The title says it all, but I’ll go into more detail: When you see a QR code in public, use your cellphone’s camera. You can immediate scan QR codes with your phone’s camera to see what info lay inside! If you open your camera and point it at a QR code, the camera software can … Read more
You’ve probably seen people paying with their phones or watches, instead of using cards or cash. Instead of inserting a plastic card, they wave their mobile device over the reader, as if they were performing a magic trick. And it is kind of magical! This type of payment is called a “contactless payment”, and it … Read more
Here’s another reason not to leave your electronics in your car: Thieves may target your vehicle if they detect your devices’ Bluetooth signals. Anyone can use free apps to scan for Bluetooth in their vicinity. And this kind of app has a very legitimate use: Finding your lost Bluetooth device! If you misplace your Fitbit … Read more
When you buy a new computer, you probably expect it to be fast! Or at least, faster than the previous computer…. But that’s not always the case. Some new computers disappoint with sluggish performance as they are first turned on. “Why is my new computer so slow?” Here are some common answers to this: Windows … Read more
There’s a lot of news about the powerful spyware named Pegasus. And it is some nasty stuff, being able to infect a phone without anyone clicking anything! You can read about some basics about Pegasus here. Unfortunately, this is one of those news topics where the media can be more inciteful than insightful. For example, … Read more
Smartphones are pretty well-defended against viruses, but there are a few ways to abuse them that avoid detection. One of the ways that iPhones get hijacked is through “Profiles”. The Profiles part of the iOS is typically only used by employers or schools on iPhones that they assign to their staff. For some companies, there … Read more
We’ve pretty much moved past digital storage media, such as CDs and DVDs, by now. If you’ve got any old discs laying around with important data on them, you should probably move your files off to an external hard drive or cloud storage. These days, very few computers come with an optical drive for reading … Read more
This is a pretty scary topic, but let’s go through the scope of this problem. It may not affect you at all, but if it does, I’ve got some advice for you. Reformatted from Afar Yesterday it was reported that some people’s Western Digital external hard drives were erased! And the attack is not the … Read more
Amazon is rolling out a new feature in their Alexa-enabled devices on June 8. It’s named Amazon Sidewalk, and it’s getting a lot of attention. More and more people are writing to me to ask about it, and the concern in their questions is quite apparent. Why? Well, in short, because Amazon is adding Sidewalk … Read more
There are so many free ways to recycle computers. Do The Right Thing, and find a free resource for recycling your unwanted tech items.