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Modern advances for transportation?

Technological advances in automobiles and particularly in aides for the driver have enjoyed some significant advances of late. While many advances may have been aimed at making a driverless car possible; some could also improve the safety and ease of driving. Take, for instance, a cruise control that can be set to follow the car in front of you and a lane maintaining system that can keep your car centered in a specific lane. Combine these two and it sounds like you could get in position, set the controls, and take a nap on your way to a destination.

We may still be a bit away from the time when auto-driving cars are common let alone dominating the morning commute, but the technologies to make that possible are real if not matured. By setting up cars to form a network so they can exchange data: relative position, speed, obstacles, and planned path, the future seems attainable. The fly in the ointment would be older cars in the “pack” that can’t share and agree upon who goes where. Oh! And let us not forget the unanticipated factors of weather, animals, landslides, rocks in the road, etc. All of that will take some serious development to manage.

Back to the current advances. I have seen advertisements for cars that have “following” modes for the cruise control; presumably, that would maintain a preset distance between your vehicle and whichever vehicle happens to be directly in front of you. I have also seen advertisements for cars (same brand and others) that have a lane holding system (keeps the car centered in a given lane). Finally, a system that would let you set your cruise control on your RV and ease back to grab a beverage. I am not certain our current level of sophistication will allow such features to be used safely. Admittedly, both could make driving considerably safer if the driver remains alert and in a position to override the automatic features; but, how alert will a driver remain if their continuous input is not needed?

It looks to me like a lot of computer power and sophisticated programming will be required to take the next steps in semi-automation and full automation of vehicle operation. I believe the computer power is available and can be made small enough and rugged enough to survive vehicle operation; but, getting the software matured sufficiently to hand all (or almost all) possible situations safely is going to take some time and some changes to our highways, streets, and our expectations. I also look forward to improvements in the various sensors, locating devices, and cameras to help bring us through the next steps.

Safety of modern transmitting devices?

It continues to amaze me that supposedly learned folks will vilify comparatively safe modern conveniences when others which have a far greater potential for impacting health are ignored. For instance, the power meter or water meter that transmit a very short distance (very low power) only occasionally when compared with your cell phone which is in continuous contact with a tower 1-5 miles away (higher transmit power).

Dating back to the 1930’s and 1940’s the Navy was doing research on exposure to high-frequency signals. They were concerned that putting radar on ships and smaller craft would put crew members in danger or that perhaps RADAR could be used as a weapon against enemies. Fortunately, they were unable to develop an efficient weapon; but, they also determined that exposure to radiation in the mid bands (700mhz to 1ghz) had little to no impact on skin, internal organs, or brain tissue. One of their findings (since repeated) was that high power transmissions at close range could warm the skin and, if continued, the internal organs as well.

In order to protect us, the FCC has restricted the amount of power that handheld devices and household devices (cellphones, wifi routers, IOT devices) may transmit with an eye to preventing the type of exposure that could warm the skin even in contact. The potential for trouble begins when you start to expose living tissue to higher frequency signals like the 2.4ghz, 5ghz (high-performance routers), and the 100ghz and higher used in the newest 5G devices. Sadly, the further above 1ghz (1000mhz) the signal gets, the more energy it carries, and the less we know about the long-term effects of exposure to it.

The higher energy in the signal (5G wideband for instance) greatly enhances its ability to carry data (speed and reliability) making its use a highly sought-after practice as demands for ever faster and more reliable internet dramatically increase.

A peek into the future?

C/NET named its top products of 2020 some time back; but, not included in that list were some items that were thought to not be ready for the market yet or the market not ready for them. I will try to highlight a few of these because of their importance in what we face today and tomorrow.

The use of mRNA to produce a flexible vaccine in record time that promises unprecedented success for a vaccine of any type. In 10 short months, several vaccines have been developed, tested, verified and deployment begun. This process is likely to give rise to several other treatments for maladies previously endemic to humanity.

The introduction of WiFi 6 routers (an early name perhaps) bodes well for the many of us who face new challenges in WiFi demand both at home and in the office. Previous generation routers were good enough for what they were designed to accomplish; but, the new demands posed by the responses we have made to the Covid inspired environment lead to far more instantaneous demand of already taxed WiFi resources within the home network or the office network. For instance, managing 2, 3, or more simultaneous ZOOM sessions will overtax current generation routers. The new routers are being designed specifically with this kind and level of demand in mind.

