Nov 17, 2015 | Entertainment
As many of you know, Ultimate Fighting Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was upset by Holly Holm. Ms. Holm’s victory is called, ‘the greatest upset in UFC history’. What does this have to do with technology?
Days earlier, EA sports announced Ronda Rousey would grace the cover of the video game UFC 2. Then the undefeated champion got defeated. In June 2014, Jon Jones was considered the greatest of all UFC fighters. He made the cover of video game UFC that month. Shortly thereafter, Jones suffered an injury at practice. His match with Daniel Cormier was delayed. The press conference turned into mayhem. He tested positive for cocaine use and was stripped of his belt. Rising UFC star Alexander Gustafsson made the cover alongside Jones. Gustafsson hasn’t won since. In February 2012, Anderson Silva made the cover. The next year, he suffered a severe leg injury and tested positive for steroids. And then there’s Brock Lesnar. He made the cover of UFC Undisputed 2010. Months later, he lost his belt and suffered an injury that eventually caused him to retire from MMA. At least Lesnar found redemption. He went back to the WWE, won the WWE World Championship and broke the Undertaker’s Wrestlemania win streak.
Sports curses are nothing new. There was Boston Red Sox’s curse of the Babe. There is the Chicago Cubs’ curse of the billy goat. And why hasn’t the city of Cleveland won a major sports title since the mid-1960s? And other covers have been jinked as well. Look at the Sports?Illustrated cover. It’s often been linked with jinxes. For example, in 1987, the Cleveland Indians made the cover, with the title ‘Believe It!’. After the cover, they lost 101 games and finished last that season. In the 1950s, baseball legend Eddie Matthews was one of the first to make cover. A short time later, he was injured and had to miss a week of baseball. And there’s the NFL Madden video game curse. In 2004, Micheal Vick made the cover of NFL Madden. Guess what happened two or three years later? I rest my case. Are UFC video covers cursed?
Nov 16, 2015 | internet, News
There’s still an ongoing investigation of last Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris that killed over 120 people. Saturday, I talked about how technology helped people reunite with loved ones. But now, after reading a disturbing report, I’m left asking myself a question. Did technology help the terrorists?
Some online articles say terrorists use PlayStation 4 consoles to plan and coordinate the Paris attacks. They would have used the consoles to secretively communicate, away from law enforcement’s prying eyes. Belgian authorities found a PlayStation 4 as they arrested several suspects involved in the attacks. Legal and technological experts agree PlayStation is far more difficult to keep track of than communication through smartphones. One expert explains, “It?s still difficult for investigators to monitor IP-based voice systems compared to say, a simple cellphone…”. But it’s not just verbal communication that worries law enforcement agencies around the world. In a game called Super Mario Maker, someone can send a message through using the gold coins, and that message can thwart even the most experienced law enforcement officials and intelligence agents. In May 2015, an Austrian teenager was indicted on terrorism charges. Guess how he was caught? They found plans to make a bomb not on his smartphone or social media pages, but on his PlayStation.
Let’s make one thing clear. I’m not saying PlayStation is bad and is the root to all evil. Like all video games, it can be used for good. PlayStation can also be used to bring people together, enhance problem solving skills, and it’s games often enforce teamwork. So once again, it’s not the game or the console. It’s the human being behind the console. And I hope international law enforcement agencies don’t use this as an excuse to further spy on our technology products. But they probably will. Let’s not give up our civil liberties. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Those who give up liberty for a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” So how do we keep the balance between fighting terrorism and keeping liberty?
Nov 15, 2015 | General
“Three teenagers walk into an Apple Store.” I’m afraid this isn’t the start of a joke. In fact, there’s nothing funny about this story.
In Melbourne, Australia, three black male teenagers go to an Apple Store. The teens are from Sudan and Somalia. A white manager insisted these teens leave the store immediately. The manager was scared the teens might steal something. And because this unfortunate incident was caught on camera, it didn’t take long before the footage reached Apple CEO Tim Cook. Cook wrote an email addressing the sorry episode, calling it ‘unacceptable’. The manager and the company apologized to the teens. Cook reassured these values aren’t what Apple is about. The next day, a senior manager named Kate met with the young men. Kate told these guys, and their classmates, that they would be welcomed at the Apple Store Highpoint at anytime. The teens graciously accepted the apology and said, “It feels like we have justice now.” Cook believes what the first manager did was an isolated incident . He points out this particular store has employees from nine nations who speak 15 languages. Tim Cook closed his letter by stating customer service and respect are at the core of everything Apple does.
