The Facebook Kerfuffle and What it Means For You

The Facebook Data Scandal and What it Means for You and Your Personal Information

How to Protect Your Facebook Information,
and How To Download Your Facebook Data

For the last week or so, Facebook and its data-sharing tendencies have been in the news.  "Delete Facebook" campaigns are proliferating the Web, and a lot of folks are wondering what really happened and how worried they need to be.  Today, we're going to look at the Facebook controversy, discuss how users were actually complicit in this breech, and talk a little about the ramifications. We'll also look at how to protect yourself in the future, as well as explain how you can download a copy of your Facebook profile so you can understand what the data miners really obtained.

What Happened with Facebook and My Personal Information?

In a nutshell, an individual created a rogue quiz app.  This particular quiz was a Personality Test, and of course, it encouraged you to both share your results and to invite friends to take the quiz.  Almost immediately after launching, over 10,000 Facebook users had taken the test.  After it went viral, over 270,000 people downloaded the quiz app, and even more used the web-based version.  Folks ignored the app's permission requirements, and willingly gave the app permission to access their information, as well as that of their friends.  Soon, the quiz had harvested the Facebook data of over half a million users.  Many of these folks had never accessed the quiz personally, but rather had their data mined through a "friend" giving the app permission to basically take what it wanted.

The Quiz Creator then sold all the information he had collected to a data mining firm. That firm repackaged the data and sold it to Cambridge Analytics.  Cambridge Analytics then used the data to profile people politically, and to "reach out" to folks in order to manipulate their thoughts during the last election.

Harmony Hub Part 3: Editing Device Settings So Things Work Properly

Editing Your Harmony Hub Devices, Scenes, and Activities For More Effective Control

Adjust the Way Harmony Controls Your Entertainment Components

This is the third part of a series on setting up and using a Harmony Hub.  Part 1 reviewed the Harmony Hub, while Part 2 focused on setting it up.  Today, we will look at adjusting your Harmony app settings so that they correctly control your devices.  As we discussed in Part 1 and Part 2, the Harmony Hub can be very quirky, and you may need to make several adjustments after initial set up.

What Can Be Adjusted?

Depending on the specific device, different functions can be adjusted within the Harmony App (Desktop or Mobile.)  You can adjust things like the way a device powers on and off, input settings, command repeats, commands, and delays. You can change a device's name. You can add commands to a device's routine, and/or fix commands that are not functioning as expected.   You can also create activities that group a set of commands together for one or more devices. These activities will later show up as scenes in your Alexa app.

Creating additional activities will also create new command prompts in Alexa, so that tasks can easily be accomplished with a single voice command.  Many of these activities are created during the initial set up, like we discussed in Part 2.  You may find that an activity you set up is not working as expected. If so, you can edit the activity and make adjustments so that it does, in fact, operate like you want.  For example, I have a dual Toshiba DVD/VHS recorder.  I set up a "watch Toshiba" activity that powers on the TV, turns the Timer off on the Toshiba, sets the input to DVD, and brings up the recording menu.  This initially did not work correctly, as it takes the Toshiba about 20 seconds to load a disc.  I needed to adjust this activity by adding a delay between turning off the timer and queuing up the recordings menu.  After adjusting the activity within the Harmony App, my activity now works as I desire.

EVERY TIME you make adjustments to devices or activities, you will need to unlink and relink your Harmony Account from within the Alexa app.  Then you will need to rerun Discovery from within Alexa.  Harmony may not update your corresponding Alexa settings if you do not unlink and relink your Harmony Account.

What Do I Adjust First?

For most of us, the TV is the heart and soul of our Entertainment Center.  Therefore, it is extremely important that your TV is configured correctly.  It is especially important that the input settings work correctly. Therefore, I always suggest you "edit" your Television Device first.  We'll walk you through adjusting your TV's device settings later in this article. You may find your other components behave better once the TV is set up correctly.

Use Alexa for March Madness Coverage and Updates

Alexa Can Keep You Up to Date with the NCAA Basketball Games

Listen to Live, Streamed Coverage,
or Check the Scores and the Schedule,
Using Alexa and an Amazon Echo

March is here! And in the United States, that means March Madness and the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  Did you know you can use Alexa to keep you up to date on everything tournament related?

Today, we are going to look at two Alexa Skills that will help you keep up during March Madness. Both of these skills are free to enable.

Harmony Hub Part 2: Setting Up Your Harmony Hub

The Logitech Harmony Hub, Part 2:

 
Setting Up Your Harmony Hub and Adding Devices

This is Part 2 of a series examining the Logitech Harmony Hub. In Part 1, we reviewed the Hub itself, and we looked at what how the Harmony Hub can add voice control to your existing entertainment components, as well as Smartphone control.   In Part 2, we look at configuring the device to work with your system components.  In Part 3, we will look at adjusting your Harmony Routines to better control your own specific entertainment components.

By  the time you've gone through Part 2, you'll have learned how to add devices to your Harmony Hub, as well as how to set up routines and activities for your various components. You'll also learn how to integrate your Hub and associated devices with Alexa.  You will find many of your devices and routines work well, with no further tinkering.

However, once you begin voice controlling your components, you may find some are not working as expected. In Part 3, we'll talk about how to edit your devices and activities, so that everything functions smoothly.  After using your Hub for a few days, you'll have a better idea of what needs tweaking.

What to Do When Alexa Goes Down

How to Control Your Smart Home when Alexa Goes Down

Using Your Echo During an Alexa Outage

Today, for the first time, Alexa experienced widespread outages.  Sometimes, she'd light up, and the blue ring would keep flashing, but she would not respond to any commands.  Other times, Alexa would blink red, indicating she was not connected.  Additionally, even if she was not flashing, she failed to respond to any commands. Sometimes, she would apologize. Other times, she'd look like she was listening and responding, but she would just fade out.  Alexa was unable to respond to a simple command, such as "What time is it?" let alone operate any Smart Home Devices.

As of the time I write this, Alexa still has not come back.  And unlike in the Super Bowl commercial, there are not a stable of celebrities waiting to take her place.

So what can you do when Alexa goes down? Does it mean you are out of luck until the network issues resolve?  Thankfully, there are some ways you can still command your Smart Devices, even when your Echo is not responding.