Okay, this is a bit weird (with "a bit" being an understatement), though really quite wonderful.

Netflix says it commissioned a fellow named Keaton Patti to run 1,000 Christmas movies through a bot and “created our own mathematically perfect Holiday film made entirely by bots.”  Now, of course, it’s possible that this is just a terrible video that they created to be funny.  But it’s really SO nonsensical in insignificant ways that I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s on the level.  In fact, the only thing noticeably missing is a bakery, department store and Christmas tree farm.  But otherwise, they've given Hallmark a run for its money...

I haven't been doing as many of my "The Writers Workbench" columns for the Writers Guild as in the past.  But I do pop in with one every once in a while.  And given that I suspect the television has become a lot of people's New Best Friend during the past eight months, I thought it would be good timing to look at the new Chromecast with Google TV, a device that "casts" or basically mirrors whatever is on your mobile device onto your TV. It does more than that, but it sort of, kind of turns any television into a Smart TV.
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I swear this is true.  You will either love this or spend the rest of the day banging your head against the wall.  I just came across this tweet a couple minutes ago, and it is serious and on the level.  I

This is from a guy who identifies himself as a “legal and political analyst for the Fox News Channel.”  Really.  His name is even familiar to me.  For those who watch "Fox News" periodically or regularly, you probably know him.

​This is how he actually thinks technology works.  That it's "probably" just a coincidence.  Probably!!!  And he’s a legal and political analyst for “Fox News”!!!!  Boy, does this explain a lot.
 
It’s one thing for idiots to have idiot conspiracy theories.  But as biased as they are at “Fox News,” you still hope that their “legal and political analysts” are just biased and not brain-dead.  Alas…
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One of the funniest tech columns I've read (while being very informative on a good subject) was this by my pal Ed Bott on ZDNet.  It's about people focusing on the wrong thing and missing all the apps that can't be uninstalled from different platforms - some for good reasons, some not.

The story began life when Ed was hearing about outrage from people and other reporters about how it wasn't possible to uninstall Microsoft's Edge browser from Windows when that operating system is installed.  He makes the point that what people complaining don't realize is that if you immediately uninstall the Edge upon getting Windows -- which many people might do -- then you would have no way of downloading whatever browser you choose to run.  So, Windows makes it impossible to uninstall Edge, but after you get the browser you want, you can make it your default browser and simply hide Edge.

But then he goes further, looking into all the different programs that people don't realize can't be uninstalled, whether from Windows or the Apple operating system.

And it's all done in Ed's straightforward, easy to follow in English and funny way.  And all the better, the article  -- titled, "How to uninstall Chrome, Safari, and other built-in apps? OMG, you can't!​" -- also has one of my favorite tech quips I've come across. Without giving it away, in case you do read the article, it deals with the Apple app for chess that can't be uninstalled.

You can read the fun article here.

Much as there's SO much political news to deal with, I nonetheless thought I'd go with something different this morning instead.  A tech warning.

I did something very stupid yesterday.  Fortunately, it didn't go any farther than that, and there was no problem.  I could have done something disastrous.  But happily had the presence of mind to double-check before it was too late, and all's well.  But that's why the warning.  And a warning with an added asterisk that I've been writing a tech column for over 20 years and should be fooled like like, making it all the more stupid, but also making it all the more clear how vigilant one has to be.

Yesterday, I got a pop-up message that my Flash software might be out-of-date, and would I like it to download the update.  (Flash software is what allows graphics to be animated, among other things, mostly for games but also some online applications.)  Now, the notice seemed a bit odd, since I didn't recall ever getting a pop-warning notice before, but I have had to update my Flash software, though usually manually.  And I didn't exactly remember what prompted me to update it -- just a random, periodic manual check, perhaps?  Or a graphic animation wasn't working, maybe.  Or a notice that it was out-of-date when a Flash animation came on screen?  Or...a pop-up like this, possibly.

I didn't recall.  I did know, though, that I have auto-updates set on much of my software, and I also have software that checks for when updates are available.  (I manually run one of those checkers every Sunday, in fact, and had done so that very morning.)  So, I was surprised, but though it reasonable enough to download the update which looked absolutely real with the Flash logo and everything.

That said, I'll admit to further being surprised that it automatically downloaded the Flash update before I even had a chance to click "Download."  And that did make me wary -- but not as wary as I should have been, since I figured it was just related to my various auto-check programs about updates.

What also struck me was weird was that I thought I'd read that Flash was going to be discontinued, though I figured I might have been confusing it with another similar type of software known as Java.  In fact, Java was discontinued.in 2018, I believe.  So, I thought that that was probably what I was thinking of.

Important note:  When you have a lot of yellow caution warning lights, they're there for a reason.  So, stop.  And I usually do stop at that point, since I was wary about a lot of things.  But there were enough answers to my wariness that I movie forward foolishly.

