Dear Doc: Lately I have been reading a lot about “deep fakes”, which seem to be photos and videos that have been edited for propaganda purposes. Isn’t it against the law to do that? Why don’t the copyright police put an end to such deceptions so that the public may once again be able to […]

There are some great inventions that cannot be protected by patent.  Laws of nature, such as electromagnetism , cannot be patented.  Abstract ideas, such as mathematical formulae , cannot be patented.  Natural phenomena, such as a naturally occurring bacteria, cannot be patented.  These judge-made exceptions to ‘patentable subject matter’ do not appear in the statute.*   In recent years, the Supreme Court has issued decisions that […]

The Amazon River is the longest, mightiest river in the world.  Its headwaters lie in the Andes of Peru but numerous rivers of the Amazon Basin drain into the Amazon River as it meanders towards the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon Basin, or Amazonas, is massive, comprised of seven countries – Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, […]

Bad actors are after your data.  They want to turn your data into money any way that they can.  That may involve using your data to steal your online banking passwords and account numbers, or may involve stealing personal and contact data to make a phishing attack more convincing and effective.  Why?  So that you […]

Dear Doc: The spouse and I recently visited New York City, and while there, we went to see the “Vessel“, which is “an interactive staircase and art installation located at Hudson Yards”. It was interesting, but I felt uneasy because I felt that by going there, I was somehow giving up a lot of my […]

Consider this situation: you get to work one morning and attempt to open your computer.  A pop-up message tells you that your hard drive is encrypted and demands that you make a payment, in Bitcoin, to get access to your files.  Your coworkers have the same experience.  Your company’s servers are frozen.  You and your […]