I think all the technology out there is fascinating. However, I am a little behind on it all the time. I have a good 4 yr old laptop which suits us just fine, my phone is not smart, (just quite knowledgeable ) I do text, but have not jumped into Facebook. I don't really care that much. I actually get prints when I take photos, although they are also on the SD card and computer. I am so old school, I will sit down and write letters, birthday and Christmas cards etc. I appreciate my kids and my 8 yr. old grandson (!) to assist me when necessary... Call me old fashioned...
Ronni, not offended, was just a little perplexed is all. I read your response that you couldn't understand how a garden could be grounding. Just a little miscommunication.
One thing though, which both fascinates as well as worries me a lot - And no, I do not intentionally want to sound like an alarmist. But what do you guys do about Internet security? As I stated before, I left the PC programming world almost 2 decades ago. As I was just passing the time until computers and 3D CAD programs became powerful enough to do what I wanted out of them. But that said, I do know very well how computers are programed. I created the bulk of my own software with the language Q-Basic. However later I moved onto C++. And so let me tell you that C++ was so advanced that I could actually reach deep inside the processor and individually arrange and rearrange ones and zeros. I had also (a few times) created a virus like code - Mainly to protect my own creations from theft. Anyway, long story short - Since I know how deeply one can penetrate into the computer with a programing language like C++ (where you can even move the Hard Drive's heads onto different individual sectors and manipulate every single digit). It is not at all hard for anyone who know this - To get into anyone else's computer... And so these days when our PCs are constantly connected to broadband internet - How do you guys keep your PCs secure? I myself (as I am unimaginably paranoid) swap the very booting Hard Drive. Where the operating system on one is internet capable - While on the others, on which I keep all my CAD designs (which can be considered as trade secrets), is not internet capable. And yes, as an extra safety measure, I also pull out the ethernet cable too - So that there is no physical connection to the net. That anyway is what I do. Someone suggested to me that instead of doing this a few times in a day - Why don't I simply get 2 PCs? One being this multiprocessor desktop powerhouse, while the other can be just a laptop (connected to the internet). Exchanging data between the 2 can easily be done with a USB flash drive. But this is also where my paranoia kicks in again. As I know exactly how easy it can be for a custom made visus, to jump from one PC to the other via USB stick... Yes, encryption helps a lot. But it is time consuming, as you won't be constantly encrypting and decrypting files on which you'd be working. This is why a physical barrier, like switching the bootable Hard Drives and pulling out the internet cable - Is the only thing which can put my mind at ease. Anyway, how do you guys handle this security issue?
S-H I use Linux exclusively. A few years ago a friend of our youngest daughter used my computer and I ended up with a computer crashing virus. Last time that will happen now. As Randy says, he uninstalled the world's most problematic computer virus...Windows...and I have been problem free for several years.
While no computer is 100% virus-free, MACs are largely untroubled by virus issues, so that's at least one thing I don't have to deal with as all my devices are Apple products. As far as security goes, that's where my personal geek squad comes in handy. And again, no computer is 100% secure. The more one is on the net, on social networking sites and digital image sites,research engines and blogs, doing some shopping or browsing online, you're opening yourself up to all manner of potential invasion of privacy and theft of data. That said, I've just had to stop worrying about it so much. I'm not saying that's the appropriate choice, or even necessarily the smartest one, but I stress so much about so many things, and I just decided I DON'T what to add that one to my list. So my geek squad have done as much as can be done to safeguard my privacy and keep my data as secure as possible, and I've done my part by just personally being as transparent as possible so that if I should be hacked, there's nothing personal that could be gotten a hold of that could ruin, embarrass, or otherwise bother me and mine. Yeah, there's information that someone could steal in terms of credit card stuff and SS numbers and bank info and all the rest. As much as possible, that's protected with safeguards in place, and credit card companies that alert us to any potential issue and whatever other stuff my little geek squad has implemented. Do I still worry? Yeah. But I can't control everything, and if someone is determined to get into my computer and steal information, the best I can do is make it as difficult as possible so that hopefully they'll just move on to an easier target and leave me the heck alone. Beyond that, I'll leave it up to God, karma, serendipity, Allah, or whatever deity or belief system you cleave to. S-H, I'm not meaning to make light of your concerns, or be flip about the very real possibility of the kind of security breaches you mention. Not my intention at all. But I think we all respond to that kind of threat differently, and we all see it differently, and imbue it with differing amounts of significance and worry. What I said above is just an explanation of my own personal response. It doesn't make me right or you wrong, or vice versa, because I think it IS a personal thing, and there IS no right or wrong way to approach it. We each manage it however we do, in ways that make us each feel OK about it. And that, I think, is the best we can do.
If I had something secret or super special like SH's designs, then I'd probably be super careful too. If someone wanted to steal anything from my computer, all they would find are some family photos and lots and lots of photos of flowers! I don't worry too much about hackers or viruses. I feel that life is too short to worry about every little thing. So I just go through it with "eyes open".