I like how Tim Cook and Kate handled this ugly situation, and kept it from getting uglier. I’m proud of these teenagers for choosing forgiveness over retribution. I’m glad the manager in question apologized. When I think about Tim Cook’s upbringing, this is the email we should expect. But this incident speaks to something way beyond business customs, rules, and respect. It speaks to an issue of the human heart. That man that turned away those kids only reveled what brewed in his heart. What you have hidden in your heart will eventually come out, and often times what comes out is brutal and nasty. We’re not going to rid ourselves, or the world, of racism through passing laws and policies, as necessary as these laws and policies are. Those are there to maintain order and fairness. But true change starts with the man or woman in the mirror. What’s in your heart?
Nov 14, 2015 | News
Last night, November 13, 2015, France experienced it’s worst attack in modern history. On what should have been a great start to the weekend, terrorists attacked a concert venue, soccer stadium, outdoor cafes and other venues throughout the city. As of this writing, 120 innocent people died in this heinous attack. Dozens more are critically injured.
Social media outlets are doing all they can to help. Some victims caught the carnage on their smartphones and other devices, then released their footage to the world. On Twitter, appeals are being made to help find family members and friends. Thousands are using hashtag #PorteOuverte (open door). This hashtag lets people know their place is open for those left stranded and traumatized by this attack. You see, Paris and the rest of France is under martial law. All travel is grounded. Nobody is getting in, nobody is getting out. So such places are helpful, and in some cases, necessary. Within hours, #PorteOuverte was re-posted over a half million times. Facebook has a “Paris Terror Attacks” feature. It lets you let your FB friends know you’re okay. It allows people to check FB friends who were in Paris during the attacks who haven’t checked in as safe. One Facebook spokesperson summed it up best: “Communication is critical in these moments both for people there and for their friends and families anxious for news.”
To show you how powerful media is during times like, nobody will ever forget journalist Geraldo Rivera getting emotional after learning his daughter was unharmed. His 21-year-old daughter Simone was at the Paris soccer stadium when the attack unfolded. Some may criticize social media for promoting all that’s wrong with the world today. In the last 24 hours, we’ve seen social media be beacons of light at a very dark hour. We at Geek Choice send our prayers, thoughts and good vibes to those in Paris at this turbulent time.
Nov 13, 2015 | internet
As we approach the holiday season, most of us could use some extra cash. There’s a Twitter app that says they can help.
The app is called One Cash. This app lets you give and receive one dollar per tweet. The app is free and it’s said to be simple. When you want to reward a fellow Tweeter (is that how you say it?), turn on the app and find their Twitter handler. Make sure it’s their exact Twitter handler to successfully find them. Then, send them the dollar by swiping up on their profile image. If they don’t have One Cash yet, they’ll be tweeted a dollar is coming their way, where it’s coming from, and encouraged to download One Cash. They have a week to accept the money. If they don’t, then it’s returned to your account. If the recipient already has the One Cash app on their profile, click the link. Of course, that link takes you to that same website urging you to download the app all over again. Hopefully, that kink will soon get worked out. Just ask One Cash founder Stanislas Coppin. Even he’ll tell you aspects like people searching and logging on needs improving.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither is a social media app. But Coppin and his team should not delay in improving these kinks. It the holiday season. One Cash has lots of potential to make Christmas very merry for a lot of people. Just think, someone can make money by tweeting cooking tips. Someone can make money by tweeting shopping suggestions. They can make money by tweeting movie, TV, music or restaurant reviews. Here’s a scary thought: Someone can even promote this upcoming election through One Cash and get dollars for it. Oh no! Say it ain’t so! What would you tweet for cash?
Nov 12, 2015 | internet
It’s been two years since Edward Snowden revealed the NSA and other government agencies are spying on our technology. One would think this would stop, or at least slow down, right? Wrong!
