Blog: Tech News & Tips - Page 15 of 29

What you need to know about Bitcoins and Blockchain

Posted on December 12, 2017May 2, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Security, Tips

After a few years of virtually no mainstream news about Bitcoins, all of a sudden Bitcoins (and Blockchain) are back in the news again. Part of that has to do with Bitcoins recent upward trajectory to cross the $10,000 mark. (Here’s a great visual of Bitcoin’s growth in 2017.) I first explored the subject earlier this year in my blog entitled Digital Currencies and Bitcoins.

Since then, Bitcoins, Blockchains and other Digital Currencies have filled up my inbox. What is interesting to me is that, not too long ago Bitcoin, and other crypto-currencies, were not a trusted form of currency. Today, while it is still not trusted by the average American, they are being used by more and more people throughout the world. I’ve been learning that, as volatile as it is, Bitcoin is still more stable than several global currencies. Plus, Bitcoins provide privacy and independence that US currency does not.

I’m still learning, so I won’t pretend to know nearly enough about Bitcoins, Blockchain, or other Crypto-currencies. Here are articles I’ve read and podcasts I’ve listened to. If you’d like to learn more, explore this list. And then do more research on your own. Please let us know of any resources you’ve found that are particularly helpful.

Articles explaining Bitcoins:

Google Search
Bloomberg – 20171130 – Blockchain Is Bigger Than Any Bubble
Wikipedia – Blockchain
Forbes – 20171210Why Blockchain Is Real and Bitcoin is a Mirage
Coindesk – 20171212 – Trump Signs Defense Bill Authorizing Blockchain Study
Fortune – 20170822 – Bitcoin Ethereum Blockchain Cryptocurrency
CNBC – 20171201 – James Altuchers Bitcoin Predictions
Visualizing the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) Explosion
Six Most Important Cryptocurrencies (other than Bitcoin)

Podcasts about Bitcoins:

Bitcoins True Potential – Kevin Rose interviews Andreas Antonopolous
Unchained – Big Ideas from the Worlds of Blockchain and Fintech
The Bad Crypto Podcast
Let’s Talk Crypto – Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency – iTunes podcast by Barry Moore & Tom Galeski

Here are some books that may be helpful:

Let us know what other resources you’ve found.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fifteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission when you sign up.)

5 Easy Steps To Delete Cookies On Your iPhone

Posted on December 5, 2017June 7, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Computer History, iPhone, Security, SmartPhones, Tips

Chris and I had a conversation this morning about the pesky news sites that limit the number of articles you can read each month. There are some newspapers that I won’t even read online because I get that nasty error message that says: “You’ve reached the limit! Subscribe now!” He told me that when he runs into that, the solution is to delete cookies on your iPhone.

WHAAAAAT?! I didn’t realize you could do that.

As I started looking into this, I see that there are other benefits as well. Just like with your computer, you do want to delete cookies on your iPhone regularly to keep your private information safe and secure. And, just like the rest of of the business world, there are companies out there who want to sell you an app to “take care of this for you”. Don’t fall for that trick! It’s easy enough to do it yourself.

5 Easy Steps to Delete Cookies on your iPhone

Open up your Settings
Click on “Safari”
Scroll almost all the way to the bottom of the page
Click on “Clear History and Website Data”
Confirm that you truly want to delete all of your history. This means that every page you’ve opened in your iPhone’s browser will be gone! This was a surprise to me, because I tend to save my open tabs so I can reference them again. If there are tabs that you have open on your phone that you would like to keep, it’s best to save them first, then wipe the history!

If you found this helpful, please share with your friends!

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Phishing Expedition’s – Keeping Safe During the Holidays

Posted on November 28, 2017May 9, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Malware, Passwords, Phishing, Tips

Several of our customers received a disturbing email over the past few days. Once customer received one that said her email was being discontinued. Another received one that said his bank account was being closed. I even got one that said my SIM card was being deactivated so I would effectively be without cell service! These are all “phishing expedition’s”.

Luckily I know the signs to look for to determine if an email is a phishing expedition or for real.