For me (in my spare time), it used to be MS Flight Simulator... Yes, that's very good! However the only reason why Linux has up till now remained virus free - Is because majority of viruses are written by extremely bored and partly unsuccessful programmers (so this becomes their only way of attaining fame)... So they are not really going after us specifically - They just target the most available and widely used operating system, and exploit it's weaknesses. And since Linux is from the ground up designed with security in mind, also becomes a plus here! However, no system is 100% bullet proof. So if a dedicated team of hackers was determined to get us - Surviving such an attack would not be so easy... Take for example Iran's Nuclear Weapon's program. Which got bitten by the Stuxnet virus. Now I am sure that the people operating in that complex were not idiots - As they all must have been highly skilled technicians, scientists, and engineers. Yet they still got bitten. I mean, how often have we seen extremely well educated people (like PhDs) getting conned by some used car salesman - Who in reality was probably just an 8th grade dropout... So that is the point which I am trying to make here. That no system is 100% foolproof. Still, my own personal concern is not worrying about some family photographs falling into the wrong hands, nor am I the least bit bothered by identity theft (as Ronni too said that there are now safeguards against it). What really bothers me, is what will hurt me the most. Which is industrial espionage, (as in loss of trade secrets and/or theft of designs for which the patent hasn't even been applied yet)... Therefore all such attacks will be carried out by highly motivated people. So if there is one thing that I know of for sure in this world - Is that no one can ever suppress human motivation for malice, specially when it is propelled by greed. And so technology my dear friends, has now only made things easier for such individuals...
This a a very valid concern going way beyond identity theft or corruption of family photos. And yes, greed and avarice are, unfortunately, wonderful motivators for circumventing all manner of ingenious safeguards. Not because I'm concerned with theft, but just because i have a sentimental attachment to my photos, having embarked on a photo project that has been years in the making, and will be for years to come.....I have an external hard drive that I plug into the computer when I need to save the latest batch of photos either newly taken or old ones scanned in so I can create a digital file because the originals will continue to degrade over time. It's small, portable, and is attached to the computer only long enough to do the transfer. I assume S-H that you have some kind of similar safeguard in place. The one I have is a hundred or so gigs iirc. I know you can get external drives with Terabytes of storage too. Technology may have made things easier for unethical people, but is has also made storage easier and more efficient.
I bought my first computer in 1987 when I started my economy studies. It had two floppy disc stations, and I remember feeling like a disc jockey at times. I couldn't afford a computer with a hard-disc drive and a floppy disc drive. They were a lot more expensive. I sold it the year after and got a better machine the year after that. I mostly used it for my geneology research program and to play games on. I've had a computer ever since. I didn't want a mobile phone at all, but it sort of forced itself on me when the girls grew up. I tried a smartphone for one week but realized that it couldn't handle my abuse. So I changed back to a phone that might double as a hammer. My husband is forcibly dragged backwards into the future. He was not happy when I informed him I was going to buy a tablet to bring with us on trips, but soon realized it's an asset since we always wonder a lot about lots of things. Suddenly we could get the answers almost instantly, so he had to rethink. Our middle daughter's got both a laptop and an i-phone. Our youngest will get her own laptop next year, when she will need it for school work. Until then she's happy using the stationary or the tablet. I enjoy internet life, the contact with relatives and friends all over the world and the fact that I can take my horse for a leisurely ride and still be able to answer phone calls.
Yes, even bigger ones are available now (of multi terabytes). But I actually use a mixture of just about everything for backup. From magnetic date storage tapes, to optical (like CDs, DVD), even USB data sticks and micro SD cards too. In other words, I never put all my eggs in one basket... But what really gets me piece of mind, is to EMP proof as well as radiation harden the very place where all these ultra fragile things will be kept. Thankfully though, we have a company here which makes made to order safes. So sometime in the second half of next year (I hope) I will have made enough to place an order with them. http://www.gujratsteel.com And they (upon request) also give a bentonite lining (volcanic clay), which makes the safe fireproof up to 800ºC. Further lining with alternating layers of ferrous and nonferrous metal mesh (and grounding them all electrically) will make it EMP proof too. So even if a nuclear bomb explodes in the upper atmosphere, your data will still have a fair chance of surviving - Provided of course that you don't put all your eggs in one basket. Therefore use all mediums of data storage, as one of them will surely come out fine. And also put the recording devices inside too (along with a stand alone computer as well). Otherwise what will be the point of keeping your data safe, if you wouldn't have anything left to use it with... So only after this, will I be able to have a good night's sleep.
Technology's easy if you have a good support staff. One like you'll see in this video can be really helpful. :-D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI As for early computers, look up KIM-1. I had one of those in the late 70's along with a breadboarded system using an F8 Fairchild processor. I even had my own Lear Siegler ADM-3A terminal to connect to them. I was never really good with machine code, but it was fun trying. I've had a running string of computers over the years. From the KIM-1 through some oddball commercial machines (TANO Outpost 11, an Apple clone made by a company named Dragon, and SS-100 bussed machines), the Commodore PET (32K of ram and a cassette deck), an Apple II+ (also 32k and a floppy drive), PC's ranging from an XT with 640k and a 40 meg hard drive up to modern models, a Tandy model 1, Tandy Color Computer, a Tandy Model 100 laptop that I still have (with floppies and several essential accessories such as a barcode reader), and an old Apple portable with a battery that weighs more than my current laptop (it's in its carry case and I use it as a foot rest). As for viruses and malware, Apple and Linux make it difficult for the virus writers to make headway. Microsoft seems to hold the door open for them. That, however, is a much larger and longer discussion best left to those that ride the bleeding edge of technology. Personally, I'm happy to follow a little farther back and learn from their mistakes.
Though I don't go to anywhere near the lengths you do to back up my data, I have a number of redundancies in place also. I am the keeper of the family photos, and of all my possessions, they are priceless to me. (not to mention irreplaceable in many cases!) To safeguard them they are on my iPhoto, on an external hard drive, copied onto CD's and DVD's, and also on an external hosting site. Given that much redundancy, I am hopeful that should disaster strike, I will still be able to access one backup somewhere.
