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Tech Talk  June 6, 2020

Email and Forum Questions

  • Email from Jim in Bowie: Dear Tech Talk Radio. My church has been conducting its Sunday worship services on-line since mid-March using a combination of Zoom and Facebook Live. We have been very successful in maintaining our feeling of fellowship in this way, but we are looking forward to eventually gradually transitioning to worship services that combine in-person and on-line components. I am on my church’s committee that is discussing strategies for gradually easing into worship services in our church building when the time is right for this. A question that has come up in our discussions is the handling of church bulletins for our worship services. To maximize safety, we want to minimize the use of printed bulletins. Towards that end, we are wondering about strategies for sharing the church bulletins electronically for both in-person and on-line church service attendees. What would be effective ways for doing this such that in-person attendees can view the bulletins on their smartphones and on-line attendees can view the bulletins at home on either their smartphones or computers? Any suggestions you may come up with will be very helpful to churches everywhere! Your faithful listener, Jim in Bowie, MD
  • Tech Talk Responds: You need to deliver the Church bulletins in PDF format. That way they can be viewed by anyone and will always looks the same, one a desktop computer or on a mobile device. I would suggest that you set up a cloud storage system and chare the link to the Bulletins each week. That way you will not have to send email attachments. I use the same method to share documents with my Board of Trustees. All PFD documents are placed in the Board Dropbox and I send the link to the Dropbox to all Board members. They simply click on the link and open an PDF file they wish. If you place all Bulletins in the same subdirectory, you can simply share the link to the subdirectory, and church goers can simply click on this week’s Bulletin, or any week for that matter. You members could simply make this shared subdirectory link a favorite in their Browser. Then each week they could access the list of Bulletins and select the one for this week.
  • Email from Emma in Pennsylvania: Dear Tech Talk. I have three semesters worth of very important notes stored on a USB flash drive. My friend wants to borrow that drive so he can use the notes to study for a certification exam. I cannot afford to lose those files for any reason because they cannot be re-created or replaced. I am wondering if there’s some way to prevent my friend from accidentally deleting the files from the drive. Emma from Pennsylvania.
  • Tech Talk Responds: There are several ways to enable write protection on a USB flash drive. But unfortunately none of them are easy to enact and none of them are 100% fool-proof. There is a much simpler (and vastly more reliable way) to protect the critical files on your flash drive: Copy them onto a second USB flash drive and loan (or simply give) him the copy! There’s an old saying that goes “The only data that’s truly safe from accidental loss is the data that’s backed up.” I would take that one step further and say “The only data that’s truly safe from accidental loss is the data that’s backed up with several redundant backups.”
  • The information stored on your flash drive is obviously extremely important to you, therefore I strongly recommend that you give your friend a BACKUP drive containing that information. And luckily, USB flash drives are cheap. While you’re creating that backup, it would also be a good idea to create a second backup drive and store that one in a fireproof lock box just in case.
  • Email from Tina in Cleveland: Dear Tech Talk. You talked about watching the SpaceX Launch on NASA TV. Where is that available? I would like to watch too. Tina in Cleveland
  • Tech Talk Responds: NASA TV is the television service of the United States government agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). It is broadcast by satellite with a simulcast over the Internet. NASA TV is also available via various cable, satellite, and over-the-top media services around the world. The network airs a large amount of educational programming, and provides live coverage of an array of manned missions (including the International Space Station), robotic missions, and domestic and international launches. The NASA TV website also provides a channel featuring continuous live footage from inside and outside the ISS, established to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the station in orbit.
  • Here are some viewing options. DirecTV(Channel 352), Dish Network (Channel 286), US Cable (check with provide), YouTube (Live streams playlist), Pluto TV(Channel 694), NASA TV apps (Apple TV, Roku, etc.)
