Jan 21, 2026
Q: At the movies, it seems like they can always track the fugitive with all sorts of personal electronic devices. Is this for real?
A: Yes, it is. The days of the cops waiting for someone to swipe a debit or credit card while on the run are long over. Now, we voluntarily give away our location constantly. I would say it’s pretty hard to disconnect from Skynet (bit.ly/2DtzGL5).
I am not talking about fancy law enforcement spy tech like Stingray (bit.ly/2EZDb7Z) or Range-R (engt.co/2qzSpMo). There is plenty to be worried about there, but probably not much you can do about it. I am talking about the traitor you have invited into your life!
Your personal Benedict Arnold is your cell phone. And as you know, you don’t have to make a call for it to give you away. The cell towers know where you are as you move around to ensure you can make a call. Not to mention (as I mention it), hopping between Wi-Fi networks leaves quite the trail of bread crumbs. Removing your SIM card is not enough. You probably need to destroy that Pixel if you are on the lam.
So you ditch the phone…are you safe? Not so fast. Did you use iCloud or Google Drive to back up your phone? Well then, maybe restoring your cell phone with all of your secrets is not as tough as you think.
Is your car equipped with crash alerts or other wireless services? How about GPS? Probably. How about your electronic toll pass? For that matter, have you thought about license plate and face recognition cameras all over town? They know where you are and have been.
Considering the Metro or Uber? Think again. The accounts you set up to make hailing and paying for transportation easy keep track of your movements. I guess you are walking.
Have you recently purchased a device that has a companion app? Maybe a toothbrush (getprophix.com), smart speaker (sonos.com), dog-finder (getfindster.com), coffee maker (spinn.com), running shoes (underarmour.com/hover), or sports band (fitbit.com)? These are part of the wave of Internet of Things (IoTs) devices that stay connected to you for your convenience. Typically, this connection runs through your Bluetooth device (phone) or Wi-Fi (bit.ly/2SWBIrB). But some devices go further.
Ask Alexa or Google Home about the weather in Seattle? Your Next thermostat knows when you left the house. Thought about your pacemaker lately (bit.ly/2qzB1XS)? Be still, my heart!
Does your “go-bag” or keychain have a Tile (tile.com) on it? As you pass through the airport, or train or bus station, someone else’s Tile app could follow you. With Tile’s “community find” feature, your lost bag can be tracked by someone else who has the app near your bag. So even though you don’t have your cell phone, it’s possible to track you. So far this is only activated by you. But who’s to say someone couldn’t use that feature to find you when you didn’t want to be found? More and more IoT devices will extend their networks in the future.
For that matter, the cessation of tracking can provide useful information to those looking for you. Where were you when you ditched your car or your phone, or turned off your laptop? Facebook knows where you were when you when you disconnected.
What about social engineering (bit.ly/2QBt00x)? Does someone know your childhood address or first job, or your first movie theater? Hiding out in your old hometown or at your former mother-in-law’s? Gotcha!
Crime doesn’t pay. We are basically voluntarily giving ourselves up as we drop shreds of our privacy constantly. As George Orwell said, “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.”
Jan 21, 2026
Q: I heard something on the radio about Amazon building a robot to help them decide who to hire but the robot was sexist or something and now I’m confused. What’s going on?
A: What is up with all this advanced technology being racist and sexist all the time?! Dark skin not triggering automatic bathroom soap dispensers (bit.ly/2EGvngP)? Facial recognition software telling Asians to open their eyes for their passport photos (https://reut.rs/2S8NheC)? Shouldn’t tech be smarter than that? It’s an old problem that boils down to new technology not being tested on minority populations and it goes back at least to the invention of scissors for only right-handed folk.
You’re probably referring to the story “Amazon scraps secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women,” reported by Reuters at https://reut.rs/2D1MeJg. It wasn’t a robot—it was a computer program meant to help guide hiring decisions. And it wasn’t sexist; it was just responding to the input it was given. That’s what computers do, often to the chagrin of users and programmers alike.
Such stories have become increasingly common as big tech companies have tried to automate decisions that once fell to lowly humans. After all, if Alexa can understand speech well enough to turn off the lights, shouldn’t her cousins be able to sift through some résumés? One of the hopes for Artificial Intelligence was that it might make decisions based on pure data and rigorous math without succumbing to prejudices like people do.
What went wrong? One of the first lessons of programming is GIGO—“garbage in, garbage out.” It doesn’t matter how great your program is: bad inputs lead to bad outputs.
The type of AI used here is called Machine Learning (ML), because it mimics how humans learn. Consider how kids learn to distinguish cats from dogs. They don’t memorize a set of rules to apply whenever they see an animal. Instead, their parents point to Fido and say “dog,” or tell them to “pet the cat” when Whiskers saunters by.
Different neurons are activated when they see different animals, and eventually their brains associate certain patterns of neurons firing with cats and others with dogs. At that point, they have learned the difference.
Programmers simulate this brain behavior with a program called a neural network. These are trained by showing them thousands of labeled cat and dog pictures. Then they are tested when asked to categorize a new picture not seen before. If their training was successful—if they determined the patterns that differentiate a dog from a cat—they will correctly identify new pictures without human intervention.
This technology is powerful: it gave us Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. But because of GIGO, it also gave Amazon a “sexist” HR assistant. The quotes are because the program doesn’t really know about men and women—it only knows about inputs and outputs. Since it was trained with résumés that Amazon had accepted and rejected, it learned that Amazon didn’t hire many candidates who graduated from majority-women colleges or listed certain hobbies (softball, maybe, or ballet). Amazon did not provide details, but they did cancel the program.
It turns out that feeding biased data into a program designed to look for patterns causes it to learn the biases and then mimic them. GIGO.
The problem is not new. In 2016, ProPublica claimed to find it in software that predicts recidivism rates for criminal offenders (bit.ly/2JgDqzC). That same year, Microsoft had to shutter an AI-powered Twitter chatbot after twenty-four hours because it quickly learned to imitate homophobic slurs (https://for.tn/2D1M4Bo).
Even when the results aren’t disastrous, they can be just…weird. Witness Burger King’s advertising speak created by similar programs: bit.ly/2EFV1SL. Or check out a whole site dedicated to AI weirdness: aiweirdness.com.
What’s the solution? Feeding in unbiased data certainly helps, as does removing irrelevant data points. Some researchers report success with a statistical trick called oversampling—giving their programs three copies of each résumé from a woman, for example, so the program doesn’t notice a discrepancy in previous hiring practices.
We think the problems will persist until someone invents Artificial Judgment (AJ), to coin a term, to go along with AI. We’ll get on that right away, as soon as we extract this left-handed mouse from its packaging with our new left-handed scissors.
Jan 21, 2026
Q: My kids gave me one of those family DNA spit tests for Father’s Day. What should I do?
A: DNA spit test. Maybe you should change careers; you have a knack for product promotion.
My kids sent me a kit as a gift too and I decided to give it a try. After a bit of spitting, I sent my sample to their lab and after a couple of months, I got my results. So, this is a good time for the PropellerHeads to weigh in.
Business for ancestry.com, 23andme.com, africanancestry.com, familytreedna.com, National Geographic (genographic.nationalgeographic.com), and dozens of similar services is booming. For about $100 (or a little more), these test kits collect your DNA (spitting or swabbing) to evaluate your genetic background. They correlate that to your ancestors’ likely geographic origins and then report back to you. Recently these have become very popular as family gifts.
Why bother? Well, say you are thinking of running for president. You may want proof that you are 1/16th Native American. A test like this could quell the fake news.
From my perspective, the services are all pretty similar in process and result, although the providers may dispute that. Results can vary based on your particular match to their reference DNA databases. Here, size may matter. These are decent places to do a little buyer’s research: bit.ly/2OtnJacand bit.ly/2kJx6Fs.
These tests are based on what is called autosomal chromosome testing. This involves matching similarities from 22 of your 23 chromosomes, making allowances for their dilution over generations. A good primer can be found at bit.ly/2NVKORP.
Be prepared. All of these services offer much more for more of your money. Once you get your DNA results, they encourage you to sign on to their full-service offerings, where they will find DNA matches, provide family tree research, offer relative connection services, and more. While these services can prove costly, combining your family history with historical records and DNA matching can yield impressive results. If you are keen on researching your genealogy and adding leaves to your family tree, this may be the way to go.
A lot of your family history research can be done for free, without DNA. Your best results probably will come from several approaches (bit.ly/2n05SLP), including interviewing family; gathering birth, marriage, and death artifacts; and looking up historical records.
Is DNA testing safe? That remains to be seen. Some companies say they will only use your DNA to help improve their customers’ results. Others make it clear that research, including new drug formulations, may be helped by your data. Just ask 23andMe about the $300 million cash infusion from pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (bit.ly/2Okxtnf). Senator Chuck Schumer of New York thinks ethical use of DNA testing may warrant some oversight (https://nbcnews.to/2zqCYc6).
There are also stories about DNA testing revealing step children long ago swept under the rug. Sometimes, the news resulting in divorces. This PropellerHead is not sure of the veracity of these claims, but caution may be in order.
Your DNA is your essence. You are giving these companies the keys to who you are. If paying to give your DNA to big pharma (who may very well make a fortune on the next wonder-drug) works for you, fine. Otherwise, consider opting out of third-party use and research. In any case, remember: you sent your spit voluntarily.
I know you have heard this a million times before, but watch where you mail your bodily fluids.
Jan 21, 2026
Q: Well, the turkey is gone. Time to get up and get some shopping done, right?
A: Yeah…I am about napped out. I better get going.
I did make some progress this weekend. I was surprised to encounter some friendly elves delivering a Christmas tree to my building. I did some inquiring. A few clicks later and I am happy to report that treeelves.net is scheduled to bring a fresh Fraser fir to my house next week. The tree comes already on the stand and they will pick it up after the holidays all for a little over $100. My elves cover Atlanta, Charlotte, Greenville, Nashville and Richmond, but I suspect you can find a similar service in your area. I figure that earned me another nap.
Time to speak up! With the advent of Amazon Echo and Google Home, the smart speaker is everywhere. Still, some are not thrilled with the sound or other features and are looking for an upgrade. Sonos.com has the Sonos One at under $200 and Beam at $350. So, before you buy another Echo (amazon.com/echo) or Home (google.com/home), do some shopping.
Are you still reaching around the cord to turn off the lights? C’mon really? The son of the Clapper, the smart plug invasion has begun. At about $30 (wemo.com) there are dozens of choices, all pretty much the same. You plug them in, do some tedious syncing with Echo or Home, then say “Alexa, turn the den lights on.”
Most of the entrants come with an app, but after set-up, most likely Google or Amazon can handle what you need including scheduling, naming, and grouping your switches. These are not for all of your lamps. If your people are used to using the lamp switch, these can be annoying. So, a few go a long way to making your home a bit smarter.
Knock knock. Are you asleep? Smart video doorbells are not new, but if you don’t have one, you will probably get one for Christmas. At around $100 to $200, Ring (ring.com) and Blink (blinkforhome.com) lead the pack with many others to choose from. They either run on batteries or are wired to your existing doorbell circuit.
These oversized doorbells wake up when they detect motion. They ring (of course), but also buzz your phone or wake up Alexa where you can see and talk to your visitor or intruder and can record the event if you are busy napping.
Looking for a stocking stuffer? Buy your clan wireless charging pads. My first one 2 years ago cost me about $70 and changed my life. I mean I have to put my phone down when I am snoozing anyway. Now they are around $20 so you can afford to have them all around the house. Best bet…look at Amazon’s collection.
OK, no personal experience here…my blow-drying days are behind me. But consider the Dyson Airwrap (dyson.com) at $500 for your loved one. The videos sold me. This latest hi-tech gadget from that weird British inventor might be the personal gift you were looking for. Apparently, it is a blow dryer, curler, and straightener. Not sure what all that means, but I think it is good.
Trouble finding something for the nephew or grandson? I bought a Nintendo Labo kit (labo.nintendo.com). These are kits that extend the capability of the Nintendo Switch. You put together these high quality, durable cardboard extensions/holders for the switch controllers that act as peddles, joysticks, steering wheels and the like that interact with video games. These run about $80 and include robot, piano, vehicle and other configurations.
Ok, you still have time before you review your 2018 New Year’s resolutions. But, number one was to stop storing your passwords in a note on your phone. So, check out dashlane.com before the year runs out. Multi-device plans start at free, but at $10 a month you get advanced features like VPN protected Wi-Fi, encrypted document storage, dark web monitoring, credit protections, and identity theft insurance. This is a two-fer. One for you, one for Dad. Both of you will sleep easier.
Now it really is time for a nap. Have a great holiday.
Jan 21, 2026
Q: My five year old asked me to play video games with him and now I am saddled with a couple of questions. Should I be concerned with what he plays? Should I be concerned that I can’t figure out how to play what he plays?
A: These are valid questions and ones I imagine have been plaguing parents since Pong first pinged onto screens. Since I was the lucky PropellerHead that pulled this inquiry out of the hopper, I am going to share some of my personal struggles, opinions, helicopter parenting, and philosophical gold with you. I might add some facts too.
