TechByter Worldwide (formerly Technology Corner) with Bill Blinn

If you're thinking about buying a new camera, it's important to consider more than megapixels. Even low-end cameras have plenty of pixels these days, so let's look at one other specification that's important to know. In Short Circuits: Have you rebooted your router yet? A significant security problem could allow hackers, believed to be Russian, to gain access to it. A couple of companies are talking about creating driverless delivery vehicles. States are expected to stampede into a vacuum created by a Supreme Court ruling that allows them to permit on-line sports betting. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Read the FBI's full statement on router security. • Alien Skin, the creator of many plug-ins for Photoshop, has been around for 25 years and is offering some attractive sale prices, but only for a few days. • Automation eliminates some jobs and may create others.

No matter which operating system runs your computer, there are tips and tricks that make tasks easier or faster or less annoying. This week we'll take a look at some that apply to Windows and the MacOS. In Short Circuits: Website owners should beware of messages that appear to be warnings from their hosting company. Scammers are trying to steal login credentials, but it's easy to spot a phony. The most dangerous application on your computer continues to be the one that sends and receives email. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A new botnet can control some 5000 websites, more than half of them on servers operated by GoDaddy according to security firm Proofpoint. • Serious gamers need to shell out a lot of money for their computers, but the specifications for these machines are astounding. • If you're not ready yet for a self-driving car, you're in the majority. • New European Union privacy rules went into effect on 25 May and they affect the operation of websites outside of Europe.

Anyone who complains about the cost of digital photography probably never used film or can't remember film's costs. You have to pay for software today, but the cost is far less than that of film, processing, and printing -- and the capabilities far exceed anything we could do in the darkroom. In Short Circuits: Is this a great time or a lousy time to be a photographer? The easy answer is "Yes." Let's explore that thought. Adobe's Experience Design application now has a free version and Adobe is encouraging developers to create plug-ins that will expand its functionality. Do you have a connected home device? One company says they're more widespread than many believe. On the one-year anniversary of my older daughter's liver transplant, I have a request: Please consider signing up to be an organ donor. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Two more data security incidents serve as reminders of how easy it is for crooks to get their hands on information. • School vacation time is about here and it's time to think about summer reading programs for the kids -- and for adults, too. • NASA TV plans to broadcast much of the resupply mission to the International Space Station starting with Sunday's (20 May) launch.

Microsoft launched Windows 10 version 1803 last week. This week we'll take a look at the new features that seem to be the most useful and significant. In Short Circuits: Magazine fans might save money, clutter, and the environment with Texture, a service for Android and IOS devices, but not for desktop or notebook computers. Malevolent bots are increasing daily and it's not just the ones from Russia. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A company that provides tools used by the people who repossess vehicles with past due payments has proposed a new use for the technology. • The National Aeronautics and Space Agency has awarded grants to 3 groups that will be looking for life beyond our solar system. • Testing has been established to ensure that high-performance video displays live up to their promises.

Those who create or edit audio but don't need a full digital audio workstation might find that the open-source Audacity provides all the tools they require. In Short Circuits: The Windows 10 spring Creators update is nearly a month late, but Microsoft started pushing it out this week. Those who are still using Windows 7 are substantially increasing their risk from malware according to Webroot. Calls that begin with "Hello, I'm from Windows support" should be terminated immediately, but creeps and crooks use other methods, too. In Spare Parts (only on the website): It's all artificial intelligence all the time this week: • First, how AI can improve on-time performance for metropolitan transit system buses. • Then, a new use for AI in identifying and tracking cognitive changes as people age. • And finally, a Canadian firm says it can provide wastebaskets that, when full, leave the room to empty themselves while replacement wastebaskets roll in to take their place.

Making subtle improvements to photographs by slightly changing the geometry of the subject's face is possible with PortraitPro, but that's just the beginning. In Short Circuits: Your favorite browser may already have an ad blocker and adding a utility to block sites that attempt to track you seems like a good addition. Adding sound effects to home videos can make them seem more realistic and the British Broadcasting Corporation has just released tens of thousands of sound effects for free. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Laptop Magazine's annual review of the top 10 laptop manufacturers puts Lenovo in first place, but drops Apple to 7th place. • Maybe we can blame Millennials for poor customer service. A survey says they consider good support to be less important than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers do. • That package that's coming from Amazon might be in your trunk, but only if you have the right kind of car and live in the right city.

You probably use a digital camera, or maybe a phone, for photography these days, but what about the old negatives and color slides you have around the house? If you've considered having them digitized, but didn't like the price or the quality, this could be a great do-it-yourself project at home. In Short Circuits: Last week I was talking about the upcoming Windows 10 spring update. This week, we learn why the update has been delayed. When the Internal Revenue Service's website failed on the final day of the tax season, the response from the IRS website managers made the problem even worse. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Russian hackers want control of your router and manufacturers make it all too easy for them to succeed. • Crooks also want your Iphone and they have a trick that might convince you to give them access to it. • If you need something else to worry about, botnets are still going strong. • IBM says (surprise!) most of us are concerned about data security.

It's not uncommon for people to say that a second monitor will just clutter their workspace, but few would ever want to go back to a single monitor after trying two. Let's consider the advantages. In Short Circuits: A relatively new open-source video editor, Shotcut, looks promising because it packs a lot of versatility into a free application that runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux. The Windows 10 Spring Update is coming soon. You can get it sooner, delay it, or just get it when you get it. The high screen resolution on many new laptop and notebook computers is great for photographs, but text is microscopic. Scaling comes to the rescue. Sometimes. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A survey says that a little more than half of us are comfortable with the use of artificial intelligence in medical settings. • Crime scene investigators carry increasingly sophisticated gear into the field. • Robocalls, spam, and scams continue to increase and that probably comes as news to approximately nobody.

