Category: Technology

Duh the Government Watches You

April 5th, 2012 · · Legislation, Technology No comments - Tags: , , , , ,

Earlier, I posted this link to an AP article that spells out how the ACLU is getting information about the government pulling your cellular phone data from carriers. My reaction was ‘Duh’.

You may not be aware of the fact that a company holding information about you has a much lower standard of privacy expectation than information you keep as a person. Companies have information on your location, purchases on credit/bank cards, your discount/reward card purchases (Kroger Plus, Lowes, Kmart, etc.), and even what you do on the Internet (Charter, AT&T, Facebook). These companies have varying policies regarding the data they keep and how long they keep it. For many of these records law enforcement or other companies and agencies only need to ask to see whatever they want.

Many companies already share information about you with each other. This works to the advantage of corporations who want to know everything about you so that they can sell you products more effectively. On the surface this is not a big deal. I don’t mind if Kroger wants to send me coupons for Meow Mix because they know I have a cat (two actually). This does become concerning when you think about the information warehouses that exist and all of the illegal computer break-ins that we read about in the news every day.

How many of these places have your name, address, phone number, date of birth, and other personal information? How easy would it be for the bad guys to steal your identity with that data?

For you paranoid folks out there, this also means that the government can watch everything you do, when you do it, how often you do it, and why. Again, this is not normally a big deal, but why do they need to know I bought cat food twice last month and that I searched for ‘cat tree’ on Google? They don’t. That is more my point here – that the government has no legitimate need to gather this information about most people, but they collect it anyway.

Using Tech to Prepare for Disaster

March 7th, 2012 · · Family, General, Mount Vernon, Technology One comment - Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

This is a reprint from my ‘Ask a Geek’ column which originally ran in the Mount Vernon Register-News.

Most people don’t like thinking about disasters. Unfortunately, disasters do happen to us or loved ones. In our area we should be concerned with 3 types of disasters: tornado/storm, earthquake, and chemical spill. Most people are aware that we live in a tornadic area and that the New Madrid fault line may cause damage in our area if ‘the big one’ ever happens along that fault. Chemical spill may have some of you confused.

Our area has a low population density. This means that hazardous chemicals travel the railways and interstate highways daily. The theory is that if a spill happens here fewer people would be affected (injured) since we have less population than a major city. This is why I include chemical spills as a disaster that may happen locally.

General guidelines for disaster preparedness are: have some extra non-perishable food items stored, extra drinking water, a first aid kit, know basic first aid, keep copies of important documents and an insurance claim inventory, have extra clothing, and have a planned meeting place for your family/group. Storing of extra food is something that technology may not help a lot, unless you keep an inventory of your groceries using a spreadsheet. The other suggestions can all be assisted using technology.

Storing extra drinking water is not easy because it uses space. A gallon or two of drinking water in your pantry or a case of bottled water is something that most of us can do as preparation. Another step that you might take is to get water tablets to make bad water drinkable. These tablets are available at some camping stores, department stores, and I found them online for about $5. These tablets kill bacteria and other germs that can make you sick so that the treated water is drinkable. The water may not taste good since it is not filtered, but it should not make you sick.

A first aid kit around the house is a good idea. Most recommendations I have seen suggest adhesive bandages (Band-Aids), gauze, tape, iodine swabs, alcohol wipes, and a medium Ace bandage. With these supplies most minor scrapes and bruises can easily be handled at home. In an emergency situation fire, ambulance, and police will be very busy. This kit can allow you to care for your group until they become available. My advice is to purchase a pre-made kit from a department store with these items included. I found a kit at Wal-mart for about $5. Through technology everything is compressed into a kit smaller than a lunch box.

Knowing first aid is also helpful in a disaster. There may be injuries to others. Your first aid kit can help, but only if you learn what to do for injuries before the disaster. The Red Cross provides advice for preparing, links to find classes in your area, and refresher courses online at http://redcross.org. I have taken these classes several times and each time helps me learn or remember more than the last class.

