TecHumanity - The Human Side of Technology

The Old "You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression" Lesson Learned...

2012-02-10T13:04:00.001-05:00

...and for me, this lesson is to NOT totally depend on technology to do my "dirty work". Case in point, a couple of days ago, I needed to write 3 very specific emails within a time limit. Typically, I am an extra-ordinarily good proof-reader - primarily with spelling, but also to a lesser extent with wording. I am best when I'm not rushed - I know that.

Anyways, the mistake that I made was that the spell-checker on my Yahoo was turned on so I figured that between my eagle eyes and the spell-checker, I wouldn't have any spelling mistakes. Well, there were a couple of errors that I discovered after the fact. Not spelling errors, but typing errors. I shoulda woulda coulda checked to make sure that my spell-checker was turned on.

Speaking of which, I'm not seeing and red-squiggles on this blog entry, let me run the spell-check before publishing. Duh - Rick - totally duh!

Waxing Nostagically in the Technological Age

2012-02-10T12:24:00.000-05:00

I know for any generation, there are challenges as it relates to accepting and adjusting to technological advances. To a certain extent, we all learn to put the past behind us and to embrace the change as it leads us to different ways of doing things.

However, as is often the case, everyone has their little things from yesteryear that they miss.

For me, it's two types of experiences, going to the library and browsing through the video store.
The library so much isn't as much of an issue. I love the convenience of being able to read online - and hey - there's nothing stopping me from visiting the library. It's something that I do often and it's just such a different experience from browsing through books online.

The one that I really miss though is the experience of going to the video store. The days of Roger's Video and Blockbuster brick and mortar sites are long gone. There are some specialty mom and pop type stores, but it's just not the same.

Don't get me wrong, I just love the convenience of being to rent through my digital TV, and with my satellite TV subscription, I even get access to movies on the computer. There's no question that I do not miss the "oh damn, I forgot to return the video" feeling the morning after.

But it's just not the same for me. There was something very charming for me to be able to walk up and down the aisles - to go along the perimeter for a new release or perhaps to go browsing through a specific genre. The thrill of "yes! There's one last copy of <insert popular movie here>" and feeling like I just got lucky. I loved picking up a case of some movie I had never heard of and read the back and just take a chance.

It is, what it is - I guess. I don't have to accept or like it though. I'm going to pout and complain about this. That is until I get home and I go and continue watching any of the three movies that I have stored on my PVR that I've been recording.

So I like to eat my cake and have it too - I'm entitled!

3D Printing

2012-02-10T07:40:00.001-05:00

A couple of months ago, I marvelled at a new innovation referred to as 3D printing. I won't go through the details of the blog entry or to describe the technology as it can be found in this entry: Caught with my Technological Shorts Down. In this entry, I talk about one of the areas that I can see this being a very viable and valuable technology - that area being the medical industry.

Lo and behold, earlier this week, there was an article on PC World on exactly this topic:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/249359/3d_printers_now_print_human_body_parts.html.

An elderly lady had a very bad jaw infection and due to her age, they could not fix it in the traditional methods, so that scanned her existing lower jaw - all of it - and printed her a new jaw.

This is just mind-blowing and the more that I read about this technology, the more that I believe that it has (and is!) revolutionizing our society.

The very scary thing is that I think that this is literally just the tip of the iceberg.

A Stick Is Just a Stick

2012-02-09T12:08:00.000-05:00

..and sometimes a stick is something much more.

A stick is just a stick…until it’s rubbed against another stick to spark a fire - then it becomes a source of heat.

A stick is just a stick…until it’s rapped against a rock – then it becomes a percussion instrument.

A stick is just a stick…until it’s used by a primate to scoop out ants – then it becomes a tool.

A stick is just a stick…until one end is notched and one end is pointed – then it becomes a weapon.

As I came into work this morning, I came up with this metaphor and I realized that this concept works just as well with our current computer based technology. The very general point to this article is that the true driving force behind the tools is the thought process behind the tool – even more-so than the physical attributes of the tool. As the context of a stick can be changed based on its intended purpose, such is also the case for our modern technology.

A computer is just an object manufactured of plastic, metals and other components. What drives the success of our technology is the thought and the imagination of what tools we need; how the tools will be used and how they will need to be designed by their intended use.

As much as the physical components of our technology are critical, they are really just the ends to a mean – a way of delivering the creativity to fruition. Without this creative process and the need and ability to solve problems, none of this technology would exist.

To continue on with the stick, I imagine that way “back in the day” before there were primates, then a stick truly was just a stick. The broken off branch on the ground was just that and nothing more, there were no ancillary uses for it.

I can’t imagine the revolution or the process that started off with the realization that rubbing two sticks together caused a spark which can be used to start a fire. The course of our history was changed with that one innovation.

In the same ways, as we speed down the technological path of our modern times, we too are starting those branches, the divides where the future historians will look back to 2012 and say “Look ! This is where it all started! This is where _____ all came from”.

The challenge that we have as a society is how do we ensure that the path that we take is best? How do we ensure that our collective brains create new technologies with minimal disadvantage?

I would hazard a guess that “most” scientists and visionaries keep this in mind as they think through possible solutions. However, even in the most innocent situations, the intended use of a technology can be bastardized to create harm.

It would be too idealistic to expect that all technological advances are good, but that’s not necessarily the case.

The best solution that I can think of is to always remain a skeptic – to say to one’s self “gee, that’s a really interesting technology, but what happens IF…?”

Perhaps the problem is that we all have our own motivations – our own agendas.

It was said that Thomas Edison grew his company for one reason and one reason only – to raise capital so that they can invent more technologies, to raise more capital to invent more technologies.

Sadly, that type of a technological philosophy is not always the case. Not that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with a company creating new technologies to increase the return on investment for investors or to create profits for whatever reason, but can we at least not pretend that at the very least that there’s a fundamental common good that we’re aiming for?

If we’re going to find uses for sticks, then at least let’s try to find more good uses for it than bad ones.

OtherInBox and Yahoo and Me!

2012-01-25T14:25:00.003-05:00

I posted about this groovy add-in to my Yahoo inbox last year. It continues to be a marvelous tool to sort and organize my inbox.

Certainly, the same type of functionality can be mimicked with filters in Yahoo, but I find filters to be a bit limiting, and I like the fact that I can "train" OtherInbox to send similar types of emails from different sources to the same folder.

Where I find this especially useful lately is really using my Yahoo inbox as a virtual filing cabinet. I have many OtherInBox folders setup and when I find a particular article of interest on the web, I'll email the article to myself from within the web page. Where the website in question allows, I'll add a little blurb in the subject line so that it's a bit easier to navigate and sift through the myriad of emails in one OIB (Other Inbox) folder.

Nice work, guys! I'm a big OIB fan and will continue to looks for ways of managing my email better and sharing tips along the way.

Hard Disk Fragmentation

2012-01-12T11:20:00.002-05:00

You might have noticed that it takes your computer longer to launch programs or load your files? One of the reasons for this is because of something called fragmentation.

The user of the computer would never notice, but your hard disk is actually logically divided into small chunks called sectors. During the life span of your hard disk, you will have added files, removed them and made changes. When you are installing a new program, the computer will need to determine where it should be located. It will look for a group of sectors that are free and will start installing the program (or saving the data file) in the first sector. As that sector is filled up, the computer will then look for the next available sector. Once it has determined the best second sector to use, it sets a pointer at the end of the first sector which indicates the physical location on the hard disk where the second sector is located. Large programs can take up many sectors with the first pointing to the second which points to the third, and so on.

When you have a new computer, the computer is able to find large numbers of sectors in the same physical region and as a result, the program will be installed in sectors that have a close proximity. The problem arises as your hard disk fills up. If it needs to find a second sector and there’s not one near the first then it will look for the next available sector which might be on the exact opposite end of the hard disk. Thus, in this scenario, you could have one program file where the sectors are scattered throughout the hard disk. Although the computer keeps track of this seamlessly, the reality is that the sensor that reads the hard disk needs time to move back and forth and the hard disk spins like a record player (cd player?) to bring the right physical location to the read/write head. When the file is split up like this, this is known as fragmentation.

To combat performance slowdown caused by fragmentation, Microsoft Windows includes a utility which can be located by clicking on the start button and then selecting Accessories followed by System Tools and then System Defragmenter. You can think of this utility as a “spring cleaning” tool for your hard disk. Once you run it, the utility will go through and temporarily move sectors to empty areas and then organize the sectors that belong together sequentially. When you first run the System Defragmenter, it will do an analysis of your hard disk to determine how much your hard disk is defragmented.

This process is safe to run, and there should never be any data loss, but of course, we all backup our hard disks on a regular basis in case of emergency. Right? :)

The defragmenter can also be setup to automatically defragment on a schedule that you define. How often you should defragment depends very much on how often you install or change files, how quick your hard disk and how big it is, but probably a monthly defragmentation would be sufficient. If you run the utility and see that it appears to be fragmented past 25%, then you can always just run it manually or adjust your schedule so that it’s defragmented weekly.

Waiting on The World To Change

2012-01-11T13:19:00.004-05:00

This month’s article steals the title from a snappy John Mayer ditty and is somewhat of a departure from my usual articles. I have a particular rant with regards to technology not progressing fast enough for my liking.

Usually, I’m a little bit cautious with regards to technological advances, but in a case like this, I’m a big proponent and am anxiously waiting for the advances that I believe are (or at least technically could be) around the corner.

My biggest gripe is about this authentication process of who we are. I touched on a subset of this issue with my article titled Multiple Locks - One Key but it goes beyond this.

Not only are we expected to remember passwords for the gajillion websites that we visit but where this also impacts us in our wallets. I’m referring to this literally – at how many credit cards, debit cards, customer loyalty cards and identification cards that we’re forced to carry.

It might seem like a minor issue but I know for myself personally, I am convinced that how thick my wallet is, has affected me physically. I started noticing that when I was driving longer distances that I’d be getting a pain in my right hip. I didn’t really think much of it at the time, but as the symptoms progressed I tried to figure out what was causing the pain. I came to the realization that I carry my wallet in my right rear pocket and I noticed when I was sitting that the thickness of the wallet forced my right hip to be slightly out of alignment.

As an experiment, I started carrying my wallet in a jacket pocket when driving and the symptoms seemed to be much alleviated.

This caused me to question why on earth do I need so many separate cards. Certainly technology has advanced to the degree where at least for our loyalty cards, there could be one master card and my copy of this card would link to whatever programs I belonged to.

Same thing for credit cards and government identification cards. Why do I need to have so many pieces of identification? I guess that there must be logistical or privacy reasons in some cases, but cheese and crackers – I really should be able to have less than a half dozen cards in my wallet.

One of the arguments might be that if you someone gets access to this one “master” then they have access to everything (same issue as I noted in the Multiple Locks - One Key), but where we need a physical presence to use these cards, there must be a possibility of using biometric identification such as fingerprints or retina scans to prove that the card belongs to me – it’s really not all that complicated.

I would guess that the biggest problem is that this would be an absolutely huge infrastructure change on how our data is stored and our identity is authenticated, but I’m also quite certain that in the long run it would save companies significant amounts of money with reduced manufacturing/maintenance of these cards, let alone a (theoretical) reduced fraud risk.

At present I now have TWO wallets, one that I keep with me with just the cards that I might need on a semi-regular basis and a second wallet at home with the rest of my more infrequent cards.

As a society we managed to figure out how to replace trade and barter with a cash and credit system. Surely over this period, we’re ready for that next monumental step.

Hitting the High Notes

2011-12-02T07:09:00.000-05:00

From a personal perspective, one of the things that I love about our technology is how it has provided me the tools to sample and listen to music.

The most obvious of these is the iTunes revolution. I don't know how many albums that I've bought on iTunes, but it's been a ton of them. Many relaxing weekend mornings are spent in the iTunes store either looking for new releases from old favourites, or sometimes just trying something totally off the wall. It's with the latter that I have discovered some new favourites such as Swell Season and Angus and Julia Stone.

I'm also getting very hyped about satellite radio and am at present listening to my 7 day free trial of Sirius - something that will likely be turned into a paid subscription soon enough!

This ability to listen to music on demand, to explore, to listen to one specific genre on satellite radio - this has been a big part of my life and this isn't going to change anytime soon.

My only regret is how this has affected the brick-and-mortar music stores. There was as much of an enjoyment physically flipping through albums in a store as it is pleasurable to walk into a library and walk up and down the aisles.

Still - onwards and upwards I suppose.

Now - you'll have to excuse me - I have to check on iTunes to see if there any new Christmas albums. I'm currently sitting at approximately 125 albums of holiday music and I've only added 1 to my collection this year - any recommendations are always welcome!

The Good of Technology

2011-11-30T22:12:00.000-05:00

I've alluded to this in the past...but as much as I slag technology sometimes, I have to admit that from a very personal perspective, technology has aided me immensely over the past few years as I've researched medical and legal issues.

The biggest problem that I can see in this research area is that there is a total plethora of resources out there and even within one specific site that I've used frequently, there's easily 50 years of history to sift through. What this means is that it's important to develop techniques between sites and within sites as you're looking for information.

Having said all this, my primary piece of advice is that it's fine to look towards the Internet for information and resources - but to question everything that you read and to realize that (as I mentioned in previous blog entries), a slick and professional website doesn't necessarily mean that the information is correct, valid an impartial.

Of course, this caveat applies to more conventional sources like newspapers and radio news articles. There is always some form of bias - conscious or unconscious.

Due diligence is the key - yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Blog Traffic

2011-11-29T20:47:00.000-05:00

Just had a hit from what I gather is probably a spider...out of curiosity, I went to the site and it apparently had tips for using embedded tags and optimization and such to increase traffic. I think that I will bookmark this page and come back to it, it would be a very interesting exercise in how to increase traffic. Maybe then I'd make more than the massive $0.29 that I've made so far.

Serious people, click on some ads - papa needs some revenue!!

The Stepping Stone Generation

2011-11-29T19:59:00.000-05:00

This is something that a very good friend of mine and I were discussing over lunch a couple of weeks ago. He and I and all others of our generation - and those a little younger and a little older (but not much either way!) are in a very unique position, one that I think is safe to say will never be experience again.

This will probably come across as a couple of older guys reminiscing about the past and it may be the case to an extent.

However, the thing is that we are one of the very few who have experienced significant portions of a our lives before the computer revolution and the latter parts fully immersed in technology.

Certainly any generation can probably make similar claims. For example, those who were alive in the early 1900's can probably make the same statement about the automobile and the irreversible impact it had on the society then. Just the same as later generations will be able to compare their youth in the early 21st century and contrast it with the inevitable leaps and bounds of technology.

All of that having been said, I think that there is no generation that can point to a "simpler" (although not necessarily better) life before the digital revolution.

When my daughter was younger, she loved to hear "stories" of the past. The equivalent "when I was a child, I walked ten miles to school" was replaced by my recalling how there were no cellphones, that most houses had one phone and there was no privacy as it was attached to the wall. Or I would convey my stories of our first TV and she would giggle when I said that we had to get off the sofa to change stations or adjust the volume.

As always (and as I often say in this blog) technology has it's good and it's bad. My only advice to people is to try to treasure those moments that aren't necessarily totally driven by technology.

Virtual(ly) Reality

2011-11-29T18:25:00.000-05:00

vir·tu·al·ly

adv
\ˈvər-chə-wə-lē, -chə-lē; ˈvərch-wə-lē\

Definition of VIRTUALLY

1 : almost entirely : nearly

2: for all practical purposes <virtually unknown>

The term “virtual reality” seems to be becoming more common in our lexicon. When I look at these two words together, it becomes apparent to me that virtual reality is an oxymoron, as much as “open secret” or “larger half” is. Most of us are aware of how an oxymoron is two terms that contradict each other and logically can’t be used in conjunction with one another.

I contend that Virtual Reality is another oxymoron – you cannot say that something “almost entirely” exists. If something fully exists – it’s reality, if it almost entirely exists, then it cannot be.