Make sure the email is really from a trusted source. If the email is from a friend, read it through before you click on any links. Does the email sound like it was written by your friend? Are you expecting an attachment or other link from them? Always check when you receive an email with a link or other attachment before clicking. Did your friend really send it?
Before I click on a link in an email, I hover my mouse over the link to see where the click will take me. When I hovered over the “Know More” link on the email I received, it goes to the website t.goddypuddy.IN/withLotsMoreTextFollowing. The “in” at the end of the website is a country code. In the US, we are used to seeing .com, .biz, .net, or .gov. In this case the .IN refers to India. So I know that the email originated in India. (Note that you can only do this on your computer, so don’t click on any links from your phone or tablet unless you know they are 100% safe!)
Does the body of the website match the Subject line? In this case, the Subject is that my mobile number is being deactivated. But the body of the email is completely unrelated talking about banks and the Supreme Court.
If your friend or colleague says they didn’t send the message, tell them to change their password and run their virus scanner ASAP!

What else can you do to stay safe?

Put a note on your calendar to change your email passwords at least once a month. Here are some tips to creating a strong password.
Be extra careful when surfing the web or viewing posts on Social Media. Malware is increasingly being spread that way.

Looking for more info on phishing expedition’s? Here are some past blogs:

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Tech Toys for the Holidays – Under $50

Posted on November 21, 2017May 9, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Tips

It’s that time of year! Time to look for fun tech toys for kids and adults alike! We’ve found a few that are inexpensive too!

For the Star Wars fans, there’s Uncle Milton Death Star Electronics Lab Kit for just under $30.
For preschoolers who are curious about their world, there’s the GeoSafari Jr. Talking Microscope – under $35.
Then there’s the Drone Force Vulture Strike Helicopter Toy which is around $33.
There’s always K’nex – one of my favorites! This building set has 618 pieces and is priced around $40. Plus there are so many sets that all work together.
If your kids want to explore the moon and its craters, you might consider an inexpensive telescope. If their interest develops, you can get them a better one later on. This one is about $40.
This cool kit lets you build 7 robots which can climb walls and windows! (This one is also just under $30.)
I always thought it would be cool to build a radio. Here’s an AM/FM radio kit for right around $37.
It wouldn’t be a Tech Toys list without the tried and true potato clock for about $13.

Let us know what toys you’re getting for the holidays!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more on our website. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

Weather Websites and Apps for Traveling

Posted on November 14, 2017February 25, 2025 by Gail Eddy in Smartphone Apps, SmartPhones, Weather

The winter holidays are coming up and lots of folks will be on the road. I thought this would be a good time to revisit my list of favorite weather websites and smartphone applications.

NOAA – When you enter your city and state into the “Local Forecast” box, you can see just what is in store for your area. In addition, if there is a big storm coming, you’ll see a “Hazardous Weather Conditions” box across the top. I like the NOAA forecast because it is generally right on target. NOAA also has radar and satellite maps. By the way, NOAA stands for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is located right here in Boulder, Colorado!

Weather Underground – My favorite of all the weather websites is Weather Underground. I like it because I have several different weather stations to choose from in my town. In addition to the forecast, WU tells me what’s happening right now. When you click on the information from a particular station, you can also see if they have a webcam set up. Then you can see the snow and wind for yourself! Those webcams are especially helpful if you’d like to see the weather in a place where you are traveling to. You can also save favorite locations, so it’s easy to see what’s going on at Grandma’s house before you get there!

The Weather Channel – The Weather Channel has all the same information the other websites have. Because they consider themselves a news site, they’ve also got, what I can only call Weather Entertainment. Big Floods! Amazing Ancient Ruins! 20 Places Overrun by Animals! And More!! My favorite feature on the Weather Channel is their travel map found here. When you enter your starting place and destination, and the date you will be departing, the map calculates your route AND the expected weather.

NEXRAD – “Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 158 high-resolution Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service” This website shows the radar for the whole US, or just your state.

WeatherTalk – is a Facebook page. Colorado Weather Analyst Greg Berman gained recognition when he accurately forecasted the extent of the rains and subsequent Front Range floods in September 2013. If you’re on Facebook, I’d highly recommend this page to “Like” and bookmark. His forecasts include most of the Colorado Springs and other Front Range areas.

Aurora Alerts – And if you’re looking to see if there may be an Aurora in your neighborhood, check out the NOAA sun activity page.

