Category: Notes From The Electronic Cottage

A weekly feature on electronic technology as it affects everyday life with Jim Campbell. Broadcast on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, ME every Thursday at 7:30 AM.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/20/17

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The world of autonomous machines is rapidly approaching. From self-driving vehicles to completely automated fast food establishments to robots in the operating room to weapons that decide what is a target and destroy it with no human intervention, machines are going to have an autonomy they have never had before in human history. And that means our ethical and legal systems are going to have to raise and answer questions that we have never had to answer before. Unfortunately, our ethical and legal capacities seem to be way behind our technological ones. We need to think about what that means. Here’s a start.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/6/17

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Do you find yourself behaving differently if you think you are being watched? Most people do. And where is one place many that people feel they are continually being watched? Yup – on the Web. Policy makers and legislators haven’t generally gotten themselves too upset about privacy violations online, but if those privacy concerns affect economic behavior – well, that is a different matter, isn’t it. And now there is empirical evidence that is the case. Here are the numbers.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/29/17

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The future doesn’t seem as far away as it once did. In this encore program, let’s take a look at things like Qubits, the basic building blocks of enormously more powerful computers, and Virtual Reality, both of which many experts think will be with us by 2030 – which is not all that far away.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/22/17

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Some have pointed out that the bluster coming out of the Washington tweet storm, news about investigations, denials of investigations and so on are dragging our attention from things going on in Congress like the Senate health care bill that is being constructed behind closed doors. But there is another law that is slipping through Congress that will also have a major effect on our everyday lives, especially our digital lives, that is being drowned out by all the headlined Washington drama. Ever hear of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008? If not, give a listen.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/8/17

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Google users know that Google tracks what they do online across computers, smartphones, personal assistants, etc. Now Google has unveiled a new plan called Google Attribution which will follow users offline right into brick and mortar stores to track individual’s purchases through their credit card receipts so that advertisers can tell that their Google advertising works. What could possibly go wrong?