Feb 1, 2016 | Uncategorized
Computer science education is no longer a luxury for the rich, super intelligent nerds and geeks. It’s a necessity for all Americans if we even want to compete and survive in this new and ever changing world.
That’s where The Computer Science for All Initiative comes in. President Barack Obama pledges $4 billion in funding to make computer science education a top priority. The money will be delivered over a three year period. This initiative comes with commitments from tech companies and leaders to increase computer science training and job preparation for underrepresented groups. During his State of the Union address,? President Obama emphasized how our economy was changing, and we need computer science to keep up. And statistics back him up on that claim. During this 2015-16 school year, only 28% of public schools offer CS courses like coding. Only 28 states allow CS courses to count toward high school graduation. And if things don’t change, then by 2020, there will be over one million computer technology jobs with no qualified Americans to fill them. I don’t mean to sound xenophobic or prejudice, but if our American youth can’t fill these jobs, guess who will?
I can already hear the naysayers. “Whose going to flip the four billion dollar bill?” “We’re in a $19 trillion deficit!” I understand the concern. That’s why I’m thankful for companies like Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and Qualcomm, and Apple stepping up and doing their part. Other corporations are giving generous grants as well. And don’t even get me started on the woeful lack of women and minorities in the tech field. That needs to be included in this initiative. I’ve seen stats on US kids’ rank in science compared to the rest of the industrialized world. It isn’t good. American jobs are on the line. American futures on the line. American souls are on the line here. Would you rather pay a few billion dollars now, or pay with mass unemployment and despair later?
Jan 30, 2016 | Uncategorized
When you think of smartwatch companies, who comes to mind: Apple? Samsung? Lenovo? Fitbit? There is a competitor that will keep the smartwatch race interesting. That company is Timex.
The classic watchmaker is coming out with the Timex Metropolitan. On the surface, it looks like an old school, stylish Timex watch. It has the hour, minute, and second hand. Then there is the red hand and the 0-100 compartment between the 3 and 6 hours. That is what measures the number of steps taken or distance walked. You decide which one it says with the press of the top button. But you will need the Timex Metropolitan app on your smartphone or device. Put the watch into sync mode by holding the watch’s upper button until the arrow points to Bluetooth symbol. Tap the sync button on the app. Then tap the sync watch button. The app monitors your steps, burned calories and miles traveled by foot. Instead of setting it up through a phone, you set this smartwatch up through a knob on the watch.? It has an 18 month batter life, glows in the dark, and waterproof, assuming you don’t swim deeper than 100 feet. The Timex Metropolitan will cost you around $130, plus shipping.
Okay, so this isn’t Fitbit. But Timex isn’t trying to be. Some may complain it doesn’t have all the cool features smartwatches are known for, like sleep monitoring. But I think Timex Metropolitan is a good buy. Not a great buy because the price could be a little lower. But this is a genius combination of old-school style and 2010s smart technology. Not everybody is hip to the Lenovo’s and iWatch’s. Not everyone runs to the latest and greatest big tech thing. Just ask Google Glass. Some people like the classic look and the simple way of doing things. Timex Metropolitan combines the two.? Would you buy a Timex Metropolitan?
Jan 29, 2016 | Entertainment
As of yesterday Google has shipped out 5 million Google Cardboard VR viewers. I can only imagine how many DIY or ?knock off? versions have been sold also. If you?re not familiar with Google Cardboard let me explain the mechanics of it. Google Cardboard VR viewer is simply a couple pieces of cardboard cut and pre-bent into three or so specific shapes. You bend it into the box shape it specifies and put it together with Velcro, magnets, a couple lenses, and a rubber band. Once it?s made you just close your phone up inside it then simply look into it through the lenses. When using one of the many apps that have been created to go with it you view a 3D virtual reality world. It?s a very cool concept but I?m not convinced it actually worth buying. It seems much more cost effective to just download Google?s instructions and make one yourself. Most people would probably prefer to buy one and do it the easy way but an actual Google Cardboard viewer will cost you between $14.99 and $23.50 according to the google page. There are cheaper DIY versions you can get off EBay or other websites but they?ll still cost you anywhere from $3.00 to $9.00 and in most cases even when you can find it for cheaper they?re getting shipped from overseas countries like china where it?ll take at least a week for you to get it. I?d much rather spend the 3 hours or so it takes to make one from scratch. I know personally I already have most of the materials needed for it around me right now. Not to mention there?s also the sense of pride of being able to hold it up in the end and say ?look at this, I made this myself!? Which is much better than spending 3 minutes putting the premade one together and saying ?look what I just spent $15.00 on!? in my opinion.