So many times this term is tossed around as if the two terms were complementary, but they’re not. I think that this is a symptom of our society. There almost seems to be this underlying thought that the lives we live online are just about comparable to the world we live off-line.

I look at social networking and see how people are proud of the fact that they have 452 friends on Facebook. Most of these people aren’t “friends”; they are people that you know in varying degrees of detail. For anyone with 452 friends, I challenge you to take 10 names of friends at random and step away from the computer and write down what they’re doing in their lives. I’m betting with the bevy of status updates and tweets that most people don’t follow more than 10% of their “friend base”.

Using social networking CAN be an effective communications tool once the relationship has been nurtured and established. It can be a wonderful medium where a loved one or a classmate lives across the country but not to the exclusion of the personal touch.

For me though, there’s no substitute for being the same room with a person. Being in person allows me to hear her voice, to see her smile or a flit of anger in her eyes. It’s impossible to communicate the same way online and words can be misconstrued.

One of the tenets of science faction (my term for technologies that aren’t here yet, but are probably inevitable, or at least they are feasible) is the development of technologies that allow lovers to experience touch via specially designed suits that are programmed to apply pressure according to signals received from their mate. The thing is that I don’t think that this would even be a pale comparison of the real thing. In this instance, it’s really still just a machine that’s applying pressure even though it’s controlled by the person on the other end. I doubt if any technology would be developed that would allow someone to be truly caressed from afar.

Social networking does have its benefits - in a limited and a reasonable context. Where we fail as a society though is where people think that the technology replaces instead of enhances the physicality of being with a person. If and when that ever changes and if technology develops to the point where this type of interaction is the norm …well…that is the point where I’ll just get off of this technological merry-go-round.

The Future of Software & Apps

2011-11-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

There was a very interesting article that I read - sorry, don't have the link. The basic premise is that "industry experts" are all saying that apps and software installed on devices (especially tablets, iPods, etc...) are for all intents and purposes "dead" and that the real "future" of application delivery is via websites.

As a guy who has been around software development since it's virtual inception in the 80's (as a mainstream technology) I am - to say the least - skeptical.

There's a lot of this I understand in that methods of distribution, ease of updates, developing for a common web based environment...this all sounds great in concept - and it way be. The problem will be though is that if this is going to be the new method of software, then there's going to need to be a mechanism somehow for offline delivery of content. Maybe they've figure it out and have a plan. What I can say is that when I see individuals on the subway where there's no cell or WiFi service - I really don't think that people will be too fond at having the functionality of their favourite devices tied so closely to online accessibility.

I will need to find this article and read some more - I can't imagine that this hasn't been raised as an issue.

Happy World Toilet Day!

2011-11-19T14:29:00.000-05:00

Yes - that's right - can you IMAGINE that it's World Toilet Day already? I can't believe that another 365 days have flushed by!

Now, I'm getting a handle on how to tie this in to technology. After all, technology <> toilets, right? Wrong!

Kohler has introduced the latest high tech toilet with it's own tablet PC built in to control it's functionality. Now having a remote control for the loo - THAT my friends, is a movement! Said remote controls lighting, cleansing spray action, general sanitation?

Sorry, but I will give the high-tech toilet the poo-poo. I'm just scared that I will be so dependant on this technlogy that I will be unable to "go" on my own. It's been a long time that I haven't been totally in control of my own...ummm....functions...for lack of a better word (to put it delicately) and I am bound and determined to not go with the flow on this one!

Blogging in 2011

2011-11-19T14:00:00.000-05:00

Just noticed the other day at how few blog entries that I had in 2011 - especially in the last 2/3 of it. It's been a crazy year for me with lots of real world stuff going on to distract me, but I'm hoping that I'll get back to normal.

Google Sketchy...

2011-11-18T13:53:00.001-05:00

...this is how I'm feeling by Google's recent announcement that they're taking on the big boys of the music industry, specifically iTunes.

First of all, that's a heck of a mountain to climb! I don't know that the market saturation is for Apple in the download purchase area, but I'd have to imagine that they're not only the leaders but they're dominant. It will be a heck of a battle to gain market share I'd think.

Also, let's face it, Google is monolithic and they've had some great products and innovations, but they've also had their share of misses that sucked wind. I think that the folks at Google will throw lots of jello at the wall and if half of them stick, then that's great, but I think it's safe to say that there's not a lot of panic in Cuperinto

Happy Birthday to You!!!

2011-11-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

Wow, I never knew! Today is a very momentous day in the field of technology. The very first single-chip microprocessor was introduced on this day 40 years ago! The chip - the 4004 was a 4 bit chip running a slug's pace of 740khz and it had programmable memory of...4 K.

I'm sure that a lot of you like "big whoop", but this is the "Adam" to just about anything with a processor, from your cellphone to your car, your microwave, everything.

To give some context on how far technology has gone in the past 40 years, the current processor would run at maybe 4.0ghz. Comparing this to the 740khz of the 4004 is like comparing thousands to billions. Quite a difference.

For me though, it's the memory. To have 4,000 characters of memory available - I just can't fathom that compared to the capacity of a modern processor.

I very badly want to fast forward 40 MORE years and see how technology has increased exponentially!

"The sheer number of advances in the next 40 years will equal or surpass all of the innovative activity that has taken place over the last 10,000 years of human history," said Justin Rattner, Intel chief technology officer, in a written statement.

I'm not sure if this statement excites me, or scares the beejesus out of me - probably a bit of both!

Technological Anesthesia

2011-11-12T16:45:00.001-05:00

The topic for this article came to me in a flash as I was innocuously talking about movies with a colleague of mine. We were talking about Remembrance Day and she was telling me how she couldn’t watch “Saving Private Ryan” as it was just too much for her; it was just much too intense. My response to her was that she’s very correct, that it’s an extraordinarily powerful movie and it wasn’t easy to watch. Further, I went on to say that I had a feeling that what Saving Private Ryan portrayed was probably very close to reality. My thoughts were that I didn’t mind the fact that movie was so graphic because the intent was to show how horrible war was – that the reality wasn’t John Wayne shooting some guy with a ten gallon hat who dropped down in a very tidy and dainty death.

Now, this started me thinking…

As a teen, I was a big fan of Star Trek. This conversation reminded me of one of my absolute favourite episodes. In this particular episode, the gang from the U.S.S. Enterprise was called upon to try to resolve a war between two feuding planets that had been going on for centuries. As Captain Kirk began to understand the situation, he came to the realization that these two societies had come up with a creative and “civilized” manner of warfare.

Instead of resolving their disputes with conventional warfare, each side had a computer which randomly selected citizens from the other planet. These chosen few dutifully marched towards the chambers where they were zapped into non-existence. The uppity-ups of society applauded this approach saying how humane, cost-efficient it was, not to mention the total lack of collateral damage. Kirk’s inevitable end of episode soliloquy stated that THIS was the whole problem – that they weren’t experiencing the travesty and the destruction of war so they didn’t have the incentive to resolve the conflict.

I relate this episode to something that I call technological anesthesia. Simply put, excessive use of technology in our day to day lives can numb our senses and distort reality.

There was a recent study where doctors noticed a phenomena where young male adults who normally are…how shall I delicately say – enamored with the thought of the physical attributes of the opposite sex are actually being diagnosed with withering sex drives. Their findings are that in many of these cases, these are men who spend just a bit too much time viewing the plethora of pornography online, and as a result, they’re quite desensitized.

There’s another aspect of technological anesthesia which becomes increasingly prevalent, and this is what are referred to as “trolls”. A troll is a term for someone who logs into a message board and posts something inflammatory or offensive, just to cause a ruckus. Many times when on message boards, there are “flame wars” or insults lobbed back and forth between combatants. The problem is that when we interact online, we often forget that there are actually people on the other end – all that we see are the digital personas and such, who cares if they’re offended or hurt by our words? It goes without saying that if you took all of the citizens of one specific inflammatory message board and put them all in a room and forced them to talk and engage with each other, I think that it’s safe to assume that the bravado which is displayed online would not be nearly as common, lest someone get a poke in the nose otherwise.

In my mind, this in a nutshell is one of the biggest problems with online communication, interaction and social networking. We have lost that humanity and are only seeing the bits and bytes of letters flowing across the screen without giving due consideration that the other person is someone’s daughter, someone’s father or someone’s aunt.

Tyrannosaurus Techs

2011-10-21T11:30:00.002-04:00

There are many that believe that one of the contributing factors to the demise of the dinosaurs is the fact that from an evolutionary perspective, they were unable to adapt. In today’s society, this is exactly the context in which we refer to the same concept with people, products or companies today.

I find that with technology, it’s not always easy to adapt. I think that one of the main reasons why, is that technology grows at an ever-increasing pace and we simply don’t have time to get accustomed or to with the new technology. This is – I believe – one of the primary reasons why there is resistance to technological change. There is a comfort level that we have, with what we’re accustomed to, and to have that pulled out from under our feet can be very disconcerting.

However, this change is for most intents and purposes inevitable. Not to say that everyone has to adapt to technological change right away. If existing technology fits within your particular lifestyle, then all is good. As a matter of fact, I think that sometimes people that are able to buck the trend a bit have a certain charm!

I sometimes get asked what the impetus is for the subjects of my articles. For the most part, it’s just very random thoughts or experiences in my daily life.

In this instance, I was riding the subway and in the age of iPods and Blackberries and various other MP3-ish type of devices, I was just totally amused by the gentleman who was listening to music and then pulled out his CD player from his pocket, took out the CD and inserted a new one. As someone who listens to a lot of music, I was just aghast, I can’t imagine just having 3 or 4 CDs of music with me, but that’s just me. If this is how he enjoyed his music, then all the power to him.

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I’ve seen so much change in technology. This rapid rate of change isn’t isolated to my generation – it will continue to escalate in the generations of my children, and their children.

This is what makes it important to remain open-minded with regards to technology. I think that this is ever more critical when working in the technology sector. Not only is it necessary to keep up to date with technology professionally, but to a very large extent, one has to be very forward thinking and be able to anticipate where the technology is going.

It’s like when we buy that new computer – based on the current “newest technology”. How often do we get the computer home and we are benefitting from the latest and greatest? And how long is it before we sit there, mumbling and cursing at this dinosaur on the desktop, while casting a sideways glance at the latest offerings from Dell?

I think that the biggest lesson that I’ve learned from having thought through this article is that it is critical to identify where I need to stay current and not to be a technological dinosaur. However, I think what is also equally important is to be able to take a look at those aspects of technology where maybe it’s okay for me to stay within my comfort zone. As I see how many different aspects of technology are changing, I’m gaining the wisdom to realize that I can’t, nor should I, try to keep up with all technology.

Instead, I will pick and choose where I need to stay with the crowd, and where I’ll be equally comfortable being the equivalent of the guy on the subway listening to his CD player.

Caught With My Technological Shorts Down!

2011-08-20T07:59:00.001-04:00

Okay, not really a great visual to start off with for this article, but probably very appropriate.

One of the things that I’ve noticed with technology is that it changes gradually. Technology builds upon existing technology and improves on it. Very rarely – if ever at all, has there been an instance where I’m totally taken aback by an advance in technology. Like a biological evolution, it is very gradual. After all, when man lost his tail, it’s not like we (as in our ancestors, obviously not us!) woke up one morning to find a pile of tails on the ground!

There has been an innovation that has totally caught me by surprise, and quite honestly, the more that I am exposed to this technology, the more amazed I am. I believe that we are the cusp of an innovation that will – without being overly dramatic – change the course of our society.

What I refer to is a new technology called 3D Printing. Now, I think that this term is actually misleading and it does this a great disservice. When I first read the article headline, I was thoroughly unimpressed enough that I didn’t even bother reading through to the body. In my mind, I was thinking that this is a cute way that we can print our bar charts and pictures of kitties that it would be an advance that has some benefit, but really didn’t have any meat and potatoes to speak off.

However, the next day, I saw another article and I was curious enough to read through the article and what I read just amazed me. This technology is more about creating solid 3 dimensional objects out a digital specification of an object. Before I continued to read through, I thought that this was interesting, but not yet beneficial as I imagined that the “printer” was essentially creating a play-doh’ish kind of object that looks like the original.

Once again, I was wrong. There are many videos of this technology on YouTube. The one video that I saw was that they took a normal metal wrench and had it scanned in 3 dimensions. They then “printed” this wrench and then they demonstrated that the item was functional – they took this wrench and they tightened a bolt using it.

The latest “wow” factor is another article that I read recently was that in the UK, they used this technology to design and build components for a small kit-sized airplane. When all of the parts where completed, they were snapped together without using any tools, and the plane can not only fly but it can fly up to speeds of 100mph. For those interested, the link for the article is http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2023469/Aeroplane-created-using-3D-printer-world-Scientists-create-aircraft-100mph-max-speed.html.

This is mind-boggling technology. I’m sure that it is very expensive and time-consuming, but in its infancy, most technology is.

The ability to prototype products will be phenomenal. This will allow designers and production staff to be able make quick changes and tweaks to the design of their products.

This technology will not just be rainbows and butterflies though; there will be numerous legal issues. For example, in the case of the wrench – if I purchase the wrench, I don’t have the right to be able to make a copy of it. The company that created the wrench spent numerous hours and dollars in product development and as such, this will be a real concern.

Where this would be an incredible technology is in the health-care sector. Can you imagine being able to go to the dentist’s in the future and if you need a partial denture, they can scan your teeth and produce an EXACT replica of each tooth? I’m sure that having the denture being exactly the same will make this so much easier. What about if someone needed to have their leg amputated? At least an exact replica of the existing let could be made and it should be so much easier to adapt.

We’re well on our way to the age of Star Trek and I anxiously wait for my replicator!

Paper Ghosts

2011-05-30T18:13:00.000-04:00

For those of you who read my articles, you’ll perhaps notice a trend that I’m a great fence-sitter when it comes to the good and the bad of technology. Not that there’s anything particularly wrong about that – I think that it’s good to remain open-minded and see the pros and the cons of any situation or issue. However, as I thought about the subject of this article, I’ve come to the conclusion that this article will be a bit different and I will present a very definite opinion on thais subject.

There is an old saying that a ghost is a spirit that roams this earth because it doesn’t know that it’s died yet.

My recent revelation is that we have such a ghost among us now. This spirit that does not know that it has died a quiet and slow death is paper. I might surprise some people with the arguments presented here, especially with my love of reading and my *ahem* advanced number of birthdays. As I think along these lines, I see that technology has advanced to the degree where paper is not as necessary and in a lot of respects, it hinders us.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve obviously grown up with paper and I love the thought of a printed book, and I certainly can’t imagine my weekend routines with an early morning coffee and going to the front door to get my paper, but the benefits of the electronic age far outstrip the nostalgia of being able to hold printed paper.

Were paper to be made obsolete – basically eradicated from our world, would I miss it? Absolutely. The romantic side of me loves the theory of printed page, but I like to think that I’m pragmatic enough to accept its demise.

Through my lifetime, I’ve seen typewriters, adding machines and ledgers (physical paper based) having died a quiet death and we’ve managed just fine. Where all files were stored in file cabinets, there can be no doubt that our technological replacement of a database has given us capabilities that just simply weren’t possible with filing cabinet storage.

Paper has a wonderful feel and smell to it. Especially with a handwritten note you can get so much out of not only what was written, but how it was written and the underlying emotions and passion that you’d rarely see in an email. None of that is disputed. But the stark reality is that as a society, we evolve, and if we don’t evolve, we become extinct. Either or our tools become obsolete – or we do.

I’m not suggesting that paper will ever truly disappear from our world, but it is lost the vast majority of its usefulness and it has come to the point where it hinders us more than helps us.

Much like my “Cash is King” post, we need to accept technology into our lives and use it to whatever extent that we deem necessary.

When the ballpoint pen replaced the fountain pen which replaced the quill, I’m sure that there was equal uproar and concern about losing that esoteric aspect of our lives. We adapted and realized that the older way of doing things were wonderful, but totally impractical as a tool when we have so much more at our disposal.

