Showing 41 - 50 of 297
Always check your sources
Life, James Hein, Published on 15/09/2021
» At the dawning of the internet age the aim was to provide a platform to share information, initially between higher education facilities. It was a golden age of what was essentially a library of information shared across the United States and later the world. The early fact checkers were academics interested in facts, data and a robust discussion.
The chips are down for a while
Life, James Hein, Published on 01/09/2021
» If you haven't noticed, there is a microchip shortage. Makers of any device ranging from computers to guitar pedals are finding it difficult to source what they need from the marketplace. Expect delays on most things and if you do get yours in time then thank the silicon gods.
Samsung again pushing foldables
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/08/2021
» Samsung is betting on foldables. The new Galaxy Z Fold 3 will come with IPX8 water resistance, support for the S-pen and an under-display selfie camera. It will be interesting to see how they solved the clarity issue Apple faced with that last one. The front screen will be an adaptive 7.6-inch 120Hz.
Don't get caught out on camera
Life, James Hein, Published on 21/07/2021
» - In the new Covid world, office workers are now regularly in meetings from home. Many of these meetings these days now also include a video feed. The first thing others in the call do when someone pops up, is to check the background and immediately zoom in, mentally or physically, on anything that seems out of place in the background. Last night's dishes, haphazardly discarded clothing and even a pot plant seemingly out of place will be the object of interest. Some use a green screen behind them and have an image placed on that by software.
The cloud calls, banks don't hear
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/07/2021
» Is the industry rushing too quickly into the clouds? Cloud computing has been expanding steadily over the past few years and is starting to dominate as the primary platform for many organisations. Providers love it because it allows them to charge a service-based fee instead of a once-off payment for a product. There are rumours that Microsoft through Windows 11 will push to have a similar approach for their next version.
Google bets on offline stores
Life, James Hein, Published on 09/06/2021
» Google is looking to venture into the area where Microsoft failed but Apple still does well, the brick-and-mortar retail store. The first of these will be opened in Chelsea, New York, allowing customers to find their devices like Pixel phones and Pixelbooks, Fitbits and Nest at a physical location. All subject to the latest Covid rules of course.
Chinese tech companies are at it again
Life, James Hein, Published on 12/05/2021
» A reminder on the importance of both scalable systems and load testing. The recent Philippines' attempt to expand its national ID programme had a number of issues when they introduced a two-factor authentication system. PhilSys, as it is known, started out just fine when registrations began in 2020, when paper forms were still used. This in itself was a little strange as the purpose of the new system was to do away with the need to present physical documents when interacting with government agencies. PhilSys the digital ID system was marketed as such and promised transformation and other buzzwords including easier opening of bank accounts. All of this would also help everyone involved during Covid times. After 28 million paper applications, the digital system was turned on and in the first hour 40,000 people tried to register. The system promptly fell over due to the load and inability to scale quickly. Most IT people will admit to a similar experience in their past, but by 2021 there are surely enough historical examples of what will happen if you don't do sufficient load testing before a major release like this.
Google triumphs over Oracle
Life, James Hein, Published on 14/04/2021
» - Long-time readers may remember that back in the mists of IT time, over 10 years ago, Oracle challenged Google over the use of Oracle's Java API's and some of their code in Android.
Redefining your normal and other tech predictions
Life, James Hein, Published on 06/01/2021
» Thank goodness 2020 is finished. Hopefully 2021 will be better and that in this case not all of my predictions will come true.
Social media censorship the stamp of 2020
Life, James Hein, Published on 23/12/2020
» Well, it's that time of year again when I see how well my predictions for the year performed. With the advent of Covid-19, I'm not confident that many of them came to pass.