My Word with Douglas E. Welch » Technology

Video: The Fine Art of Troubleshooting Anything from BarCampLA

dewelch — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:57:50 +0000

Douglas presents what he has learned about troubleshooting over nearly 25 years of computer consulting and how it can be applied to many life situations outside of technology.

If you enjoy this recipe video, please click Like and/or subscribe on my YouTube channel.

Can’t see the video above? Watch “The Fine Art of Troubleshooting Anything” on YouTube.

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Video: The Fine Art of Troubleshooting Anything from BarCampLA is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Video: TechIQ What’s New? – Show 001 – Podcast

dewelch — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:10:00 +0000

My TechnologyIQ blog is revving up again. Here is a video I did to kick things off! — Douglas

TechIQ What’s New? is a new show reviewing some of my best finds from around the Internet. I’ll be producing these episodes regularly to discuss those articles, sites and products that can help you ”Control your technology — don’t let it control you!”

If you don’t see the video above, please watch “TechIQ What’s New? – Show 001″ directly on YouTube

Download “TechIQ What’s New? – Show 001″ as iPod-Ready podcast

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Video: TechIQ What’s New? – Show 001 – Podcast is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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How to use a paper journal effectively – my first Snapguide

dewelch — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:33:19 +0000

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to play around with a new iPhone App for Snapguide.com. It allows you to quickly and easily create guides about anything you wish. In my case, I did a quick guide about how I use the paper journal I always carry with me. You can include video, pictures and text to build your guide.

You can view this Snapguide using the iPhone app or directly from the web site.

How to use a paper journal effectively – my first Snapguide is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Read Amazon Kindle Books in your Web Browser

dewelch — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:08:20 +0000

I just happened to see that you can now read Amazon Kindle books right in your web browser — no software download or install needed. This makes it even more convenient for people to buy and read my eBooks. You can still download the Amazon Kindle Reader software for your computer, iPhone/iPad or Android smartphone or tablet, but if you just want a quick diversion — perhaps you are using someone else’s computer (or a public access terminal at your local library) — you can easily access the books you won directly from the cloud.

Visit Read.Amazon.com

Find Amazon Kindle Books by Douglas E. Welch

Read Amazon Kindle Books in your Web Browser is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Highlights from ACLU Digital Privacy Panel Discussion

dewelch — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:34:58 +0000

Back on March 20, 2012, I was invited to participate in an ACLU panel discussion on Digital Privacy at the UCLA School of Law. Below are some highlights from my part of the presentation.

My fellow panelists were Heidi Kujawa (Founding Member of Kode Corporation – a company dedicated solely to intellectual property protection) and Nicole A. Ozer (Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Director of the ACLU of Northern California).

