That was Then... This is Now

What exactly is 5G? The "5" means it is the fifth and the “G“ simply means it is a new generation of wireless technology. One that will help us to connect many more devices to the Internet and also allow faster transmission speeds than anything we’ve seen previously. Over the years, for most people, the generations have been defined by their data transmission speed. Each generation has also introduced technology that made it incompatible with the previous generation. For example, “1G” used an analog signal. “2G” technologies, such as CDMA, GSM, and TDMA, were digital. “3G” technologies, such as EVDO, HSPA, and UMTS, increased speeds from 200kbps to a few megabits per second. “4G” technologies, such as WiMAX and LTE, were the next step and they have been scaled up to hundreds of megabits and even gigabit-level speeds. “5G” brings three more items to the table: bigger channels, lower latency (less delay), and the ability to connect a lot more devices at once. This last one to m...

PCMag's annual review  and compilation of the best consumer technology products tested and rated over the past 12 months was released this week and includes 100 products spread across 15 categories. Like many of us, the staff of PCMag has been working from home since last March, when COVID-19 hit New York City. The testing labs, which had been located in an office building on lower Fifth Avenue, were dispersed across various apartment living rooms and home offices in the five NYC boroughs. Despite the worst pandemic in more than 100 years, the business of product testing and reviewing continued.  I know I found this year's review helpful. I'm sure you will too.

CNBC reported last week that NASA has selected Nokia to build the first 4G mobile network on the moon. The company’s U.S. industrial research division, Bell Labs, will provide equipment to build the lunar network, with the goal of becoming operational by 2022. Under the Artemis program, NASA plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2024 followed by a “sustainable” human presence by 2028. Humans last walked on the moon in 1972. The extraterrestrial 4G network “has been specially designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the launch and lunar landing, and to operate in the extreme conditions of space,” Nokia said in a press release. NASA has chosen Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and Dynetics to develop the spacecraft that will land astronauts on the moon. Nokia said its 4G network will allow the astronauts to carry out a number of activities including making voice and video calls, sending important data and deploying payloads. It plans to eventually launch 5G on the m...

When you're in the market for a new TV the brand name can be a factor. But it's not everything because each manufacturer makes multiple lines of products. There are budget-friendly TVs with low price tags and performance. There are midrange models. And there are expensive high-end televisions with exceptional performance. If you simply purchase a "Samsung" or "Sony” or any other model just because it’s on sale, you really have no idea exactly what kind of TV you're buying, or how good it is. But the “SKU” or Stock Keeping Unit, can tell you lot about the TV you are considering. Television SKU’s are long, complex strings of letters and numbers that identify features of each model. They can tell you the product line, screen size, and even individual retailer variants of TV’s. And they're the key to decoding just how good that TV really is.  Will Greenwald writing for PCMag has created a helpful guide to decoding the SKU’s of different TV manufacturers . At ...

As everyone knows, the year 2020 has emerged as one of the most challenging in our lifetimes. In just six months, the world has endured a pandemic that has spurred a global economic crisis. As societies reopen, it’s apparent that the economy will not be what it was before COVID-19. One of the things necessary to begin a safe and successful economic recovery is greater access to the digital skills required to fill new job opportunities. And one of the keys to a genuinely inclusive recovery are programs to provide easier access to digital skills for people hardest hit by job losses, including those with lower incomes, women, and underrepresented minorities. To address this need, Microsoft is launching a Global Skills Initiative aimed at bringing increased digital skills to over 25 million people worldwide by the end of the year. This initiative will combine existing and new resources from LinkedIn, GitHub, and Microsoft and will be centered around three primary areas of activity: (1) The...

Last June, the FDA authorized the use of “pooled testing” for identifying COVID-19 infections. The method allows up to four swabs to be tested at once. A “bundled sample.” This strategy is expected to expand testing to larger sections of the population. If the sample comes back positive, then all the individuals in that sample will need to be tested separately.  If, however, the sample comes back clean, that’s four people who do not need to be tested further, saving public health officials time and money. The FDA said it expects pooled testing to allow virus identification with fewer tests, which means more tests could be run at once, fewer testing supplies would be consumed and patients could likely receive the results more quickly. This strategy will be most efficient in areas where the outbreak is under control, meaning where only a small percentage of test subjects are expected to be infected, the FDA acknowledged. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, ...

