Articles by Mick Brady

Humans may be wanderers by nature, but in the year 2020, with planet Earth overrun by a pandemic, most human activity has come to a shocking halt. Much of what is going on is related to battling the disease on the front lines -- either by tending to those who are stricken, or by filling basic needs so the rest of the population can shelter in place.

Can social media be saved? Can democracy be saved? The first question may seem less compelling than the second, but to some very worried observers, they are intimately entwined....

The open-source software movement has evolved dramatically over the past two decades. Many businesses that once considered open source a threat now recognize its value On the other hand, in spite of increased enthusiasm among enterprises, consumer interest, by and large, has not materialized....

Perhaps technology operates at its most profound level when we don't notice it -- when it simply becomes woven into the fabric of our daily lives. We're not amazed when we flip a light switch, after all, and in a few years it might be second nature for many of us to say "Alexa, turn on the lights." As part of a far-ranging, weeks-long virtual discu...

Cybersecurity and privacy threats aren't confined to the tech world. They've cast their pall on the world in general. Computer viruses, malware and data leaks have become commonplace, personal privacy has become a bad joke, and cyberwar looms like a virtual mushroom cloud What sometimes gets lost in the gloom are the many ways security professional...

What if your favorite blockbuster science fiction movie were true? When we watch a work of fiction, we enter an understanding with its makers. We agree to suspend our disbelief, and they agree to entertain us. If it's a particularly good work, perhaps it inspires us by communicating some kernel of wisdom about human nature. Its story may touch our...

If you're a small business owner or a key member of an enterprise executive team, you want your firm to succeed. If you're a customer, you want to be treated well. Those goals are not diametrically opposed, but very often, it seems that companies and customers are at cross-purposes ECT News Network recently gathered together -- virtually, that is -...

If you're turned off by the mere thought of talking heads vying to speak the loudest or the longest in a TV "discussion" of some pressing issue of the day, read on for a refreshing dose of sanity ECT News Network recruited five smart people with plenty to say about the state of technology, and we gave them plenty of time to say it: three rounds of ...

Sometimes when you tug on the thread of a small customer service failure, you unravel a big skein of much knottier problems. That happened when Shield Healthcare didn't send "Great Aunt Nelly" her shipment of medical supplies on time There are many people like Nelly in the U.S. -- elderly and disabled folks who depend in part or entirely on governm...

Fledgling e-commerce company PriceWaiter aims to save customers money, time and energy by negotiating better-than-Amazon deals on top-rated products -- simply, quickly and privately PriceWaiter's pitch to sellers is that it can help move inventory, maintain more margin, and make MAP (minimum advertised price) moot, resulting in more efficient prici...

I just dumped US Mobile after less than four months, setting a new speed record for hitting my tolerance-for-b.s. ceiling. Based on reviews, I'd had high hopes for this relatively new mobile virtual network operator, but it turns out I chose poorly Switching wireless service providers is one of those things I don't relish doing, but every few years...

Dr. Mae Jemison and I have a few things in common. We both grew up in houses that had scary basements with cobwebs, coal bins, and wringer washing machines. We both wore out our Chicago Public Library cards. We both were tormented by siblings but taught by our parents to stick up for each other, which we did. I memorized the soundtrack of West Side Story word-for-word; Jemison danced in a production of the show...

Theresa Payton, CEO of Fortalice Solutions, is one of the most influential experts on cybersecurity and IT strategy in the United States. She is an authority on Internet security, data breaches and fraud mitigation She served as the first female chief information officer at the White House, overseeing IT operations for President George W. Bush and ...

This is a call for resistance that has nothing to do with politics. It's coming from someone who unwittingly walked into a virtual jail cell that was disguised as a DirecTV contract. I'll be behind bars for another 23 months, and I'm counting the days Please don't take this as a rant or as an attempt to pressure AT&T, DirecTV's parent company, into...

After surviving well over a year as a cord-cutter, I recently returned to the cable fold -- and after less than a month, I'm having major regrets. The problem isn't with the service itself or even with the pricing. The problem is with the lies I wasn't entirely happy with my cord-cutting solution, but I wasn't eager to go back to a high-priced cabl...

I have sympathy for customer service representatives -- really, I do. I know that customers can be ignorant, demanding and ill-mannered. On the other hand, CSRs should be trained to deal with bad-tempered customers. Also, CSRs should be trained to avoid provoking pleasant and agreeable customers to the edge of meltdown -- or beyond If your ears are...

Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia, recently attempted to pressure ECT News Network into killing or drastically revising an article that was not to his liking. In an illuminating series of no fewer than 17 email messages, Wales demanded, threatened, wheeled, and implored in a dogged effort to accomplish one thing: to get us to change our story Iro...

The news that all three of the front-running candidates for president of the U.S. have been victims of privacy breaches at the passport office may have a silver lining Sure, Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain have good reason to be irate, and their campaigns are right to bring pressure to bear on the State Department. However, thes...

The word "connected" appears no less than 13 times in the press release Microsoft issued to broadcast its DVR Anywhere launch at CES:Microsoft Mediaroom Brings Connected TV to Life The software system allows people to view recorded TV content all over the house. Just imagine: You can start watching a movie while cooking in the kitchen. Others can w...

The dot-com shakeout is not the big e-commerce news of 2000. It should surprise no one that a raft of new companies that pinned all their hopes on a flawed business model were doomed to fail. The headline of the year is this: "The People Bought E-Commerce." They like it. They really do....