Tech Commentary – Tech Conscious https://techconscious.info Sat, 12 May 2018 10:13:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://i0.wp.com/techconscious.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/cropped-smalllogo-1-2.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Tech Commentary – Tech Conscious https://techconscious.info 32 32 104384347 Why It May Not Be A Good Idea To Click On The First Link In A Google Search Result https://techconscious.info/why-it-may-not-be-a-good-idea-to-click-on-the-first-link-in-a-google-search-result/ Sun, 25 Feb 2018 17:34:01 +0000 https://techconscious.info/?p=252 I know that this will be a very controversial post, due to the fact that it goes against everything that has been taught about search at least for the past 15 years. But hear me out on this one. Recently, Google and other search engines have made changes to the layout of the first page of their search results. The changes that are being made is that they are putting more and more paid ads on that first results page.

But before we continue, I want to explain to you how advertisements work on the Internet and how it ties together to this post. Google AdWords is Google’s advertising system in which advertisers bid on certain keywords in order for their clickable ads to appear in Google’s search results. Since advertisers have to pay for these clicks, this is how Google makes money from search. Now, do you see why Google has made the change to show as more advertisements on search results than with their organic website results?

In the past, the paid ads would only show up on the right or the top side of the search results page with the words “Sponsored” next to it. Then the organic non-paid results would show up below the paid stuff. Now it seems like the first page is dedicated to paid advertisements. Especially if the search you entered happens to be a popular topic at the time. The picture below states my point:

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As you can see, the majority of the first-page search results are ads. Now, for the most part, most of these ads pose no threat to your computer. But in recent times, the hackers and crackers has been utilizing AdWords to pay to get to the first page of Google in hopes that you would click on the first link, then direct you to their websites where they will try to trick you into enter your personal information or worse, download and install a virus on your computer without your knowledge. The best thing to do is to scroll down on the webpage until you see a link that doesn’t have the words “ad” or “sponsored” next to it as shown in the next picture:

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And even then, I would exercise a bit of caution. I would then read the green link below to make sure that the website addresses and the content of the search of results both make some kind of sense. And what I mean by that is that you cannot search for baby dolls and the green website link does not correlate anything closely related to baby dolls.

Another thing that I would do is to have a computer technician perform routine maintenance on your computer every 3 to 6 months. He/She should go through all of the applications that are installed on your computer and make sure that you have proper protection and look over other software on your computer and make sure that you have the latest updates and patches. (If you want assistance with this part and live in the Rochester, NY area, contact us at questions@techconscious.info and we will get back to you) Plus, this will keep your computer running at peak performance at all times. This is not a 100{864a55aebd4892ec15ad8561e67f7c075e6c1d98063b4cfe18e850f7cdf07f32} guarantee that you may one day click on something and install a virus by mistake, but these tips will prevent that from happening about 90{864a55aebd4892ec15ad8561e67f7c075e6c1d98063b4cfe18e850f7cdf07f32} of the time.

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How To Cut The Cord And Enjoy Television Content Online At A Fraction Of The Cost! https://techconscious.info/how-to-cut-the-cord-and-enjoy-television-content-online-at-a-fraction-of-the-cost/ https://techconscious.info/how-to-cut-the-cord-and-enjoy-television-content-online-at-a-fraction-of-the-cost/#respond Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:52:47 +0000 http://techconscious.info/?p=24 With the ever-changing pricing with cable and satellite television, a lot of people are looking to enjoy television at a more reasonable price. One evidence of this trend is that for the past 6 months or so, streaming boxes such as Amazon’s Fire TV, Apple TV, and the Roku streaming stick has been flying off shelves of electronic retailers ever since Black Friday of 2017. These devices allow you to easily watch content streamed to your television over the internet.

What I am finding out is that there is a lot of confusion on how to use these devices to access television content online. They are asking this question because they are finding out that these devices don’t automatically connect to their local or cable television stations on their own, so they become disillusioned and stop using these devices altogether.

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All Of The Popular Streaming Devices

The streaming device is actually only one piece of an entire puzzle to stream television content online. The other piece is having at least an internet connection that has at least 40mb of download speed. To test your current internet download speed, click here to go to speedtest.net and click the “go” button. If your current internet speed falls below that, I would suggest calling the local internet providers in your area to see what deals they have for faster internet. The last piece of the puzzle is to put together a series of apps to use on the streaming device to be able to watch television over the internet. I aim for this blog post to be a guide on how to go through the process of putting this online streaming puzzle together.

About 6 months ago, I decided when I got my last bill from a specific satellite company of $135, up from $75, I decided to go head first into cutting the cord. I’ve experimented with using a few devices leading up to deciding to cut the cord with mixed results, but eventually, I found the correct app lineup for my entertainment needs. But before you do the same for yourself, you most definitely need to take inventory on what channels you do watch on a regular basis and the other features that you use (i.e. DVR service) because that will dictate which online streaming service will be best for your needs. And speaking about that, let’s go over a few of the popular online streaming services and their pros and cons:

DirecTV now – Cost ranges from $35 to $75 depending on desired channel package. At the time of the writing of this article (2/2018), there is no DVR Support but should come by the summer of 2018. Best mix of most popular cable channels

Sling TV – Cost ranges from $20 to $75 depending on desired channel package(s). At the time of the writing of this article (2/2018), there is available cloud DVR Support. Good mix of most popular cable channels

PlayStation Vue – Cost ranges from $40 to $75 depending on desired channel package(s). At the time of the writing of this article (2/2018), there is available cloud DVR Support. Good mix of most popular cable channels

YouTube TV – Cost is $35. At the time of the writing of this article (2/2018), there is available cloud DVR Support. Okay mix of the popular cable channels.

