TechBytes Weekly

It's all about making connections. Imagine being able to just tap the wall to turn on a light or turn a table into a musical instrument. Just another sci-fi movie effect? Not if you're using special conductive paint. Bare Conductive, based in London, is making it possible to create electrical circuits by simply using a paintbrush and their paint. When you add a circuit board and a switch or a computer, that's when the magic happens. Claudia Romeo explains the concepts in this article and an accompanying video from Business Insider . Bare Conductive's paint is able to conduct electricity because it includes small particles of carbon, which are good electrical conductors. Supporting Web Links A conductive sound wall Video: Designer uses conductive paint to customize instruments for musicians with disabilities Video: Color-Changing Fabric With Conductive Thread Electrick: Low-Cost Touch Sensing Using Electric Field Tomography File #002 – The Case Of The Broken

Understanding your options. When it comes to the physical ports on your computer, the choices are fewer than they used to be in earlier years. SCSI, PS/2, and parallel ports may be long gone, but that doesn't change the fact that there can still be some confusion regarding which port to use for which device. There are multiple types of display ports and this article from Michael Brown of PCWorld discusses the pros and cons of two of them - HDMI and DisplayPort . Meanwhile, the Thunderbolt port, originally found on Apple computers, is making its way to other devices. Tyler Lacoma from Digital Trends provides some useful information about what Thunderbolt does . Meanwhile, for some handy advice on USB-C , check out this article from Windows Central by Jerry Hildenbrand. Supporting Web Links High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) Facts Computer Ports and Connectors Infographic: Ultimate Chart of Computer Connectors and Ports A Guide to Computer Ports and Adapters

Do you have what it takes? Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and forms - some are young, some are old. Some have awesome tech skills, while others have a great idea and know how to find the people with the tech skills to bring it to life. In this Forbes magazine article Parmy Olson reports on a young man and the robots he created . Silas Adekunle was 25 years old when he met with Apple to display the robot he created and called MekaMon. What began as a 15 minute meeting has turned into a successful distribution deal with Apple. Adekunle's MekaMon robots are being offered in Apple stores and sold as battle-bots. Part of his success is due to the robots' quality, animation, and affordability. But another part is due to timing - these robots also use augmented reality - an area in which Apple is very interested. Supporting Web Links MekaMon: from a handmade prototype to Apple's shelves in just four years Mekamon MekaMon is an AR robot that you control using your sma

It's never too early to start changing the world. What were you doing when you were 14? Emma Yang, age 14, started coding when she was 6. Now she is launching an app named Timeless, which she designed to help her grandmother, and others like her, who are battling Alzheimer's. The app helps users recognize the people they are speaking with through facial recognition technology. Jim Axelrod of CBS News interviewed Emma for this video and the accompanying article. Meanwhile, in Washington state, a third grader is championing the use of assistive technology. Kaleb Ries is visually impaired. Although he can read enlarged print, he has learned how to read Braille, partly through a variety of tech devices. Kaleb uses text-to-speech technology with his iPad, screen reader software, and a special computer, the BrailleNote, to convert his Braille into text that others can read. He recently addressed his school board to encourage them to continue supporting technology, reading from

How can you help? Is it possible to create a better Internet? Last week, countries and people all over the world stepped up to say "Yes!" February 6 was Safer Internet Day (SID), an annual event that began about 10 years ago in Europe, and has spread to over 100 countries worldwide. This year's theme was "Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you." The U.S. Safer Internet Day site includes special programs for school children and the adults in their lives and also archives information about activities from previous years. This year's event emphasized media literacy and avoiding cyberbullying. The event is sponsored by a number of familiar organizations including Google, Symantec, and Twitter. While the day focuses on helping younger children use the Internet safely and interact with others in a respectful manner, it's a lesson that is just as applicable to the rest of us as well. And, although this year's event is ov

Here's a good way to get your feet wet. There are lots of tools that allow you to create your own website, but creating a site and having it go live so it can be viewed on the web are two separate things. In some cases, uploading your site to a web hosting company is a good option. But, selecting a web hosting company has its own drawbacks. Free hosting companies can be hard to find, may be unreliable, and are often full of unwanted and distracting advertisements. Stepping up to a paid service can come with a higher price tag, especially if the site you want to create isn't destined to be a professional or commercial site. So, how can you easily and affordably host your own site? In this article from Make Use Of, Joel Lee discusses the pros and cons of using your own cloud storage site to host a simple, static website. Lee explains how to use a service like DropPages or DriveToWeb to host a site on Dropbox, Google Drive, or One Drive. Lee advises that this is not the rig

Security standards are getting an upgrade. What's 15 years old and probably on most of your digital devices? If you answered WPA2, you'd be right. Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2) is the security protocol most networks use. It's been around since 2003 and although it's been updated over the years, it's starting to show its age. Recent reports have shown that WPA2 has a security vulnerability that may leave devices open to hackers. Dawn Kawamoto of Dark Reading reports on the Wi-Fi Alliance's recent announcement at CES in which they introduced new enhancements to WPA2 and also introduced a new security protocol - WPA3. The Alliance advises that the enhancements for WPA2 will probably be unnoticed by most users but will affect authentication, encryption, and configuration. While WPA3 is based on WPA2, it also has new features that will provide increased security. These include additional protection for users with weak passwords and improved privacy for open

Protecting a company's network is big business. For a company, protecting their network is critical. Threats come in all shapes and sizes and can originate externally or internally. The use of User and Entity Behavior Analytics tools (UEBA) can help companies monitor activity on the network and respond to internal threats. In this article for CSO , Ryan Stolte examines various insider threats UEBA can help to identify and prevent. Stolte divides internal threats into four different categories - malicious insiders, non-malicious insiders, repeat offenders, and compromised credentials. By using UEBA to monitor user behavior, companies can identify unusual or risky activity. These tools can help companies avoid stolen data due to collusion, flag users exhibiting risky behavior, and prevent data theft by employees that may be leaving the company. Supporting Web Links What is User and Entity Behavior Analytics? A Definition of UEBA, Benefits, How It Works, and More How busine