tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81656912471805745392011-11-27T17:20:59.146-07:00A look at how technologies effects our livesLeon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.comBlogger621100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-18320922741331129602010-12-02T19:17:00.000-07:002010-12-02T19:17:08.895-07:00

Before the current age of technology, the only way a person could gawk at the so-called "freaks" - the bearded lady, half-ape/half-man, world's shortest man - was when the travelling circus came to town. The interested person would pay their 25 cents, pass through a high-guarded turnstile and ooo and ahhh at the spectacular. The sad thing about this system is that most of these "freaks" were

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-83096963561619139262010-11-19T01:24:00.000-07:002010-11-19T01:24:30.165-07:00

Image via CrunchBaseThroughout the development of modern technology, there have been products and services that have come and gone. Some have transformed into other products and some companies have gone in a completely different direction. Companies like IBM, Borland, Lotus, WordPerfect, WordStar and Netscape are have played a part in software and hardware development over the course of the past

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-3109321881969334852010-11-04T17:10:00.001-06:002010-11-04T20:53:59.050-06:00

Image via WikipediaI have been teaching for over 25 years and one of my biggest frustrations is textbooks. Not only are they costly for the student but they are almost out of date by the time they are printed and not a valuable reference to the student after graduation. New academic textbooks are a $4.5 billion industry and the used textbook market is pegged at $4 billion. A new company called

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-1495839315070040992010-10-26T09:22:00.003-06:002010-10-26T09:28:25.734-06:00

Image via WikipediaI love technology! One of the reasons I love technology is that it is constantly changing, improving and generally make life better and certainly more interesting. I've been lucky enough to witness some of the great technological advancement in history. Cool thing about technology is that every generation can say the same thing. From the invention of fire and the wheel to

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-43266990407683850382010-10-19T22:46:00.000-06:002010-10-19T22:46:39.733-06:00

Image via CrunchBaseJust the other day, I posted my thoughts about Microsoft's second entry into the cell phone market, and how its impending failure will cost CEO Steve Balmer his job. I also wrote that I felt MS was not an innovator. Today, I read a couple of news reports to further my beliefs about MS. The first report was a press release from MS about the "retirement" of Chief Software

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-1198499199157100222010-10-17T23:29:00.000-06:002010-10-17T23:29:55.394-06:00

There is very little doubt that Microsoft has played a big part in the computer revolution. While Apple software and hardware has always been proprietary, MS was willing to sell its operating system to any manufacturer making an IBM-compatible computers thus attaining a huge market share. The market share lead to users naturally adapting software products that interfaced very well with DOS and

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-12382880988190577782010-09-19T19:50:00.000-06:002010-09-19T19:50:32.670-06:00

Image via WikipediaTechnology evolves. The abacus evolved to the super computer and the Wright Brothers flyer in to the jumbo carrier and the space shuttle. Technology reaches another ones of those important evolution milestones today. This one was comes after 140 years of very little change. In 1870, Thomas Edison found a way to make a long lasting filament within a glass encasement glow with

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-91591475882102075912010-09-17T13:52:00.010-06:002010-09-17T21:27:38.377-06:00

It is interesting to watch the cell phone and Internet tablet market. Cell phone have been around for many years and it has been fun to watch how the technology has improved, how the phone have gotten smaller and how the features have evolved. From the original Motorla "brick" released in 1973 to today's smart phone has been quite the evolution. And it seems that the evolution is reaching a point

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-51191669891662723462010-09-10T09:36:00.000-06:002010-09-10T09:36:33.902-06:00

There has been much talk in the media lately about privacy issues with regards to social media but there are many other risks associated with this Internet phenomenon. There is no doubt that social media sites can be fun and are a great marketing tool but just as in real life, these sites attach those who would like to illegally profit or hurt users for their own gain or for misguided motives.

