Wayne MacPhail

Wayne MacPhail has been a print and online journalist for 25 years. He was the managing editor of Hamilton Magazine and was a reporter and editor at The Hamilton Spectator until he founded Southam InfoLab, a national future information products facility for Southam Inc. in 1991. He went on to develop online content for most major players in Canada including Sympatico-Lycos, where he was the director of content. He is also a book author (Spin Doctors) and is a published and performed playwright (Abandon Hope Mabel Dorothy). He has taught online writing at several Ontario colleges and universities and is the co-owner of w8nc inc, a marketing and communications firm aimed at non- profit and educational organizations.

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Next-gen augmented reality will target human sensorium

When most of us think of augmented reality, thanks to Google, we think of dorky glasses with an ugly camera mounted on the frame. But what about the other senses? What if all of them were augmented and all those augmentations worked in concert?

That broader view of AR might be closer to what tech companies will be unveiling in the next couple of years. Humans take in enormous amounts of sensory input every second. We make judgements about threats, reactions, choices and pleasures from subtle and dramatic changes in the patina of inputs we're swaddled in.

Some decisions are made on minuscule cues -- a wink, a flicker at the periphery of vision, a rough burr on a flat surface, a chirp.

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The social media fight against Trump is a modern battle of the presses

At first glance there would seem to be little that would connect Donald Trump with Martin Luther, but stick with me here.

In 1517 Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation with his 95 Theses. This document railed against Papal indulgences, which the faithful could buy as a sort of "Get Out of Jail Free" card for sin.

The later Reformation also held that Christian scripture is the only source of the rules for worship. There was no need for priests to get in the way. This, of course, went over in Rome like a fart in a spacesuit.

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social media twitter mobile technology Donald Trump Fake News alternative facts reformation printing press

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Lies, truth and alternative facts: Trump's bad weekend

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." --Samuel Adams, revolutionary (1722-1803)

"We shall overcomb" -- Women's March protest sign this past weekend

It is remarkable to me that in less than three days as President of the United States Donald Trump has managed to so exuberantly, beautifully and effortlessly alienate the press, bring a million or more women to the streets, leave himself and his closest aides open to exquisite satire and scare the shit out of sane people everywhere.

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U.S. politics journalism Donald Trump conservative lies post-truth alternative facts Kellyanne Conway Sean Spicer

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The robots are coming... for our jobs

I think a lot of us, when we muse about artificial intelligence, fret that machines will become sentient and self-reliant. When we think about robots, we worry that, like Transformers, they will be hulking, dangerous machines or, like in Westworld, androids who can crush our windpipes.

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robots machine learning automation job automation

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AirPods are not just earphones -- they're a metaphor of the future

Just before Christmas I got a pair of Apple AirPods. They're white, completely wireless earphones. AirPods are almost identical to Apple's wired earphones except that in lieu of thin cables, small white cylinders extend from the AirPods themselves. When you wear them it looks like you laughed and the milk came out your ears.

A few of my friends don't get it. "They're just dorky wireless earphones," they say.

And, they're wrong -- not because they don't look dorky, I'll give them that. They're simply incorrect because they're using the wrong frame for the things that now extend like candy cigarettes below my earlobes.

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mobile technology wearables Apple digital technology earphone AirPods

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The year in technology: Change is good-ish

This past year in technology has been as busy as Donald Trump's Twitter feed. It feels like everything shifted on us: news, ports, emojis, bots, virtual reality and mainstream media.

Let's start there.

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year in review facebook virtual reality digital privacy digital technology artificial intelligence augmented reality

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rabble's 2016 gift guide for the nerds on your list

Once again it's time to buy gifts for the gadget nerd on your list. And, once again I'm here to offer sage advice to prevent you from getting him or her the totally, completely wrong thing.

As I mentioned last year, picking a gift for a nerd without guidance is about as safe as juggling flaming chainsaws drunk.

Dongle deluge

This year, computer, tablet and smartphone ports have gotten more confusing. Does your lovable nerd have a phone with a headphone jack or just a Lightning port? Does her laptop have USB-3 or USB C ports? Does that same laptop have HDMI, mini displayport or Thunderbolt output to a TV or monitor? Choose wisely.

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gifts holiday season tech advice digital technology nerds nerd culture

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Fake news is foolish but the consequences are real

This week a photo of a racist letter made the rounds on social media.

It read:

"Dear Terrorist-Bitch,

We are writing to you as the newly organized Neighborhood Town Watch. We understand that you currently wear a scarf on your head and we would like to put you on notice that this will no longer be tolerated in our neighborhood.

Now that America is great again, we would like to offer you two opportunities to avoid any consequences on your poor previous decisions. First, you can take your radical attire of and live like all Americans. Or, your second option, you can go back to the God Forsaken land you came from.

America is Great Again,

Neighborhood Town Watch"

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social media Digital Media Donald Trump hate mongering Fake News U.S. election 2016

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Tortoise meets hare in new product releases from Microsoft and Apple

Last week both Microsoft and Apple released new input devices: a puck and a bar.

One day before Apple's Macbook event, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Surface Studio. It sports an industrial design that would fit right into a Black Mirror episode. It's basically a huge touch screen that can cantilever down to a shallow angle. It then becomes a bright, interactive table.

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Microsoft Apple digital technology digital devices input devices

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Safeguarding our digital security with cardboard doors and paper locks

Imagine the houses in your hometown all have cardboard doors, or leave their doors wide open. Now imagine inside all those houses there are safes, jewellery cases, storage lockers and desk drawers all protected by locks made of paper. As you would expect, all of those houses and lockers and drawers would be easy pickings for professional burglars or even for unskilled thieves looking for something to pawn.

Now, imagine instead of stealing anything, the home invaders hid tiny devices inside all those poorly locked containers. Let's suppose those devices could make phone calls whenever and to wherever the invaders chose. Maybe the gizmos lay hidden in all those storage lockers and desk drawers, in all those homes, for years -- undetected and benign.

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DDOS hackers digital technology digital security distributed denial of service internet of things

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Wayne MacPhail

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