If you’ve thought that Amazon has been especially busy with the advent of the global pandemic, you wouldn’t be wrong. It’s on track to deliver…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #679: The pandemic has failed to slow down Amazon’s innovations
Author archive for: laurasolomon
OPLIN 4Cast #677: Reality is turning digital as the pandemic wears on
Posted in 4cast, and Virtual reality
Until recently, VR has widely been considered a niche purely for a specific type of gamer. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the technology is seeing more advancements and further adoption in other areas, outside of gaming. Oh, and AR (augmented reality, like Pokemon Go), has been getting a big boost, also.
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #677: Reality is turning digital as the pandemic wears on
My teenage son has been using the chat/voice app Discord for some time, in order to communicate with his gaming buddies and even some of…
OPLIN 4Cast #673: Big tech denies facial recognition to police, but is that enough?
Posted in 4cast, and facial recognition
Last week, IBM sent shockwaves through the tech world when it announced that it was leaving the facial recognition market entirely. The reasons cited centered…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #673: Big tech denies facial recognition to police, but is that enough?
With the protests and riots happening around the country this week, a controversial surveillance tool has again taken center stage. Known commonly as “stingrays,” these…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #671: Stingray surveillance tools back in the spotlight
We’ve certainly covered drones before on the 4cast, but the COVID-19 pandemic has begun to highlight some of their capabilities; in some cases, those capabilities…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #699: The pandemic has put the spotlight on drones
You don’t need me to tell you that technology has been mission critical as we all self-isolate during the pandemic. I’ve little doubt that most…
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #695: Pandemic forces new ways of using technology
Thanks to the pandemic, and the fact that it is now free, video conferencing app Zoom is pretty much everywhere. Even my mother-in-law, who is in her 80s, has learned how to use it from her phone for church meetups (and this is someone who can’t even search Google). If you have somehow managed not to use this platform yet, it’s probably just a matter of time.
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #693: Zoom is free, but comes with significant headaches
But, with the advent of COVID-19 and the need for social distancing and self-isolation, many people are just now becoming acquainted with working from home. As expected, some aspects can be more challenging than others.
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #690: As more people telecommute, more challenges arise
Now, in 2020, not having a mobile-friendly website is practically unthinkable, especially since more than half of site visitors are looking at the web via their cell phones. But Google is taking things to their inevitably conclusion: its webcrawlers are now indexing by mobile-first.
Read MoreOPLIN 4Cast #689: Google’s “mobile first” strategy isn’t new, but now it’s final