My technology pet peeves
Technology brings both blessings and curses. It blesses us with the ability to do things that were not possible without it, yet it curses us with a host of irritations while using it.
At the apex of my irritations now is autoplay videos. These, usually ads, start playing when you enter a site even though you haven’t started them. The sound seems to be set extra loud. You have to turn them off. They are, in my opinion, a boil on the derriere of the internet.
Video ads also pop up playing in the lower corner of the screen, freezing the web page until you notice and turn them off. Other peeves: • It is maddening when you start up your computer and have to wait 20 minutes while updates download and install. Then some updates break your software or hardware.
• Many times you will call a business and the first person you speak to asks for name, birthdate, address and other information. Then you are transferred to someone else who asks for your name, birthdate, address and so on down the line. Come on, computers can fix this.
• Click-bait fake news headlines promise facts that aren’t in the story.
• Some phones that charge only with their brand of charger. And then they change the charger in new models. (Apple, are you
listening?)
• Wi-Fi or Bluetooth drops out, forcing me to restart the router or pair the device again.
• I buy printer ink that, Consumer Reports figured out, costs $1,664 a gallon.
• Most in-ear headphones won’t stay in my ears.
• Emojis clutter in my email.
• Don’t link me to a story on search or otherwise and then slap me with a pay wall.
We know where you live. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has proposed killing net neutrality rules, met the resistance over the weekend. Protesters placed door hangers on the door of his neighbors in Arlington, Va. The flyers feature a photo of Mr. Pai, his background and how his proposal would roll back open internet rules, according to TheVerge.com.
Right on. Remember after the San Bernardino terrorist shooting when the FBI asked Apple to write a program to break into an iPhone and give it to the agency? Apple CEO Tim Cook refused because he said those kind of things always get out. The big cyberattack over the weekend hitting scores of countries was done with a hacking technique developed by the National Security Agency, stolen and posted on the web. Yep.
Tighten up those passwords. New guidelines from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology this summer will suggest that changing passwords periodically is no longer necessary. The guidelines will also include ways to create more secure passwords.
Puts us to shame. Germany broke a daily record for renewable energy, generating 85 percent of its power from renewable sources on April 30, Futurism.com reported.
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