  • Email from Erich in Chantilly: Dear Doc and Jim. I am thinking about hiring someone to install some Wi-Fi security cameras around my house. The way I understand it they’ll communicate with my PC via my router’s Wi-Fi connection. What I’d like to know is will the cameras still work when my Internet is down? It doesn’t go down very often, but when it does it’s sometimes a week or more before they get it back online. Also, if I decide to go ahead and have them installed, will I need to hire a security company to do it or will a regular handyman be able to handle the job? Erich in Chantilly, VA.
  • Tech Talk Responds: Your Wi-Fi security cameras will work just fine on your local wireless network even without a working Internet connection. As long as your wireless router is turned on and the Wi-Fi signal is enabled, you’ll still be able to monitor your cameras from a local computer or mobile device that has an active Wi-Fi connection to your router. However, you won’t be able to monitor the cameras via the Internet from a remote computer or mobile device unless your Internet connection is up and running properly.
  • My advice is to go ahead and install the cameras and use them to protect your home. After all, your Internet connection is likely to be working most all the time, and even when it isn’t you’ll still be able to monitor the cameras locally. What’s more, just having the cameras in plain view just might be enough to deter all but the most brazen burglars.
  • You can probably install your new cameras yourself instead of hiring a pro to do it for you. There are no cables to run, and the step-by-step instructions that come with most of the Wi-Fi cameras that are on the market today are very easy to understand and follow.
  • Email from Lilly in Fairfax: Dear Doc and Jim. I have rented a room in a private home and I will be moving in next week. The room is already wired for cable and they have Internet through Comcast/Xfinity, but the landlord won’t let me use his Wi-Fi connection. He said I will have to have to sign up for an account with Comcast and get my own cable modem. Is that even possible to have two cable modems in the same house? I was under the impression that you cannot. Lilly in Fairfax
  • Tech Talk Responds: It is possible to have multiple cable modems in the same house. All you need to do is call Comcast (1-800-COMCAST) and tell them you want to sign up for an Internet-Only account. Explain to them that the house is already served by an active cable subscription but your landlord isn’t willing to let you use his Internet connection.
  • You will have the option of renting a cable modem from Comcast, but you can probably streamline the process by purchasing a modem of your own and avoid having to have a tech visit your residence. Just have the modem connected to both your router and the cable connection when you call Comcast in order to make the activation as quick and hassle-free as possible. You will be asked for the modem’s MAC ID so it would be a good idea to write it down ahead of time on a piece of paper so you can refer to while you’re on the phone with Comcast. Depending on the model you end up with, you will find the MAC ID on a label affixed to either the bottom, the side or the back of the modem.
  • Email from Helen in Rockville: Dear Doc and Jim. I was waiting to get on the subway the other day when the person sitting beside me pulled out his iPhone and asked Siri a question. I was shocked when Siri answered him because she used a British accent. I thought that was SO cool! How do I change my own iPhone to speak with a British accent? Helen in Rockville, MD
  • Tech Talk Responds: You can easly change Siri’s voice to a British accent, or even an Australian accent if you prefer. Simply follow the steps below:
    • Tap Settings.
    • Tap Siri & Search.
    • Tap Language.
    • Tap Siri Voice.
    • Select an accent for Siri (either American, British or Australian). You can also select Male or Female.
  • Email from Donna in Pittsburg, Kansas: Dear Tech Talk. I would like to save all my Facebook photos. Is there a way to transfer them to another service easily? These photos are my historical record and I don’t want to lose them. Donna in Pittsburg, KS
  • Tech Talk Responds: As part of the Data Transfer Project, Facebook has built a tool that allows you to send a copy of your photos and videos to Google Photos. The feature is available worldwide for anyone with a Facebook and Google account to use.
    • Simply to this link: https://www.facebook.com/dtp/
    • Log into your Facebook account to authenticate yourself.
    • Select the “Choose Destination” and then click “Google Photos.”
    • Choose “Photos” or “Videos” and then click the “Next” button.
    • Select your Google Account. You might need to sign in to it.
    • Grant Facebook permission to add photos and videos to your Photos library by clicking the “Allow” button.
    • Click the “Confirm Transfer” button
  • A copy of your Facebook photos or videos are now being transferred to Google Photos.


