Jul 22, 2019 | Uncategorized
So last weekend, America celebrated the 50th anniversary on Man’s Walk on the Moon. But the last time an American made it back to the moon was 1972. Now, there’s a push to go back there. Will America make it back to the moon?
So NASA announced the Orion will be ready to go back to the moon sometime after June 2020. However, it’s first trip won’t be taking human beings with it. Instead, the Space Launch System will send it up there. It will spend six days orbiting the moon, then it will come back to Earth. Then, NASA will study this trip’s success and efficiency before determining if it’s okay to carry men, or women, on the moon. The plan is to carry humans around orbit in 2022. Then, in 2024, get people back on the moon. They’re already going through the proper tests, the equipment I mean, at Lockhead Martin headquarters. Because, by the end of the year, they want to send it all back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
This sounds like a great plan. But some, including some in IT service, have doubts of going back to the moon at all. I read an article from a tech journalist who is very skeptical about people going back to the moon by 2024. Keep in mind it’s been 47 years since man went to the moon. We’re talking December 1972. Some argue the cost got too high and the missions got too dangerous. But it’s a different day now. Even people like Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk want to send civilians to the moon. Then you have those who want to see women walk on the moon in 2024. I want to see women walk on the moon, preferably on that year, if not even sooner. But will it happen? Will America make it back to the moon?
Jul 19, 2019 | General
So I’m not saying much about Amazon Prime, and there’s a reason for that. But there’s a deal that even captured my attention. Let’s talk about Amazon Prime and Phillips Hue Lamp.
So here is the Phillps Hue Signe Hue Table Lamp. It’s a smart lamp that will cost you $160. However, Prime members can get this aluminum lamp for around $135. You can also get matching A16 white bulbs for as little as $12. Now what do lamps have to do with anything IT support or modern technology? More than you think. This has way more to do than home decor or lighting up a room.
I say this because you can control this light with your voice. Furthermore, it works with Alexa, Apple Home or Google Assistant. Maybe that’s why it’s one of the most popular things selling on Amazon Prime, today. They also say this lamp offers countless colors to light up any room. All one has to do is push a button. In fact, this light, allegedly, works with weather and climate patterns. Even the ‘smart bulbs’ is voice controlled. You can connect these bulbs to your smart home devices like Amazon Echo Plus. So I can see how Amazon Prime and Phillips Hue lamp go hand in hand.
I don’t know if you want to get this product or not. But if you plan too, then hurry up. Like I said, this is one of the most popular items on Amazon right now. It’s not up there with the Amazon Echo or Echo Dot, or some of these other items. But it’s getting up there. Will you be buying a Phillips Hue Signe Hue Table Lamp?
Jul 18, 2019 | Uncategorized
So everybody is using the face app…except me. Many people think it’s cute to change your face to 100 years old. But I just find it creepy. Enough about my shallow opinions. However, Face App causes privacy concerns.
First of all, it’s a Russian startup. Remember that whole Russia 2016 election controversy? Then, there are questionable cloud issues. Over 100 million people use the Face App now. In fact, it’s now the most popular app in the Apple Store. Just keep in mind once Apple and Russian company Wireless Labs gets your face, they got it. They can do whatever they want with it. They can even send it to the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin himself. Or, they can use it to train their AI robots to fund their cause. In fact, once you put anything in the cloud, that licence goes to someone else.
However, Face App doesn’t want you to panic. In fact, they made a list stating why this app is safe. They insist they never transfer any images from a phone to the cloud. But they say the only reason a photo ends up in the cloud is because of performance and traffic reason. They assure us they don’t share the Face App photos with any third party person. Yes, they admit their headquarters are in Russia. However, they claim their data never transfers to Russia.
I’m sorry Face App, but this doesn’t make me feel any better. Face App causes privacy concerns, just like other apps have in the past. In fact, it seems like every other month or so, there seems to be some IT support privacy threat. This month, it seems to be the Face App. I’m not really buying their explanation. Is it worth putting all your pictures in their hands just for a few online likes and laughs? Do your precious photos mean that little?
Jul 17, 2019 | Uncategorized
So Elon Musk is one of the most ambitious geniuses in the IT service world today. First, he wants to put us in driverless cars. Then, he wants us on the moon. But now, Elon Musk wants your brain.
So let me explain. Elon Musk heads a startup company Neuralink. Now, they’re working on threads they can implant in the human brain. Furthermore, with these threads, they want to study, and eventually treat, brain disorders. In fact, Musk believes that we can solve these issues with a chip.
But now, Neuralink would work kinda like a sewing machine. These threads are about half as thin as a human hair. These threads would go deep into a patient’s brain tissue. Then, it can read and write about what is going on in that person’s brain in an in-depth level. Don’t go rushing to your doctor, health care provider or pharmacist yet. Because this dream is a long way from becoming a reality. In fact, this could take many years. But Neuralikn executives are optimistic they can get this in the hands of the medical community and the patients soon. In fact, they’re already testing it on rats. They plan to try this on a handful of humans as early as 2020.
