This here is “Elvis Won’t Fix Your Computer” a song written, composed, and performed by Greg Johnson. It’s a dandy of a song, and I hope y’all enjoy it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRGXc5EuUdE?rel=0&w=1280&h=720]
This here is “Elvis Won’t Fix Your Computer” a song written, composed, and performed by Greg Johnson. It’s a dandy of a song, and I hope y’all enjoy it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRGXc5EuUdE?rel=0&w=1280&h=720]
Use this link to order business cards from MOO and you’ll get a $15 discount.
I’ve been admiring cards from MOO for a long time whenever I saw them. They are very thick and have a smooth soft velvety texture. There’s an option to have rounded corners, and unusual size cards. So today I finally placed my first order and got a referral link to share with others.
To place my order, I used a $15 discount referral code that I got from a friend so the order was about $25 for 50 cards which included the standard shipping. They should arrive in a couple of weeks.
They have an expedited ordering service that costs about $50 extra and several options in between depending on how soon someone wants their cards.
One thing I like about their online card design options is that you can have 50 different designs or photos on the back of your cards for a single order. So that’s great for designers, photographers, creativists, and entrepreneurs who may have several businesses or services available.
“On Monday, 25 July 2016, I was interviewed by our local Fox News affiliate on the topic of email security. The report is archived below, the original is online.” ~ Greg Johnson
[vimeo=https://vimeo.com/176407670]
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (CBS2/FOX28) — Hackers have already disrupted the Democratic Party after releasing many damaging emails from the Democratic National Committee. They were embarrassing for party leaders and will likely result in at least the party chair stepping down this week.
But IT security for political groups and organizations at many different levels often balances on human error.
Running a campaign is a lot like a small business. There’s plenty of things to spend money on. With so much technology all around us, it’s often not an area where campaigns spend a lot of extra resources.
Physical protection is generally something we think politicians and their Secret Service Agents get right, especially at the highest levels.
Online, IowaCityTechnologyServices.com Director Greg Johnson says even they fall short.
“There are just so many points of failure,” said Johnson.
CBS2/FOX28 spoke to local campaigns and elected officials from both major political parties about their IT security. They say, generally, campaign staff email is handled through services like Google’s Gmail and some additional security options within those programs. Rarely will even the most Congressional races have a dedicated IT team to keep it safe.
“Just using Google, or some similar service, steps it up a bit, but it’s not entirely secure,” said Johnson.
Once a candidate is elected to Congress, their staff is brought on to Federal Government systems. That’s usually a step above most security, but Greg says it still doesn’t solve human carelessness.
“All it takes is for one person to lose their computer or have one person get their password and suddenly, that person has access to all those emails that somebody was copied on, or anything they’ve ever sent or received,” said Johnson. “It would be a huge collection of emails just from one account getting breached.”
Greg says there is encryption software that would make sure emails and information is locked and can only be accessed by someone with the right password. He says that can be free, or be as expensive at $175.
In December 2015, I received an unexpected offer to work for a business I really admire. The new job would allow me to return to doing more consulting and public interest work. It seemed like an appealing option. I decided to take the offer, and make a change.
I wasn’t sure how long it would take to build-up the consulting business. Surprisingly, in less than 24 hours, I was busy with all the work I could handle, and it’s been busy ever since. Many thanks to everyone who has been calling and requesting services.
Recently my wife Makur, also a technology support person at the University of Iowa, decided that she also would like to do more consulting work, so she decided to leave her job at the University and in March will join me in providing technology support through Iowa City Technology Services.
Makur has a broad range of experience in expertise in small business and enterprise-class computing, as well as an array of other skills. So, we’ve launched MJIowa.com as a website for her to bring in additional business. Over the years she has developed a following of people who specifically ask for her, so the new site is a great way to connect with those clients.
I look forward to the coming months, and appreciate everyone’s support.
Thanks!
As an Apple computer enthusiast, I’ve been using the Apple Mail client for years. About a year ago, I decided to switch over to using Gmail exclusively as an online email client. For my primary email accounts (included with my website hosting package), I set them to forward all emails to Gmail. I have a personal account and also a collection of other email addresses that I forwarded to a secondary Gmail address.
Here are the reasons I switched:
So, for all these reasons, I decided to switch to Gmail.
As of January 2016, here’s why I’m switching back to using the Apple Mail client and the email accounts included with my hosting package.
During the transition back to my original email addresses, I’ve set an autoresponder letting people know my best contact methods — in case anyone had inadvertently received an email from those Gmail accounts.
I still maintain email accounts in Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, Yahoo, and other services in the event there are communications issues with people using any of those third-party services. It’s sometimes more reliable to communicate with someone on the same system they are using, and other features exist that make it helpful to have an account on various services.