The Apple M1 chip, an ARM chip and close cousin to the System On a Chip (SOC) found in the Raspberry Pi computers brings with it the promise demonstrated in the Pi 4 and Pi 400 computers, excellent performance, low power draw, simple integration, straightforward software adaptation, and easy software development, not to mention excellent flexibility and easy system implementation. Whether Apple can succeed in bringing this family of chips to the market remains to be seen; but, the new benchmarks illustrated give the competition something to shoot for.

VPN’s (Orchid VPN is an example) continue to evolve to provide better protection and protection for more users. Once limited to providing a secure point-to-point network over shared bandwidth or secure bandwidth alike, VPN’s can fill more roles as they themselves mature and as available bandwidth improves. Not long ago a business network was blessed to have 100Mb in-house bandwidth; now, that speed is pedestrian with gigabit and terabit networks coming into their own. With internet speeds exceeding 200Mb common and gigabit internet available (at a price), VPN’s can now provide the kind of speed once only available within the scope of a local network, out into the WAN (wide area network).

The new basics of computing

I was setting up a couple of new computers this last week with an eye towards how I will go about explaining computer basics in the current computer world. Setting up machines from scratch (or from commercially installed windows or Linux, or macOS) has become much more time consuming than I remember it being just 8 years ago when 40 minutes was more than sufficient time to get to the GUI (graphical user interface) and start using the computer. Now, the updates can take forever (1.5 hrs on a fast Debian system to 28 hrs on a fast windows 10 system) and the wait for initial setup simply adds to that (okay, the Linux setup time is very fast if you ignore updates).

So, is the first thing we should discuss when talking about computer basics the need for updates, security, network connectivity, and data security? That could take hours and wouldn’t have the user any closer to typing their first letter; but, they are necessary topics, particularly for those new to using a computer. Perhaps it would be good to back up even further (along the lines of basics) and discuss power sources with an eye to user safety and good long term operation of the computer, protection from power surges, brownouts, and all the other issues that can befall any device connected to the outside world.

Thus let me get on my soapbox and rant a bit. Yes, good clean power and well-grounded data sources are important (some computers do not use a grounded power cord – laptops mostly) and the ground is the preferred route for any high voltage (lightning) events to use instead of the computer or you (so, it might not be a bad idea to disconnect that laptop from everything during a thunderstorm). Yes, updates really are necessary because the threat posed by malware, viruses, hackers, and a host of other sources requires constant improvements in system security. In addition, many new devices coming out on the market require additions to the Operating System in order to work with your computer.

On the topics of malware, viruses, and hacking, a multi-pronged defense is what I currently recommend. First, keep your OS up-to-date (so you are less of a target to known threats). Second, keep a firewall between you and the outside world (either built into a router or running locally on your system). Third, keep and maintain (more updates) an anti-virus product running in the background. And Fourth, choose a “second opinion” malware scanner to use when anything suspicious occurs (because the first target of many hacks is the installed anti-virus)(Malwarebytes, Sophos, and Microsoft all provide reliable such products).It helps to have a very basic understanding of how your network connectivity (access to the internet, wireless printers, scanners, etc.) works. No, I am not suggesting you want to learn about transfer protocols and the like; but, are you connected by wire? Or, are you connected wirelessly by WiFi or Bluetooth? Does the device that connects you to the internet provide an adequate firewall? And, roughly what kind of data speed (bandwidth) does it provide. Generally, your ISP can provide this information either when they connect you up or upon being asked about your LAN (Local Area Network).

Data security, at its basic level, hasn’t changed in 30+ years. Storage devices fail (fact) and when they do, your photos, documents, etc. can be lost if you do not have backups or synchronized copies (perhaps in the cloud), or just plain copies on some other device (a second computer, thumb drive, USB drive, or other backup devices). The same applies when you are working on any project, document, spreadsheet, etc. you need to save early and often and even create multiple copies on occasion. The use of encryption is up to the user in most cases and prevents data recovery attempts in the case of equipment damage or failure while making it very difficult for a successful hacker to get anything useful from you.

Clear as mud? Like operating a vehicle, there is a lot to understand in order to do so safely and efficiently. Various service providers can be quite helpful if asked (they might well assume you don’t need help with the basics). Duplicating important data remains a necessary if inconvenient step.

News: 5G and M-1

2 nice news bits today. Some groups have already started to deploy new wifi networks to previously unserved neighborhoods using the new 5G band plan type equipment; and second, Some data about the new Apple M-1 CPU+GPU chip is coming out so we can have some idea of what to expect.

