Tag: technology

Another Certificate Completed

Carl Setzer1 Comment
the word thoughts on a pin board

I’m continuing my technology learnings. Today I finished another step towards my Google IT Support Professional Certificate: The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking. I appreciated both the review, as well as the deeper dive. Perhaps I’m weird, but I think this is rather fun.

The next course is Operating Systems and You. I love exploring command line stuff! It’s amazing how much power and control you have with such tools.

I also am slowly driving forward with my Google Project Management Professional Certificate. My original plan had me completing both by the end of the year. Well, that’s not happening. Basically, I didn’t fully grasp how much work they would take. I’m fine with this, though. However, I see value in refining my focus. I can complete more and with deeper learning if I choose one to focus on.

And that hits on my current thoughts. Which of these two should I focus on for my career path going forward. I spent the pandemic studying Computer Information Systems at Edmonds College, earning an associates degree. I enjoy my studies into the technical realms.

As I look over my career, though, I see projects. I’ve managed many of them, from events to office moves to…well, suffice it to say there’s been a variety. And I really enjoy that work. I’m still pursuing the Google Project Management certificate. Both of these are key elements in my career vision. I love technology, and I love working on projects. I see different business functions and how technology and, for that matter, project tools, add value. I think my space in all this integrates both realms.

Anyway, thanks for humoring my musings. I’m thinking pretty deeply right now on such things as I’m building out my goals and plans for 2024.

Some experiments with AI

Carl Setzer2 Comments
bionic hand and human hand finger pointing

Every time I turn around, there’s a new AI tool. Canva (something of a favorite of mine) recently launched its own AI tool, “Magic Design“. I thought it would be fun to experiment with a quip I thought up this morning.

Having a plan is the most effective way to avoid being swayed by the guile of marketing

So, let’s plug this in and see what comes of it, shall we? To be clear, the text above was the only thing I plugged into the prompt. (I’m using my personal version of Canva, which is the free one, so there are watermarks)

Item 1:

The first thing it came up with is a video, with a focus on planning. Kinda nice, methinks.

Item 2:

This one is a Facebook cover, with a similar motif to the first item. Again, nice.

Item 3:

Another image, this one oriented towards mobile/portrait mode.

One additional item:

Last week, I edited out the postlude from our Sunday service and created its own video on our YouTube channel (check it out here if you’re so inclined). I was feeling a bit pressed for time, so I opted for Magic Design and really liked what it zipped out. I just needed to make a few tweaks and I had something quite usable.

I like what I see so far. With more guidance, I’m confident it would give results better suited for specific needs. What do you think? Are designers going to be impacted by this technology? Or will it simply be incorporated to streamline work flow?

Earned Another Cert: Technical Support Fundamentals

Carl Setzer
back view of a blond woman in an office looking at two computer screens with multicoloured code

I wrote yesterday that I am pursuing the Google Technical Support Fundamentals certificate. Well, I’ve finished that one. It is one of 5 elements in the Google IT Support Professional certification, so I’m solidly on my way. 20% done!

It’s a fun certificate, and I enjoyed diving back into the subject. There’s so much more to learn, though, so I’m pumped to jump into the next one.

Anyone Remember OS/2?

Carl Setzer

Ah, OS/2! In the early 90s, I worked on a project for a Seattle stock brokerage, where we were digitizing key records. And, to be clearer, scanning them. This project’s systems needed OS/2, and it was my first introduction to this operating system.

It wasn’t well known at the point, but I was aware of it’s existence. I was intrigued and interested in exploring it. As I think back, my main takeaway: the system was quite stable. I spent very little time dealing with issues, blue screens, or other bugs. It seemed, in retrospect, to be a solid OS.

I have no recollection of using it anywhere else, even though I spent the 90s working myriad projects with many Seattle area companies. Odd, looking back. Odd.

YouTube’s algorithm served this video up today: “The Fall of OS/2”.

It provides lots of insights into how the product failed. And, the story doesn’t paint IBM of the 90s in a good light. It seems the main factors are marketing and leadership incompetence, exacerbated by some petty internal politics. These seem to have been larger factors that Microsoft’s efforts.

