Ideas from Mark Stout

It's not selfie sticks that are evil, but how you use them.  This guy knows the right way.   Just goes to show.  Tools don't make you a good or bad photographer.  It depends on how you use them.

Google Now is so yesterday, since there is now Google Assistant. Last week Google held its Developer Conference, Google IO, in Mountain View, California. While no new products were released to coincide with the conference, Google showed a number of products that will be coming out this summer and others later on. There were a few items that hopefully will make family life a bit easier. Google Now, Google’s interface for talking to your Android or iPhone, is now called Google Assistant. You can now carry on a conversation with Assistant more than in the past. In the keynote speech, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai asked, “What’s showing nearby” and was shown a list of movies. He said: “We want to take the kids” and the list was amended to show only family-friendly films.  The Assistant asked, “Would you like tickets to any of these?” and he answered, “Jungle Book.” The app bought tickets online and had them waiting at the theater. You can ask Assistant, “Who is Brad Pitt?” and ...

Family Tech now comes out every other week. Your home likely has its own facilities manager – the person whose job it is to make sure the heater filters get changed, the outside water is turned off for the winter – that sort of thing. Your home also likely has someone who has central oversight of the technology – or should. Back when technology in the home meant one personal computer, that computer was in the family room for all to share. More or less, one person was in charge and made sure there was enough disk space for all, and would do updates to the operating system periodically. But as computers became cheap and many families got one for every member, or some may have abandoned using a PC in favor of tablets or phones, central control was often lost. Yet a level of oversight is still needed. All the devices in the home likely use wi-fi, so someone needs to make sure it is working-- as well as knowing how to reboot it if needed and when that is needed. That person needs ...

When I wrote four days ago I expected to see new features in Evernote soon, I did not expect them so fast. Today Google and Evernote announced a new interface between Google Drive and Evernote's Web and Android clients. You can now add Drive content to your notes in Evernote. As the Google blog explains : Instead of pasting links to files, Drive content added to Evernote will now include thumbnail previews and a rich viewing experience . You can also search Drive from Evernote and any changes to files in Drive will sync automatically with your notes. There’s even a handy icon in the Evernote toolbar to jump right into your Drive. My version of Evernote Web did not yet have the capability, but in the upper right hand of my web client I had the option to switch to their Beta version.  There I found the Drive icon (see the yellow highlight I put in). I am sure the Beta version will become everyone's standard version soon. I'll likely review this...

General Michael Hayden (former NSA and CIA director) said in an interview at Disrupt NY 2016, that he disagrees with Federal Law Enforcement's desire to break encryption. “The arc of technology is in the direction of unbreakable encryption and no laws are going to get in the way of that reality,” He goes on to tell those people “My advice is, get over it. There’s still a lot of things you can legitimately do to make America safe through electronic surveillance,” He also had some interesting things to say about the candidates.   He said Trump’s national security understanding is at “a level of sophistication that’s a half-a-level below bumper stickers,” and that Trump’s discussion of keeping Muslims out of the country provided fodder to jihadist narratives. He also doesn't like Clinton much either, "referring to her decision to operate her own email server out of her home as the “original sin.” This is an important read about privacy, encryption, and security. ...

Evernote continues its awesome story under new CEO Chris O'Neill. I've been a user of Evernote since near the beginning, and blogged about it here  108 times, more than any other topic.  I first blogged about Evernote seven years ago, in May 2009.  I even wrote an e-book about Evernote (now withdrawn as it is much out-of-date). I was shocked to see today that I hadn't written in over five months about Evernote.  That may be a testament to to how much of my life it has become--I tend to take it for granted.  Interviews like this one  from The Verge with the new CEO refreshes my enthusiasm. Since O'Neill took the job, he has gotten Evernote out of the lifestyle business.  They no longer sell Evernote branded socks, messenger bags or other goods. And he closed down Evernote Food and other Evernote based apps that never seemed to get a large user base.   He is cognizant of the fact that the base product has gotten bloated and needs rev...