Feb 25, 2019 | Amazon, Apple, Azure, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Privacy, security
A series of articles about privacy and trust in the era of tech overlords. • Part 1: Data about you is being gathered by the big tech companies (as well as many other companies) in startling ways. Their ability to analyze that data and predict your behavior is...
Feb 20, 2019 | Facebook, Google, Privacy, security
Tech companies know all your secrets. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple are studying your every thought, word, and deed. AI analysis has already given them spooky abilities to predict your behavior for advertisers, with enough accuracy to make them the...
Jan 27, 2019 | Android, Apple, backup, Chrome, computers, Facebook, Google, Internet, laptops, LastPass, mail, mobile, phone, security, software, spam, web_services, Windows10, Windows7
These are the rules for computer and online safety in 2019. You can download a copy here. Only your vigilance will protect you against bad guys. You will be safe if you are cautious. Stop and think before you click on links, before you call unfamiliar phone numbers,...
Jan 16, 2019 | Amazon, Android, Apple, backup, Chrome, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, mobile, Office, Office 365, OneDrive, phone, Samsung, Skype, web_services, Windows10, wireless
I wrote an article a few years ago about how difficult it is for non-tech people to manage the fiddly bits required to run a Windows computer. It’s one of the things that drove the transition from computers to phone and tablets. An interesting thing is happening...
Jan 6, 2019 | Amazon, Apple, Box, bruceb, business, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Google Home, home assistants, Microsoft, OneDrive, Samsung, security, web_services, Windows10
Remember when I wrote an article a year ago predicting that always-connected computers would be heavily promoted in 2018? Yeah, about that: not even close. Nada. All the buzz died away when the first PCs in that category turned out to be underpowered and, well, pretty...
Dec 16, 2018 | Facebook, Google, news, Politics
A famous thought experiment shows how an AI could be designed with good intentions and without malice, and still wind up destroying humanity. Imagine that an artificial intelligence is told to maximize production of paperclips. Through an oversight it is not...
