Tech Talk / By Martha Knight

Last July I was still pondering loud motorcycles, and the sorts of people who enjoy the noise more than the ride.

I pointed out that Macintosh operating systems, OSs, all the OS-Xs named for cats and parks, have bugs. On cats we could think of them as fleas; in the parks they might be ticks and skeeters. But they weaken the immunity of Mac systems just as Windows glitches do to PCs, and they require patching. We all need protection from malware.

YOYOW, or simply YOYW, we used to say at Electric Minds, one of the first online communities. You Own Your Own Words, or You Own Your Words. That concept was, and is, being challenged by some social media giants that want to harvest, aggregate and sell what we users post. Perhaps it will be clarified by court decisions or legislation.

Fascination with 3D printing had set in. I was a fan just from reading about it.

What to do about malware and its increasing power and ubiquity had me fretting. I recommended MalwareBytes. It’s free.

I exhumed some ads and reviews from 1997 for then-cutting-edge printers. Color lasers! $130,000 a pop! There was a Canon for half that. Electronic and digital tech get better all the time, and less expensive! In what other fields is this the case?

In mid-August I disagreed with those who assert we learned more and better in the good old days, before computers and standardized tests.

Next I was intrigued by emerging technology that could restore vision to the blind and improve it for the nearly-blind. I hope it become widely available soon. From my mouth to God’s ear…

Do we really know clouds at all? We are seeing them from both sides now. I hope readers were humming the tune when I talked about services, storage, servers, communications and other cumulative cumulus.

In September I wrote about the niche market for technology—Small Office Home Office, or SOHO.

In September I mentioned Cell Lockup, a device that imprisons cell phones and tablets for set periods of time. Imagine entire dinnertimes going by, with the family communicating f2f and no one intruding electronically!

Apple iPhone 6 was launched, along with new payment methods for consumers whereby waving a smartphone at checkout will accomplish the purchase.

Solar energy produced on school roofs, and green roofs on school (and other) buildings were ideas I recommended for consideration here.

What to do with garbage was a problem for which I presented some available solutions in October. Anaerobic digestion, compression, composting, distillation and energy production can be parts of the solution.

A geek convention in Israel, and geek camps and contests, the Bash shell and Shellshock intrusions were topics.

Challenges to cable television by internet television were discussed, and so were bundling practices. If you are thinking of the quaint courtship practices of our ancestors, stop that! Think about how companies court consumers with discounts based on buying combinations of items or services.

Playel and Peugeot’s collaboration to produce a stunning new acoustic grand piano had me marveling. I want one! I will put up the top, drape a tarp over it and live under it.

November found me mentioning artisanal ice, building a computer from a Kano kit, and how to do desktop publishing without Adobe and have an office suite without Microsoft Office.

The chip wars between Intel and AMD were reviewed, along with a covert contest for market share between Intel and itself.

Of course I was excited about the new 3D printer now in use by the technology instruction department in our high school. Teacher Doug Dickerson showed it off to the school board, press and public. We all were impressed. The printer is quite compact. I should be able to fit one into my living space under the Player-Peugeot grand piano, especially if the piano is a 12-foot concert grand.

What, we have to pay to be billed? Zito Media will charge its customers for mailed bills, but will bill us by email for free. Customers gave me their opinions of that change. I can sum them up as , “Arrggh.” (We can’t actually quote some of them in a family newspaper.)

Hybrid waste trucks (natural gas and diesel) in use elsewhere caught my eye.

December found me saying Cyber Monday might not be the best time to buy electronics and techy stuff for yourself, and grouching about S&H, shipping and handling, and mentioning some nifty gifties.

Christmas lights, trees and music, then and now, were discussed.

I praised the Nextbook E-Fun hybrid tablet-notebook and the HP Stream II were praised. Dragon 12 was available at NewEgg for $40, or free AMIR (after mail-in rebate). This must mean Version 13 is in the pipeline, I said. Did I lie?

Finally, I reminisced about command line interfaces, especially DOS, and Douglas Engelbart’s invention of the computer mouse. Also, I fulfilled a reader’s request for a list of Ctrl-and-something keyboard shortcuts. We’ll do something with Alt soon. (In the Mac world those would be Command and Option.  No Control freaks in Cupertino, right?)