To further illustrate my point (and yet, I know that I’m dating myself again!) I remember distinctly doing up assignments on a typewriter. When I made mistakes, I had to use white-out or replace the ribbon of the typewriter with the eraser ribbon and retype white powder over my mistakes.

It’s wonderful to be nostalgic – there’s nothing wrong with that but we need to keep in mind that we’re meant to expand our horizons – that one of the things that differentiate us from so many animal is our ability to use tools to grow.

Stupid Scam/Spam 101

2011-05-07T10:47:00.000-04:00

Received an email today stating that I had a "express delivery" sent to me and that there was an attached file which included the tracking number and other delivery information.

Rule #1: If you're going to try that scam, then do not let the recipient see that you've also sent it to numerous other parties. Am I supposed to believe that we all have packages and that somehow the tracking number is the same for all of us? How exactly is THAT supposed to work.

Rule #2: Use a spell checker. It's not that complicated of a technology and not using it destroys credibility, especially when you spell "adress" and "buisness".

Rule #3: Stop being such a dumb-ass. Have you not figured out that people are not going to click on an attachment which supposedly contains the tracking number (which was also in the body of the email!). Any reputable delivery organization would call, or at the very least give a 1-800 number for you to call to arrange for delivery.

I swear, people like this give scammers a bad name!

Security Breach - Redux

2011-05-06T12:09:00.001-04:00

I don't think that it's a coincidence that a lot of my later articles have dealt with how security is implemented and the issue of security breaches.

I read an article today that I thought was very relevant to one of my points in the blog entry Multiple Locks -- One Key.

Within it, I mentioned that there one of the ways to work around using the same password on all sites without having to remember them all is to use a password manager. Further, I go on to say that the only problem with this approach is if you use an online password manager, and it's security is breached, then all of your passwords are potentially vulnerable to theft, which more or less defeated the purpose of having unique passwords. The way around this is to have a standard prefix or suffix on all of your passwords, and don't write that -fix anywhere. My example would if you added -@nan12w to all of your passwords. That way, if the password manager was compromised, the full passwords wouldn't be.

Well it turns out that I wasn't far off the boat on this one. The password manager site LastPass sent out a notice to their client that "they're not sure, but they think that their system was breached" and that users should keep this in mind and remain ever diligent. This in itself bring up another interesting problem - as these attacks become more sophisticated, we may have instances where these companies are not even aware that their security has been breached.

This issue of security and protection is not going to go away. Like it or not, we all have to remain sophisticated and intelligent and always try to make sure that our information is protected to the best of our abilities. Quite obviously, these companies aren't doing a good enough job.

The Persistent Shadow

2011-05-03T07:54:00.002-04:00

Regardless of the day and of any technologies in society, there will always be a segment of our population who would rather make their career out of subterfuge instead of putting in a hard day’s work. Unfortunately, that will always be the case.

There is a security leapfrog when it comes to those that are trying to protect our information and those trying to acquire it. As the ne’er-do-wells find some mechanism or scheme to steal our money, the guys in the white hat put in a process or technology to make it much more difficult for the criminal element to succeed. Of course, once this has been done, then the scammers go right to work looking for ways to circumvent the current security scheme.

One thing that has become readily apparent over the past few months is that fraud has become big business.

In the past, many of us had to deal with unsophisticated attempts by the fraudsters. It took no time for the vast majority of us to figure out that it was highly unlikely that we were the beneficiaries of some Nigerian will, or that we had won $5,000,000 in some lottery in which we had never bought tickets. Possible benefits from the fraudulent attempts were low; at the most, an individual might be duped out of a few hundred dollars.

In recent months, it has become evident that these attacks are more planned an d deliberate. Where fraudulent activity in the past was based on the concept of sending out millions of emails containing malware or that contained phishing attacks, there is a new gangster in town, and this one takes a more deliberate and patient approach. Not only is it more cost effective, but I believe that what they are finding is that the potential for reward is much higher.

Where the mindset of electronic fraud has undergone a fundamental change is that instead of attacking the consumer, the targets are now the holders of our data – the corporations that house our identities and financial information in their database. This type of fraudulent activity will become more and more common.

The other aspect of corporate database fraud that makes it more attractive to criminals is that it is an active attempt to break into the company data banks. The unsophisticated fraudulent email approach was very passive. All that the individual could do is to sit there and hope that 1 in a million individuals actually fell for the scheme.

Recent security breaches in the corporate world are not anomalies; these will be more and more common. A couple of months ago, a global player in the recognition & reward sector had their database breached, exposing individual names, addresses and other confidential information belonging to major credit card and reward program customers.

For the past two weeks, the entire Playstation network has been down as there was a significant security breach in their database as well. It’s currently believed that at least 100,000,000 (yes…one hundred million) subscribers were exposed. What makes this even more alarming is that it is believed that this theft of data has included credit card numbers, expiration dates and banking information. When one considers the value of 100,000,000 customer profiles, it becomes evident that for these individuals, even if it took them six months to plan an attack and to infiltrate an organization, the potential benefit far exceeds the cost.

On my way in this morning, there’s something else that I’ve realized and I think that this in an important point to keep in mind. There are many people out there that don’t necessarily purchase goods or services online and perhaps they think that they’re not at as much risk. The thing to consider is that anyone is at risk of having their information illegally accessed if their records appear in a corporate database.

The next time you go for an oil change, or swipe your rewards card at Indigo, or purchase an extended warranty at Futureshop, always keep in mind that the vast majority of your transactions with a company will be recorded in their database.

The sad reality is that all of us need to be continually diligent to checking banking or credit card transactions and doing a periodic review of our credit score and record.

Gone are the days of cash transactions, where a purchase transaction ended with the transfer of goods and cash.. The persistent shadow of fraud is our new reality and it is our responsibility to make sure that we practice due diligence to know who we deal with and how they protect our data.

Carpe Momento!

2011-04-07T09:09:00.000-04:00

No, this isn’t some new spell uttered by Hermoine or Harry. The brother of this phrase is the more well known “Carpe Diem” which translates to “Seize the Day”. “Carpe Momento” translates to “Seize the Moment”. I can think of few other phrases that fully describe our eLives than Carpe Momento.

The whole premise of the advances of technology isn’t so much about how it gets easier to use, or to a lesser extent, if it becomes more powerful, but one of the biggest drivers of technological advances is in terms of speed. How much quicker can we run a report, close the general ledger for the month, create a Powerpoint presentation. It all seems to be about how much we can pack into a typical 7.5 hour day.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with having technology providing us with the tools to give us information quicker. There are many scenarios where having real-time updates are not only a convenience but in some cases, they can even provide direct benefits to our health and wellbeing.

I believe that the virtually instantaneous access to information has a distinct advantage when it comes to our medical care. Although our medical records are not yet fully computerized, you can bet that at some point in time they will be. Our pharmacist, our family doctor, our specialists and our surgeons will have immediate access to our complete medical history that is relevant to their care of us. In the future when we go to the hospital, our beds will have terminals directly linked into our medical records for doctors and nurses to access our medical history.

So where is this article going? What’s the “bad” part of this as it relates to technology? Well, I think that I’ve said as much in some of my previous posts, but this whole technological culture that has developed gives us a sense that we always need to be connected and that we always need to respond immediately. One of the biggest blessings and curses to our society is that of email.

Email liberates us; it allows us to communicate quickly and sometimes even effectively. The problem is that the nature of the communication method lends itself to communications diarrhea. In the era of the printed memo, one had to articulate and had to plan. It was known that a response might not be received in hours or days, so as much information has to be communicated to the recipient as possible in order to make the exchange of communications meaningful, concise and effective. Now, we read an email, think of it for as long as we think we might need to, and just respond – often to realize that there was something incorrect or missed out.

As always, I’ll add my disclaimer that I am just as guilty as others – if not more-so. I’m well known for my ten dollar answers where a ten cent answer would have sufficed. In addition, I have this horrible habit of thinking that if I’m emailed a question on something that I need to respond with my answer immediately. A few weeks ago, a colleague of mine joked that sometimes he’s amazed at how quickly I respond to some of his emails, his comment being “I’ve barely sent the email and in a matter of seconds (literally) you’ve responded.” I jokingly responded to him that it was my goal to respond to his question before he was able to ask it! I guess to be the Carnac the Magnificent of the email world.

As I said at the outset, Carpe Momento really should be our motto. I can’t really speak for others, but I suspect that there are many who could relate to my comment that I get so overwhelmed and immersed in technology that I forgot to live in the moment and to experience life.

This relates directly to a conversation that I had with another colleague at work. We discussed this very thing and how there seems to a distinct difference between the North American and European lifestyles (to generalize, of course). I’ve often heard it said that someone in the Western world lives to work, whereas someone from Europe works to live. These are two totally separate lifestyle choices and to be honest some days, the European lifestyle does seem intriguing.

InstaNews - I'm Torn

2011-03-15T19:30:00.000-04:00

I watch these tragic events unfold in Japan, I can't help wondering if this nanosecond news reporting is a good thing - or a bad thing. Probably as with the case with so much technology, it's a little bit of both. As I said in my post refuting Jon Bon Jovi's comments, there is no black and white. Technology like anything else has it's good and it's bad, and that mix will be like pendulum depending on so many factors.

On the good side, we have virtually instantaneous access to information. Especially for those in the danger zones, it can help them assess what their next course of action should be. It also helps then stay in touch with their loved ones and I have to believe that this into itself is something that can be very beneficial.

On the bad, we have the same problem - instaneous access to information. What we find is that the media can over-report - can report inaccurately and sensationalize and this can sometimes make the situation even worse.

Like I said, there's good and the bad, every coin has it's two sides and it's impossible to know for certain which way the flip will go at any given point in time.

Welcome - China-Bot

2011-03-15T19:02:00.000-04:00

Oddly today, I got 15 hits from China. 15 hits in one day is a large number, but 15 from a country that rarely visits my blog, is unheard of (there had only been 6 hits from China in the last year and a half).

I have a suspicion that this is closely related to my little experiment and it was some individual in China would had scraped my test email address and is now foraging through TecHumanity looking for more email addresses - sadly, none to be found.

Welcome aboard ChinaSpyder or ChinaBot - enjoy your crawling at TecHumanity.

The Fat Lady Has Sung...

2011-03-14T21:00:00.000-04:00

...and Microsoft has officially pronounced the Zune to be dead. Farewell Zune, you really never had a chance. To the heap of discarded technology goes thou - to your brethren of useless electronic artifacts.

The Day that the Music Died?

2011-03-14T20:58:00.001-04:00

Bon Jovi has stated his opinion that Steve Jobs aka Apple aka iTunes has killed the music industry. To give him his fair due, I've copied what I'd assume to be a direct quote that states his position.

"Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it. God, it was a magical, magical time."

There is an awful lot of truth in what Bon Jovi claims. It's not unlike a conversation that I had with a friend at lunch the other day where the assertion is that book-reading has likewise been affected. For a true book-reader - or for some of them, there is nothing like the hard-cover book in hand, the sounds of the pages being flipped instead of the buttons being clicked to go from page to page.

That having been said, I would contend that in a lot of ways, the ability to publish and purchase music in a lot of ways has revolutionized the art. My argument being that it is given independant artists a whole new avenue to get their work out there - that the artists that can't afford the big studio time...well, let's just say that it has evened the playing field a bit.

I don't really mean to contradict Bon Jovi - after all, he is much more qualified than I to speak on the impact of technology on music, but I can't help thinking that his opinion is totall one-sided. Sure, there are probably areas where music has been hurt, but like so much else, there is good and bad - it's usually a matter of finding that balance - or if seeing which is greater.

I know that personally, I am nuts for discovering new artists on iTunes, without having this immediacy of being able to listen, ponder and purchase, I would have not bought half of my library and I have a big library of music (9,000+ songs at present).

On a side-note, I'm going to cajole my nephew to see if he can offer his professional opinion on this matter. As he is a lawyer in the music industry, and a musician, I'd love to hear his comments. However, given that his wife will be having their first child anyday now...this can - and will wait.

Apple iPhone - Daylight Savings Time Bass Ackwards

2011-03-14T20:00:00.000-04:00

Oh come on, Apple. You didn't have enough problems in the past with the clocks on the iPhone?

November, 2010 was the first bug reported when clocks were supposed to go back.

Then - in the New Year, there were reports of timers not going off, so the few unfortunate souls who depended on their iPod/iPhone to go off so they wouldn't miss the New Year's celebration - and the alarm didn't go off?

Despite these two problems in the last 4 months, now when we run into DST and some models are setting the clocks back an hour instead of forward? That's just nuts. I'm sorry, maybe there's an explanation, a reason, yada yada yada. The long and the short of it - that's inexcusable.

Me thinks this doesn't reflect well on Apple at all.

"The Experiment" - The Only Downfall

2011-03-13T17:23:00.001-04:00

Already received my first SPAM, I was interested to see which disposable address it was sent to, but the problem is (and I didn't consider this) is that if the sender uses BCC instead of CC or TO then I don't think that I can see the email address they used for me.

Still - I'm pretty sure I know how they got it. First of all, I've created a brand new Hotmail account and I've made sure that I don't post the email address anywhere, so I know it's not that email. That having been said, I've only created two disposable email addresses and used them as a test. The first was signing up with Apple Support, so I doubt that it came via that route. The second test was the disposable email address that I posted here, knowing that bots can visit sites and harvest email addresses. By the process of elimination, this must have been the source.

On a somewhat interesting side-note, today, I've found that all of a sudden, I have 23 hits, all from the same O/S, country and browser, which leads me to believe that it's somewhat likely the same source. Perhaps this bot is checking other pages on the site for other email addressed, but I don't think so. Just from the posts that were viewed and the fact that they are older, I suspect that this is an individual how has stumbled upon TecHumanity. I can't be sure, but that's what I think.

TecHumanity - The Global Force!

2011-03-12T11:15:00.003-05:00

Said totally tongue in cheek, of course. I'm pretty aware that a lot of hits that my posts get are probably nothing more than spiders and bots trolling and indexing the web for content. Still, it's interesting to view the statistics sometimes.

No big surprise to me, but Windows is the predominant operating system with 89% of the hits being from a Windows based computer.

Similarly, the typical browser is either Internet Explorer (65%) or Firefox (18%) accounting for 83% of the traffic.

The posts with the most hits are as follows:

1. Yahoo! And OtherInbox...to Borrow from Monty Python "NOSPAM...NOSPAM...NOSPAM..."
112 hits. No surprise here. This one was noticed and tweeted about from a company in the US. All of the hits on this article came within a 24h period - the vast majority within an hour or so of it being tweeted about.

2. Social Networking
60 hits. This is the one that I can't figure out. This one page consistently gets a couple of hits a week, for no apparent reason. It's not like it's recent, so I can't figure out why it's active. It's not like there are click-throughs to it, that - I would be able to tell, but somehow this page is just navigated to. It might very well be that the title of it "Social Networking" might be the key for a spider or bot to index it, I really don't know.

3. Ho-Ho-Wholly Straddling the Hi Tech World

43 hits. I must say, this is probably my all time favourite article. It was a lot of fun to write and was totally different from anything else that I had written. I suppose that the part of me that loves to write fiction enjoyed creating a Santa Claus based article. On a side-note, this article was also tweeted about, but definitely didn't result in the same traffic as my NOSPAM one.

4. Multiple Locks -- One Key
24 hits. This is my most recent article and I think one of the more important ones that I've written about. I've received a lot of positive feedback that it is given people cause to stop and think about how they use their passwords, and this is precisely why I wrote this article.

5. Blessing of The High Tech Tools
22 hits. This one was an interesting article. Well - to be honest, it was more of a short blog than an article. I think that this one received a few hits as it was noticed and posted on some other blogs.

and finally, here's an extra tidbit about the importance of never trusting an appearance of a URL:
The Old Bait and Switch

Anyways, those are the top five. Clearly, I'm never going to make a lot of money from all this traffic, but all is good. So if you got rick-rolled - drop a comment and let me know!

