I’m shopping for a new printer. Mine has developed a disturbing tendency to have paper jams and it give me error messages even when it’s printing fine. But as I scrolled looking at new models, I had a throwback thought to my first printer – which was dot matrix.
Ah the good old days! My first printer was actually more of a typewriter than what we would call a printer now. It had a full keyboard that I typed my work into and then you could review line by line on a little screen before you hit the print button. I’m not sure it was cutting edge tech when I bought it but I really loved it at the time. It was smaller than a typewriter and I could print as many copies of the last document I typed as I liked. Makes me giggle now!
I think it’s fun to look back at the tech I thought was so cool when it came out. That first printer? My first cell phone? My Palm Pilot? All of them are funny to think about now. And what about software? I’m REALLY glad I’m not using Word Perfect anymore! Or dial up internet!
Do you think the day will come that I’ll be laughing about my HP Envy printer? Because right now, it’s just frustrating! Let me know if you have a recommendation for a good home printer in the comments please?
On this day in 1858, the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was linked up allowing messages to be sent from the United States to England. By August 16th, President Buchanan and Queen Victoria had exchanged messages – but by the beginning of September, the cable broke and no more trans-Atlantic messages were possible until 1866.
It’s hard to imagine what life was like in the telegraph age now isn’t it? I’ve only ever seen 1 actual telegraph message. Have you seen one in real life?
I used to tease my Grandma about all the technological advancements she saw in her life. She was born in the horse and buggy days and saw beginning of the automotive age. She saw telephones go from party lines to private lines to cell phones. She saw the dawn of TV and lived to see cable TV. She saw the beginning of commercial air travel – and the son of one of her friends walk on the moon.
In my own lifetime, tech has just continued to accelerate. At my first job in NYC at a Madison Avenue ad agency, there were 40 of us that shared 3 computers! Now, I carry around more computing power in my cell phone than those computers had! I’ve gone from green screens to being able to create my own interfaces. And I’m watching AI unfold now. Crazy isn’t it? Cannot wait to see what comes next!
Want to know more about telegraphs? Check out these links!
So over the weekend, Xfinity came and replaced my router with a new – more secure – one. So with EVERYTHING changed clear down to my IP address, I’m feeling back to normal after my brush with the hacker.
My NEW router!
I’d encourage all of you to talk with your internet provider and make sure your equipment is up to date. Turns out my old router wasn’t as secure as I would have hoped – even before my stupidity in falling for a hack. It was well over 5 years old – and with the way tech goes, that’s ancient! The new one has a new layer of security in the hardware and other bells and whistles that I hope will keep me protected now.
Did you know the first WiFi router was introduced for regular consumers in 1997? Seems strange that they’ve only been in common use for less than 30 years doesn’t it? If you got your router in 2019 or before, odds are it isn’t giving you all the speed/capacity all the devices in your house want. In 2019, the standard for changed from WiFi 5 to WiFi 6 – resulting in a speed increase of almost 300%! The new WiFi 6 standard also introduced the 5GHz band in addition to the 2.4GHz band which WiFi had been limited too – so less congestion for devices in addition to more speed. I counted up all the internet connected devices in my house over the weekend – I live alone and I currently have over 30 devices attached to WiFi in my house! Imagine how many more devices you have now than you had 5 years ago and you get yet another reason to check the equipment you use for WiFi and make sure it’s up to date.
The job search is heating up (with the weather?) too! Last week, I had an informal interview for a role that isn’t even posted yet! The hiring manager heard about me as a result of interviewing well for a job I didn’t get. I have a couple other things moving too – so keep your fingers crossed!
First, when traveling make sure you are taking good care of yourself. The stomach bug I brought back from Italy was accompanied by a really stubborn, horrible cold. I’m coughing, hacking, sneezing and sniffling like it’s mid-winter.
Second, I have a rather embarassing tale to tell about why I have been off-line a lot of this week. Tuesday morning was such a beautiful morning that I took myself out for a walk right after I got up. But with the cold, I may have pushed myself a little too hard – the last 1/2 mile to get home, I felt like I was walking through waist deep pudding. And I had only taken 2 tissues – which was definitely not enough! So between the cold pills and feeling weird after my walk, I laid down for a little bit – only to be awakened by my phone.
Given that I’m on a job search – and that I’m in the interview process! – I answer my phone much more regularly than I used to. Normally, most calls I get during the day are people offering me car warranties or cleaning services or financial services but since there is the chance right now that it could be a prospective new employer, I answer! The call that woke me up was from an 800 number and the caller identified himself as being from the fraud team at Xfinity. To my credit, I asked him how I knew he was from Xfinity – and he sent an email to me that had a real Comcast service email address when I checked it out to see if it was a scam email.
The story I was told was that they were seeing a great deal of activity on my WiFi router that seemed fraudulent. They asked me to go to my router and tell them what lights were on and what color they are. Then they asked me to get on my computer and they gave me a web address to go to so that we could check the settings for my router. Next thing I knew, they asked me to download software – and I fell for it. Over the next 1/2 hour or so, he asked me to try to track down a fraudulent charge by looking through my bank accounts. But I have 2 factor sign in on all my bank accounts so he wasn’t getting what he wanted and became increasingly agitated with me. When the threats started, I Googled the name of the software I downloaded (AnyDesk) on my phone and realized I was being scammed. The threats escalated to physical as well as to ruin me digitally so I hung up and called the police.
While I was waiting for the police to come, I pulled the plug on my router and used my phone to change my password for my AppleID and began changing every password for all of my financial websites. After the police took my report and reassured me that the physical threats were likely just to scare me, I called Xfinity and got my IP address changed. Incidentally, my router is so old that they are sending me a new, more secure router to install.
I also filed a report with the FTC on their scam site. It likely won’t help anything but at least I reported the phone number that the call came from.
Yesterday, I spent quality time at the Genius Bar at my local Apple store where they checked my computer for malware. I had deleted the AnyDesk software, but wanted someone else to take a look as well. And changing my AppleID password weirded out my iPhone so they fixed the issue with that while I was there.
I’m checking all my financial information at least once a day but I really believe that the 2 factor authorization I have on almost all my accounts is what saved me from what could have been a disaster. So the moral to my cautionary tale? Given the right circumstances, we are ALL vulnerable to scammers and hackers. They have gotten increasingly sophisticated and can really make you buy into their lies. So make sure you question things that seem weird, are using strong passwords, and that you use 2 factor or biometric authorizations for extra security.
Is fabulous when it works isn’t it? I’m having one of those days where it isn’t working as well as I would like.
I got a new Apple Airtag to put in my purse for my upcoming vacation – and it just would not pair to my iPhone. I went online and got the routine to use to reset the tag: take the battery out and replace it – hear a sound. Repeat 4 more times and it should make a different sound signifying the tag is ready to pair. I took out the battery and replaced it dozens of times with no change in the sound. I even tried a different battery! So I did a chat with Apple and of course as I was typing in the serial number of the airtag and the version of iOS my phone is running, it took off and paired. UGH!!!
Then I replaced the ink cartridges in my printer – and I kept getting an error message with the new ink. That resolved after I shut down the printer and restarted it.
Which brings me to this blog post. Apparently I need to shut my computer down more because I couldn’t get a new post form to come up until I restarted my computer. Sigh…..
Makes me slightly afraid of what the rest of the day might hold? LOL! Hope your Monday is off to a good start!
Learn Or Do 