 

Profiles in IT: Zhang Yiming

  • Zhang Yiming is a Chinese internet entrepreneur, best known as creator of TikTok, the video sharing platform, and it parent company Bytedance.
  • Zhang Yiming was born April, 1983, in China’s Fujian province.
  • Zhang’s parents encouraged him to try new things and allowed him to decide his own direction in life at a very young age.
  • In 2001, he enrolled at Nankai University in Tianjin, where he majored in microelectronics before switching his major to software engineering. He graduated university in 2005.
  • In the next year, he got his first job out of college at an online travel booking startup called Kuxun (“cool search”). He was one of the first employees. Within a year, he supervised 40 to 50 people working on back-end technology. The next year he was technical director.
  • In 2006, Zhang left Kuxun for Microsoft. However, he felt stifled by the corporate rules.
  • He soon left Microsoft to join the startup Fanfou, a microblogging website which was the first Twitter clone in China. However, the company eventually failed.
  • In 2009, when Kuxun was to be acquired by Expedia, Zhang took over Kuxun’s real estate search business and started 99fang.com (“Ninety-nine rooms”), a real estate search portal.
  • Within six months, he launched five mobile applications, including renting a house and buying a house. With 1.5 million users, 99fang soon became the most popular real estate app.
  • Zhang thought that Chinese smartphone users were struggling to find information. Zhang wanted to create a platform whose results were powered by AI, using prior search data.
  • He hired a CEO to run things at 99fang.com to focus on building another venture.
  • In 2012, he then founded Bytedance, in his four-bedroom apartment in Beijing.
  • The company raised US$5 million in its Series A financing round from billionaire investor Yuri Milner and Susquehanna Investments, which later on contributed US$10M more.
  • Zhang launched the Toutiao news app in August 2012 and within two years, attracted more than 13 million daily users. Toutiao means “headline” in Chinese.
  • In the next year, Sequoia Capital, which rejected Zhang the first time, led a US$100M round.
  • Zhang launched the Toutiaohao platform to attract more user-generated content.
  • By 2016, Zhang had launched Xigua Video (also known as Watermelon Video), a short form video platform that hosted a variety of video clips that were on average 2–5 minutes long.
  • Zhang also launched TopBuzz, a content discovery platform for videos, articles, breaking news and GIFs outside of China — in United States, Brazil and Japan.
  • In 2017, Bytedance purchased the global news app News Republic for US$86.60M.
  • In February 2017, ByteDance acquired Los Angeles start-up Flipagram for an undisclosed amount. Flipagram is an app that allows users to turn their photos into slideshows and videos.
  • Zhang started to develop an app where users could create short lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos. He integrated AI to recommend similar content to the users based on their preferences. The app was developed in 200 days.
  • Named as Douyin, the app was first launched in China in September 2016. Within a year, it had 100 million users, with more than one billion videos viewed every day.
  • Zhang began to build a global version of it. In 2017, TikTok was born.
  • TikTok is not available in China and its data is stored outside of China This is designed to prove independence from Communist China. But the US Military still bans it use.
  • Within two months of TikTok’s launch, ByteDance spent an estimated sum of US1B to purchase Musical.ly. This was in a bid to leverage its young user base.
  • On August 2018, TikTok merged with Musical.ly to create a larger video community.
  • TikTok, it still retains the core feature of both apps: short-form videos up to 15 seconds.
  • He then started to make his own TikToks and requires his senior employees to as well.
  • TikTok then became the third-most downloaded non-game app in the world, following behind WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
  • It has suddenly become a global cultural phenomenon. The app was downloaded 1.57 billion times, and nearly half of those, 689 million, occurred in 2019.
  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, TikTok hit 2 billion downloads and became the most installed app.
  • With this, TikTok surpassed WhatsApp as the most downloaded app in the world.
  • In 2020, Bytedance is worth more than US$100 billion in recent private share transactions.

Observations from the Bunker

  • On Wednesday morning, before the Falcon 9 rocket was first set to launch, Musk gave an interview with CBS This Morning. In it, he shared three things we can all learn from how SpaceX and NASA put America back in the lead in space travel.
  • Don’t be afraid of big challenges.
    • This launch is the culmination of a dream. This is a dream come true. In fact, it feels surreal. If you’d asked me when starting SpaceX if this would happen, I’d be like ‘1 percent chance, 0.1 percent chance.
    • Imagine if no one did the hard things. Imagine if you woke up and decided that starting a business was just too hard. Your customers and team are counting on you and your idea. They are counting on you to do the hard things that bring that idea to life as a business.
  • Focus on what matters.
    • Overcoming challenges requires a relentless focus on what matters most. When you’re launching people into space, that means delivering the astronauts safely to their destination–in this case the International Space Station (ISS). According to Musk, their safety is “the only priority” for his team, and is “really all I can think about right now.”
    • That isn’t all that different for your business. Right now, the only thing that matters is figuring out how to best take care of your people, your customers, and your community. If you don’t get that right, nothing else will matter.
  • Share credit and take responsibility.
    • Rarely does someone accomplish a really hard thing–whether that’s launching a business or launching a rocket–on their own. Often it’s the person at the top who gets the recognition, but a good leader knows to share the credit.
    • “I’m the chief engineer of this thing, so I’d just like to say that if it goes right, it’s credit to the SpaceX-NASA team,” said Musk. “If it goes wrong, it’s my fault.”
    • That second part may actually be the more important leadership lesson, though it isn’t something we hear all that often lately. If you want people to join your idea or your adventure, show them that you are willing to be generous in sharing the credit for its success while being accountable for the outcome.

