Author: Mike

Providing IT support and solution to small and medium businesses. Servicing Edinburgh, Livingston, Fife and surrounding areas. Responsive, Flexible, Professional and friendly local support.

Tech Giants Requested To Cease Kids Ads

In an open letter to Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, MPs, academics, and campaigners have asked the big tech companies to stop targeting children with personalised advertising. Global Action Plan The letter has been published online by Global Action Plan (GAP) which is a charity that campaigns on primarily environmental issues but also believes…
Read more

Just What Is The IoT?

With a vast and growing number of business, industry, consumer and civic IoT devices and systems now being used, we look at their advantages, the threats to the IoT and how we move forward in a way that maximises the benefits and security. The Internet of Things (IoT) IoT devices are those devices that are…
Read more

Voice-Control Your Printer

Amazon has announced its new ‘Printing With Alexa’ service that allows owners of Echo devices to operate their printer using voice commands. Print What? Printing With Alexa allows the simple “Alexa, print….” followed by what the user requires to produce a printed document.  Amazon says that the kinds of things that can be printed this…
Read more

Ensure What You See Is Real

With the internet and particularly social media awash with pictures, videos, news, and other content which may not be all that it seems, here is a guide to spotting fake news and content. Misinformation There are a number of sources and motivations for publishing content, misleading stories/misinformation/disinformation/’fake news’, photos and videos that are not what…
Read more

Microsoft Ending Support For Flash

Microsoft has announced that it is ending support for the Adobe Flash Player on Microsoft Edge (new and legacy) and Internet Explorer 11 at the end of 2020. Flash Initially released in 1996, Adobe Flash Player is software for using content created on the Adobe Flash platform and Flash Player can run from a web…
Read more

Elon Musk Demonstrates ‘Neuralink’ Using Live Pigs

Tesla-founder and SpaceX boss Elon Musk gave an update on the progress of his Neuralink project using live pigs with the device implanted. What Is Neuralink? The Neuralink idea is to create an implantable device that can act as an interface between the human brain and a computer.  The hope is that the device could…
Read more

Delivery Drones Get Go Ahead

Amazon’s Prime Air drone parcel delivery service has been approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to test autonomous delivery drones. Prime Air Amazon Prime Air completed its first fully autonomous drone delivery as far back as 7 December 2016 and describes the service as “a future delivery system from Amazon designed to safely get…
Read more

Making Your Router Secure

With your router in charge of all incoming and outgoing Internet traffic and controlling the Wi-Fi network for your devices, it makes sense to make it as secure as possible. Routers Your router is the device that connects your computer and other devices to a network and, via a service provider, to the Internet.  A…
Read more

Record Broadband Compensation Pay-Outs

Ofcom’s annual report shows that a record-breaking £20.7m in compensation was paid to broadband customers under the new automatic compensation scheme in the last six months of 2019. The Automatic Compensation Scheme Back in November 2017, Ofcom announced that broadband and landline customers would, under a planned new scheme (in two years) automatically be able…
Read more

Can Wearable Devices Spot Early Symptoms of COVID?

As wearable devices such as fitness wristbands and watches track signs such as body temperature, could they be used to help detect the early signs of COVID-19 infection and thereby help public health responses? Testing There are now many ‘wearables’ (health and fitness related devices) on the market such as Fitbits (and other fitness-tracking wristbands),…
Read more