Showing 1 - 6 of 6
Caveat emptor is undefeated in online shopping
Life, James Hein, Published on 11/03/2026
» It is becoming more common to buy things online. The majority of my shopping, not counting groceries, is now done that way. In the past I've warned about prices that are too good to be true, like a 4TB thumb drive for a few dollars from sites like Temu and AliExpress. There is now a kind of middle ground where the price could be correct and it's coming from, say, Amazon. Recently, even though I had some doubts, I bought a 5TB SSD drive from Amazon for around half of what I'd expect it to be. I did this knowing I can easily send things back to Amazon.
AI remains a beta tool for journalists
Life, James Hein, Published on 27/03/2024
» Unless stated otherwise, I do not use AI tools to write my articles. The main reason is that I enjoy the discovery and research process. I state this because apparently 45 finalists for this year's Pulitzer Prize in journalism disclosed their use of AI tools while developing their work to varying degrees. I tend to use examples from past work environments, articles on the latest technologies and other interesting reports that catch my eye. Given the latest revelations from the current crop of AI Large Language Models, if you use them without care, what you are reporting or writing about could be completely inaccurate. For the time being it's recommended you use such tools as a possible confirming source, rather than a primary one.
Fujitsu in first big WFH move
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/07/2020
» - As predicted, Fujitsu provided a great example when it announced the permanent closure of half of its office real estate in Japan. They will instead have 80,000 workers working from home permanently. This is a huge redefinition of work culture in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Called the "Work Life Shift" campaign, Fujitsu is to study data on how employees use offices, with a view to giving them more tools and options to work from home, at hubs or be more mobile. This will end the habit of employees commuting to and from offices. It also indicates the allowance of a higher degree of autonomy based on the principle of trust, Fujitsu announced.
Covid computing
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/05/2020
» - Things are quiet on the IT front. Well, that's not necessarily true, as many are trying to come to grips with the whole working-from-home existence. Many, including myself, are spending a lot of time in front of a screen. Instead of getting up and conferring with a colleague at their desk, it is a Skype chat.
Try not to drop your phone
Life, James Hein, Published on 25/03/2020
» The big news these days is coronavirus, the family name that covers the latest version, Covid-19. The impacts on tech are fairly obvious -- a lot of stuff is made in China these days. Apple, for example, is heavily invested in Chinese manufacturing and it has closed stores because the supply chain has run dry. Replacement iPhones are in short supply, so if you've damaged your phone, expect a potentially long wait before a full replacement is available. This also applies to replacement parts. So don't drop your phone. Employee travel is also discouraged while the virus spreads across the globe. At the time of this writing, stores in China have reopened and will not close. As an aside, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a non-partisan think-tank, named Apple as one of 83 internationally known brands utilising the slave labour of Uighur Muslims.
Facebook guilty, Huawei continues to claim innocence
Life, James Hein, Published on 13/03/2019
» I've been thinking about the new foldable phones. For many years, I have been hoping for a foldable e-book that has, to date, not materialised in a form I'd want to buy. There is something about the traditional book format that is familiar and comfortable. The first releases of foldable phones are aimed at those with lots of spare cash and who want to dip their fingers into the technology. These buyers form a baseline for the manufacturers to build on. I see this as testing the waters and I expect to see Apple jump into the market in the near future, as they have a bucket load of patents for similar technologies.