In his latest newsletter, the venerable Steven Levy unpacked the background for the kerfuffle surrounding Sarah Wynn-Williams’ book. While there…
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Under the rug The darkside of technology, particularly regarding social media and the AI stampede, continues to unfold, with whistle-blower testimonies and books. Even a movie now & then, like The Social Dilemma. We’re in a political climate where hypocrisy is no longer a disqualification. Yet again money muddies moral missteps. Ancient wisdom butts heads…
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The May issue of HP’s “Technology at Work” contains some useful information on phishing scams. Phishing is the act of posing as a familiar, trustworthy entity in electronic communications and using that familiarity and trust to get recipients to release confidential information, such as passwords and bank account numbers. The article summarizes tips to detect these scams. Unusual sender address Unusual URL Lacks personalization Misspellings Urgent action When in doubt…
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A March 25, 2015 Wired article “Apps Snoop on Your Location Way More Than You Think” struck my attention. IT’S LITTLE SURPRISE that mobile apps regularly access our location data. In many cases, it’s a sensible deal. Maps, weather apps, social networks, and shopping services serve up useful info based on where we are. But while everyone understands the intrinsic privacy trade-off, few may realize just how often apps ping…
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PC World’s latest article “How to protect your PC against devious security traps” provides a useful summary of malicious attacks: Phishing Bogus email Fake warnings Out-of-date app exploits Zero-day attacks Port sniffing
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Ref: As Windows 10 approaches, Microsoft will no longer offer free help and support for the ageing but still popular Windows 7 Don’t panic. If you’re using a Windows 7 PC, here’s what the announcement means. On January 13, 2015, Microsoft changed the status of Windows 7 support from “mainstream” to “extended” phase. Security patches will continue to be released. That level of support will last until 2020. Happily that…
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I’ve been recommending Chromebooks since 2013 — for those who mostly live on the Web (Webmail, browsing) and are comfortable with Google’s ecosystem (Gmail, etc.). Well, PC World noted that the holiday season was big for Chromebook sales on Amazon — Amazon’s three top-selling computers for the holidays were… Chromebooks Amazon said Friday the top three computers it sold between Nov. 1 and Dec. 25 were all Chromebooks, a first…