Author: Greg Johnson

Personal Update 201501 | 31 January 2015 | Saturday

Greetings,

I hope that the new year is off to a good start for you.

Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Writing. I’ve created a few posts on ResourcesForLife.com this month. You can check them out on the main page. Some are short commentaries, some are longer posts, and some feature content from other sources. There are a total of nine new articles this month on my Technology Services website news feed.

Technology. Over the past few days I’ve been helping someone who has a computer that was infected with a ransomware virus. I wrote an article about this particularly malicious type of virus: “Ransomware Malware Virus Prevention, Protection, and Recovery.” It’s a reminder of how important it is to be careful and alert when using computers so as not to expose yourself to otherwise avoidable threats. Even so, it seems that much of the technology we rely on is fragile and potentially vulnerable, not just vulnerable to hackers, but vulnerable because of poor design and limited product testing.

Micro Philanthropy & Web Design.  As you may know, I enjoy helping people build websites. Sometimes I get paid for it, but sometimes I just do the work as a kind of micro philanthropy volunteer effort to help local artists, nonprofit groups, small businesses and others who may have a limited budget. Whatever your work is, it’s important to offer your services for free sometimes just for the ‘fun’ of it, and to remind yourself that you enjoy what you do and would be willing to do it for free. Somehow it makes it seem like you aren’t even working the rest of the time. This past month, I volunteered some time to help a local photographer launch their own website. It was a fun time, and the appreciative feedback I received really made it worthwhile. Click here to read the article I wrote about the experience, as well as the feedback the photographer wrote.

Small Houses. There’s a lot going on with the small house movement these days. The Small House Society Facebook Page has grown to over 13,000 members, which brings the total followers up to almost 17,000 (via all social media and subscription channels). There are now two different network television shows dedicated to small house living. It was exciting to play a part in helping with these shows. I’m looking forward to continued positive growth in the months ahead.

Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.

~ Greg

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Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began over a decade ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways, health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.

Personal Update 201412 | 31 December 2014 | Wednesday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well and ready for 2015. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Technology. As I head into the new year, I’m utilizing various multi-platform technologies. This allows me to access my data across multiple computing platforms including Apple, Windows, Linux, Google Chrome OS, Android, and AmazonFire. I’d previously been using proprietary Apple software and solutions that required very costly equipment to run. I’ve intentionally shifted to software and apps that will run on just about any computer or device. This allows me to be more proficient when assisting people with a wider variety of devices. It also reduces the negative impact of discontinued hardware, companies in crisis, diminished customer service, or other industry disruptions. LibreOffice is available in Windows, Apple, and Linux versions. Compatible iOS and Android apps are also available. Google Chrome runs on a wide variety of computers and devices. Evernote has software for numerous mobile devices and computers. A variety of other cross-platform applications are also available.

Wellness. I’m continuing to develop my personal wellness protocol and hope to document it more in the months to come. My preliminary findings suggest that the wellness program can have a very positive impact on factors like blood pressure and blood glucose levels. I’ve been riding my bicycle most days, even during the colder weather.

Writing. I’ve been busy this month writing technology articles, consumer related articles, and creating posts on the ResourcesForLife.com website. Most recently I wrote an article about The Interview, a controversial film that’s been in the news for several months.

Workload. These past few months have been very busy with expanded responsibilities on all fronts. So, I’m working on ways to be more efficient and effective with all I do. If you’ve written and haven’t received a response after a few days, or longer, feel free to send me a reminder. I’m hoping to get caught up over the holidays.

Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.

~ Greg

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Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began over a decade ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways, health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.

Personal Update 201411 | 30 November 2014 | Sunday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

This month I’ve been busy on a few fronts including small houses, wellness practices, technology support, and consumer advocacy.

Small Houses. There’s been a lot of activity lately in the small house movement. Interest is high. The Small House Society Facebook page has over 12,000 likes and the website has over 15,000 cumulative subscribers. Today I posted an article about the need for a small house land caretaker needed in Washington State. That page has had 10,000 visits in the past few hours, and over 100,000 views on Facebook. This past week I was able to do a small living interview with Jay Shafer and Don Otto on Iowa Public Radio. I enjoyed having the opportunity to connect with Jay and Don on the topic of housing. I was in Maryland at the time, staying in a tiny cabin while on vacation.