What is your favorite of all the Weather Websites? Share in the comments below!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past eighteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate Geek For Hire very highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area as well as remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free and fast shipping. With Prime, we have access to online streaming too. Prime is usually $119/year, but you can get a free 30-day trial by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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4 Top Sports Smartphone App’s

Posted on November 7, 2017May 6, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Smartphone Apps, SmartPhones, Weather

For those of you who know me well, you know that if there is one sport I follow, it’s baseball. I like hockey too, but don’t follow the games and teams as closely as baseball. I really L O V E baseball! I love attending the Rockies games at Coors Field, with the smells, sounds, and excitement. And when it’s time for the World Series, well, I’ll be glued to a TV, or, one of the Sports Smartphone App’s on my iPhone to keep track of the scores! After baseball season was over this year, I started wondering how people who follow other sports get their info. As per usual, any question I have involving technology, however peripherally, gets explored here!

There are a bunch of Sports Smartphone app’s recommended by folks in-the-know. I’ve checked them out and found these four to be easy to use and very easy to customize so that your favorite teams are listed right up front.

Bleacher Report for Android or iPhone – iMore really likes the Bleacher Report. Here’s what they have to say: “If you prefer something with a bit more of a modern interface, then check out the Bleacher Report. Rather than providing its own coverage, the Bleacher Report curates all the best sources on the web so that you get all the news you can about your favorite teams and players. You can open a stream to get scores, stories, videos, and photos from local and national newspapers, blogs, Twitter, and more.”
ESPN for Android or iPhone – Tom’s Guide says: “The ESPN app brings users the latest and greatest sporting news and information worldwide. Whether you’re looking for updated scoring information, breaking news for various teams and leagues, or professional analysis, the ESPN app has got your back.”
theScore for iPhone – iMore rates theScore as their #1 choice. Here’s what they have to say: “theScore is the sports app. It’s simply the best. You can follow tons of professional leagues (even including NASCAR) and receive updates on scores and news from any and all teams you’d like to follow. You can even follow individual players, and you can customize alerts so that you only get pinged for what you want to know. theScore has a great-looking interface and setup is simple — just pick your leagues, pick your teams, and away you go.”
Yahoo!Sports for Android and iPhone – AppOlicious says: “Plenty of sports apps will give you the latest scores. Only a few will keep you up-to-date on every single play of the game. And even fewer will do all of that plus let you pick games, chat with other sports fans and set alerts for numerous game scenarios. Yahoo Sports continued to operate in a special stratosphere in 2017, making it a continued must-download for the sports fan who wants everything under one app.”

Which is your favorite sports smartphone app to track your favorite teams? Share in the comments below!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PC’s for the past fourteen years. His company is highly rated by both the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and by Angie’s List. You can find more at http://www.GeekForHireInc.com Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote service throughout North America.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and the online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet, but I’m tempted! Prime is normally $99/year, but you can try it for 30 day for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission when you sign up.)

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Girls and Technology

Posted on October 31, 2017May 9, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Tips

I learned a new acronym recently in an article about girls and technology. “STEM”, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Here are some disturbing statistics I read in another article from Observer.com:

Women own only 5 percent of startups.
They earn only 28 percent of computer science degrees.
Only 7 percent of partners at top 100 venture capital firms are women.
After peaking in 1991 at 36 percent, the rate of women in computing roles has been in steady decline. Now, they hold only 25 percent of computing jobs.
Women hold only 11 percent of executive positions at Silicon Valley companies.
In the high tech industry, the quit rate is more than twice as high for women (41 percent) than it is for men (17 percent).
Last year, venture capitalists invested just $1.46 billion in women-led companies. Male-led companies earned $58.2 billion in investments.
While 82 percent of men in startups believed their companies spent the “right amount of time” addressing diversity, nearly half of women—40 percent—disagreed, saying “not enough time was devoted.”
For women in the tech industry under age 25, earnings on average are 29 percent less than their male counterparts.
Women receive lower salary offers than men for the same job at the same company 63 percent of the time.

Part of the problem is that girls are deterred from an interest in the sciences at a young age. If a girl in your family is showing an interest in the sciences, here are some resources to assist you in fanning those flames for your girls and technology:

Girls and Technology – a subset of WIT – Women in Technology
Ignite – Inspiring Girls Now in Technology Evolution
Girls Who Code
Girl Develop It
Ladies Learning Code
Girl Start

Go get ’em girls!