Here's the current breakdown of hits by country:

United States

692

Canada

394

Ukraine

Russia

United Kingdom

Brazil

Poland

Germany

Malta

Romania 11

Experimental PS - Ducks Away!

2011-03-12T08:37:00.000-05:00

I was just folding laundry and I had a Eureka moment (well - I'm not suggesting that it was so much of a Eureka moment that I was running around in my birthday suit - much too chilly for that!).

I was thinking to myself why all of a sudden I had this gust of inspiration and then it came to me - clear as day.

As per my Saturday morning routine, I was having my coffee and reading the Saturday paper. There was an article that I read and I can't believe that it is a coincidence. I didn't consciously base my experiment on this article, but it just had to be the subconscious root of it.

The article was about a book that was written on an experiment that was conducted. The name of the book is "Moby Duck". The experiment is that scientists went out into the middle of the ocean with thousands of specially coded little yellow rubber bath ducks. They had a "duck overboard" moment and dumped them all into the Atlantic. The premise of this experiment was to use the coding on the ducks to track their movements through the ocean in order to study the currents.

I thought to myself, wow - this is EXACTLY what I am doing - it's just an electronic version, but the premise is exactly the same. I'm tracking the ebbs and flows of the Internet.

Ducks away! Here's duck #1 to test for harvesting of email addresses on websites:
full_throttle_t01@hotmail.com

An interesting side note that I've noticed. I've often wondered about some of these foreign hits that I get. What I have noticed is that very often, I'll get a hit from UAE or some other location immediately upon posting. Obviously this means that this site is being automatically monitored somehow. Who knows why - it's a piddly little technology blog, but I'm going to check to see how quickly I get a hit on this blog entry and where it comes from.

Spam and Mailing Lists - An Experiment Starts

2011-03-12T07:42:00.002-05:00

One thing that I've often wondered is how easily our email addresses proliferate as they get sold to marketers. I'm going to try an experiment. I'm going to create some Hotmail disposable email addresses and I will put out each email address to one specific location to see how quickly it gets harvested or sold/shared to other sites. Part of this will be for me to identify some of these culprits of this mass marketing. By only using this email address in one website, it will be very easy to determine how the address is used across sites/marketing partners.

This would clearly be a long term project. I don't expect to get inundated with spam right away, but I am betting that I can find some sites/portals whose sole existence is to collect email addresses to sell them, so I just might stumble upon it.

Step #1 is to define my strategy - this could be interesting to see exactly how my email address is being shared.

iPod vs Crackberry - Part Deux

2011-03-10T18:03:00.000-05:00

I was perusing my blog statistics and noticing something that I didn't quite expect. Not that my blog gets a whole lot of traffic, but of the operating systems/devices, I have close to 30 page views from iPod and equivalent devices and only 1 page view off of a BlackBerry. This leads me to one of three explanations:

1. By nature, iPod users are much more intelligent and discriminating than a BlackBerry user and recognize outstanding content.
2. The lone BlackBerry user just didn't like what he saw or
3. The BlackBerry inadvertently clicked on a link leading to my site and skedaddled away.

I think that I will go with option #1 - it's much better for my ego. That is my story and I am duly sticking to it!

I Had Thought That is Just Common Sense - I'm Guessing I Was Wrong

2011-03-06T18:31:00.000-05:00

There's an article on PC World today that states that more often than not, law enforcement are first turning to Facebook/Twitter when they have suspects for a specific crime. I find this hard to fathom, but it's not all that unusual for the perps to boast or talk about it online. Umm - okay, these people who would boast of their criminal exploits...well, let's just say that they're not likely to be spreading their DNA while in custody.

Multiple Locks -- One Key

2011-03-03T08:05:00.000-05:00

I’m going to start off this article with some great news for everyone! I find it much too difficult to remember all the PINs for my banking cards and credit cards so I’ve decided to with one PIN number. I also don’t have a very good memory, so I tucked a note in my wallet with a sheet of paper that reads “Mr. PIN: (905) 555-1204”. That way, all that I have to do is pull out the handy piece of paper if I can’t remember my PIN. What a great idea!

Hopefully, people will realize that I’m not so foolish as to have done the above. I certainly wouldn’t set all my cards to one PIN and then put that PIN number in my wallet, so that someone who has my wallet could have the key to all of my accounts.

However, what this does illustrate is how lax and lazy we can be with regards to our online passwords. As wonderful as this technology is, one of the biggest problems is that there are just too many passwords for us to remember. Without some mechanism to keep track of them, it’s inevitable that we have our “standard” passwords. Unless you have a photograph memory, it’s next to impossible to keep track of all of the sites that you login to.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been as guilty about this as anyone else in the past and I had used the same password for many sites. Sometimes, I would have a site where the password that I used didn’t conform to their standards, so I had a second version which was more compliant.

There’s an old saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link and this is very much in evidence with security on the Internet.

Intellectually, I’ve always known that this common approach to passwords is a problem, but it took a recent, real-life example to give me a wake-up call.

A few months ago, a popular dating website was hacked. That in itself is bad enough, but the problem is that this dating website did not (and I believe still does not) encrypt their member’s passwords. This gave the hackers immediate access to the login passwords for a certain subset of members. Someone’s initial reaction to this might be, “Not such a big deal, the worst thing that could happen is that they could mess with someone’s profile or send nasty messages to another user.”

Stop and think.

Imagine that some website was hacked and that your password was exposed. Perhaps it’s a message board and that you think that the impact and risk are inconsequential. However, think about if you’ve used the same password or maybe a version of it with some numbers at the end on some other site – and possibly you’ve used the same user id and the same password on other sites

Multiple locks – one key.

Let me give another analogy. Say that you are in the parking lot of the local mall and you’re going back to your car. You reach into your pocket for the key fob and when you press the button, not only does your car honk, flash it’s lights and unlock it’s door, but every car of the same model in the proximity did the same thing. Imagine for a moment that Honda had one key fob/code for all Honda Civics. How concerned would be that anyone can unlock your car?

Multiple locks – one key.

The “easy” solution is to have a different login ID and a different password on each site that you frequent. This brings us back to the original problem that most humans don’t have an easy way to remember all of these credentials and simply writing them down – anywhere (without it being secured) – is just as bad.

What is the solution? There are a number of them and it depends on your own circumstances (refer to disclaimer). I have stumbled across a website called PassPack (www.passpack.com) which for most users is a free online password manager. I’ve started to use PassPack and I’m encouraged by the security that they’ve built in, but I’ve come to realize that even with a website like PassPack, that there is still an inherent problem.

The problem is this – if I store ALL of my user IDs and passwords online, then I am right back to the same conundrum – a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. What if the security there was breached? In this case, it’s even worse as my entire login credentials are in one location. It wouldn’t matter if I used the password of gr81for#9930 on one site and yy3-9##9! on another, everything is fully exposed.

What’s the solution? Well – I think this whole issue of security will evolve and it will continue to be fluid as the nefarious hackers try at anything to login to our accounts, so keep in mind that how we handle our identities in the electronic age will need to become more sophisticated.

One possibility would be to maintain a separate login for each site, but have one or two standard prefixes or suffixes that only you know – one that someone would not be able to guess, perhaps something as random such as 2#pff. Don’t write this prefix or suffix down anywhere. Even if your login credentials are exposed, they won’t have your full password.

There may be some of you who don’t do any financial transactions online and as a result, perhaps this isn’t as much of an issue for you. Don’t make this mistake. The more personal information of yours that is available online makes identity theft easier. Having your name, address, perhaps phone numbers or date of birth that you had entered on a “safe” website when you registered, might be all the information that an individual needs to take out a loan or mortgage in your name.

When it comes to security, privacy in the electronic age, it pays to be skeptical and to assume that nothing is secure – there’s too much at risk.

Disclaimer: The author of this article does not recommend any websites, methodologies or practices within this article. The intent of the article is to give the reader cause for thought to examine their own practices, the risks and the best way to address this issue.

The Tipping Point of TecHumanity

2011-02-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Malcolm Gladwell has written a fascinating book called "The Tipping Point". The basic premise (and please forgive me, Mr. Gladwell, for over-simplifying!) that each trend or fad has a moment when it takes on a life of it's own - that when one looks back in the past, there is one defining moment when that snowball takes on it's unstoppable momentum.

This may be a total fail, or this is my tipping point, but I challenge whomever reads this post, to spread the word of TecHumanity, to pass it to friends, tweet it, whatever. More of an experiment than anything else (and maybe a little appeal to my vanity as a self-proclaimed blogger), but I would be fascinated to see if we can start the TecHumanity Revolution.

Ready...

Start.....

Go!!!

A Prayer for Steve Jobs

2011-02-28T21:35:00.000-05:00

As much as I am a PC/Windows guy and not a fan of Apple at all (git yer mitts off my iPod though!), I follow Steve Jobs and his apparent health issues. I'm not going to bother speculating, but regardless of the situation, I do hope it is something that he can battle through.

I'd be the first to admit that probably Apple has driven innovation in our industry, probably much more aggressively than Microsoft has, and I'm certain that Mr. Jobs is the main reason behind this, the visionary force, if you will (ed. knock off with all of the commas, they, are, annoying!).

I'll probably always be more of a PC guy as opposed to anything fruity, but I'll give Apple their props and must have that must go to Mr. Jobs.

As with all of us, we have a limited time on this earth and I wish for him and his family, all the joy, love and laughter in whatever time they have together.

Technology In Athletics

2011-02-27T20:29:00.000-05:00

Wow - too cool.

In Tokyo today, there was a 26m marathon. The third place winner was an amateur, but this is where this story gets...bizarre?...intriguing?...innovative?

Yuki Kawauchi is just a regular Joe Shmo who decided to run the marathon.

What makes this story remarkable is that he ran it with 4 iPhones and 1 iPad strapped two him as he broadcast live. One iPhone was pointed at the ground, one at his face as his ran, one was a GPS and he had an iPad strapped onto him so he could communicate and tweet with his followers.

How wonderfully odd and unique. What doors will this open in up in terms of (virtually) being part of an athletic endeavour?

I'm intrigued - to say the least - to see what doors this might open up.

Electronic Armageddon

2011-02-27T12:26:00.000-05:00

As many who might read this blog (yes, both of you! lol), it continues to amaze and worry me how dependent on technology. I've often wondered to myself what happens to our society if we have a partial complete electronic blackout. This thought has gone through my mind so much that I've contemplated writing a fictional story about this.

In the news recently is an article from some scientists who claim that it's only a matter of time before a significant solar storm occurs on the sun, one big enough to significantly disrupt our communications systems.

I wonder if people realize how much we rely on technology. As I've mentioned in previous blog entries, I'm sure that we'd adapt, that's what us humans do, but I think that when this does happen, the impact will be beyond immense.

The New Tech Way - and the Old Tech Way

2011-02-27T12:20:00.000-05:00

I had to laugh about a story in the papers recently. Newly acquired Leafs player Joffrey Lupul lost his iPhone in a cab. Not sure what to do about it, he tweeted about his dilemma. To his amazement, within a few hours, not only was his iPhone located, but it was duly returned. What an amazing use of technology! Can you imagine being able to use this hi-tech wizardry for something like this?

The funny part to me is how it was found. One of his followers simply picked up the phone and called the cab company in question. iPhone found. I wonder if Mr. Lupul realizes that he could have done this himself.

Scammers 101

2011-02-08T19:59:00.002-05:00

I wish that I could find the article in The Toronto Star today, but apparently, there's a website offering insurance who are allegedly scamming potential customers by getting them to send them the application fee by Western Union, when there is fact no policy for said customer.
The article went on to say that the website was still up, so out of curiousity, I checked and sure enough it was.

However, the FIRST thing I noticed which would have clued me in right away that this at least warranted further investigation was that there was a banner on the bottom of the website saying that the website was being hosted by a printing company. Now - don't get me wrong, this printing company is very reputable as far as I know but when I clicked on the site, it showed me that they offered free web hosting. "Great Caeser's Ghost!", I said to me, "How reputable can an insurance company be who has to depend on free web hosting?".

My advice is this...never fork out any money to any site online without doing your own due dilegence, it's FAR too easy to put up a website. Look beyond the glitz and the flash. Looks to see if the have their own https: site for secure transactions...check for brick and mortar addresses, not just some random phone number.

Bottom line - be careful out there - don't assume that any company is legitimate without looking at the signs.

Blogging & Hits - What I Just Don't Get

2011-02-04T05:15:00.000-05:00

Apparently, my #2 related blog is from the summer, and I see nothing extraordinary about it. For the life of me, I can't figure out why that particular blog gets consistent hits - all the time - and others don't. At first I thought that maybe there was a link to it from some other website, but that's not it, there's no referring site.

Go figure - how mysterious!

Pedestrian Dangers?

2011-02-04T05:11:00.000-05:00

I'll admit that there are many times when I'll be walking and texting at the same time. However, when doing so, I do try to remain aware of surroundings at least. A 10 year old Italian boy fell onto the subway tracks while totally absorbed by his PSP. Thankfully, he's okay.

Recently, there has been a viral video on YouTube where some poor chick was texting as she was walking through the mall. Totally oblivious to the fact that there was a raised edge around the water fountain. Dunk city.

Although to an extent these may be seen as things to derive a good laugh out of, it's a dangerous combination and I'm sure that we'll get more and more reports of this sort of thing happening, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Hotmail - New Disposable Addresses

2011-02-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

Newest thing is new disposable email addresses via Hotmail. Just a few years late on that one, but I'll give Microsoft a "gimme" on that one.

Hotmail - useless email - no real point - no value...yep - pretty much sums up it up nicely :)

- Signed, a loyal Yahoo email user since 1990-whenever

Cash is King - Unfortunately, the King is Dead!

2011-02-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

For a significant period of time, this adage of “cash is king” held true. The basic premise of this saying is that having available cash gives one a huge advantage, especially in terms of negotiating and purchasing large ticket items.

Now, there may be argument with the premise of this article that the term “cash” is meant as liquid assets and as such electronic payments of any sort could be considered cash-like. There is merit for this argument, but for the purposes of this article, I am considering “cash” to be paper money.

One of the bigger impacts of technology within our society has been in terms of currency – specifically as it relates to paying for items or otherwise transferring money between two parties.

Gosh – I really hate this saying, but “back in the day”, one pretty much just had the option of paying cash or paying by cheque. Of course, there was and still is credit card availability, but that’s a different beast.

Debit cards made their debut in Canada in 1994 and quickly revolutionized not only how we pay, but also how we shop. No longer did we have to worry about if the vendor took cheques, nor did we have to take a quick peek in our wallet to see if we had sufficient cash.

Over the past few years, electronic fund transfers have been a boon to those of us who need to send money to a friend or relative. No longer do we need to go to a specific bank and deposit funds into an account. All major banks now offer electronic funds transfer. Again, technology has clearly made our lives much more convenient.

The next stage of storing and allocating cash will be to integrate our electronic devices to become electronic wallets. It will be possible to store our liquid assets on our electronic device and have it scanned at a POS terminal to initiate funds transfer.

The potential uses of technology in the area of funds transfer are unlimited.

The question that I do have though is this – what practical purpose does cold, hard cash have in our society? How much does this infrastructure to support paper money cost us? The inherent cost of producing cash and everything that is required for a cash-based society has to be staggering.

There are a few things about a cashless society though and this needs to be considered as this certainly appears to be the direction that we’re heading towards.

First and foremost, I think that having electronic funds is a true double-edged sword as it relates to counterfeiting. The advantage to having an electronic commerce system is that it will allow the government to continue to refine their security to stay one step ahead of the counterfeiters. As it stands right now, introducing any new security features on a bank note but be a tremendously complicated task, in addition to being a very time consuming one. By having digital wallets, not only can the algorithms be update quickly and easily, but the repositories for our cash can be protected with sophisticated security – a feature that’s not available with bank notes.