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-47655176924132031592010-09-01T12:01:00.001-06:002010-09-01T12:04:12.505-06:00

Location! Location! Location! So has been the cry of realtors when buying a house. It's all about the location. Now it seems that some people are using Internet technologies to identify their personal location. Location services have been around for a while with online services like FourSquare, Yelp, and Gbanga. Now with the addition of Facebook's Places, use of location-based social networking

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-31742436486582502852010-08-21T10:13:00.003-06:002010-08-21T10:14:53.227-06:00

Did you hear the one about the young computer expert / hacker who comes across some damaging information about a mega-corporation and before you know it the hacker is being sought by the police for a crime the person is suppose to have committed? Of course the crime is not real. It was set in motion by the mega-corporation using computer technology to change and/or delete part of the hacker's

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-66586439598510256042010-08-18T11:38:00.002-06:002010-08-18T11:40:03.220-06:00

Image via WikipediaIn a past blog post, I was critical of iPad, not knowing how they fit in the marketplace. I have borrowed an iPad and have been trying to decide how it could possibly fit in my work or leisure activities. What I am discovering is that the iPad is a great eReader but I'm not going to be shelling out a minimum of $500 for an iPad and use it as an eReader.  That would be like

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-27762701040322493632010-08-14T11:53:00.001-06:002010-08-14T11:55:03.257-06:00

Image via WikipediaThere are two interesting developments over that past few days that shows the two sides of Google. The first is the lawsuit brought on Google by Oracle. Oracle recently purchased Sun Microsystems that developed Java. Oracle is suing Google because the Android mobile operating system is based on Java and Google has not paid any royalties. Oracle is saying that Google is using

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-67200964887452519252010-08-07T23:50:00.001-06:002010-08-07T23:56:31.267-06:00

Image via CrunchBaseIn the past few weeks, Blackberry has been very dominant in the news. Rumors about a tablet PC started when RIM purchased the BlackPad.com domain name. RIM also introduced their latest Blackberry model to be known as the Torch. This model and their latest operating system is RIM's answer to the iPhone and the up an coming Android phones. But things are not looking good for the

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-38659153699320330282010-08-05T15:08:00.000-06:002010-08-05T15:08:26.486-06:00

Here today, gone tomorrow. Google Wave, much touted as the next great real-time collaboration platform is gone. Introduced with great fanfare in May of 2009, it never caught on for a variety of reasons. Too much competition, too complicated and too narrow a scope, this latest jewel in the Google crown fell off earlier this week. Once again, Google releases a much hyped-product and then, for lack

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-50468416841123989182010-07-28T23:59:00.003-06:002010-07-28T23:59:46.162-06:00

Image via WikipediaGoogle knows where you live and where you surf online. If you own an Android phone, they probably know who you speak to and who's in your directory. Now they are after your health records. Does that scare you as much as it scares me? Two Google engineers are presenting a paper at USNEX HealthSec 2010, part of the 19th USENIX Security Symposium, which runs from August 11-13,

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-42968291508804066992010-07-28T23:59:00.000-06:002010-07-28T23:59:25.136-06:00

Image via WikipediaGoogle knows where you live and where you surf online. If you own an Android phone, they probably know who you speak to and who's in your directory. Now they are after your health records. Does that scare you as much as it scares me? Two Google engineers are presenting a paper at USNEX HealthSec 2010, part of the 19th USENIX Security Symposium, which runs from August 11-13,

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-1440964283270937432010-07-24T18:36:00.000-06:002010-07-24T18:36:32.497-06:00

Image via WikipediaThe oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a huge environmental disaster that will take decades to clean up. Thousands have lost their livelihood, vacationers will be staying away and dozen of specifies of wildlife will be toxic or gone for many years. Good news is that it appears the leak has been stopped and soon, the relief well will be able to permanently plug the leak. Of

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-70300643471691643862010-07-22T17:42:00.001-06:002010-07-23T16:04:59.293-06:00

Image via CrunchBaseNot everything Google touches turns to gold. As a matter of fact, Google has had many products launches that have not been successful. They like to beta test product by the public and then if they do not succeed, they are  quietly pulled or minimized and not supported as well as their main applications. Such is the case with Google's Nexus One cell phone. Lots of hype with the

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-43721254665417382962010-07-16T21:26:00.003-06:002010-07-16T21:37:01.220-06:00

I heard part of the press conference given my Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, this morning about the iPhone 4 problem of dropping calls. A few things stuck out for me. Firstly, Jobs admitted that the iPhone 4was not perfect. Good for him for admitted that. Secondly, he minimized the problem by saying that the iPhone 4 dropped just one more call, on average than its predecessor. Granted one more call is

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-4051268879124196102010-07-14T00:36:00.001-06:002010-07-14T00:38:00.152-06:00

