May 10, 2018 | General, Wireless
So most of us know the saying. If mama ain’t happy, then nobody’s happy. Don’t let this be your dilemma this Mother’s Day weekend. The IT support world wants to help. Here are last minute Mother’s Day gifts for tech moms.
So in this day age, just about everyone has a smart device. This also means in this day age, everyone is going to need earplugs. This is where Jaybird’s X3 earbuds come in. Not only are these long lasting quality plugs, but they have their own app. Furthermore, they are sweatproof and waterproof, and have an 8 hour battery life. But they’re not cheap. The average price is around $100.
Or perhaps your Mom wants to join the voice speaker and smart home device craze. That’s where Amazon Echo comes in (I can’t believe I’m actually promoting anything from Amazon! Help!). But from what people around our Boston computer service shop tell me, Amazon Echo is easy to use. It plays music, gives recipes, turns off lights, and reads your books to you at your command. However, this Amazon Echo can be addictive, and can spoil you rotten. Amazon Echos can come in quite a few forms, generations and prices. The cheapest I can find is around $41.00.
Or your Mother may want a fitness tracker. There are plenty to choose from. But according to many tech critics, the best fitness tracker for moms is the Garmin Vivofit. First of all, it has a red bar that keeps you accountable. It tells you when you’re inactive, and gets you on the move. It has one year battery life. Furthermore, it records your moves and progresses. You can get this fitness tracker for as little as $60, depending on which vendor you use.
Those are just some last minute Mother’s Day gifts for tech moms. What are your last minute ideas?
May 9, 2018 | Computer technology
So surely you took a picture on your smartphone. It came out unsavory. Their was a stranger in the background. Then the photo was dull, or maybe you took the picture before everybody was ready. Google wants to help. In fact, Google uses AI to fix smartphone pictures.
So most of us know how good Google Photos are at making photos better. But now they add a new feature they called Suggested Actions. This new action will be out sometime in summer 2018. This software will give you ideas and instructions on how to doctor up your photos. It will also color tools. As in, one thing you can do is change black and white photos to color.
But that’s just the beginning. Now, AI will recognize people in those pictures. Then, Google Photo suggests sending which photo to which person. If your photo is too dark, then AI will tell you how to make it brighter. It can even convert a Google Photo to PDF. But wait…there’s more. You can make all kinds of edits to your photos. For example, you recently take a photo. But you want to make it vintage. Google uses AI to help you fix that, like colors that look more 1968 than 2018.
So that is how this piece of IT support works. I can see how this would work for those who have old photos on they’re systems. For instance, last Christmas, my family put on a small play about my uncle’s 1960s upbringing. We used photos from that era. Obviously, we didn’t have Suggested Actions because it wasn’t around yet. But we did have some great tools, some by Google. People at this play enjoyed these photos. And some of this photos were on a smartphone. Most of you know I am NOT a fan of AI, or it’s potential. IT service never ceases to amaze me. But would you use Google’s AI Suggested Actions to fix your photos?
May 8, 2018 | General
So I always thought Amazon as distant to it’s customers. Because it’s so big and so reaching, they’re probably too big to care. But apparently, Amazon really, really wants to get to know you, more than you want to. Amazon scans your body: for online shopping’s sake.
So according to Wall Street Journal, Amazon wants to know your body size. In New York City, they’re inviting volunteers to Amazon offices. There, Amazon watches their body shape and changes over a four month period. It’ s because they want to know how body shape changes over periods of time. Those who volunteered for this got a $250 Amazon gift card.
However, this has somewhat to do with buying clothes. This has much to do with Amazon’s latest acquisition: Body Labs. They got Body Labs because they want to get into 3D body scanning. The clothing part is that Amazon wants to sell you the perfect fit. This would also reduce returns. If you buy an outfit that doesn’t fit you, of course you’re going to return it. Yes this has a lot to do with IT support, like Body Labs. That’s just one more piece of IT service they have under their belt.
But you know what this tells me? Amazon wants your clothing business so bad they’re buying out a tech company in order for you to buy their clothes. Some call that genius. But some others call that insanity. Amazon scans your body; not yet. This is still in their experiment phase. But between you and me, I like my retail stores. And if they don’t fit me, I can take them back to the store, and get my refund exchange right then. I don’t have to wait days and days. So is this Amazon body scan going to work? Or did Amazon waste an acquisition?
May 7, 2018 | Security
So let’s say hackers shut a city down. Then, there’s no electricity. There are no computers or IT service. The whole city shuts down. Then riots break out. Days and weeks pass by. The bodies pile up. This may sound like a movie, but this can be real. Can hackers cause an apocalypse?
I say this because I read about some disturbing trends lately. These trends aren’t in China or North Korea, but right here in Massachusetts. We’re talking less than an hour from our Boston computer service shop. For example, in Leominster, MA, an hour away from Boston, their schools paid $10,000 to hackers to get data back. That was a month ago. Several years back, hackers hit suburban towns of Melrose and Tewksbury, MA. Hackers forced these two towns’ police departments to pay ransomware. They gave in.
But wait…don’t take my word for it. Hackers themselves will tell you. One hacker turned cyber security CEO said all it takes is one act to bring down a whole city. For example, a city employee can click a phishing email. Then, a server can lock all data and cause ripple effects throughout the city. That hack can disrupt anything and everything from tax revenue to clean water to garbage collection. It could even disrupt 911 service.
Think about that. One hacker causes mayhem for an entire city. When people need 911 service, they’re not there to reach out. Do you know how many medical problems, fires, and crime that could cause? This isn’t a Hollywood movie, ladies and gentlemen. This can actually happen. It could have happened to Atlanta a couple of months ago. Can hackers cause an apocalypse? If so, then what can we do about it? You can avoid suspicious email and get a good anti-virus system. You can also have a good back up. If you’re a business owner or manager, then train your people on online safety and security. We need it now more than ever. What can we do to be safe?
May 4, 2018 | General
So yesterday, I talked about a security alert involving malware. Being the good IT support steward I try to be, I want to alert you on another one. It’s time to change your Twitter password.
But don’t just take my word for it. Because Twitter Support itself delivered the warning yesterday afternoon. They discovered a bug that played with passwords. Then, Twitter assured users they fix the bug before it caused any real problems. However, they do suggest changing your password as soon as you can. There’s a reason for their urgency. Because it stored password in an unmasked environment. Also, the bug stored plain passwords (those without numbers) openly on their internal log.
I think some are getting the message. So far, Twitter’s warning tweet got over 15,000 hearts. It also has over 28,000 users talk about this. Tech Crunch and other major tech publications reached out to Twitter about this episode. Twitter leaders and spokespeople insists this lapse will have an extremely low effect on your account. According to their investigations, there is no evidence of foul play or on outright attack. This was just an honest mistake… a mistake made by one of the largest social media companies of all-time.
Yes, you need to change your Twitter password. Please do so sooner than later. I’m not telling you…they are. At Geek Choice, we have thousands of Twitter followers. Many of them near our Boston computer service shop. It looked like Twitter was finally out of the woods. As you remember, in the past one or two years, they endured financial setbacks and bullying scandals. Now, this comes up. When you do change your password, don’t make it an easy one. Choose something you and only you would remember. It’s better to make it with both numbers and letters. This is yet another security alert.