The real downside to having our dollars stored in electronic form is that we’d likely see a significant proliferation in counterfeiting attempts. Actually, the fraud will probably not be so much as counterfeiting as it will be attempts to access and transfer out our funds. If the undesirable elements did manage to find ways to access our digital wallets, then the potential amount of money that would be pilfered would be staggering. Currently a counterfeiter can only counterfeit a certain amount of money, and as he creates the counterfeit money, he is faced with hard production costs for machinery, paper and ink.

From an economy standpoint – I would have to defer to someone who understand economics much more than I do, but I think that another factor in the double edged sword category is that the more that our funds are accessible digitally, the more likely we are to spend it. It’s commonly accepted that when someone is making a purchase, they are much more likely to rationalize the purchase if they have to pay cold, hard cash. Many times, when paying by Interac or by credit card, one tends to be a little – how shall we say – less diligent about forking over our electronic funds. What I’m curious though, is if I’m correct that spending would increase, and if so, what would be the net impact on our economy? Would it benefit the economy as goods are sold = vendors make profits = jobs are created, etc... or would we be likely to see an increase in the number of people that can’t make ends meet each month as their spending has increased.

We’re probably a few years away from the day where cash has effectively been rendered obsolete. Maybe I’m wrong, perhaps there will always be a need for cash, but then again, maybe this is just an eventuality and that our economy is almost ready for that leap in evolution, just as it did when cash first replaced the barter and trade of goods and services.

Unwired - A Case Study

2011-01-29T08:21:00.001-05:00

Recent events in Egypt have really made me question some issues as it relates to technology. It's pretty common knowledge by now (for anyone who has read my blogs) that I have a fundamental concern with technology is that that we're overly dependant on it.

With the recent political crisis in Egypt, the government has decided to unplug the whole country from the world. Yep - that's right. They have pulled the proverbial plug on the Egypt that is wired. The rationale is that it by doing this, they are preventing the dissemination of reports and images coming out as a result of the mass riots. I am very hardly a political person, so I cannot comment on how legitimate this is.

However, there's a couple of things here that caught my attention.

First of all, when the plan was initially put in place, the government decided that the everything would be shut down, with the exception of the stock markets. Ironically, after the markets lost 10% because of the instability, they put a freeze on them too. This makes me wonder - what other aspects of the Egyptian infrastructure were not considered to be exempt from this unpluggage? It's mind-bogging, unfathomable.

I don't think that it would be possible here in Canada to unplug the country in the same way. Well - I guess anything is possible, but the number of Internet entry points must be magnitudes greater than in Egypt. What I wonder is if this were done here, how can that be? I can't imagine our society having the magic carpet of the Internet yanked out from under our feet. What would the hospitals do if they needed to communicate with a colleague or to look in medical journals? How would transportation agencies manage. Banking - let's not even get into the impact of the banking sector if there were no Internet access.

As I alluded in a recent post, should something "happen" to our technology, it would clearly be catastrophic in all areas of our society, but we would adapt, that's what we do.

I'd be totally fascinated to see how the populace of Egypt has managed to adapt.

And Now For Something Completely Obvious...

2011-01-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

There's a new warning out there of a scam. Apparently, said scammers are cold calling people and saying that they're from Microsoft and that Microsoft has determined that there is a virus on the machine, so they are calling to 'help' them clean their virus up by either (a) getting access to their comptuer or (b) to redirect the poor sap of a victim to a phishing site or one that delivers malware.

Okay - maybe I'm not giving people the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure that there would be many people that would so be so naive to think that there's a chance in hell that Microsoft goes around offering to help people. But still...really?

Technology Schmechnology - Talk About a Love/Hate Relationship

2011-01-26T23:00:00.001-05:00

Probably no surprise to my millions of faithful readers but I am decidely Jekyll and Hyde when it comes to technology. As evidenced by my many posts, it concerns me greatly and pisses me off to no extent sometimes, but Jiminy Cricket, I have to be careful not to bite the hand that feeds me. As much as I'm critical of it from time to time (okay - more than just "time to time"), our lives have been hopelessly enriched by it.

Quite honestly, I can't imagine where I would be professionally and personally without technology.

--- Signing off

Oopsies - That Must Have Been Just a Tad Embarrassing

2011-01-26T22:57:00.000-05:00

I have to admit that I don't know all of the details as I just skimmed the article, but when there are always so many questions and issues about security and privacy on Facebook and Herr Zuckerberg's profile gets hacked...well, I have to imagine that the old adage about poo running downhill probably applied in this case. Man, I would not want to be the dude where said excrement stopped and collected in a proverbial puddle.

This May Fall Into the "Okay Ethel, Maybe We're A Bit Too Dependant on Technology" Category

2011-01-26T03:57:00.000-05:00

News story about an elderly couple from the UK driving in Germany. This is one of those cases where common sense should prevail, but they were just too trustful and dependent on their GPS instructions and drove smack dab into the side of a church.

However, before we all chuckle and guffaw (as I originally did), it made me pause for a moment and think, how many times have I just blindly followed what technology dictates. Certainly not to the extent of something as immediate obvious as "oh dear, there's a brick wall, should I stop, or should I go..." sort of thing, but still, there are probably numerous subtle instances in my life where I have engaged fingers and disengaged the brain.

And the countdown is on...

2011-01-16T21:13:00.000-05:00

...for the purchase of the ten billionth app through iTunes.

I swear, the one thing about technology is that it gives a whole different concept of magnitude of numbers. Ten BILLION apps. Really? Wow. Of course, my daughter is probably responsible for a goodly chunk of these.

Mind you, there was no discussion on how many of these apps performed some function or otherwise had intrinsic value. How many of these ten billion apps are farting machines, talking characters, bubble makers, lighters, flashlights and other tripe that seem to have a monopoly in the App Store.

Not saying there isn't some great apps there, there really are, but man, sometimes it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Research Heaven

2011-01-15T08:33:00.000-05:00

There are a goodly number of my blog entries that diss technology, and in most cases, rightly so.

The real benefit to me personally lately has been the incredible information available at my fingertips. Now, before proceeding, one kind of has to define "information". As I've suggested in previous posts, I think that it's very important to take anything that I read online with a grain of salt, to look for verification and backup and to understand that anyone can put an opinion out there and dress it up as a fact and themselves as a subject matter expert.

All of that having been said, 2010 and 2011 has been a revelation for me in terms of mining the web for information. Without going through too many sordid (and personal, I might add!) details, those who know me, know that I am going through the Ontario court system for some family law matters.

At present, I have been able to navigate through the process and system without legal representation. Before proceeding, I want to be clear that I'm not advocating this. After all, proverbs say:

"He who is his own lawyer, has a fool for a client."

Probably in my case, truer words were never spoken, but at this stage, I'm preferring to fight for the rights of my children and it seems counter-intuitive to me to be trying to protect their future while at the same spending oodles upon poodles on legal fees.

The experience that I will share is that being self-represented is definitely not for the faint of heart. It's a nasty and intimidating process and system and every step is an adventure.

What has made this a little easier for me has been some guidance from a lawyer who has been fantastic about answering quick questions from me on how to file, what to file, how to word it. Also, my girlfriend has been an amazing help to me too. Although she doesn't have a background in law, she is very intelligent and has been my advisor through it all, and I'm thankful to her more than you can imagine.

The Internet too has been an amazing resource. I was thinking of this fact this morning. Without having this information at my disposal, I don't know that I could have managed to get this far along on my own. I've found amazing resources, including the online database court rulings so that I can review cases to see what the judges ruled, and why they made their ruling.

All of this material has been a god-send to me. It is a great feeling to be able sit down in front of the computer on a Saturday morning with some Motown playing and some coffee beside me as I research what ever needs to be researched or write a brief that needs to be written.

It's been a totally awesome tool for me, and as I mentioned, I don't think I could have gotten this far without it.

Stay tuned and buckle up - much more to come on this saga, I'm sure.

Hello, World!

2011-01-14T22:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, for those of you that are not programming-related, this is a phrase that us developers use. The context is that when learning a brand new programming language, the easiest task is to to write a program to display one line of text. That defacto standard in the code-head society is to write a program that displays "Hello, World".

Anywho, my context for Hello, World is that I haven't forgotten about my TecHumanity community. It's probably about a month since my last post, but Holy Cannoli, it's been a whacky few weeks for me. Not only did I have Christmas to attend to, but I've had some biggish "personal issues" to work through over the last few weeks and I've badly neglected the millions of my loyal TecHumanity followers - well at least the 2-3 of them.

Tis a new year, and I've been negligent. My humble apologies. Onto an incredible 2011 in my own personal life and with TecHumanity. Can you give me a "Woot! Woot!"?

Putting My Two Cents Worth In...Rather - Taking My Two Cents Worth OUT

2010-12-17T07:47:00.001-05:00

I have a nefarious plan to become a professional blogger, hence, these Google Ad-words sprinkled throughout my blog.

However, something is telling me not to give up my day job yet, I'm managing to reap on average a whole 2 cents per month. Scrooge McDuck I ain't!. Based on the fact that they don't pay out until you've accrued $100 in your account, it seems to me that it's highly unlikely that I will see any payout from Google.

Oh well, I certainly can't be accused of doing this for profit reason's only. Let me see, if I average 10 blogs a month @ 10 minutes per blog, that's 1.5 hours (roughly). 2 cents per 1.5 hours work, hmm, I'm thinking that I should not be counting on this as part of my retirement portfolio!

It Kind of Seemed Like a Good Idea...

2010-12-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

As I was blogging last night, I noticed an ad in my editor which caught my interest.

This ad was for a service where you can take your blog and this company will go and produce a book of one's book - very much a vanity-publishing sort of thing.

My first reaction is that this is way-cool. How neato would it be to be able to flip through the pages of TecHumanity?

Then - a little voice popped up in my mind and said "Hmmm, is this such a practical idea? Blogs by nature are dynamic. Granted that the frequency of additions to it depend solely on the author, but geesh, it's going to take all of a week or so for the book to be "out of date".

Where this could be a very good idea is as it relates to eReaders and the such, but only to the extent that it must be automatically update the content. That having been said, what's the difference from just browsing to the link.

Oh well, maybe when I "retire" from TecHumanity and post no more, I can revisit this. Man, when I had them do a preliminary copy of my book, it was in excess of 80 pages. It seems like a lot of blogging to me, but then again, I'm not the most active blogger out there :)

I'm So Excited - Okay - So This Totally Makes Me a Nerd - Not Like There Was Any Question

2010-12-11T00:52:00.001-05:00

Recently, I had posted a blog entry about OtherInbox and how it has a nifty feature in conjunction with Yahoo to eliminate SPAM.

I was VERY tickled that my piddly blog entry was actually noticed by the company that wrote OtherInbox. Further, one of their employees tweeted about my article. I didn't realize that all of this happened until I was reviewing my blog visitor stats and noticed a (relative to me anyways!) explosion of 100+ hits on this one blog entry. How totally exciting that my ramblings existed in the Twitterverse for an twitter-eternity (aka 24 hours).

Taking a real long shot, I'm going to blog an open letter to Heather of Indigo saying how much I would love to receive a complimentary Kobo for my 'evaluation' and reading pleasure. I am the all-mighty and powerful TecHumanity and what I say goes from my 'mouth' to the ears of - oh - maybe a dozen readers. Surely that has to count for something!

I Yam What I Yam

2010-12-11T00:44:00.000-05:00

As I was listening to the radio tonight, this Popeye quote came to my mind almost immediately. There was a news story on how one of the growth industries in the school picture industry (and I would imagine by extension, the "professional head shot industry") is how one can pay extra money to photoshop out one's little imperfections such as acne, braces, pimples etc.

The commenator went on to quote a psychologist who claims (rightly to, I think) that this might not be the best idea. The story went on to hypothesize that this ability to so easily crop out one's imperfections sends the wrong message in society, that one's worth is based on how "perfect" one's hair/skin/teeth/etc.. are. Spot right on, on that one, he is absolutely right.

What on earth are we doing and encouraging? Indeed, what kind of message does this send to our children. I'll tell you the message. The message is this "I'm so sorry, darling son/daughter that you're upset that you have this 'glitch' in your class picture. Don't worry, your concerns are legitimate, let's use technology to 'repair' you, to make you into a more acceptable person". That is EXACTLY the message that we are sending and frankly, this concerns me very much.

Great Caesar's Ghost! Do we really want to be part of a society where one needs to be electronically fixed/manipulated/revised? I don't know - maybe I'm too out of touch with the whole "I need to be accepted by my peers" thing.

Oh, by the way, could someone please photoshop my picture at work and (a) remove the wrinkles (b) darken the hair and (c) give me an electronic lipsuction?

Good gravy - the madness never ends.

Now, let me see, I would like to see "http://techumanity.blogspot.com" to go right THERE points

2010-12-09T21:46:00.001-05:00

This is too strange to make-up. A gentlemen in Quebec is raising money by decorating his body with tattoos.

Gasp #1 - he is committed to covering his body with 100,000 tattoos in one calendar year. If I'm not mistaken, there is a world record at stake here.

Gasp #2 - okay - so you're thinking "where's the tecHumanity context here, dude?" Well, said tattoos are URLs. Yep -he's proposing selling space on his body to advertise 100,000 domains and URLs. First of all, that's an average of 273 per day. That can't be possible - can it? Man, how teeny is this writing going to be and where exactly should I sponsor "http://tecHumanity.blogspot.com".

The one thing that I've never figured with the heavily tattooed. Not that I have a problem with it - I'm a very open minded chap and if this is something that someone wants to do, then all the power to them, but heck - what are the tattoos going to look like when said "walking billboard" is 75. Wrinkles galore - can you imagine trying to unfold a wrinkle to find a particular URL? The mind shudders. But then again, how do I come up with this crap? :)

The "Going to Hell in a Hand Basket Award"

2010-12-09T21:39:00.000-05:00

...otherwise known as "this use of technology is just freaking nuts".

Two totally abysmal stories in the news.

The first is a Canadian couple who have canvassed Facebook users to...get this...choose the name for the child. Seriously - as in "no matter what name they come up with - we'll go with it". I'm sure that the $40,000 promised by the sponsor of the event had something to do with it. Sure enough, baby WWW is born and they register the name that "won" the Facebook derby. Say what? Really? And this doesn't concern them that something that will stay with this person for years, was chosen, not by parents, but by a group of strangers?

The second story concerns me even more. The article stated that a US couple who is preggers was trying to decide if they should abort the child or not. They claim that this is legit, that they'll put it to vote. I can't say for certain how legitimate this was, or what became of it, but the second that someone even considers letting strangers decide on life and death...this one rocks me to the core.

Merry Christmas - From TecHumanity & Rick

2010-12-04T10:36:00.001-05:00

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/XVpcRozp7k6qWBSvGzDm

This is a safe link, but as we all practice safe computing, copy and paste the link instead of clicking on it.

A very Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings to everyone!

Rick

An Experiment - If You Will

2010-12-03T23:01:00.000-05:00

Okay - I would ask this. If you read this post, do me a favour. Leave a comment as to what city you are from. As I've approached...more than a year (?) with this blog, I am inordinately curious as to how many of you are real peeps - where you are from (and tell me your favourite dessert - that I MUST know!) and to determine that you are not a 'bot - venturing into the world of TecHumanity.

Consider this as a favour - as a "one hour before the dude turns 50 (argh!!!!)" favour to yours truly.

You Go, Girl!

2010-12-03T22:57:00.000-05:00

News story today suggests that Groupon has rejected a $5-6 billion bid from Google. Wow, too much. Amazing that anyone has the audacity to deny the monolith of Google. I can just imagine the apolexy with the ne'er do-wells of Google. They must have felt not unlike the Empire not being able to withstand The Force. Can you imagine? I'd love to have been in the room when Google heard that it was a no-go.

God - I hate monopolies. With every fibre of my body, I offer up a WOOT-WOOT to Groupon.

Yahoo! And OtherInbox...to Borrow from Monty Python "NOSPAM...NOSPAM...NOSPAM..."

