Smart speakers: how to protect your privacy

Tech Talk #62 – Oct. 14, 2017 Smart speakers: how to protect your privacy Smart speakers are voice-controlled WiFi-connected devices that are used as virtual assistants. They can look like a hockey puck, a large air freshener or a regular speaker. Amazon started things off with their Echo line and was successful enough that Google has entered the market with their Google Home devices.   The speakers work by listening for their wake word (Alexa

Give Google amnesia

Tech Talk #43 – January 21, 2017 Google makes things convenient, and that convenience comes, in part, because of what Google ‘knows’ about you and your habits. Everything you search for at home or on your phone, where you go with your phone, and if you’ve ever use OK Google, it keeps that too.   To be fair, Google does give us a way to see what they’re capturing about us and even ways to

Shortcuts, tricks and the current state of storage

Tech Talk #16 – Jan 9, 2016 Shortcuts for Windows, Google, and phones Here are some Windows shortcuts you may not know about: Press Shift and Delete to delete something without sending it to the Recycle Bin first. If (or when, in my case) you have a gajillion windows open and need to see something on your desktop, pressing the Windows key plus M will minimize all gajillion of your open windows and let you

Google is not the Internet

Tech Talk #11 – Oct 24, 2015 Google is just one of millions of places on the Internet. Think of the Internet as being a big huge giant place and are lots of other places to go once you get there.   To get to the Internet on your computer/phone/tablet you have to use a Browser. If you have a PC then your PC came with Internet Explorer as your Browser. If you have a