Daily Archives: March 7, 2017

Q I bought my 80-year-old mother a new iPad. She opened the box, threw up her hands and said, I cant do that. What can I do to help her learn the new technology? My tech savvy 30-year-old daughter volunteered to teach her. Any advice how my daughter can be most effective?

B.K.

A Dear B.K.:

To provide tips for effective tech mentoring, lets begin by understanding some of the reasons for resistance. Opposition to technology is not a new story, according to Calestous Juma, professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. In his book Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies (Oxford University Press. 2016), Juma refers to 600 years of technological controversies ranging from attacks on coffee, the printing press and margarine to debates on the potential impact of alternative intelligence, drones and 3-D printing.

He notes that society supports technology when it is perceived as an addition to our lives, embracing our desire for inclusion, purpose, challenge, meaning and alignment with nature. If technology diminishes an aspect of our humanity, he notes there is resistance.

That resistance filters down to individuals and in particular older adults. Here are some barriers as suggested by librarian and writer Renate Robey in a guide for librarians in how to teach technology:

Lack of perceived benefit or need: To be motivated to learn the new technology, older adults need to understand exactly what the benefit will be. Such benefits include being part of a grandchilds life, keeping up with family happenings, playing online games or researching family history.

Negative feelings about social media: Older adults may be frustrated and annoyed that communication has drastically changed from making phone calls and personal visits to email, tweets and Skype.

Fearful about internet safety: A deep mistrust of placing personal information on a computer is another barrier. The concern is real and is called internet fraud. Pop-up browser windows that simulate virus-scanning software can fool victims into either downloading a fake anti-virus program (at a cost) or an actual virus that opens up information on the users computer to scammers.

Computer anxiety: Fearful of breaking the computer or making a mistake can easily lead to computer anxiety. Many older adults were brought up in a school environment where the initial answer to a question had to be correct and making mistakes resulted in a lower grade.

Cognitive or physical issues: Normal changes with age can present learning obstacles. Declines in vision, memory, dexterity and mobility may make it difficult to perform simple tasks like handling a mouse. Ability to read is key. Yet, about two in five older adults indicate they have a physical or health condition that makes reading difficult, according to the Pew Research Center.

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B.K, since your daughter volunteered to be your mothers personal tutor, heres a draft of a possible script that addresses some of the barriers.

Daughter: Hi, Grandma. I know you want to stay in touch with me, but I live 3,000 miles away. I have a way for us to be part of each others lives. Lets begin with the new iPad you received as a gift for starters and learn about email. I will set it up for you. Note that doesnt mean we cant talk on the phone. Using email will just make us closer.

Know that you cannot break the computer and there are no permanent mistakes. If you misspell a word, it can be corrected. We are using a touch screen so you dont have to deal with a mouse. And remember, there is no rush. I am going to write down all of the instructions. Well use the instructions as I demonstrate the process and for practice well write lots of emails together. After I leave, you can always contact me or Mom when you see something on the screen you dont understand. You have my email address and phone number.

When you are comfortable with email, we can learn about Skype where we actually can see one another and talk. Youll love it. Actually, if you like, we can start with Skype.

Grandma, I love you.

Hopefully Grandma is relaxed with a pace that is comfortable for her and with practice, time, repetition and reaping the rewards of staying in touch with her granddaughter, shell become tech savvy.

Thanks, B.K., for your good question. At some point in our tech world, we all are learners.

Note: Most of our communities have classes on technology for older adults.

For more information, go to Helendenn@aol.com; also see http://www.HelenmDennis.com for previous columns.

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Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Indian government's top information technology official, told reporters Tuesday that the country's concerns have been conveyed to the U.S. government "at a very senior level."

"The whole [technology] movement in the world has been based upon sharing, upon commonality, upon reciprocity," he said.

The U.S. on Friday suspended expedited processing of H-1B visas, a move that could hit India particularly hard.

Indian firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys (INFY) and Wipro (WIT) use the H-1B program to send thousands of engineers to the U.S.

Around 70% of the 85,000 visas issued annually go to Indian workers.

Related: Indian tech graduates fear America may shut them out

Trump has slammed what he sees as the abuse of visas by companies hiring foreign workers at lower salaries -- displacing Americans in the process.

His administration has pledged to make changes to the H-1B and several other visa programs, including by executive order. Several lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have also introduced legislation seeking curbs on H-1Bs.

India has been watching developments with trepidation. The curbs on fast track processing of H-1B visas will likely hit outsourcing firms that often move workers overseas on short notice.

Related: Trump is making India's tech industry nervous. Here's why

D.D. Mishra, a research director at technology consultancy Gartner, says U.S. companies often need outsourcing firms to deploy workers quickly to solve unexpected problems.

"The agility and the speed which they were expecting Indian IT services to generate will get impacted," he said.

The U.S. immigration department said the temporary ban on expedited H-1B visas is aimed at clearing a backlog of pending applications and reducing the overall processing time. A standard H-1B application can take more than six months to be reviewed.

Related: What Trump's latest H-1B move means for workers and business

Indian tech leaders say there aren't enough skilled American workers to fill the gap if foreign engineers are shut out. As the new curbs were announced, a delegation from Indian industry body NASSCOM was wrapping up a week of lobbying in Washington, D.C.

"Additional restrictions on the H-1B... hurt thousands of U.S. businesses by hindering access to much needed talent," NASSCOM said in a statement Tuesday.

NASSCOM president R. Chandrashekhar added that Indian tech firms also create jobs "by the thousands" for American workers.

"It is clear that our sector has more work to do in educating U.S. policymakers on the mutual benefits of strong India-U.S. trade in IT services," he said.

CNNMoney (New Delhi) First published March 7, 2017: 8:36 AM ET

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India to Trump: Technology is 'based upon sharing' - CNNMoney

TechCrunch

Pinterest brings its visual search technology to the web TechCrunch Pinterest has been ramping up its efforts in visual search to make its search and discovery features more useful, but today it's opening up the technology a bit more with an integration into the company's Chrome browser extension. With the updated ... and more »

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Pinterest brings its visual search technology to the web - TechCrunch

2016 was the warmest year on record --around 1.2degrees C warmer than pre-industrial levels to be exact. Whilst this doesnt sound very much, evidence has already shown that an average rise of 1degree C across the whole of the Earths surface would result in huge changes to the climatic extremes we see today.

Meanwhile, our forests and oceans arent faring much better. The significant decline of the planets rainforest has been documented throughout my lifetime and, according to a report last year by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, by 2050 there could be more plastic by weight in our oceans than fish. Add to this the recent findings that the Earth is on track to lose two-thirds of its wildlife by 2020 and its easy to see that we are already in a pretty dire state.

Unbelievably, there are those who still insist on denying the existence of the worlds environmental crisis, and worryingly, some of these are in pivotal positions when it comes to what happens in the next 10 years. This by the way is the period in which many experts believe we still have a chance to mitigate the rise in global temperatures.

Now, dont get me wrong, Im far from being an eco-warrior, but, like many, I am increasingly aware of climate change and the inescapable implications this has for us all; particularly since the most recent findings indicate these could become severe within a much shorter timescale than previously thought. I believe its clear to most rational people that we all have a part to play in halting the rise of global temperatures and even small gestures help such as, boiling less water for hot drinks or turning down the central heating by a degree or two.However, as individuals, making an "industrial scale" impact feels far more challenging. Having been involved in the application of technology for most of my working life, I wonder if this could be the great enabler of change that will make the single, largest difference.

Technology in a wider form already plays a huge part in the mitigation of global warming. Renewable energy and carbon entrapment are good examples of this.Yet the proliferation of such technology is often at the mercy of government investment and other incentives, which can ebb and flow depending upon the eco-political priorities being played out by governments at any given time.Information technology on the other hand is all pervasive, both in business and everyday life. Disruptive technology like artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality are dominating industry conferences at present but with little mention of "tech for good." So is the industry taking the climate crisis as seriously as it should?

There is actually growing evidence to suggest that tech initiatives which support the environment are on the increase and are of growing interest to the investment community.New types of funding programs are being put in place to support these, a recent example being the Barclays Unreasonable Impact Initiative.This is a partnership between Barclays Bank and Unreasonable Group, which has launched the worlds first international network of accelerators, specifically focussed on scaling up entrepreneurial solutions designed to solve some of our most pressing societal and environmental challenges, while helping to employ thousands of people worldwide.

All sorts of great initiatives have and are being developed as a result of this funding. An example being the RT7000, a highly innovative solution to the problem of end-of-life plastic, developed by Recycling Technologies. This UK startup has developed a chemical recycling machine capable of processing up to 7,000 tonnes of plastic waste per annum that would otherwise end up being landfilled, incinerated, exported at cost or dumped illegally. As part of the recycling process, the RT7000 produces a valuable hydrocarbon named Plaxx which can be used as an alternative to heavy fuel oil in the marine industry, so it is contributing to the circular economy.

In addition, some of the well-known philanthropic figureheads from the world of IT have declared their intention to back new tech initiatives that have a positive impact on the environment.Billionaire philanthropist and investor Bill Gates is launching a $1 billion fund called Breakthrough Energy Ventures to invest in new forms of clean energy. Gates has gathered a group of 20 like-minded investors, including a number of Silicon Valley tech venture capitalists, to join him in the fund which will invest in scientific breakthroughs that have the potential to deliver cheap and reliable clean energy to the world.

The cynic in us probably thinks that "responsible investments" by certain companies are simply an effort to offset all of the unfavorable things they are involved in and this raises perhaps the biggest dilemma we face. In the developed world, we have all grown accustomed to our lives as they are: cheap, plentiful food, energy on demand, a "throw-away" attitude to consumer electronics, the list goes on.Its inconceivable that we can reverse this trend in the short term, particularly as demand from the developing world escalates and politicians shy away from imposing any restrictions that will affect jobs and local economies. Its an intractable problem.So if we cant reverse it in the time we have, we must find a way to ameliorate it and I think technology will have a big part to play in this. Innovations such as the RT7000 might be seen as a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the climate problem were facing, but its a positive step forward by an industry that has always shown leadership and could really help offset the damage already done.

That being said, our planet is facing a huge crisis and in reality, we cannot fully alleviate the environmental impact of the way we all live and work.Despite my optimism in the part technology has to play in helping to offset this, we shouldnt have a false sense of security and be complacent that it alone will solve the climate crisis. Every individual has a responsibility to do something on a personal level, whether that is full blown lobbying, or simply turning off a light when you leave the room-- as the saying goes, from small acorns The worst-case climate scenarios could see the world face an ecological meltdown by 2050, well within the lifetime of current generations. At this point it will be out of anyones hands, so failure is definitely not an option.

Andrew Moore has worked in the IT services industry for over 25 years. During this time, he has held senior sales and business management positions with Cap Gemini, Data Sciences and IBM and has been responsible for the development and growth of business operations spanning the UK and Europe.

Published under license from ITProPortal.com, a Future plc Publication. All rights reserved.

Photo Credit: red-feniks/Shutterstock

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Using technology to fight climate change - BetaNews

wnep.com

New Cell Technology Coming to Scranton? wnep.com SCRANTON -- Cell phone giants AT&T and T-Mobile are looking to bring new technology to the Electric City. Both AT&T and T-Mobile will be going in front of Scranton's zoning board this week in hopes of placing small-area cell antennas around the city.

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New Cell Technology Coming to Scranton? - wnep.com

Forbes

From TV To Digital Media: How Technology Changes Content Development Forbes Today's content consumers make up some of the most powerful audiences that most brands have ever seen. Whether or not your audience members know it, they dictate what kind of content your company creates, where you publish it, and how you distribute ...

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From TV To Digital Media: How Technology Changes Content Development - Forbes