I know that some of you love your little smart voice assistant and some of you hate the idea of technology “listening” to your every word – if you’re in the latter camp then maybe this month’s article isn’t for you.
I love Alexa and we have several of them in our home. Yes, they “listen” to everything we say but they don’t “understand” anything until we talk directly to her by using the “wake up” name, then she very usefully does a whole range of things that we have set up in advance. Read this entire article »
In an online world we are all more connected than ever before. For all of us, especially businesses, sometimes this is a helpful thing but also it can be a dangerous thing, unfortunately it’s the latter that I am discussing in this article.
We all know about password security but sometimes in our busy working lives we ignore the potential dangers because “everything is ok”, and we are busy getting on with day-to-day things, however occasionally problems can arise because of our lack of vigilance. We all have so many accounts nowadays (email, Facebook, What’s App, MyFitnessPro etc.) it’s very tempting to use the same details across all of them. Read this entire article »
It’s a common problem – one I see and hear about practically every day. You turn on your computer to check your emails and enter your username and password, (or maybe your computer has this automatically saved but this morning it’s asking you for your details). This morning, whatever you type in, the “computer says no!” Read this entire article »
In Spain the easiest way to access electronic services (SUMA, DGT, etc.) is through a digital certificate. This is a small, secure file that is usually issued to you on request through your town hall, police station or other “official” location (check your local area for where they are issued). Read this entire article »
With more and more connected devices in our homes (phone, tablet, laptop, computer and now even TV for lots of us) it’s becoming more necessary for us to have a good, reliable Wi-Fi connection throughout the house and even out into the garden for those long hot, Facebook messenger filled nights!
Whilst many of you have nice fast broadband internet connections, I am still hearing complains about the range of those networks. People are telling me that their Wi-Fi is great in the living room but maybe in the bedroom it’s not great and outside is almost impossible to use. Read this entire article »
If, like me, you have no idea where all your money goes – I think that gremlins break in at night and steal it all personally, usually after I’ve had too many vino tintos!
I’ve started to use a tool that allows me to track what I’ve spent and where and I’ve found it quite useful. It also allows me to share the expenses with Liesl, so we can both add items to each of the categories as we spend, and then we can see an amalgamated categorised summary by month. Read this entire article »
This month we cover the tricky ( and not very happy) subject of what happens to your social media account when you die. I know, none of us like to think about it but one of the things that does upset me is seeing Facebook notifications (birthdays etc.) from the accounts of people that I know have passed away. It’s a sad reminder that things carry on regardless of whether we’re around or not but if you decide what you want to happen before the event then at least your loved ones can close your accounts when you’ve gone. Read this entire article »
I receive emails and phone calls every day from worried people all around the Costa Blanca, asking whether the email they have just received from Microsoft, Yahoo, Adobe, Apple (insert any company name you like here), is legitimate. Of course, the honest answer is “I don’t know without looking at it”. Most of these emails are so sophisticated and look so much like the real thing that it’s almost impossible to tell whether the one you’ve just received is a scam, spam or legitimate so this month I hope to give you some pointers in order to help you figure out truth from fiction.
Nowadays, we are so used to being able to connect wirelessly from our phones / tablets / computers that it´s hard to believe that not so verylong ago Wi-Fi was a thing of science fiction. We’re so connected nowadays that we expect it to work in every part of our homes from our beds to pretty much anywhere we happen to be sitting in, around or outside our houses. Read this entire article »
In the “online world” that we live, I hear two different stances when talking to people about accessing and managing their money online, some – old school – say “I never buy anything online nor do I use online banking” whilst others confidently assert that “it’s safe and easy, I’ve never had a problem”. So what is the truth? As always, the truth is somewhere in between these two extreems.
Read this entire article »