Tech Bones

The Carrier IQ scandal: Enough is enough Is a smartphone that spies on its user just another fact of life in the privacy-free digital age? Or has a line finally been crossed? http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-center/the-carrier-iq-scandal-enough-enough-180569 As I wrote previously in  Personal Privacy in the Social Networking Age : The key is less about whether or not you are being watched but what you let them see. Do you change in front of an open window, one with sheers, closed drapes, or in another room completely away from the window? Ultimately, you determine your exposure. How to stop Facebook, Google+, and Twitter from tracking you http://www.infoworld.com/d/data-center/how-stop-facebook-google-and-twitter-tracking-you-174549  . . .

If you have followed my posts here and on other mediums, you are most likely aware of my position as to privacy and security issues associated with networks and especially the internet. Now it appears that even Federal Wiretap Laws are not protecting private communications over cellular networks... Carrier IQ Vs. Wiretap Laws http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/232200565 Better not only watch what you write but also what you say. ...

In a previous post on this blog titled Personal Privacy in the Social Networking Age , I wrote: The key is less about whether or not you are being watched but what you let them see. Do you change in front of an open window, one with sheers, closed drapes, or in another room completely away from the window? Ultimately, you determine your exposure. A recent article about a Facebook experiment by the University of British Columbia Vancouver shed even more light on the lack of attention many people pay towards protecting their privacy: Researchers Flood Facebook With Bots, Collect 250GB Of User Data Based upon UBCV's experiment, it would seem many people live by an open door policy letting anyone in who "asks." No wonder identity theft and stalking is so easy in the Social Networking Age. ...

Communication is an art form. Those who have ever listened to or been in the presence of a great speaker know exactly what I mean. A gifted orator can captivate and inspire an audience. Communication comprises more than mere words. The ability to effectively articulate your message, whether written or verbal, gives impact. The added benefit of personal face-to-face, eye-to-eye exchanges allow for shared energy and raw expression. As people rely more heavily on eMail, Facebook, Twitter and text messaging, they tend to sacrifice the art of communication in favor of merely "connecting." Complete sentences, grammar, and even spelling are cast aside for the sake of brevity. Thoughts and ideas become a series of snippets, abbreviations, and acronyms. Sound bites at best, subject to misinterpretation and imperfection. True expression becomes lost. Case in point, I recently visited with the CEO/Founder of an early seed-stage startup company. We initially connected via eMail and...

As the current darling of technology, " The Cloud " is generating considerable hype. Whether the discussion is about a " Private Cloud " or simply " The Cloud ," many regard this technology as the future of data storage. In fact, some proponents push the technology when they really don't even understand it. Case in point, my Italian godson, a gifted social media marketing consultant, frequently Tweets links to interesting articles and resources on social media networking and technology in general. He recently posted a link to a posting entitled " The History of Digital Storage " on a Blog named Visual Loop. The timeline offered by the Visual Loop author chronographed advances in data storage starting with the punch card through drum, reel tape, cassette tape, floppy, hard disk drive, optical disk, flash drive and solid state drive technology, ultimately ending with Cloud Storage. He then provided some interesting comparisons of the advances...

(Updated: October 4, 2011) I received an eMail regarding a Dell promotion called the "Military Appreciation Event." Both my wife and I fervently support our military men and women. Years ago in our hearts, we adopted one of our oldest son's best friends, currently stationed in Afghanistan. In addition, I was a military brat myself, as well as having been a consultant and service provider to the DoD over the years. The email naturally caught my attention. Knowing many people serving in the military and friends who have relatives deployed, I decided to compose a quick post to share this information. As I was reviewing the eMail, I noticed the lengthy size of the URL and wondered how many people would attempt to cut/paste and forward it via eMail. Too often, an eMail contains a Web site link that requires multiple lines and often breaks into two or more distinct strings. This in turn causes the link to fail and makes copying it into the browser's Navigation Toolbar d...

The recent announcement by Bank of America that they would start charging a $5.00 per month fee to Debit card holders has the media, and subsequently the general population, up in arms. What was once a free feature heavily promoted by the banks has suddenly become another source of income for one. Debit cards have long made money for banks, directly and indirectly. They save money by processing transactions electronically and, just like a credit card, merchants pay transaction fees for accepting the cards. However, recently enacted legislation has severely cut into the fees which banks can charge for such transactions which threatens a major source of income. Hence, the introduction of card holder fees. What many are overlooking is that debit card users have always been paying fees, probably far more than the fees proposed by BoA. The fees paid by retailers were merely factored into their cost of goods making the retail prices higher. It is unlikely that we will see any real drop i...

Watch the TV, read a newspaper or browse the internet, you cannot escape the current hype surrounding the availability of the soon-to-be-released Amazon Kindle Fire, the upcoming Apple iPhone 5 announcement, and the speculation regarding when the Apple iPad 3 might be released.  Amid all of the hoopla, Google is not about to let Android options be overlooked as proven by the rash of articles pertaining to the subject that have erupted in recent technology publications and on-line forums. The Google PR machine is working overtime to send the message that Android Apps remain a viable and readily available option. In just the last week numerous article links have appeared (and in some cases, reappeared) within news feeds that have found their way to my InBox. One of the more interesting was the following link: 16 Essential Android Apps for IT Pros Of the Apps listed in this slideshow, I personally use and recommend: Slide 13: Wi-Fi Analyzer (free) So many ways to use this ...

I recently decided my Dell Inspiron Core2Duo notebook was obsolete so I ordered an Asus G73SW-XT1 to replace it. The Asus came equipped with an Intel Core i7 2630QM CPU, 8GB of PC3-10600 1333MHz RAM, Seagate 500GB 7200RPM HDD, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB DDR5 VRAM video card, a 17.3" LED backlight screen (full HD @ 1920x1080 w/ 3DTV Play support) and Windows 7 Home Premium installed. Among the additional bells and whistles it includes: A back-lit keyboard, 2.0 Mega Pixel Web Camera, Blu-Ray DVD Combo, THX TruStudio sound w/ built-in subwoofer, 802.11 b/g/n, 10/100/1000 Base T, USB 3.0 support and quite a few other minor, butvaluable, features.  Needless to say, this jet has after burners compared to my old propeller powered Dell. Anxious to start playing with my new toy but not one to leave well enough alone, I replaced the base Seagate Momentus 7200.4 500GB 16MB Cache HDD with a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB 32MB Cache Hybrid SSD which " combines SSD-like performan...

Recent updates by Facebook have many of its users pounding their keyboards in protest. While the uproar may possibly result in some minor tweaks, the reality remains that it will most likely be short-lived because most users have become so addicted to socializing that they will eventually accept the intrusion. Some might choose to drop Facebook for Google+ in protest, but the vast majority will not be willing to go cold turkey with social networking. Personal Privacy and Social Networking exemplify oxymorons, just like Network Security, Virtual Reality and Legally Drunk. Something " personal " implies private not " social ," and any expectation of " privacy " cannot coexist with " networking " or " socializing ." Such reasoning resembles constructing a billboard of your life in your front yard while expecting that only your best friends will notice. Social Networking provides a lazy way to share information with a vast audience. Why s...