Two weeks ago, Hurricane Harvey hit South Texas, and cost 70 lives. But now, Florida and Georgia are in the grips of Hurricane Irma. Let’s see how technology verses Hurricane Irma, and computer technology is winning.
So first, I give props to Airbnb. Between Sept. 6-28, scores of Airbnb hosts offer free housing to those in Irma’s path. Many booked, so that shows you how big Irma is. But other websites are helping out. For example, there is Zello Walkie Talkie. It gives you contact with others in an emergency, just like walky-talkies or CB radios used to do. But if the power goes out, that app goes out. However, I love the way phone companies are opening hot spots and WiFi, for free. That another way technology is winning in technology verses Hurricane Irma.
Then there are apps like GasBuddy. This app will tell you where to find gas and how much it is. In much of Florida, a lot of places either ran out of gas or charged an arm and a leg. GasBuddy came at the right time, especially for the millions who evacuated. Snap Maps helped those in harm’s way locate friends and report on local conditions.
There are You Tube channels I subscribe to. Some are from Florida. They reminded their fans their subscribers are okay. Also, on Facebook, many in Florida alerted us to let us know they’re okay. And all over social media, people are alerted and have been alerting ever since. Just think about when Katrina hit back in 2005. There was no social media. There were no apps. In fact, there were no smartphones. And yes, there is a lot of evil in social media. But these two trying storms reveled there is also good in social media. Lots of it. Do you have any stories of how technology is fighting Hurricane Irma?
It seems Silicon Valley is in another moral crisis. Yes, there are the outrageous expenses. There is also the intense social/political divide they take part in. Furthermore, there’s the insane wealth gap. For instance, 8 men have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the world. Most of those 8 men are in technology. But there’s another. Why is Silicon Valley sacrificing freedom to appease China?
So here are some examples. Apple got rid of VPN (virtual private network) from their Apple stores in China. They did this because they want to appease China’s super strict cyber security laws. In other words, China citizens have little, if any, privacy rights online. Then there is Facebook. They let ?the ‘third-party’ China groups to censor content. So let’s say you post something on Facebook that’s ‘too controversial’. ?A government official can dig on your page and erase your post. It’s already happening. There’s the Cambridge University Press. They used to publish articles and scholarly journals on Chinese websites. Note that I say used to. Already, they’re pulling articles ‘too controversial’. This is what censorship is all about. Is this what Apple and Facebook want to support? Do they want to support sacrificing freedom to appease China?
Now I know what some of you will say. Facebook is a business. Apple is a business. China is one of the richest countries in the world. So it’s just business. Well, that’s one way to look at it. But it’s not the right way. Facebook and Apple could have used this opportunity to stand up to China and their online censorship policies. Did you know China is one of the worst offenders in blocking online freedoms? Apple and Facebook leaders could say to China, “Look. Either change your laws or you will lose out of billions of dollars”! China would listen. Money talks. They would get the message. But instead, they sacrificed freedom to appease China. Isn’t this totally wrong?
They can say 2017 is the year of the wireless headphone. So far in 2017, over 900,000 wireless headsets were sold. And that’s in the USA alone. Also, there are still four more months to go. But one company and one product tops them all.
I’m talking about Apple and their Air Pods. They came out around a year ago. However, they account for 85% of the sales of all wireless headphones. When Apple says their Air Pods are wireless, they mean it. Two small pods go into your ear. That’s it. A lady in our Boston computer service shop came in with some on. The only disadvantage: she forgot she had them on. We had to yell to get her attention.
But watch out, Apple. Because you do have competitors. Base, Sony and Beats all have wireless headphone products. Critics say they’re equally as good as Apple, if not better. We can thank the shift to Bluetooth for this trend. Also, we give credit to Bragi and Doppler Labs. Because they’re the ones who first made wireless earbuds. Furthermore, this technology goes deeper than just listening to music. For example, Samsung has headphones that also includes heart rate monitors. It has 4GB for music storage.
Then there hearing buds that Doppler’s provide. Remember when we had to yell to the lady because of her Air Pods? Well, these Doppler’s have an external microphone. This microphone helps two people have conversion at a loud raucous bar, or tune out crying babies and/or complaining, annoying adults. So 2017 is the year of the wireless headphone. Yes, Apple leads the charge, but there are many who want to take that throne. From what I’m reading, they very well could. In fact, some should. I’d love to have Air Pods that tune out distraction as read your heart rate as well as play your music. What is your favorite wireless headphone?
