is
that? What it is? Sixtybucks? There's an executive membership, it's
one hundred and twenty bucks. There'syour Amazon right there alone. I don't
know what that offers too, butthey're doing but they're kind of doing what

(01:05:09):
Netflix is doing. I've been talkingabout that for six months. I told
you finally came to a fruition ofa month or so ago. Netflix started
cracking down on passwords sharing, andthey immediately saw a huge spike in subscription
sign ups. That's the whole point. Anybody got any Costco stories? Gallub

(01:05:30):
you like Cosco? Did you evergo to Costco or Sam's and just walk
around on Saturdays. It's like abuffet. You go to the frozen food
aisle and the somebody, here's chinasalmon. Oh you want some dip.
Oh here's a free five hour energytype of thing. Oh you want to
try this beautiful snack bar. Ohit's awesome. I mean I probably on

(01:05:55):
an annual basis, I'll probably eatthe sixty dollars worth of membership fees and
snacks. Really can make a lunchout of that thing. I want to
raise those prices. By the way, this is what we talked about here
in the High Tech text and show. Nothing hard hitting, but something to
get you thinking and get you fun. Seven one three, two one two
five nine five oh amps And Iswear man, I'm not an Amazon pimp.

(01:06:17):
Amazon note, I told you I'mgetting rid of cancer my Amazon membership.
But I will type this so I'mjust giving you the news because Amazon
is always in the news. Imentioned this last week. Amazon They've just
announced their Prime Day coming up,which is their biggest garage sale in the
world. It's always in July toDay. It's actually called Prime Days.

(01:06:39):
It's two days starts July eleventh,July eleventh and twelfth that is Amazon Prime
Days. You do have to bean Amazon Prime member. Did I keep
my Prime membership? I'd never orderedanything on Amazon Prime Day. It's it's
for Prime subscriber. It is oneof the biggest sales in the calendar.

(01:07:01):
And Amazon is always looks forward tothis stuff. And I do mean,
I'm looking at some deals right now, Sony and Bows and Peloton, and
yet he got here's a hell ofa deal on a forty three fire Amazon
Fire TV seventy five person off thatalone maybe worth getting. I'm not even
sure. I guess that. MaybeI'll kip. I've just never bought anything

(01:07:21):
from Amazon Prime Day. To me, Amazon, and I'll say it again,
if your long time list Amazon PrimeDay listen. Amazon has warehouses all
over the world. There's I driveby several of them here in a round
Houston area. I was driving outon I actually I was driving out to
go to my HD Tira, HDPerformance Chiropractor and Katie on I ten and

(01:07:44):
I passed by a big Amazon warehouse. That's just one of them. They
gotta get written. They got crappedjust sitting in the warehouse. Holidays are
around the corner. They really are. For the season. You gotta get
prepped. They better clear out therehere out the ware house. It's a
garage sale. I call it agarade. This is me anecdotally thinking of

(01:08:08):
all this stuff that has not sealedyear round, sold year round. They
need to get rid of it.So they create this Amazon Prime Day in
the heart and the heat of summer, and they they cut fifty percent off,
seventy five percent off and boom,it's gone. Baby. There is
your garade seal, there is yourfire sale so they can make away for
new holiday year. And they doit every single year. So if anybody
has scored something cool, I'd loveto hear from yet seven one three two

(01:08:30):
one two five nine five out beforewe take our last breakup this hour.
Michael Garfield is my name. Whenwe come back, I'll tell you about
my little driving experience to see ifthis is Mercedes maybe right for you,
and also how to save a littlebit money on printer ink. That's what
I got for you here on theHigh Tech Text and Show Final Final,

(01:08:59):
Final Leave one segment. This istwo hours your grandmother, high Tech tex
and Show Michael Garthfield, there's CalumRead, there's the whole crew man I
hope you had a fun almost twohours before we sign out of here and
whatever's next on this wonderful radio station. I'm not sure, but I hope
you enjoy it too, because itis going to be actually a happy hour
from us. Thank you again toUS Coins and Jewelry. US Coins and

(01:09:19):
Jewelry dot Com. Good patna hereof everybody here at the radio station.
If you are in need of anew piece of Julia Rolex. Rolexes are
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and you need some cash, wellat least let them give you. It

(01:09:40):
doesn't cost anything to take it in. There a lot of security. You
can sit there and watch them andthey can evaluate and you can tell you
how much your coin collections are worth. A lot of those things. US
Coins and Jewelry dot Com talked toKenny, Talk to Matt Duncan, great
family operation for years right on KatieFreeway ten and your Voss South side of
ten with wonderful folks. Also UniversalPlumbing Supply. Universal Plumbing Supply dot Com.

(01:10:03):
They're downtown near Minute Maid Park.If you need a toilet if they're
not going to fix it for you. But for since the late seventies,
man plumbers themselves open to consumers overto businesses. They are there for you.
I've been there several times. I'vegot number of things to fix my
own toilet. Yes, I'm ahandyman. Actually if this radio, since

(01:10:24):
I didn't get Ryan Seacrest's job,maybe I'll just go into the plumbing business
because I know where to get hellof a deal on plumbing supplies at Universal
Plumbing Supply. Then I'll come doit myself. I gotta fix a ball
cook on a toilet. That's prettymuch actually about probably the extent of what
I can do. I mean,I had to actually have help with somebody
fixing my sink the other day.But h And also, if you have

(01:10:48):
some fun, want to want tolook looking for some fun, say hi
to my friends at Margaritaville Resorts,Lake Conro. What a great escape about
an hour north of this city ofAguaritaville Resorts dot com looking for the one
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last name of Garfield. You're gonnaget fifteen percent off a rate over there

