Hello everyone...

Merry Christmas in techland and hope you received your high tech toy you wished for!.

New Cyberlife

In September usually tourist are gone and conferences start in Balaton I mean. In the beginning of September our deputy state secretary for global affairs Szabolcs Takács held a Cybersecurity conference near Lake Balaton. This conference was an effort to show Hungary’s contribution to the global market in battling issues in cyber space. At this conference he said this was one of the most important issues faced by Magyar.

Most important? But for who? Six months earlier he was talking at the united nation about minority protection as a major commitment and issue to the Hungarian government. While Szabolcs speaks about the issues face in Hungary people in the streets protest about the upcoming election and the real issue that there will not be any jobs available for Magyar. This is what our nightmares are about.

As the government tries to address the ‘new’ cyberlife problems I wonder how they will pay for it? The government needs to find money to fund this new activity, will they take the money from our taxes? And while the government tries to fix my cyberlife my physical life is getting harder and more difficult to manage. Who care about this cyberlife when the end of the day the only thing that matters is that my taxes go up?

So cyberlife is important, yes. Since it is still virtual for me, how about the government care more about my physical life? You know, bills, food, house and so on… 

Apple updates the iphone

As the weather gets worse, school is back, vacations are over. So tech companies are starting to push their new lines of technology. Including Apple with its 5s and 5g. Samsung and others of course will also put new stuff out just to keep up.

What is interesting is the Apple 5s is supposed to be for the Chinese market. A lower cost device, with less features. But because you can get many colors it’s going to be popular in Europe, as well as America. But is this really something to get excited about? What is the big deal? It’s another phone very much like the 4s but it has a color. I know that we can be fooled into thinking this is a new technology, but really it’s a new plastic case that will cost £549. No surprise, Apple will sell many of them to Hungarians.

Safer cyber life

Not so long ago we were amazed by science fiction movies. These movies have interesting ideas about our future, and how it may turn out. Will Robots serve our needs or will we become their slaver. Will there be a war between human and robots? How does this look like living in a cyber-world today?

Well, we almost there.Thinking about my friends who I only touch on Facebook, or my money which is becoming more virtual, and what about all the software programs which become part of my life.

How safe is our cyber world in our real life?  As the latest news shows, the cyber world is not as safe as we think it is. Talking about Snowden-scandal for instance, but this example has been and existing problem. Since the very beginning spying existed, and was done by nations, and people.…..I will let government deal with that problem, I would rather focus on my own safety  - and this case I’m concerned about my personal identity because, this is an existing threat that can hurt me.

 For big companies - like Microsoft, and Google – they work to bring your attention to security. Even if they have been working on of their side to make things safer it’s still not enough. If hacker can’t find a way to steal information from the companies on their side, they will attack the user side, you! Let’s face the fact it’s much easier too. Humans have always been the weak link in security. Snowden stole information, this was not a hack, he was in the government when he stole information. Hackers will attack you by coming into your house, sending you mail from a loved one, but it’s a fake. Or fake a request to reset your password to Facebook. It’s the humans that are easy to hack.

So beware of your identity might somebody else want to use it too.

And a bit of funny Hungarian news – The Egyptian army arrested a Hungarian stork because it was wearing a tracking device on its neck - they thought it was a spy. Poor bird flew to Egypt to spend the winter, but they became suspicious of it. The Hungarian’s got a promise from Egypt that they will let him fly home in the spring.

Back to school

Yup! It’s time to get ready for school, even if it’s bad news for my teenage son also on my wallet. Just like every year, we start with a lot of new things. No exception this year.

The Hungarian education system is the same as every other ex-communism countries. A well-known Prussian education system that has been slowly changing to western style system. Well, we  are not quite there yet, but as I see my son’s education at least it looks promising – foreign languages for instance, German and English are the most commonly thought, but you can find schools which are also teaching French and Spanish. Today our schools require at least one foreign language otherwise you have no chance to get to a collage. In my days we were forced to learn Russian and guess what? It's also becoming trendy again.