Bought an iPhone 4? If you are in Canada, they are supposed to be available later this month. By the sounds of the problem the iPhone is having may delay the Canadian launch or even begin a recall. The redesigned iPhone has its antenna wrapped around its perimeter. Good idea in theory, but I guess that the test engineers have very small hands as this design mean that when the user holds the phone

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-33507017537891646662010-07-13T16:39:00.001-06:002010-07-13T16:40:10.273-06:00

Your computer is a gateway to a vast amount of your personal information. It contain Web site you have visited, passwords (possibly saved by your browser), financial information and thanks to the boom in digital photography, many of your photographs. Just like all your personal belonging that you secure when you lock your doors when you leave your house, you should take some effort to secure your

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-50011170331633662382010-07-08T00:58:00.003-06:002010-07-08T01:02:27.772-06:00

Coming through one of the worse recessions in history, we all look for those signs that would lead us to believe that it is over. Some look at the sale of large ticket items such as cars and houses while other look at the job market. There is one indicator that is often overlooked and that is the amount of money spend on technology by businesses. In rough times, technology is often one of the

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-60697382738030667592010-07-06T00:11:00.000-06:002010-07-06T00:11:28.658-06:00

Have you Googled yourself lately? Most people have but the Google Me in this context is the much-rumoured and anticipated social networking community powered by Google. Google's attempt at social media in the past has not been successful. How many of you have used or even heard of Orkut, Buzz or Friend Connect? All these are examples of Google products that have attempted to crack the social

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-91459157798197062512010-07-05T22:42:00.000-06:002010-07-05T22:42:59.070-06:00

Google is at it again. They recently announced that they plan to buy ITA Software for $US700 million.  ITA Software is a major provider of airline travel software and has among its clients virtually all of the major Web travel information and booking providers including airlines as American and Continental and online travel services such as Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz and Microsoft's Bing.  Now what

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-14294720582851644732010-07-04T21:53:00.000-06:002010-07-04T21:53:50.737-06:00

ICANN, the organization that oversees domain names and registrations for the Internet, plans to approve the .xxx top-level domain (TLD) for adult Web sites. This is good news. Although optional, sexually explicit and pornographic Web sites can now use this .xxx for their domain names. I hope that these site become responsible and use this naming convention.  Of course there is objection to

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-48172267893952438702010-06-28T17:28:00.000-06:002010-06-28T17:28:10.337-06:00

I was surprised, and maybe I should not have been, to learn that Google can remove applications from Android-based phones. They removed an application recently because it apparently misrepresented its purpose thus wrongly encouraging user downloads (see Google Uses Kill Switch to Remove Android App) . One one hand, Google can take take of buggy and potentially dangerous apps but on the other hand

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-44696685367821544002010-06-20T14:26:00.000-06:002010-06-20T14:26:27.019-06:00

I am currently traveling in Spain and Portugal and reflecting on how technology has changed the way I travel. I first traveled to Europe in 1998 and travelled predominately by train. I remember buying a huge Thomas Cook European train schedule and using paper tickets, bought from a cashier and then having to validate the ticket by having it punched or stamped before entering the train. Of course

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-19682503767655202492010-06-17T12:57:00.000-06:002010-06-17T12:57:19.144-06:00

Computer software has been designed to recognize many human features like voice, fingerprints, and retinals. These advances have been made in an attempt to make computer some secure. Now a computer is attempting to design software to learn to identify the human penis. The reason for this attempted technological advancement is to keep the Internet safe from those pervert who want to expose

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-35640640895382198162010-06-15T12:31:00.002-06:002010-06-15T12:36:15.151-06:00

I used to be quite critical of Twitter, not understanding its purpose. I thought most of the post I read were quite egotistical and self-centered. Then I came across an article that made me realize that there could be some useful ways to use Twitter. It is called "Don't tweet that: How not to be a Twitter dork." It explains better ways to use Twitter and then it all made sense to me - it's not

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-22535329819100523822010-06-13T13:22:00.003-06:002010-06-15T12:36:49.970-06:00

I have wrote many times in this blog that Google is trying to take over the Internet world and that they are predominately a marketing and advertising company, not a search tool. Or maybe I should put it this way - they are a search tool  but their search results are motivated by the highest bidder and not the quality of the result. You already know that Google clear puts sponsored links and

