Jun 22, 2016 | Computer technology
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) already has rules for flying drones. Yesterday, they added some more. Let me introduce simple rules for flying drones.
This rules limit drone flying to daylight hours only. Drone operators will be required to get certified every other year. There are just two of the new rules. The FAA’s new rule book is 624 pages. That tells us there’s a lot more where that came from. Drones weighing under 55 pounds must stay below 400 feet at all times. Drones must stay within the owner or observer’s site at all times. Drone pilots must be at least 16 years old. Before flying a drone, potential owners must pass an aeronautical test. This isn’t just a one time test. They must retake and pass the test every 24 months. They must pass a TSA background check. Drones are a huge trend today. During the 2015 Christmas season, nearly 1 million were sold in the United States. They’re drone clubs and groups. The Academy of Model Aeronautics include 188,000 drone enthusiasts. ?Businesses and corporations embrace drone technology. Amazon, Google and Walmart dream to deliver packages by drones. By June 8, 2016, more than 464,000 drone operators were registered by the FAA. Some of these operators have multiple drones.
This is what worries pilots and officials. More individuals own drones. Businesses test drones for delivers. By 2020, drone deliveries will create 70,000 jobs and over 13 billion dollars in US profit. Government agencies and airline unions have been screaming for stricter rules for drones. They worry about interference with aircraft. There are instances of crashes and collisions with aircraft. But drone enthusiasts insist those instances are few and far between. I hope it stays that way. No…change that. I hope we don’t have any collisions at all. I like drones. Personally, they’re fun to fly around. I hope they create jobs and revenue for the country. We need the jobs and revenue. But we don’t need tragedies because of drone collisions, or drone and airplane collisions. What do you think of these new rules? Are they too strict? Are they too lenient? Or are they just right?
Jun 21, 2016 | Entertainment, internet
The Cleveland Cavaliers are champions of the NBA world. Lebron James brought a title home. Cleveland won their first major sports title since the 1960s. What does this have to do with technology?
The 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers are mostly made up of Millennials (young adults born between 1981-1999). Many Cavalier fans are Millennials. This means great social media moments, especially during the celebration. We weren’t disappointed. Lebron took several selfies with fans and his family. Tweets flowed. Cleveland star Kevin Love tweeted, “Long live the king” (referring to king James). The Cavaliers front office tweeted, “First of 33 teams to ever overcome a 3-1 deficit.” Snapchat photos show the Cavaliers passing the NBA trophy around on the flight home. Celebrities joined the social media fun. Cleveland legend Drew Carey showed off a $5,000 Las Vegas betting ticket. Under the picture he said, “Let’s go Cavs!” Basketball legend Magic Johnson congratulated James with a tweet. He congratulated James for bring a world title to his home state of Ohio (this is big of Johnson. He’s a Michigan resident. Do you know the rivalry between these two states?!) President Obama tweeted his congratulations to the Cavaliers. Even space celebrated. NASA sent out pictures taken from outer space. This picture showed Cleveland lit up in celebration the night they won the championship.
Sports and social media are going hand in hand. We should expect this in the future. Imagine being a kid in the stands that night. Imagine you take a selfie with Lebron, Kevin Love, and your other NBA heroes. You have a story to tell your friends. You have a story to tell future generations. You have pictures to back it. Imagine being on that team. You get countless congratulations from people you’ll probably never meet. We complain about the evil social media can cause. Unfortunately, there is a lot of evil social media can cause. But there’s a lot of good social media causes. This celebration is a good cause. This is how social media should be. Who will win it all in 2017?
Jun 20, 2016 | Computer technology, internet
Early this morning, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey made an astounding announcement concerning his company. Twitter acquired Magic Pony Technology. What is Magic Pony Technology? Why does this matter?
Magic Pony Technology is a London based company. They specialize in machine tool learning and video improvement. This acquisition isn’t a cheap one. Some speculate they bought Magic Pony for $150 million. Magic Pony said they will help Twitter improve visual experiences. Jack Dorsey says Magic Pony will enhance Twitter’s live video experience. Twitter needs to. Consumers complain about Twitter’s live video availability. They’ve even been the subject of some jokes. They’re also competing with You Tube, Facebook and Snapchat for video streaming. It seems Twitter needs Magic Pony more than Magic Pony needs Twitter. This year, they demonstrated machine learning research. They demonstrated upgrades of low resolution videos by using regular graphics cards. The Magic Pony community doesn’t consists of couch potatoes in their mother’s basement. All eleven have PhD’s in computer science,?computer neuroscience, and computer vision. Magic Pony co-founder Rob Bishop uses GPUs (graphics processing unit) and deep learning to improve graphics quality. Bishop is confident his company can improve picture quality on low resolution cameras. They want Twitter videos to be less blurry.
That’s how Magic Pony got that name. A magic pony is something nobody believes until they see it. Twitter better hope it happens. Magic Pony better make it happen. More people are switching from writing post to streaming them. The deep leaning process shows me Magic Pony puts considerable effort in their work. I believe Twitter did a lot of research and combing before acquiring a video improvement partner. At least I hope so. I normally don’t like mergers. But in this case, this isn’t a merger. This is a partnership. Will Magic Pony help Twitter’s video streaming woes? Can they?
Jun 19, 2016 | News
Over the years, Apple gave generously to Republican and Democratic National Conventions. But this year isn’t going to be a normal convention. This year, Donald Trump will be crowned Republican nominee. Apple wants no part of the Trump campaign.
Apple doesn’t like Trump’s controversial comments about women, minorities, immigrants, Muslims and the disabled. Apple shared their concerns with Republican leaders. Then add pressure from liberal leaning groups and civil rights activists. All this equals no Apple support for the 2016 Republican convention. In 2008, Apple donated $140,000 in computer supplies to both parties. They gave computer supplies to both parties in 2012. But in Cleveland this summer, Donald Trump should expect no help from Apple. This isn’t just a political move. It’s a personal one. Trump condemned Apple. Apple refused to give certain information pertaining to the San Bernadino shooting case. Trump slammed CEO Tim Cook. Trump even called for a boycott against Apple. No Apple representative is talking about this one. Nobody knows how Apple will contribute to the Democrat National Convention in Philadelphia. But this has to be good news for the Hilary Clinton campaign.
The majority of Silicon Valley leaders and executives lean left. But in other elections, tech companies split their support for both parties. They know they have customers in both parties. They don’t want to upset their customer base by blatantly leaning toward one party. Apple is breaking that trend. During the Apple/San Bernadino controversy, many tech companies sided with Apple. Could this have a ripple effect? Apple depends of skilled foreign labor. Trump wants to build a wall on the US/Mexico border. Trump wants to bring jobs from China back to the US. Think about how many Apple jobs are in China. Nonetheless, I’m sure many Trump supporters use Apple products daily. I’m sure many Republicans use Apple daily. So is Apple risking customers in the name of political principal? And if they are, is the risk worth it?
Jun 18, 2016 | Security
Computer and smartphone maker Acer’s database was severely compromised early this week. The database leaked massive amounts of information, including credit card numbers. That info is in the hands of hackers and cyber criminals.
The breaches lasted for almost a year: between May 2015 and April 2016. Acer is notifying customers about this breach. Acer doesn’t say how many customers were compromised. It could be in the millions. Data lost include credit card numbers, names, and addresses. Acer VP?Mark Groveunder assures the breach is being addressed and rectified. Cybersecurity from all over are helping in this crisis. Credit card processors and law enforcement have been alerted. There are things consumers can do. They can check their bank statements. They can check their recent credit card transactions. If they find any fraudulent activity, they should contact police. Customers can contact the State’s Attorney’s Office and the US Federal Trade Commission. These organizations can catch the hackers. They can also teach ways to prevent cyber fraud. The news gets worse for American consumers. Europe, Middle East and African countries were not hit by this breach. Their security system prevented the breaches. That’s right. American Acer customers got the worst of it.
Acer wants to make ID theft prevention a top priority. They assure nobody’s social security numbers or passwords were comprimised. But the damage had been done. People’s credit/debit card information is at risk. But you know what’s really telling? Other nations were protected, and we weren’t. How many major security breaches have we had over the last several years? TJ Max, Target, and health care providers immediately come to mind. Our government, on all levels, need to do a better job keeping our cyber information safe. Didn’t you know ID theft is the fastest growing crime in America today? Did you know millions will be hit by it every year? They can improve their surveillance program. Why can’t they improve our cyber protection?
