Kids and Vintage Technology

Rotary Phones Can you Imagine? Kids today will never know the pleasure of slamming down a phone in anger! For a look at how today’s kids interact with an old-school rotary phone, click on the video below:     Rotary dial phones are the earliest user-controlled phone to be mass produced. Before them, a user…

The Biggest Tech Stories of 2017

   ‘FACEBOOK and FAKE NEWS’ Zuckerberg Asked to Answer Facebook felt significant backlash in 2017, with many expressing discomfort about the social media giant’s oversight measures in preventing inaccurate posts.  With the cloud of potential Russian meddling in that most democratic of institutions—the 2016 Presidential election—2017 found Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg announcing changes, including: Stronger…

Net Neutrality and Business Impact

So virtually everyone knows now that the FCC has voted to rollback internet regulations put in place by the FCC during the Obama administration.  This change is generally regarded as bad for consumers.   Why?  Well, let’s take a look at the three main aspects of ‘net neutrality’ that just got repealed:   1. Internet Service…

Sexual Situations, HR Departments, and the Next Superhack

The resignation of Senator Al Franken is only the latest instance in a chain of fallout from claims of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct that has been swiftly growing ever since claims of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct surfaced on Oct. 5. Many of the initial accusations originally focused on Hollywood and the greater media…

5i FBI Encryption Mission and 6,900 Smartphones

It’s a story reminiscent of the 2015 San Bernardino shootings.  In that case,  not only were 14 people left dead, but FBI investigators were left deadlocked with Apple.  The FBI wanted help with the encryption in order to gain access to gunman Syed Farook’s iPhone 5C.  Apple didn’t want to give it to them.  The…

Hacking, Spying, and Today’s High Techx

Hacking, Spying, and Today’s High Tech This past week was the week that WikiLeaks let Americans know how easy it was for their smartphones, televisions, and even cars to be used to spy on them. On March 7th, WikiLeaks published extensive documentation that indicated secret Central Intelligence Agency capabilities to spy and hack. The files…

Catastrophic Dam-age: Are you ready in the case of a disaster?0

It goes without saying that you don’t want to be in the news for the wrong reason. And if you lived in the California towns of Marysville, Hallwood, Olivehurst/Linda, Plumas Lake, Gridley, Live Oak, Yuba City, or Wheatland you got that unfortunate experience recently. If those names don’t sound familiar to you, here’s one that…

The Smart City of the Future… Today

Singapore is a relatively small place—an island city-state just 30 miles across. Politically speaking, it has been governed by the same party for decades. Its geography and political stability have allowed Singapore to position itself for the future rather uniquely as the world’s first “Smart Nation.” This is a truly ambitious set of programs designed…