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-72465020500884838032010-06-10T04:22:00.002-06:002010-06-13T12:59:09.045-06:00

Hello from Valencia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Today begins the European Distance and E-learning Network conference with registration and opening message from the president of EDEN, Dr. Alan Tait from The Open University in the UK. The conference venue is quite beautiful situated at NEXUS building at the Universidad Politechnica de Valencia. With over 400 delegates from 49 different

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-46345601814539828772010-06-06T18:56:00.001-06:002010-06-06T18:57:20.045-06:00

Tomorrow I leave for Valenica, Spain. It is time for the annual conference organized by the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN). This is the second year I am attending the EDEN conference. Last year it was in Gdansk, Poland and this year's venue is Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. The conference theme is Media Aspirations for Learning: What Makes the Impact? Last year I presented

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-90727400993566536012010-06-05T12:24:00.001-06:002010-06-06T18:57:40.774-06:00

With all the news of Facebook's privacy issues, Google does not want to be in the same boat. They already have recieved some bad press with the news that they were gathering unsecured WiFi information during their street view data collection process. In attempt to put this faux pas behind them, they are complying with a request from the from the governments of France, Germany and Spain to turn

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-90788112091945187562010-06-04T21:01:00.001-06:002010-06-06T18:57:59.212-06:00

"Digital technologies are critical to every aspect of our economy and society. That is why a strategy for the digital economy is needed to ensure that Canada is positioned to benefit from the opportunities that it presents." So starts the message on the Industry Canada's Web site, asking Canadians for input into shaping Canada's digital future. I think this is a great opportunity to provide

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-1784157599751527822010-06-03T10:30:00.001-06:002010-06-06T18:58:15.238-06:00

Facebook has been in the news a lot lately. Today, I came across some articles that I believe could be interesting to Facebook watchers. Facebook CEO, Mark Zukerberg has to date in mind to take Facebook public. Currently it earn $500 to $650 million dollars mostly from ad revenue. It's social plug-in is featured on over 200,000 Web sites. Facebook privacy concerns do not appear to be an issue

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-60229379047742359652010-06-03T09:37:00.001-06:002010-06-06T18:59:02.273-06:00

It used to be said that the only things you can be sure of in life is death and taxes. I think we need to add one more item to that list - technology changes! The next few months are going to prove to be very exciting for technology watcher and users. On Monday, Apple announces its new iPhone. Even though some of the iPhone's features have been revealed courtesy of the Apple engineer who left a

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-42708917101813137322010-06-02T21:48:00.001-06:002010-06-06T18:59:19.596-06:00

Ever record a TV program? Ever buy a CD and transfer the music to your MP3 player? Well, you have broken the law. These two activities, known as format shifting and time shifting, respectfully, were technically illegal in Canada. Canada's copyright laws have not keep up with technology are have not be updated in over 10 years. Today, the government has finally updated the laws, making  format

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-69623874698645346752010-06-01T09:30:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:10:00.231-06:00

In a report today, Google announced that they are dropping Microsoft as their operating system, opting for Mac OS or Linux, citing security concerns as Chinese hackers tried to break in Google and other large companies in January of this year. Back then, Google used it as an excuse to pull out of China. I think the only concerns Google has is to knock Microsoft at this time because of the pending

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-41482783951384796752010-05-31T12:39:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:10:23.782-06:00

Collaborative learning is not new but with the wide range of Internet applications that support this way of teaching and learning, it makes the efforts more fun and easier to facilitate. As students are tuned in to social media Web site and mobile devices, it makes sense to use these avenues in order to educate them. Besides Facebook and Twitter, there are a host of dedicate collaborating tools

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-54133002663097565422010-05-31T08:38:00.004-06:002010-06-02T15:31:55.919-06:00

Facebook has been hit hard lately with criticisms of its privacy controls. As customers need to vote with their feet, there is a movement to quit Facebook. Quit Facebook Day is the brainchild of two Canadians, Joseph Dee and Matthew Milan and, at the time of this writing, over 27,000 users have pledged to leaving the social networking Web site. Although this number is quite small, representing

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-29320768665485751072010-05-29T13:28:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:10:50.469-06:00

Computer have been grouped in categories. The categories have obviously evolved with the size of the computer and their technology. First there was the mainframe, followed by the mini-computer, then the desktop. The next set of categories referred to smaller and portable devices like laptops, netbooks, tablets, PDA's, smart phones, gaming devices and mobile gaming devices. I own an iPod Touch

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-57336024938556643422010-05-29T12:43:00.002-06:002010-06-01T14:11:25.109-06:00

The Learning Circuits Blog's Big Question of the Month for May is “What will workplace learning technology look like in 2015?”  Accurately predicting the future is a skill I wish I could have. If I knew that the stock market was going to do or the outcome of a sporting event, I could be writing this blog post from a Caribbean island. Trying to predict technological future is even more difficult.