Besides the cardboard device itself Google has definitely started something great. There are multiple apps out now that you can use in the viewer. This concept started off as a single app that you could only download through the google play store, and now there are dozens if not more you can get not only through Google Play but also from the App store on iPhones. You can walk the Great Wall of China, or even go deep sea diving and experience all the undersea creatures. You can ride a roller coaster, or shoot zombies as if they were really in front of you. There are plenty of YouTube videos that work with the viewer to make you feel like you?re right there in front of your favorite musician or band, or watching a skateboarder do awesome tricks. You can watch a painting being done from start to finish if you?re into that, or zoom around a race track all the while never having to leave your couch! More and more new virtual reality apps are popping up every day. As cool as it is, I think I?ll leave the 3D in the movie theaters for now. But it does make me wonder, with Google cardboard picking up popularity does this mean we could be seeing virtual reality games on our gaming consoles sooner rather than later? Or are we still years away from seeing virtual reality on such a larger scale in our homes?
Jan 14, 2016 | Uncategorized
At the State of the Union address, President Barack Obama delivered a message of optimism. The good people at GoPro must be going, “What economic comeback? Why didn’t we get the memo?”
The camera manufacturing company announced it’s laying off 7% of it’s work force. GoPro specializes in small digital cameras favorable for capturing extreme sports as they happen. But yesterday, the only extreme action was the low numbers. Their Q4 2015 numbers revenue numbers were around $75 million below expected figures. Their overall 2015 revenue numbers did even worse. GoPro sales fell off. Perhaps the most telling tale is in their stock prices. In a 24-hour period, they fell 24%, from $14.61 a share to $11.06 a share. And the slide hit one of their main suppliers too. Ambarella fell over 9% in pre-trading. One company spokesperson blames the downturn on mediocre sales from GoPro’s retailers, especially in the first half of the Q4 2015. Apparently, the Christmas shopping season numbers weren’t high enough to make up for the balance. The flop of Hero4 in October made matters worse. GoPro also struggles to attract their small cameras beyond the extreme sports crowd, which is over 95% of the buying public. And there’s little rest for the weary. Instead of saving money, these layoffs will cost GoPro an additional 5+ million dollars.
They’re a couple of lessons to learn here. One flop can really hurt a business. It sounds like 2015 overall wasn’t a good year, then comes the Hero4 fiasco, which made matters worse. I understand that in any business, just as in forms of entertainment, a form of demographic or core audience is important. But don’t make that core audience your only consumers. It’s better to branch out to the general population sooner than later. I’ve used GoPro cameras, but not for extreme sports. These are neat little cameras. My thoughts go out to the ones who are about to lose their jobs because of this misfortune. Can GoPro make a comeback?
Jan 13, 2016 | Computer technology
In 2015, just about every technology machine or device increased in sales and shipping. Just about all of them, except the PC.
The PC ended last year in negative numbers. According to Gartner News, 75.7 million personal desktop computers were sold around the world Q4 2015. That may sound like a lot, but actually, PC shipments fell over 8% that quarter from last year. These stats come from the five largest PC manufacturers: ?Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Apple. Lenovo did lead the PC market share with ?(20%), and HP placed in a close second (19%). But Apple, the company who placed last in PC shares (7 1/2%) is the only company that saw it’s PC shipments do better than Q4 2014. Another tech research company, IDC, paints an even gloomier picture. They have PC sales falling over nearly 11%. But IDC also said Apple was the only maker to improve Q4 2015 sales. One Gartner analysts stated this was the fifth year the PC has declined in shipments and sales. The Christmas season didn’t help matters much. Neither did the Chinese stock market dip and shaky global markets so far this month. But there is one light that can shine out the PC darkness: Windows 10. It’s gotten good reviews so far. Will it help the PC?
