Monthly Mini-Bytes - November 2022

 

My Instagram Mug Shot It's not a secret that I don't participate in social media. Twitter is just like two drunk college debate teams duking it out in a Circle K parking lot; Facebook exists so people can overshare personal info so that companies and advertisers can build profiles and sell that data all over the web; and TikTok is dancing nurses at best, but probably more like a psyop from an unfriendly foreign power that just seeks to turn our youth's brains into mush. So then you may be shocked to learn that I broke down and set up an Instagram account. Here is the backstory: Wendy and I were following some trail runners and through hikers attempting to do the whole 817 mile Arizona Trail in record time. The FKT, or Fastest Known Time, has several categories, but the swiftest to complete the course did it just shy of 14 days. Since it was such an epic effort there were no camera crews on the most recent attempts, so the participants updated via Instagram. I created an account and followed the runners, crew, and some other endurance athletes. All was well for a few days, but then I got a notice that my account was suspected of suspicious activity and I needed to verify my information. This struck me as odd since I had two-factor authentication enabled and a password that would have taken two supercomputers and a pre-Capaldi Dr. Who to crack. Still, I went through and verified my email, password, and phone -- no problem. Then it asked for what I can only call a "mug shot." Instagram wanted me to write down this code and my username on a piece of paper. Then I was to take a selfie and send it to them for "verification." Having been on the Internet for almost thirty years and having hundreds of accounts with various providers, I have never once been asked for a mug shot. It made me furious, and of course I did not provide it. As such they deleted my Instagram account, and good riddance to it. This leads me to today's point: You don't have to provide information just because a website or online store asks for it. It's your information. It's personal and you have the power to choose with whom and when you share it. There is no reason that JC Penny needs to know your birthday. You don't have to tell Facebook where you went to high school. Be selfish with your information. It's yours, not theirs, and you have the right to do with it as you wish. It's okay to say "no." And many times these days, saying no will go a long way to protecting your precious personal information.

What's the Deal with macOS Ventura? Upgrade? macOS Venture is out and I have installed it on one of my computers. It's not on my main work machine, but just on the laptop I carry about to clients. The question is if you should upgrade. But as I think about it, the answer is much more nuanced than it has been in the past. A computer or any technology exists to make our lives easier. It allows us to work faster and more efficiently, along with giving us the tools to stay organized. That's all. That's the whole point. So, when choosing to upgrade an operating system it comes down to whether or not we can benefit from its new features to make us better, faster, and more efficient. But these days technology has gotten so good that many of the upgrades whether to iOS or macOS just introduce what I call fluff -- changes that make things look prettier, but don't really help with functionality. I was watching a video from this tech channel about problems their staff were having with Macs and what Apple could do to fix it. I was disappointed to find users complaining about not having the ability to snap windows to the side, two clicks instead of one. or any number of superfluous things that did nothing to fix some of the core problems. There was nothing about the search in Mail being wonky for several years; nothing about the constant pop-ups asking to re-login to iCloud; or problems with Photos down-sampling images. These are things that are important. These are things that come to the core of macOS functionality, but as long as users just ask for "shiny object" we will unfortunately just get "shiny object." So what do you do? Take a look at how your Mac is working today. Are you able to do your work? Are things functioning the way you want them to? As long as you are on Big Sur or Monterey, you are currently supported by Apple. If you'd like to jump in the pool and update to Ventura just make sure that you have a current Time Machine backup. To learn more about the new features in macOS Ventura visit: https://www.apple.com/macos/ventura/

Does "The Cloud" Own Your Data?

Everything is up in "The Cloud" these days, but when storing your stuff on other people's machines what terms and conditions do you really agree to? Is the data still yours? Does the cloud service provider have any rights to your data that you unknowingly agreed to give away? There is a difference between business, paid, and free accounts, but it has been reported in the past that companies like Google and DropBox scan the data that is uploaded to their servers. It's a fair deal, as you are uploading information to their property, but it's important to carefully review the Terms of Service and understand them especially if you plan on putting a whole bunch of data up online. I know it's time consuming, but if you are planning on going in on cloud storage, then take the time to read the Terms of Service, ask questions, and be clear that you are putting your data on someone else's servers. That's the Cloud after all, and knowing how it works, where your stuff is, and what you agreed to is an important step in taking advantage of these services.