The Wall Street Journal posted a story today about a non-phone group who is putting up 5G based networks in previously underserved or unserved areas of the Dakotas. The cost to provide high-speed network access using the new equipment is greatly reduced (compared to 802.11 equipment) and makes it possible to provide high data rates with inexpensive equipment. I suspect there are several other groups looking to do the same kind of deployments as 5G equipment becomes more available.

Apple did a really nice dog and pony show a while back making some interesting claims about their new M-1 chip that they plan to build laptops and maybe some tablets around. First, there is nothing new about this chip; you can find it in some of Microsoft’s tablet/tablet PC’s and a really well-established version can be found in Raspberry Pi products like the Pi 400. Looking at a few early benchmarks of the M-1, it is likely to offer middle-of-the-road performance initially with many restrictions on what software (apps) and peripherals will work with it.

While I am excited about the efforts of some to get 5G based equipment up to provide better WIFI for many, time will tell if the production of these products can fulfill the promise of early successes (yes, I am really excited about this, and have been watching for it to begin). The new Apple product announcements really do not excite me. Apple has made outlandish claims before with reality sinking in after product rollout (the original iMac could be sighted as an exception but it was years late in actual delivery) and this suggested rollout looks so much like those. Please understand, the new ARM chips are fantastic and do make design and production of specialty or general purpose devices very simple (by comparison to Intel chips). Ramping up performance from being competitive with other low-power products to be competitive in the laptop or Desktop market is a huge challenge.

Finally, this move by Apple may allow them to further isolate themselves from the huge R & D effort that competition between AMD and Intel has created (graphics chip makers have also enjoyed a lot of push as they try to keep their offerings competitive with the embedded graphics). For me, the one real positive is that this will provide a lot of stimulus for the ARM chip industry which has done very well on its own but has not been able to jump up to the level of Intel or AMD in chip development.

Alert! Ransomware is making a comeback

Alert, the bad people are back at it again. If all the new scams weren’t enough, ransomware has a new twist and it is booming. Instead of the authors deploying ransomware in its latest incarnation, they have gone to contracting it out, designing it to be custom configured by middlemen and deployed by ghosts, who collect their money and disappear only to reform under new names, identities, you name it.

This new style of ransomware comes with some really clever new techniques to avoid detection and some new approaches to maximizing the income potential of holding someone’s data hostage. And, this new incarnation of ransomware also steals data while encrypting it.

First, a hint of the new techniques. Since the ransomware is sold as a configurable suite of exploitative modules, it isn’t easy for anti-virus software, devices, or even behavior watching protections to recognize. Second, one of the features is a really slick module that can funnel disk requests to the operating system’s cache manager and then use (Windows or Apple) built-in operating system components to encrypt the data while in the file cache, tag it as new, requiring synchronization with physical storage and let the operating system finish the dirty work as part of its normal duties.

Surprisingly, the ransom for most of these attacks is very affordable; because they (the bad people) really want folks to pay the ransom. This identifies for them the people and companies whom they can then apply further (virtual) blackmail upon with an expectation of getting further money. So, you pay the $150 ransom and are contacted by a representative of the ransomers who often sets up and performs the decryption of part of the files only to be told that your data was also stolen and will be publicly posted if you don’t pony up lots more money. And they aren’t bluffing, there have already been a few very embarrassing cases where they did just that (posted the “secret” data, identified the source, and advertised it on the open web).

So, how do you protect yourself against this kind of assault? Keep your operating system up to date, your antivirus and antimalware up to date, do regular “full” scans of the data holding machine, and all machines that have access to that machine. Keep your firewall on and as restrictive as possible (in an office consider an adaptive firewall appliance or gateway server). Honest, if you don’t get occasional firewall violations and refusals, your firewall is not restrictive enough.

Having good, current, and disconnected (not available to be “live” updated and thus also corrupted) backups is the best way to recover from most ransomware attacks and many other forms of exploitation. Also having company-wide policies in effect (no alien machines, no disks or drives introduced without proper verification of safety, no gaming, no use of unsecured email services, etc.) can go a long way to reducing your risk and attractiveness to the bad people.

Finally, if you do become a victim of hackers, or scammers, or ransomers, please do not pay the ransom. Instead, seek the assistance of law enforcement, your data insurance provider, IT security professionals, and other professionals as appropriate (each will likely have important insights to help you get through the event with a minimum of damage and cost).

