Author Archives: baldbiker

Android, Apple, Windows or else!

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At work I use windows 7 which is a fine operating system (OS). Away from the office I am apple, I like the ease of use, networking and lack of constant updates.
I use a iPhone 5 which I love, and no, I don’t have it in a case!
I have a Kindle Fire HD my wife bought me because I didn’t want a iPad. You may ask why, and my answer would be it compete’s with my iPhone & that would bug me, personal choice.
What I’m getting at is like many people its hard to live in just apple or android, or windows.
In the past I have helped friends with computer issues, virus, networking, or just OS problems. And now we are moving from the old desktop to a mobile computing environment I get asked all the time which should I choose? Apple, Android or Windows.
It would seem that in which ever digital universe you pick there will be a vested interest in the apps you buy. But also what kind of tasks you will be doing with your new device.
Generally speaking most smart phones today will do most of the tasks we require of them. Customizing our phones to what degree does depend on which OS you decide to use.
And remember if you go with Android you may also have to deal with what ever customizing the phone maker installed. Rather than just looking for the fastest & smartest device. It’s good to take into account what you will be doing with the device. Don’t buy what you don’t need. And as far as security is concerned, no OS will help you if you venture to the wrong places on the Internet.

Security in the cloud, and the impact of Social Media on us!

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instagram

In this new mobile social electronic instant update world we are getting used to seeing and reading about all the things our friends are doing almost at the same time it’s being done. This is great for the people who are always out doing stuff and have lots of things to share. Of course there will always be the competitive side of things and not everybody goes on safari or cave diving. Some may enjoy reading and listening to music, personally I prefer the more tranquil pursuits!

Recently the ever pressing how does social media make money with us as the commodity came back! This time it was Instagram  and the backlash was substantial. I myself cancelled my account and I won’t be opening a new one. There are many ways to do the same thing today, no one app or site has the monopoly and should remember that!

How are the social media sites supposed to make money while providing the free service? This is the quandary that may bring about the demise of many of the companies that dominate the social media scene today. Just providing social media doesn’t make money, however popular it becomes. Facebook has been struggling with this issue, compounded by the fact most of the users are using the mobile version, which is the future of all social media traffic.

I will pause here to make a prediction! In the not too distant future I believe we won’t need the sites like Facebook or Instagram, as our devices and technology adapt we will be able to share with our contacts directly from our devices; no middle man needed! Could probably almost do it today, but were waiting for the world to catch up and for systems to be compatible as always!

This whole social media and cloud computing brings me to my question regarding cloud computing in general. I am in favor in principle of the cloud as it does bring our digital content to our fingertips with what ever device we use to access the network, and it is an excellent back up of our data. The internet should be considered a public forum so don’t post anything you wouldn’t want to be public, even if you post it on a private site. Never rely on one service to back up your life as it is too hard to replace once the inconceivable occurs and your data gets hacked. Cloud computing forces us to upload personal data just so we can function in the new cloud world. Is this data being stored reliably?

While in many cases I feel this is reasonable I am concerned that with all the different services all using the data we use to identify ourselves in this new digital world. The idea that our online persona is being looked after securely leaves me feeling nervous! As with any new technology there is a time before the bugs have been fixed, and because the bug in this case are stored on a server in another state or country. How can we expect there not to be some sort of accident some time in the future. And as anyone knows who has their identity stolen, coming back from that is difficult, as society looks to your online persona to identify who you are!

I keep a back-up of all my important data on a external drive set up as a raid system, this makes sure I lose nothing and it’s not networked so it can’t be hacked. I would highly recommend this sort of personal back up even in the new cloud world. I am also concerned that considering how important our personal data is in this new mobile social networked society. That there isn’t more emphasis on educating the youth on what to upload and protecting their online persona from data theft. Just because you grew up with it and know how to use it doesn’t mean you understand the dangers if you don’t look after yourself.

I like the modern mobile society, it brings one kind of interaction that I love and that is with distant family. On the flip side I think it has driven people who in the past may have gone out to become more distant and lonely. Texting should enhance conversation not replace it! And there is a lack of etiquette in the USA regarding mobile devices that should be addressed with education soon I hope. Japan would be a good place to look as they have always been a few years ahead of us in this regard.

Have a great day and stay safe!

The public option

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Health Care for All! L1190421

Health Care for All! L1190421 (Photo credit: erlin1)

Obamacare was the best option in a country that is afraid of universal health care, it’s mostly ignorance of what universal healthcare is, it’s not exactly inventing the wheel as the United States is possibly the only western country not to have it!

While there are very few countries with universal healthcare that don’t argue about the best way to fund it and what politician doesn’t want bragging rights about doing it better than the opposition, few people who have ever lived with universal healthcare would describe it as socialism or communism, that is purely an American condition.

But it’s not just the funding for healthcare and how much influence the government has, in the United States medical professionals make about three times as much money as their contemporaries world wide. And if the government were to ask any of these people to take a patient covered by some government scheme that doesn’t pay as much, they will just refuse to take those patients, this happens all the time; but it leaves people without options.

