FBI Advice: Cover Your Laptop Camera

Stop snoopers...

A simple security measure: Cover your laptop camera from prying eyes.

Former FBI director James Comey recently recommended that we all cover our webcams with tape for security reasons.  Comey believes that doing so is a simple step for people to "take responsibility for their own safety and security," Violet Blue reported on engadget.com a few years ago.

That's still good advice, especially in light of all the hacking reports in the news in the past year.

For more on why the former FBI director recommended covering your laptop camera:  https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/23/the-fbi-recommends-you-cover-your-laptops-webcam-good-reasons/

For a video on covering your laptop camera and more: https://twitter.com/verge/status/926829650499715072/video/1  (If audio doesn't play, stop and restart video.)

Photo: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

The U.S. Tax System in Eight Easy Charts.

Musical Moments -- Raitt, Adele: I Can't Make You Love Me

An old favorite...

Bonnie Raitt.

Adele.

Musical Moments features music and artists I've enjoyed over the years.

Today's selection is an old favorite of millions: I Can't Make You Love Me, first popularized by Bonnie Raitt and more recently performed by Adele.

For Raitt's version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW9Cu6GYqxo

For Adele's performance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp97AWIeMbo

Photos: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report:

FBI Advice: Cover Your Laptop Camera.

Smile: Enjoy Your New Week

Fun...

 Before you go to bed tonight...

For fun videos to start your new week:

-- SAP: Let's do This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KEqvds5aBs

-- Progressive: Game Night: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wRLC/geico-game-night-with-a-sloth

-- Progressive: Flextacular: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AnLf/geico-flextacular-more-more-more

-- Progressive: Server Farm: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AXHa/geico-app-server-farm-gecko-journey

-- U. Maine: Define Tomorrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWNcA0_MOi8

-- Progressive: Casual Fridays: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wycW/geico-casual-friday-at-buckingham-palace

-- Audi: Raindrops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns8_oNzWMGA

Photos: Pinterest.

Next time on The Allen Report: 
Musical Moments: Raitt, Adele, I Can't Make You Love Me.

Darien Finishes Slower Real Estate Week

Weekly update...

This is how Darien looks as the leaves come tumbling down.

Darien finished a slower real estate week today.

Results, according to the Darien MLS, were:

-- Eight new listings of property for sale;

-- Eight price changes;

-- One accepted offer;

-- One property going under contract, and

-- Three closings.

For more:

Next time on The Allen Report:

Smile: Enjoy Your New Week.

President Trump's Pick as New Fed Chair?

Money matters...

Jerome Powell: About to become Federal Reserve Chairman?

Presidents usually get the credit, or the blame, for the U.S. economy, vicenews.com reports.

But since the Great Recession ended in 2009, the single most influential economic policymaker in Washington hasn’t been the president, or even a politician. It’s been two mild-mannered economists who’ve led the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, in the past eight years, the news service wrote.

The first was academic economist Ben Bernanke, who took over as Fed chair in 2006 and served until 2014, succeeded by economist Janet Yellen. With Yellen’s term ending soon, President Donald Trump is set to name a new person to lead the central bank Thursday, with widespread speculation centering on Jerome Powell, a lawyer, investment banker, and private equity executive who has served as one of the Fed’s governors since 2012. Powell is seen as a safe choice to follow Yellen, who was nominated by then-President Barack Obama in October 2013 and whose term runs out in February.

For an excellent report on Powell and how the Fed works on the economy: https://news.vice.com/story/trump-is-about-to-name-the-most-important-person-in-the-u-s-economy?utm_source=vicenewsfb

Photo: Google.

Next time on The Allen Report:

The Latest Darien Real Estate Update.

How Silicon Valley Staffers Helped the Trump Team

"Unprecedented" support...

Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft reps helped hone Trump's digital strategy.

Understaffed, outspent, and running way behind in the polls, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign appeared to be floundering weeks before Election Day. But he got some help from a platoon of at least eight staffers from Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Microsoft that helped the Trump team hone its digital strategy, Noah Kulwin reports on vicenews.com.

While it’s not unusual for tech companies to provide de-facto consulting for big advertisers, the number and the extent to which employees from those companies acted as surrogate staff for political campaigns in 2016 was unprecedented in national politics, according to a study from that professors from the University of Utah and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published in the journal Political Communications, Kulwin wrote.

For more of a fascinating report: https://news.vice.com/story/trump-campaign-had-help-from-8-silicon-valley-staffers?utm_source=vicenewsfb

Photos: Pinterest, Giphy.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

President Trump's Pick as New Fed Chair?

How Russian Agents Crushed it on Social Media

Russia-linked meddling...

126 million people saw Russian-created content on Facebook between 2015-2017.

Executives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google head to Washington this week for a round of questioning from congressional panels on the disinformation and Russia-linked political ads that flooded their platforms during the 2016 election, Joshua Marcus reports on vicenews.com.

The hearings, which start Tuesday afternoon, come just a day after the special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling netted two indictments and a guilty plea from former Trump campaign officials, setting the stage for an even deeper reckoning over how the Kremlin sought to sway the presidential contest, Marcus wrote.

For a breakdown on the extensive, Russia-linked activity on social media platforms: https://news.vice.com/story/russian-agents-crushed-it-on-facebook-twitter-youtube-during-the-election?utm_source=vicenewsfb

For an nbc.com video from yesterday's Senate hearing on Russia-linked meddling on social media: http://www.snappytv.com/tc/6209664

Photos: theatlantic.com.

Next time on The Allen Report: 

How Silicon Valley Staffers Helped the Trump Team.