TechnologyIQ

iPhone: 5 Excellent iOS Apps for Capturing and Editing Video

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:57:02 PDT

These days I don't even own a standard camcorder anymore. Sure, there are times when it would come in handy for doing particular types of video, but I find myself turning to my iPhone 4 more and more for producing the short videos I produce for my blogs and podcasts.

Face it, the iPhone is in my pocket and always with me. I can see something I want to capture and then record it with little to no fuss in very high quality. With an iPhone 4s you can even record in full 1080 resolution if you wish, although I find the 720p video of the iPhone 4 to be almost perfect for uploading and viewing on YouTube.

The built-in camera app on the iPhone allows you to trim the start and end of your video, but the programs listed below allow you make a variety of changes to your video, even combining them as you would on larger, desktop PC-based editing systems. They are a great place to start if you want to take your iPhone video making up a notch.

5 Excellent iOS Apps for Capturing and Editing Video
Making a great video used to mean pulling out an expensive video camera and owning your own video editing suite. Now you can do many of the same things once exclusively reserved for a high-end equipment right on your iPhone without a ton of cash or a lot of training.
The iPhone is capable of recording high-definition video suitable for the giant plasma screen in your living room, and there are a number of video editing apps out there to help you polish your video and add opening credits, sound effects and even a soundtrack into the mix — without ever leaving your device.
[…]
Read the entire article at Mashable.com

iPhone: Facebook Camera iPhone app released

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:00:19 PDT

Facebook Camera iPhone App

Facebook has been rolling out a variety of apps for the iPhone in the last week or so and their new Camera app joins the lineup today. Below you will find a hands-on from Engadget to give you all the specifics.

I wonder why the decided to release this as a separate app instead of rolling it into the main Facebook app, although they did the same with the recent Page Manager app, too. I would guess the have some strategy behind this, but for the average user it adds a bit of clutter to their springboard.

Link: Facebook Camera in iTunes Store

Facebook Camera hands-on:

Facebook has kept itself rather busy in the last month or so with such tasks as going public and purchasing popular photo-sharing app Instagram, but that doesn't mean it stopped working on other projects in the meantime.
[...]
Continue reading Facebook Camera hands-on

Facebook Pages Manager app allows some mobile management

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:00:33 PDT

If you are an admin of a Facebook page and an iPhone user, you finally have a mobile app that allows you post and do some minimal management of those pages.

From app description...

Pages Manager helps admins connect with their audience and keep up with activity on multiple Pages, all in one place.
Features:
Post new updates and photos as your Page
Get notified about new activity on your Page when it happens, no matter where you are
Respond, post and comment as your Page while you’re on-the-go
Manage all your Facebook Pages from one app
View your latest Page Insights
Just install Pages Manager and then log in using Facebook to quickly access and manage all of your Pages from wherever you are.
Link: Facebook Pages Manager from iTunes App Store

Video: TechnologyIQ Tip - Remote Control

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:18:08 PDT

It can be very useful to control a computer remotely for tech support or accessing information while on the road. Here Douglas presents 2 services he uses to remotely access his own computer as well as his client's when providing technical support.

Links:

LogMeIn - http://logmein.com Adobe ConnectNow - http://connectnow.adobe.com

Don't see the video above? Watch "TechnologyIQ Tip - Remote Control" on YouTube

Download "TechnologyIQ Tip - Remote Control" - iPod Ready Video

Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel | Watch the TechnologyIQ YouTube Playlist

Subscribe to the TechInologyIQ podcast using iTunes

Day(s) in the life of a computer consultant

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:10:38 PDT

News: AppleTV Software Update (5.0.1) now available

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:59:53 PDT

AppleTV owners should see a new software update available on their units. According to Engadget.com and other sources these updates patch provide HD previews of TV shows and movies, fix some issues with Home Sharing and also an Airplay bug.

More info available at:

Computer and Technology Jobs Available - Search Your Keywords and Location

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:35:04 PDT

Check out our list of Computer and Technology jobs (and others) available via SimplyHired.com.

Enter your location for jobs close to you. You can also search on other keywords.

