Media and Technology

Vol. 11, No. 18 - Jun 6 - June 19, 2018 - Tech Today with Ken May

FBI warning people to reset routers The FBI is warning that a new malware threat has rapidly infected more than a half-million consumer devices. To help arrest the spread of the malware, the FBI and security firms are urging home Internet users to reboot routers and network-attached storage devices made by a range of technology […] Read More »

Vol. 11, No. 14 - Apr 11 - Apr 24, 2018 - Tech Today with Ken May

Stingrays in DC? The federal government has formally acknowledged for the first time that it has located suspected and unauthorized cell-site simulators in various parts of Washington, DC. The revelation, which was reported for the first time by the Associated Press, was described in a letter recently released from the Department of Homeland Security to […] Read More »

Vol. 11, No. 12 - Mar 14 - Mar 27, 2018 - Tech Today with Ken May

Top Tips to Securely Using Social Media Overview Social media sites, such as Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, are amazing resources, allowing you to meet, interact, and share with people around the world. However, with all this power comes risks–not just for you, but your family, friends, and employer. In this newsletter, we cover […] Read More »

Vol. 11, No. 10 – Feb 14 – Feb 27, 2018 – Tech Today with Ken May

Securing the home Several years ago, creating a cybersecure home was simple. Today, technology has become far more complex and is integrated into every part of our lives, from mobile devices and gaming consoles to your home thermostat and your refrigerator. Here are simple steps for creating a cybersecure home. Almost every home network starts […] Read More »

Vol. 11, No. 7 - Jan 3 - Jan 16, 2018 - Tech Today with Ken May

What is Cryptocurrency? Part 1: Blockchain There’s so much talk about Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other cryptocurrency in the news right now, and plenty of offers to tempt you into investing such as the free Stellar Lumen airdrop, it might seem overwhelming. Everyone is proclaiming it’s the future and we should all be invested in […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 3 - Nov 8 - Nov 21, 2017 - Tech Today with Ken May

What’s new in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update After a little more than two years, Microsoft has finally settled into a rhythm with its new, fast-paced development for Windows 10. What Microsoft’s marketers are calling the Fall Creators Update (officially version 1709) began arriving on desktop PCs on 10/18 via Windows Update and will soon […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No.1 – Oct 11 - Oct 24, 2017 - Tech Today with Ken May

News about the massive Equifax data breach has been unrelenting since the credit bureau publicly disclosed its lapse at the beginning of September. It’s difficult to keep up with all the company’s blunders, not to mention the complicated fiscal policy and regulatory debates the incident has fueled. But weeks later, most consumers in the United […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 25 – Sept 13 - Sept 26, 2017 - Tech Today with Ken May

What Are Password Managers? One of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself online is to use a unique, strong password for every one of your accounts and apps. Unfortunately, it is most likely impossible for you to remember all your different passwords for all your different accounts. Reusing the same password […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 23 – Aug 16 - Aug 29, 2017 - Tech Today

Tech Today with Ken May Backup and recovery If you use a computer or mobile device long enough, sooner or later something will go wrong, resulting in you losing your personal files, documents, or photos. For example, you may accidently delete the wrong files, have a hardware failure, lose a device, or become infected with […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 19 – June 21 - July 4, 2017 - Tech Today

We all WannaCry by Ken May On Friday, May 12, a new ransomware, called WannaCry, began circulating throughout the United Kingdom and Spain, rapidly infecting over 400,000 exposed workstations and servers at healthcare, financial, and other business sectors. This ransomware stood out for several reasons, including being the largest ransomware attack in history, and the […] Read More »

Robots descend on Ventura

The future of the world is in the hands of these kids. Article and photos by Richard Lieberman Teams faced off at FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics regional competition at Ventura College. Teams from Ventura County, Chile and Hawaii compete in the FIRST Robotics competition. The local team is Team […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 14 – April 12 – April 25, 2017 – Tech Today

Tech Today with Ken May How the ISP Law Change Affects Your Privacy On Tuesday, March 28th, Congress sent proposed legislation to President Donald Trump that wipes away landmark online privacy protections, the first salvo in what is likely to become a significant reworking of the rules governing Internet access. The legislation would kill a […] Read More »

The Lester Tong Visualization Center

On March 23 a dedication of the Lester Tong Visualization Center at Ventura College Applied Science Center was held.  This 75-seat classroom utilizes a state-of-the-art 3-D dual rear projector system onto an 8′ tall glass “touch screen” where the viewing audience wear powered 3-D glasses.  A 3-D demonstration was held. Lester Tong worked at the […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 12 – March 15 – March 28, 2017 – Tech Today

Tech Today with Ken May How did Amazon take down the internet? On Tuesday, February 28th, an Amazon cloud server, specifically an AWS cluster of servers in the US-EAST-1 region, stopped responding. Sites and web apps like Mashable, Trello, Giphy, Quora, Netflix, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest and Buzzfeed, as well as tens of thousands of smaller […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 10 – February 15 - February 28, 2017 - Tech Today