2010-12-03T11:19:00.002-05:00

I have been using the Yahoo! OtherInbox Application for awhile now. OtherInbox is an optional application that can be setup and configured to automatically create common folders and redirect common (and related) emails to that folder. For example, OIB may create a folder called OIB Jobs and it has some intelligence to redirect emails from sendors relating to Jobs to this folder. This is a great way to clean-up one's Inbox. One of the disadvantages of not having any limites on Yahoo! mailbox size anymore, is that there's no real incentive to organize and clean-up, so searching can be a mess.

I ran across a very nifty tip today. You can a folder called "OIB Unsubscribe" and then manually drag an drop SPAM that you no longer want in this folder. OIB will then pick up the ball and recognize that you want to be unsubscribed from this list and it will eventually hook-up with Lashbank - a global email compliance provider and will attempt to remove you from the list in question. I'm sure that it's not fool-proof, but then again, any little bits of SPAM that I don't have to deal with, is definitely a blessing.

My "Good Way to Use Technology" Tip of the Day (Or Whenever I think of Something!)

2010-12-02T21:55:00.001-05:00

I am chronically bad with keeping paperwork and being able to find it. I am just horrendous at filing and I spend way too much time sifting through piles of papers.

I have developed a little 'trick' which helps me out immensely. What I do is use Yahoo! Mail as my filing cabinet. When I get a paper or document or bill that I know that I will need at some point in time, I will scan it and send it to my email address. Further, with the printer, I can specify the subject line for the email, so I will put in something like [Records] ING Statement for October 2006.

For those that don't know, Yahoo! no longer has a limit on the mailbox size, so go crazy, scan and email as much as you want.

Further, I have folders setup in my Yahoo! in conjunction with rules in my email. So - when my Yahoo! receives an email with the subject "[Records] ING Statement" at the beginning, it automatically files in into my [Records] ING folder. Cool and nifty. I will not have to sift through mountains of paperwork to find that elusive bill. Everything is not only in my email, but it is also automatically grouped together.

Of course, storing content online, is this a good thing - or a bad thing? The good in this case is that you receive a wonderful benefit of being to review these documents from anywhere where you have access to a web browser or interface of some sort. The very logical "bad" of this technique is that having these (assumedly) confidential document in one location, and if you're on a public computer, one can never be too careful about spyware, inadvertantly saving one's email password, etc... As is this case, common sense should prevail and one needs to way the advantages against the disadvantages.
As Austin Powers might say "easy-peasy lemon-squeezie"!

Maybe It's a Bit Too Early to Classify this as a "Not such a good idea"

2010-11-23T14:03:00.000-05:00

Apparently the FCC is now considering supporting 911 access via text message. Okay, I'm thinking that this is probably not a good idea. Umm, if someone has a cellphone, then frigging dial 9-1-1, don't take a chance with emergency services via text message! Aside from the fact that you just never know if your recipient received the message, I can see an exchange of text message:

Joe: hey
9-1-1: hey waddup
Joe: idk, some1 crshed nto me
9-1-1: r u ok?
Joe: atm
9-1-1: u need mbulanc?
Joe: pls
9-1-1: where r u?
Joe: 401 & 400
9-1-1: e or w?
Joe: w
9-1-1: k - hang tight - omw
Joe: gr8, ty
9-1-1: yw, np, cya
Joe: cu

Ho-ho-Wholly Straddling the High Tech World

2010-11-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

Date: December 4, 2010

Time: 8:55a NPST (North Pole Standard Time)

Location: International HQ of SC Enterprises International, LLP

Santa walked towards the main conference room, carrying his Grande Non-Fat Peppermint Latte in one hand, as he held numerous file folders under his other arm and pulled his briefcase on wheels. He balanced his Latte on top of his briefcase as he fumbled through his pocket for his security card.

“Holy Peppermint – where is that confounded thing”, he muttered to no-one in particular (seeing that there was – in fact – no one else around).

He finally retrieved it from his pocket and swiped it towards the proximity card reader to the left of the door.

The access light above the reader flashed red and the buzzer went off indicate an unsuccessful swipe. The jolly man tried repeatedly with the same results. He glanced at his watch and sees that it’s only 5 minutes before the weekly status meeting.

“Are we having problems, Santa?” squeaked a voice from behind.

Santa turned around to see Percy – the elf in charge of Reindeer Games.

“Indeed”, Santa sighed. “I still don’t see why we need all of this security, being in an invisible location, it’s not very likely that we’re going to have unauthorized visitors!”

“True that”, replied Percy. “But you know the way that Elvis is. As the head elf with his PMP and CMA designations, he’s always trying to move you slowly into High Tech. Let me see your card, Santa? Maybe the magnetic strip is damaged somehow.”

Santa handed the card over to Percy who then flipped the card over and chuckled.

“I see your problem, Mr. Big. There’s a splotch of eggnog on the magnetic strip. The reader couldn’t validate you.” stated Percy who then took out his lens cleaning cloth and wiped down the magnetic card and handed it back. “Here you go, try now”.

Santa swiped the card once again. The light flashed green, the door unlocked and the card-reader exclaimed in Santa’s prerecorded voice, “Ho-ho-ho, your eIdentity has been confirmed!”

Santa pushed the door of the Grand Mistletoe Conference room and entered, surveying around the large table to see the contingent of Head Elves waiting for him.

Santa sat himself down at the head of the table. As he stirred his latter with his candy cane, he addressed the contingent, “Good morning team, does anyone have any idea what day it is?”

Head-Wrapper Elf, Holly guessed, “Is it the birthday of someone that’s very important?”

Santa gave a deep guffaw, “Oh, we all know the answer to THAT one, but that’s not what I’m referring to. Today is precisely three weeks from Christmas. I expect everyone to have the final checklist ready for my review by the end of the day. Now, did anyone have issues to discuss today?”

Immediately, Elvis’s hand shot up.

Santa sighed with resignation, “Yes, Elvis, what is it this time?”

“Well, Santa baby..”

Before Elvis could continue, Santa interjected with a booming voice, “You know I hate that term. Unless you’re Mrs. Claus or Eartha Kitt, I don’t want to hear that. Elvis, if you weren’t such a great head elf in charge of R&D, you’d be demoted to reindeer stall scooping!”

“Anyways, as I was saying, big guy. The boys and I have been doing some research on some new technologies for you. As you know, the constant mall visits takes a lot of your time and resources. In order to make more efficient use of both of these, we’re proposing to install iPads in shopping malls. There, kids will be able to drag and drop images of toys that they want and you never have to be there. We’ll also have a link to your twitter feed and we’ve published you on Facebook so that people can add you as a friend, you’re up to 249,210,011 friends already and your account has only been up for 3 days!”

“Jumping Reindeers!” St. Nick exclaimed. “You can’t do that! You can’t replace me with, what are those things called?”

“iPads” responded Elvis “It’s a tablet PC with a virtual keyboard, they’re all the rage. Apparently David P. put the bug in the ear of Melinda Gates and she requested one as well. Apparently, David says that you can control Apple TVs and do all sort of neat things with an iPad. Now everyone wants an iPad.”

“Well bless my beard!” replied Santa. “How can that be? How on earth did Bill let an iPad in the door to his house?”

Elvis chuckled in response, “Quite simple actually. We stuck a couple of round tinker-toy knobs on to the iPad and Bill is convinced it’s an Etch-a-Sketch!”

Santa harrumphed sternly, “Regardless, this whole technology thing. It’s great and all. I love my SQL Server 2008 database for tracking production and my naughty and nice list. I think that it’s great to run my manual SQL Queries to determine the trends and to be able to see that we have the proper amount of raw materials.” He paused and thought for a minute, “ I think that there’s so much there that has helped us, but this is going too far. I will not be replaced by an iPad. The kids need that personal connection. I need to hear the sincerity in their voices and to see the excitement in their eyes. Christmas is not about transactions, it’s about the humanity, the goodwill and peace and love of the season. This is not going to fly, Elvis, I’m sorry. I appreciate the effort but our entire team needs to keep in mind that spirit – the human spirit – can never be captured or conveyed through technology.”

Elvis scowled and slumped, determined to be in a foul mood for the rest of the day. Santa smiled at him with a glint in his eye. Elvis couldn’t help but think how lucky he was to be working for SC Enterprises International, LLP.

Happy Holidays from TecHumanity and Rick!

Wired Connections

2010-11-18T08:02:00.000-05:00

In CNET News yesterday, there was an article posted that the human brain has more switches than all of the computer on earth. The article goes on to state that just in the cerebral cortex, there are over 125 trillion synapses and the article draws a parallel between a synapse (the connection between neurons) and a microprocessor. To put this number in context, 125 trillion would be roughly equivalent to the number of number of stars that would fill 1,500 Milky Way galaxies.

This point goes back to something I mentioned earlier this year on my sceptism on Artificial Intelligence, while there is a clearly the possibility of rudimentary AI, my personal opinion is that we haven't even come close to understanding the human mind. My argument being until we get to this point, it will probably be difficult, if not virtually impossible, to have the type of AI that is romanticized (is that even a word?) in popular sci-fi fiction.

Lastly, if there are 125 trillion synapses, as the article states, then I demand some understanding for being somewhat...ummm....forgetful at times. It's not me - honestly - it's just that I have so many synapses to sift though.

That IS my story and I am proudly sticking to it.

Today's SPAM

2010-11-09T07:59:00.000-05:00

I think that the marketers are messing with me today. Not only do I receive SPAM to 'enlarge my male parts' but I also get TWO, not one, but TWO emails offering me breast enlargement. These guys are just messing with my sexual identity!

Also, apparently, I can make $150/day by working at home plus I can get a great deal on forklifts.

Just an amazing (albeit confusing) day of SPAM, and the day's just started!

Microsoft - Shares Sold

2010-11-06T06:59:00.000-04:00

Well - this post isn't as much about technology and it's impact on humanity. It's about something that I'm never too much in-tune with, but that I still found interesting.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced this week that he had made some minor tweaks to his portfolio. Apparently, he wanted to diversify, to smooth out his exposure, so he went and sold 75 million of his shares in Microsoft. Just a little transaction to even our his portfolio. Million, wow. How many million shares does he have?

With the share price of Microsoft of about $26 yesterday, that means that the net proceeds of the sale was about $2b. Holy Cannoli, these are numbers that just boggle my mind. Which brings me to my original question, exactly how many shares DOES he have? This same article made it sound like this was a relatively minor transaction, that it was routine, but I'd have to guess that this transaction probably represented at least 20% of his total net worth. I've just done this amazing little thing called "reading the article" that answers this question. His total holdings in MSFT is 408,000,000 shares.

Reading a bit further down, one can see that it might not have just been about diversifying either. It goes on to say that there are new tax rules coming up in January with regards to the disposition of stock and by selling now as opposed to after the new laws come into effect, that it is estimated that this will save him around $65m. Wow. To have a soft paper savings of $65m. This is clearly a scale of economy that is far over my head. These numbers should apply to large corporations or small countries, not an individual.

I'm guessing that it's safe to safe that my little forays into the financial markets as I readjust my pension holdings are not as impressive as Mr. Ballmer.

The same article goes on to state that Mr. Gates also sold a few shares this week - assuming for the same reasons - for a total of 3,000,000 shares sold. Poor Bill, he only realized net proceeds for $75,000,000 or so. I guess that it will be Steve picking up the tab at the hot dog cart when the two of them go for lunch this week.

Google - A Nice Little Shopping Spree

2010-10-29T18:49:00.002-04:00

Apparently, Google has spent $1.6b on acquiring 40 companies over the last 9 months. Holy cannoli, must be nice! We're not even into the official Christmas shopping season yet! Can't wait to see if they break the $2.0b barrier.

Sigh - dammit all anyways, why wasn't I the one to come up with idea of Google, or Facebook, or...etc...

That's it...I've had it. For my upcoming 50th birthday celebration, my present to myself will be to come up with the next great thing.

Move on over Google! There's a new sheriff in town!

Now...does anyone have a spare $100-200m collecting dust. I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for R&D costs today! (bonus points to whomever can tell me where I bastardized that saying from!)

The Ever Changing Workforce

2010-10-29T11:30:00.001-04:00

This is a subject that I've long contemplated. It's not so much specific to our current technology, but this has always been something to contend with as our civilization advances and matures. With new technologies come new jobs and it also often involves other jobs becoming obsolete.

This thought first came to mind a few months ago near work. I saw an "Iron Mountain" truck parked on King Street here in Toronto. For the uninitiated, Iron Mountain is a niche supplier of document services. There focus is on off-site retention of documents (paper or electronic based) and the safe destruction of old documents. The thought that came to my mind was "Wow - here is a while industry that didn't exist 30 years ago" (or at least if it did exist, it certainly wasn't so critical. In today's society, companies live and die by data and a by-product of this is the appropriate retention and destruction.

I wonder to myself how many new jobs have been created in the computer era. I'm betting that there it is far more than anyone had ever considered. My position - as a Systems Analyst/Software Designer - would not have existed in the main-stream work force 40 years ago - there was no context of a "system" other than a paper based filing/record keeping system.

What finally prompted me to write this blog entry was an article that I read today that listed 20 jobs that are now obsolete. The list is as follows (courtesy of the article at http://www.mainstreet.com/article/career/employment/20-jobs-have-disappeared?puc=outbrain&cm_ven=outbrain&obref=obnetwork) :

Lector (to read articles to bored workers)
Newsroom copy-boy (can anyone say "email!")
Log-driver (not sure why this one is on the list? I'd think that this position still exists)
Pin-setter (I'm not even old enough to remember a person resetting the pins in a bowling alley. Rejoice!)
Lamplighter (totally obsolete now, I'd think)
Switchboard Operator (anyone remember "1 ringie-dingie, 2 ringie-dingie", or am I dating myself?)
Telegraph Operator (Oh boy, for sure. Actually, one of my first employers in this field was CNCP Telecommunications and this was their bread and butter. Anyone want to guess if CNCP is still around?)
Ice-cutter (iceboxes anyone? I actually have faint memories of an icebox as we had one up at the cottage before we had electricity)
Ice Delivery (same as above. Without the ice-cutter, I'm guessing it wouldn't be too fun to be an Ice Delivery man).
Dictaphone Operator (Digital recorders 101)
Typing Pool (hey - I remember those! My first employer was Woods Gordon. I remember there being a pool of ladies. Now everyone is pretty much expected to type their own stuff)
Newspaper Typesetter (this one, I don't know - I would think that this position has morphed into someone who does the layout and design. Yes, they don't actually get those little square rectangles - umm did I just say little square rectangles? Conceptually, it seems pretty related.
Elevator Operator (I have no memory of an elevator operator. third floor- ladies' lingerie!)
Mimeograph Operator (Paging Mr. Xerox!)
Streetsweeper (again - I'd contend that this position is still there, just with different tools)
Sandman (Wow! I had no idea! Apparently, this was a REAL position where someone would distribute sand over ink on a page to help it dry. Good gravy - that is a job I would NOT want to do)
Sawyer (wood mills/cut to order replaced by your handy-dandy Home Depot)
Manual Port Loading (assembly line work replaced by robotics)
Breaker Boy (poor lads had to go through and separate the non-coal from the coal. Lung disease anyone?)
Rag and Bone Men (the quintessential recyclers, they'd go house to house getting specific garbage to be reused.

There is one fundamental lesson here for all of us who are gainfully employed (or wish to be).

Keep yourself relevant. Never get so comfortable in your job that you don't look to the future.

Riding the Coat Tails - or Missing the Boat?

2010-10-27T15:40:00.002-04:00

As a guy who's constantly involved in technology, one of my biggest dilemmas is to when to jump on board. In one respect, it's always a great thing to be there from the get-go, to experience the technology and to reap the benefits that it's sown.

However, one of the downsides to this is that this is when the technology is the most expensive. As more of the product is sold, the price is generally dropped. A large part of the reason for this is that from the outset, the firm developing the product has to recoup some/most/all of it's R&D costs. Also, probably to an extent, they know that the can price it higher as there will be build-up for the latest and greatest and that there are many who will make their purchase to be the first one's on the block.