Despite all the news about privacy breaches, selling of personal data, and GPS tracking, no one is ready to throw away their digital devices
This is the present. This is where we live. We are never going back. We need to think about the benefits that all this technology gives us
Was it better before the Internet? Hell, no! I lived there, it was not.
Mainstream media is reporting on technology stories that, for the most part, they do not understand.
We like to think that mainstream media is smarter than we are. We like to think they understand all this technology stuff. But they don’t.
In a lot of cases, they understand it a lot less than you do
Fear is control. If someone can make you fearful, they control you.
The more you know, they better off you are going to be.
Just because we can do something, doesn’t mean we should i.e. digital voting
The techies are telling everyone, “Are you out of your mind? It’s too easy to game it!”
When the techies are screaming, “Don’t use a technology!” it is probably a good ideas to listen to them. They see the flaws the that average person might not understand.
Start listening to those technological people out there. They can be a little geeky, but they actually know some of this stuff pretty well.
I have made a pact with the devil. I give a little bit of my soul to get some sweet, sweet Gmail. Overall, I am Ok with that. I have made the personal decision that the type of data I throw around in Gmail is probably Ok.
If that means that systems can deliver ads that actually mean something to me, I am all for it.
One of our biggest problems today is government.
If you see nearly any Congressional representative on the news try to talk about technology, there is not there, there.
We have people legislating our lives — and their lives as well — and global rules, that they don’t understand.
Worse, they don’t even know what they don’t know. If they did they would hire staffers to help them fill in this piece of knowledge. They would have a technology task force — a whole crew — that could help them understand the legislation that is coming across their desk.
In the worst cases, you have some representatives who are willfully ignorant about technology. Who make jokes about it. Who laugh it off. “Well, I don’t understand it, but I’m going to vote for it anyway!” That drives me mad. You will catch me screaming at my television set when I see people like that and you should, too.
If this technology “present” is going to work, government has to iterate as fast as technology.
Government cannot keep up. You can practically hear the wheels of government creaking and groaning as it struggles to keep up with the speed of new technology.
We seem to live in a world where technology is seen as something new and magical that has never been dreamed up before. So therefore, laws don’t cover. “Oh, the law doesn’t apply to VHS. The law doesn’t apply to email.” Why is that? Why don’t we flip that over. Why don’t we make laws apply to all new inventions. Then we can legislate the exceptions. “Email is protected, by default. Boom! You have to have a warrant to get to your email source.” Why wasn’t that the case?
Why does adding the words “…on the Internet” change our laws. It doesn’t make any sense. Fraud is fraud, not matter where it is perpetrated. Theft is theft. Why don’t these laws apply?
We ned to live in a world where applying these laws is the default, not the exception.
We are going to have just as many technological advancements in the next 20-30 years as we have had in the past 20-30 years. How is government going to deal with that?
We now have a 5th branch of government — the corporation. Corporations now have so much money they can do, pretty much, whatever they want — and we let them. Our same creaking government I mentioned above has passed laws that make it even easier for these corporations to do whatever they want. That, for me, is another target for our efforts on digital privacy, data retention, intellectual property, on everything. There is another “branch of government” that we need to address.
A psychologist once pronounced that “All corporations are sociopathic.” If you think about it, they really are. They have one goal above all others — increase shareholder value. Imagine that you knew someone who used that same guideline for every decision — how much money it put in their pocket. Every transaction from whether taking you out for coffee, going to the grocery store, picking up the kids from school — everything had a monetary value. You would probably call them a sociopath. They would be unable to interact with the rest of the world.
We have corporations out there that focus on “raise shareholder value” at whatever cost
We need to address these corporations and we need to start working with corporations. There is one thing they understand. Money. There is an argument that can be made to corporations that it is in their best interest to protect our privacy.
There will be points in the future where data breaches, over-gathering and over-use of our private data and other missteps that will lead them to the brink of disaster and failure. That is where we hit them — in the pocketbook. It is worth YOUR money, YOUR existence to have a decent privacy policy. It is worth your money to have a data retention and protection policy. I think that is where we are going to have the most effect.
Corporations have much more power today than they have ever had in the past. Rivaling even that of the government. We need to turn our attentions there.
Now, of course, if you are going to have a privacy policy, can we at least have something that is understandable? Very few people understand the language in a privacy policy or a license agreement. Lawyers understand them, but the rest of us don’t talk that way. all we do is click agree without any understanding of what it says. It could say anything. That is a huge disconnect. Corporations need to make these agreements clearer to those clicking those Agree buttons.
The only thing that can kill off this “Goose that lays the Golden Egg” we call the Internet, is bad legislation. As was seen with SOPA and PIPA, given enough money and enough connections, the unelected bodies of the MPAA and RIAA wrote a law, handed it to our representatives and said, “Pass this!” If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what else will. When I think about the Internet being turned down, if not completely off, on the whim of two corporations, that worries me more than anything.

Highlights from ACLU Digital Privacy Panel Discussion is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Product: Cookbook Cafe 2.0 Launches Today! – Get your cookbook on!

dewelch — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:32:00 +0000

A few months ago, I created a cookbook for this iPad App and Web site. Cookbook Cafe allows anyone to create their own cookbook and deliver it directly to user’s iPads. (You can also access the cookbooks directly on the web site)

This new app allows anyone — individuals, charities and non-profits, restaurants, etc — to create (and sell) their own cookbooks. It presents the cookbooks complete with photos and videos in an attractive fashion, just like a paper cookbook.