Video: TechIQ What's New? - Show 001 - Podcast

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:10:30 PDT

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

Subscribe to Douglas' YouTube Channel | Watch the TechnologyIQ YouTube Playlist

Subscribe to the TechInologyIQ podcast using iTunes

Product: BioLite stove heats, cooks and powers your USB devices using twigs

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:07:00 PDT

The BioLite CampStove (and its larger sibling, the HomeStove) were originally designed to replace less efficient and dangerous open fires in developing countries. That said, the CampStove could easily find a place in your camping (or earthquake preparedness) kit this Summer. It could be just what you need to keep your phone charged and communicating when you need it most.

Available for pre-order at $129, the CampStove not only cooks your food and boils your water, it can also power your USB gadgets like smartphones and LED lights. Even better, it does this using small sticks, pinecones, pellets or other biomass, not large amounts of firewood. The wood is continuously fed into the stove and a thermoelectric generator turns a small fan to aid in complete and efficient combustion of the materials. The excess energy is then available to use for your technology.

More information is available from the BioLite webs site

My favorite shared technology items for April 2012

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:48:59 PDT

Here are mu favorite shared technology items for April 2012.

PowerSketch iPhone app free for short time

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:42:00 PDT

I saw that this app, PowerSketch is available for free for a short period of time. Grab it before it returns to normal pricing.

From the app's description...

Turn life's precious moments into artistic sketches in seconds
PowerSketch is a fascinating yet easy-to-use app that brings out the Picasso in you. 10+ realistic and creative sketch effects come standard with PowerSketch, including rice paper, picture-in-picture, shadow, wash, neon, and more. You can capture an image and turn it into a sketch or select an image from your camera roll or gallery to convert to a sketch.
Read more and download the app

First seen via Lifehacker.com's Today's App Deals

Here is an example of the charcoal sketch filter in the PowerSketch app.

Free Kindle Edition: Gutenberg the Geek by Jeff Jarvis

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:59:28 PDT

I first saw this as part of Google+ What's Hot email links. Get your copy before the deal expires.

Kindle books are readable on nearly every computer platform using the free Kindle Reader software. You can also now read directly in your web browser.

From Amazon.com…

Who was the original world-changing techno-entrepreneurial innovator? Not Google's Larry and Sergey. Not Steve Jobs. No, to find the man who made the mold, you've got to go back to fifteenth-century Germany to find Johannes Gutenberg. Jarvis portrays the famed inventor as creator of more than just the printing press and the market for Bibles. "Gutenberg," he argues, "should… be seen as the patron saint of Silicon Valley, for he used technology to create an industry." Setting Gutenberg's successes against the real pitfalls he endured, notably his early struggle to amass sufficient capital, Jarvis portrays a bad-boy innovator with a deft, if sometimes heavy hand. He bravely wears his assumptions-- for example, the neutrality of technology-- on his sleeve, and his lesson for techno-dreamers is straightforward. Read your history, Jarvis insists. "Your goal, geeks, is to be more like Gutenberg." --Jason Kirk

Download Gutenberg the Geek by Jeff Jarvis (Kindle Edition)

Computer and Technology Jobs Available - Search Your Location

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:37:04 PDT

Check out our list of Computer and Technology jobs (and others) available via SimplyHired.com.

Enter your location for jobs close to you. You can also search on other keywords.

Software: Send to Kindle Desktop App released for Macintosh

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 13:49:15 PDT

My son won a Kindle Touch a few months ago, so now whenever I see a new Kindle utility or service I am quick to notice.

While the Windows version of Send To Kindle was released a few months ago, the Mac version was just recently released. This app allows you to convert nearly any document to Kindle format and then send it to your Kindle (or Kindle app on your smartphone).

You can use drag and drop to convert a document or even the "Print to Kindle" command that gets added to your Mac when the software is installed.

I think i will be used for converting longer documents and articles I find on the web so that I can read them when I am out and about or simply don't want to use my laptop or iPhone for reading. If you have a Kindle, this app might help you convert some more reading material to use on it.

Download Send To Kindle for Mac

Quick News: Firefox 12 now available for download, Windows users get silent updates

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:17:56 PDT

"...Firefox users can now download an update that adds a few other new features and new tools for developers."

Read the entire article at Engadget.com

Google Drive Finally Arrives...and syncs Google Docs to your desktop

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:20:47 PDT

I have been a big user of the DropBox service which allows easy sharing of large documents "in the cloud" for quite a while now. As mentioned in the post below, this new service from Google has been rumored for a long, long time. It has obviously been gestating for a long time within the company and they have been thinking about how to do it right.

As a heavy user of many Google tools, the integration of Google Drive into all the other areas of Google, including Google Docs, makes it a bit more useful than DropBox itself. Now I can keep a copy of my Google Docs library automatically synced to any computer I choose. This, along with the ability to store and share large files, was intriguing enough to make me install the Google Drive app on my Mac as soon as possible.

As some have pointed out, this is also a new area for Google in another way. This is commercial product that requires extra payment if you want to increase the amount of space you have available. Instead of "paying with your eyes" via advertising, Google is making this more like the paid Google Apps service.

It always takes time to figure out a new service -- its pros and cons -- so I will be using it a lot over the next several weeks to see how it integrates with my workflow and changes/enhances my use of Google Docs.

You can read more using the links below and try it out directly using your existing Google account i.e. Gmail, etc.

Introducing Google Drive... yes, really

from The Official Google Blog by A GooglerJust like the Loch Ness Monster, you may have heard the rumors about Google Drive. It turns out, one of the two actually does exist.

Today, we’re introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.

Read the entire official Google blog post

Are software patents the new technology bubble?

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:48:53 PDT

Are software patents the new technology "bubble"?

Are all these software patent lawsuits our latest technology "bubble"?

Millions spent on patents that could end up, eventually, being absolutely worthless seems an awful lot like bad mortgages packaged into bad investments. Anyone else seeing some parallels here?

"...and the walls came a-tumbling down..."

How far will this game of "his said/she said" go before all software patents are declared null and void? I didn't think you will see anyone refunding any of these companies for the money they laid out for the patents.

With the current Facebook/Yahoo patent battle, the story gets sillier (and potentially more damaging) every day.

April 24, 2012 Update: …and the bubble continues to build...

Facebook paying Microsoft $550 million for 650 patents, Ballmer clicks 'like'

App: Sleep Time by Azumio - Monitor your sleep cycles

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:09:02 PDT

As I have gotten older, I have had more issues with my sleep. Perhaps it stems from the fact that I am a night owl where my wife and son are both early risers, but it seems like wake up more frequently during the night. There is also this odd issue where both my wife and I wake up around 4am nearly every night. We have never been able to find an exact reason for it and it seems to occur regardless of what time we got to bed in the evening.
I have been looking at various sleep tracking technologies lately, including the FitBit, but they seemed a little pricey to casually purchase them. Recently, though, I have been introduced to a series of iPhone apps by Azumio that track variety of health related information relatively inexpensively. I first tried out their Heart Rate app, and more recently their Stress Check app, both which were recently available for free due to a promotion. Both of these apps use the iPhone camera and flash to register your pulse and other info. When I was using these apps recently, I saw that they also have an app called Sleep Time ($0.99). Since I had had good experience with the others apps, I thought this might be interesting to try out this app for monitoring my sleep habits.
My iPhone sits next to my bed at night already, since I often use it as my alarm clock, so that presented no inconvenience. Using Sleep Time, though, requires that the phone be lying face down on the bed. In my case, I found a good spot for the phone on the corner of my bed where I could plug it into power and still have it far enough away from my pillow that I wouldn't bump into it during the night.
The Sleep Time app uses the iPhone accelerometers to monitor movement during the night and then correlates that movement into 3 modes -- awake, light sleep and deep/REM sleep. It logs how long you are in each mode and even graphs it nicely.
I used the app for the first time last night and you can see the results in the screen shot. It was very interesting that my typical 4am wakeup is graphed although I don't really remember waking up. I guess this means I wasn't as "awake" as I sometimes feel when that occurs. It also shows something else I assumed -- I have a little difficultly falling to sleep sometimes -- nearly 30 mins -- according to the graph.
I'll continue to use the app and see what other info it gathers over the coming weeks. Of course, since this is just an iPhone and not a high-end medical device, who knows how accurate the data truly is and how deep the science behind it. As an inveterate data logger and archive about my own life, it is yet another piece of information that is cool to know, even if it isn't terribly medically useful. Still, seeing my typical 4am wakeup captured seems to be a sign that the app is recording some useful data.
The app also includes an alarm clock that seeks to wake you up at the best time during your sleep cycle. You set the time you need to awake and the app will use a 30 minute window previous to that time -- hopefully when you are already moving into light sleep or awake time -- to ring your alarm. I know that I HATE being shaken awake by an alarm clock when I am deep in REM sleep -- to the point of feeling quite lousy when I awake -- some an alarm clock tied more closely to my natural sleep cycles would certainly be a benefit.
I will update you on my further experiences with Sleep Time. It looks pretty interesting right now.
All Azumio apps are downloadable from the iPhone App store or iTunes.
Link: Azumio.com