Just so you have a picture, here’s where your “expert” advice is coming from. I am a 30 (cough) something parent of a six-year-old aspiring super gamer and a four-year-old yelling, non-skilled, Incredible Hulk-like gamer. I had an Atari growing up and have played a little on almost every game system since, but mostly have an affinity for Nintendo products. My household currently has a mixture of those, including the newest system, the Switch, as well as tablets and phones loaded with games for the whole family. Feel free to stop reading here if my expertise seems like a snooze, but I will warn you there is an opportunity at the end for ahhhmahhhzing insights.
Let me break down my love/hate relationship with parenting small children and gaming/screen time:
1. When my first born was one, every household having a tablet was still a luxury. We were amazed by how easily he picked up navigating an iPad. He was interacting with learning games and navigating Netflix self-sufficiently so quickly. My child was a genius! The next Steve Jobs! I knew that bulk purchase of black toddler turtle necks and light rinse jeans was a good investment.
Fast forward to his almost seventh year, and I don’t even know how to navigate his new game system or his kid’s Kindle. I tell myself this is not because I am old, or losing my tech touch, but because I don’t need to know how to work these things because they are the kids’ toys. When really, I am just wondering how long it’s going to be until I don’t know how to use the remote. I am comforted by the fact that my parents, to some extent, encountered the same thing as new technologies in gaming came of age when I was a child. Also, how smart can they be if I still have to open their go-gurt? Which is really just gross plastic wrapped yogurt, so who’s really the winner here?
2. How do I know if what my kids are playing is appropriate? Yes, there is a rating system for games (bit.ly/2hIwaPr), but just as with television and movie ratings, it’s all subjective, based on your child, your household, and parenting style. For example, my oldest loves to build, engineer, and make all sorts of things in the real world, so Minecraft was an instant hit with him in the gaming world. This game is rated for kids 10+ but in watching him play it, I felt like the adventure and problem-solving aspects were appropriate for him. That being said, there are a ton of different versions of Minecraft and unbeknownst to me he downloaded a version that focused less on the building aspect and was all about fighting with heavy gun violence (at least the three seconds of it I witnessed). That game has since been deleted from his tablet (which has parental controls set up, but allowed the download as age-appropriate) and he is more than content to play the original version.
3. While we’re talking about violence, will letting my kid punch, shoot, or kill something in a video game ultimately lead to that behavior in real life? This is not a new question or topic of conversation (related to all media). Whereas the question is not new, the answer is still murky. There are studies that suggest the correlation between violent video games and violent or aggressive behavior in children, but there are just as many that prove that inconclusive or misleading without considering other environmental and psychological factors – cnn.it/2Go09qC.
For context in my personal struggle with this, my household is a gun-free household. We don’t have nerf guns, water guns, we don’t pretend play guns with our fingers, etc. These are choices we have made as a family, but I will admit I still watch action movies with guns. My kids like other weaponry (paging Zeus, someone forgot their labrys) and play pretend with “lasers” and “blasters”. These are things that developed organically in our kids’ imaginations that I feel constantly have to be evaluated and I wonder how it should translate into their gaming. My six-year-old introduced us to Fortnite, which is popular in his first grade (!) class and just as popular among teen and adult gamers alike. He has very limited exposure to that game and has to play supervised when he does, but I am still not certain that is the right choice. Like almost all of parenting.
4. Let’s just say you have zero struggle deciding what gaming content is appropriate for your children. There’s also the question of how it affects them behaviorally. Personally, I can immediately tell the difference in behavior if my kids have had too much screen time. So specifically that I know the difference between if they have watched too much TV or played too many video games. Can games make your kids mean – cnn.it/2LrXwqS?
The answer in my house, is yes. In fact, in most cases, game time is earned in my house. Not because I think that is how it should be handled in all families, but in mine, while my children are intelligent enough to tackle pretty complex games at their ages, the intense focus on something in the virtual world seems to make them forget sometimes how to interact kindly with the real world. That may be specific to my children because it’s a completely unscientific study conducted with my keen mom senses. But my mom senses are always right. Ask anyone.
Just like all philosophical questions (and let’s be honest – parenting questions), there are no clear-cut answers. So you are welcome, for me not definitively answering your question. I did promise you a free gift with purchase at the end of this, so here you go. The fact that you are asking these questions is a good indicator that you are doing something right.
What? That was lame?
Ok, proof that the NES skills learned as kids are still relevant today – bit.ly/2uFVs7q. You’re welcome, fellow nerds.
