Archive for the ‘tech culture’ Category

Thoughts on Forwards

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

There is one thing that bothers me more than junk email (spam) when it comes to email. Misuse of forwards FWD FW.

  • Email Forwards are usually sent by people you know and trust.  However many times the information in forwards is not trustworthy and may not even be what your friend or relative actually thinks.
  • Many forwards I get have completely made up information, that can be easily be found to be false or partially false with just a little fact checking.
  • I have found an interesting and useful urban legends web site that deals with some of these http://www.snopes.com
  • Even though an email may be true at one time, parts can be changed to make it at least partially untrue.
  • Some forwards have very controversial information or opinions – many anonymous or miscredited.
  • Some forwards say you have to forward to so many people or say that you have to give it back to show you’re really a friend.   This can be a good way to spread annoying emails.  Do you really have to reply to a forward, that they didn’t write, to show you are a friend?   Some of these emails say you’ll get something free for sending so many – I have never found that to be true.
  • Some forwards are fill in the blank and forward.  This might be giving too much information out.
  • Some forwards have copyrighted text and images that might be illegally redistributed.
  • One misuse of forwards is redistributing a private conversation.  This can be very hurtful to some people.
  • Another misuse related to forwarding is telling everyone to write to one particular person, which can overwhelm someone.
  • Many forwards are basically chain letters.  Chain letters are of course illegal to send in the US Mail.  Email is still fairly unregulated (or hard to regulate) and unsecured.  I would advise people to avoid sending these forwarded emails.
  • After a while the people that send me forwards, I usually ask them to stop sending it.

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Peer to Peer File Sharing Software

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

March 29 Sen. Klobuchar introduced legislation concerning online file sharing software such as LimeWire, BitTorrent, and uTorrent. I have personally seen many computers files and software damaged because uses of these programs. It can also overwhelm networks. Also thieves can sometimes retrieve private data from your computer. Many times these programs are installed by kids of the owners of the computers to download music, video, and games from other computers. This software may also possibly get you in copyright trouble, even if used correctly due to flaws in the software. I advise NOT to use most peer to peer file sharing software. I’m not sure how much the legislation can do, but I don’t think it will hurt.

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What we’re really going to use a computer for

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

When people look for computers (or phones, or internet access) they may know what they want it for now, but not what they want it for in the future. Of course you could buy something now and buy something else when you need it, but it could be more expensive that way.

It used to be some people would say they only use their computer for word processing and maybe a game like solitaire.
Then it became, use it for email, and web browsing. -internet access
Then add a digital still camera, you want to store and view photos with your computer. -larger hard drive, maybe a better monitor
Then add downloaded or streaming digital music and video. – high speed internet access, large hard drive for downloaded content, good video card, good sound system

I personally started off using computers for games, word processing and drawing (and printing).
These days I use them for my digital photos and video from my cameras. Keeping track of bank accounts, keeping accounting books, and taxes. Download music from iTunes and Amazon. Watching video by others-streaming, downloaded, DVD, or TV tuner. I use Word processing more for email and web sites rather than printing. I don’t play much for games on my computer anymore, but use my friends Nintendo Wii once in a while. I’m trying to print less and less and have been converting paper, film, and tapes to digital form stored on hard drive and/or DVD. I didn’t think I’d join social networking web sites or send text messages on the phone, that changed.

My parents as recently as a couple of years ago weren’t planning on watching video on a computer, now they do.

If you see a feature or something new, you may not use it now, but that will likely change.

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Techs, Professionals. Not Geeks, Not nerds.

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

One bad thing about the culture with computer technology and computer science is that people involved are sometimes called geeks or nerds.  Companies that name themselves this are helping keep this problem going.   I do not consider myself a geek or a nerd even though I’ve been called both.  This stops a lot of people from persuing these fields.   Even though more and more people are using computers and IT, not that many people seem to try to be advanced at it.    People in these fields are also sometimes called by their title such as techs or professionals.  That is a better way.

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