Spectrum Stream or Spectrum Choice-Cost ranges from $20 to $75 depending on desired channel package(s). At the time of the writing of this article (2/2018), Cloud DVR Support is not available for this service. Good mix of most popular cable channels where you have the ability to choose the channels you wish to watch.

Comcast Xfinity Streaming Service – If you live in an area that supports Comcast Service, you can opt for this service. I do not live in an area that supports Comcast, so I cannot tell you any pricing information for this streaming service. At the time of the writing of this article (2/2018), there is available cloud DVR Support. Good mix of most popular cable channels

And if you are a big sports fan like I am, you can now purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket, NBA League Pass, MLB Extra Innings and NHL now without having a cable or satellite service. You can now sign up for those packages at their websites and then download and install the apps to your streaming devices.

Those services mainly will take care of the majority of channels that would be on cable or satellite. But the main problem of all of these services is that they don’t take care of your local television channels. There are 2 ways to view your local television channels:

1. Purchase antennas for all of your television sets, but you will not have DVR capabilities.

2. Purchase and use a networked hardware device that all of your streaming devices will see and view your local television channels that come over the air. Also with the hardware device, you will have DVR capabilities.

I prefer to use a networked hardware device because one device purchase will cover all of your televisions in your home instead of purchasing an antenna for each television individually! The best one to use is a device called Tablo.

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Tablo Hardware Device To View & Record Local Television Content

What you would do with Tablo is that you will connect one antenna to the Tablo, and then connect an ethernet cord from the Tablo to your internet router. At that point, all your streaming devices will see the Tablo after you download and install the Tablo app to the streaming device, and then you will be watching TV on the streaming device through the Tablo.

AirTV Device That Integrates local channels directly into the SlingTV Application.

There is a nominal $5 a month fee for the guide or you could pay $150 for a lifetime subscription to the guide. Another option that is available for streaming your local channels that directly integrates into the Sling TV application is a device called AirTV. You would purchase the device from this website for $120.00, set it up similar to the Tablo, then open up the Sling TV Application and then connect it to the AirTV under the settings option as per the instructions here. Then your local television channels will show up in the guide under Sling. The only drawback to the AirTV at the time of this update (5/2018) is that you cannot use Slings cloud DVR service to record the local channels. I saw under the AirTV website that this will be updated to do so by the end of 2018.

So you may be wondering which combination do I have? I decided to have the Tablo device to take care of my local television channel needs with a Sling TV subscription which I pay a total of $55 per month for local and cable channels. I also purchased an AirTV unit to experiment with also. This setup is better than the $135 I would have been paying. Plus I also have Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Video (included for free for Amazon Prime membership) subscriptions for other exclusive content. I hope that this blog post has cleared up the puzzle that is streaming television content online. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon!

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The New Way To Get Viruses On Your Computer – Click-bait News Articles On Social Media! https://techconscious.info/the-new-way-to-get-viruses-on-your-computer-clickbait-news-articles-on-social-media/ https://techconscious.info/the-new-way-to-get-viruses-on-your-computer-clickbait-news-articles-on-social-media/#respond Mon, 15 Feb 2016 11:22:53 +0000 http://techconscious.info/?p=26 Over the past 20 years since the Internet has grown and developed, crackers and hackers have gone about employing various ways to try to get inside your computer and possibly stealing valuable data from you for various reasons. From sending compelling fake emails that look like something that your bank would send with attachments usually installs a software on your computer that gives them full access to your information to creating fake pop-up ads on the internet to have you convinced that 20,000 virus or errors are currently on your computer and you will need to click the ad to “clean it up” even though your computer has been for the most part working fine, everyone surfing the Internet today has to be extra careful about not clicking on these things.

But what I have found in recent months is that these folks have a new tactic that is even more dangerous and effective to try to accomplish their goals. In most cases, they are abandoning previous strategies of sending you fake emails and creating fake pop-up ads but they are now leveraging social media ads and posts with very compelling “News Stories” to get you to click on them and cause havoc. What they are doing is creating a sticky title that will appeal to a targeted demographic and because you can purchase ads on most social media websites for very cheap and not only that, laser-focus the ads to show to that demographic, then they can cause more harm faster and cheaper than they did in the past. With more and more people getting onto Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social media account in the past few years, I see the problem getting only worse unless people educate themselves about this, which is why I am writing this article.

clickbait exampleYou will see these ads popping up all over different websites, including legitimate news sites. I have posted below an example of such type of ads that will show up. They will contain extremely catchy titles, but the best way to not possibly download a virus is to exercise a bit of caution in not clicking on these links. The best way to verify that the story is true is to go to google and actually search for the article. Also, if you click on anything and a screen immediately comes up asking you to install something on your computer, it is best to pause for a moment and not to do it. As more and more people start coming online, I see this issue only getting larger. It is better to be safe than sorry.

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