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Best Way to Catalog Your Books, Movies, and Music

Posted on October 24, 2017May 6, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Tips

If you’re a collector like me, sometimes it is hard to keep track of everything. How do you catalog your books, movies, and music? I’ve been using a great app for my books, but when it comes to my movies and books, I don’t know what I have.

BOOKS:

For books, hands down, the app to use is LibraryThing. I’ve been using it for the past eight to ten years, at least, and it does a great job at keeping everything organized. It’s free, but if you’d like to make a donation, they’ll be happy to take it. I contributed a modest amount a few years ago and am now a “Lifetime Member”. It’s easy to add books and to put them into different categories. I have categories like “historical fiction”, “Written by Family”, “Religion”, and “signed by author”. I especially love adding books using the app on my iPhone because I can use the camera to scan the bar code on the back. It automatically adds the book and all associated details. The iPhone app doesn’t allow you to do everything though. You do need to go to your computer to add tags and notes. I do not think they have a limit for the number of books.

MUSIC:

I looked at two apps to categorize music.

CLZ music has a limit of 100 entries in their free version and it seemed easy to search online to add different albums. For each album you add, it includes a list of the songs. It did appear that you could only add CD’s. I wasn’t able to add any vinyls to my collection.
RW Music seemed very complex. In order to get started, I had to enter the IP address of my computer, even though I accessed the app via my iPhone. I don’t recommend that one.

MOVIES:

I also looked at two apps for movies.

The first one, My Movies, allowed only 50 titles in the free version. You also needed to create an account before you could trial it. Since I don’t like providing personal information unless I absolutely have to, I moved on.
I also looked at Movie Buddy. There did not appear to be a limit to the number of movies you could enter. It was easy to search and add new movies and it gives you the ability to tag a movie that you have loaned out, and to whom. There was a link to watch the trailer and it listed a summary of the movie along with the cast and producers. All in all, I thought this one was very good.

Which apps do you use to catalog your books, movies, and music?

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Facial Recognition – History and Privacy

Posted on October 17, 2017April 29, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Privacy

Have you been hearing more about Facial Recognition software? I have, especially with the new iPhone coming out. I’ve been wondering how well it works. I’m also wondering about the impact on our privacy. But first, a little history.

History of Facial Recognition:

Scientists developed Facial Recognition Software in the 1960s. The scientist’s names were Woody Bledsoe, Helen Chan Wolf, and Charles Bisson. (There are two surprises to me here. First that scientists were working on this more than a half-century ago. Secondly, one of the scientists – in the 1960s! – was a woman.) “Their programs required the administrator to locate features such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth on the photograph. It then calculated distances and ratios to a common reference point which was then compared to reference data.”

Certainly, the technology continued to advance decade by decade. In 1993 one of the US Defense agencies took it over. They named the project FERET or Face Recognition Technology Evaluation. In 2006, “The Face Recognition Grand Challenge (FRGC) evaluated the latest face recognition algorithms available. High-resolution face images, 3D face scans, and iris images were used in the tests. … Some of the algorithms were able to outperform human participants in recognizing faces and could uniquely identify identical twins.”

More Recent Developments:

A big failure occurred in 2002. The software scanned crowds at Super Bowl 35 for known criminals. Consequently, they found that the tech was not quite ready. Now, it is more accepted by US consumers. Then, in 2010, Facebook began using the software on uploaded photos. In 2014, Law Enforcement began to adopt facial recognition in the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS). ARJIS is currently only used in Southern California.

Drawbacks:

Privacy is the biggest drawback with Facial Recognition.

In addition, Racial Bias is a big negative. Japanese and Chinese software recognize Asian faces with a great degree of accuracy. European and US companies recognize Caucasian faces very accurately, but not so much blacks and other “non-white” faces.

Today:

First of all, Facial Recognition Software is used to identify travelers. (A boarding pass or passport are used as alternate forms of ID.)
Also, a fast food restaurant in China is using “Smile to Pay” to pay their bill. (ANT Financial developed this facial recognition software.)
In addition, in a few months, Apple will release the iPhone X which uses your face to unlock your phone.

Privacy Implications:

As I said to a friend recently, there is no privacy. And we’ve helped with that. We freely give plenty of photos of our face for anyone that wants them. We upload photos to social media, get passports, and just appear in public. The Economist stated, “…could obtain pictures of visitors to a car showroom say, and later use facial recognition to serve them ads for cars”.