So this is how Elon Musk wants your brain. I have mixed feelings about this one. If they can keep this strictly to treating brain diseases, then I am all for it. If they can treat and even cure such diseases with Neuralink, then give Mr. Musk the Nobel prize! But human beings being human beings, somebody could hijack this patent and turn it into something sinister. What if somebody uses this just to read your mind and invade your privacy? Then, what if they arrest and imprison you just on ‘thought crime’ using this? Remember the movie Minority Report?
Jul 16, 2019 | News, Security, Smartphone
So there are a lot of iPhone/social media wiseguys out there (that’s not a compliment). I think we all know of the ‘food licking’ challenge on social media. But what I’m talking about is far worse. This disturbing iPhone photo causes flight problems.
The flight is Jet Blue Flight 573 from Newark to Tampa. This occurred Sunday July 14. They scheduled take off was for 7:45 am. But those plans changed quickly when somebody sent pictures of suicide vests to passengers and flight attendants. The culprit used Apple’s AirDrop feature. So therefore, he/she can share pictures with other Apple phones and devices simply by using Bluetooth.
So when the pictures came up, pilots immediately returned the flight to the gate. Then, flight attendants escorted passengers off the plane. Police units of all kinds checked luggage. But even before that, people interviewed talked about Port Authority police and dogs coming on the plane. This was before anybody knew anything. Now imagine it’s you and your little kids on that plane. Imagine the nerves and fears and tears. The plane did take off…at 11:30am. That’s almost four hours after this security crisis got started.
What is even worse? Authorities believe the culprit behind the disturbing iPhone photo was one of the passengers on that plane! However, they can’t catch him. The sad thing is, they may never. I don’t know what the motive behind this was. But if this was a prank, then it’s not funny. And please…stop! Stop using your IT support and phones to terrify and hinder innocent people and tie up police units. It’s not cute, funny or cool. All it does it messes everybody up. Just like this food licking and spitting challenge. That’s not funny or cute or cool, either. All you’re doing is putting innocent people, including children, at risk for diseases. Do you really want that on your conscious? Also, do you want this disturbing iPhone photo on your conscious?
Jul 15, 2019 | Uncategorized
So tennis star Serena Williams is known for many things. But of these, perhaps the most important is mother to a toddler. Her reputation as an entrepreneur also grows. Now, this tennis star funds postpartum care.
Tennis legend Serena Williams teams up with billionaire Mark Cuban to fund Mahmee. This is an IT service and software firm that helps new moms with postpartum care. Because many statistics say the first weeks and months after childbirth can be the toughest for mothers. In fact, around 20% get depression and anxiety during this time. Even Williams herself is very candid about her experience in this article.
Two of the things Mahmee do is connect you to a doctor and maternity coach whenever you need them. It also gives a network of women who are going through the same thing. Then, it connects them with women who went through postpartum care. They also provide patient monitoring. Because they provide more than other postpartum website, they have to charge fees for so many services. Mahmee does have a free option, but other services start at $20 a month. The most expensive is the comprehensive care, which will run a patent $200 a month.
But that’s how this tennis star funds postpartum care and lots of it. Her investment, along with Marc Cuban’s, to Mahmee, is around $3 million. I’ve checked out the Mahmee website. It seems pretty solid and simple to use. It also provides a service in the healthcare industry that doesn’t get as much attention as it should. Look, as a guy, I will never know what it’s like to need postpartum care. So I must make that clear. But the fact that 1 and 5 new moms get depression during this time is a telling sign to me. And I’m happy Mahmee is doing something about it. I’m also happy Serena Williams is using her wealth and fame to do something about it. Would you use Mahmee if you were in need?
Jul 11, 2019 | General, Uncategorized
So Boosted is one of the up and coming players in IT service. They gave us the electric skateboard. But wait…there’s more. Here’s introducing Boosted’s electric scooter.
So they call their electric scooter Boosted Rev. According to reviews I read, it does wonders but is heavy duty, literally. I say that because this scooter weighs 46 pounds. That’s no joke. But they say it weighs so much because it packs so much power. If you think the weight is an issue for you, then wait until you hear about it’s price. It will cost you around $1,600. But know here’s the good news.
This scooter can go up to 24mph. Also, their tires can take anything the roads can throw at them. They have three kinds of breaking: electric, hand and foot. It’s also great for climbing up hills, thanks to it’s duel wheel motors coming in at 1500 watts each. And Boosted wants it to be this way. They want this scooter to do everything a car, heck, even everything a mac truck can do. For instance, with these dual motors, you can go up a hill as fast as 22 mph. With speeds like this, in most residential areas, you can even keep up with cars. I wouldn’t take this thing on the Interstate though.