FCC Notice of Rule

Notice of Effective date for Call Blocking Rules

CG Docket No. 17-59

On July 16, 2020, the Commission adopted the Call Blocking Third Report and Order, which adopted rules for the blocking of calls, including two safe harbors and associated protections for the blocking of certain calls.[1] The rules become effective 30 days after publication of a summary of the Call Blocking Third Report and Order in the Federal Register.[2] The Federal Register published that summary on September 14, 2020.[3] Accordingly, the rules adopted in the Call Blocking Third Report and Order will take effect on October 14, 2020.

[1] Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls, CG Docket No. 17-59, Third Report and Order, Order on Reconsideration, and Fourth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 35 FCC Rcd 7614 (2020) (Call Blocking Third Report and Order) (implementing, in part, the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act, Pub. L. No. 116-105, 133 Stat. 3274 (2019) (TRACED Act)).

[2] Call Blocking Third Report and Order, 35 FCC Rcd at7650, para. 125.

[3] Federal Communications Commission, Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate UnlawfulRobocalls, Final Rule, 85 Fed. Reg. 56530 (Sept. 14, 2020).

The First Amendment and our right to Free Speech

Well, Benediktson Computer is once again in its Southwest office in Silver City, New Mexico. Yes, we were chased out of Montana by snowstorms and luckily made the trip safely with no major challenges or issues. I want to try and tackle a difficult topic for me; it has to do with what folks are calling a violation of their right to free speech. I may have a unique perspective on this topic.

First off, the right to free speech is not one that is provided by our government, the bill of rights (first amendment) protects us from infringement of this right by the government. I know there have been some appellate court decisions that appear to have broadened the scope of this protection; but, I am not aware of any high court decisions that have broadened this protection to the point that we are protected from censorship on private lands, services, hosts and so forth.

So, to be clear, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are private services hosted by corporations (presumably for profit) on privately owned and operated servers. Any act of censorship, restriction of content, or removal of content may be annoying; but, it in no way is a breach of anyone’s rights. If (and this is a big if) our government were to offer a similar type of service, then the first amendment might offer us some protection against content censoring on that service.

In addition, private groups hosted on any of these corporate services (please do not make the mistake of considering them government-sponsored or supported) have been given considerable freedom to choose what content they find acceptable (within the framework of the hosting service) and this may be quite a bit more restrictive in many ways (all of this without violating anyone’s rights).

As each of us joined (Facebook for example) we were offered a chance to view and then required to accept and agree to the terms of service for that service. While I will entertain the notion that there are some rights and priveledges of being an American Citizen that we simply cannot sign away, this, in no way, applies to content that we publish onto privately or corporately owned and operated services. One last point, when we publish content on a service (like Facebook) we are making that content public on that privately operated service, potentially causing the owners of that service to be responsible for that content (legally).

Server-based Issues

For those who have had some strange behavior with your Microsoft apps over the last few days (Sept 26 – 29), yes there have been some issues with the Microsoft servers. Microsoft admits to a multi-hour outage over the weekend. I suspect that they were hacked and Microsoft brought the services down to protect users. Evidence? Monday morning I attempted to load MS Edge onto a machine and the antivirus stated that the update was being abandoned because it contained a virus. Also, a number of cloud and email users of 365 and outlook products had the passwords from their products and Microsoft password storage purged during this same period.

If you are one of those impacted, it looks like Microsoft has cleaned up the mess and you can return to using those services. If your password(s) for one or more services was purged, go ahead and supply your passwords manually (as requested by the service in a pop-up) and then look into changing any affected passwords at your earliest opportunity. As always, it is very important to verify which service is requesting a password; if it is for a web service, look carefully at the address and make certain it matches the address for the appropriate service.

There are so many scams in operation out on the world wide web right now that it is likely you have seen or been called by one of the scam operations. There are several places you can look for help recognizing a scam; I can recommend fcc.gov and the many resources they maintain. In addition, a simple google search or bing search will often highlight what others have already encountered and identified. Your favorite neighborhood computer consultant or technician is likely to have already encountered and dealt with any but the very latest of scams and can be an excellent resource before and, sadly after you get involved with a scam.

A few tips, Microsoft is not monitoring your system (well at least not to spot scams or viruses) and will not call you to help you, will not put a full-screen popup on your computer, and will not email warnings to you. Any of these things are evidence that someone is trying to scam you. Generally, these scams are aimed at getting money from you, getting useable information about you or your financial footprint. It is extremely important that none of us give out this information to the scammers, no matter how harmless or helpful it or they may seem, and of course, do not give money in any form to anyone you do not already have a business relationship with.

