Apple

A Qwiizlab USB C Hub for the Mac Mini M1

A year ago I purchased for home use Apple's Mac Mini M1 with 512 GB SSD built into the computer. Coming more from a Windows and Linux background, it wasn't the operating system or Apple services that lured me to make the purchase but instead its small footprint in both size and presence. While the Mac Mini is a neat computer on its own, there are a couple tradeoffs. The negatives include fewer ports and the lack of ability to upgrade both memory and internal storage. I was afraid to turn this around, I was looking at unattractive cables to external devices spread across my desktop making that "small footprint" no more.

How Did Virtual Assistants Get Installed In Our Homes And Offices?

Virtual assistants have been incorporated into customer service applications and web pages, including technical support, product sales, or while receiving assistance during a purchase process. We currently experience virtual assistants without knowing it when we communicate with airlines, banks, social networks, insurance, or tourism companies.

Machines (software) are able to incorporate user interaction into their functions and learn about their needs on the fly. They achieve this by recognizing the same user, along with their emotions (joy, frustration, anger, disappointment, doubt) even better than many people by studying not only the tone of their voice but also the posture and gestures.

Mac Malware Appears on the WatchGuard Top Ten Malware List for First Time

11 December 2018 – Mac-based malware has appeared on the list of the top ten most common types of malware for the first time in WatchGuard’s quarterly Internet Security Report. The Mac scareware appeared in sixth place in WatchGuard’s latest Q3 2018 report and is primarily delivered by email to trick victims into installing fake cleaning software.

Who really invented the tablet?

The 1994 Knight-Ridder video I attached at the bottom of this post  is a fantastic reminder that the tablet predates the iPad and Android tablet by many decades. During the "hypermedia" era of the late 1980's, I can recall taking a "tech of the future" class where my professor discussed in similar detail what a tablet might look like in the future. He described a day where students would be sitting under trees reading not from paper books but utilizing exactly what we know today as the digital tablet. 

 Believe it or not though, the origins of the tablet computer date back to the 19th century.

The iTouch Alternative: Nokia's N800

Rich Hoeg, eContent, purchased himself the Nokia N800. The N800 is a linux based handheld Internet tablet with functions similar to those of Apple's iTouch. I'm not sure either device is for me, but I've been in a little bit of an anti-Apple and anti-Windows funk lately...that I felt it worth mentioning here. Rich Hoeg has this to say about the N800:

I've created a short screencast
which demonstrates many of the features found upon the Nokia N800. However, here are a few of the reasons I chose the Nokia over the iPod Touch: