Its the holiday season! And thus our annual installment of Holidays and Scams! Holiday SCAMS! Charity watchdog sites https://www.charitywatch.org/home https://www.charitynavigator.org/ http://www.give.org/ https://www.guidestar.org/ Charity scams Charity Scams – How to Tell If a Charity Is a Fraud (aarp.org) How To Recognize Veteran Charity Scams (aarp.org) https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/how-donate-wisely-and-avoid-charity-scams https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/tax-exempt-organization-search http://www.nasconet.org/resources/state-government/
Preparing that new computer! (11/28/20 Part 2)
When you get a new computer, its a great time! Its exciting! Aaaaaand its not quite ready to use. Outta the Box! You’ll need updates. You’ll want to take out any crap-ware. You’ll want to so much stuff. Where to start?! Need some useful links? MalwareBytes Windows Defender (free with your copy of Windows) 6 Easy Ways to Uninstall Programs
Desk Ergonomics 101 (11/21/20 Part 2)
Got a desk? Is it a good one? Sam went to OfficeMax to check out some of their goodies to help with proper ergonomics for your desk and what’s on it. Ergonomics 101 Ergonomics? What’s that? Its helping you not hurt and get achy after being at the computer all day! https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/office-ergonomics/art-20046169 https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/standing-workstation/art-20088544 https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-set-up-an-ergonomic-workstation
macOS 11 Big Sur! Ready to upgrade? Don’t! (11/14/20 Part 2)
macOS 11 is out! Its Big Sur! Ready for it? Don’t do it! OS11 – Wait a bit We talk a little about what’s new, but the trick with the latest and greatest is it comes with new problems. And really, that’s ALL new updates for Windows, Android, etc. There’s no harm in waiting for those to get ironed out, right? https://support.apple.com/mac-backup https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-11-0-big-sur-the-ars-technica-review/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-big-sur-launch-appears-to-cause-temporary-slowdown-in-even-non-big-sur-macs/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-office-will-be-about-20-second-slower-initially-on-apple-silicon-rosetta-2/ https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/macos-big-sur.html
Consumers rejoice! Intel loses the crown! (11/7/20 Part 1)
AMD’s new Ryzen 5000 series is out and its finally toppled Intel for performance. Even if you only like and buy Intel, this is great news. Why? Because competition is good. Chip Wars Resume! And right now Intel has no choice but to really buckle down and come up with a response. If you want some deeper reviews, we got them for you right here! https://www.anandtech.com/show/16214/amd-zen-3-ryzen-deep-dive-review-5950x-5900x-5800x-and-5700x-tested https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/hands-on-zen-3-testing-with-amds-ryzen-9-5900x-and-5950x/ https://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-9-5950x-5900x-zen-3-review Too much to read? Have a video as well!
Its electric! Boogie-woogie-woogie-woo! (11/7/20 Part 2)
Electricity is part of our daily life. Your refrigerator, lights, tv, computers, etc., all depend on it! Electricity! Jonathan had some excitement this past week, and he felt it best to share! Especially since we’re getting into rainy season! https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/customer-service https://computer.howstuffworks.com/question28.htm https://pvl.ehawaii.gov/pvlsearch/ UPS Power Calculators https://www.apc.com/shop/us/en/tools/ups_selector https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/tools/ups-selector/
Its Full of Stars! Hey Dr. Armstrong! (10/31/20 Part 1)
Our favorite astronomer is back! What are we talking about? OSIRIS REX! Osiris-Rex! https://www.asteroidmission.org/ https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/29/21540873/nasa-osiris-rex-spacecraft-asteroid-sample-bennu-storage-success Also, for the really adventurous out there? We had a caller asking about Linux on Android! Whoo! Now, that said, this is for advanced users who are ready to write off a whole tablet in case things go south. https://beebom.com/install-linux-on-dex/ https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/10/samsung-linux-dex-cancelled https://linuxonandroid.com/ https://hackaday.com/2020/10/07/linux-fu-the-linux-android-convergence/
Hospitals and scumbag hackers. There, we said it. (10/31/20 Part 2)
Scumbag jerky hackers and ransom-ware. We hates them. Hostageware on the rise And yet, they don’t go away! So, what happened this time? https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/10/us-government-warns-of-imminent-ransomware-attacks-against-hospitals/ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hospitals-being-hit-in-coordinated-targeted-ransomware-attack-from-russian-speaking-criminals/ar-BB1auEpi?ocid=uxbndlbing https://www.zdnet.com/article/first-death-reported-following-a-ransomware-attack-on-a-german-hospital/ Also, if you saw the lights in the Maui sky the other night but don’t know what they were? https://mauinow.com/2020/10/25/cluster-of-mysterious-lights-observed-across-maui/
James Randi Memorial Episode (10/24/20 Part 1)
James Randi has passed away. Who is he? Well, you can read up on that. But what was he about? A healthy skepticism and curiosity about things! Sagan’s Detection Kit, and a fond farewell to Randi So, to honor his memory we talking about the Carl Sagan Balogney Detection Kit. For further amusement in critical thinking, check out Your Logical Fallacy Is and Your Cognitive Bias Is. We should also mention our contest! Our friends at Officemax have given us a Lenovo C32q monitor, and it can be yours for the price of an email! Listen in to the show to find out more!
Voting is different this year. Let’s help with that! (10/24/20 Part 2)
Voting this year is different in years past for Hawai’i. Its mail-in! Vote Hawaii! What else is going on? We talk about that, and of course, we have links! https://elections.hawaii.gov/ https://elections.hawaii.gov/hawaii-votes-by-mail/ https://www.vote411.org/hawaii https://portal.ehawaii.gov/government/voting-and-elections/ https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1248&year=2019 Plus, Alert Internet Surfer Danno found this demographic information from 2016. What does it cover? Ethnic groups on Maui via percentage then percentage as registered to vote! https://www.winningjustice.org/districts/hi-maui-4719