For more than 20 years, David Snell’s Tech Talk has been a regular spot on The South Shore’s Morning News on 95.9 WATD fm. At 8:11, David chats with show hosts Rob Hakala and Lisa Azizian about what’s happening in IT today. The subjects range from computer viruses, scams and cybercriminals to what Amazon, Apple or Microsoft are planning next.
He often shares new product information and reviews software that may help you, especially when there is a free version to try!
On this blog, he provides links, sources and other necessary information. And, on the Tuesday before Christmas, you can expect his annual NORAD Santa report!
If you have a question that you’d like him to answer on the show, please email him.
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Fighting back against potentially harmful voice cloning
If a call sounds like your boss (asking for bank account numbers) or your family member (begging for help in an emergency), you’re more likely to act. That’s why scammers use voice [...]
Google’s Chrome browser – private or not?
If you still hold any notion that Google Chrome’s “Incognito mode” is a good way to protect your privacy online, now’s a good time to stop. Those of us using Chrome's Incognito [...]
Another Data Breach to Worry About!
AT&T has finally confirmed it is impacted by a data breach affecting 73 million current and former customers after initially denying the leaked data originated from them. Back in August 2021 they [...]
Data Aggregators
With all the cyber-attacks and data hacks lately, it's becoming more important that consumers take some proactive actions to protect themselves. Data Aggregators collect, compile, and sell our personal information which is [...]
The Change Healthcare Cyberattack
Three weeks ago, on Wednesday February 21st, Change Healthcare, a division of UnitedHealth Group, was hit by a ransomware attack that was devastating by any measure. That cyberattack shut down the largest [...]
Welcome to the Valley of the Creepy AI Dolls
Hyodol's ChatGPT-enabled dolls Social robots for older adults might not be new, but now they’re recording, listening—and even talking back. Last week at MWC (Mobile World Congress) the winner’s prize [...]
“Pig Butchering” Scams Pose Growing Risks to Individuals and Businesses
Behavioral fraud and social engineering scams are getting more dangerous for everyone. Despite the increasingly sophisticated weapons fraudsters have on hand to execute their scams, social engineering tactics remain one of their [...]
Insurance companies are using drones and satellites to monitor our homes
Over the past decade, insurance companies such as Allstate, Nationwide and Liberty Mutual have been using satellite imagery to gather data on their policy holders with homeowner’s insurance. Why are insurers using [...]
OpenAI released its AI text-to-video generator
Last Thursday OpenAI introduced Sora, its premier text-to-video generator, with beautiful, shockingly realistic videos showcasing the AI model’s capabilities. Sora is now available to a small number of researchers and creative types who will [...]
The Attack of the Electric Toothbrushes!
Last week, a widely reported story that 3 million smart, electric toothbrushes were hacked with malware to conduct distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. A Swiss news site published a story stating [...]
Say Hello to RUFUS
The jury's still out on whether generative AI is really the game-changing technology it promises itself to be, but until we find that out, every tech company in the world wants in [...]
Windows 11 Future
When Windows 11 was first released, Microsoft promised to switch to a one big feature update a year cadence (it was 2 for Windows 10 for a few years, one in Spring, [...]
Amazon Changing a Few Services
According to Amazon's latest financial reports the company's current revenue is $554.02 Billion per year. Amazon's gross profit for the twelve months ending September 30, 2023 was $256.202 Billion, a 18.52% increase [...]
Here come the fake AI-generated “news” sites
The fact that we’re heading into another presidential election cycle, we all need to be very wary of “news sites” popping up on the internet. There's an organization called "NewsGuard" which calls [...]
Google Settles $5 Billion Privacy Lawsuit Over Tracking Users in ‘Incognito Mode
This month we celebrate Data Privacy week January 21st – 27th. We make it a month-long celebration by providing helpful tips and information for our family, friends and clients. Google has agreed [...]
Tech Talk – Microsoft hints at some exciting Windows 12 developments
All support for Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education, including security updates, will end for mainstream users on October 14, 2025. Windows 11 original release date was October 5, 2021. Microsoft [...]
Microsoft Copilot: Your everyday AI companion
Ready for Microsoft’s Copilot? The hype around Microsoft’s Copilot solutions has been growing since the company first announced its “Copilot roadmap” in March 2023. For a while, the only way to access [...]
Is Apple’s Namedrop Feature in OS 17 Dangerous?
The Sky is Falling - The Sky is Falling - Apples NameDrop feature in iOS 17 is experiencing a bit of a viral moment. Your iPhone automatically turns on NameDrop with the [...]
Mail theft is on the rise in Massachusetts
On average, the United States Postal Service processes and delivers over 500 million pieces of mail each day. That means, on any given day, an identity thief has many opportunities to steal [...]
OpenAI unveils custom ChatGPT bots.
Now there's a Tech Support Advisor to assist you with tech issues, a Negotiator to help you advocate for yourself, and a Sous Chef to help you cook up recipes with the [...]
AI Executive Order
On Monday, President Biden signed an executive order providing rules around generative AI. The order has eight primary objectives: Create new safety and security standards for AI. Protect consumer privacy. Advance equity [...]
CISA Alert: Adobe Acrobat Reader Vulnerability
Last Tuesday, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) took action by adding a significant security flaw in Adobe Acrobat Reader to its list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. This move was [...]
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month
https://actsmartit.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/ACTSmart_100323.mp3 Within the past week, Pam and I have gotten more phishing emails than usual. One included a QR code to scan with a smartphone and “update” our “oil delivery.” It would have been [...]
ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak!
OpenAI's ChatGPT is getting a major update that will enable the viral chatbot to have voice conversations with users and interact using images, moving it closer to popular artificial intelligence (AI) assistants [...]
Deliver David's Tech Talk to my inbox
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