According to a Facebook biannual report, Facebook has received more data request from law enforcement agencies in 2015 than ever before. In the first half of this year alone, Facebook got over 41,000 of them. That’s an all-time high. It’s 18% higher than the second half of 2014. The rise of hidden content due to local law violations has more than doubled. Don’t worry my fellow Americans: hardly any of that hidden content comes from our nation. In fact, 75% of such censorship comes from India! India’s censorship laws are so strict the authorities insist Facebook’s Computer Emergency Response Team hide any content that criticizes the Indian government or religion. But the US does lead the league in data request. Of the 41,000+ request, more than 17,000 of them came from the US. In some way, this has affected over 26,500 users. In most of these cases, Facebook did comply in handing over some data. The number one cause of this is search warrants, with 9,737 requests. That’s followed by subpoenas with 3,375 requests.?Other nations that frequently request Facebook data are India, France and Germany.
First off, let’s be thankful for the online freedoms we do have in this country. Can you imagine if our posts were censored based on government, politics and religion? Let’s be thankful for our First Amendment rights and free speech. But free speech doesn’t give you the right to act a fool on Facebook. There’s an age old saying: Everybody is free to make choices; nobody is free from the consequence. So it’s never a good idea to put criminal activity on Facebook! There’s one story where a 12-year-old boy was beaten and someone posted the video on Facebook. Another teenager was caught and reprimanded by local law enforcement. Then there’s a disturbing story where a guy killed his girlfriend and talked about it on Facebook. Incidents like this will require search warrants and subpoenas. I believe in freedom, but I believe in some responsibility. How else can we keep government off our Facebook pages?
Nov 11, 2015 | Entertainment, Law Blog, News
New York Attorney General Eric?Schneiderman gave a decree. He ordered online fantasy sports businesses like Draft Kings and Fan Duel to stop taking bets from his state. He said such practices are illegal.
Note that Attorney General Schneiderman ordered this in a state where sports is king, and in one of the most populated states in America. On Tuesday, November 10, as news got out, Draft Kings countered. They sent emails to fantasy players telling them their right to fantasy sports is in danger and urged them to contact Attorney General Schneiderman to protect their rights. Schneiderman isn’t backing down. He claims fantasy online sports is a multi-billion dollar scheme to rip-off sports fans, and he doesn’t want it in his state. A Fan Duel spokesperson said fantasy sports were games of skill and legal under New York state law. Here’s how fantasy sports work: Fantasy sports players assemble their own teams based on professional athletes’ statistics and performance. Then they compete against other fantasy sports players. Often times, leagues are set. ?For example, if you’re constructing a fantasy football team, you’d want NFL quarterback Tom Brady on your team. If it’s fantasy baseball, you’d want a pitcher like Zack Greinke. Back in 2006, fantasy sports were legally sanctioned because they’re based more on skill than luck. But because multi-million dollar prizes are being offered, some legal and political leaders want to crack down.
Over 500,000 regularly play fantasy sports in New York state alone. So I dare Attorney General Schneiderman to tell a half million of his constituents they can’t play fantasy sports anymore. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that. Didn’t Congress deemed it legal? Than why is Schneiderman interfering? These fantasy players are grown adults who choose to play these games. Who is he to interfere? If the New York Attorney General wants to use this to warn against gambling addiction, that would be one thing. But I don’t like him telling people they can’t play fantasy sports because they might get ripped off. Is this a Big Brother Orwellian move here?
Nov 10, 2015 | Entertainment
“We’ll get it right this time,” Danny Boyle and and Aaron Sorkin must have told themselves. They had high hopes for their biopic Steve Jobs. Those hopes are gone.
The movie Steve Jobs was discontinued in over 2,000 theaters due to low ticket sales. That’s more than any movie out in?theaters today. This past weekend, they made a dreadful $823,000. Some may say that’s not too bad. Well, compare that to the $73 million James Bond’s Spectre made in just one weekend. Compare that to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They already broke records in ticket sales. And their opening weekend is a month from now! ?They hoped to make $19 million the first weekend, which was the weekend of October 9. It’s now November 10. They just crossed the $16 million mark. That’s little more than the 2013 Jobs disaster that starred Ashton Kutcher. Steve Jobs is already called one of the most disappointing movies of the year. Not even the supporting cast of Hollywood heavy hitters like Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels can change that. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized this project. As of today, Steve Jobs is playing in only 421 theaters in the US. So if you’re really itching to see Steve Jobs, check your local listings. Good luck with that.
