Alan Buckingham

With Coronavirus (COVID-19) continuing to spread and multiple US states reporting cases spiking thanks to an ill-timed reopening, we have little to do. Movie theaters, among many other businesses, are closed with no immediate plans to come back.

This has affected movie productions and studios, with films like Tenet and No Time to Die being delayed, and others, like Tom Hanks' new movie Greyhound being released straight to digital.

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Obviously, unless you've just returned from hiking the Appalachian Trail, you know the current events in the world. If you haven’t been absent from society then the news has been hard to avoid.

Now two more tech companies have added their voices to the incident in Minneapolis that involved four law enforcement officers and one citizen, George Floyd, and resulted in his death. Protests, some peaceful others violent, have broken out in cities across the US, including in small towns not accustomed to such events. They have even somewhat spread to other parts of the world, including London and Paris.

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Mobile data usage has been on the rise for a while, as networks get better and faster and more people get mobile phones. Of course, with many people home right now phones are likely being used more than ever.

NPD, a market research firm that monitors these things, found a surge in usage in March, which coincides with the pandemic and people being forced to work from home.

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As a result of the coronavirus pandemic most companies have shifted to having employees working at home. For some that is ideal, for others the lack of human contact can be depressing. It’s a double-edged sword in many ways -- you want people around but enjoy being home.

There is some good news for employers though -- new research released by Hibob finds that people working from home are just as productive as they were in the office.

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Three years ago I gave my son an Xbox One for Christmas. He loves it, although he’s separated from it right now thanks to current conditions, both here in the US and elsewhere all around the world.

Gaming has been a hot commodity since the very first computers and consoles debuted and it’s come a long way over the decades. But what gaming platform has sold the most?

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First, for the record, the process I detail here should work on any Android device. With that said, my elderly, but still used, Google Nexus 9 tablet went into an endless reboot cycle a month or so ago that I couldn’t stop. I set it aside for a couple of weeks and began using the Fire 10 tablet I have. I’m fine on Fire 10 and honestly may stick with it, but seeing the Nexus sitting there useless bothered me so I decided to give it one more shot.

Yes, I know this tablet launched in 2014 when Lollipop was the current iteration of Android, but I still like it. So, here’s how I solved it.

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As the holiday weekend kicks off things are going to be a bit different this year. For one, while it’s generally warm, it’s not swimming weather for most yet, and two, a lot of beaches are closed, although some have reopened with restrictions.

Nothing is stopping you from cooking out though, and if you want you can blast some music while doing so. Plenty of streaming services exist, but one, iHeartRadio, will be playing commercial-free music on many of its radio stations all weekend long.

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A while back I wrote about building a media center computer, something I last did about 12 years ago. I wanted to know if it was still worth the time and money. Your answers mostly told me to scrap the idea, probably best I suppose.

But around that same time as that aging media center I also built a home server, so I’m back to inquire about doing this again.

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With the current pandemic continuing to grow in some areas, and unemployment rising even faster than food prices, we need problem solvers. Help at this time comes mostly from doctors and scientists, but can also come from other surprising areas.

If you've recently taken an AncestryDNA test, Ancestry.com is inviting you to supply some information that could assist in the fight against COVID-19.

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The keyboard on my beloved Asus C206 died recently. I gave it life support, but it didn’t last long. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been using my Windows 10 laptop, and I like it. I use it regularly for tasks Chrome OS can’t do -- some programs just require Windows.

Now I’ve received a new Chromebook (new to me that is), the Lenovo 100E, and have been using it a little while. Let me tell you what I think of this iteration. Obviously, this is my opinion, yours may vary.

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Despite everything going on currently, the world hasn’t stopped, just changed -- a lot. My daughter works from home, my son and girlfriend are doing their college classes from her family’s home.

While sports are at a dead stop Genealogy research can move on. Yes, the archives and historical societies may be closed but there’s nothing to keep you from cemeteries and online research in places like Ancestry and FamilySearch.

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Unless your job is considered necessary like a hospital, nursing home, grocery store, gas station and a few others, then you are probably home now thanks to the current coronavirus pandemic. Maybe on unemployment or perhaps working from home.

So what is there to do while you’re stuck looking at four walls? Well there are a few things to occupy your time.

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Coronavirus, or COVID-19 as it is also known, is playing havoc with the world. Worldwide there are over 1.5 million cases and just under 100,000 deaths to date. Although measures are in place, it's going to be a rough ride for some time to come.

Not helping is the disinformation that is being used to scam the people who have the virus or are afraid of it. Most are existing scams repurposed for a new fear.

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As you'll be more than aware, there’s a virus rampant in China and it has spread to other countries, including cases in the US. But there’s been a lot of FUD surrounding it and we honestly don’t know what the real numbers for cases and deaths are.

If Anonymous is to be believed then we may know a bit more. The group claims its numbers are backed up and verified.

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Another year over and a new one just begun. That’s where we are today, not only a new year, but a new decade. Welcome to the 20s. The last time we had those my grandparents were young kids, Flappers were in style and nobody saw the great depression coming.

To celebrate the passing of time I'm going to look back at my favorite tech of 2019. Not all is new, but some is. The others are just things I still use all the time. I shall begin with the three new items.

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