Welcome to the first issue of the Fast-Air Tech Talk newsletter! The Tech Talk newsletter is a free service for all Fast-Air customers. Please feel encouraged to suggest newsletter topics.
Technology is changing our world at an incredible pace. The world wide web has transformed our lives in less than one generation. Never before in known human history has there been such a peaceful revolution.
For the first time in known human history, we live in a world where people are connected around the world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (that’s “24/7” for you geeksters). Humans now share information and knowledge with one another in a manner previously only imagined by science fiction fans. Computers now are part of everyday life, just about everywhere.
Yes, everywhere. Your smart phone is a small computer, with more computing capacity than the first computers built decades ago with vacuum tubes and mechanical relays that were as large as small buildings. Developers are already working on something called convergence, where a smart phone or tablet can be connected to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and used as a regular PC. TVs are marketed as “smart” and are Internet-ready. The buzz phrase these days is IoT, short for Internet of Things. In the Internet of Things people imagine most devices in the home and business using computers and all connected to the Internet. Yes, even your bread toaster. Computers are here to stay and as the old adage reminds us, we can’t unring the bell.
The world wide web is a magnificent gateway to information and knowledge. The possibilities are almost endless. Consider that today’s generation of young adults are the first generation where they have only known the digital age. They have only owned cell phones and most never have owned a land line phone. Many have never owned a TV and they watch videos through computers. They always have been connected in one way or another. They don’t know how not to be connected. This upbringing has changed how they see the world. They have been raised to share. The idea of limiting or restricting knowledge is foreign to them. We can only imagine what kind of world they will mold in the coming decades.
In contrast, many who are grandparents and parents to these young adults grew up in a world where there were no personal computers, no world wide web, no DVD players, no VCRs (remember those?), no microwave ovens, no pocket calculators, no video games. Many of those parents and grandparents used slide rules to perform complex math calculations. They lived in a world where most families had one car and one black-and-white TV. Color TVs were the exception and not the norm.
Quite possibly, within one more generation all video and audio entertainment will be delivered only through the Internet. TV as known today will be gone.
Attempting to stay informed is a challenge. How to keep pace with this technology? How to ensure security? How to protect privacy? We will try to answer some of those challenging questions with this newsletter.
We plan to finish each newsletter by sharing a short video. Sharing online videos is something that did not exist at the turn of the century. That is how fast the technology has changed within one generation. Yet today, sharing videos is about as common as breathing. The word “viral” is now part of our every day vernacular.
We hope each video is uplifting, celebrates the human spirit, and opens our eyes and minds to a huge and wonderful world. A connected world. 24/7.
Sit back and enjoy.
- Free Gift Phishing Scams (Notice 2020-001) - January 15, 2020
- Tech Support Phone Scam (Notice 2019-001) - March 14, 2019
- VPNFilter Router Malware (Notice 2018-007) - May 30, 2018