Category Archives: Computers/Electronics

Computers/Electronics

Welcome to the future…welcome to today

So a French TV network got hacked big time earlier in the day.  Of the 11 channels it has, it’s regained control of one of them.  Oh, and all their social media material was also hacked.  Click on the link for details:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/09/europe/french-tv-network-attack-recovery/index.html

I’ve mentioned before my feelings -both good and bad- regarding the rapidly changing economy thanks to the arrival of computers and the internet.

One of the biggest negatives of the interconnectivity people/businesses have is the fact that somewhere out there might lurk very clever people with some deeply dark thoughts.  And so it is that today I’m reading about hacking a major French TV network.

Will one day we read about an airplane that was hijacked electronically and forced to land (or worse!) somewhere other than its intended destination?  I see the writing on the wall and know that we’re soon going to have driverless cars.  But what if someone hacks into the programming that drives these vehicles?  Could you picture the mass chaos?

But let’s think bigger: What if someone should hack into a city’s electric grid?  Or a government’s military?

No wonder the field of cyber security is a booming one.

Computers/Electronics

Apple’s 7 Most Annoying Decisions…

…at least according to CNN:

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/technology/2015/03/11/apple-usb-macbook/index.html

I’m not a huge Apple fan.  Never have been, though as I’ve mentioned before I do use my iPad quite a bit and, based on that, decided to go for an iPhone.  I’m not as enamored of that piece of tech as I am the iPad.

Having said that, I do admire the business model and the care/hoopola with which Apple has released their products.  But I can see how some of the items listed on the above link could be annoying while at least one of them is a good example of forward thinking on Apple’s part,

Apple’s “one port” on its computers strikes me as especially silly.  Why not have at least two such ports and on each side of the computer?  Why not give people the option to connect more items at one time?

On the other hand, the forward thinking certainly applies to their decision to rid their computers of, first, the 5.25 drive and then the 3.5 drive.  The fact is that both drives, now many years obsolete, deserved to be gone.  But not having a CD/DVD/BluRay drive?  That strikes me, again, as silly.

While I can see our tech future will probably rely more and more on cloud memory and downloading/streaming movies/music, It feels counterproductive, at least for now, to not include such items.

Ah well, who am I to argue with a successful, multi-billion dollar company?!

Computers/Electronics

200 GB SanDisk microSD Card?!

For several years now it seems we’re not necessarily getting significantly better computers/devices but rather the real improvements, and they’re needed, are to both the memory capacity of said devices and the battery life.

As you can see mentioned above, SanDisk is working on the memory part and they appear to have created a (gulp) 200 GB microSD card:

http://www.sandisk.com/about-sandisk/press-room/press-releases/2015/200gb-sandisk-ultra-microsdxc-uhs-i-card-premium-edition/

I wouldn’t be surprised if sometime in the future we develop memory chips with a capacity so incredibly large that we are able to put our entire movie, book, music, TV show, etc. etc. collection on one chip and accessible whenever we should need to get to it.

And when that happens, however will we ever get our faces out of our phones/pads/computers?!

Computers/Electronics

This War of Mine…

Fascinating review of a decidedly different take on the war video game called This War of Mine.  Instead of focusing on a character who goes around building up his weaponry and killing literally hundreds upon hundreds of bad guys, This War of Mine focuses on common civilians trying to survive during a time of war.

From the sounds of it, this is a deeply affecting game that shows both the costs and price of survival in a war zone.  I’m curious to try it out, even though the review paints it out to be a deeply depressing experience, which of course makes sense:

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/gaming/2015/02/siege-survival-video-game-this-war-of-mine-reviewed.single.html

Computers/Electronics

About the coming Apple Watch…

A disclaimer: I’m not one of those huge fans of Apple and its products, though -paradoxically I know- I use at least three of them.  For my more serious computer related interests, ie writing and work, I use Windows based computer(s) and Microsoft Office.

I have an iPad which I find very enjoyable to use and a now discontinued iPod in my car to listen to music now and again.  I recently bought a new cell phone and, regretfully, I chose to get the iPhone 6.  While it is essentially a small version of the iPad from which you can call from, so far I’ve found the cell phone functions lacking.  Particularly, the quality of sound coming from the phone (or is it my tired, old ears?) is not all that great.

