Technology Blogs (216)

My computer did 2 updates yesterday. Virus protection and Firefox.
Now, all the websites are hesitating to load.
In the bottom corner of the Firefox window I see: Performing a TLS Handshake...
Searching Google I see there is an issue with the TLS Handshake causing it to 'hang' when loading pages. So, I opened Google Chrome and I'm getting the same delay.
Explorer has the same issue.
Three different browsers and they are all acting the same. I suspect it's related to the virus software update and since I have it installed on a few computers, I'll go around and check to see if they are all running with the same update.

Like I have time to troubleshoot computers this week...

Google has this to say about it "The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Handshake Protocol is responsible for the authentication and key exchange necessary to establish or resume secure sessions. When establishing a secure session, the Handshake Protocol manages the following: ... Authentication of the server and optionally, the client."

This topic get me interest to write over here,”The topic connected but alone”. Technology is broad in our society to rely on and use every time to make our work convenient and fast. As a millenial the digital technology becomes high tech and useful to to communicate your love ones ,friends and etc...these days , those phones in our pockets are changing our minds and hearts because they offer us three gratifying fantasies .one, that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; two, that we will always be heard ;and three that we will never have to be alone.I want to make a call .Now it’s :I want to have a feeling, I need to send a text .the problem of this regime of I share therefore I am that, if we don’t have connection ,we don’t feel like ourselves .so what do we do? We connect more and more but in the process ,we st ourselves up to be isolated.how do u get from connection to isolation? You end up isolated if u don’t cultivate the capacity for solitude ,the ability to be separate,to gather your self .solitude is where you find yourself so that you can reach out to people and form real attachments.when we don’t have the capacity for solitude , we turn other people in order to feel less anxious or in order to feel alive . When this happen ,we are not able to appreciate who they are.It’s as though we’re using them as a spare parts to support our fragile sense of self .we slip into thinking that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone.when I went to fast food I saw a family gathering instead they are meeting up to had a conversation all of them it seems they don’t know each other because they aren’t talking nor to share any topic to be talked .all of them are using cellphone ,I said to myself is that a family gathering? Not even talking each other ,no attachment ,might they came coz of they are connected as family ...most of us 24/7 using mobiles , even doing laundry, cooking, cleaning house , we keep fidget and feel bored without phones but always bare in our mind we must to give time our family to talk to and to treasure the time were you are together....those little devices on our pocket are so powerful that they don’t change what we do but change who we are....

Crime doesn't pay or so they say... If you don't get caught it probably does pay and that's why so many scammers are making careers out of cheating people. As we deal less with cash & checks and more with debit & credit cards the chances of getting scammed become greater.

I was coming back from a project in downtown Miami and stopped for gas. I paid at the pump with my business debit card and bought lunch & a drink with my personal debit card. The attendant had a smile on her face as I swiped the card and entered my PIN. It did seem odd why she was smiling. Two days later my bank phoned as I was overdrawn and they wanted to verify some recent purchases. $7 at a convenience store, $25 at a fried chicken restaurant and nearly $2,000 at a grocery store. the $7 was me and the other 2 were fraud. My comment was who can buy $2,000 in groceries without drawing suspicion? Both purchases were in the downtown neighborhood.

Chip cards have reduced the amount of ATM or POS fraud, but not all businesses use them. Typically, a thief will install an overlay to the existing card skimmer that reads cards before the real card reader. There is a 2nd add on device with a tiny camera recording keypads to see what the user types for the PIN. The thieves return to retrieve their equipment and use the data to steal money from the people who used the ATM's while the devices were installed.

The video attached shows surveillance how quickly someone can install a credit card skimmer.

Donald Trump: We Will Not Tolerate Censorship, Blacklisting, Rigged Search from Big Tech

President Donald Trump vowed to stand for free speech on Thursday, warning Big Tech against censoring conservative voices.

“I’ve made it clear that we as a country cannot tolerate political censorship, blacklisting, and rigged search results,” Trump said, calling out social media companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter.

The president commented on the issue at his campaign rally in Indiana on Thursday night, ahead of the midterm elections in November.

Trump said his administration would always stand up for free speech for “all Americans,” warning the left that their own voices could someday be censored.

“We will not let large corporations silence conservative voices,” he said.

Trump suggested that such activities were un-American, reiterating the principle of free speech.

“We’re not going to let them control what we can and cannot see, read, and learn from, we can’t do that,” Trump said. “America is a free country and we’re going to stay always a free country.”

I've spent most of my working life in finance and yet I can't get my head around bitcoin / digital currencies / cryptocurrency. It's, like, electronic, you can't actually see it, touch it or spend it, but it gets more valuable all the time - wha?

Am I being super thick? Can anyone explain it without posting in links to sites I've already given up trying to understand?

I didn't even know whether to classify this blog as gaming or technology

Seriously, I get it. You manufacture products that are sold in pilfer-proof packages. Unfortunately, the consumer needs special tools to get the package open without destroying it's contents.
Computer memory sticks, for example. Small devices that are probably easy to steal, so they come with a plastic cover that requires scissors to open the package.