Another tip, if the nice people who sent you a message or popup or warning offer to install McAffee products for you, or Symantec products, they are quite likely scammers. Why? Symantec owns both families of products and makes them available in bulk for at virtually no cost so they are easy choices for scammers trying to look legit.

Repair or Replace?

One of the questions I am often asked is when do you repair or upgrade and when do you replace? Sometimes the answer is clear and easy to explain; but, often this is a very difficult question resulting from complex criteria. Most of us have a lot invested in our desktop or laptop computers and minor damage simply does not rise to the seriousness level to bring on the need or desire to replace.

Some of the obvious reasons for replacement are age (a 10-year-old computer really is old), cost of repair and maintenance (replacing a $50 dollar part on a $700 computer is reasonable, replacing a $200 dollar part on a $250 computer is not reasonable). Then there is the concern for all the time and effort involved in “moving into” a computer. Generally, a new computer needs a lot of time and effort on someone’s part just to get it up to what the previous computer could do.

While, in the computer world, new is generally faster with more storage and should require less maintenance, it is not uncommon for new to also have left some important, to you, software behind (cannot install for a variety of reasons, or require a new license, and others) or a previously familiar software product behaves differently on the new computer and you have a learning requirement to get back being proficient again. Then there is a break-in period when new electronics can simply have factory testing missed flaws appear.

So, in many cases, there are reasons to consider repairing or upgrading instead of replacing. Each situation is different and the factors that drive the decision can change as time passes.

For many users, I recommend hard drive replacement when performance is the primary issue with a computer and that computer is more than 4 years old. With standard spinning hard drives, this is an age where they can really drop off in performance and reliability. Replacing that older hard drive with an SSD can really perk up a computer’s performance and its data storage reliability in one simple step. Let us not forget that backups continue to be important even with the newer drives as they can still fail.

Computer Glasses

On a topic slightly out of my expertise areas but well developed in my experience. Optics (glasses) for working at a computer. This is an area where I am somewhat spoiled; yes, I have specially made glasses just for working on my computers. And, yes, I feel they make a huge difference.

Last time I had my eyes checked and a new prescription for distance viewing, I also had my optometrist write me a prescription for computer glasses. We discussed the distance from my eyes to the surface of the monitor and she (my optometrist) set up a set of test lenses for that exact distance and we tried a few options and picked the best possible correction for me at that distance.

With this prescription in hand, I ordered my computer glasses including a blue light filter, the latest in UVA and UVB filtering, a non-reflective coating, and a dust resisting and water-repelling coating. Even the latest LED screens cause ionization of particles and tend to cause glasses to pick up dust far faster than normal; this new coating (Crizal is one choice, , Zinni Optical has another “brand”) really does make a difference.

My last pair of glasses I had added polarization on top of all the other features and found the polarization to cause some trouble (tilt your head and the screen appears to go dark); so, since I use them exclusively indoors, I did not add polarization or any form of darkening this time and, I admit, I am happier with this for computer glasses.

Spend some time talking with your Optometrist regarding your specific needs and desires for any common work spaces you utilize. There are so many wonderful tweaks that can be managed to improve your vision in specific environments and the cost of most of them is very reasonable. Task specific optics often run just $40-$60.

Out Of Box Experience, the Microsoft OOBE

OOBE, Microsoft’s promise to provide a smooth, rewarding and quick Out Of Box Experience has died a long and drawn out death. At the root of this mess is a combination of licensing issues, standardization of windows itself (1 disk can load any version of Windows 10), and strong-arm attempts by Microsoft to get everyone to have a Microsoft account and use it to start up their computer. In order to “tie” any given copy of windows to a specific machine and to a specific client account, significant interaction is necessary and this takes time no matter how fast the computer.

Frustrating as it is to wade through the process of establishing your right to use a copy of Windows, Microsoft has compounded the problem by starting the process of updating your copy (which may have been manufactured several months and thus several large updates in the past) half way through the OOBE and continuing it for many hours after you get your first glimpse of the Windows desktop. As a result, the machine will feel slow and balky until all of this updating is completed, several necessary reboots included.

But, you have a brand new computer, you want to load your documents, photos and get productive with it. It is bad enough that it may take a few hours to load the programs or Apps that you use; but, because mandatory updates are loading, your install speed is greatly reduced and installs from the internet are likely to stall or error out. Never mind them being interrupted by a need to reboot for Windows to finish an update.

So, how long does all of this take and how long does it tie you, the new owner, up? The new OOBE experience needs user interaction for 30 minutes to an hour, then the update process runs for anywhere from 5 minutes to 48 hours with occasional user interventions (to trigger or finish reboots). Much depends on the performance of the computer, speed of the internet connection, and most importantly, how long the computer sat in the warehouse waiting to be sold.

