Ideas from Mark Stout

We all know about the asteroid that slammed into Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago, igniting an extinction event that killed 75% of the lifeforms on the planet, including non-avian dinosaurs. Imagine what it was like for the lifeforms that survived. Much of their normal food sources would be gone.  The climate would alter. To survive, animals found new, different food sources.  Those that could adjust to the climate survived, even flourished.  Those that could not adjust, perished.   The pecking order dramatically changed as old predators disappeared and new ones emerged. So much changed. Covid-19 is having a similar impact now. As bad as it is, hopefully this will be the most significant thing we witness in our lifetimes.  Millions are out of work. Businesses are shuttering.  Airline traffic is down more than 90%. Workers who can are working from home and finding it works well.  Roads are emptier. We are burning a lot less oil....

Imagine you order a critical drug from an online pharmacy.  Overnight shipping is free because it it built into the price.  And your local pharmacy can't get your specialized drug to you sooner. The next day comes a knock on your door.  It is your Fedex driver.  He says he has your package on his truck.  "Great!", you say, "bring it in." He then asks for $25.  "But the shipping is already paid for!" you protest using bad grammar. "Yes," he explains, "you paid your online pharmacy and they paid Fedex, but I feel entitled to a bonus for giving it to you.  You can pay me $25 and get it tomorrow, or I'll bring it to you for no extra cost, but in five days." Or worse, he tells you he has a private deal with a competitor of your online pharmacy and if you order from them he'll bring you the order as soon as he gets it. That's Net Neutrality in a nutshell. When we go to a website, we expect that website to come up o...

Fake news has been all over the news recently. Let’s call it what it really is: propaganda. Why are we talking about this in a column about technology for families? Anyone online is inundated with information. Before the internet, there were certain filters in place when we got our information from newspapers, magazines, books and broadcasting. It was expensive to print and distribute or to broadcast. The publishers and broadcasters had limits of how much content they could put out, so they were discriminating in their selection. And they had to reach a large audience to be economically viable, so they could not alienate a large portion of their audience by being unfair. I do not mean to suggest propaganda techniques were not used, just that there were some filters in place. Today there are none. Anyone can publish to the net for only the cost of an internet connection. The only filter between publisher and audience is what the individual audience member provides for himself. I le...

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. ...

An important  Family Tech has been posted  online.

For background on this topic, please read the editorial I wrote for InsideNova.com Subject:   Please be a proper steward of the  Internet Please be a responsible steward for all the American people when you take action regarding the Internet. The Internet is as important as the Transcontinental Railroad was in the 19th Century, and the Rural Electrification Project, and the Interstate Highway System were in the 20th.  A free and open Internet is the critical infrastructure the 21st Century will be remembered. It is up to you to protect it for everyone. Most new jobs come from small companies, not large corporations.  And today to start a new business, even ones not entirely in cyberspace, the small companies need a level playing field online.  The voices of the large players in this matter reach your ears readily.  Please listen also to people like me, ordinary citizens who recognize the importance of a free and open Internet. Please take car...

What is it?  Why we should worry about?  And how it is being imperiled. Latest Family Tech  is online.

Everyone's Facebook stream in the US is now littered with friend's political posts.  I do not mind original, thoughtful, researched, fair, and coherent political posts even if they are for the party I do not lean towards.  In fact I'd welcome original, thoughtful, researched, fair, and coherent posts about the opposing point-of-view.  How else can I learn, and maybe even shift my position? Instead, what I mostly see are regurgitation from the propaganda machines on each side.  Posts are too often not sourced at all, or sourced from such a highly partisan site as to be utterly worthless. Too many political arguments can be blown out of the water with ten seconds of Googling.  That does not make me feel warm and fuzzy about the merits of that person's views. It saddens me to constantly be reminded to for too many Americans, they regard themselves as Patriots for supporting their party before their country.  And regard those in...

I just contacted my congressman to express my strong opposition to pending SOPA legislation.  Briefly it would setup a firewall for the Internet greatly curtailing yours and my freedom of speech, neuter the power of the Internet to be a strong tool for economic growth and personal communication all in order to protect the interests of large corporations. I urge everyone to learn more about SOPA and then contact their representative to let them know your feelings. Time Magazine says "SOPA Won’t Stop Online Piracy, Would Censor Everyone Else" Protect the greatest equalizer to ever come to people.

Concerns about efforts to shape Internet Policy that might limit the freedom and power of the net, was the topic of this week's Family Tech column .

As kids head back to school, some are at a major disadvantage before they even enter the classroom.  Kids on the far side of the digital divide live in homes unable to afford $45 a month for broadband. Now, Comcast is offering $10 a month internet to children eligible for the National Free Lunch program. That, and other free tools to help bridge the Digital Divide is the topic of this week's Family Tech column .

There seems to be more and more every day that can only be done online.  Finding out what your kid is doing at school, emailing your boss, emailing your kids teacher, finding a better job, finding work at all, and so much more. Thankfully libraries offer free internet access to those that do not have access to the net otherwise.  However, that time is limited and for someone in a bad place in life, finding the time maybe while working two jobs to take a bus or two to the library to get online for an hour is daunting. In exchange for approval of the acquisition of NBC by Comcast, Comcast agreed to make broadband available for $10 a month to low income families. Comcast has a website now explaining the program .  If a family has even one child in the free lunch program, they are entitled to inexpensive internet. Some are saying those of us all ready overpaying for broadband are subsidizing this program.  True.  But, our costs wouldn't go down if ...

When I first was offered Family Tech, a column on Net Neutrality was one of my first ideas.  I've pondered it for over a year how to distill the concept to 600 words.  I just wish more people understand how important this is to them as consumers.  A mighty battle is raging in the halls of power that will effect us, and many do not even know. Family Tech: Net Neutrality .

A school district in Vail, Arizona has equipped some school buses as rolling wi-fi hotspots.   (NY Times story) The students are able to login on their computers on the trip to and from school, and on longer outings to athletic events. The result seems to be quieter, less rowdy rides, and more productivity for the kids. What's good enough for the kids, should be good enough for the rest of us.  Mass transit can never seem to collect all the riders it deserves.  We want to encourage mass transit to save the environment, save energy, reduce traffic and a host of other reasons.  Adding wi-fi to our city and regional buses and to commuter trains would draw in more users. Let's contact our mass transit authorities and advocate this.  The cost is reasonable, about $200 for the router and $60 a month for service per bus.  I have to believe if an entire city's bus service wanted to go wi-fi the costs could be negotiated downward.