Importantly, the article continued, “photos of half of America’s adult population are stored in databases … used by the FBI.”

Above all, you should know that the software is not just recognizing faces. In some cases, it also has the ability to guess at a person’s sexuality and IQ. The Economist writes “firms … filter all job applications for ethnicity and signs of intelligence and sexuality”.

As a result, companies deny jobs to qualified people based entirely on what software learns from their face.

Research:

I used these articles while writing this post:

Forensic Psych Blog
Face First Blog
FBI PDF
The 9/9/2017 issue of the Economist had several articles about face recognition.

Please forward this to your colleagues who may find this interesting.

Information about Geek For Hire, Inc.

I’ve created a Free Report to protect you from “phishing” scams. Click here to receive it!

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has been providing computer service to families and small businesses with Mac’s and PCs for the past fifteen years. Angie’s List and the BBB rate his company highly. You can find more on our website, or give us a call 303-618-0154. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides onsite service (Tier 3) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range. We also provide Remote Service in the US and Canada.

We’ve been using Amazon Prime for the past few years. We like the free 2-3 day shipping and online streaming. I haven’t tried the Kindle lending library yet. I’ll try that next! Prime is normally $119/year, but you can try it for 30 days for free by clicking on this link: Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial (Yes, we’ll get a small commission when you sign up.)

Online and Facebook Privacy – Is It Possible?

Posted on October 10, 2017May 9, 2024 by Gail Eddy in Privacy, Tips

Lately Chris has been forwarding articles to me about online and Facebook privacy. Now, if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, I know you know that I don’t think anything is private on the internet. These articles seem to solidify my opinion. The story that piqued my interest early this week was this one in Gizmodo. In this case you had people who had to keep a part of their identity secret, so they have set up a separate online identity. So they have a different emails, phone numbers, social media, etc., which may be connected to each other, but are not in any way connected to their “real” identity. In this case, the people are sex workers, but they could just as easily be someone who was in an abusive relationship or another situation that requires real-life, general online, and specifically, Facebook privacy.

Here are some excerpts from that article:

“Her “real identity”—the public one, who lives in California, uses an academic email address, and posts about politics—joined Facebook in 2011. Her sex-work identity is not on the social network at all; for it, she uses a different email address, a different phone number, and a different name. Yet earlier this year, looking at Facebook’s “People You May Know” recommendations, Leila (a name I’m using using in place of either of the names she uses) was shocked to see some of her regular sex-work clients.

“Despite the fact that she’d only given Facebook information from her vanilla identity, the company had somehow discerned her real-world connection to these people—and, even more horrifyingly, her account was potentially being presented to them as a friend suggestion too, outing her regular identity to them.”

and:

“Darling used to have a second, private account under her legal name for connecting with people she knew in her normal, vanilla life, but it was getting recommended to her fans, revealing her “real” identity to them. Some of them began harassing her and trying to track down her family.

“We’re living in an age where you can weaponize personal information against people,” Darling said. She’s not sure how Facebook linked her porn identity to her legal identity, but it meant one had to go. She deleted her private account a few years ago, leaving only her public, porn one.”

You might think that, as people who have chosen an alternative career and life style, that they somehow “deserve” to be outed. But imagine if you had an ex-spouse who had been stalking you and a restraining order wasn’t working.

Facebook Privacy How To:

Here are some suggestions if you need to keep your identity secret, but still want to use Facebook:

Set your posts to “Friends Only”, and don’t tag anyone in your status. (When you tag other people, then their friends can see your post as well.)
Don’t allow other people to post on your page, and, if they tag you in a post, make sure you approve (or not) it before it posts.
Make sure any personal information stays private. Don’t allow Facebook to share your birthday, phone number, email, etc. –
You should also lock down your Online Facebook Privacy Settings
Finally, all of these options are available to you under Facebook Settings.

Other Strategies:

Because people can recognize your face, make sure there are no photos of you on your account. Use a beautiful photo or a meme or cartoon to represent your profile picture.
After a post has been up for a week or so, consider changing the privacy level to “only me”. You’ll keep a historical record of what you posted and who commented, but it will be invisible to everyone else.

Are there other strategies you’re using to manage your Facebook privacy? Please share those in the comments!

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