Some may ask, “What went wrong?” On the surface, this movie had all the tools to succeed. It had a critically acclaimed directors and producers like Boyle and Sorkin. It had A-listers Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen. It had pretty good promotion. So what happened? According to many critics, the movie itself happened. Critics say so much focus was on the Steve Jobs of the 1970s and ’80s. This was the Steve Jobs who treated colleagues miserably, denied his own daughter and saw his company nearly end in failure. The movie stopped in the late 1990s. This was right before Jobs’ and Apple‘s turnaround. This was right before Jobs matured, became a better family man, and right before Apple turned into an international computer tech powerhouse we know today. That’s the problem. What Boyle and Sorkin failed to realize is that people love happy endings and redemption. And movie goers didn’t get it here. Would you see this Steve Jobs biopic?
Nov 9, 2015 | Security, Smartphone
In Canon City, Colorado, one of the biggest sexting scandals of all-time breaks out. Scores of high school students are in trouble for carrying nude photos of underage peers on their smartphone. Many face felony counts, child pornography charges and years of prison. How did they do it?
They do it through the ghost apps. These apps look like normal apps but hide a secret photo vault. It turns out a calculator ghost app was used during the Canon City High sexting scandal. On the surface, it looked like a calculator app. But if you type in a password through the calculator, it will take you to a secret room where you can hide pictures and other personal belongings. But these kids used it to take and receive nude and explicit pictures. One can simply search Google ‘vault apps’ and you’ll get an assortment of choices of ghost apps, including this calculator. These ghost apps first sold in 2012, and are extremely popular. The Private Photo Vault is the 28th most popular app in Apple’s App Store. The calculator ghost app called Secret Calculator Folder Free has over 800 reviews. And the Canon City High scandal is hardly unique. Unfortunately, sexting is a disturbing trend for many Gen Zers today.
So what do we do? I urge parents to stay on top of their kids’ smartphone activity. Check it often. Check their social media pages often. Talk to them about the dangers and long term consequences of sexting. It’s not a game, and what you do online can effect you for life. They’re a lot of teens in Canon City that will find that out the hard way. But it’s not just teenagers that could fall prey to this. There’re plenty of adults who would use ghost apps for sinister and perverted purposes. And there’re plenty of adults who would be victimized by adult culprits who use ghost apps for such underhanded purposes. The technology isn’t the problem. The person behind the technology is the problem. So what do we do?
Nov 8, 2015 | General
Can you believe Amazon has a bookstore? ?I’m talking about a real life Amazon physical bookstore. My question is: Is it even worth visiting?
An independent publisher named Dustin Kurtz wondered the same thing. He wrote an article in the New Republic about his Amazon bookstore experience. He visited Amazon Books in Seattle, Washington’s University Village shopping complex. The first thing that struck him is the simple name: Amazon Books. ?He noticed employees carrying walky-talkies doing their best to prevent an overcrowded mob scene. He talked about an article promoting this new bookstore that came out the day before. This article that shamelessly promoted the online bookstore as well as this physical one. He calls the store setup odd, with book stacks being way too close to each other. Though there were discounts throughout the store, these books don’t come cheap. The sense I get from this article is that you can get most of the same books online for the same price, if not better. Some classics, like George Orwell’s 1984, weren’t even offered. However, Kurtz was impressed with how employees were treated. Their pay was $18 an hour, and they got benefits. But keep in mind Seattle is one of the few cities where minimum wage is $15 an hour.
At least they got that part right. This bookstore offers nothing new or unique. Even the name Amazon Books is bland. Why were there security concerns? There was no special guest author or celebrity scheduled that day. Just because an Amazon bookstore was opening, the masses run to the door. What does that say about our consumer culture today? They could have offered better pricing on merchandise, something that would make it worth the trip to University Village. I find it funny they didn’t offer books like 1984, books that make you think about the coming world. Are we heading towards on Orwellian world today, and they don’t want us to know about it? They did have a Starbucks though. Then again, so does almost every Barnes and Noble in the USA. If Amazon Books opened up in your town, would you go? And what’s wrong with the good old library? What’s wrong with your local independent bookstore?
