Tag Archives: computer

22

Dec. ’19

The Digital World

Most people have seen the commercials or news reports, read magazines, seen newspaper reports and have looked at YouTube videos on digital, that have speakers and cameras, can be hacked with information gathered on you and your family. Some people don’t believe it can happen to them or they disbelieve it as a ploy to get them to buy something different or more expensive. Then there are those that believe ‘Big Brother’ want to use them and they don’t want the police in their business.

Truth be told, digital snooping is everywhere, and it cannot be avoided. People are using digital everything every day. Every time a credit or debit card is used, information about the user is gathered. Normally it is where the card is used, time, amount of purchase, what was purchased, account number, address and account balance. Most of the time the information is not used but, when it is gathered, it can be sold for a profit and used lawfully or unlawfully. You’ll never know until you see a news report about it.

Then there are the home items that can be hacked and can make your life a living hell. The items I will list is only partial and will have to be connected to a wi-fi system. The wi-fi system let you control the item(s) with your computer, your phone, etc. The items could be your door bell, alarm system (cameras, motion detectors, speaker for the cameras/motion detectors/doorbell), the entire house (if you automatically turn your lights on and off, lock and unlock your doors, turn your oven on and off, etc.).

You may have seen the news report about a hacker that was watching a family’s kids’ room and was talking to the kids through the speaker on the camera in the room. I also know about baby monitors being hacked and the entire house is heard because baby monitors are very sensitive. Baby monitors, old style, are run on radio waves and, newer style, run on wi-fi. Beware of both because it can monitor your entire house.

Don’t forget your automobile. All newer vehicles have computers and some pair it with cameras, depending on whether you purchased the bare minimum or the top of the line. Vehicles can tell you everything that is going on with the vehicle. It can see things around the outside the vehicle. It can tell you about the interior of the vehicle. If you have a camera that watches the kids in the backseat, a hacker can also. It has been known for a hacker to take control of the vehicle. The computer tells where you have been, where you are, your fuel, road condition, traffic, weather, etc. If your computer knows, a hacker knows also.

I am telling you all of this just to say to be careful what you do with these electronic items. Where you place them, what you say around them may, one day, come back to haunt you. You will never know who or what is monitoring you nor will you know what is to be done with the information. It will only get worse, not better, because everything is electrical and have monitoring capabilities. Some are small, some are large, some are hidden, and some are in plain sight. Rest assured, they are there, and I have only mentioned very few gadgets. There are many more out there.

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15

Oct. ’16

Watson

Looking back, I can see many things that were, years ago, thought to be either science-fiction or someone’s imagination or just plain entertainment because it was considered an impossibility. To give an example (young people don’t know about this) just look at Dick Tracy from the comic strips. He had a wrist watch that he could not only talk into and hear but he could see the person he contacted and the person could see him. I was always fascinated then and can see all of it now. For those of you that can’t remember when Dick Tracy was printed, try the 1950’s and ’60’s.

Quite a few things have come from the original Star Trek Series (Capt. James Kirk, Mr. Spock, etc) that, at the time, had my head spinning. There is so much that have come from the imagination of others that wanted to entertain us but, instead, were ahead of the world they were in. They jumped to another sphere. A sphere that no one, not even them, could have seen without a crystal ball into the future. And the then future is still coming, little by little.

We seniors, if you think a little, can see things that came about when we were young that boggled the mind, but, were thought about years before that. The people that were proposing those things were said to be crazy or were completely ignored. And, just think, the not so imaginary things are still coming about. Remember Lost In Space? Remember the robot in Lost In Space?

There is a lot of work being done on AI (Artificial Intelligence). That is the project being done on robots and making them super intelligent. They are making robots that can think, never forget and get smarter on it’s own. Also, they are making robots that are making robots. I can still remember watching Lost In Space on a black and white television and saying to myself that it was impossible for a robot to do the things that it did.

The computer that was on Jeopardy and won the game (named Watson) was a hit for quite some time. Watson is still around. Wrap your head around this; Watson is being used in a hospital diagnosing ailments and proposing a course of action. Watson has read everything there is to read about medicine and every medical journal that comes out. A doctor can not do that nor remember the entire written material. Watson can and did. Watson not only reads written material, it can also look at x-rays, MRI’s and all the other things. I remember reading comic books about that back in the early sixties.

I also remember reading, and seeing movies, about computers going amok, taking over the world and treating humans as slaves. There are scientists who are now thinking the same thing and is getting a lot of resistance to that idea. As a senior citizen, I don’t have to worry about that. I don’t have that much longer in this world and robots aren’t developing that fast. Or are they?

Some people are saying robots are not around them (I guess they are thinking about machines running around doing things) but I beg to differ. I’ll name a few things and, believe me, there are so, so many more things I could name. There are self driving vehicles, cell phones, television (broadcasting units and viewing apparatus’), all sorts of computers, and to put things into a nut shell, everything that is anything has some type of electronics in it. These things can or almost can operate on it’s own or remotely, by another human or by another computer.

All of us at Imperial Plaza utilize some sort of computer (robot) each and every day, from the time we awaken (does a robot (alarm clock) awaken you) to the moment we go to sleep (does the computerized TV or radio put you to sleep), whether we realize it or not. It is a beautiful thing. Or is it? Will the robots take over Imperial Plaza? Will they take over the world? Time will tell. More time than I have left.

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25

Apr. ’15

Communication

There is always something going on at Imperial Plaza. Sometimes it’s good things and then there are the behind the scenes bad things. It’s like the phrase from the Bible book of Revelations. Wars and rumors of war. From what I gather it all started when the person that volunteers to handle the packages for pick-up was asked who she worked for and she replied that she works for no one because she is a volunteer. That may be true, however, everyone work for someone. The question is what department and who is in charge of that department. Also, as far as handing out the packages that come in the mail and is too large for the small mail boxes, what department would that fall under?

Another thing….we now have, on the apartment cable system, channel 970 on which we can see the daily schedule of upcoming events, etc. It is in it’s infancy but should get better soon but I think I have a solution that will greatly improve the system and many other things here at Imperial Plaza. There should be a Communications Department. The department I am thinking of will handle the cctv, fliers, news, ads to radio, tv, and papers. The department should have at least two people (Mass Communication educated) because there will be more than enough work for the two. I know from experience that handling the daily routine of the input into the cctv takes a lot of energy and time to do it right as well as coordinating with the many individuals that have the needed information.

I can see the communications people having a desk with a computer unlike everyone else. This computer will also have graphics and formats that will expedite making the designs needed for the different publications that will go out on the cctv and all other print and video work. I can also see the constant changes that is inevitable in this type of work. There must be constant contact with the executive branch of the administration as well as the other departments in order to put out exactly what is desired to be released. A communications department is a very important arm of any large administration and I wonder if Imperial Plaza have one or is considering one?

Communication is very important for a church also. My Pastor want me to handle this and I am having a hard time getting started because I have a lot of other things that I am doing but, with God’s help, I will get it done. Most people really don’t realize how much work go into doing something like this. I have done this when I was in the military and when I was at the radio station at Virginia State University. The work at VSU wasn’t that hard because there were many people that could be called on and the equipment was at hand. There is no one to call on at the church and the equipment does not exist.

So you see, communications is needed in both places and that is only an example. These are only my thoughts, a couple of things that will hopefully get my mind in gear for a project I must complete. Wish me luck with this communication project and wish Imperial Plaza luck with whatever they are doing. Without a full-time communication department, they’ll need a lot of luck.

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