Elsewhere Online: Use (almost) any remote with an Apple TV

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:41:34 PDT

Wish I had seen this before I installed an Apple TV this morning. I could have tried it out. I will test it the next time I am at that client site, though. -- Douglas

Use (almost) any remote with an Apple TV: While the small, sleek aluminum remote that comes with the Apple TV is nice, it may be one too many. The Apple TV can work with many other infrared remotes, and an Apple technical document outlines the procedure for having the Apple TV "learn" your remote.
You'll need to use the Apple remote to set this up, and you do so by choosing Settings > General > Remotes from the Apple TV's interface. Choose Learn Remote, and press the six buttons that the Apple TV needs to learn.
Some remotes may not work, so read Apple's technical document for more information.
Via Mac OS X Hints

Read Amazon Kindle Books in your Web Browser

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:25:35 PDT

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

Shared Technology Links for March 2012

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:55:00 PDT

Here are my Shared Technology Links for March 2012.

Please let me know in the comments if you find any of the particularly useful. I'll keep my eye open for similar items -- Douglas

Slashdot.org launches video channel -- Slashdot TV

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:56:08 PDT

The venerable tech and geek discussion site, Slashdot (also seen as /.) has announced it is launching its own video channel, featuring stories and interviews on all things geek. There is a wide variety of videos already available including, "Gamestar Mechanics Teaches Kids to Make Video Games", "The Tesla Model S at the Detroit International Auto Show", and the video linked below, "Timothy Gets a MakerBot Replicator Demo at CES."

I know I will be keeping an eye on this page in the future. One complaint, though. It appears that the site doesn't have an RSS feed. This makes it much more difficult to see when new videos have been added. RSS isn't dead yet, despite what some people say and I still use it for most of my online reading. The video embed codes don't appear to be working yet, either, so I included a link to the video, instead of embedding it here directly.

Highlights from ACLU Digital Privacy Panel Discussion

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:37:00 PDT

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.

Don't rely on mainstream media for your technology news

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 09:14:00 PDT

It may sound a harsh judgement, but I have come to believe that no one should rely on mainstream media sources for their technology news. For the most part, mainstream media is trying to report on stories they simply don't understand. They are looking for sensational exposes and stories that make good headlines, but -- much in the same way they report on science stories -- mainstream media focuses on creating fear surrounding our technology and reporting those stories at a knowledge level that can best be described as elementary.

One of the largest problems that mainstream media faces is making technology understandable to the "average" person, whoever that might actually be. Often reporters, editors and producers don't really understand the story. They are simply parroting what they heard from one of their sources. Of course, as in the recent case of Mike Daisey's claims about the Apple-hired Foxconn manufacturer in China, these sources often have an agenda of their own and can manipulate their stories for greatest effect. When a trusted source of news like NPR's This American Life is fooled by someone like Daisey, it pulls back the curtain on the mainstream media's "Wizard." Showing them to be nothing but repeaters of rumor, not creators of news. Once again, it shows how little mainstream media understands technology.

Mainstream media is also limited in the time and space they have available to report a story. These two factors lead to simplistic explanations of highly complicated issues and stories that can be outright wrong. The further pressure of deadlines and the old-fashioned concept of "breaking news" means that stories are often incomplete -- reporting rumor as fact. The problem being, of course, that official correction are few and far between and even then usually buried in the back pages of the publication or at the end of the newscast where very few people notice them.