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-35216009049751638992010-05-27T19:20:00.003-06:002010-06-01T14:11:58.707-06:00

STOP THE PRESSES - The Internet Ceases to Grow!!  Although not completely factual, there is some truth to that headline. When the Internet was developing, back in the 1970's, a numbering system was devised to uniquely identify every device on the Internet. This number is known as an Internet Protocol, or IP, address. (To determine the IP address of your computer, visit http:/www.whatismyip.com)

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-23605598425717697482010-05-26T19:11:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:12:22.992-06:00

Most of the press you hear about technology is bad. You hear about the tons of porn, the predators trying to get your child, hackers poisoning your computer and thieves stealing your identity. Now there is a way to use technology for the good. The Canadian federal government and the wireless providers have teamed up to send AMBER Alert signals to mobile phones. AMBER Alerts are sent when a child

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-47693844977336861082010-05-26T08:37:00.003-06:002010-06-01T14:12:43.390-06:00

SPAM! SPAM! SPAM! We hate it and we all get it. From the emails offering us millions of dollars to the one promising enhancements to that particular part of the male body, spam is not only annoying but it also uses a large amount of bandwidth. The numbers are staggering. Some estimate that spam is responsible for 90% of worldwide email traffic, costing US organizations over $13 billion dollars

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-9552528850387716212010-05-24T21:27:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:12:57.868-06:00

First there were a few .... then more entered the market ... and soon, there will be many more! The cell phone business has been a virtual monopoly in Canada, allowing cell phone providers to charge what ever they want, raising the prices with add-ons like system access charges and forcing us into ridiculously long contracts. Because of the large amount of cell providers in the US and Europe,

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-25836612064417253772010-05-24T14:57:00.002-06:002010-06-01T14:13:25.231-06:00

Bought something from Amazon? Put a bid in on an eBay auction? Paid your bills online? These are all examples of e-commerce known as B2C, or business-to-consumer, Internet transactions. In the case of eBay, the transaction is going from consumer-to-consumer, or C2C. Most people who use the Internet have probably had some experience with e-commerce, but a much larger set of transactions are 

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-88292812151026285782010-05-23T15:07:00.005-06:002010-06-01T14:13:46.887-06:00

Tonight's episode of TV's Fringe will mark the last time that Leonard Nimoy will be seen as an actor. The 79 year old TV legend is retiring from his TV and movie career. Although an accomplished writer, director and photographer, Nimoy will be known forever as the emotionless Mr. Spock on the original Star Trek series, repeating the role in many movies including the 2009 version. In 1997,

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-79415849042198030842010-05-23T12:45:00.002-06:002010-06-01T14:13:59.713-06:00

I've had a couple of blog post about Google and by now, you probably think I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet giant. You are right! They provide a lot of great services to the Internet community but it seems that the US government is taking notice of what appears to be Google trying to take over the Internet (Web Giant Google: Is so big so bad?). Back in the 90's when Microsoft was

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-73065946323237873442010-05-21T18:42:00.005-06:002010-06-01T14:14:24.094-06:00

The Social Networking EnvironmentThe latest set of Web technologies, commonly known as Web 2.0, has given Web users the ability to create and modify live Web content without the need to know Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) and without having the technology to access Web servers. Constructing live Web content is now as easy as creating a word processed document. The ease of

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-35073740797667263452010-05-21T09:43:00.003-06:002010-06-01T14:14:41.231-06:00

Two stories caught my eye this week that I found very alarming. The first was about Google intercepting WiFi signals with its Street View cars. Apparently Google was doing more than just taking pictures of your house for its Street View version of Google Maps (see Google Wi-Fi Breach Spurs Calls For Investigation). They gathered network names and computer information from unsecured wireless