I try to avoid talking about the deadly tragedy that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend. But it’s not going away. For over 20 years, the Internet served as a free speech haven for any kind of speech, good or bad. But in the wake of Charlottesville, and the ever-increasing social/political divide, that may change. So now it’s Internet vs hatemongers.
I title this because more and more IT services are banning such extremism. For example, Airbnb banned white supremacists as hosts and as customers. OKCupid is kicking them out of their dating services. Downloading music services like Spotify banned hate music from all play lists. Then there’s PayPal and Apple Pay. They banned the business of all who use them to trade ‘white power’ products, like swastikas. So they’ll have to trade such hateful products elsewhere. Even Google is getting in the act. Monday, they announced they will no longer provide Internet service to Daily Stormer. Daily Stormer is a neo-Nazi website. Cloudfare is following suit. But some worry about what impact this will have on free speech. A group called Electric Frontier Foundation talked about how this could impact free speech in the future.
First of all, I am glad ISP’s and others in IT support are standing up to these hatemongers. They’re not only ones to use the Internet to promote evil. Terrorist groups like ISIS do the same thing, even show videos of them serving ice cream. But Electric Frontier Foundation also has a point. What if they don’t stop with hatemongers? What if they ban anything they may offend anyone at all? For example, what if they banned certain TV shows because they offend others? Or what if they ban certain preachers because they offend different groups. Like I said, I applaud them for their actions against extreme groups. But on the other hand, what will they consider ‘extreme’ next? In the fight of Internet vs Hatemongers, who will be next?
I talk about cyber crimes a lot. That’s because they go on a lot. There’s hacking, ID theft, stealing, sextortion. But what about kidnapping. That also goes on, as it did in this deep web kidnapping case.
But first, let’s talk about what deep web is. It’s a website network search engines can’t find. They use encryption to hide their true nature. Most of their true nature isn’t good: drugs, human trafficking, selling IDs, trading weapons, even terrorism. So let’s go to the crime. Some guys lured 20-year-old British model Chloe Ayling to Milan, Italy. They acted like professional photographers and promised her the big break.
But instead, they drugged her. Then they beat her, threw her in a suitcase like luggage, and locked her in a car trunk. Furthermore, they drove her to a rural small home in near Turin, Italy. They held the woman hostage for six days. Then, they extorted Ayling’s authentic model agency to give them $300,000. If they didn’t, then the kidnappers would sell her into sexual slavery. However, one of the kidnappers must have had a change of heart. Because on day 6, July 17, he released Ayling and took her to the British embassy. This kidnapper is?Lukasz Herba, a fellow Brit. He got arrested for kidnapping and extortion. They still look for Herba’s accomplishes.
Yes, there is good on the Internet. But there is also unspeakable evil. I don’t know what prompted Herba to end Ayling’s ordeal. I’m glad he took the high road and did. Oh, he should still do time for this crime, but at least he freed Ayling. Apparently, Herba and his guys belonged to a deep web group called Black Death. They named this dark web group after the 14th century plague that nearly wiped out Europe. That’s telling. But please, be careful of who you associate with over the web, and other places. I’m definitely not blaming the victim here. But the rest of us need to learn a lesson from Chloe Ayling’s near tragedy. What can those of us in computer repair do keep ourselves and loved ones safe?
Apple plans to release their next batch of smartwatches. So what? This may be different because this smartphone could depend less on the iPhone. This could very well be the iWatch breakthrough.
That’s because this upcoming brand of Apple watches will connect straight to cellular networks. Or so they say. Now, the iWatch needs an iPhone to do just about anything except tell time. But this new batch has LTE chips. The chips will let you do things like play music and send messages without your iPhone. That’s the iWatch breakthrough. Intel Corp. will sponsor the LTE chips. They’ve been trying to hook up with Apple for a long time. And this could be that break Intel Corp. is looking for.
Apple is in negations with cell phone carriers, well, the major ones. They’re talking to US and European leaders. Rumors have it the major US carriers, like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile are on board. So Apple wants these watches out to the public sometime in 2017. But because of ongoing talks with cell phone carriers, and other tech issues, we may be waiting until 2018. For example, some Apple leaders worry about battery life in this new device. But Apple leaders are excited about this iWatch breakthrough, saying this could change the game again.
Because the competition is sure changing the game. Fitbit and Xiaomi are the leaders in the smartwatch race because they always sell innovative watches. But the iWatch isn’t exactly slipping, either. Apple’s watches’ profits rose 50% last year. However, you know they yearn to be number one. This iWatch breakthrough can make it happen. Imagine not needing your smartphone to do just about everything. But they’re right about the battery life. Don’t release this thing until you can give us more battery life. How would you like it if you didn’t need it, but had to recharge every hour?