Such bad reporting often leads to the technological equivalent of the urban legend. Microsoft Vista was unusable. Apple's new iPad will burn your fingers. Every iPhone app is stealing your private information. People are tracking your every movement via your cell phone -- and using it to rob your house. Apple is torturing its Foxconn employees in virtual slavery. Good, well-researched stories take time to develop. You need multiple sources and sources that truly understand the issue and can explain it to anyone, no matter how technical it might be.

But I wouldn't expect stories like that any time soon. In the technology equivalent of "If it bleeds, it leads", sensational stories and stories that build fear will always be the main fodder for mainstream media. They are simply unequipped to report on technology stories beyond the most basic of terms. This is why online news sources, while exhibiting some of the same faults as mainstream, have an advantage. The best technology news sources have learned from their technology underpinning how to "iterate" their news stories very quickly. Stories can absorb new information and opinions quickly. The public can chime in on the story to request more information and to help explain the issues from their standpoint. With more "eyes and ears" on the story, they are able to develop it more quickly and, hopefully, more accurately and intelligently than the mainstream media. Sure, not every online new source gets their reporting right. They can fall victim to the same problems as mainstream media, but it is hoped that the new methods of developing stories can lead to better coverage of technology stories overall.

So the next time a friend or relative calls or emails with a suspect technology news story, please remind them that mainstream media might not be the best source for reporting on technology stories, especially if those stories involve new and/or complicated technology or issues. Direct them to your favorite news sites where they can find a, hopefully more accurate assessment of the

Technology users need to be more accepting of change

techiq@welchwrite.com (Douglas E. Welch) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:16:18 PDT

Of all people, technology users -- those who immerse themselves in technology for pleasure, hobby or as a career -- need to be more adaptable to technology change. You would think after years of breakneck develop that most would understand this message, but every day I am confronted with those who seem to miss the point.

It distresses me to see otherwise intelligent people complaining about this or that feature that has been changed or added -- or even worse, removed -- from the software or hardware they use. If it can be said of anything, change is a constant when dealing with any technology. Computers change by leaps and bounds. Software moves from feature to feature with changed in the user interface from version to version. Change is going to happen whether you like it or not, so you need to develop a strategy for dealing with it.

"If it can be said of anything, change is a constant when dealing with any technology."

It is fine to complain about a particular change -- debate its usefulness or functionality -- but such complaints often become a call for no change at all. It seems we want things to remain just as they are. What would our world look like if this was truly the case. Without change we would still be using the command line or --heaven forbid -- punch cards to do our computer. Heck, home computing itself might never have been invented. We would be stagnant, less productive and less accomplished in nearly all parts of our lives. Change is good, even if it is a bit disruptive.

As a technologist -- even a rapidly aging one at that -- I embrace change. I find it invigorating and exciting to see what we can accomplish with our technologies. You might even say I love change, even if it does make my life a bit more difficult at times. The alternative -- no change at all -- is uninspiring, unwelcome and unlikely. We can only live in the present we are given, no matter how much we might want to go backwards to some idealized time. No one is going to un-invent the Internet, the computer or that stupid ribbon that Microsoft seems so keen on using. For the most part you have to simply deal with it.

That said, fight for what you want in or out of your technology. Make a good case for why XYZ features don't make sense or how they could be better implemented. Stop using (and paying for software) that no longer fits your needs, even mourn the end of a favorite web site or app, but don't think that you can roll back the clock or halt change in its march. That is folly. Your only hope is to meet change head on, climb aboard and prepare for wild ride.

Condensation on new iMac 24" [Flickr]

dewelch — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:07:08 PDT

dewelch posted a photo:

Apple Youth Workshops - Be a filmmaker [Flickr]

dewelch — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 13:16:42 PDT

dewelch posted a photo:

Saw this at the local Apple store

Valentine's Day 2007 [Flickr]

dewelch — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:37:00 PST

dewelch posted a photo:

Read more about this project in My Word with Douglas E. Welch