Tech Talk on VOCM is a weekly tech spot highlighting the latest tech news and gadget reviews. On this episode we discuss how new technologies change the expression of moral outrage and its many social consequences.
Moral Outrage In The Digital Age
Most of us, at some point or another, have experienced a sense of moral outrage: at, say, a politician’s behavior, a crime, or from someone they met or something they read. Back in the days before the internet, we might have expressed that outrage at the dinner table, perhaps we …..
Driven To Distraction: Are Car Companies Going To Profit From Your Driving Data?
Picture this: You’re driving home from work, contemplating what to make for dinner, and as you idle at a red light near your neighborhood pizzeria, an ad offering $5 off a pepperoni pizza pops up on your vehicle’s dashboard screen. Are you annoyed that your car’s trying to sell you …..
What Is Cryptojacking and How to Avoid This Coin-Mining Malware
Your computer or mobile device might be helping criminals crank out thousands of dollars in online currency, and you wouldn’t even know it. A new hacking tool known as cryptojacking is on the rise, and it threatens to secretly use your computer or mobile device to generate online money for …..
Are We Ready For 3-D Printed Guns?
The era of the untraceable, undetectable, 3D-printed guns is almost upon us, and it’s not going to respect international borders. That’s the concern critics are raising ahead of a recent U.S. ruling allowing plans for a plastic pistol to be posted online for anyone to download and print. So should …..
You’re Stuck With Batteries—But New Tech Will Make Them Last Longer
What’s the biggest complaint people have about their smartphone? Battery life. For some it is even worse: a battery that slows down their phone. You can blame our increased use of these gadgets or you can blame the lithium-ion batteries themselves, neither of which will see a change anytime soon. …..
Is It Smart to Own a Smart Lock?
Did I remember to lock the front door? It keeps bad people out, it lets good people in. It protects, it welcomes, but if you’ve ever been away from home and had to race back to unlock it for a needy guest, dog walker or handyman, you know that the …..
Are Phone Calls A Thing Of The Past?
For decades, the best and often only way to reach someone out of earshot was to call them on the phone. Since then, the internet has brought chat, FaceTime, Instagram, Snapchat stories and a host of other ways to keep in touch that made phone calls seem wildly inefficient. For …..
Is Your Digital Life Ready For Your Death?
To some extent, people are using digital technology in parts of their lives that are personal and deeply meaningful and for many Canadians, our online life and identity seems to be very much intertwined with the Internet. From storing all of our family photos and videos in the cloud to …..
Unique Relationship Between Rituals And Technology
Rituals are arguably a universal feature of human social existence: just as one cannot envision a society without language, one would be equally hard-pressed to imagine a society without rituals. From morning grooming routines like brushing your teeth and getting a shower to the ways in which we greet and …..
Is Screen Time Bad for Children’s Mental Health?
Many parents are concerned about how much time their children spend on cell phones, gaming consoles and other digital media. Some experts say they should be concerned as there tends to be a growing body of research showing an association between unhappiness and the time adolescents spend on digital media. …..