Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/11/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Been in the cloud lately? No, the not clouds but the Cloud, the metaphorical place where folks don’t have to use their own computers to access computer programs or store their data. Chance are, you probably have. The Cloud has lots of great features which companies like Google and Amazon trumpet. It also has some not so great features, which they don’t but which we mention here.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/28/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

If you’ve gone through security in one of 78 major US airports recently, you may have had the experience of going through a “full body scanner.” Some folks are not too excited about being seen essentially naked by a stranger;
others are concerned about the effect of radiation the scanners use on their health. The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued to halt the use of the scanners but the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has now spoken and says they are fine to use. Even so, the TSA is making some changes in how they operate. Here’s how and here’s why and here, once again, is the still unanswered 2000 year old question: “Who will guard the guards?”

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/21/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Facebook, the Apple Store, Amazon’s Kindle and ebook store – all are great conveniences for many people. But looked at from another point of view, they are essentially walled gardens that keep their customers inside, hemmed in by technological walls. And they are changing the nature of the web. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Let’s think about that question for a few minutes.

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