Jun 17, 2016 | internet
The emoji is the new way of expressing oneself. Some are even more powerful than words. I hate to admit it, but it’s true. Social media and advertisers understand this. Twitter and the emoji come together in advertising.
Twitter announces emoji based advertising. We expect this move around July 17. That’s World Emoji Day. Advertisers will use this cartoon emotional icon to target consumers. These consumers often tweet with the emoji. Do you like baseball? Chances are you tweet baseball based cartoons, and maybe symbols of your favorite team (My favorite team is the Boston Red Sox). You’ll be getting a baseball based emoji real soon. You’ll be getting plenty of them. Do you like seafood? Do you tweet seafood emojis? You’ll be hearing from seafood restaurant chains emoji style. The emoji really took off in 2014. In the last two years, over 110 billion emojis have been tweeted. That’s billion with a B! In 2015, Oxford Dictionary declared ’emoji’ the word of the year. A Twitter ad manager said, “”Emojis have become a ubiquitous way for people, publishers, and brands to express their feelings.”
Yesterday, I talked about a spam case. People, and tech companies, felt so bombarded by one man’s span that the man now faces prison time. We don’t have to worry about that here…for now. Advertisers are doing the smart thing. Don’t think this will be limited to Twitter. I’m almost certain other social media sites will follow suit. I use the emoji on Facebook and You Tube often. You can bet countless others do so. But there is a flip side. What goes up must come down. If it goes up in a fast rate, it will come down at a faster rate. The emoji got very hot very quickly. In the future, it will get very cold very quickly. Look at previous trends. That’s my concern here. If I were a Twitter ad executive, I would milk emoji advertising for all I could now. However, I would have enough common sense to know the emoji will fall away soon. How much longer do you think the emoji will last?
Jun 16, 2016 | News, scam
A man named Sanford Wallace gave himself the cutest nicknames: The Spam King and Spamford. Since the Internet’s infancy in 1995, he made millions bombarding people with useless websites. It’s not so cute now. This spammer goes to prison.
In August 2015, Sanford ‘Spam King’ or ‘Spamford’ ?Wallace plead guilty to ?e-mail fraud and contempt of court. This week, Wallace was sentenced to 30 months in prison. What was the comtempt of court charge about? In a previous court case, Wallace was legally forbidden to access Facebook. Wallace broke that ruling. Wallace is ordered to pay well over $100,000 to the Facebook users he bombarded and potentially ripped off. After his prison sentence, King will be on probation for five years. He’ll be banned from all computer activity, except for activity supervised by a probation officer. Wallace will be ordered to undergo mental health treatment. In 1995, Wallace launched Cyber Promotions. He flooded emails and faxes with junk. Tech corporations from America Online to Facebook filed civil lawsuits against him, and won. ?According to court documents, Wallace bombarded 550,000 Facebook users with over 27 million pieces of spam in the late 2000s. In 2009, he was told to not log on Facebook…ever. After this, according to court documents, he created aliases and fake domain names. He’d get Facebook accounts, then lure people to click a link. That link would download their friends name and send them to other websites.
This is a warning to anyone in the spam business. Don’t do it! And if you’re in the spam business, get out! Obviously, there’s cracking down harder than ever. I have a concern about Sanford Wallace. The man has spammed for over 20 years, and didn’t stop. Not even when threatened with lawsuits and prison did he stop. So I wonder, can he stop spamming? Is this an addiction that’s beyond his control? If so, then shouldn’t he be evaluated in prison? Why wait until he gets out? Was 30 months too harsh of a sentence for the crime? Furthermore, how will the Spam King do in prison?
Jun 15, 2016 | Software, Uncategorized
This week, Apple holds the annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Here, Apple shows off their hopes, dreams and new gadgets for the upcoming year. Apple is excited about iOS 10, introducing iOS 10 goodies.
Apple’s latest operating system should be available this fall. Apple promises many upgrades. One is Apple Messenger. There have been many gripes about Apple Messenger. But these messages have intelligent Siri responses. This messenger will let you watch You Tube videos and send links within messages. Website links will look better. Emojis will be bigger and have more features. The iPhone lock screen will be interactive. There’s a new feature called Rise to Wake. This turns on your phone whenever you lift it up. If you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus, you can interact with notifications through the lock screen. With photos, iOS 10 performs scene and object recognition. If you look for a certain thing in a certain city, the app will give you photos of those items. Siri will send messages through through third party apps like WhatsApp. We all remember what a fiasco Apple Maps was back in 2012. They have made tremendous improvements since then. With iOS 10, you’ll get the best routes for normal routes. The new software comes with Home, a hub for all your devices and apps.