Videolan's VLC media player is generally considered to be a video player, and the latest version makes it a superb video player by adding support for Blue-ray discs and Google Chromecast -- but it can do a lot more. In Short Circuits: Adobe's latest updates to the various Photoshop products might cause some users to wonder when it's appropriate to use each of the tools. Technology continues to change the way we travel and travel technology company Sabre predicts that radical changes are coming. A California company has purchased an app for Apple devices from the person who developed it. Is this news? You may join me in thinking it is when I share the details. The US Defense Department challenges ethical hackers to break in to the Defense Travel System. It's the latest in a bug-bounty program that started 2 years ago. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Wasabi has a new cloud storage app for Mac and Windows. It's not a data backup system, but would be a good choice for safely storing essential documents. • Intelligent assistants and chatbots are likely to be used in about 40% of large organizations by this time next year and most IT professionals aren't worried about job security.

If there's one upside about the situation involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, it's that more people now seem to be taking privacy and security 4eriously. Let's consider some steps you can take right now. In Short Circuits: Adobe is ending support for its Muse website development tool in 2019, but promises to have a replacement by then. Firefox users can install a new plug-in to keep Facebook from learning about what you do on other sites, but be sure to understand all the implications before installing it. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Android phones are more customizable than Apple phones, which means there are more ways for crooks to get your data. Malwarebytes has some suggestions. • PureVPN has made free versions of its plug-ins for Firefox and Chrome; the paid version is better, but the plug-ins are great for those with limited needs. • Microsoft has released patched patches to fix Intel's hardware flaw. Patches pushed out in January and February made the problem worse on 32-bit Windows 7 systems.

There's no small amount of controversy between those who feel that artificial intelligence is an essential part of the future and those who say that artificial intelligence will kill us all. Let's consider those divergent points of view. In Short Circuits: Facebook lost $50 billion worth of value this week, attorneys general around the country are investigating the company's business practices, and legislators in the US and Europe are demanding that Mark Zuckerberg explain the company's business practices. Columbus is still in the running for Amazon's second headquarters operation, but Ohio is in the bottom half of states in a ranking based on innovation. The next Windows update will give users better control over security, but otherwise won't have any exciting new features. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Most people seem not to be worried that companies know a lot about us and want the companies to use that information to personalize their shopping experiences. • A company is offering the ability to book an overnight stay in the Empire State Building, but good luck in figuring out how to apply.

Keeping your computer up to date is important, but it's also time consuming. A free utility makes the process easier and you might want the paid version instead. In Short Circuits: When something goes wrong with your computer, avoid the urge to do something immediately. A small delay doesn't cause most problems to become worse, but a quick action -- if it's the wrong one -- can be a disaster. Broadcom has terminated its attempt to take over Qualcomm. If you're waiting for fifth-generation communications gear, some may begin to appear around the end of the year. Microsoft will start making Intel microcode available for download to fix CPU problems. In Spare Parts (only on the website): More women are graduating with computer science degrees, but they're still not getting top programming positions. • An open-source development group wants its application to infect your network and has some convincing arguments for why you might want to encourage it.

The open-source photo editing application Gimp might be a replacement for Photoshop, but I suspect that most Photoshop users who try to migrate will be less than delighted with the results. In Short Circuits: Last month's largest-ever distributed denial of service attack was followed this month by one that was even larger. The underlying problem is massive. IBM and Airbus have cooperated to build a basketball-sized robot that will soon fly to the international space station. In Spare Parts (only on the website): A study suggests that an artificial intelligence system does a better job than lawyers do in reviewing some kinds of contracts • Equifax says that it will be notifying another 2.4 million US consumers that last year's data breach exposed some of their information. • If you have a clever idea, you might want to enter it in the annual Create the Future contest. Top prize is $20,000.

Some websites use visitors' computers to mine cryptocurrencies. That may be OK if the user is told about it and given a choice, but that's often not the case. In Short Circuits: Last call for Net Neutrality. The FCC has published the rule that destroys Net Neutrality and now fewer than 60 Congressional Days remain if the legislature is to reverse this misguided rule. CrashPlan from Code42 has just received a new user interface that improves the utility's operation. Regardless of which browser is your favorite, it can be improved with a variety of themes, add-ons, and extensions. In Spare Parts (only on the website): If you're in the business of renting to millennials or young families, you'd better be sure that you have high-speed internet access and offer the ability to make rental payments on-line. • Among the predictions made at this week's Mobile World Congress in Taiwan is one that suggests we'll soon see humanoid robots in our homes. Some, in fact, already exist.

The open-source LibreOffice suite exceeds Microsoft's office suite in some regards and falls short in others. There are good reasons to choose LibreOffice and good reasons not to, so we'll consider some of each. In Short Circuits: There's no shortage of people who would very much like to obtain your tax refund, whether you're due a refund or not. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to foil their attempts. More computers are now running Windows 10 than Windows 7 worldwide. In the US, Windows 10 has been ahead of Windows 7 for a year and finally moved past 50% adoption rate in January. In Spare Parts (only on the website): The IRS and the Free File Alliance are once again providing free on-line tax filing resources for those with basic tax situations. • Intel has released a new update for some of its CPUs to fix a security flaw. The new code is for only a subset of chips and you'll need to wait for the computer manufacturer to provide it. • The next generation of consumers seems to prefer on-line talking robots to websites or trips to stores.