Machines dehumanize people. I’ve long had a mental experiment in mind that I’d love to pull off one day — force people to walk at a grocery store the way they drive on a highway. You know: cut each other off, flip the bird, breathe (literally) down someone’s neck on [Keep reading]
It can seem like no one wins when your Facebook feed is full of partisan political bickering, but indeed, there is a big winner: Facebook. And, most social media firms. There’s a loser, too: U.S. worker productivity, at least according to one new survey. Employees say they are spending TWO [Keep reading]
You’re going to see a lot of headlines today about a nasty ransomware program named KeRanger that tries to extort Apple / Mac users by encrypting their files and charging ransom for the unscrambling key. Infected users must pay the virus creators today or risk losing use of their data. Here’s [Keep reading]
What is this? Ransomware? A new Cryptolocker? A less scary blue screen of death? Nope. This is a Microsoft Update. The latest stupid Microsoft trick hit me today — it’s been making the rounds for the past several weeks, and it’s likely to hit you, too. So I’m writing up [Keep reading]
They might not be hiding listening devices in our cheese, as overly paranoid Rob Lowe frets in the famous TV commercial. But they are hiding microphones in our cities. Perhaps I’m being Overly Paranoid Bob Sullivan, but I’m unconvinced we’ve had a decent public conversation about this. On St. Patrick’s [Keep reading]
A billion stolen passwords sounds like a lot, but it’s no cause for alarm. After all, you knew passwords weren’t keeping your money or information safe, right? Back in 2005…yes, nearly 10 years ago…the FFIEC (government banking regulators) said passwords were inadequate protection for financial institutions. What does the [Keep reading]
It’s a question I think about a lot: Are we moving towards a world that’s safer or more dangerous? More or less secure? This week, the “less secure” side scored another goal. Light bulbs can be hacked. Doing so seems like a rather silly science fair project until you think [Keep reading]
John Oliver finally woke up the sleeping masses to the boring but incredibly important net neutrality discussion a few weeks ago with his brilliant, closing-argument style summation of the issue. Well, now that we’re awake, we might as well understand what’s really going on. Fortunately, Wired today began a series [Keep reading]
While kill-switch-friendly law enforcement officials on both coasts are patting themselves on the back over what they say is a sharp drop in iPhone thefts, the headline has been buried. Here it is: Samsung phone thefts are up 51 percent this year vs. last year. There must be quiet a [Keep reading]
If I said to you, “It’s a Small World After All,” you would inevitably start humming the tune. But if I tried to clear the musical part of your brain by suggesting another catchy tune, called “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow,” that would almost certainly be no help at [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan