Blog Update: Taking a Digital Break

The Pleasures of a Digital Vacation,
Prompted by Technology Failing

What Living Without a Phone Can Teach Us

You'll notice we haven't published in a while.  Part of this is due to life interfering, and part was due to taking a digital break.

This digital break originally did not happen by choice.  It all began one morning.  I looked at my cell phone to check the weather, laid it back on the desk, and went about my business.  When I returned to it about an hour later, the phone was stuck in an infinite boot loop.  That means the phone would only boot as far as the google logo before shutting down and rebooting itself.

Undaunted, I rushed to my google drive to ensure I had a current backup. I could see my backup in my Drive folder.  So I tried to boot into recovery mode to no avail. That meant there was NO WAY to factory reset my phone.  When I went to research my woes, I found that this was a known issue. LG, the manufacturer of my Nexus 5x handset, was currently facing a class action suit because this was a known issue caused by a manufacturing defect, and LG had run out of the part needed to repair my phone.

I reached out to Google Support. They offered to accept a return of my 2 year old phone to solve the problem.  Still, that left me without a phone until Google could get a replacement out.  And to top it all off, we were facing a long weekend, and even with expedited shipping, it was doubtful that Google would be able to get a replacement phone to me in time to have it for the Holiday.  No worries--I still had a PC and Internet, as well as a landline, so that meant the weekend should still be okay.

I think we all fail to realize exactly how much we depend on our cell phones to run our daily lives.  Even with a working PC, there were many things I could no longer do until I had a new cell phone in hand.

I have most of my accounts protected by two-factor authentication. That means that you need a code along with your username and password to log in.  In most cases, that code is sent to your cell phone and expires within 15 minutes.  Not having that cell phone to receive the codes meant I couldn't log into a LOT of websites, including my web hosting control panel, my credit card account, my domain name registrar, and Twitter.  Of course, in many cases, two factor authentication can be set to use either your phone or your e-mail address to receive the log in code, but delivery method is usually established when you set up two factor authentication, and of course, you need to be able to log into your account to change the code delivery method. And you can't log into an account to change it without being able to receive a code.

Beyond two factor authentication, there are many other apps and services that are cell phone reliant.  Thankfully, many loyalty cards allow you to use a phone number in place of a physical or digital card. But not all do. Many fast food loyalty  programs depend on a digital card.  And that means you cannot access them without your phone.  Balances and promo codes are just unavailable without the app.  I DID discover that Regal Movies will look up your account with an e-mail address if you do not have your card or the app when purchasing tickets, but you really DO need your phone to redeem credits or take advantage of app-only concession deals.

And Uber? Forget trying to schedule an Uber without having your cell phone. You just cannot do it.    Not being able to take Uber when you live in a public-transportation-challenged area is NOT a good thing.  I had to change some weekend plans when taking an Uber became out of the question.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day: May 17, 2018

 The Seventh Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is May 17

 

The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access, inclusion, and people with different disabilities.

The third Thursday in May is set aside to celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day.  This year, it is being celebrated on Thursday, May 18.  Global Accessibility Awareness Day originally came about when a couple of webmasters had an online discussion.  They realized that few web developers really knew about what they needed to do to ensure web sites and apps were usable by folks with all kinds of disabilities, and compatible with a wide range of Assistive Technologies.  

The original celebration was aimed at backend developers. It challenged them to test their site for accessibility and make at least one improvement.  It directed them to resources they could use to check a site from a person with a disability's point of view.   It tried to ensure developers knew about technologies such as screen readers, alternative input devices, and principles of universal design.

In subsequent years, the effort expanded to encourage greater awareness of assistive technology, as well as how the digital world could do a better job of ensuring things worked for those using adaptive equipment.  Despite the fact there is legislation compelling an accessible digital world,  a lot of barriers remain.  Few developers are well versed in mandates, nor do they know how to comply. GAAD hopes to change this. 

Today, GAAD continues to focus on increasing awareness.  If developers knew more about how physical and cognitive limitations affect usability, and possibly exclude millions of potential users, they'd be more prone to address them. GAAD helps to facilitate this.  Events are planned to spotlight and demonstrate assistive technologies, both online and offline.  

How Can I Participate in Global Accessibility Awareness Day?

Help! I Can't See ANY Comment Sections in Firefox since it Updated!

Quick Tip: Fix Display Issues with
Third-Party Comment Plug-Ins and Page Elements
in the Mozilla Firefox Browser

At some point today, Firefox updated itself.  And afterwards, I found I could no longer see Facebook Comment Sections on third-party sites, (like Buzzfeed or USAToday.)  Certain embedded elements, like Tweets and Instagrams, were also being replaced with the ALT text.  I did NOT like this behavior at all!  Refreshing the page did nothing, nor did disabling ad-blockers.

July 12th is Save Net Neutrality Day

Join TechLaurels in this Day of Action,

Protecting Net Neutrality

Techlaurels opposes the FCC’s plan to slash Title II, the legal foundation for net neutrality rules that protect online free speech and innovation.

On July 12, 2017, websites, Internet users, and online communities are uniting to sound the alarm about the FCC’s attack on net neutrality.

Right now, new FCC Chairman and former Verizon lawyer Ajit Pai have plans to destroy net neutrality. They want to give big cable companies total control over what we see and do online. If they get their way, the FCC will give companies like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T control over what we can see and do on the Internet, with the power to slow down or block websites, and to charge apps and sites extra fees to reach an audience.

In practical terms, this means Comcast could potentially throttle Netflix's bandwidth, so that their own pay-per-view movies would stream flawlessly, while Netflix buffered and sputtered along. They could charge extra for users to use Gmail, or filter it heavily, in order to almost force their users to be tied to a Comcast e-mail address.  Spectrum could potentially block the use of competing apps and services on any connected Smart TVs. The ISPs would have control of what is allowed to flow through their pipes, as well as the speed at which individual apps or services flow. With our limited choice in providers, the end users are sure to suffer. Consumers already hate throttling due to data caps; can you imagine if throttling by provider was actually sanctioned by the Government? It's almost like advocating Jim Crow laws for cyberspace.

If we lose net neutrality, we could soon face an Internet where some of your favorite websites are forced into a slow lane online, while deep-pocketed companies who can afford expensive new “prioritization” fees have special fast lane access to Internet users – tilting the playing field in their favor.  You can be sure there are no more "viral superstars" that are not ISP sponsored. Independent artists will be forced back into unfair distribution systems, as they will not be able to afford the fees they'll be charged for audio traffic. I shudder to think of the potential consequences.