I sometimes waver in terms of what stage of the product life-cycle that I would make the purchase, but I will say this, I would never be these dudes that camp out in front of Best Buy the night before to purchase the newest iPod. I guess if that people are that driven to be the first on the block - no problem, all the power to them, but I'd never be one of those guys.

By the same token, I wouldn't want to wait TOO long either. The problem with technology is that it changes so frequently. If one waits for an approrpriate "price-point" before making the dive, then they also run the risk of their technology being obsolete sooner.

I know that personally, I've been very retarded <insert joke here> in terms of finally getting on board. Seriously, CD Players were out for a number of years before I finally jumped into the pool. The same thing for a DVD player.

Although I've shown restraint then, I'm chomping at the bit now over eReaders. As faithful netizens of my blog, you'll know that this is something that I've contemplated. Today, Barnes and Noble introduced a new COLOUR version of the Nook. This is the perfect dilemma. Do I really NEED a colour eReader? Maybe not, I've lived with reading monochrome for 4 decades. That having been said, my fear is that if I don't go with a colour, in two years, I'll be kicking myself in the keister as there was some benefit that I've overlooked.

Gotta love this technology. I'm never really quite sure what to do!

PS This is officially my 100th entry on my blog. I still don't know who actually reads this confounded thing, but heck at least it's out there :)

The Drug with a Plug

2010-10-25T14:20:00.001-04:00

My usual disclaimer before I start this month’s article. First of all, I am just as guilty as anyone else on this one….

The other day, I was watching “A Christmas Story” with my daughter (yes – I know, it’s a wee bit early for Christmas movies but we are Christmas junkies - we can’t help it). The scene near the beginning shows Ralphie with his nose pressed against the department store window, marveling at the Red Rider rifle on display. “Kids”, I snorted to myself with no small amount of disdain.

The next morning, I’m going to work and walk past the local electronics store and my pace slows, and then stops. Here I am, Rick/Ralphie admiring the bevy of shiny electronics/the Red Rider Rifle.

The more things change – the more they stay the same.

It then dawned on me that I’m not the only one; this love of the shiny new electronic devices isn’t isolated to me, my gender or even my generation. My daughter constantly complains about how “uncool” her cell phone is now; to the extent that she was considering asking for that to be her main Christmas present, although there’s nothing wrong with her existing one.

This article could have easily been entitled “The Modern Age Lure of the Sirens”. In Greek mythology, the sirens were the prophets that lured mariners with their looks and their sounds of music. They would entice and enthrall the sailors, beckoning them to the sharp and deadly rocks to which the sailors were oblivious and totally doomed to smash upon.

The more things change – the more they stay the same.

As evidenced by my fascination with the latest and greatest, I know that I’m as much to blame as everyone else, but sometimes I think that we need to take a step back and think to ourselves, “This new electronic device that I’m considering, is it a NEED or a WANT?” I think that a good portion of the time, it ends up being a want.

I’m scared to think of how many people have bought a Blackberry just because of the cool factor when perhaps it wasn’t necessary. Not that I’m picking on Blackberry, I think that cell phones in general are quite prone to this phenomenon. There was actually a marketing campaign a little while ago where the vendor’s sale pitch was “when you fall out of love with your old phone”.

From strictly a business perspective, this marketing of new and shiny makes a whole lot of sense. Much as the case with planned obsolescence, if we as consumers hold on to our electronics for years upon years, then as the market becomes more mature and increasingly saturated, then sales will plummet. Unless the corporate world can innovate to the extent that we are forced to upgrade and/or replace, then they will do whatever they can to convince us that the new shiny is better than the old scuffed.

Honestly, I’m just as prone to this as anyone else. When I discovered that my (old) cell phone didn’t take too kindly to be being left in a puddle of water overnight, I was faced with the decision of “what do I replace it with”. Sniffing around Bell Mobility, I could have gone cheaper, gone simpler, but the lure of the sirens was just way too much for me. Besides, I’m quite enjoying my new smart phone. However, I’ll be the first to admit that it has a ton of apps and features on it that I probably will never use.

Maybe I’ll eventually learn how to load MP3s on it so that it can act as a replacement for my crappy old iPod that I’m resorting to using as I’ve misplaced my iPod touch. I know that I’ve accidently taken many pictures of myself with my phone’s front-facing camera. I am currently resisting the thought of a NEW iPod touch (4th gen)…for now…but I can’t promise that I won’t be blogging about how cool my new iPod Touch is in the near future.

WikiLeaks: The Good, The Bad, or the Ugly?

2010-10-22T19:29:00.001-04:00

Me being the kind of guy I am, I generally like to have an opinion on any specific issue. I'm not fool-hardy to think that I'm always right, nor even mostly right for that matter. I've always kind of accepted the fact that sometimes my opinions might be wishy-washy, that I'm not quite convinced one way or the other, but at least I take a general sense of comfort that I am drawing a (tentative) line in the sounds - somewhere, somehow.

However, now and then, there are issues that pop up, and I can honestly see how it's a either a very good thing or just generally a bane to society. It frustrates the hell out of me in that that toe is never at any point, it always vacillates - ne'er a stand to make!

WikiLeaks, this whole CONCEPT of WikiLeaks is frustrating the hell out of me in that it is one of these issues.

Quite often in the past, I've been highly critical of WikiLeaks as they disclose information under the thin veil of "freedom of information" that quite literally puts peoples, families and clans lives at risk. Specifically, there have been documented cases where WikiLeaks has intentionally released the names of informers in the "War Against Terror". The publication of the names of these people that are proponents for democracy and freedom of speech quite literally puts their lives at risk. Dissidents aren't generally thought well of in those areas.

There is that, and there is the good that WikiLeaks provides, the objective release of information for the sake of making it public. Without this approach to the ultimate form of journalism, mounds of documents that were once classified are now available for public consumption. Even to the extent where the "heroes of democracy" (the western military that is "keeping peace" overseas) are having some pretty despicable acts disclosed.

One of the very basic tenets of democracy is that there is some form or level of free speech. However, like many other topics, it's not necessarily an absolute.

Now, if I could figure out which side of line to put my tootsie on, I'd be all set!

Stupid SPAM 101

2010-10-22T05:05:00.001-04:00

Same SPAM message as of my previous post. Now, if you're going to pretend that you know who I am, to personalize the email so that it doesn't appear as SPAM, there here's a HINT.

Before you send SPAM out, how about giving things a quick test, boys?!? This SPAM was personalized to "me" as follows:

Dear NOFIRSTNAME NOLASTNAME. Did someone not actually clue in that their mailing list didn't contain the full name, or were they just too stupid/incompetent to check the SPAM before it went out.

Hold the phone. There's no chance that I don't exist - is there? Is this society's subtle way of telling me to take a long walk off a short pier? I DO have a first name and a last name - I'm sure of it. I was even blessed with TWO middle names, so they can stick THAT in their pipe and smoke it.

Foot Rub, Mammogram?

2010-10-22T05:01:00.002-04:00

Yes - that is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw my SPAM this morning with that subject line. I'll have to admit though, their little plan worked as I just couldn't help myself to see what an earth the SPAM could be about. Turns out that it's for one of those "we'll send you whatever meds you want" sort of thing. Foot Rubs. Mammogram. Is this the "new" one stop shopping? What's next? I'm almost scared to find out. Now...if only I can get some mind scrub happening so that I can erase this visual of a woman getting both of these things done at the same time, that would be great!

Facebook - The New Math?

2010-10-04T21:17:00.000-04:00

In an article today that was talking about some changes to how Facebook uploads and displays photos, it makes mention that there are 100,000,000 photographs uploaded every day. Every FREAKING day?! I'm sure that they didn't just pull that number out of their ummm, collective wazzoo's to be somewhat polite?

Now - according to Facebook, there are 500 million users. First of all, I think it's actually much less. My reason? Because when you delete your Facebook, unless you know how to actually delete it, they just deactive it. I would imagine in this case, they still count you as a user, even if you've been deactivated. So - let's say that for the sake of argument, that there are 400 million active users, that 20% of them are deactivated accounts. That sounds borderline reasonable to me.

What this would mean is that in one year, there would be 30 billion photographs uploaded. That's a whack of photographs, isn't it? What would work out to....let's see 30 billion divided by 400 million, carry they two, myltiply by 6.2...well - math was never my strong suit and I'm tired, so on average a whole heap of photographs uploaded each year.

Makes me wonder if Facebook is the Antichrist. Did the bible actually SAY it was a person...???

The Invisible Tether

2010-09-30T08:06:00.000-04:00

In some of my past articles and blog entries, I’ve talked about how one of my dislikes of technology is that there is a certain obsession to “keep in touch”; to remain tethered to technology. To a very large extent, I think that this is a big problem. This problem isn’t really so much an issue of technology, but rather it’s more about how we choose to use it.

For my readers that don’t know me, my friends and loved ones will tell you that I am just as guilty as everyone else when it comes to this obsession to stay connected. I’ll be the first to admit that there have been times in the past, where I’m lying in bed trying to go to sleep and then I think to myself that I should give my email a quick check – for no particular reason. It’s not like I was expecting an email, but it almost becomes a habit

What triggered this article was something that happened at work a little while back. I was in the men’s room and a gentleman walks in – talking away on his cell phone. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he proceeded to the stall and assumedly attended to his business. I was just totally flabbergasted as to what was so important that he couldn’t wait for until the phone call was over, or if the call to nature was particularly urgent, to say that he’d call back in a bit.

As I mentioned, I’ve written similar articles in the past. One of my biggest concerns with technology is that it’s a given that most of us are expected to be accessible. I read an article recently that from a business and legal perspective, that there’s an entire grey zone as it relates to “Blackberry Overtime”. As evidenced when you ride the subway, or attend a baseball game or even while at a theatre, people are instantly accessible via their Blackberry – connected to work – and always available. There are legal cases pending where employees are putting in for overtime where the premise of this overtime was that they were expected to be on call. The concept of 9-5 is something that is eroding.

However, this whole issue of staying connected with the workplace is more than just an issue of having our pager or cell phones turned on – just in case there is an emergency. This scenario is a passive one – one where the user of the communications device simply has it on, just in case there’s an important call or a support issue. For certain job functions, that’s a very reasonable requirement.

The real problem is that this concept of being accessible to the workplace after hours has mutated to also being an active problem. People aren’t just leaving their communications device turned on, they’re actively checking their emails – and you can bet that not only are they checking their email, but that will remind them of an (unrelated) email that they didn’t respond to. Oh yes, and then there’s that meeting that needed to be rescheduled. Oh – while I’m connected, I better write that email to Marketing about the new promotional materials. And so on, ad infinitum.

My dislike of the social implications or this 24/7 interaction is probably well documented for anyone that has read my articles. I guess that it’s different strokes for different folks, but I don’t understand the compulsion and need to tweet about the minutia of one’s life – about what kind of bagel I ate or to update my Facebook status to say how I’m feeling blah today.

On to the good.

There is no question that this invisible tether can be tremendously useful. It allows me to stay connected to my kids when I’m not there and it gives me a sense of comfort and security that I am accessible to them, should the need arise.

Although I have listed the disadvantages to this constantly wired world, it is a necessary evil (for lack of a better word). Without this accessibility, the information superhighway would be far less accessible and there have been numerous occasions where being able to browse the web from my smartphone or my iPod have benefitted me. From staying in touch with others when I was hospitalized, to being able to look up medical or legal information whenever I needed it, even for things as mundane as checking the address of a restaurant, or perhaps to see the next show time of a movie that I want to see.

To paraphrase Charlton Heston, you can only pry this technology from my cold, dead hands. But please, let’s start having some sanity and put some context back into when it is and when it isn’t appropriate to be accessing this tether.

Welcome to the WWW and P-mail

2010-09-17T11:45:00.002-04:00

Interesting article today on a study in the UK that demonstrated how 'slow' rural broadband can be there. They attached a USB drive with a 300mb video file to a carrier pigeon and timed how long it took the pigeon to transport it 75 miles. It took the pigeon 1.25 hours. At the same time, the broadband transfer was ony 25% done, 'proof' that rural broadband was just too slow.

Yeah, perhaps 100-200kbps is a wee bit on the slow side, but this is probably a perfect example of how a study can be manipulated to prove a point. I'm quite sure before they setup the study, they did some estimates as to how big the file needed to be and how close the two points would be to achieve the desired results.

Afterwards, I had this vision of the 'new technology' where carrier pigeons (or owls ala Harry Potter) are used to transfer p-mail (pigeon-mail) through the WWW (World Wide Wing).

All that I will say that if this ever comes to fuition, then I will be making some serious investments in umbrella companies!

Blessing of The High Tech Tools

2010-09-06T09:33:00.002-04:00

It was with a certain amount of amusement that I read an article yesterday about a Nova Scotia church where the minister/priest (sorry - don't remember the denomination) had a special service. We've all heard of special days where perhaps people bring in their pets to be blessed. In this instance, what was being blessed was their hi-tech tools.

According to the article at a particular point in the service, everyone held up their laptops, blackberrys and cellphones in the air to get blessed. What really make me chuckle though was one lady who went to the evening service as well for extra blessings for her blackberry as she uses it so much and depends on it.

Interestingly enough, there's some precedent for this sort of thing. Apparently, back in 'the day', farmers would bring in their tools and farm implements to be blessed, so is this really all that different? Different age - different tools.

The Death of Privacy

2010-08-26T17:41:00.002-04:00

There's been a couple of recent stories. Both of these I meant to blog about independantly but just never really seemed to get around to it, but in retrospect, there's probably a lot of context that I share.

The more that I get immersed in this technology, the more that I'm concerned that we're on a runaway freight train. I'm very worried that things will not get any better and as a matter of fact, things will just get exponentially worse.

The first article was that I read from the CEO from Google who recently half joked that as a matter of practice, people should change their names once they reach adulthood based on the premise that all of this online history would otherwise follow them around.

That in itself (in jest or in not) is just exceptionally chilling. As I've written in the past, these digital footprints that we leave cannot be erased.

Let's say that it just become practice that once one enters the working world, you create a new persona. What does that REALLY fix? Isn't that just fixing the symptom rather than the disease? If I have a new identify as I become 21, am I not going to have the same problem with privacy in another 10 years when I'm 31? There's something very fundamental here that needs to be looked at, and I know that I'm not the first person to have this concern.

The other article that really made me question privacy was where I read that there are government agencies that are openly using satellite photos (aka Google Earth and the likes) to "spy" on individuals. This is matter of fact. I don't recall where (but I will find the original article) but it goes on to state that in one instance individuals in the muncipal govenment scan photos to see if houses have undeclared pools or structures that have been built without building permits. There was one country - Greece I think - that openly admitted doing this, and the only reason why they were was because it was a cash grab - it was a way to increase the city coffers.

Can someone please stop this ride, I think that I want to get off now.

Literati eReader

2010-08-25T18:09:00.000-04:00

As some of you who may have been following my blog for awhile, originally, I pooh-poohed the concept of eReaders. Upon further consideration and signficant drooling and seeing users, I'm beginning to think that I might have been premature in my dismissal of them.

Latelly, I've been doing a little reading, just checking out the differences between them and what seems to distinguish between a good and a bad eReader.

In an article today, I was reading about a new one coming to market by "The Sharper Image" called The Literati. Okay - I'm getting intrigued. I love the fact that it has WiFi access to it's bookstore (not all of them do). Also liking the fact that the bookstore that can be accessed is powered by Kobo, so there's a bajillion books available there. Nice little bells and whistles - little things like being to change the type from black on white to white on black depending on reading conditions.

Beginning to think that this is a possibility - just in time for the buy-a-Christmas-present-for-myself season.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/204170/sharper_image_brings_ereader_to_the_masses.html?tk=rss_news

http://www.literatireader.com/

Microsoft Bing Maps - Hot Dog!

2010-08-25T07:48:00.003-04:00

I will just go ahead and file this one under "A Use for Technology that I Would Have Never Conceived Of".