In the end, you are granted limited permission to use Microsoft Software, not ownership and you have little choice but to agree to their terms. I have found that keeping the computer disconnected from the internet can greatly speed up this OOBE and delay the inevitable update sequences until you are ready.

Magnetic charging cables for cellphones and other similarly charged devices.

Hey, I decided to try one of those magnetic charger cables and the associated dongles that stay in your phone and other devices. First, my smart phone is developing an issue with its data + charging port so I wanted a nearly permanent connection device to stay in it once I insured it had a good connection (to lengthen the service life of my phone) and I often find that I am trying to plug in devices to a cable located in a dark room.

I put one of these cables in my car and I have to admit that little bit of blue light really helps me find the desired end of the cable while not having to see the end to identify up or down on it to get a connection to my phone really helps too. I think this is a type of product that is well worth the investment and will significantly lengthen the service life of my phone while also making it easier and much safer to connect up in the car.

Windows 10 setup without a password

I was asked the other day how to setup Windows 10 and avoid having to set it up with a password and how to avoid a bunch of the other “crap” Microsoft tries really hard to force you to setup.

I have found what I think is a simple, elegant solution: When you start that initial Windows setup, do not connect to the internet, not by cable and not by wifi (if your machine has wifi, Windows 10 will list available connections for you and in the lower left corner there should be a prompt “I don’t have internet” or similar, click this instead of selecting a wifi) then continue with Windows 10 initial setup refusing any attempts to provide enhanced services (from the internet) and give a user name that is meaningful for you. Under the username is space for a password, it is your choice and you can provide one here or simply press enter or click on next to not have a password required to start Windows on this machine. Eventually, you will get to the normal Windows 10 desktop and have a copy of Windows that starts without a password or a pin. There are also some hidden advantages to this method too; but, most users will never notice. Mostly, this method avoids setting up 5 or 6 services that eat some resources and make the boot-up take longer.

Magnetic connecting charging cables

So, I shopped a bit and purchased a kit with 4 cables with lighted magnetic ends and many tiny tips (dongles) to permanently plug into my devices. I plugged one into my phone and plugged the cable into my standard phone charger and voila! the end lit up in a pleasant blue light making it easy to find in any light and bringing it close to my phone caused it to magnetically zip over to the connection on my phone and form a good connection (good meaning the phone started charging at full charge rate). I put one of these cables in my car and I have to admit that little bit of blue light really helps me find the desired end of the cable while not having to see the end to identify up or down on it to get a connection to my phone really helps too.

I think this is a type of product that is well worth the investment and will significantly lengthen the service life of my phone while also making it easier and much safer to connect up in the car.

To scan or photograph?

Well, the delayed tax season is upon us and a few folks are scrambling to get “stuff” prepared at the last second. These modern days there are so many more ways of capturing information than were even dreamt of 20 years ago; but, this has led to some interesting confusion. One individual hit me with “I have photographed all my receipts this year; but, how do I get them out of my phone?”. Yet another mentioned having moved to Windows 10 and now their old scanner doesn’t work and so forth.

So, it seemed to me that the same solution applied to both of these situations. Images taken with a phone are no different than those scanned with a flatbed or any other type of scanner. Yes, a flatbed scanner is quite convenient for pressing curled receipts flat and scanning them into the computer; but, the real purpose is often just to “capture” a number and have proof of the associated expenditure, asset, or whatever so perhaps a quick photo of that document or item is all you really needed.

But, wait you say, how do I get those pictures out of my phone, and then how do I get them into some form that is useful? For me, the first step is to get them transferred to a computer (yes, I know how powerful modern phones are; but, I am experienced in solutions using Windows and associated utilities).

My second choice for getting photos off of a phone and into a computer is to sync the phone with a cloud service (iCloud, google-cloud, and so forth) then follow the instructions to log your computer into that same cloud account and you can sync again or copy and paste from the cloud to your pc. This has the advantage that the cloud services are really good at converting names and formatting issues automatically so what you get on your computer is readily useable when it arrives. At this point, you could print them out (ugh!) archive them onto a portable memory device, burn them onto a CD or DVD, or whatever seems most functional for you.