I know what some of you are thinking: By the 2020s, the PC will be about as dead as the VCR. Hardly! Today’s consumers have laptops, smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and other devices to ?work and play on. That’s obvious. That’s why the PC has been in decline over the years. But people will need their PCs for decades to come. Offices need somewhat of a ‘home base’ for business. The PC provide that. At home, people want a ‘home base’ for their computer needs. The PC provides that. The TVs are going nowhere. Neither are the PCs. People have more computer tech options to choose from and are using them. That’s why PCs are in the slight decline. And whose to say the PC shipments won’t increase in 2016?
Jan 12, 2016 | Security
I’d like to follow up on yesterday’s story. It’s a?story of how surveillance was used, and so was Sean Penn (unwillingly) to catch drug lord El Chapo. Don’t think you have to be a drug cartel leader to be followed. Even local police departments are calculating your threat score.
In Fresno, California, local law enforcement is using Beware software to calculate how dangerous people like you and me are. They comprise criminal records, commercial databases, Internet searches, hard drives, even a person’s social media posts. Law enforcement can do this as easy as lenders can track your credit score to determine a loan application. For example, 911 was called on a violent ex-boyfriend threatening his ex-girl. Beware software ran a threat score. His score came up bright red: the most dangerous. Police say such software can prevent mass shootings and terrorist attacks and find wanted suspects. But privacy rights advocates and civil libertarians say this is a violation of the Constitution. They’re calling for laws to be in place to protect the public. According to a representative from privacy and digital rights organization?Electronic Frontier Foundation, Beware software and other technologies like it have been in the works since 9/11. The rep said at first, only the military was to use this technology, now it has trickled down to local police departments.
Even today, sime members of the law enforcement community point to tragedies like Paris and San Bernadino for the need of Beware software, and other surveillance tools needed. Would it prevent such terror attacks? I don’t know. But I do know this is a debate that needs to be continued. My concern is this: How much longer before they turn these tools on law-abiding citizens? Don’t think they won’t? I have it by good authority Black Lives Matters protesters are already being spied on. American Revolutionary Benjamin Franklin said it best, “Anyone willing to give up liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security.” ?Is anybody listening?
Jan 11, 2016 | Entertainment, News
Mexican heroin kingpin and Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman is one of the biggest drug lords of all time. Now, he’s been caught after six months on the run. But that’s just the beginning.
Three months earlier, El Chapo conducted an interview with acclaimed actor Sean Penn, which was published in Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview, El Chapo bragged that he sold more illegal narcotics than anybody in the world, and bragged about his submarines, airplanes, and other fleet. This interview took place in a secluded Mexican jungle, but a follow-up was done on a videotape sent to Penn. Surveillance was critical. They tracked cell phones and other electronics of the people El Chapo kept in contact with. The US and Mexican officials shared intelligence. There are pictures everywhere of Penn and El Chapo shaking hands. Surveillance followed Penn as he touched down in Mexico. Major Mexican newspaper El Universal has pictures of Penn greeting the guys who took them to an airstrip and flew them to secluded jungle in which El Chapo hid. Mexican intelligence photographed Penn and actress Kate del?Castillo (who helped set up the interview). Eventually, intelligence got to the tunnel El Chapo hid in. Penn himself said he thought he was being spied on.
There are more questions than answers here. Did Penn and del Castillo deliberately help the authorities catch El Chapo? I doubt it very seriously. That’s not their style. But I do believe Penn gave an unwilling assist in El Chapo’s capture. So we can all learn a lesson here. Big brother is watching, especially when you’re dealing with one of the most notorious criminals in the world. And in 2016, governments can easily track you. One would think Penn would know better. But he went through the interview anyway. No matter what the promise, payout, or potential reward is, would you interview one of the biggest drug dealers ever?
Jan 10, 2016 | Uncategorized
Were you able to attend the CES conference in Las Vegas? It’s the largest tech conference in North America. Over 3,000 booths were represented, unveiling their inventions, hopes and dreams for 2016. Much of the anticipation dealt with expected tech trends for 2016. What are these trends?
