5 things to do when You get scammed and burned!!

Paul

I usually don’t like to talk about this but I was recently scammed by a scam artist who tried to make me believe they are Police Men and they were court appointed “Lead Investigators“. Suffice it to say that I found out two or three days later from friends and family that this was not right. After Googling the Number “1-877-499-9473“. Which if you are like me quite confused but thankfully I had other resources like what my Credit Card said and they said it was “CHECK MANAGEMENT SERVICES 716-6942500 NY“. Anyway I have already talked about one scam when it comes to cash checking.  I also want to talk about how you can tell if it is scam, some of the more common things t hat I find are:

 

  • Must Pay Now — These are scams that say that you can get something for really cheap, if you pay now.   This should always be the first flag.

  • Scare Tactics –  These are scams that try to scare you into buying a product or giving them money because something is about happen.   They try to confuse you into paying.   This is also one of the RED Flags.

  • Free products –   Here is another that I find because you have to read the fine print and see that you aren’t really getting it for free but trial and that you will be charged for the product after a certain amount of time.   This is another RED Flag, in my opinion.

  • Pressure Tactics –– This can be anything from constantly calling you to making radical claims about product.   If you have any doubts.   Always ask yourself “Could this be to GOOD to be TRUE??“

I know I will have missed a few key ones but these are the ones that I see all the time. I know want to talk about what you should do:

  1. Call your Local Police Department and File a Complaint–  This is a must because most banks and credit card companies require proof that there was a crime committed.   By doing this you are fighting back against the scam and showing them you will fight for your rights.

  2. Call Your Bank or Credit Card Company — Now since you made the complaint you should now have your bank or Credit Card company reverse the charges so you can get your money back. You will have proof that this was illegal and the bank/Credit Card will comply with all Local or State laws. This seems a sure way to get your money back.

  3. File a Complaint with the BBB — This one can be tricky if you don’t know who the company is but if you look at your credit card information and Google it you might get an idea to where look

  4. File a Complaint with the Federal Trade Commission — This is one of those that you have a choice in how your proceed but this will help out when all else fails. They might even be able to give you more information about the company and help you get your money back. This is however just a guess but it is a good way of fighting scammers.

  5. Tell you Family and Friends about the Scam — This is also important because most of the time these scammers find you by talking to your family or friends. So warning them can keep them from getting to close. Although it will not always work, it does provide a little protection down the road.

I intend to file my complaints to all the above plus more to fight this particular scam so I can get my money back. I am sure this isn’t over by a long shot but I do Hope this has helped you in a small way like it help me. If you have come here trying to find out information about the number and haven’t paid them, don’t do it. Call you local Police and report them and still report them to as many places as possible to help those who have been scammed or could be scammed. If you know anyone who has been scammed maybe it is time to show them this article so they can find out how to get their money back.

Have a Good Wednesday, See you Friday!!


I get my glasses from GlassesUSA. They have a Satisfaction Guarantee and even Prescription Sunglasess for when your out doors. Give them a try, and I know you’ll like them!

“The cake is a lie!” — Valve’s game “Portal”

Paul

I have been playing a lot Valve‘s games like Half Life 2 and then I also got the chance to play Portal. I thought I would talk about this because of how Steam is giving it away for free until May 24. I had my chance this weekend to play around with the game and I was most impressed with how Valve has incorporated logic into most of their games.

What do I like about Valve’s Games?

I will say I like how they make most of their games use logic but that isn’t all.   I also like how they make it a First Person Shooter but that is just me.   I am sure others like these types of games for their own reasons.   I do know that the development teams work hard at these games and I like how they add commentary to Portal.  I don’t know if they planned that during development or afterwards.  Jusst Like Portal, Half Life 2 has a commentary but the game developers did do it a little differently because of how long the game is to complete.   They put their own level in to talk about the challenges and other such video or audio rendering problems.  I do like to hear how they had troubles with levels in the games and how they got around some of them.   If you want to be agame developer this would be on game to look at and listen to the commentaries to find out if you want to be one.

Who can play Portal or Half Life 2?