I remember this commercial in which the people could only communicate with each other through emojis. With what I’m reading, iOS 10 could help people do just that. Nonetheless, I’m the Rise to Wake app could be a waste of time. I can turn on my phone with the push of a button. Lifting it a phone will only cut time by a fraction of a second. But I am very impressed by Apple Maps. I look forward to seeing how iOS 10 can enhance Apple Maps. I doubt Apple Maps will ever be as good as Google. But it’s nice to see Apple improve in this area. What are your feelings about iOS 10?
Jun 14, 2016 | General
Xbox will allow virtual clubs. By the end of 2016, Microsoft will let Xbox users form their own virtual spaces called Clubs. This gives the player control over who comes in their club and form small gaming groups of their own.
This service will include Xbox Looking for Groups. This will help Xbox gamers look for like minded people to team up with or compete against. Such features will be discussed at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo. Some call it E3. It’s part of Microsoft’s campaign called Gaming for Everyone. This campaign has two goals. One goal is to make gaming attractive to all segments of the population. Microsoft desperately wants to kill the idea of video gaming being just a ‘young white man’s sport’. They’ve come under fire for this issue. In March 2016, they were forced to apologize for throwing a raucous ‘boys party’ featuring scantily clad women. The second goal is to fight gaming harassment. Women gamers have complained often of bullying and sexual harassment while gaming online. African-Americans have complained of racial harassment while gaming online. Sometimes, it went beyond name calling. Sometimes, it escalated to death threats. Microsoft is giving people chances to form their own clubs. That way, they eliminate the bullies, trolls and hatemongers immediately. Plus, gamers play only with people they feel comfortable with.
I’m 80% for the Gaming for Everyone initiative. We need more diversity in gaming. There has been times where I’ve been the only black person in the gaming community. In 2016, that shouldn’t be. Nobody should be talked down to while playing video games. Nobody should be made to feel inferior. And nobody should be threatened with death or rape just because they want to play video games with the boys. But there’s the 20% of me that’s a bit cynical. How many will use these clubs to further discriminate against women and minorities? And how much of this is driven by political correctness and people being too sensitive?
Jun 13, 2016 | Computer technology
Linkedin is a premier social business network. Since the early 2000s, they’ve led the way for business networking, bringing personal and professional together. Countless jobs have been found. Countless careers have been made because of Linkedin. Now, Microsoft acquires Linkedin.
Microsoft announces it’s acquisition of Linkedin. Microsoft will pay Linkedin $26.2 billion, all in cash. Microsoft insists Linkedin will remain independent and will run as usual. Their CEO, Jeff Weiner, will report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Nadella is confident the merger will help Linkedin, Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics grow to unbelievable potential. The acquisition should be finalized by the end of 2016. I hope Nadella’s confidence brings results. This is the first major Microsoft acquisition since he became Microsoft CEO in February 2014. Since then, Microsoft wants to be ‘the world’s biggest cloud’ and ‘world’s biggest professional network’. Linkedin stockholders are loving the news. Stocks are up a whopping 47% percent today. Do you realize how rare it is for stocks to increase that much in one day? Over 433 million people use Linkedin worldwide. This merger will impact at least that many people. The deal was approved by a landslide by both sides of the table.
On the surface, this acquisition makes since. Microsoft is a premier company of all computer technology. Linkedin leads the business world in connections. Microsoft dreams of connecting people. So why not buy out Linkedin to do just that? If you’re Linkedin, congratulations! You’re teaming up with one of the best computer tech corporation in the world. This is great for both institutions. But how will this work for the consumer? Satya Nadella insists Microsoft won’t interfere with Linkedin operations. I hope he keeps that promise. It would be a shame to spoil Linkedin’s legacy because Microsoft wants to impose it’s will. I don’t see Nadella going that far. Anyone who follows me knows I’m not a fan of mergers. But this could work. Will it?
