Michael Finney's Consumer Blog

Is your luggage really safe with TSA locks?

Think your luggage is secure with all those TSA approved locks? Think again. The bad guys know an easy trick to breaking into luggage and after watching this video, you will know it too.

 

 

Holiday shopping: How to beat the retailers

Report points to an exodus of video subscribers

A recent report points to an exodus of video subscribers. A bad economy and increasing costs sure seems to be a large part of the reason, but now there are other alternatives, too. An antenna on top of your home and services like Apple TV & Netflix can fill at least part of the void. Go to the local pub or a friend’s house to watch the big game and for many the price of full-on video service isn’t worth it.  Here is a recent report I did on over the air broadcast TV.

>>More information at gigaom.com

Can you afford to have a second child?

Consequences of walking away from mortgages

To-do list for Consumer Protection Bureau chief

You can watch ABC7's new talk show, 7Live, weekdays at 3 on Ch. 7 and 7LiveOnline.com

Stupid credit card tricks

You can watch ABC7's new talk show, 7Live, weekdays at 3 on Ch. 7 and 7LiveOnline.com

Videotaping can be trouble!

Freedom of speech isn’t free. Citizens are beginning to get into the same jams journalists have been dealing with for years. You think this is a free country? Well sometimes those freedoms come with a tab… a legal bill to protect your rights. Videotaping, especially with undercover cameras, can get you in big trouble. Here in California you can only record what your eye and ear can naturally see. In many cases that means no close up lenses and no super-duper microphones.  If the person being taped has a reasonable expectation of privacy, the person doing the videotaping could end up on the wrong side of a lawsuit… and that’s just California, each state has its own laws.  There numerous cases of citizens taping law enforcement officers in actions and then finding themselves in court.

Here’s more from ABC News.

Can shortened URLs be trusted?

Can you trust the shortened web addresses you see on nearly every tweet? Here’s a video report:

The Internet looks back to the future: TV

Remember when all the web-heads said TV was dead! Now they are saying the future of the web is TV!

Huh?

Google is going for it. If Tivo is any measure it will take ten long years before many of us are engaged. 

None the less, way cool!
Details from ABC7 Moneyscope reporter David Louie