Category: Internet

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“Wild times … we don’t know what’s going on”

Those were the words that signified the beginning on the “the new normal.” March 11, 2020 was the day the United States was truly introduced to the novel coronavirus, or as we came to know it, COVID-19. Diseases like this have come and gone around the planet before, but generally the United States has been geographically isolated from the worst of the recent past. With these words spoken by ESPN announcers prior to the NBA Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City Thunder game scheduled for that Wednesday evening, normal American life began to grind to a halt. And the desperate search for toilet paper was just about to get underway…

The NBA prepares to postpone the first game due to the pandemic.

When enough time passes, and we, as a society, take a look back on this event (“these interesting times,” “these uncertain times,” “these unprecedented times,” “the new normal,” “massive governmental failure,” and any other phrase you would like to add to this list…) I believe the postponing of this basketball game will be the singular event that got the nation’s attention: This situation is serious, we’ve never seen anything like it in almost a hundred years, and we don’t know what’s happening next.

To almost every extent, this uncertainty remains, over two months later. We’ve become familiar with words and concepts that are new to our modern society. Face masks. “Social distancing.” Pandemic. Wild times, indeed.

There is a lot of we still don’t know. There’s a lot to be sad about, a lot to be mad about, and a lot to be frustrated about. I’ve always tried to create posts on this site that inform, entertain or uplift. Honestly, I haven’t posted since the beginning of March because I don’t know what’s appropriate. But we still have lives to lead, and there are still things to say. And, as John Krasinski showed us for eight episodes during “these unceratin times,” there is still Some Good News…

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Computing, Friends, Internet

Goofing around

Twitter has some pretty interesting topics that it will randomly recommend for me sometimes. I’m not one of those who believe that Facebook and Twitter eavesdrop or record your conversations. With the information we freely give them, they don’t need to do that. But it is almost scary how both services know the type of thing I might be interested in reading. It’s as if Twitter knows I’ve just binge-watched season 3 of Stranger Things and have super strong feelings of nostalgia for the 1980s right now… For example, just the other day I got this gem of a recommendation under the “For you” section:

Yes, I remember the days of being online in 1987. But I didn’t spill a goldfish bowl, carry my computer under my arm while riding on a motorcycle, or even have to deal with a guitar neck seemingly poking out of a Jeep, behind a girl who is somehow talking on a corded phone?

Instead, I wasted a lot of time goofing around with programs like Perfect Sound and Deluxe Music Construction Set for the Amiga. And once in a while, you get something that looks an awful lot like what you see below:

Some people may ask “Jason, why didn’t you just upload this video to YouTube?” Well, some people, I have an answer. This video has about half a dozen (crap quality) samples from 1980s pop songs, and I didn’t really feel like having YouTube’s “Amazing Content Verificator”™ going beep beep beep all over my upload. Anyway, enjoy this blast from the past. Sorry about the audio quality. I was trying to be quiet. 😁

A couple of highlights:

06:35 – Listen to what happens when bored kids play with answering machines

22:19 – Listen to the long lost hit “Babepulsive.” Don’t ask.

Computing, Internet, Technology

Ignite in the rear-view mirror

One week after Microsoft Ignite 2017, and I think it’s a good time to take a look back. The keynote speech by Satya Nadella was inspiring. I have to admit, the discussion about quantum computing went over my head. The one question I have: If Windows 10 crashes on a quantum computer, does the universe come to an end?

I enjoyed connecting with and meeting several of the speakers and presenters. A few to point out: Brad Anderson, Corporate Vice President of the Enterprise Client & Mobility Team; Michael Niehaus, Microsoft DIrector of Product Marketing; Dona Sarkar, Head of the Windows Insider Program at Microsoft, along with the other #NinjaCats: Blair Glennon, Jason Howard, and Jen Gentleman, among others.

Listening to some of the Windows deployment speakers, such as Mike Nystrom and Johan Arwidmark was incredibly informative. These guys are well-known for their blogs relating to SCCM deployment and it was great to talk with them in person.

Also, this is cool:

Brad Anderson’s Lunch Break featured Brad riding a golf cart around the bus loop at the Orange County Convention Center. Participants could ask Brad anything… My question for Brad didn’t make it to the video, but my selfie did! The entire video can be seen here:

The most beneficial speakers and sessions I’ve linked to below:

All presentations and slide decks are available at the Microsoft Ignite website for viewing. Nerds of the world, tune in and see what you think!

Internet, Technology

Staying anonymous on the Internet

Part One

So, thanks to our wonderful, outstanding, useful, totally not-bought-and-paid-for United States Congress® combined with our Reality-TV-star president, there is a very good possibility that your online activity soon can and will be collected and sold without your express permission.

Up until now, Internet Service Providers, who can track all of your online activity, had to get your express permission to collect and sell such information. (Of course, how many people read the entire Terms and Conditions before clicking “OK.” But it was at least nice of them to ask. So it’s likely that we’ve already voluntarily signed a lot of rights away in exchange for a service.)

But there are ways to obfuscate quite a bit of your online activity. In this video, former hacker and current author Kevin Mitnick explains some things you can do to protect yourself.

Now, some of these suggestions only help protect your information and not necessarily your browsing habits. If you visit bankofamerica.com, even with secure sockets layer enabled, your ISP will still know you’ve visited the site. They just can’t see what you’ve done there. Using TOR, as also suggested in the video, would help prevent that type of monitoring.

None of these suggestions is a guarantee of safety or anonymity. They just help.

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Computing, Internet, Video Games

Relive your childhood through your browser

I’ve seen this trend toward classic computing really take off lately. My favorite is probably the Amiga Forever emulator by Cloanto. I like that one because I actually converted several Amiga disks over to *.adf format before disposing of the old Amiga machine.

But now there’s a way to enjoy some “new” classic games straight through your browser. The Internet Archive has recently added several games from the 80’s and 90’s. Just click on the large green power button, and you are on your way!

You should thank me for successfully wasting your otherwise productive day!

Internet, News

Google’s 2014 Year in Search

I look forward to these every year. It’s always amazing to look back and consider how our world is different this year than last. Google always provides us with a quick synopsis as to what people are thinking, what they are looking up on the Internet, and I think that as the years go by it will be interesting to see what was on the minds of those in 2014.

Related: A look back at 2013 from Google

Take a look at what we searched for over the past 12 months…


Internet, Technology

Defend Net Neutrality

This video simply explains why keeping the net neutral is so important… To have your voice heard, you may leave a comment for the FCC at this link and sign the White House petition here.

The essence of Net Neutrality is that “All traffic should be treated equally,” and that no one can prefer one set of content, or one content provider, over another. In other words, “we have a partnership with Netflix, therefore Netflix content will be faster than YouTube because Netflix is paying us to make that happen.”

This is a bad idea.

Books, Featured, Humor, Internet, Technology

Google celebrates Douglas Adams

So I wake up this morning and head to Google, as one usually does on a Monday, and notice that the Google home page has a familiar look to it.

I see “large, friendly letters” that read “DON’T PANIC.”

After a few minutes of mouse hovering I discover that the cause of today’s Google salute is that March 11 is Douglas Adams’ birthday. 61st birthday this year, to be exact. Or would have been, had the author still been alive.

What a nice honor!

Happy 61st Douglas. Wherever he’s got to…