Talking about new and trendy  - IT became essential, a subject of its own at schools.

But what school can teach a 13 years old boy anything they don’t already know? - Because he’s already an extensive computer user - as  I’m thinking about the enormous amount of time he spends on Facebook or Minecraft, etc it's amazing- I find whenever I try to help him out on the computer it turns out I need the help and not him. So the more he uses it the better expert he becomes... I guess. Does the skills he is learning require some basic programming skills? or it’s simply an ongoing self-development?

Is it possible that he has learned computer languages already? Does the computer have its own language in the first place? Some guys think computers do have languages, because if you don’t give the right command it won’t understand you. And you must communicate with it, right? does that meet the foundation of a language? Wikipedia definition of a language would agree!

Of course there are two sides of the coins. If schools want to give some space and time for the increasing IT subjects something has to be reduced, as well. This case Hungarian grammar becomes the loser.

I just wonder how my boy is going to write an official letter. Abbreviations and emoticons :) ?

St. Stephan’s Day

20^th of August is the celebration of the foundation of the Hungarian state. This is our 4^th of July. We also call it St. Stephen’s Day, remembering Stephen I, who was our first King in 1000 and who became a saint in 1083 by Pope Gregory VII. This is our biggest national holidays and traditional 'New Bread blessing’ from the first harvest. As it should be we celebrate with a daylong festivals, water parade on the Danube, breath taking air shows, procession with ‘Holy-Right’ and magnificent firework at night.

Celebration with long distance

Although the big day is coming up soon it’s really a messy feeling to be a Hungarian – ‘Magyar’ these days. Thousands of people are struggling with survival, future seems to be hopeless for youngsters and elder’s dreams slowly turn into shame. Thanks for the immigration wave our population is getting smaller and smaller. In fact the latest news is the constant’s population drop from 10 million people down to around 7 million. Decreasing populations are not just bad for the country or the Hungarian economy it also affects families life as well.

They are being torn apart, and what makes this decision more painful is they have no choices left. No matter if you are a mother of five kids, you leave the country and need to send the money home. Are trying to start a life, but your fiancé just got a job at aboard? Or maybe you have to leave your elder parents behind? Yup! No time for sorrow the money is out there, outside of Hungary.

So where do I belong, really? Here in this foreign country where I live or back home where my heart is? And what can you do on a Day like that? Celebrate from a long distance I guess! Sending a postcard takes a couple of days and using the phone can reach be expensive to talk to relatives. Thank God, technology helps us a lot. You can write an email or instant message on the Facebook instead. Diversity of communications today is extensive. These technologies make keeping in touch easier and also cost less. And if you really miss someone you can talk on Skype for free although it cannot replace a loving touch.

For me it’s no different this year, we are going to watch the fireworks together on a web cam.

 

Apps make your life perfect

 

There are so many apps today I think everything has been done. It looks like I have got an app for everything just a fingertip away. The apps are so easy to use, no wonder there are so popular.

 

Originally the app service was offered for general productivity tools and to get information quickly. Such as a calendar, stock market and weather broadcast apps. that where free and some useful pay for tools also.  I agree it’s great if you own a business focused on creative design of software. But If I’d had a Nail Saloon – for instance – and I wanted to be on the map, now I would need to create an app for that.

Now Microsoft has 160,000 apps, Google has 800,000 apps and Apple has 1,250,000 apps - according to Forbes. However app explosion still does not help get things done for you, these apps only provide only a short term reminders, and a short term time to play with something new. And the question is, How do you ever find a good app. in the app stores now that there are millions of them?   

Do we need them all of them? How did they change our behavior so far? Recently I’ve realized I can’t have a nice chat with my friends without being interrupted – ‘Hang on, while I check my phone!’ And how will it affect my life? I mean, do I become lazy? It is nice to check out what the current time is on the other side of the world. Ok, I need it. But why can’t I do the math in my head?

And what about the future? There is an app that tells me I have 37% chance to get pregnant today. Hmm…. Is there any apps which is tell me if my husband will be around tonight?