Since both of these games are using the Half Life engine, you can play these are almost any system as long as you use my cheat to change the Direct Xrequirements.   If you use those instructions that I have provided on my previous post you can play both games easily with less requirements than expected.  Although to be truthful, you should have the minimum requirements which you can find out if you can play this game successfully by going to Can you run itwebsite. I do know with my new laptop that I bought this year, that I had no problems running Portal or Half Life 2 at the highest settings possible. So I am really happy with this laptop.

What else can you do with Portal?

What I did was go to Portalgamemaps.com and downloaded even more maps to play with portal.   You can add more complex or more easier maps to get even more achievements for your steam account.  You can search the web for more Portal Maps if you want to but I figure I could have hours of fun trying new maps and probably never really get board with this game.    I will recommend this game to anyone who might want to challenge there minds to a new puzzle or a way to just to relax.   This is really a good game just to sit back and relax to!!

Have a Good Monday, See you Wednesday!!

Watch Star Trek 2009 Online

Paul
Rent: Star Trek (2009) $3.99
Buy: Star Trek (2009) $14.99
Star Trek
Star Trek (Single-Disc Edition) $29.99
Star Trek (Three-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray] $39.99

Synopsis:
The future begins in J.J. Abrams’ smash hit Star Trek. When Romulan Nero comes from the future to take revenge on the Federation, rivals Kirk and Spock must work together to stop him from destroying everything they know. On a thrilling journey filled with incredible action, the U.S.S. Enterprise will voyage through unimaginable danger in one of the biggest and best reviewed movies of the year.

Product Description
The greatest adventure of all time begins with Star Trek, the incredible story of a young crew’s maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created: the U.S.S. Enterprise. On a journey filled with action, comedy and cosmic peril, the new recruits must find a way to stop an evil being whose mission of vengeance threatens all of mankind. The fate of the galaxy rests in the hands of bitter rivals. One, James Kirk (Chris Pine), is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy. The other, Spock (Zachary Quinto), was raised in a logic-based society that rejects all emotion. As fiery instinct clashes with calm reason, their unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger, boldly going where no one has gone before.

Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes

Release year: 2009

Studio: Paramount

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content.

My thoughts:

I simply love Science Fiction movies, and Star Trek. Although you can buy the Seagate Ultra Portable Hard drive and have this come with the movie on it!! I have been watching this movie every so often and I can say without a doubt, I have had a great movie experience. I would recommend this movie to anyone who grew up with Roddenberry’s dream.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Family Friendlyness: 2.5/5

My Favorite Quote:
Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy: I may throw up on you.
James T. Kirk: I think these things are pretty safe.
Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy: Don’t pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait till you’re sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you’re so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.
James T. Kirk: Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space.
Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy: Yeah. Well, I got nowhere else to go, the ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones.

 

Reviewing the Seagate 500 Gb FreeAgent Go Ultra-Portable HD (ST905003FGA2E1-RK): Special Star Trek Edition

Paul

I recently got to test out a new Seagate FreeAgent Go Ultra-Portable Hard Drive with movies pre-loaded onto it.    I wanted to talk about it and let everyone who might be interested to find out more about it.

Product Features

  • 5,400 RPM Spin Speed, 8 MB Cache Buffer

  • USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s

  • Sync and back up quickly at your desktop without having to search for cables.

  • Guard the privacy of important files and folders.

  • Get your storage solution up and running quickly.

System Requirements:

To create and activate a Paramount account for your FreeAgent Theater+ media player you will need a
system with:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer

  • Microsoft Windows XP operating system (any version, including MCE) with Service Pack 2

  • installed, Windows Vista or Windows 7

  • 1.5 GHz CPU or faster (minimum of 600 MHz)

  • 512MB or more memory (minimum of 10GB)

  • At least 20GB or more, free hard disk space on your computer and drive

  • Windows Media Player 10+

For the best viewing experience of the films on your computer we recommend you have a screen
resolution of 1024 x 768 (minimum of 800 x 600) and speakers or other audio output. Internet access is
also required.

