Sep 21, 2016 | Apple, Google, Microsoft, phone, Politics, security
It’s not your imagination: robocalls are on the increase. The volume of robocalls has risen sharply in 2016. Complaints are up. The government and big companies are taking new steps to try to rein in the scammers and perhaps tame the “legitimate” telemarketers. It may...
Sep 11, 2016 | Android, Chrome, Google, IE, Microsoft, WinXP
As we move quickly into a post-Microsoft world, Google Chrome is the program where we spend most of our time on our computers. Last week Chrome was updated in a couple of small but significant ways, with a cleaner look based on Google’s “material design” aesthetic,...
Aug 21, 2016 | Android, Apple, audio, Facebook, Google, Google+, Microsoft, mobile, phone, Skype, video
Google introduced a new app for video chats last week. Google Duo makes one-on-one video chats as easy as possible, with nothing required except a phone number and someone on the other end who’s running the app or willing to install it. Google Duo doesn’t even require...
Jul 7, 2016 | Android, Apple, business, Chrome, Chromebook, computers, Google, laptops, Microsoft, Windows10
I’m not good at predictions. Tim Cook, the CEO of the largest company in the world, called me a twit during a global presentation a few years ago because I made a poor prediction. (Seriously. Here are the details.) I made a commitment then to avoid sweeping...
Jun 8, 2016 | Android, Apple, Google, LastPass, Microsoft, security, web_services, Windows10
We’re drowning in passwords. Slowly – slowly! – we are moving out of the Age Of Passwords. Better alternatives exist. Apple has integrated fingerprints deeply into iOS and fingerprint readers are turning up on many Android phones. Microsoft has built Windows Hello...
May 22, 2016 | Android, Apple, business, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, mobile
On a recent earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg said that “people around the world spend on average more than 50 minutes a day using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.” Facebook has more than 1 billion active users every single day, more than 1.6 billion active users every...