Wellness. I’ve continued my work on researching wellness practices, with my own body as the laboratory. To help stay fit, I’m planning to ride my bicycle through the colder Iowa winter months on my daily commute. Lately I’ve been testing the impact of maintaining a hybrid diet of low glycemic index foods, low carb foods, and almost eliminating sugar, sweets, and caffein. The typical foundational elements remain such as getting plenty of quality sleep, staying hydrated, and taking a robust and comprehensive portfolio of vitamins, minerals, and other supplements. The diet seems to be working well so far for weight loss, maintaining energy, and maintaining optimal blood glucose levels. The blood glucose level ends up being an excellent measure of overall health since it’s lowered by exercising and eating nutritious foods.

Technology. In November I wrote over 20 support articles about technology on the IowaCityTechnologyServices.com website. The topics cover mobile devices, networking, hardware, software, and more. You can scroll through the news feed to get an idea of what’s been posted recently.

Consumer Advocacy. Since September I’ve been communicating with Republic Wireless and Motorola about a specific misrepresentation in advertising that was impacting both companies. It took a couple months, but Republic Wireless finally made a public statement clarifying the issue. As you might imagine, with this kind of work there’s rarely any public acknowledgement of fault, or statement of appreciation. So, it’s hard to know the actual impact of my involvement, but I’m glad the issue is corrected. If you’re interested, you can read more details.

Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.

~ Greg

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Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began over a decade ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways, health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.

Personal Update 201410 | 31 October 2014 | Friday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

This past month I’ve been spending most of my time posting articles on my technology website IowaCityTechnologyServices.com.

I’ve been seeing what seems like a trend, not just with technology specifically, but systems and processes in general. I’m seeing is an increase in system failures. In the area of product design (software and hardware) it seems that even the most rudimentary product testing hasn’t been done. Usability issues that just about anyone would notice and encounter in the first few minutes of using a product have been overlooked by the developers and testers.

For example, with the release of Apple Yosemite (Apple’s new operating system), basic software programs and processes that people use daily don’t work or work poorly. There are user interface problems or quirks. These aren’t the expected bugs one finds in any new product. Some have existed in previous versions as well. This is significant because it shows that even Apple, a company that is thought to specialize in quality design, is now showing signs of not thoroughly thinking through and testing their hardware and software designs. One expects to encounter problems with low-end products, but not with premium products.

When you go to the online Apple community support forum, you’ll find thousands of people having the same problems. It’s not a user issue. It’s a design issue. Sometimes these crowds of consumers complain about a problem for months before something is done about it.

I’m finding what seems to be an increase in poor practices among companies in general. Decisions are made that favor efficiency and profits over quality or the human impact. Practices are established that are short-sighted. Customer service has been replaced by online community forums where customers must help each other. Companies are dumping untested and poorly designed products on the market and then expecting consumers to fend for themselves as they discover flaws and find solutions. Quality design and thorough testing are replaced by relying on the crowd-sourcing of consumer feedback and frustrations. Then, in the 2.0 version of something, the company fixes the things that consumers identified — often taking the consumers’ collective intellectual property and then patenting it as their own. Then, they sue their competitors over those same innovations.

I’ve reported about some of these issues on my consumer advocacy website, ConsumerDefenseResourceGroup.com.

In general, what all this means is that it takes longer to get things done these days. As a technical support person, I probably see more of these issues and notice when they are wide-spread. For example, a common practice among Internet service providers is to charge a premium rate for faster Internet service, but deliver performance that’s only 10% of what’s promised. It takes multiple calls and service requests to fix the problem, and then over time, the poor quality returns. I’ve seen this happen with multiple clients of mine. In those cases, I put on my consumer advocacy hat (as well as my technologist hat) and fight for the consumer’s right to get what they have been paying for, and be reimbursed for what they weren’t given.

I’m going to continue documenting these product design flaws and consumer issues. I think it helps people who might have otherwise felt they were alone in their frustrations with poorly designed products and poor consumer practices.

In my next update I’ll cover more news beyond technology and consumer issues.

Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.

~ Greg

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Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began as a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways, health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.