Category: Opinion
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Book review: Mortality
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens first appeared in 2012. It’s been sitting on one of my bookshelves for quite some time because something held me back from reading it. Hitchens wrote it when he “lived dyingly” as he put it, from esophageal cancer. That alone should be enough to tell you that it isn’t light reading,…
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The Social Dilemma
People who know me, know not to get me started on the dangers of using the internet. If you do make that mistake, you’ll get a string of cautions about using social media, how you are being tracked and profiled and how you are being sold. Even worse, you are manipulated without knowing it. However,…
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I hate Microsoft Word
It’s true, I’m no fan of Microsoft. Perhaps it’s the tactics they use to do business. Certainly it’s the invasion of user privacy they perpetrate with Windows 10 and their Office products. It was their insistence that a server needs a graphical interface. It’s absolutely the multitude of vulnerabilities in their software. As a private…
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Nostril-cam
It’s an odd time, this corona pandemic. In developed nations such as the Netherlands, we are suddenly discovering that we didn’t need all those shiny office buildings after all. Thanks to our broadband internet infrastructure, we are videoconferencing the hell out of everything. Unfortunately, it also puts some annoying design decisions into the spotlight.
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A nightmare but also a chance
As the current corona pandemic continues to claim victims, the pressure is on governments to do everything they can to stop it. To help prevent the spread of the virus, governments employ technology. That in itself is a good thing but there are also privacy concerns in the battle against corona. Once we get the…
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Corona virus
Seems like the world is in the grip of the corona virus at the moment. I should probably use the more accurate moniker COVID-19 (and not “Chinese virus”). I don’t know about you, but this pandemic has me scared. I’m not that scared about the disease itself, although that’s certainly a cause for concern. No,…