Keeping copies of important documents like birth certificates, car titles, or phone numbers is very important. During a disaster you do not need the stress of trying to remember grandma’s number adding to your situation. One solution is to keep a hard (printed) copy of these papers and information in a fire proof safe at your home. This is a good idea, but there are other solutions. You could scan the documents or type a phone list and save the information using a computer. Then the files can be stored on a cheap thumb drive in your emergency kit (you do have one by now, right?), at a family member’s home, or online.

The thumb drive or online storage can also contain a list of your home inventory to assist an insurance claim. I don’t know about you, but if my home was just blown away in a tornado I would have a hard time remembering how many t-shirts and pillows I had in the house. Insurance companies want that kind of detail. If you forget to file for your favorite blanket or stuffed animal loss you may lose out on reimbursement. Be sure to take a detailed inventory of your home and keep it updated once or twice per year.

There are many services that offer free online storage of your files. My two preferred services are http://box.net and http://dropbox.com. Both of these are free services to store files and can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection, including your phone. You might be nervous about storing this personal information on a thumb drive and you should be nervous. With this information bad guys could pretend to be you. Many thumb drives include encryption software to protect your information, and you should use it to stop any worries you might have about theft.

Storing extra clothing might seem like it takes up a lot of space. You may not need to keep a complete wardrobe next to your bed or in the car, but a pair of underwear, glasses, and socks would be a good kit to have handy. Using vacuum technology you can put several pieces of clothing into a bag, suck out the air, and tuck your extra clothing into your emergency kit. You can also get a space blanket and light rain poncho that are folded into a small square in case your emergency happens in the rain or on a cold night. Space blankets are thin sheets like plastic that reflect heat back toward your body. A rain poncho will help keep you dry in a storm or protect you from the sun.

Finally, have a location where your family will meet after a disaster to perform a head count and check if anyone is missing. Google Maps is a great tool to create and map out your location(s) for meeting. You can create general maps of the area to what size you want. There can also be maps with directions from places where you commonly spend your days – work, school, home, etc. This might be especially helpful to children or the elderly to give to rescuers if they become lost or disoriented.

There are many other ways technology might help you in a disaster or emergency. Please email me at askageek@register-news.com and we can share any ideas you have with others to help us all be better prepared.

There is no such thing as ‘piracy’ Part 1

January 24th, 2012 · · Entertainment, Legislation, Technology One comment - Tags: , , , , , , , ,
This post became so long that I divided it between two separate posts. This first post attempts to explain that the MPAA/RIAA are good at hiding money, do make money, and have always controlled distribution channels.

So, people have been saying for the past decade how movie/film/TV piracy is destroying the livelihoods of everyone from the janitor at NBC Studios to the radio DJ to the kid selling CDs at your local music shop. Websites which allow the easy transfer of media between people have been described as nothing short of abominations and safe harbors for criminals. We (collective) thieves and criminals only use these networks to steal material from the good and hard-working people who create the blockbuster movies we watch while munching popcorn every Friday night. We thieves rob the MPAA mebers of the ability to make more movies by stealing their hard work. We take food from the mouths of camera men and their children. Musical acts such as Jay-Z and Taylor Swift can not keep putting out albums if piracy continues unabated. Every song we thieves download from file-sharing sites takes away money that could be used to sign and develop the next Metallica or Ozzy Osbourne. File-sharing sites have no legitimate purpose other than to steal. This has been and is the mantra from the RIAA and MPAA.

Well, there are some major fallacies and discrepancies between what the MPAA and RIAA would have you believe and the truth. To begin with, the MPAA and RIAA members have been reporting record profits despite the horrific piracy that threatens their existence. So, that shuts down the argument that these organizations are unable to keep the lights on in the office. It would seem to me that this means they should be expanding, and are not struggling to survive as they would have us believe.

Secondly, the movie and record industries use some very creative accounting to keep any movie or record from ever making a profit. Would you believe that Star Wars has never made a penny? It’s true. The guy who played Darth Vader (under the suit) has not received a penny of the over 1/2 BILLION dollars which Star Wars has actually netted. The RIAA is pretty good at this type of accounting too. Put simply, these corporations are broke as can be if you subscribe to their accounting methods. Fortunately, we live in the real world and can see that they are merely cheating the United States tax system. So, piracy isn’t breaking the bank, then why are these trade groups saying that it is destroying them?

