TechByter Worldwide 2021-11-17: Scammers Are Getting Better; So Must We. Short Circuits. Spare Parts.

The most accomplished software developers work hard to improve their skills. Sadly, this is also true of the best scammers. If you want to protect yourself and your data, it's important to update your skills, too. In Short Circuits: People who speak more than one language are often more mentally adept, and the best time to learn a language is during the first few years of life. So a Cleveland company working with Children's Hospital in Columbus is developing a way to give children a boost toward bilingualism in their first year. • Collaboration was big before the Covid pandemic, became more important during the past two years, and is now an essential function for many office workers. In Spare Parts (only on the website): Clippy makes a return to Windows 11, but not an an annoyance. Clippy, whose real name is Clippit, returns only as an emoji. • Electric vehicles are still a hard sell for people worried about how to charge them, but that's beginning to change. • Twenty years ago: At the end of 2001, I noted that if you wanted a top-of-the-line computer for 2002 -- one with a 2GHz CPU -- you'd probably need to spend $3000 or more.