My New Word to Add to the High Tech Lexicon

As I came into work on the subway this morning, I noticed a gentleman watching a movie on a handheld device and then noticed the guy to his left subtly "cine-peeking" as he watched over the shoulder :)

Big Brother? Hollywood Plot? Naw - Just a Good Healthy Sense of Paranoia

Sitting here, I'm starting to get a phobia of webcams. There's one hooked onto my monitor at work, and I just can't help thinking - what IF....what if the webcam is on and I don't know. Not bloody likely, but there's no light on the webcam to show if it's on or not, so I come back to the same question - what if....

Of course, right now, if my paranoia was legitimate, someone is getting a nice view of the top of my desk :)

A Grave Concern

I was bedazzaled, amused and somewhat concerned over a story this past week on how technology is used (much akin to my earlier dog-twitter blog entry).

Apparently, one of the newer uses of technology is to imbed a microchip into one's headstone.

Why? You ask?

Well - this chip contains audio clips, photos and other miscellaneous tidbits from the deceased (of course - before the grim reaper knocked on the door!).

Then, a dearly beloved could put their smartphone up to the chip and get this content.

Talk about how there could be some interesting "last words" from those to chicken to say so when they're alive. "Bernice, I never loved you - I was just in it for the money".

Call be cynical, but holey-moley, what's next? The marriage of internet ready fridges meet the gravestone, so one can surf the web while visiting their loved one? Perhaps an embedded monitor to view the deceased Facebook memorial page? Hmmm, I might just be on to something!

Geolocationing...Apparently a New Fad - and More than Apparently - Perhaps Not such a Good Idea!

It astounds me how people seem to jump on the latest technological fad without giving due consideration to the impact. One of the "hot" technologies is that of geolocationing which is a service which tells your friends - automatically and in real time - where you are at the moment.

I guess the general thought is "gee - wouldn't it be great if everyone could see if I was at the closest Mickey-Dee's - stuffing my face? Maybe one of my friends will pop by!"

Among the things that I think that people DON'T think about are:
- who else than my friends can see where I am - and do I want that to be such public knowledge?
- and more more importantly - by knowing where I am, one can also tell where I am NOT. I am not at home - home could be unattended. I am not in my car, if I'm at the latest Starbucks.

I'm betting that the people that are the most in favour of geolocationg systems are those who are more interested in where you're not - rather than where you are.

I'm Guessing That Cyberspace is Prone to Dumbasses Too - But That Should Really Go Without Saying

Recent article on Associated Press where this yahoo (note: lower case - not Yahoo-cased!) in Mexico was posting in Facebook how he was having a great time - despite being wanted on sundry charges in the good old U S of A. Well - the latest thing in law enforcement is (and this should be no surprise to anyone) that the good guys with badges use every tool at their disposal - including social networking. Sure 'nuff, this twit (note: twit - not Twitterer) had a new "friend request) from someone who he didn't really know that well. Well - one thing led to another - now he has PLENTY of time to consider that intelligence is no less important in cyber-space than in the real world.

Censorship - In The News Yet Again

Let's see if I can get this right without cheating...

A couple of days ago, the President(?) of Venezuala(?), Mr. Chavez(?) (okay, feel free to add in the correct title, country and name! The rest of the information is correct - and even accurate!, went on record that saying that the Internet should be "regulated" and censored. As one example, he had stated that his opponenets had published blatantly false accusations against him.

For one thing, I don't see how it can be possible to regulate the Internet. It will always be the Wild Wild West and no sooner will they have one hole in the dyke plugged then another will occur (to mix some metaphors I guess!). That having been said - even if they found a way to regulate the Internet - to pass legislation about what can and cannot be said - how on earth to they plan on enforcing the regulations? Will each government body be responsible for their own citizens? Just sounds very pie-in-the-sky to me.

SxSWi - Am I DeGeeking?

Saw an article on the SxSWi today. At first, I confused it with the annual(?) South by Southwest Music Festival and quickly discovered that this is apparently a "spin-off" of SxSW (aka the Music Festival).

I realized then, that perhaps I am degeeking myself when I would be more excited to attend SxSW than SxSWi!