 

A choice of up to 20 popular Paramount titles can be unlocked for a fee including:

 

  • Star Trek (2009) (Free when you buy the Special Edition Hard Drive)

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

  • GI Joe

  • Shooter

  • The Hunt for Red October

  • The Italian Job (2003)

  • Ghost

  • Patriot Games

  • Beowulf

  • Enemy at the Gates

  • The Spiderwick Chronicles

  • The Love Guru

  • Coach Carter

  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

  • Nacho Libre

  • Jackass 2.5

  • A Plumm Summer

  • Carriers

  • Dance Flick

  • Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

I had a chance to test out this hard drive and I wanted to tell you about my experiences with the software and with the Star Trek (2009) movie.   I must say after playing the movie, I was impressed with the High Definition.   My computer can support High Definition and I was quite shocked that it wasn’t Standard Definition.   While playing the movie, you will notice the Hard Drive will get warm but it isn’t a problem.

In order to view these movies on your laptop or computer your will need to acquire the license from the Paramount store to make the movie you choice available to be watched from your computer or if you have the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+1080P HD Media Player STCEA201-RK. This is good for those who might want to view this on your High Definition Television sets. It is just as cheap as the Roku. After your get the rights to watch the movie on that computer, you no longer need to have Internet Access to watch it. Great for when you are traveling and can’t get internet access. You only can give three systems the rights to view that particular movie that you bought through the Paramount store, but the prices are comparable to those you get from Amazon Video on demand. The only drawback is that you will need to use Internet Explorer 8 or Higher to buy or acquire a license from the store. You have to make Internet Explorer your default browser when you want to buy a new license for a movie off the hard drive.

I never heard a sound out of the hard drive while it was running. I could tell they made sure to keep it quite when they made the hard drive. The other nice thing about the FreeAgent Hard drive is that you only need to have one USB port to use this, and no power cords are required either. I must say that is also nice to have when you are on the go, no need to find an extra power outlet.

Seagate FreeAgent Ultra Portable
Amazon: $99.99 (Silver / Black)
Mwave: $107.44 (black)
Mwave: $107.44 (Blue)
Freeagent Go Special Edition(movie)
Seagate: No links available.
Amazon: No links available
NewEgg: No links available
Seagate Docking Station
Amazon: $16.99
No links available

If your backing up a lot of GB’s of data, the drive does get warm but that is also normal. It was never hot enough to burn me or hurt anything. I find the small size to be quite nice to have when traveling and going places with it. Not bulky or overweight, only about 1/2 pound of weight when you pick it up. The only drawback that I can see is the way they use the lights to show you when the hard drive is being used, a few small holes will dim and light up and unless you are really watching those lights you won’t know!

The Programs that come with this are quite powerful. Great Backup tools and Syncing tools for keeping your important data backed up. There is even aCarbonite trial on the Hard drive to encourage your to keep your data backed up off site. I do recommend people trying Carbonite because you never know what will happen to your home or your computer.

Would I recommend this to My Science Fiction Friends?

I most certainly would recommend this to any one who might need to have a way to backup their files and also have a way to have portable movies on the go. I can say that this idea of having media on a portable device like this is a great way to watch movies offline.

I’ve also asked them some questions that I am waiting for a response but when I do find out, I will update this post for those who might have the same questions. I will also update the links so you can buy these hard drives online!

Reviewing the Seagate 500 Gb FreeAgent Go Ultra-Portable HD (ST905003FGA2E1-RK): Special Star Trek Edition

Paul


I recently got to test out a new Seagate FreeAgent Go Ultra-Portable Hard Drive with movies pre-loaded onto it.    I wanted to talk about it and let everyone who might be interested to find out more about it.

Product Features

  • 5,400 RPM Spin Speed, 8 MB Cache Buffer

  • USB 2.0: up to 480 Mb/s

  • Sync and back up quickly at your desktop without having to search for cables.

  • Guard the privacy of important files and folders.

  • Get your storage solution up and running quickly.

