Douglas Schweitzer's Most Recent Posts

In my day job I'm a retirement planning consultant. Starting this year, most of our clients have to file their pension returns electronically. My guess is that in an effort to migrate toward a paperless filing. Before they can electronically file a return, our clients have to go to a specific Department of Labor (DOL) Website and register for electronic “signing credentials” which consists of a user ID and PIN number.  The registration process is pretty straightforward and easy and the information the DOL requires isn't all that detailed or too personal.

This past weekend, my newest niece was christened. My brother held a party at a lovely restaurant located right on the water. Like so many restaurants, this one provided valet parking. Before I continue, let me say that I'm always uncomfortable letting someone park my car.  To be honest, I don't like the idea of anyone I don't know driving my car at all. But, this isn't about me, it's about another niece's boyfriend.

Most states have some kind of laws restricting cell phone use while driving -- but what about texting?

Despite having your OS, apps and AV software up to date, you can still get a nasty virus just by surfing the Web. Well, not me; I use a Mac. This recently happened to my niece, though. It doesn’t matter which website she was visiting, suffice it to say that the drive by malware she received caused multiple pop-ups to appear almost continuously. To make matters worse, she was ultimately unable to get back online to even attempt to update her AV software. Since she lives about 40 miles from me, I could not just swing by and fix her PC.

So, the sentence has been laid down and hacker Albert Gonzalez gets to spend two decades in prison for the Heartland break-in. One might think the sentence is harsh but when you realize the depth and breadth of what happened, you can see why the judge imposed it.

The other day I went out to dinner with my wife and eldest son. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, our son asked us what we thought the current greatest technological achievement is; specifically, a technology that we never would have imagined as kids. My answer was simple, the Internet. A worldwide network of interconnected computers where information could be shared had no doubt changed the world in much the same way the industrial revolution did two hundred years earlier.

Last weekend, I went with my wife and kids to see Avatar. (I was amazed at how realistic animation has become. My guess is that they won't need actors and actresses one day. They'll just "roll out" the characters they want.) We arrived early and while we were waiting, I looked around the theater, which was filling up quickly.

Apple has always had a flair for the dramatic. Whenever they release a product, it's never without some fanfare. Then come the skeptics; people who love to deride Apple no matter how cool or innovative the product is - usually claiming there’s too much fluff and not enough substance.

One of the things that bothers me about advances in technology is that sometimes those same advances help contribute to irreversible damage. Let's take the iPod hearing loss case. Common sense tells us that exposure to loud noise, especially over a prolonged period of time, can result in damage to the delicate mechanisms of the ear and lead to hearing loss.

I was perusing some security articles and came across "Top Five Reasons For Security FAIL" by Adi Ruppin. In the article he talks about security failure and how encryption isn't foolproof and he even goes on to say that he finds most personal firewalls useless. I see where he's coming from.

Not too long ago I was having a catch with my 10-year-old son. Making a diving catch, he popped up limping and holding his leg. Fearing he may have broken something, we took him to the doctor. As a precautionary measure, she sent us to a local radiology center for x-rays. This radiology center is fully computerized and has state of the art all digital imaging technology. The initial wait was only about 20 minutes and once the x-ray tech was done "snapping" pics, he told us to wait while a radiologist "read" the x-rays.

The holidays are once again upon us. And every year I'm asked by various friends and family what kind of computer they should buy. Being an Apple fan, I always direct them to the Apple product line. Yes, they are a bit more expensive than their PC brethren but to me they are worth the extra cost. Before anybody jumps on reliability issues, I've seen hardware problems on both sides of the PC/Mac war. But hardware aside, at the core of every Apple lies OS X which was designed by Apple to work flawlessly and seamlessly with its hardware.

I was perusing the CW website and came across this article "Want to bone up on wireless tech? Try ham radio" by John Edwards.  It got me thinking about my own fascination with wireless communications and how it helped me dramatically when I dove into IT.

I've seen this dozens of times: "scamware" that tricks unsuspecting users into installing a bogus security product.  Some of the best ones look like they’re alerts from your operating system and appear as a tray icon with a balloon warning that your machine is infected and that you need to download "this product" in order to eliminate the threat. Sadly, when you see that bogus alert it means you've already been infected.

Recently my wife used a credit card (which she hadn’t used for many months prior) to make a small (less than $20) purchase via her cell phone - not at a retail store or via the internet. Just a few days later she received a telephone call at home from the credit card issuer seeking clarification about what they considered unusual activity. When she called them back, using what she knew to be a veritable phone number for the company, they told her that they’d flagged the card because they’d detected an unusual charge attempt.