My “beta” cookbook is entitled “Sharing Christmas with Friends” and includes a number of cookie recipes, beverages and even my secret Christmas Chili recipe! (LAUGH) – View “Sharing Christmas with Friends” cookbook.

You can download the app for free from the Apple App Store — Cookbook Cafe.

Want to create your own cookbook? Visit the Cookbook Cafe Creator.

Here is an intro video from Babette Pepaj, Founder of Bakespace

Product: Cookbook Cafe 2.0 Launches Today! – Get your cookbook on! is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Information: Listen to Van Nuys Airport Tower Communications

dewelch — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:43:21 +0000

Like the LAPD scanner link I posted week or so ago, this link to LiveATC.com lets you listen in to that is happening at Van Nuys airport as aircraft arrive and depart. Van Nuys is the business general aviation airport in the US, so there is always a lot going on. You can also listen in on what other aircraft, like LAPD, are doing near the airport, as they need to stay in contact whenever working in the Van Nuys airspace. Van Nuys is also the base for LA County Fire Helicopters.

This feed could also be useful if you happen to visit the Van Nuys Airport Observation area off of Woodley Avenue. Using your iPhone or other mobile device, you could listen in on traffic as you watched the planes arrive and depart. When my son was younger, we used to visit here so he could watch the airplanes up close.

Link: Van Nuys Ground and Tower – KVNY radio feed via LiveATC.com

Information: Listen to Van Nuys Airport Tower Communications is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Video: Play Angry Birds on my friend’s Christmas Lights

dewelch — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 08:55:51 +0000

Every year my friend Ric Turner does some amazing light displays for Halloween and Christmas. This year’s Christmas show is a version of Angry Birds that plays on his Christmas lights?!?!?!? Watch the video below or see it for yourself on Philbrook Avenue in Santa Clarita, CA.

Watch “Angry Birds Christmas Light Game” on YouTube.com

Video Description:

“Help! The pigs are trying to ruin Christmas. Grab the sling shot and fire those birds! From the people who brought you the Guitar Hero Christmas Light game! Running on two computers and 10 Light-o-rama 16 channel controllers, uses more than 20,000 lights and less than one cent of electricity per game. Audio is broadcast on 99.1FM, and the controller has a long enough cord for people to play in their cars on the street. Easier than the iPhone version, and bigger too.”

Video: Play Angry Birds on my friend’s Christmas Lights is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Need help with your technology gift decisions? Let’s Talk!

dewelch — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:31:45 +0000

Tablets and laptops and iPhones, oh my!

Yes, it is that time of year again when visions of iPods dance in your head and you are trying to figure what technology gifts to get your friends, family and co-workers. Do you need advice on this year’s technology gifts? Let me help you make your way through the dense thicket of tech possibilities.

Ask your questions as:

Comments on this blog or on the TechnologyIQ blog
On my Facebook Wall
Via @douglaswelch on Twitter
Via my profile on Google+

Let’s make this technology holiday the best that it can be!

You can find technology gift recommendations in The WelchWrite Bookstore and more! I will be adding new items each day.

Need help with your technology gift decisions? Let’s Talk! is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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Video: Halloween light show is also a playable video game!

dewelch — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:06:44 +0000

It is that time of year again and my friend, Ric, has set up his annual Halloween light show. As in year’s past, this is an interactive video game you play on the Halloween lights of the house. Punkin’ Chunkin’ pits the player against flying pumpkins as they try to catch as many as they can in their characters mouth. The show plays through Halloween night on Philbrook Street in Santa Clarita.

Check out Ric’s past shows and games on his YouTube Channel

Video: Halloween light show is also a playable video game! is a post from My Word with Douglas E. Welch

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