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 7/28/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

If you’ve gone through security in one of 78 major US airports recently, you may have had the experience of going through a “full body scanner.” Some folks are not too excited about being seen essentially naked by a stranger;
others are concerned about the effect of radiation the scanners use on their health. The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued to halt the use of the scanners but the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has now spoken and says they are fine to use. Even so, the TSA is making some changes in how they operate. Here’s how and here’s why and here, once again, is the still unanswered 2000 year old question: “Who will guard the guards?”

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/21/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Facebook, the Apple Store, Amazon’s Kindle and ebook store – all are great conveniences for many people. But looked at from another point of view, they are essentially walled gardens that keep their customers inside, hemmed in by technological walls. And they are changing the nature of the web. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Let’s think about that question for a few minutes.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/14/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

Smile – you’re on Candid Camera! No, not the TV show, the every day security show that is going on all over the country and all over the world. Going to lower Manhattan? There are a thousand security cameras there per square mile
– and they are being tied together so police can access the images from any of them. Visiting London? You’re image will probably be recorded 300 times in a day. Well, you might say, these cameras help police solve crimes.
Maybe, but they can be used for lots of other things as well. Here are some of them in this show from the Electronic Cottage archives.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 7/7/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

This is another of our summer programs from the Electronic Cottage archives.
Here are the information site addresses mentioned in the program:
Weather info – www.nws.noaa.gov
Phone numbers – www.whitepages.com
Health info – www.medlineplus.gov
Dictionaries – www.alphadictionary.com
Etymologies – www.etymonline.com
Encyclopedia – www.encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia – www.wikipedia.org

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/9/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It’s summer – at last – her on the coast of Maine and visitors are starting to arrive. We thought this would be a good time to dust off a few old chestnuts and replay them so folks who are visiting could give them a listen and so the rest of us could listen again. Here’s one about music fidelity, vinyl, mp3s, and the human ear.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/2/11

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

It’s no secret that the FBI is gathering information about the phone calls and emails of Americans. What has been a secret until now is why the FBI does not want to reveal the names of the the phone and internet companies that have been allowing widespread surveillance of Americans talking with people overseas. The reasons may surprise you, or make you laugh, or make
you cry. If you’d like to hear them from the horse’s mouth, listen up. If you’d like your own copy of the FBI’s reasoning, go to
www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-v-office-director-national-intelligence-declaration-david-m-hardy.