With almost everyone working from home now and participating in online meetings at work or school, sharing your desktop or being able to record what you are working for later use on is a necessary skill. Many people already know how to do this of course, but if you don’t, Lance Whitney, writing in PCMag.com , explains how to use the Game Bar . Good article. I picked up a couple things from it. Just remember “Windows Key + G” if you have a PC. He also explains how to record the screen using a Mac

Like almost all other colleges and universities, Marian was forced to go 100% “online” in order to finish the Spring 2020 semester because of the coronavirus pandemic. Although neither I nor most of my students had trouble adapting, many other faculty had difficulty making the transition. One of our “advantages” was that my university had an “early” Spring Break so when we returned the week of March 9 we were able to anticipate the change and plan accordingly. When we went “live” Monday the 16th, we were better prepared. The hang-up for many of my colleagues simply was that most traditional courses have not been designed with an “online presence” in mind. This summer as our university gets ready for the Fall (as of now we are planning to conduct classes as usual) all faculty have been required to take an online seminar involving Designing for Canvas. In traditional classes we use Canvas for distributing materials and for grading. During the second half of the semester relied on Web...

It is theoretically possible to become invisible to cameras. But considering recent events, will this idea catch on in the future? There is a terrific article published in Ars Technica which appeared in my Apple news feed this morning. Very much worth reading. Especially if you are stuck at home as most of us are now. Many things to think about for when this coronavirus pandemic is finally over and we return to “normal” life. Author Katie Cox states: Right now, you're more than likely spending the vast majority of your time at home. Someday, however, we will all be able to leave the house once again and emerge, blinking, into society to work, travel, eat, play, and congregate in all of humanity's many bustling crowds. The world, when we eventually enter it again, is waiting for us with millions of digital eyes—cameras, everywhere, owned by governments and private entities alike. Pretty much every state out there has some entity collecting license plate data from mil...

The coronavirus outbreak is disrupting business hours, supply chains, trade shows, and conferences. And it will continue to disrupt many other aspects of life and work as long as uncertainty about its spread continues. It has forced companies to cancel travel plans and require individuals to work from home. Effective remote work requires a rethinking of collaboration strategies. Sustained remote work, which we are now facing for who knows how long, requires different tactics than occasional telecommuting. Daniel W. Rasmus, author of “ Management by Design ” and “ Listening to the Future ,” writing in eWEEK, has compiled a list of 10 actions to take when considering remote work: No. 1: Decide on which collaboration tools to use. No. 2: Simplify the collaboration toolset. No. 3: Select which tools to use to support which processes. No. 4: Get to know your collaboration apps. No. 5: Document escalation and conflict remediation approaches. No. 6: Decide where content will go....

Wherever you go, Google goes with you… Google Maps in particular keeps track of every step you and take and archives that activity in your Google Timeline. It might seem like no big deal, but it can also leave you vulnerable. Writing in PCMag, Chandra Steele and Jason Cohen offer advice on how to take back control of your privacy. I already knew much of this, but many of my friends and colleagues don’t. Definitely worth reading. With Timeline, Google Maps can show you where you're going and where you've been. There could even be photographic evidence, since Timeline syncs with any pictures uploaded to Google Photos. You can share your location with anyone in real time on both iOS and Android. If you'd prefer to keep your whereabouts private without uninstalling Google, you can remove your location history and tell it to stop following you. There are a few other things you can do regardless of which device or Google service you're using. On myaccount.google.com, yo...

“Y2K” was 20 years ago! How many of you remember the “turn of the millennium”? I was still in High-School. The future looked promising. Tragically 9/11 and the “great recession” changed much of that. Twenty years later the future again looks bright…at least when it comes to technology. The 53rd annual CES in Las Vegas has raised the stakes for what to expect in the coming months and beyond. Of the hundreds of exciting new products introduced this week, these are the ones that will most likely shape the tech landscape for 2020. Of course, some products and ideas are more useful than others, so the editors at PCMag got together to determine exactly which ones they’re most looking forward to in 2020. This year's CES for example, introduced many exciting new desktops, laptops, and components, which make up the bulk of our winners. There were also more smart home devices on display than ever, not to mention smart cars, robots, and prototypes. And with the rise of 5G, many of these ...