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-62637383093323847602010-05-20T00:26:00.003-06:002010-06-01T14:14:51.795-06:00

Twitter's not growing. It peaked in July of 2009 to 29.2 million users and then dropped to 23.6 million unique users by the end of last year. I've tried to understand the Twitter rage but I just don't. I guess others are losing the need to tweet as well. Although it can be used as a marketing tools, the posts I've seen have had more to do with useless information. Do I really care if you are

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-51926482152677268582010-05-19T21:32:00.003-06:002010-06-01T14:15:02.513-06:00

The behemoth that Google has become is staggering. A company that started as a search engine in March of 1996 made a net income of $6.5 billion for the year 2009. They contributed to the decline of Yahoo and have added to modern pop culture as well as adding another verb to the dictionary. My problem with Google is their rapid expansion. There are many, many Google apps (including the one I'm

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-90014481208779870772010-05-19T11:27:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:15:16.044-06:00

Cloud computing is using applications that are located on remote computers called servers. Some common examples of cloud computing would be Google Apps, DropBox and Microsoft's Workspace. Cloud computing is very convenient as is allow the user to access program and data as long as they have an Internet connection. One issue with cloud computing is privacy. As your data is stored on remote

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-39195030788805126792010-05-18T22:34:00.002-06:002010-06-01T14:15:34.006-06:00

A recent Globe and Mail article reported about a study called Interphone. It sampled 5,100 people, the supposed largest study of its kind, and claims that heavy use of cell phone may increase the risk of tumors. The point made by the study is that frequent cell phone users have a 40% higher chance of glioma, which is a type of tumor that starts in the brain or spine. Forty percent!!! That’s huge

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-57143531687899978952010-05-16T11:54:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:15:43.646-06:00

In a recent article in the Globe and Mail entitled "Less talk, more extra on US cellphones" claimed that, "for the first time in the U.S., the amount of data in text, e-mails, streaming video, music and other services on mobile devices in 2009 surpassed the amount of voice data in cellphone calls". I find this to be an very interested milestone as this marks the day when the cell phone

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-20830425348662516622010-05-15T10:02:00.002-06:002010-06-01T14:15:55.653-06:00

I came across a recent online article by Brian Solis entitled "I Tweet Therefore I Am". Does that imply that because I don't tweet, I am not? I doubt it. I can assure you that I live my life rather nicely, thank you very much. I still don't get it. I have tried to understand the Twitter phenomenon but I just can't. Maybe it's the people I follow. Maybe it's the lack in social relevance I see in

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-55096679057966525332010-05-14T19:31:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:16:14.466-06:00

The way we write and read has changed over the centuries. From people carving on stone to writing hieroglyphics to scrolls. Those methods are now gone. The revolutionary invention of the printing press,again changed the way we communicate. these technique have evolved over time and as technology allowed. Printed material has been a part of our lives for centuries and now we are faces with a new

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-88523637048492244882010-05-13T17:54:00.001-06:002010-06-01T14:16:29.488-06:00

What's with all this "E" stuff? e-learning, e-commerce, e-books, e-business! I know that it's a relatively new way of doing things but haven't we done it all in this way long enough to get rid of the "E". After all, when you go shopping, you don't say - "I'm going m-shopping (for mall) or if you are going to the bookstore to buy a book or magazine, you don't say - I'm going to the r-store (real).

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-31997875126436198182010-05-12T23:47:00.000-06:002010-05-12T23:57:29.745-06:00

Microsoft targets Google with free online version of Office 2010Battle of the giants?? I must admit that I have been a faithful user of Google Docs but have had some frustrations with using it, namely the lack of features in the editors and the rough export features in converting to MS Office.This news excites me. Finally, I'll be able to edit and share documents that are compatible with MS

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8165691247180574539.post-17756821882113811682010-05-12T13:53:00.000-06:002010-05-12T14:05:04.183-06:00

Okay! I have succumb. There is a wealth of information on the Internet and you can find and focus on anything your heart desires. My area if interest in the E world - Whether it is e-business, e-learning, e-commerce, c-collaboration - Everything E. So why have I decided to add to this plethora of information? Well, you see, I have an opinion and I have some knowledge and if you are interested in

Leon Cygmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16170501185290940581noreply@blogger.com0