Please visit my contact page for further details about how to best reach me.
Thanks!
Virginia Tech is utilizing distance education technologies to bring specialists into the classroom. On 14 April 2015, I had the opportunity to be a visiting guest for a sustainability course taught by Luke Juran. Using Skype I was able to present and interact with the students in the course. Below is a photo from our Skype session.
I’ve been inspired by the increased interest in tiny houses among students and faculty in higher education. Those focusing on sustainability and urban planning are incorporating smaller and more efficient living spaces into our built spaces. This tells me that we’re reaching a point of critical mass within the small house movement.
As a technology support specialist at the University of Iowa, I enjoy exploring how we can utilize technology for enhancing education. At the University of Iowa, through the Division of Continuing Education, courses are offered through Distance and Online Education.
Continuing education typically delivers certificates, degrees, and professional training to people with full-time jobs who do their studying in the evenings and weekends. In addition to schedule conflicts, people pursuing their career may find their ideal career location doesn’t put them close to the educational institution of their choice. So, distance education provides a great service.
In the past I assisted in teaching a course that utilized various classrooms on campus with multi-camera and multi-microphone systems to enhance the connection with an instructor in California.
More recently I had an opportunity to provide some technical support for a course being conducted by the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, and Ohio State University. The course, Two Koreas: Political Economy and Regional Rivalry, had students on three campuses participating.
Combining the on-campus experience with efficiencies of distance and online technologies, creates the best of both worlds. The in-class experience gives students a chance to meet in person. The online component helps expand the campus to include a richer diversity of students and draw from a wider selection of faculty.
Digital storytelling through social media is increasingly becoming an essential component of outreach for organizations and businesses. It’s especially important in higher education.
Below are some photos from recent work I’ve been doing in the area of digital storytelling, and sharing the behind the scenes experiences of how we’re documenting our work — what technology and process is used.
I had the pleasure to be a guest on the Poli-Tech Tuesday show on KRUI with Asa Crowe and Arianna Chronis. In about 30 minutes, we covered technology on campus and a lot of other topics. The interview is available below. Click the play button to listen.
I was a sophomore at the University of Iowa when KRUI was launched. As IOWA alumni, it was meaningful to be at the station today during the weeks leading up to their 30-year anniversary celebration.
It was nice to have a chance to visit with Asa about the various technology resources available on campus. Here are some of the topics we discussed during the interview, and links to further reading:
Below is a video sample of my music and photography. The song is “Arpeggio Rising.” The photos are from 28 days in India. More of my music is available on ReverbNation and SoundCloud.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQbLbdAFPWE]
I appreciate the interest everyone has had in this story, and those who have shared this post on Facebook and elsewhere. The maps below show recent visitors to this page. Click any map image for a larger gallery view.
Today I had an interview with Justin Andrews of KWWL. We discussed the Heartbleed security exploit and what consumers can do to protect themselves. Click here to view the interview and read the KWWL story. If you have questions about this and other computing security concerns, feel free to contact me.
[vimeo 91917948 w=640 h=360]
“Considering the long exposure, ease of exploitation and attacks leaving no trace this exposure should be taken seriously.” ~ CodeNomicon
I’ve written a more comprehensive article on my technology website. Click here to read that article.
Today I had a computer tell me some things that a computer or even a person would most likely not know.
I was setting up an online account. I’d only provided my name and address. Then suddenly a screen came up asking me to verify my identity with several multiple choice questions.
One of the questions was, “Which of the following people are you associated with?”
It was able to list someone who isn’t a family member, isn’t on any shared bank account, doesn’t live at the same address, but is indeed someone I know. The other names listed were people I don’t know.
How is a computer able to know someone I’m acquainted with only socially and not through any online connection? That’s almost spooky. Perhaps because the geopositioning information on our phones has identified us as being in close proximity of each other?
I’ve had similar authentication questions when setting up accounts, where the system will ask “Which of the following addresses have you ever lived at” and an address from many years ago will be listed.
It’s as if the system is instantaneously being granted access to my credit report without my consent.
On one occasion, about 10 years ago, when getting auto insurance, I was asked, “Will ______ be driving the car also?” The insurance agent was reading from a computer screen, and somehow the database was aware of everyone who had ever lived at the address where I was. The insurance agent was going to calculate my auto insurance based on other people the computer knew might drive my car. I had to convince the agent that the person in question maintained the same local address, but lived in another state and wouldn’t be driving the car.
It seems like computers are becoming more and more powerful as databases are connected globally. Let’s hope their programming doesn’t allow them to take control away from the humans.