(01:11:13):
and you know, go up there. They got five pools, great restaurants
and some fun stuff. Oh it'sit's I haven't been up there in awhile.
So there was some neat stuff.But I do think everybody for tuning
in if you're going somewhere this week, good luck with your with your travel.
There was some I mean, there'ssome air travel issues going on this
pass week. Did you see IntercontinentalAirport? My goodness, people, they

(01:11:33):
had something going on. There washow many trips were canceled. I have
no clue what was going on,but masslike cancelations. I mean, if
I could invest in an Amtrak pass, if Amtrak ran through Houston, I
probably would have invest in some ofthese. But it was thunderstorms, it
was staffing shortages. There were likewhat twenty thousand delayed, five thousand canceled

(01:11:56):
flights across the country this past week, the fourth of July weekend, TSA
is predicting, Uh, it's gonnabe the busiest travel week since the pandemic
begins. So yeah, uh,air traffic control their staff below their agency
level. That's not good. Ohand by the way, today July first,

(01:12:18):
a new five G service is expectedto cause even more delays and cancelations
because there's planes without updated equipment whomay experience interference from wireless transmissions, which
bad weather could exacerbate. You know, folks, I'm I am, I'm
I'm just a bear of great news. This is why for two decades you

(01:12:42):
turn into me. I am Annie. Any other good news that I can
give you? Right now? Sorryabout that? I will give you some
good news. Where is my where'sthat story? One more question from a
listener? Uh. This is fromDebra DeBras on the West Side. She
writes, Garf, love your show, but listening for a while you were
the king who knows everything? Whyis my WiFi failing? Can you come

(01:13:05):
over and fix it? If not, what's your advice? No, I
cannot come over and fix it.That's not what I do. But I'm
more than happy to give you somesuggestions over there. One of the things
that I've done, I found thiswhen I went to Consumer Electronic Show years
ago. There's this thing called It'sIt's not new, It's been around,

(01:13:27):
gosh, eight or nine years.Debra, do you have a mesh Wi
Fi network? It's a mesh WiFi network, and I think those,
to me probably are the best onebecause everybody does need good Wi Fi in
your homes. And maybe the hardwarethat your internet service provider gave you isn't
great. Maybe your walls aren't friendlyfor wireless signals to go, for the

(01:13:49):
signals to pass through. Maybe it'sa it's a router issue, whatever it
is, but there are ways torout a Wi Fi real quickly. And
I'm gonna make this real quick.Fi is governed by an international standard,
and every few years the standards involve. And I remember Wi Fi four,
Wi Fi five, There's Wi Fisix right now, there's Wi Fi six

(01:14:12):
E right now, there's all thesegigga hurts that I'm not a confusion yet
with. But I would look fora mesh Wi Fi system. A mesh
you what it is. It isthat it used to be that you used
to have another little piece called abridge. It would hic up the signal.
It would create a bridge and itwould make the signal stronger and it

(01:14:34):
would throw it out around your house. Again, those are still out there,
but mesh systems work a little bitdifferently, and generally, when you
buy a mesh system out of thebox, it's going to come with a
router, but it's also going tocome with another repeater. Sometimes they come
with two repeaters. I have tworepeaters. I actually have three floors in
my house. I have my routerin my closet on the top floor,

(01:14:57):
which is a stupid place to haveit, but that's where by Internet comes
in. But then I have actuallyI'm lying, I have three different different
Wi Fi. I put one inmy third flour of my second floor by
first floor. And what it doesit creates a mesh network. Imagine a
wireless mesh system that is like acellular system. When you're driving around any
city, how do you think yourcell phone signals carrying? Well, they

(01:15:21):
what they do is they bounce offfrom one cell tower and as you're driving,
it hits another cell tower. It'sa seamless handoff that you don't know
what's happening. Well here, thisis a wife, I mean. And
just think of a grid. Justclose your eyes, think of everywhere in
your house. There's just invisible grid. It's a mesh system. And what
it does, these Wi Fi signalsare bouncing off each other and creating this

(01:15:44):
mesh system. So it's going togive you better coverage. It will go
through walls, thick walls better.Yes, you absolutely. If you can
put your router in a central place, it's even better. But this my
Wi Fi mesh system. I don'teven know what's the name of it.
It's called a den Navy matt.There's a there's a ton of them in
market. They range probably from aboutone hundred and fifty maybe the two hundred.

(01:16:04):
Yes, they're gonna be a littlebit more expensive of the others,
but I think that that is abig, big help in a boost of
what is going to what's going tohappen. Let me see if I could
run some of these. Here's andyou know what I told you, Amazon
Prime Days coming up in a fewweeks. Check it out there. Here's
one from TP it's called TP Link. That one's three hundred and sixty bucks.

(01:16:25):
Actually I was wrong, they're morethan that. Google Nest has one
Wi Fi pro Asis make one andI correct myself. They are roughly around
three hundred and four hundred dollars.Is it worth It depends. Do you
have a business, do you wantto make sure in your home? Do
you have other people, your kidsthat you want to make sure that you've
got fast Wi Fi speed, doyou want to make sure that everything is
secure? Go check out one ofthose also, and make sure yet change

(01:16:49):
the default password into something that onlyI know so I can come steal your
Wi Fi signal. I kid becauseI'm funny. I also am out of
here too. Two hours of buckshalfway through the year. Guys, thanks
so much for tuning in. Iappreciate it. Calum Reid, Addie Martini,
Brian Ericson, Mark Sherman, RobertReeese, everybody who has been a
part of this show behind the sceneshere at iHeartMedia. I'm going to go

(01:17:11):
outside in Schwitz and have a colberight now, why I figure out what
I can do for two months untilfootball season starts. For all of us
who've been a part of this show, thank you for tuning in. Michael
Garfield is the name, and rightnow my show is over.