Microsoft Releases a New of the Edge Browser

  • Microsoft is installing a new browser on your PC via Windows Update. It is still called Microsoft Edge, but it is based on the same code as Google Chrome.
  • The new Microsoft Edge is based on the Chromium open-source project. Chromium forms the basis of Google Chrome, so it feels very similar to Google Chrome.
  • It includes features found in Chrome, supports Chrome browser extensions, and has the same rendering engine as Google Chrome.
  • If a website was designed for Google Chrome and did not work properly in the old Edge, it will now work properly in the new Edge.
  • Like Google Chrome, the new version of Microsoft Edge will be updated every six weeks. You won’t have to wait for major versions of Windows 10 released every six months just for browser updates, as you did with the Legacy Edge browser.
  • Microsoft released the stable version of its new Edge browser on Jan. 15, 2020. On June 3, 2020, Microsoft began rolling it out to all Windows 10.
  • The new Edge browser will be automatically installed on your PC if you’re using Windows 10’s May 2020 Update, November 2019 Update, or May 2019 Update.
  • Microsoft announced it would replace Edge’s EdgeHTML rendering engine with the Chromium rendering engine in December 2018.
  • Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Windows at the time, explained this decision was made “to create better web compatibility for our customers and less fragmentation of the web for all web developers.”
  • While Edge and Chrome are now pretty similar under the hood, they’re still different. Edge strips out Google’s services and, in many cases, replaces them with Microsoft ones. Edge syncs your browser data with your MS account rather than a Google one.
  • The new Edge offers some features Chrome doesn’t. For example, Edge has a built-in tracking prevention feature and a potentially unwanted program (PUP) blocker.
  • Microsoft’s new Chromium-based Edge browser is available for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, macOS, iPhone, iPad, and Android.


 

App of the Week: GetUpSide

  • GetUpside partners with businesses to give you cash back on everyday purchases.
  • Most of the partner businesses are gas stations, but in some areas there are restaurant and grocery offers as well.
  • I was skeptical about this app. But after trying it, I like it.
  • I have used it for three gas purchases so far and have earned $9.94 in cash back.
  • It is easy to use.
    • Download the App and create an account.
    • Find Participating Businesses using location services
    • Claim an Offer
    • Complete Your Claimed Deal
    • Upload the Receipt. In some cases, you can simply identify the credit card that you plan to use. It takes about two days to get the credit.
    • Cash Out (to another account like Amazon or get a check)
  • Remember that an offer on GetUpside might not always be the best deal for your wallet, so always comparison shop.

Disruption 2020: Attempted Hacks of Trump and Biden Campaigns

  • It’s official: The race to hack the 2020 general election is in full swing.
  • Iran tried to hack into Gmail accounts used by President Trump’s reelection campaign staff, the leader of Google’s threat-hunting team revealed in a tweet.
  • China, meanwhile, tried to hack staff for former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
  • The hackers did not successfully breach those accounts. But these nation state-backed hacking campaigns are likely to be the just the beginning of a general election campaign that will be ripe for disruption by U.S. adversaries.
  • It’s no surprise the Chinese and Iranian governments are trying to compromise our 2020 presidential campaigns through cyberattacks. Their goal is simple: get up information about our candidates’ campaigns and then create conflict and chaos in our election.
  • Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. intelligence have been warning for years that Russia and other nations will try to use hacking and disinformation to undermine the 2020 contest in a replay of operations from the last presidential race.
  • This isn’t the first report of foreign hacking during the 2020 cycle. But efforts are likely picking up with the general election effectively underway.
  • Facebook later this summer will also begin blocking ads from foreign state-controlled media targeted at U.S. users “to provide an extra layer of protection against