We should look at the business models of the RIAA and MPAA to begin to explain their arguments/lies. Until the past few years music and movies had always been bought and sold as hard copies. This holds true for VHS, DVD, BD, record, tape, CD and if you reach way back – 8-track. Members of the RIAA and MPAA have always been the primary controllers of these media. Sure, independent shops existed, but big companies have a close relationship with radio stations and other ways to promote their hard copy productions. Movie studios do a great job of using fast food toys to advertise to kids. These facts show that until very recently media distribution was performed via hard copy by large corporations. There were no mass distribution channels without one of the studios behind you.

Recently, this has changed with the advent of iTunes, Spotify, BitTorrent, and other file-sharing sites.

 Part 2 will be released later and explains why piracy is nothing more than illegal distribution, and seems to not harm the industries in actuality.

There are no jobs in America, and it is your fault

June 10th, 2011 · · Legislation, Politics, Technology, Work No comments - Tags: , , , ,

Go read this Time article. Yes, I know, I’m horrible for asking you to read.

Go read #3. Read it again. Once more now.

Why is our country hosed? Because the companies (executives) are here collecting fat paychecks. We peons are scraping to get by and buying crap at Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, etc. that is made in China. Hence middle-class jobs are gone. The execs get richer, and we have no middle-class anymore.

But that’s okay, you go save $1.25 on your toothbrushes while the Chinese buy your country with your money.

Germany has the right idea by supporting companies that produce/invest in-country. THAT is what we need here and now. Continental in Mount Vernon is German-owned. Guess what – if they can get a part from Germany instead of buying it up the street, they do it. THAT is how you keep an economy going.

Alltel can suck it

May 20th, 2011 · · Illinois, Mount Vernon, Technology No comments - Tags: , , , ,

So, when I was late with my cellular bill some time ago, it was because I was poor. The bill would come due and I would have to make payment arrangements because we often wasted money or consistently spent more than our income. There are no excuses for that. It’s simple economics (from which politicians could use a refresher course).

Today, however, our income is enough to pay the mobile bill, and the other bills on-time each month. No bubbles, no troubles. However I still pay my mobile bill ‘late’ every month. I mean, it’s not late in the sense that I’m not paying for the services I use in a timely manner, it’s late in the sense that I don’t pay ahead of time for services I may or may not use.

In case you have forgotten (or were never aware), the mobile industry in the United States bills you for services ahead of time. Look at your next statement. The time billed ends in the near future. This is similar to the cable company (and probably satellite). Normally this would not anger me much as I will use the service, and thus will pay the bill (like the cable). Alltel sees fit to start sending threatening texts and making harassing phone calls over 10 days before the service that you are pre-paying for is ended however. 10 days. WTF.

I could understand if it were the 24th (the day after my billing cycle) and they began bugging me, but that is not the case. They have informed me via text that they will be shutting my service off on the 21st if I do not pay my ‘past due’ balance. Again – WTF?

The 21st is still two days before the date my ‘late payment’ will cover. If I’m on a prepay service, fine, just tell me so and let me end my service with no termination fee. Oh hell no, you will prepay and like it Mr. Consumer!

Previously, I stayed with Alltel because of some stupid sense of loyalty – they bought First Cellular and treated us well while downsizing. Then it was because they were the ‘little guy’ after selling out most of their network to Verizon. At this point, they can suck it. As soon as the mood strikes I will be moving to AT&T or one of the lesser carriers. Verizon is out because they are 50% foreign-owned (didn’t know you were sending 1/2 of your money overseas? better check into it), and I figure my cellular dollars may as well make some American executives rich.

Oh, and work gets me discounts with AT&T, so they are the front-runner. Yes, there will be a rape-you-in-the-ass early term fee, but that will be less than continuing my service without the discount, so I still come out ahead.