Anyway, one thing you can count on that tech companies like Apple and Samsung and Microsoft are desperate to do is find and exploit new and potentially lucrative technologies.  In more recent times, it seems there has been a great rush (although now it appears to have cooled down a little) toward developing a “tech watch”-type gadget.  Even as the first reports of such a gadget were released and the attempts to create interest in it were at their heights, I wasn’t all that impressed.  Cell phones, though a little bigger than a watch and not as “easy” to carry around as something strapped to your wrist, nonetheless aren’t all that much bigger or harder to carry around, either.

The big question is would I -or for that matter most people- be inclined to buy and use something with a screen as small as a wrist watch to do anything other than check the time?

Author David Goldman at CNN Money has some thoughts and predictions regarding the device, and they’re pretty negative.:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/04/technology/apple-watch-flop/index.html

I think the biggest problem outlined by Mr. Goldman that would hurt anyone’s desire to get the Apple Watch is the battery life.  Even if you don’t mind using its very small screen, the fact that the watch can only run for some 10 hours, not even a full day, is troublesome.

Perhaps one day a tech wristwatch will be developed that will truly eclipse the cell phone.  That day, I feel, is still a long way off.

Computers/Electronics, Music

U2 and Apple, redux

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18, King James Bible)

So its been a few days since Apple’s “big” event and the unveiling of the Samsung sized iPhones and the iWatch…er… Apple Watch and the thing that had me most interested, the free U2 album Songs of Innocence.

It is that latter part of the event that has many people -for the most part very amusingly- up in arms.  Witness, for example, the fact that the “uproar” from the free album’s release and auto-download to iTunes now has Apple offering instructions on how to remove it from your iTunes que:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/15/tech/mobile/apple-u2-return/index.html

According to Heather Kelly, the author of the above article, the lesson Apple learned was that not everyone likes U2 or wants their album, even if it is given away to them free.

The second point she makes, though, is the more salient one: even those who do (like U2) really don’t like it when you put music in their libraries without asking.

The Biblical quote offered at the beginning of this entry is somewhat appropriate to this situation, though I’ll be the first to say Apple’s “sin” is far from biblical in its importance.

A week or two ago one of the biggest tech issues involved the hacking of many very famous actress/models’ phones (iPhones all, it would appear) and the subsequent releases of their private, nude pictures.  Apple’s security took a big hit with this invasion of privacy, yet only days later the company decides it’s a good idea to release a free U2 album (I agree with them there) and an equally great idea to have it automatically download onto everyone’s iTunes (here comes trouble!).

For in “automatically” downloading this particular album to your computer, it feels like Apple, this time on its own and without the aid of a hacker, decided to intrude into your computer and give you a piece of entertainment, whether you wanted it or not.  In effect, they went one extra step too far and have suffered considerable derision for it.

It is astonishing that Apple took what should have been a huge positive (look, kids, we’re giving away a free album from a very big and popular band!) and made it a negative by delivering that content without your consent.

Weird times we live in!

Computers/Electronics

You didn’t really ask for it…

A very funny parody video from Jackfilms regarding the new “iWatch”…er…Apple Watch:

Gotta admit, I”m on the side of those who wonder what the deal is with all this Apple worship.  In the previous years I’ve seen sarcastic posts from Apple fans who shook their heads and wondered why in the world android fans “needed” such big phones and/or bothered with the whole phone/telephone thing.  These devices, both of which have been available for Android phones, finally come out in Apple versions and those Apple fans who “poo-poohed” the Android versions now proudly boast how they’ve ordered the Apple versions of the exact same stuff.

Weird.

As for myself, I’m intrigued with the Windows phones.  Mind you, I don’t have one, but the idea of interlinking all my Windows stuff seems like a pretty good idea.

Then again, what do I know, I’m obviously a tech heathen! 😉

Computers/Electronics

The Most Terrifying Thought Experiment of All Time…

…at least according to David Auerbach for Slate magazine, is Roko’s Basilisk.

Never heard of it?  I hadn’t either, until reading this article:

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/07/roko-s-basilisk-the-most-terrifying-thought-experiment-of-all-time.single.html

I have to say, this article fascinated the hell out of me.  The idea, if I read right, is that it is inevitable that in the near future we will develop an Artificial Intelligence supercomputer capable of…well, all kinds of things.

The question becomes, will this supercomputer be benevolent or malevolent toward her creators?