In Portland, they are incorporating the latest and greatest technology in conjunction with Microsoft Bing Maps. Apparently, there are a number of vendor foodcarts that are outfitted with auto-Twitter feeds (that in itself - wow - as they would say in 'The Princess Bride' "Inconceivable")! What is pretty interesting is that they're linking in these feeds with Bing Maps so that you Portlanders (Anna - is that the right term? lol) can see in real time not only where each cart is, but what their speciality is as well. Now THAT is a great use of technology. Get it incorporated it here in Toronto and I can do a real-time scan of food carts close to me and what they're serving. Oh - some of the carts are also intelligent enough to transit what they're out of, so if you've got a hankering for a Polish Sausage, you can see if your local vendor has any.

Apparently, they're also integrating FourSquare into this information so that in addition, you can see which of your buddies might be busting their diet and noshing on a 'dog or two.

2b or not 2b that iz the ?

2010-08-24T09:07:00.000-04:00

This in itself is bound to raise the ire or some. It quite simply is known as txtspk (text speak). It is either the bane of all society for those that disapprove of it, or a wonderful way to separate themselves from the “older generation” for those that use it as part of their lives.

As part of the “older generation”, my first thought is that txtspk is not an appropriate way to communicate. Certainly, in today’s business environment, it is not acceptable (at least, not yet). To a certain extent, I feel that it portrays a certain amount of – ignorance might be a bit harsh – but at the very least, a laziness to communicate properly.

Txtspk began through both instant messaging and text messaging. The earlier versions of cell phones had no easy methods of writing text messages. The earliest cell phones allowed text messaging but it was extremely cumbersome as one had to use the numeric keys to type messages. Each number on the keypad had one of three letters, so the user had to “cycle through” each key to get the right letter. For example, to “type” the word later, they would have to press 5-5-5 (L) 2 (A) 8 (T) 3-3 (E) and 7-7-7 (R). Subsequent devices developed a mechanism called t9 which used predictive logic to guess what the likely word would be. Again, using the same example, the user would just have to press 5-2-8-3-7 and the system would be intelligent enough to predict that the most likely word formed with this sequence was “later”.

However, I think that the reason for the adaption for txtspk goes much deeper than this. Certainly the vast majority of cell phones today have full alphanumeric keyboards, so why would people still partake in txtspk? I think the answer is in how each younger generation attempts to distance it from the older generation.

Thinking back to when I was younger, we didn’t have txtspk, but we did have our own jargon – our own lingo. We would never dream of expressing ourselves in the same way as our parents, and I think that to an extent that is what is happening with txtspk.

As I mentioned, from a very fundamental (and probably archaic!) point of view, I don’t approve of txtspk. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll do the occasional LOL or BRB, but for the most part, I try to express myself appropriately.

The reason why this whole topic came to mind is that I was on my way home one day and I saw an electronic billboard in front of a restaurant, where the message scrolled across “UR going to love us”. I thought to myself “Wow, this is a pretty sad statement of our society when businesses are using txtspk”.

There are a few things that come to mind though. One of the basic tenets of advertising is that it is mission critical to be able to communicate to your target audience. It made me realize that if this restaurant was targeting teens, then this is probably a very appropriate method of “delivering the message”.

The other thing that I considered was that our vocabulary constantly evolves. New words are added to our lexicon, and I’m certain that archaic words are periodically purged from our dictionaries. How many times do we read an article where an established dictionary has added new words? In essence, they are accepting these words as part of our every day vocabulary.

Think back again to the evolution of our literature. Now – for the most part, our literature is relatively young, but probably the most common (and older) piece that I can think of is the bible. Every so often, the bible (or portions of it) is rewritten to make the message more relevant. I wonder if one was to read some of the original documents from 2,000 years ago, how much of the vernacular used would make the message confusing to us.

Will the “modern classics” like Shakespeare or Charles Dickens need to be spruced up in the future as part of the vocabulary becomes extinct? It’s hard to say, but I will say this, technology stands still for no person. As much as we don’t to adapt, sometimes, we’re forced to, albeit with a kick and a scream.

I’m not convinced that txtspk is “good”, but I think that the reality of it (unfortunate or otherwise) is that it is here to stay.

I’m sure that there are many of them, but I did find this one website that gives a good translation of txtspk for whoever is interested (be warned that there is so profane language in it!). http://www.internetslang.com/

In closing, all that I can say is TTFN – CYL8R (ta-ta for now – see you later!)

The Long Arm of the Law

2010-08-20T07:59:00.003-04:00

Two unrelated stories in the news this week on how the coppers tracked down those of nefarious and questionable ethics and conduct.

In the first case, the thief accidently dropped his cellphone and they were able to track him down by calling the entry marked "Mom" in his phonebook to establish his identity.

The second guy - guys like this, it's probably good that his lack of intelligence is off of the streets. A bank robber who had escaped, sent an email to the local newspaper, mocking the police as there were all sort of inaccuracies that they had noted. Apparently, the only inaccuracy that didn't escape their attention was the general ease that someone can track you down based on your email address/IP address.

At least he won't be spreading his questionable gene pool (with it's inherent lack of intelligence) while in the slammer!

Rubik's Cube

2010-08-15T11:11:00.001-04:00

As a kid growing up, I was right in the middle of the Rubik's Cube fascination, but sadly was never able to solve it (not that I spent a lot of effort on it)!

Apparently, a group of mathematicians have cajoled Google into giving them some computing power to try to come up with the ultimate solution. Based on this computing power, they have come up with a solution that they say can be used to solve ANY cube combination in 20 moves.

First of all, I'm astounded that it can be solved in 20 moves, but most of all, as a software developer, I'd be really interested to find out how they came up with this solution. The article goes on to state that there are 43 quintrillion (a billion billion) possible combinations, so they couldn't have gone with a "hit and miss" approach I wouldn't think.

The solution is apparently hosted at Cube 20.org and it actually goes on to talk about how they solved the problem. I am thinking that I should probably make it a goal to get a Rubik's Cube and get this sucker solved!

Tablet PCs. What Exactly Am I NOT Getting?

2010-08-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

Okay - I'm confused here - someone...help me out. THE latest craze seems to be tablet PCs. Now, from a marketing/technical perspective - what are these "meant" to be? Are they basically a revved up iTouch with more sophisticated computing power? Are they meant to be the "next-gen" for computing devices meant to render Notebooks obsolete?

Here's the thing - my biggest problem with tablet PCs is the keyboard. It's partly that as a touch typist, I detest virtual keyboards (no tactile feedback and such), but it's more than this. From strictly an ergonomic perspective, a tablet PC makes no sense other than as a casual & ultra-portable computing device.

Keyboards are monitors (ergonomically) cannot be on the same plane. They just can't. If the tablet is tilted as a screen normally is, then so is the keyboard. For minimal typing, sure, that's fine.

I cannot fathom how someone can do serious data entry on a tablet PC. Seems to be Carpel Tunnel Syndrome just waiting to happen.

Thanks - but no thanks. As slick and sexy as the iPad and other tablet PCs are, I'll pass. Instead, give me a freaking iPod Touch with more than 32gb capacity. I need at least 64mb and probably higher. I'm just very sick and tired of cycling music in and out.

Yes! Now I FINALLY Can Say it and MEAN It!!

2010-08-14T12:39:00.000-04:00

Just read an article that Playboy has agreed to remove ALL girlie pictures and risque content from their iPod/iPad apps to conform to Apple's standards.

Now if only I had had access to this version of Playboy as a young lad, I would have been truthful that I was only reading it for the articles :)

WikiLeaks - Pushing the Boundaries of Freedom of Speech

2010-08-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

I've generally been pretty cautious about censorship in general. I think that diverse opinions are integral in an democratic society.

I'm a little concerned with WikiLeaks though. From what I've seen, their posting of military documents puts lives at risk and I'm just not convinced that freedom of speech should exist to this extent. From what I've gathered, not only are military plans that are supposed to be highly classified being disclosed (potentially putting servicemen at risk) but I also have read that some of the documents name individuals in Afghanistan who have supplied information about the Taliban, and the Taliban can now use this information in retaliation.

All that having been said, one of the biggest problems of the Net is that even if it deemed that Wikileaks doesn't have the right to publish this information, how on earth can this be enforced? I'd be very interested in talking to someone with experience in this area of law, but I wonder if an American resident publishes information through an ISP in a "neutral country", are the individuals liable or are they governed by the laws of the country where the ISP exists?

Blog Stats

2010-08-13T15:33:00.002-04:00

Recently, Blogger.com has introduced traffic stats for their blogs. As a relatively small and likely rarely read blog, I find it interesting that there is some "international" traffic to TecHumanity. It's nice to dream and imagine that traffic is going to reach a "tipping point".

Aside from the US (Portland - is that you? lol) and Canada, I show some (minimal) traffic from Denmark, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea and Latvia of all places but they could just be spiders or bots. If these are real people, then drop by and introduce yourselves :)

FAIL - 101

2010-08-13T10:40:00.003-04:00

Working away right now...I move my mouse, but the mouse pointer on my screen isn't working...Damn! My computer's frozen! Hmm - maybe my mouse is out of batteries (cordless).

No - wait. I've been sliding my cellphone on my desk, not my mouse. Never mind lol

An Interesting Dilemma

2010-08-10T10:42:00.003-04:00

Stephen Hawking went on record as saying that the human race needs to abandon Earth and expand to other planets to ensure their contued existence. That's all fine and dandy, but the thought just occured to me. How on earth (as a saying, not literally!) can we have the infrastructure of technology on a new planet? Think of the logistics of this. I originally half in jest thought of there being no Internet access on NewEarth, but think of the ramifications of society having to revert to a technologically stunted environment.

I ponder how long it would take to get an infrastructure in place to support the technology that we're used to.

But then again, the thought of having a technologically immature society isn't all together unappealing.

...and in Today's SPAM

2010-08-10T10:19:00.003-04:00

I can choose to:
- get breast implants
- join an art school
- get a free travel kit when I join the American Association of Retired Person, despite the fact that I am neither American nor Retired
- hire a local contractor to paint
or
- become a social worker.

I just LOVE spam and how it enriches my life.

I think that I'll go with the art school!

Social Networking

2010-07-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

I have enough of a problem with Twitter and this constant need to see and broadcast the minutia of one's lives, but I guess whatever floats your boat. It seems odd, and way too much (spoken as ex-Tweeter).

Next, came Four-Square. For the un-initiated, you go to your smartphone and you "check in" when you're at some geographic location (i.e. "hey, I'm at Burger King at Yonge and Dundas!"). I guess the general concept is that you can see if any of your four-square network is in the same geographical location so that you can hook-up. Umm - not always such a good idea. I'm waiting for the "criminal element" to tap into this and say "hmm, John can't be at two places at once, so if he's four-squared THERE - he can't be at home" sort of thing.

Next, we have an app called GetGlue where you broadcast and announce what you're watching on the tube or reading or listening too. I don't know - I suppose a bit harmless I guess, but doesn't this almost fall into the TMI category?

What's next? Broadcasting announcements of bodily functions? Well - actually...I did see an app on the iTunes store for this purpose, so you can see who else is ummm, shall we delicately say "indisposed and sitting on the throne".

Don't get it - and I don't know that I WANT to get it.

The Facebook Behemoth

2010-07-28T10:42:00.000-04:00

I was just on the elevator a few moments ago. One of those VDT had a quick story about how Google was in talks with "others" to put together a social network to compete with Facebook.

My first thought - wow - talk about going after THE de facto standard of social networks! Facebook recently announced that they now have 500 million member. Firstly, this is a dubious number at best. How many of those are accounts that are deleted, but not REALLY deleted (by the way, Facebook accounts can be physically deleted instead of being made inactive - I've deleted mine). That not-withstanding, that is one WHACK of a lot of users. I have to imagine that this would fall under the "this is an uphill climb" scenario.

I would suppose that if there was any one that could put forth a challenge to Facebook it would be Google and their mystery colloborators.

I am going to very interested to follow this. I'm fascinated to see exactly how Google & friends propose to steal market share.

The Art of Technology...or Should That Be...The Technology of Art?

2010-07-27T08:03:00.000-04:00

First of all, disclaimer time – as those who know me personally can attest, I am not a very artistic person, so my view on this subject might be totally inaccurate, naive or just plain stupid. That having been said, none of that has ever stopped me from voicing my opinion in the past, so it’s certainly not going to start censoring myself now!

One evening, perhaps a month or so ago, I was on the subway on my way home. Almost immediately upon entering the subway car, I noticed a young man – presumably a student engrossed with his digital camera.

For awhile, I watched him – curious as I’m not only interested in technology but also in photography. I noticed him reviewing one particular photograph on the LCD screen and he applied digital filter after filter (sepia, B&W, distortions, etc...) and I became quite fascinated with how he was able to quickly change the whole tone of the picture.

My gut reaction as I watched him apply these filters was that this was way cool. To a large extent, I think it opens up new worlds to the photographer. One could instantly see the myriad of alternatives for the photograph. Now...before I proceed with my concerns, I will be quite honest that when I can afford it, I will be right in line for a Digital 35mm SLR and I’ll likely be doing the exact same thing with my photographs.

As I travelled on the subway, I started thinking a little bit more about this. I came to the realization that as with just about everything else in our life, technology has forever changed yet another aspect of our life – the arts. Where this is sometimes (and quite often is) a good thing, it still comes with a price.

What is art?

As a person who is not terribly artistic, my definition of art would be the sharing of one person’s thoughts and views – a way to express our inner emotions and ideas. Any form of art could be expressed with this very general and high level definition, be it graphics arts, performance arts, literature or art in any other form. I understand that art is so much more than this and I have probably over-simplified, but bare with me.

As demonstrated by watching this young man manipulate his photographs, it became apparent to me that one of the greatest strengths of technology and art is that it gives the artist the freedom and the flexibility to try different things, to find that “version” of their product that best expresses their views. What this article is about is that this is actually a double-edged sword.

The problem lies in that this ease of use allows the artist to continually refine their piece of art. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing but what this mean is that the artist can continually edit their photograph (or manuscript), fine tuning it and editing some more, looking for that “perfect” piece of art.

My concern is that the more that the artist manipulates their product, the less it becomes their view or thoughts at that point in time. Further, given the ease of use of being able to edit their work – is it every truly finished?

I enjoy writing – and I’ve done a bit of it. One of my frustrations is that my writing is never really finished. I continually go back to it, tweak it, clean it up or add some thoughts. With each edit, my writings no longer represent the original idea. I wonder how “A Christmas Carol” would have turned out if Charles Dickens had written it on a word processor as opposed to pen and paper. I expect that writing with on paper and writing on a word processor is a totally different thing.

Another case in point – I love to paint – especially abstracts. This is a case where my art is created using traditional methods. All I need is my paper, brushes, my acrylics and a dose of hyperactivity in conjunction with something that I needed to express.

When I paint, I paint. Once I am finished with a piece, there is no going back – ever. Although probably very primitive and amateurish, there can be no doubt that my artwork is reflective of my mood and thoughts as per that hour of frenzy – of that you can be sure.

Technology is a great thing, but I think that it’s important to keep technology in its own context and never forget about the importance of keeping some humanity as well.

New Blogger Features

2010-07-25T10:18:00.000-04:00

I can FINALLY see stats for my blog - see if anyone else actually reads this crud :)

Last few blog posts - apparently not so many lol, but then again, my writing has been sporadic due to lots of stuff going on in my "real life".

Stay tuned - will try to blog more.

Production Costs for Technology

2010-07-25T10:16:00.000-04:00

This is what confused and concerns me. India has unveiled a prototype of a $35 touch screen table - hoping to release in 2011.

This tablet will be on the very low end (in terms of technology), but the questions remains...HOW is this even possible? There's something here that doesn't make sense.

My first thought was "oh - this is because third world labour - paying people like $3/day in India to produce".

I'm sure that is part of the low cost, but what needs to be answered is how are the parts used in the production so cheap? Again - I understand that they use inferior parts, but how is this even possible? Is this a sign that we're paying through the skin for our technology? If India can do it, couldn't we do it too? I would love to see the true production costs for our technology. Something just seems fishy to me.