In countries that have universal healthcare the medical personal are government employees and that does come with benefits. I have family that worked for the VA in Los Angeles and the benefits are excellent. In Ireland where I am from originally we have government and insurance hospitals which do give people options. You would think most people would go for the insurance hospitals as the pay is better. But actually people like the government position as it has more security for the future.

So my question in a country where doctors make good money, what is the incentive for them to try and work for less? Is the only option to have doctors on the governments pay roll, like in the VA, who will just be happy to make a decent wage? Is the focus in medical school to just get finished, specialize and make big bucks, or can the United states really focus on medical care not just profit?

When bringing down costs for procedures, it must be considered that costs for medical professionals may also need to be adjusted

What tech scares me?

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What is technology? I am sure the answer today would be very different from even ten years ago. The change has happened fast and has been global!

Today I looked at the next version of the iPhone. It’s hard to believe this innovation started only five years ago.
With the change toward a truly mobile digital society, hardware and software have improved so much that today we should really just look at what works for us, not question whether it will work!

With this innovation in tech, including data networks that allow us to interact in so many new ways, we have as a society met a contradiction.

The tech we want to work so well for us in our digital world needs to know who we are so it can serve our online needs. For this reason some have felt a considerable loss of privacy. While there will always be instances where I agree that data belonging to a individual is a precious commodity and should be protected, my geek self wants to avail of the new innovations in technology; including the mobile integration and the new ways tech will allow me to transact business & interact with friends & family.

We do as a society need to decide what info is normal to give out to function in this new world, & how our info will be used & kept from abuse. This needs to be standardized and universal, because at this stage many different aspects of our digital self are floating around without control and safeguards. Until this is sorted I feel that the general population is at risk, and in a quest for profit some businesses don’t give data handling the security it really deserves; and this lack of clarity does scare me.

The next thing that scares me about the future of technological integration is the lack of education. We are making powerful mobile computers that allow many different kinds of interaction, but as a society, we are not showing our youth how to use these things in a polite manner. Is there no etiquette when it comes to new mobile tech?

People defend the right to be careless in the name if freedom of choice; I still see people texting while driving. If we live in a society and not on an island by ourselves. Society should demand a behavior that allows individual freedom without inflicting those around us with stupidity.

I love tech & innovation. We live in a wonderful dreamland of new opportunities, but as a society can we start thinking about how our digital self represents our true self, and how much of our true self we need to divulge to create that digital self, without putting our true self at risk!

Miriam Tasini’s New Book, “Where are we going”.

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Miriam Tasini is a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and Author, her book “Where are we going” about Miriam & her families journey to escape the Nazi occupation.

Miriam is a survivor, some students have created a blog in Miriam’s honor dedicated to her life and amazing story escaping the holocaust; it’s called the “Survivor Project”. Please check it out!

I will post links to her book when it comes out in October.

Have a great day!

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!

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Once again the job market is stagnant, and the powers at be are blaming the opposition for points in the upcoming election. In the last two years for those who look the corporate markets are doing really well. Profits are up and the big business execs are making record bonuses!

So why is the job number still the same? Well I think there are a couple of things that are going on. First is the job creators, as the GOP like to call them. They have been creating jobs in China and India so the job market has stayed the same in the good old USA. Any attempt to change the rules to try and bring back work to the states by using tax incentives is argued against by the GOP and their Corporate benefactors. The fact that work has stagnated is just the reason to change the tax on the corporations, as the job creators having not created the jobs they don’t deserve breaks from the US government; and should pay the taxes they owe!

Businesses having let staff go during the last few years have discovered they can get by with their current staffing levels and so have not hired any more. The current level of graduates looking for work has let employers hire overqualified persons for the jobs that would have gone to less qualified persons. So if you don’t have a degree the job market has virtually dried up! Since many companies have moved their manufacturing to China and India those jobs that used to be well paid are no longer available. And new manufacturing jobs in the States are more often done by robots, the only humans required are the programmers!

Truth be told it’s not the big corporations who will save the US economy, it’s the smaller businesses who will use local workers and supplies that may actually make a difference in the private sector. The other factor in the low job numbers is the state and government jobs that have been cut in the last few years. If they were all rehired the percentage would be down to about 7%, which would make people think a real upturn was in hand. With the private sector not hiring the only other option was for the government to stimulate the jobs market with public works projects. This has worked just about every time it has been done in history. In Germany in the 1930′s and in the US in 1939 with the New Deal. 

So the reason it’s not been voted through Congress leads to only one conclusion, they don’t want to stimulate the job market! Why would the Republican led house not want to create jobs. Well with the employment numbers bad it’s a opportunity to blame the President for the lack of jobs. This president is liked personally, others that don’t like him for other personal reasons will never like him regardless of what the job market is. So if the job market grew to a point that it seemed the President was fixing it the majority voters (the independents) would vote Obama back in of course. Some don’t want that to happen so it’s not in their best interests to allow that to happen.

That’s why we still have lousy job numbers while corporate profit has been great for the last two years!

Best of luck to you if you are looking for work!

We The People?

