Category: Technology

WTAM 1100 – 911 Texting & Tech Support Phone Scammers

 
WTAM 1100 Newsradio Cleveland OhioThis week, I spoke to Bill Wills on WTAM 1100 Newsradio about how the national wireless carriers are going to enable the use of “text-to-911” to allow 911 emergencies to be reported through the standard text messaging system on your mobile phone.

While the carriers will be supporting the service, only a select few local city emergency systems are setup to access that network. Visit the FCC’s Text-to-911 page for more information.

I also brought up the continuing threat of phone scammers pretending to be your tech support company. The Geek Squad Blog has more details on this ongoing attempt to fool the public into giving criminals access to their systems.

Statistically Cool Helmet from Icon

Otte Helmet Impact Diagram

Motorcycle riders may have seen this helmet diagram before in discussions about motorcycle safety. It comes from a safety study by Dr. Dietmar Otte and shows where impacts were recorded on motorcycle helmets during researched crashes. It’s a strong argument for a full-face helmet, with nearly 35% of crashes involving an impact to the chin area.

A few years back, gear maker Icon made a one-off of their new Airframe Construct helmet with Dr. Otte’s diagram printed on it. They wanted to highlight how their helmets are built with those impact numbers in mind and have an extra layer of protective material around the chin area.

Icon Construct Airframe Helmet

Clearly, the design has been much requested by Icon’s market, because the company will be bringing the Icon 1000 Airframe Statistic Helmet to stores soon.

Icon 1000 Airframe Statistic Helmet

Here’s a preview from Revzilla:

WTAM 1100 – Heartbleed & Windows XP

 
WTAM 1100 Newsradio Cleveland OhioTwo topics dominated tech news last week, with the new Heartbleed security vulnerability hitting web servers and the end of consumer Windows XP support by Microsoft.

I spoke to Bill Wills of Cleveland’s WTAM 1100 Newsradio about what regular users can do to protect themselves.

Cleaning the Mobile Germ Warehouse

Your mobile gadgets go everywhere with you, and when you’re handling your smartphone or tablet on a daily basis, they can be a common carrier for unknown germs. I contributed to a New York Times article on how to protect and clean your mobile devices that may help reduce the number of Winter colds you might get while on the go.