So let’s talk about this weight issue. I would NOT climb this thing up the stairs. If you have a garage, leave it there. Or if you have a backyard or basement, just tie it up real good and leave it there. When I looked at the cost, and what Rev offers, I think this is a good item. I know here in Boston, there are a lot of hills, so this scooter would be heaven scent. Now think of those who live in mountainous. This scooter would do well for them and this is a great investment. Introducing Boosted’s electric scooter. Would you get one?
Jul 10, 2019 | internet
So every day, the news headlines shout about something media rarely talks about. That something is religious hatred and harassment. Now, Twitter is doing something about it. Twitter combats religious persecution.
In fact, starting today, Twitter updates and intensifies it’s rules against hate speech. This especially includes tweets that attack religions and religious groups and denominations. In a safety statement, Twitter blogged their new hate speech rule will include those that dehumanizes other people’s religion. It will remove tweets the bully and troll others based on their faith beliefs. Twitter will also charge those doing this kind of trolling with violating Twitter’s code of conduct.
So basically, they will remove such tweets, no matter when they made the statement. However, they will not suspend the offender…yet. This is because they made the statement before they implemented this new policy. But if the Twitter user makes such offensive statements now, then you can bet they can face suspension. Twitter ensures this new rule for just religious groups, not political ones. And terror groups like ISIS and hate groups like the KKK do not qualify under this rule. So they can’t use this new ruling to get a pass and continue to promote their hatred.
However, this new ruling can’t come fast enough. Because in 2018 America alone, 35% of Muslims and 16% of Jews say they experienced harassment, either online and/or to their face. In fact, one stat says that a Christian is murdered for his/her faith around the world every six minutes! Let that sink in! Heck, even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got trolled for eating a Chick Fil A sandwich. Chick Fil A is a Christian based fast food company by the way. Nobody should be dehumanized based on their religion. And I’m glad Twitter leaders understand that and are now doing something about it. I’m happy Twitter combats religious persecution. Do you think other social media and IT support firms should follow suit?
Jul 9, 2019 | General
So we all know about the new space race. It’s not the race to the moon anymore, but a race to get civilians into space. There’s also a space race to the NYSE. And now, space exploration trades publicly.
So the first one to do this, surprisingly, isn’t Elon Musk. In fact, the first one to get a space exploration company to trade publicly is Sir Richard Branson. His Virgin Galactic will trade on the NYSE soon and very soon. Thanks to alliances with venture capitalists. Together, with their hundreds of millions of dollars, they’re ready to make this happen. They beat out Musk’s Space X and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for this honor. Whether it’s an actual honor or dubious honor, well, only time will tell.
Maybe it’s because Virgin Galactic’s top goal is to send tourist into space. Space X’s still works on launching and planet travel. In fact, Musk thinks the Earth’s future is so bleak he wants to eventually build colonies on Mars. Blue Origin also wants to invest in civilian space travel, but they’re now working on gov’t contracts. Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic already has $80 million dollars worth of commitment from people eager to go up in space. It will cost you $250,000 to go to space with Virgin Galactic.
I’d like to congratulate Virgin Galactic for making space exploration trades publicly. But here’s the thing: They’d better be ready to deliver. What does this have to do with IT support? Well, they couldn’t do this without IT. In fact, there would be no Virgin Galactic without IT. Also, many people on this list to go in space are in the IT service industry. That’s my other point. People who want to explore with Virgin, they’re going to hold their feet to the fire until the dream they invested in comes true. And that is rightfully so. Say you invested stocks in Virgin Galactic. You may even paid to go up in space. Wouldn’t you want to see results?
Jul 8, 2019 | Computer Repair
So last week, Facebook couldn’t upload pictures. Most of us didn’t know why, but we mustered through it. However, it turns out that isn’t the only snafu that happened. Let’s look at June 2019: Worst Internet Month.
In fact, in June 2019, everything that could go wrong in the IT service and IT support world did go wrong. Let’s start with June 2. A major Google Cloud shutdown took place. Most of the US east coast, the most populated place in the USA, took the brunt. Critical services, like GMail, Nest, Snap and Vimeo, also took a hard hit. Bugs and bad configurations caused this to happen. It only took three hours to fix it. But in today’s world, three hours without such services can seem like an eternity.
Then, on June 24, Cloudfare lost 15% of all it’s global traffic. That’s right. Cloudfare lost 1/7 of everything it had in one day. They blame Verizon for this. They say it was Verizon’s bad wiring that caused the global traffic to go down. Cloudfare wasn’t the only one to go down. Because on this day, they took mega companies like Amazon with them. Apparently, the Internet woes continue into July. Because on July 2, Cloudfare caught another outage. The next day, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram’s photo services all caught shutdown fever. Even on the July 4 holiday, the iCloud went through a three-hour shutdown.
So nobody was and nobody is immune. I titled this blog June 2019: Worst Internet Month. Maybe I should include July as well, because this month is not off to a flying start. Of course, bit IT can turn it around and learn it’s lesson. But on the other hand, and I hate saying this, it could be an omen of even worse things to come. What do you think? Will you think this month be better or worse?