Probably the worst I've found are the products that are 'encased' in a 2 part thick plastic case that has a hard curled heat formed edge that is sealed all the way around. I have to use metal cutting shears to get those things open at a risk of sharp edges to 'get you' as you remove the product from the case.

Stores in the Unites States have very liberal return policies and usually ask no questions when returning goods... broken or not.



Thanks for reading my blog!

I used to work for a company who manufactured upholstered furniture. They processed raw lumber to make the sofa and chair frames. Deliveries came by flatbed trailers and stored outside under the cover of an aluminum roof. 20-30 boards were brought into the wood shop as needed and cut to size to fit the specifications required to make each order.

My boss found that a new delivery had insects living in the wood and sent a letter to the supplier to pick up the material and deliver a fresh load that didn't have 'wood borers' nesting in the lumber.

That was the first time I had heard the term wood borers and as a resident of South Florida being a hot and humid climate, termites were the main insects found eating wood. There are also some variety of beetles that manifest themselves in lumber and appear years later... sometimes after the wood has been made into furniture.

A client of mine found a beautiful grand piano in a warehouse and had it delivered to her home and set up. Not long after, she noticed mounds of fine dust-like particles appearing on the carpet... that was the work of termites. The piano had to be removed and taken to an exterminator with a fumigation chamber designed for furniture and large items.

I have my house tented for termites every 6 to 8 years as that is recommended because whatever brought hungry termites into the house is still there. The wall construction, roof trusses and planking is raw wood. It's on my 'do list' of things for this year.

Every time it's fumigation where they cover the house in heavy tarp and fill the space with gas that displaces the oxygen killing the bugs... all the bugs.
Soon after fumigation, carpenter ants come to eat the dead termites. According to the exterminator, they don't eat wood. Their only interest is the termite dinner.

I found another company who does a different type of extermination where they spray the wood with a chemical coating to create a barrier. If the termites eat that, they die. The process requires them to drill holes in obscure places to spread the chemical, but they guarantee 100% kill.

The negative part of tent fumigation is termites can return within days as there is no poison to stop them and the chemical process stops their return and is cheaper.

After all these years of conventional termite treatment, I'm inclined to try the new technology method.

So much for a boring blog!

Thanks for reading...

The list of companies who want you download their app keeps growing. Application Software or in the case of Mobile Apps, is software designed to run on smartphones.
The iPhone store has millions of apps designed to run on Apple phones and tablet devices.

All the fast food restaurants are switching to touch screen kiosks where you place your order without having to speak to someone. Payment is arranged through the app to your bank account. If you pat inside, you would insert your chip debit card to complete the transaction.

You can order from/through the MacDonalds app, specify the time you want to pick it up. Park in the assigned spot for app orders and they will carry your meal to your car.

Other things apps do is inform you whenever they have special sales and keep you in their customer network.

I didn't download the app for Office Depot but their rewards program has an email address that I rarely use. When I went checking (usually once a month) it was filled messages, often a few per day when they had holiday sales.

If they are that (insert correct word) on email, they could do the same with your app that gives them phone numbers, personal information too. Reading some stories about security, bad apps are out there. Some scammers have copied the look of legitimate apps in an attempt to steal the users information.

One thing for sure is to only download your apps from a reputable source (Google Play Store or the Apple Store) and avoid links form unknown sources. It's not perfect, but apps on Google or Apple have been tested.

Thanks for reading my blog... and go install the app!

Would it not be beneficial to all parties, Connecting Singles and Members, if Connecting Singles would incorporate an app similar to Zello to replace the Chatroom?

Would it not help to make it so much easier discerning between a scammer and a true potential match?

Hope this idea/suggestion does not cause too much discord among the scammers who have free reign.

Relax its weekend.


XXXXX is a free walkie-talkie app for smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. The app requires an Internet connection to work properly, whether it’s through Wi-Fi or a mobile data network. Unlike the standard calls you can make on the device of your choice, Zello connects you to fellow users and radio channels where large groups can talk regardless of distance.

Take note: I am not promoting any app or website.

More info for those genuinely interested:

I inherited the family photo albums and scrapbooks. My brother does the genealogy and sometimes asks for scans of old photos. With the camera my parents owned, all the photos were square so it didn't matter which way the camera was held. Later on, they purchased a different camera that shot rectangular photos and it came with a neck strap and a top viewfinder so all the photos ended up in the portrait mode. Tall shots and not wide ones.
Fast forward two generations and wide screen TV's are the norm. Landscape. Cellphone videos shoot wide screen but people normally hold them vertically. If you've seen videos posted to social media, the majority are in portrait mode.

TV news stories often add some enlarged blurred images in the background of the original video filling the empty space on the sides.

Depending on the subject, I rotate my phone to landscape mode so all the image comes through a normal TV (or computer monitor) and you don't have to twist your head to see the video.