Foolishly, yes, but for all this above, I still hadn't taken a direct action that was actually stupid.  All this I've just described was automatic on its own.  What was stupid is that I went to the downloaded file and double-clicked on it to run.  What on earth I was thinking, I don't know.  I could have opened the door to disaster.

Fortunately, like all software, another pop-up box then appeared telling me about the file and asking me to confirm the download.  And that's when I fortunately looked closer and took a step back.

It actually all looked fine.  But there was one line that looked off.  It showed the location where the server was located that would be installing the file.  Fortunately.  It was something like "Netvork  Tekhnolodzhiz - Tov."  Now, of course, lot of techies have senses of humor of come up with funny names for their servers.  Just that morning, I've updated one of my pieces of software using the popular Major Geeks.  (Another reason I was in the "updating software" frame of mind, probably...)  And I do know that some servers are overseas.  And I could have just missed the spelling if I wasn't at least (happily) wary enough to look.  And that didn't look right.  At all.  So -- fortunately and joyously -- I held up clicking on the "Install" button and went back to my web browser and did a search for "Netvork  Tekhnolodzhiz - Tov."

I still don't know what it is.  But that's because there were a lot of listings, some for that, some for other things different, with lots of various explanations -- but one word that showed up in the first few listings was..."Ukraine."

I didn't look any further.  I didn't care if it was legitimate.  If my Flash player was going to be out-of-date, so be it.  I could always check into it later on.  And if worse comes to worse, ask my tech guru Ed Bott, who would probably say, "Are you nuts???!!!" -- and who is probably shaking his head in agony while laughing at the same time (since I did say I was safe...) while he's reading this.

I mean, seriously -- "Ukraine"!!  Why not put a skull-and-crossbones on it with "666" superimposed underneath and have ominous organ music blast out of my speakers?  Ukraine.  Thank goodness it wasn't something even slightly less blatant, like...oh, Moldova.  Perhaps the only time I was actually thrilled to see "Ukraine" appear during this election cycle.  

So, after seeing "Ukraine" -- and I mean instantly after -- I immediately went back to the pop-up screen, immediately clicked "Cancel" and not only immediately deleted the file, but permanently deleted it, immediately.  And immediately closed all the pop-up screens where it was asking me about the file.  (Which I hadn't seen before, but is another dead giveaway that someone is trying to get you to do something you shouldn't.)

And by the way, I later did a search and it turns out I was right -- Flash is being discontinued in December, 2020 -- only four months away.

So, other than feeling like a total idiot for not stopping immediately when I had all those "yellow caution warning lights" in my gut -- and mind -- and then actually clicking on the file, all is well.  No problem was caused, because I did finally hold off and looked into what finally was enough to seem wrong.

How did I get that download?  I'm not sure, but I think it came as a result of a search I was doing for a question I had.  I was clicking on sites that seemed like they might have an answer -- all of which were ones that I either recognized or appeared reasonably legitimate -- except for one that had an odd name.  But it was an odd question, and it was only information I was looking forward, I wasn't planning on clicking on anything.  But I'm sure it was that website, and when I simply accessed, it sent that download.  Which I idiotically clicked on.  And then stopped, fortunately researched it and then happily canceled out.

So, that's the warning.

You probably know it.  And probably follow it.  But it's still good to be reminded of things being especially clever and catching you off-guard even when you're fairly wary.  I mean, as I said at the beginning I've been writing a tech column for over 20 years, and I just did something incredibly stupid and naive (though "naive" is too kind a word.  It' was mind-numblingly idiotic.)  But if there are just enough reasons to move forward, that's what sometimes gets done.  Which is a good reason to repeat the "Important note" yet again --

When you have a lot of yellow caution warning lights, they're there for a reason.  So, stop.

It's sort of the way I feel about people who foolishly are thinking of voting for Trump and anyone in the Republican Party.

Ah, great!  I knew I'd be able to get around to some political opinion this morning.  Phew!!!

I haven't been writing my Writers Workbench tech review column for a while -- it seems other things have gotten in the way -- but I did finally just step back into the stream and had a new column posted on the Writers Guild of America website..  This was for the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD external drive.  It's ethereally light and small, and for large files especially, blisteringly fast.  It's not for everyone's needs, but those who do have a use for it, it's very impressive.

I note a couple of oddities in my testing of small files, but that didn’t affect my thoughts over all.  Just odd.
 
As always, because coding the article is a pain -- and the WGA has done it for me on their site -- It's far easier to just provide a link to it there.

If you missed ​Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night, here's the Main Story on facial recognition.  It's extremely interesting -- fascinating about the development of the technology and concerning about the lack of controls for the most part.  And he and his crack staff are able to make if funny, as well.

At last it's here -- my ethereally long article about the Consumer Electronics Show.  Some of it has been posted on this site during my daily reports, but there's much more and it's actually in some sort of structured order to hopefully help make sense of the show, rather than just random products as with the daily postings.

