Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/14/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Smile – you’re on Candid Camera! No, not the TV show, the every day security show that is going on all over the country and all over the world. Going to lower Manhattan? There are a thousand security cameras there per square mile
– and they are being tied together so police can access the images from any of them. Visiting London? You’re image will probably be recorded 300 times in a day. Well, you might say, these cameras help police solve crimes.
Maybe, but they can be used for lots of other things as well. Here are some of them in this show from the Electronic Cottage archives.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/7/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

This is another of our summer programs from the Electronic Cottage archives.
Here are the information site addresses mentioned in the program:
Weather info – www.nws.noaa.gov
Phone numbers – www.whitepages.com
Health info – www.medlineplus.gov
Dictionaries – www.alphadictionary.com
Etymologies – www.etymonline.com
Encyclopedia – www.encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia – www.wikipedia.org

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/9/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It’s summer – at last – her on the coast of Maine and visitors are starting to arrive. We thought this would be a good time to dust off a few old chestnuts and replay them so folks who are visiting could give them a listen and so the rest of us could listen again. Here’s one about music fidelity, vinyl, mp3s, and the human ear.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/2/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It’s no secret that the FBI is gathering information about the phone calls and emails of Americans. What has been a secret until now is why the FBI does not want to reveal the names of the the phone and internet companies that have been allowing widespread surveillance of Americans talking with people overseas. The reasons may surprise you, or make you laugh, or make
you cry. If you’d like to hear them from the horse’s mouth, listen up. If you’d like your own copy of the FBI’s reasoning, go to
www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-v-office-director-national-intelligence-declaration-david-m-hardy.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/12/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

There has been a lot in the news lately about the revelation that some smart phones, including iPhones and phones built on Google’s Android operating system, have been collecting location data about where the phone has been and storing it on the phones themselves in hidden files. What’s that all about, and why is information about where a person, or at least a person’s
phone, has been of is at the moment of such great interest – and who is interested? Let’s ponder that question for a moment.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/5/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Technology makes things possible today that were not possible even a decade ago. The Maine Legislature is considering a bill that deals with one of those technologies – coding and storage of a person’s DNA – before a person is convicted of a crime. Proponents claim that it will help law enforcement. Those with reservations look at the legal maxim of “innocent until proven
guilty” and at the less than reassuring record of data systems to keep stored information secure. Where is the balance? See what you think?

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