My week began when my neighbor Conrad declared that his bank debit card account had been drained of $5,000. Evidently, persons unknown on the mainland had helped themselves to innumerable Domino’s Pizza and Lyft rides on his dime. (After a great deal of prodding, he sorted this out with the bank.) Read more
With all of the data breaches in the recent past, one characteristic stands out. Very few accounts that are protected by multifactor authentication, or MFA, are hacked. And those that are hacked are usually violated with the aid of social engineering. Read more
A softphone is an app that enables users to make and receive phone calls over the internet using a computer or mobile device, instead of traditional landlines or mobile networks. Read more
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I don’t have a favorite child, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to choose a favorite technology, but I will admit to having a lifelong affection for GPS, maps and geolocation apps. Read more
In 2018 I reviewed and purchased an Acer Spin 5 laptop, which I’ve used nearly every day since then. It’s a two-in-one design, which means you can fold it up like a tent and set it on your kitchen table to read the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in the morning, or you can fold it back into a conventional laptop and take it on the road. Read more
By now most folks, and especially regular readers of this column, have heard of password management software. Using a password manager is one of the four pillars of defense against bad actors on the internet, the other three being MFA, endpoint protection and off-site backups. Read more
Recently, we have been noticing an uptick in a scam that targets people who are looking to make a better life for themselves. Read more
Coworking spaces — communal offices and shared desks where groups and individuals can work — could have gone extinct during the pandemic, when spending time with strangers was a bad idea. Read more
One of the most notable consequences of the COVID-19 era has been the popularity of remote work. Whether it’s local people working out of their North Shore homes or Silicon Valley refugees working in Hawaii (or international destinations), digital nomads can work wherever there’s bandwidth. Read more
Although it doesn’t have as cool a name as Alexa, Siri or even Hal, ChatGPT is the latest and most advanced foray into the technology known as artificial intelligence, or AI. What exactly is ChatGPT, what’s it good for and why are some folks scared of it? Read more
We have all seen our phones and computers doing automatic updates at one point or another, but have you ever wondered what the importance of it is? Read more
Artificial intelligence is having a moment. San Francisco-based research firm OpenAI has made the biggest waves in allowing the public to play with some of its AI tools. Read more
Forty-two years ago Jeannette Hereniko founded HIFF — the Hawaii International Film Festival — with the goal of promoting understanding among the people of Asia, America and the Pacific. Read more
To say Twitter is in chaos might be the understatement of the year. While the jury is still out as to whether new owner Elon Musk can bring the company under control, one byproduct of its current state is an increase in fake news. Read more
Internet speeds continue to get faster as technology becomes more advanced. However, internet service providers usually focus on providing faster download speeds, but this is only half of the service. Read more
’Tis the season for gift giving, but with 10 days left until the traditional deadline, finding something unique and thoughtful can be a challenge. Read more
Bradley Willcox, professor and director of research at the Department of Geriatric Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, coined the phrase “the intersection of healthy aging and technology is in the kitchen.” Read more
While this may be a clever excuse for this column running the day after Cyber Monday, the fact of the matter is that the holiday buying season is now several weeks long. Read more
Scammers are always trying different ways to trick an unsuspecting person into running and installing malicious software on their computer so they can steal information, install ransomware or worse. Read more
These are interesting times — if not the end times — for once pervasive, unstoppable social media platforms. Read more
Not too long ago, a technician from Spectrum came over for a house call to swap out an aging modem. I told him that I was having some issues connecting with my Wi-Fi devices. Did he think it might be Spectrum’s network? Read more
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