As always, since this is written for my "The Writers Workbench" column on the Writers Guild of America website, I'm posting a link to the article there, rather then do so here.  Not because of priority interest, but because there's a LOT of coding required, and it's all done on the WGA website, which means I don't have to do it here.

So, it you do want to see the full article, you can check it out here.

About six years ago, CES introduced what they called Eureka Park.  This was a small area set off for start-ups and entrepreneurs, some with products that maybe would one day hit the market though most wouldn’t get much farther than Eureka Park.  It was laid out across three small rooms.  Today, it’s a huge part of the exhibition at the Sands Expo, the facility that complements the main Las Vegas Convention Center, taking over much of the lower level.  It feels a bit like a flea market, with narrow aisles, crowds trying to jam their way through, and vendors hawking their wares trying to get your attention.  It’s also a lot of fun.  It’s also grown to include contingents from countries around the world.  While most of the companies still won’t see the light of day, many of the foreign contingents feature vendors who have a footprint back at home and are trying to expand, and I’ve come across some of the others in the marketplace.  (Every once in a while, a few will show up on the TV show Shark Tahnk, and even get a deal.)

I decided to spend a a bit more time at Eureka Park this year than in the past.  I didn’t make it all the way through on my first trip there, dividing time between it and the largest “main room” upstairs — which is massive and dwarfs Eureka Park.  (By the way, not only is this main room massive — though very congenial with especially-wide aisles and fewer people — but it’s got the most convoluted layout in which I regularly get lost and struggle to find my way back to the exit doors.  Really.  It’s sometimes taken me 15-20 minutes to orient myself and find my way out.  But this year I had a brilliant idea.  And I swear this is true.  I brought my compass from my days as it regular wilderness hiker and working for the California Park Service!  This let me set my bearings on arrival and made it a breeze to find my way out.  Honest.  Was it necessary?  Of course not.  Did it make things easier and more fun.  Absolutely.)

As always, in no special order, here are some of the products that caught my interest at Eureka Park. 

Heat box is from Holland, and at heart it’s a lunch box.  But it’s a self-heating lunch box which allows you to warm up your food and have a hot lunch!  It’s wireless, and you add water to the lower area, which you then cover with a metal plate.  The water is heater, and essentially you’re steaming the food.  So, the only kind of food they don’t recommend it for are things that would normally be crispy.  They expect to be in production in Mark.

Younglingz is basically carry-on luggage on wheels, meant for families with small children.  The luggage is sort of L-shaped, which creates a sitting area you little kid can sit on, as you wheel it along.  Sort of a combination stroller-suitcase.  They expect to have them for sale in April-May, and will sell them for $150.

CodeIllusion is a remarkable, very mature product to teach children computer coding (or adults who want to learn).  But this isn’t intended to pique a child’s interest, but for those who really seem to love this sort of thing already, because it’s very expensive, around $1,900.  But it’s tremendous.  The Japanese company has partnered with Disney, and it uses the library of Disney animated films to guide the user through 125 half-hour lessons.  Movies like Frozen, Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Pinocchio and many, many more.  It’s elegantly designed and it walks the student through with clips, provides the code for that sequence and then and then explains what it wants you to change.  Seriously impressive, seriously expensive.

PeriPage is a tiny portable, inkless printer.  About the size of two packs of cigarettes.  It uses small rolls of thermal paper and lets you print out photos, documents and labels,  The results aren’t laser printer-clear, but fine for its purposes.  And being thermal paper, this isn’t meant for things intended as keepsakes, since the results will only last about 10 years, but that’s likely more than long enough for most purposes, which is that you’re away from home and want something printed out right away.

Beyond Eureka Park, I also made it to Showstoppers, which is the other of my two favorite evening events.  Lots of vendors there, filling up the ballroom.  A couple of companies particularly struck my interest --

The product from Tanvas isn't intended for consumer sale, but is intended for manufacturers.  They make "tactile" software (using what's know as haptics) that companies can use in their own products.  What I found most interesting is an application they're developing for cars.  With most new cars moving away from buttons and dials and onto touchscreen dashboards, that makes it difficult for drivers to know exactly what they're accessing without looking over, which is not always a great thing when driving.  However, by giving the dashboard icons a "tactile" feel, a driver will be able to sense what icons they're accessing without checking it out.

I can't tell you if ResQ works as they claim.  That's out of my expertise, and the product was only released this week.  But if it does work as they insist, it's wonderful.  The intent is to allow a user to immediately regain use of their computer after getting hit by a damaging virus or when your system has been blocked by ransonware.  The way that ResQ owners described their product, you hit the "Protect" button on their device (connected to your computer), it downloads an image of your computer hard drive while knowing to avoid any virus/ransomware there), and you can them boot your system from this now-external drive.  And you can then upload this clean version back onto your computer hard drive.  If it works as promised, it's a great thing.

Still more to come from Eureka Park, the Sands and did the Las Vegas Convention Center, but that requires more rambling and note taking, so...onward....