Knowledge Handler

Information Sources & Information Sifting Techniques

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Location: Independence, Ohio, United States

I am a retired librarian, most recently serving at Indiana Wesleyan University's Cleveland Education Center.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Emotional Intelligence and Being Genuine

Travis Bradberry believes that over half of personal success is due to emotional intelligence (EQ). And that a major component of emotional intellignece is being genuine, which he defines by the following traits:

  • Genuine people don’t try to make people like them.
  • They are open minded and approachable.
  • They forge their own paths.
  • They are generous.
  • They treat EVERYONE with respect.
  • Their happiness comes from within, and from simple pleasures such as family, friends and a sense of purpose.
  • They are trustworthy.
  • They objectively evaluate criticism.
  • They put away their phones when engaged in conversation.
  • They are secure in their self-esteem, encouraging others rather than always talking about themselves or their activities.
  • They are self-aware.

-DD

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Sunday, November 29, 2015

PowerPoint Designer

Blair Frank explains how to use Microsoft's new PowerPoint Designer feature.

-DD

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Saturday, November 28, 2015

Websites Trump Retail Apps

Vijay Ramanan observes that mobile app transactions are far more common in India than in the United States. Ramanan believes that for the foreseeable future websites will be relied upon for commerce , as a Forrester study shows that websites are foundational to the Internet experience, and that apps are perceived as being more biased.

The cited Forrester study shows that 39% of users have only one or two retail apps on their phone, and 21% refuse to download any retail apps (Figure 3). Of those who download mobile apps, 55% use them monthly, rarely or never (Figure 4). So websites are where the majority of consumers go for information.

-DD

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Hazardous 3D Printing

Andy Patrizio reports that 3D printed objects may contain toxins depending on the plastic resin used to construct them. A scientist experimenting with zebra fish found that the fish died after contact with devices made with a 3D printer.

-DD

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Friday, November 27, 2015

Technology Trivia

Josh Fruhlinger offers historical trivia about technology .

-DD

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Thursday, November 26, 2015

worldpopulationhistory.org

WorldPopulationHistory.org

provides a dynamic map illustrating ecological and technological change. -DD

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Email Privacy Techniques

Colin Neagle suggests ways ISIS may be sending concealed messages to its operatives around the world using everyday technology.

-DD

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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Another Person May Have Been Assigned Your SSN

Katherine Noyes cautions readers that "some 40 million SSNs are associated with multiple people ", citing a 2010 press release from ID Analytics. Noyes suggests that U.S. citizens should periodically request a free credit report and review the data for unknown or inaccurate entries.

-DD

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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Microsoft OneDrive as a Cash Source

Gregg Keizer suggests that Microsoft will attempt to convert OneDrive users into paying customers.

-DD

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Monday, November 23, 2015

Nasty Phishing Attacks

Roger Grimes warns that phishing attacks are nastier than ever - and lists ten reasons why.

-DD

 

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Sunday, November 22, 2015

Google Tensor Flow Offers Artificial Intelligence to Apps

Sharon Gaudin highlights a new Google artificial intelligence learning system for apps.

I suspect that at least some of the data it learns about users may be shared with Google for its own purposes.

-DD

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Saturday, November 21, 2015

Securing Wi-Fi

Josh Althuser warns about the dangers of unsecured wi-fi , as there are numerous ways hackers can make a life miserable once they can access your computer.

-DD

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Friday, November 20, 2015

Jon Gold provides a list of easy-to-learn Linux distributions

. -DD

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Thursday, November 19, 2015

Graphic Processor That Learns

Agam Shah reports that the Nvidia corporation has released a new graphic processor unit (GPU) which analyzes and describes visual data . As Shar says "The GPUs will sit in servers where videos are stored and then served to computing devices over the Internet. Software models, analytics and algorithms assist the machine-learning GPUs in classifying, tagging and resizing images" (paragraph 3).

I assume that this technology might also have security applications for physical locations, such as recognizing employees and strangers entering a building. I doubt if the new GPU is as adept at pattern recognition as a skilled human.

-DD

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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Support for Google Chrome Web Browser

Blair Hanley Frank notes that in April, 2016 Google will no longer provide Chrome updates to users of older operating systems such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, and the Machintosh OS 10.8. The manufacturers (Microsoft and Apple) are no longer updating these operating systems, with the result that using the web browser is insecure.

-DD

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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Lucrative Technology Certifications

Rich Hein suggests the most lucrative technology certifications in 2015.

-DD

Educational Apps

Librarian Michelle Luhtala shares her fifty favorite apps for young students.

-DD

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Monday, November 16, 2015

Collaboration in Microsoft Office 2016

Paul Mah tallies the new collaboration features baked into Office 2016.

-DD

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Sunday, November 15, 2015

Microsoft Windows 10 Automatic Download

Andy Patrizio muses on Microsoft's efforts to push Windows 10 on users . Patrizio notes that many users do not want the upgrade, but the files are automatically downloaded anyway.

-DD

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Suggestions for Personal Success

Benjamin Hardy offers tips for personal happiness .

-DD

 

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Saturday, November 14, 2015

Short Text App

Özge Karaoglu shares her experience with using the Short Text app as an educator. From a quick look at the product, it allows the creation of a small web page and an access button. However, I did not see a control to edit or delete posted work, which I find a deficiency in a school or academic environment.

-DD

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Friday, November 13, 2015

Makerspace Movement

Chris Aviles posits that the Makerspace movement is doomed. I agree with him that Makerspace areas in public schools and libraries seem to be unsustainable, and that in the future publicly funded makerspaces will be viewed as an expensive fad. I do think hobbist associations may continue their self-funded workshops, as social ties among the members will promote commitment and fair use of the group Makerspace resources.

-DD

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Search Engine Optimization

James Martin offers fifteen free tools for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

-DD

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Thursday, November 12, 2015

Free Cloud Storage

Brandon Butler guides readers to free cloud storage .

-DD

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Vizio TV Tracks Users By Default

Ms. Smith objects to Vizio's sale of data from smart TV which can result in targeted advertising appearing on all of a customer's mobile devices.

Smith provides steps to opting-out of providing the data to Vizio.

-DD

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Open Source Textbooks

Bob Brown reports a Brigham Young University study indicating that open source textbooks may improve course completion rates.

The study by Fischer, Hilton, Robinson and Wiley (2015) observed a student population of 15,727 students at ten universities, of whom 4,909 used open source materials. There were few disadvantages from using open source materials.

-DD

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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Internet Speed Increments and Worker Productivity

Patrick Nelson reports on research by Bart de Langhe and Stefano Puntoni, which indicates that small percentage increases in internet bandwidth have minimal inpact on worker productivity .

-DD

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Life Hacks in 59 Seconds

Richard Wiseman has developed a series of 59 second videos with suggestions for improving daily routines for health and happiness.

-DD

 

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Monday, November 09, 2015

The Financial Reward of Learning to Code

Melanie Pinola estimates the value of coding bootcamps for those considering such an intense learning experience. Experienced programers see minimal gains in income, while English majors report a huge raise in salary from becoming a programmer. A nice graphic is included in the article.

-DD

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Sunday, November 08, 2015

Phishing Is Hard to Detect

Patrick Nelson notes that users have a difficult time detecting phishing , but are more adept at recognizing malware. This knowledge may help software engineers provide clues when potential malware is detected by the system.

-DD

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Saturday, November 07, 2015

Preston Gralla Evaluates Windows 10

Preston Gralla reacts in this video to Windows 10 . His big gripe is that home and "pro" users have no control over when future automatice updates occur, which could cause problems with other software, including device drivers.

-DD

 

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Friday, November 06, 2015

Scholarly Communication

Bianca Kramer and Jeroen Bosman developed a graphic illustrating developments in scholarly communication which have occured in the past fifteen years.

-DD

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Thursday, November 05, 2015

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA)

Tim Greene reports on U.S. Senate's passage of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which encourages businesses to responsibly share information about flaws in security configurations by limiting liability. Some provisions of the Act still need to be reconciled with a House of Representatives version before the Act can be submitted to the President for approval.

-DD

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Wednesday, November 04, 2015

The Importance of Keeping Software Current

Preston Gralla summarizes the findings of a report on software that is commonly not updated and which contain vulnerabilites to malware or other attacks. The full report can be found here.

Maria Korolov has written a similar article focusing on how outdated instances of Adobe Flash are found on perhaps 80% of the computers in the U.S., creating system vulnerabilities which hackers can attack.

-DD

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Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Wisdom from Computer Programming Experience

Peter Wayner recalls how experience helps computer programmers .

-DD

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Monday, November 02, 2015

The Red Queen

Matt Ridley has written The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. In it he discusses how human culture and human biology are intertwined, and how both are created.

The book's title is based on Lewis Carrol's character, and stresses that change is a part of organic order. I had always wondered why creatures did not reproduce using fission like the amaeba, and discovered that parasites and disease would decimate large, long-lived creatures unless each generation was genetically dissimilar from its parent. I found it a fascinating book.

-DD

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Sunday, November 01, 2015

Maximizing Memorization

Will Thalheimer has analyzed research studies for clues people forget . From reviewing the research, a major key to successful memory retention is spacing the learning over several months. This suggests that accellerated courses may result in substandard retention unless some type of extended review is built into the education process.

-DD

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