Cybersecurity While Traveling by Ken May While your network at home or at work may be secure, you should assume that any network you connect to when traveling cannot be trusted. You never know who else is on it and what they may be doing. Here are some simple steps that go a long way to […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 6 – December 21, 2016 - January 3, 2017 - Tech Today

How to securely dispose of your mobile device by Ken May Mobile devices, such as smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets, continue to advance and innovate at an astonishing rate. As a result, some people replace their mobile devices as often as every year. Unfortunately, too many people dispose of their devices with little thought on just […] Read More »

Vol. 10, No. 4 – November 23 - December 6, 2016 - Tech Today

Why did the internet go down in October? by Ken May Last month, a malicious person or group took down numerous popular websites in a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against the domain name service provider Dyn. DDoS attacks are neither new nor very sophisticated. To do this, the attacker sends a massive amount of […] Read More »

Vol. 9, No. 24 – August 31 – September 13, 2016 - Tech Today

Four Leaders in the Ransomeware Game by Kenneth May-Swift Chip You’ve heard of CryptoLocker, right? Sure, it’s the media favorite, but there are a lot of other players these days that are worth more than an honorable mention. As an MSP, you know how important it is to stay current on the sheer breadth and […] Read More »

Vol. 9, No. 22 – August 3 – August 16, 2016 - Tech Today

Safe Email Practices-part two by Ken May-Swift Chip 3. Handle Attachments Safely. Don’t open attachments unless you are absolutely sure about what they are and who they came from. Even attachments that were sent directly to you by a known sender might contain malicious code. Be especially careful with MS Word & Excel files. When […] Read More »

Safe email practices-part one

by Ken May-Swift Chip Why? Unsafe computing can corrupt your files, expose the contents of your internal drive to strangers, cause other computers to become compromised, and even allow your computer to be used by spammers to send millions of unsolicited emails. Using safe email practices helps you: Protect your inbox Protect your computer Protect […] Read More »

Vol. 9, No. 17 – May 25 – June 7, 2016 - Tech Today with Ken May

Tesla Unveils new Model 3 On April 1st, when Global Equities Research projected more than 300,000 reservations for the Tesla Model 3 electric car by the start of this week, that number seemed outlandish. Well, by the end of that weekend, the global total had reached 276,000, according to a tweet by Tesla CEO Elon […] Read More »

Vol. 9, No. 16 – May 11 – May 24, 2016 - Tech Today

Tech Today with Ken May What is the Internet of Things, and what does it mean for me? Have you heard anything about the Internet of Things, AKA IoT? It’s been in and out of the news quite a bit, for both good and bad reasons. Forbes says The Internet of Things is becoming an […] Read More »

What’s new in Virtual Reality?

Tech Today with Ken May 2016 just might be the year that Virtual Reality finally makes it into the mainstream gaming audience. Right now, there are several strong contenders in the VR arena. Oculus, with its flagship Rift, is owned by Facebook. Samsung has its Gear VR, Sony, its PlayStation VR, and HTC recently launched […] Read More »

Tech Today with Ken May

What is Linux? Sheldon sent in this request to me, and I think it might be useful for some of you out there that may have heard of Linux, and were wondering what it was all about. There are essentially two things needed to have a functioning computer: hardware and software. Hardware comprises all the […] Read More »

Vol. 9, No. 8 – January 20 – February 2, 2016 - Tech Today

Tech Today with Ken May How to sell your electronic devices Happy new year! With a new year comes new electronics, be tablets, phones, laptops or what have you. There is a much better solution than to just let those device sit around and gather dust! The more adventurous and technically inclined may wish to […] Read More »

How to pick the right printer

Tech Today with Ken May Hopefully November is treating you all well! One item that folks often purchase during Black Friday is a new printer. Printers are often deeply discounted as a loss leader to get people in the store, but it may not be worth it, even at a heavy discount. Finding the right […] Read More »

Tech Today with Ken May

Ken May What to look for when buying a computer – Part 1 Buying a computer is no easy task, and with the cost of many of the machines out on the market today, you want to make sure you’re making the right purchase so you don’t blow your money on something that stops meeting […] Read More »

Should you upgrade to Windows 10?

Tech Today with Ken May Considering windows 7 end of life is soon approaching and Windows 10 was officially released back in July, many of you are probably wondering if you should do the upgrade. Particularly compelling this time around is that fact Microsoft is offering the upgrade free for the first year that it’s […] Read More »

3-D printing limitless possibilities and available for free

Article and photo by Richard Lieberman The spotlight is on 3-D printing, a technology that has been emerging since engineers in the 1980’s produced working models, and since then the printers have undergone refinements and technological improvements that have brought the devices to the general public. Schools are getting 3-D printers, Small businesses are putting […] Read More »

Quiet Zone - No Cell Phones Allowed in 13,000 square miles in West Virginia

The Quiet Zone – No Cell Phones Allowed in 13,000 square miles in West Virginia National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) – Wikipedia Read More »