What if this incredible supercomputer of the future is malevolent and capable of punishing those who did not help in her creation?

There’s more, much more to this, including the concept of our lives being a computer simulation (!) and perhaps living in continual suffering for our choices…

In the end, it is a fascinating thought experiment with some decidedly Lovecraftian themes behind it.

Read at your own peril!

Books/Literature, Computers/Electronics, Movies

Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”

If you haven’t heard/read about it, director/writer Quentin Tarantino’s next film was supposed to be The Hateful Eight.  I heard it was going to be a western with a cast that features more mature/elderly actors and there were those that speculated this might be a film on par, thematically, with The Wild Bunch.

Whether this was the case or not, the film’s first draft script was leaked and Mr. Tarantino’s reaction was, to me, quite understandable: He was pissed.

He released a stinging statement to the media noting The Hateful Eight movie was shelved and the script might be released as a novel.  He went further, stating the first draft script was in the hands of only three actors…and he suspected one of their agents/agencies were the source of the leak.

Today, news comes that Mr. Tarantino is suing Gawker for posting links to the leaked script:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/quentin-tarantino-suing-gawker-leaked-674424

I can’t blame him.

I’ve talked before about my curiosity about the effects of the internet and the changes it has made to the economy, whether for good or bad.

There was a time when there were Music stores.  At first, they sold record albums.  Then 8-track and cassettes.  Then came CDs.  With the advent of the MP3 file, however, the entire music selling industry was uprooted.  Suddenly, it was easy to download -legally or illegally- music online.  So easy, in fact, that if you were interested in, say, the music of Artist X, in a matter of minutes you could have every one of their albums (legally or illegally) along with as many bootlegs (illegally) as you wanted/cared for.

In one moment, music stores were a thing of the past.

I recall many years ago (1986 or 1987) going to see a movie and noting a life sized cardboard cutout promoting the upcoming Robocop movie.  Back in those pre-internet days, I had no idea such a film was in the works, much less on the verge of being released.

The cutout, frankly, looked absolutely ridiculous to my eyes.  “A cop that’s a robot?” I said in disbelief.  “How stupid!”

And yet, when the film was released a month or so later (again, I had NO IDEA AT ALL what the film was about other than this poster/cutout) there were some very good reviews for it and I was curious.

I went to see the film and, again, without knowing all that much about it, was blown away.

Today and thanks to the internet, we already know just about everything we need to about the Robocop remake.  Who stars in it, an idea of what the tone of the film is, even how it differs from the original.  I suspect there are many who have already made up their minds about whether they care to see this remake.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

I suppose on the one hand its good to have an idea of what you’re in for should you choose to go see the film.  On the other hand…where is the surprise?

And what happens if you’re someone like Mr. Tarantino, and you’re working hard on something only to see it prematurely released to the public without your consent?

Currently, I’m working very hard on finishing up the fifth novel in my Corrosive Knights series.  The work has been grueling but I’m getting close to the end.  Frankly, I don’t know how I’d react if the current draft of the book were somehow released to the public.

Would I give up on the book and move on to another project?

I suppose so.

But the heartbreak of what would amount to wasting all that time working on something only to have it stripped from you…that would be a very hard thing to get over.

Computers/Electronics

The History of #- and 6 Other Symbols that Rule Twitter (and the Web)

Fascinating list from Kieth Huston at (or should I say @?) Time magazine concerning the above, a short history of six of the symbols now very commonly used in Twitter and around the web…and how they came to be:

http://ideas.time.com/2013/09/23/the-history-of-and-6-other-symbols-that-rule-twitter-and-the-web/

Not to sound too terribly nerdy, but I especially enjoyed item number 4, the slash (or / ) and what its significance is.

No, I’m not kidding.

If you’re too lazy to click on the link above, here’s the bit I found so intriguing:

In 1996, when Tim Berners-Lee was laying down the ground rules for his new computer network, he declared that website addresses should begin after a double slash, thus: “http://”. He explained that the double slash represented a sort of “root” for all addresses; google.com and time.com are top-level children of that root address, with other levels below them separated by single slashes (“http://time.com/us”). Taking his concept one step further, Berners-Lee gave the example of an imagined interplanetary telephone network—if all Earthly telephone numbers began with a double slash, he said, interplanetary numbers would begin with a triple slash, with the dialing code for Earth or Mars placed between “///” and “//”.