System Requirements:

To create and activate a Paramount account for your FreeAgent Theater+ media player you will need a
system with:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer

  • Microsoft Windows XP operating system (any version, including MCE) with Service Pack 2

  • installed, Windows Vista or Windows 7

  • 1.5 GHz CPU or faster (minimum of 600 MHz)

  • 512MB or more memory (minimum of 10GB)

  • At least 20GB or more, free hard disk space on your computer and drive

  • Windows Media Player 10+

For the best viewing experience of the films on your computer we recommend you have a screen
resolution of 1024 x 768 (minimum of 800 x 600) and speakers or other audio output. Internet access is
also required.

A choice of up to 20 popular Paramount titles can be unlocked for a fee including:

  • Star Trek (2009) (Free when you buy the Special Edition Hard Drive)

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

  • GI Joe

  • Shooter

  • The Hunt for Red October

  • The Italian Job (2003)

  • Ghost

  • Patriot Games

  • Beowulf

  • Enemy at the Gates

  • The Spiderwick Chronicles

  • The Love Guru

  • Coach Carter

  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

  • Nacho Libre

  • Jackass 2.5

  • A Plumm Summer

  • Carriers

  • Dance Flick

  • Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

I had a chance to test out this hard drive and I wanted to tell you about my experiences with the software and with the Star Trek (2009) movie.   I must say after playing the movie, I was impressed with the High Definition.   My computer can support High Definition and I was quite shocked that it wasn’t Standard Definition.   While playing the movie, you will notice the Hard Drive will get warm but it isn’t a problem.

In order to view these movies on your laptop or computer your will need to acquire the license from the Paramount store to make the movie you choice available to be watched from your computer or if you have the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+1080P HD Media Player STCEA201-RK. This is good for those who might want to view this on your High Definition Television sets. It is just as cheap as the Roku. After your get the rights to watch the movie on that computer, you no longer need to have Internet Access to watch it. Great for when you are traveling and can’t get internet access. You only can give three systems the rights to view that particular movie that you bought through the Paramount store, but the prices are comparable to those you get fromAmazon Video on demand. The only drawback is that you will need to use Internet Explorer 8 or Higher to buy or acquire a license from the store. You have to make Internet Explorer your default bro
wser when you want to buy a new license for a movie off the hard drive.

I never heard a sound out of the hard drive while it was running. I could tell they made sure to keep it quite when they made the hard drive. The other nice thing about the FreeAgent Hard drive is that you only need to have one USB port to use this, and no power cords are required either. I must say that is also nice to have when you are on the go, no need to find an extra power outlet.

Seagate FreeAgent Ultra Portable
Amazon: $99.99 (Silver / Black)
Mwave: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 500GB 2.5 Ultra-Portable Hard Drive STAA500100 USB Black
Mwave: STAA500102 USB Blue
Freeagent Go Special Edition(movie)
Seagate: FreeAgent Go Pre-loaded with Star Trek on it(No longer Available).
Amazon: No links available
NewEgg: No links available
Seagate Docking Station
Amazon: $16.99

If your backing up a lot of GB’s of data, the drive does get warm but that is also normal. It was never hot enough to burn me or hurt anything. I find the small size to be quite nice to have when traveling and going places with it. Not bulky or overweight, only about 1/2 pound of weight when you pick it up. The only drawback that I can see is the way they use the lights to show you when the hard drive is being used, a few small holes will dim and light up and unless you are really watching those lights you won’t know!

The Programs that come with this are quite powerful. Great Backup tools and Syncing tools for keeping your important data backed up. There is even a Carbonite trial on the Hard drive to encourage your to keep your data backed up off site. I do recommend people trying Carbonite because you never know what will happen to your home or your computer.

Would I recommend this to My Science Fiction Friends?

I most certainly would recommend this to any one who might need to have a way to backup their files and also have a way to have portable movies on the go. I can say that this idea of having media on a portable device like this is a great way to watch movies offline.

I’ve also asked them some questions that I am waiting for a response but when I do find out, I will update this post for those who might have the same questions. I will also update the links so you can buy these hard drives online!