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The United States is a country that is run by the corporations, they pay the politicians to make laws that work for them. The lobbying system ensures that this system will remain in place for the near future anyway! There are some positives to this, better distribution of resources and food stuffs. The competition can help reduce prices in some cases. And I have absolutely nothing against a business that provides a good service or product making money, that’s capitalism in it’s best sense. My problem is when politicians have been bought so much that the people of the nation no longer have a say in how they shall live their lives. Corporate profits even during this recession are good. The job providers (hate that term), aren’t providing the jobs because they don’t have to. And because the politicians are in their pocket they (the corporations) will never be taken to task. Corporations and banks speculate on the world markets driving up the price of oil, we get to pay $4 per gallon; why does the government allow this to continue; because the politicians are getting kick backs!

So who represents us? As soon as we ask the government to step, in the moment we think there might be a change; the powers that be cry socialism! So I pay my taxes and what do I actually get for it. I get state disability if I have to be off work, but what do I get for my federal taxes? I don’t know to be honest, we have a military! That’s fine and dandy and all that but as we aren’t actually being invaded and it’s unlikely we are going to be. There is the VA for the military who have returned and need attention. But I see allot of charities to help our servicemen. Why do they need charity? Doesn’t our government look after the vets when they return after duty. I would gladly have my federal taxes go to that! I know the corporations that run our nation don’t care about wounded vets, they don’t care about the american citizen; they care about profit. How do you think China has done so well these last ten fifteen years! So why did we the people put them in charge of our government.

Must say here I am for Obama, because the alternative drives the country into cooperate hands to the point there no longer will be we the people at all! There will be no freedom because everything will require a voucher or a picture ID or come other verification. Some say we don’t want the government in charge of healthcare, I would like the government to be responsible for something because if they get it wrong I can vote the bastards out. Try doing that with a insurance company, and politicians may actually fight to give we the people something that’s of value to us. Because we will be watching, at the moment we give them no responsibility so what do they do! Argue and just try to get reelected to keep their government health insurance and the kick backs from the corporations who are really running the country.

Sorry I may sound pessimistic, I want to believe it will get better; but people are not informed! They listen to a crazy biased media ( FOX propaganda network). My only answer is don’t look to the states for the truth, look outside the USA, we are not inventing the wheel. The United States is possibly the only modern country that can’t seem to figure out how better the citizen (non corporation citizen I mean), will and can be better off if you do put the government in charge of a few things and hold them accountable. If you remove the for profit from healthcare what you have left is just healthcare! It can be done and has been done in many countries!

Have a nice day!

Apple iCloud kills Mobile Me, the cure is Mountain Lion.

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Mountain Lion

So our home computer is a year old iMac running Snow Leopard, and I was reluctant to upgrade to Lion as we had the Magic Mouse and no track pad. I felt that the OS was using much more touch controls and we wouldn’t get the benefit of the upgrade.

So not too long ago the magic mouse, which isn’t that magic after all started to misbehave! I used the opportunity to purchase a track pad as both can be used at the same time. I love the track pad, and my wife who seemed to prefer the mouse has been converted! So it was time this week to upgrade finally. I couldn’t upgrade any of the MacBooks as they are too old, Mountain Lion uses 64bit graphics drivers; but it was a bummer!

So after the upgrade that took about 40 minutes all together, the New OS is a winner. iCloud integration that has disappeared or should I say was non existent on the macs after mobile me went bye bye!  I can sync my mail and iCal, but I think I wasn’t the only one who had trouble syncing software after mobile me went to iCloud.

Spaces is gone and although I was skeptical the tree fingered swipe that replaced it is cool. If you have a computer + track pad and are in doubt about upgrading I say go for it!!

Last thing I will say here is updates are now through the Mac Store App, it feels like it should have been that way all along. And Launch Pad is so easy to open app’s that I actually cleaned up my dock to give me a reason to use it.

Have a great day!

Endurance

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We all know, or will know a friend or family member go through a tough time. Either due to accident, stupidity or fate. We will probably go through a few challenges ourselves.
Some use religion as a source of comfort, and although I am not religious; what ever works is a good thing.
I see many people who don’t have religion. But have a inner strength, they can reason the problem out. Come to terms with it & move on from that point.
I see & read about amazing people who overcome challenges. And the common thread seems to be a acceptance of their situation; giving themselves realistic challenges to move forward.
A life that is not true to itself is a terrible waste of a opportunity. We all have faults, the truth is they are part of us & shaped us. I hope with this understanding we can change our faults into lessons learned!
Have a wonderful day!

Apple IOS is getting very cluttered!

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I love my iPhone, I have said this before. The fact it’s the most used computer I have is one reason.
Almost all my computer needs are accomplished on it!
What I don’t understand is what Apple is doing with its own Apps!
My thought on this is, Apple brings out Ping. My visits to Ping are very few, then they bring out iTunes U, video, now we have a App for Podcasts!
While they are fine Apps, why is apple giving me so many Apps?
Why can’t Apple integrate all these into one App. With one App I may visit the dreaded Ping. Also they could please a large percentage of users who don’t want to be stuck with the dreaded Newsstand.
It also seems so clunky to have two different ways to access my podcasts.
I just hope Apple fixes this for IOS 6!
Thank you, end of Rant!