However, some folks like to have all this information in a more standard form like JPG’s or even PDFs (Adobe format). How do I get all of this stuff into the right format, you know, so I can use it? Well, when it comes from the cloud it is extremely likely to come as a JPG which is a nice compressed format suitable for viewing. If, instead, you want PDF, you might have to print all of those photos to a PDF printer (Windows 10 has one built-in, or you can download one of several from the internet at no charge – “cute pdf” has worked well for me in the past). Oh, and you can select multiple photos and have them all printed to pdf files in a single step if you have a lot of them to convert.

For those who still aren’t happy with all these photos of information or pdf’s of information, there is a technique called OCR (optical character recognition) which can convert all of this into numbers that can be used in a spreadsheet or in a myriad of other ways. For this, I usually suggest looking on the internet for a utility program to do this partially automatically and suggest spending a few dollars to get one that reviewers have had success with; or, you could simply type the numbers into whatever application you favor and be just as well off (most spreadsheets allow you to import jpg’s and pdfs so you have the source material and the numbers together).

How does remote work and school change your needs at home?

Very soon school will recommence in the shadow of the COVID specter. Looking at current trends, I predict that much of the coming school year will be carried out remotely using a wide variety of distance learning techniques. For the parents of school-aged children, this will have several impacts.

This spring some learned about the need for more connectable devices as the demand for computers at home suddenly increased when sharing one computer between 3 children simply did not work (and other similar scenarios). Then, as more devices were connected, the need for more bandwidth (simply more speed either in your internet connection or in your home wifi, or both) became apparent (the internet connection that was adequate for shopping online, getting the news simply came to a halt when 2 people tried to operate simultaneous video chats). So how much bandwidth (still just speed) does your household need?

Let me start by describing one cause of confusion. For news, streaming movies, reading email (the stuff we used to do), download speed is all that matters; but for video chatting, video conferencing, video phone calls, most forms of classroom “sharing” you use as much upload speed (previously unimportant to most) as download speed and this is a gamechanger for you and for the ISPs (Internet Service Providers). So a 20mb down by 0.5mb up service used to be great and as soon as distance learning started in your home it was woefully inadequate to the point of being non-functional. Just as cloud-based services do much better on connections with much more upload speed, say 20 by 20 MB, so virtual classrooms of various forms also work much better with symmetrical connections (same up speed as down speed).

But, how much is enough? Voice phone calls need 256K x 256K per active phone call, video chats vary somewhat but generally 2MB x 2MB minimum and 5MB x 5MB for full screen and 10MB x 10MB for high resolution per active “chat”. If you have 3 students at home using standard resolution remotes into school, 15MB x 15MB will be consumed upfront with internet searches, videos (watching), cell phone connections all piling on even more demand. If you run a business from home and rely on the internet to interact with your clientele, add even more. So, in my example maybe 30MB up by 50MB down will keep everything flowing during peak demand.

Based on what you have been previously offered by your local internet service provider, these numbers may seem ridiculous; but, let me assure you this is a real part of what distance learning does to your internet usage. Until ISPs catch up with this sudden change in demand, some sacrifices will be made (doing low-res remotes when possible, waiting till later to stream videos or catch up on social networking, etc.). Start by checking with your ISP to see if they have upped their offerings to meet this demand or plan to in the future. If not, then looking to competing service providers may be necessary.

Stick Computers, when internet access is all you need.

This time around, I want to talk about turning an extra or lightly utilized television into a computer intended for internet access, email, remote learning, and similar functions. Let me be clear, none of the devices I will describe is intended for gaming, CADD, CAM, photo editing, or video editing. These devices (computers) are designed to get you internet-based content, display videos (even movies), and provide a portal for video conferencing (the basis for much of current distance learning).How does this work? Miniaturization of computers has come a long way and you can cram everything you need to make a good computing device into a 4″ stick with an HDMI connector built into one end of it (see a picture of just one such device below). To run Windows 10, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage are sufficient, though I recommend 4GB of RAM and 32GB or even 64GB of storage, and devices configured this way are available and inexpensive.What is needed to complete the package? I recommend you start with the stick device which Amazon (among other sources) sells for under $150. (brands like Intel, Azulle, Terryza, AWOW). Add wireless keyboard and mouse combination (using a combination or set makes it easy to add wireless keyboard and mouse with one USB dongle) at $30 or less from a variety of manufacturers including Logitech. Finally, add a camera (conferencing implies that you can send video or photos) at $30-$50 along with a simple multi-outlet extension cord $10 ish and $220 or thereabouts gets you a complete kit to turn any HDMI TV into a computer.What can I expect such a computer to be able to do? Well, it will be plenty powerful enough to run Microsoft Office or Apache Office (free), store numerous documents, photos, even a few videos (setting up a cloud connection can greatly increase this ability). It will do quite nicely browsing the web, accessing your email, streaming videos (HD or UHD available in some devices and a few tv’s) and will come with Windows 10 pre-installed or ChromeOS if you so choose. And yes, it should be able to smoothly handle video conferencing and other remote school functions.