Anybody over age 25 probably watched TV on the big, bulky color TVs (I’m too young to remember the black and white TV era). By the mid 2000s, consumers were switching to HDTV. Now, they want us to switch to HDR TV. ?Promoters swear by the color quality. Streaming companies like Netflix already promise to produce shows in HDR. But will retailers, and more importantly, consumers, be so quick to jump on the bandwagon? It took years for HDTV to be the standard. Then there’s VR, virtual reality goggles. These virtual reality headsets were a hit with the CES crowd. A few months from now, you can get an Oculus Rift for $500-$1,000. Can’t wait that long? You can get a Samsung Gear VR for as little as $100, or even a Google Cardboard for as little as $25. Wearable technology made a splash, and I’m not talking just talking about smart watches and fitness monitors. There are shoes that track the number of steps you’ve taken, and your motions. There’s even a belt that tells you when you’re gaining weight.
Some of these are good new trends. Some, like that weight gain belt, are very creepy. Other creepy trends include Google Glass, interactive mirror, a camera inside the refrigerator, and apps where you can spy on your spouse/mate. I bring this up because there comes a time where we have to decide whether to make the technology or let the technology make us. And I’m a little concerned with these virtual reality goggles as well. What if VR becomes so addictive, people can’t deal with RR; that’s real reality? What technology trends are you looking forward to this year?
Jan 9, 2016 | News, Security
Yesterday in Philadelphia, Officer Jesse Hartnett was shot multiple times while sitting in his squad car. The shooter pledged his allegiance to terrorist group ISIS. This news story, and several others over the last few months, reveal to us the times we’re living in. Silicon Valley promises to help.
The day of this attack, government counter-terrorism leaders and tech executives met behind closed doors. The main topic was combating terrorist organizations like ISIS and preventing events like what happened in Philadelphia. Companies represented included Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, You Tube, Yahoo and Pay Pal. Leaders of the FBI and NSA were there as well. One topic was to launch a social media campaign against ISIS. Both sides are exploring ways terrorists use and exploit the Internet for financial, recruiting and training purposes. For example, there’s a system on Facebook that deals with people who are suicidal. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told government agents in attendance how those expressing suicidal thoughts could be flagged. Some officials wondered if this could be used to flag a potential terrorist on the verge of committing a suicide attack. This was just one of the many scenarios discussed. ?Despite disagreement over civil liberties and First Amendment rights, a lot of common ground was found.
I could’ve added to that. Another scenario is jihadist could recruit those who are on the brink of suicide. Note how these terror groups usually recruit those who have little or nothing to live for. But it’s about time Washington and Silicon Valley come together and put their differences aside to fight this common, deadly, sadistic enemy. I don’t know if you believe in omens or not, but I find it interesting this conference happened the same day this Philadelphia terror attack took place. Is fate trying to tell us something? If you were in that room with tech and government officials, what would you suggest to them?
Jan 8, 2016 | Computer technology, internet
Effective January Tuesday, January 12, 2016, Microsoft will no longer support Internet Explorer 8, 9, or 10. After the 12th, the only IE that will get any love and support is Internet Explorer 11.
In a statement, Microsoft said, “…the most current version will continue to follow the specific support?life cycle policy for the operating system on which it is installed. Internet Explorer 11 will be supported for the life of Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.” Microsoft urged users to upgrade for a faster and better browsing experience. That’s because after the 12th, these browsers will be more vulnerable to malware, viruses, ID theft, and just about every computer tech ill imaginable. So yes, shutting down older browsers will force users to get on Internet Explorer 11. But it means web designers will no longer have to struggle to make sure older IE models can handle newer Windows versions, especially Windows 10. The transition shouldn’t be complicated. Many home PCs ‘Automated Updates’. That will upgrade you to Windows 11 by itself. Or you can get automatic updates by clicking Check for Updates on the Windows Update part of your control panel. Microsoft didn’t plan this decision just overnight. It was in the works as early as August 2014. And IE version 8-10 use has declined every since.
And competition has been on the increase. Let’s face it, Internet Explorer altogether has been on the decrease. More consumers are using browsers like Firefox and Google Chrome. Don’t think Microsoft is oblivious to that. I’m sure that plays a role. They hope IE explorer will do them better (between you and me, I doubt it). I strongly urge you to heed Microsoft’s warning. Remember when Windows XP was shut down? I remember how many people procrastinated. It wasn’t long before the viruses and malware made them wish they had taken proper action. Fortunately, many of you should get upgraded automatically. If not, do what you can get upgraded, that is if you’re even using IE for a web browser. If you are, then why?
