The Attorney General in California is suing Chase Bank for sending people reward checks that eventually tied those people into paying a $70 to $120 annual membership fee. Chase was specifically looking for foreigners and older people, according to the AG's office. And, an estimated $28 million was taken from victims, according to the L.A. Times. Chase has yet to comment about the lawsuit. But Clark wants to warn you! When you get a check for a couple dollars in the mail, DO NOT CASH IT! More often than not, cashing the check will rope you into some kind of contract. Companies are not going to send you free money for no reason. There is always a catch.
Transportation has changed so much since Clark was a kid, and the industry will continue to morph as his kids turn into adults. Clark remembers when it was a privilege to fly on an airplane, and prices were outrageous. The next era of air transportation is going to be personal aircrafts for entrepreneurs and other people. NASA has put a lot of money into changing how air travel works, according to the New York Times. Private contractors are competing for grants, for example, to provide technology for private planes and to make air traffic control much safer. At the same time, we’re seeing lower cost air service. One service is called SATS Air, which is basically an air taxi with a parachute. If an engine goes out on the plane, it won’t crash because the parachute helps the plane land safely. It costs $350 a flight hour and you can take three people with you. So, it’s not too pricey, and it’s spur-of-the-moment travel. The Eclipse is another personal aircraft that is actually a jet. It costs just over $1 million, which many of us laugh at. But it’s becoming more and more realistic for some people. Mark your calendar today and see what happens five years from now.
Clark has been using VOIP or Internet telephony for several years. He uses Vonage at home and Skype when he travels. With Vonage, he gets unlimited local and long distance calling for $24 a month. He has no complaints whatsoever. But apparently some disagree. A group called Keynote conducted a study of 18 different Internet telephone services and found that quality was good in some cases and bad in others. The biggest problem was incomplete calls. That means when people make a call, it rings at the other end only 94 percent of the time. Vonage was tops in service and quality. Time Warner cable services were also in the top of the crop. Christa, Clark’s executive producer, uses Packet8. She has a couple problems a month and sometimes has to reboot the system. But she’s willing to deal with it because it’s so cheap. These are the pioneers for companies that are going to have more reliable service down the road. IP television or IPTV is also becoming a hot topic. With it you can receive television through your computer and you can get it anywhere, anytime, as long as you have an Internet connection. We’ll keep you posted on all of this.
Are you reluctant to go to a Web site because you’re worried that your information may be stolen or used for nefarious reasons? People are cutting back on the amount of e-commerce they’re doing because they are really concerned. Well, companies are getting wise to this and are increasing the security of their sites and making it more difficult for criminals to hack into their accounts. Clark had to setup three personal questions, for example, when he signed up for an account the other day. It’s called the “challenge system,” and it allows people to have control over their security parameters. You will also have a user name and password. Bank of America is getting on board with this and is going to offer its own verification system so you know you are, in fact, on the BOA site before you do business. eTrade is using a “Smart Key” that you plug into the computer when you go online. You need this to get into your account.
What percent of young adults are now living with their parents? Would you believe 25 percent? It’s being named the “boomerang syndrome,” which alludes to the idea that kids go away to college and come back home to the nest to live. The survey involved people ages 18 to 34, and the latter number may not seem so young. But after graduate school or after a divorce, moving home with the parents allows these young people to regroup and save money. It can also cause a good bit of conflict. So Clark wants to stress that there should be rules. “Children” should not expect to eat their parents out of house and home, for example. Parents should also decide on some amount of rent to charge their kids. Let them live rent free for a while, but then the rent sets in. Paying for long distance calls and doing chores around the house should also be on the list. And make sure you have that conversation before he or she moves back home.
Clark recently bought a color photo printer for his wife, Lane, because she likes taking pictures but she rarely gets around to developing it. So, for her birthday, Lane got a camera and printer that were both rated “top of the line” by Consumer Reports and the Wall Street Journal. The printer was $179 and it’s phenomenally easy to use. But PC World just published a story claiming that the pictures from these printers will last only two or three years tops. Of course the manufacturers say it isn’t so. But if it is true, Clark’s wife, Lane, is not going to be happy. The three major printing companies – HP, Lexmark, Cannon and Epson – claim that pictures printed at home don’t fade. But for now, if you are printing photos from digital cameras and you want to keep them for a while, print them out at an actual store in addition to printing them at home.