The AWOW pc stick — small, with fan, ac networking

Warning from FCC regarding scammers

Oh wow! I am amazed at how sophisticated the scammers have become. Faking the caller id to match the actual business they are pretending to be and then taking control of the unsuspecting scammee’s accounts, phone, etc. Some of these scams are just too well done to believe.

So, I will repeat some of the advice offered by an FCC representative who put on a small seminar on how to avoid or survive the current family of scams and scammers. First, if someone calls you and identifies themselves as being from a particular agency or business, hang up on them. If you feel there is reason to believe the call was valid, look up the published number for that agency or business, call that number and inquire about any issues. I can not stress this strongly enough, there is no way to know where an incoming call has actually come from and you simply can NOT trust that the call is in your best interest. Once again, hang up, do not provide the caller with ANY information.

As another repeat, Microsoft does not have any teams or facilities to call computer or device owners to alert them of any issues. You will never receive a phone call from Microsoft, any calls that seem to be from Microsoft are a SCAM.if you do become aware of a phone-based scam, or heaven forbid get involved in one, the FCC would like to know about it; your local law enforcement may want to know about it also. The FCC has a customer portal available through www.fcc.gov (https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us) where you can make a report with any information you may have.

The FCC has several facilities to assist you in identifying or dealing with scams and scammers (start at www.fcc.gov). In addition, they are in the process of making new rules to assist in scam prevention and (hopefully) prosecution. Additional information about FCC activities follows: The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is seeking comments for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the one-ring scam. Comments are due June 19, 2020. Reply Comments are due on or before July 6, 2020. More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/cgb-announces-comment-dates-one-ring-scam-nprm.Chairman Ajit Pai’s May 18, 2020 blog regarding the digital divide is available at https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/blog/2020/05/18/bread-and-butter.The fifth meeting of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council VII (CSRIC VII) will meet electronically on June 10, 2020. More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-csric-vii-meeting-june-10-be-held-electronically.The FCC has partnered with the Institute of Museum And Library Services to address the digital divide during COVID-19 by working together to keep libraries and their communities connected.

More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-imls-partner-support-libraries-and-address-digital-divide. The FCC and the Federal Trade Commission demand that robocall-enabling service providers cut off from routing COVID-19 related international scammers. These scams include COVID-19 related funds, loan reductions, and social security threats. Gateway providers who do not cut off this kind of traffic face serious consequences. More information is available at https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-ftc-demand-robocall-enabling-service-providers-cut-scammers.Please be careful and remember to never give out your social security number, account passwords, or other critical access information over the phone.

Sudden Jeopardy for Social Networking users?

I wonder how many people appreciate what happens when you post something on social media. Doing so is publishing that information. Yes, you can restrict the audience (in general terms) by carefully setting and managing your privacy settings. I read through a change in privacy policy recently tagged from Facebook and noticed one glaring change; photographs are now considered the property of Facebook when they are stored on Facebook (in a post or on your personal page).

I have long been concerned that someone would pull the rug out from under the various protections we as users (publishers) on social media have (perhaps inappropriately) enjoyed. A 1996 law that essentially holds publishers, social media system operators, Internet service providers, and portal providers (those who make internet cafe machines available) harmless for the content published on social media. My notion of the worst-case situation here is that everything ever posted (and not permanently deleted) would suddenly be exposed to a plethora of legal challenges from both law enforcement and civil opposition.

It now appears that the Whitehouse is going to test its ability to modify laws once again by altering those protections through Presidential action to modify “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act”. Now that act may not have been aimed at protecting the true authors of memes and other posts; but, it has certainly protected the services (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and allowed the posting public to assert or state most anything one might imagine with little to no expectation of reprisal.Waking up one morning and learning that you need to be more circumspect in your posts is one thing, and frankly, I have no issue with this becoming the case; but, suddenly being liable (no coincidence in my choice of words here) for everything you have ever posted, is a very different can of worms and one we are likely to face very soon.

So, to my way of thinking, two threats to our long-standing practices on social media; one, photos we upload may get used in a manner not in keeping with our privacy settings and two, we may all suddenly be held accountable civilly and legally for all content we have posted over the years.