I haven’t thought about OS/2 in years. After watching this video, I lament its loss. What would the modern OS environment look like if we’d had a viable non-Microsoft OS on x86 systems? Sadly, we’ll never know.

Microsoft Security Issue

Carl Setzer2 Comments
woman in black hoodie holding a bank card

Over the past few days, I’ve been receiving multiple emails from Microsoft’s Account Team with single-use codes. At first, I assumed that my son or wife was trying to access the account. And the folks at Microsoft added the text “If you didn’t request this code, you can safely ignore this email. Someone else might have typed your email address by mistake.” But I started to get concerned as the number of these messages increased and no one said “hey dad, I can’t get in the Office”. Finally, I decided it was time to figure out what was going on.

So, I first logged into my Microsoft account (account.microsoft.com) and went to the security panel. From there I opened “View My Activity”.

What I saw alarmed me. There multiple attempts to log in from places like Vietnam and Guyana.

Now, I was pretty confident in my account’s security. I update my password regularly and use a strong password. And when I looked at the “session activity” it states that “incorrect password entered”. Which seems pretty solid. I’m pretty sure that an old password has been leaked from a data breach and is in some list available on the dark web.

But I think it’s not adequate. Exploring further, I realize that I had not yet enabled two-factor authentication, nor connected it to my authentication app. So, I fixed that promptly. I firmly believe everyone really should do these steps for all their account. Do you know where to do that? I thought I’d help out by adding the steps.

One enables that from the Advanced security panel.

I encourage all of you to make sure your security settings are using the most up-to-date protocols:

  • Multifactor authenication
  • Authentication Apps
  • Pass Keys

Also, I opted to sign out of EVERY app. Yeah, it’s a bit of a pain, but I don’t want to have my information compromised. I like that I can do that from the control panel.

Anyway, we really can’t be too safe on today’s internet, can’t we?

Have you seen a spike in Microsoft Single Use Code emails that are not from you? Let me know in the comments.

Oh, Lord…LastPass

Carl Setzer

I’ve used LastPass for several years now. Even through a couple of data breaches. But this latest saga, especially with the, *ahem*, lack of transparency in their communications eroded my trust in the app. After looking over several options (if you’re looking, check out PCMag’s list of Best Password Managers), I opted for NordPass.

With all that, yesterday, this video came into my YouTube feed:

If you’re still on LastPass, why!?

It’s a rather snarky rendition of how LastPass failed in their security controls. Anyway, it reminded me of my frustrations with them. I was willing to turn a blind eye to many of their issues due, well, laziness. Porting to a new provider was going to be a pain the…you know. However, a friend of mine’s information was released in this hack, and it was brutal. This was the tipping point for me, watching the impact of this for a friend’s business.

This finally motivated me to shift to Nordpass. It turned out that the transition was nowhere near as hard as I imagined. So, so far, I find the tool works fine and have no problem recommending them. It’s only based on a few weeks of experience, though. I’ll keep exploring it further.

Anyway, I hope you have great weekend plans.

DNA, Technology and Unintended Consequences

Carl Setzer

From Wired Magazine: “There’s No Such Thing as Family Secrets in the Age of 23andMe”

This looks at the fascinating intersection of biological tech with democratized data, laden with so many “unintended consequences” in the DNA market (is it right to call this a “market”?).

I believe there was no way to guess these issues would come up when humanity first developed medical insemination. DNA databases and the commodification of DNA data: I doubt we could’ve guessed this coming about 10 years ago, much less in the 1970s.

Many, many questions, so few answers. The way forward seems murky. I guess it always is.

Surveillance and Culture

Carl Setzer

In my Human Relations class we’re discussing corporate surveillance. In one of my responses I brought up my concern about how companies, tracking their employees, are then responsible for securing that data. In response, one of my classmates shared this video with me that’s quite relevant. As he described it, it’s a 20-minute Socratic exploration into data security and social surveillance. Some very interesting discourse, for me at least. Powerful questions to ask as technology’s ability to track our every move grows daily.