General News
23 April, 2026
Tech help is just a click away
ARTIFICIAL Intelligence (AI) was possibly something I hadn’t heard of just a year ago. To be honest, I can’t really remember.
Now it seems to be everywhere you go, from assisting our creation of text, writing songs and appearing as strange videos on your social media, often involving somebody being carried off by a lion.
Information Technology (IT) in general has come a long way since the Sinclair ZX 80 and BBC B Computers of the early 1980s and it’s bizarre to think that the small computer possibly sitting in your pocket right now, which some still call a phone, is likely to have more technology than that of the first spaceship that travelled to the moon.
Although these advances have supposedly allowed computers and similar equipment to become more user- friendly for the average person on the street, or in this case the ‘person behind a QWERTY keyboard’, these devices, intended to make life easier, still come with a whole range of complications.
No longer is it just Windows, Excel, Word and basic emails that we have to master, but now there’s Android, iOS, Bixby, Siri, Safari and many other technological anomalies to get your head around.
To make things worse, many devices will not work properly without a Google account, an Apple ID or both. Then add Gmail, Bigpond, Hotmail, Yahoo etc, etc, etc.
Dare I now mention the dreaded ‘password’. Just when you thought everything was under control and you had carefully noted your password in your special little black book, you’re told that your current password is no longer safe and requires at least one more digit and a symbol.
When you nervously look through that little book, you discover that you have several amended passwords and you’ve not made it clear which one is correct. Worse still, none of them now work at all.
Technology generally has many great uses but often can simply be a pain in the rear, especially for those who have grown up in a more tech-free world.
In an era when many are seen staring endlessly at a screen, mobile phones are a million miles from just being a phone, they have become an essential item in our technological world.
We use them to pay our grocery bills, for items in the hardware store, we hold our driver’s licence on them, even our flight tickets ... the list goes on. The trouble is, when they go wrong or we drop that delicate glass screen, we end up with major problems.
When our smartphones are working normally, however, this tool should really be quite simple, but then the industry and associated businesses that control these devices wouldn’t want it to be that way. It seems that these large global organisations are trying to control our lives, with those above-mentioned Google accounts and Apple accounts, each requiring the previously mentioned usernames and passwords.
The good news is that technical help is about to return in both Mossman and Port Douglas.
John Scott, from the Daintree, has had an interest in hi-tech matters for decades and volunteers his time every other Thursday, between noon and 4pm, at the Mossman Library.
Fortunately, John has just returned to his vital role, helping to unravel those techy issues after a short break due to transport issues.
He lives north of the Daintree River and consequently found the journey challenging with the recent Daintree ferry issues.
For those who need technical help in Port Douglas, after a short hiatus, the popular ‘click and connect’ classes have returned to the Neighbourhood Centre, with community development worker Coleen Forester now at the helm.
Aimed at the over 50s, the classes are restricted to a small number so that attendees can be guaranteed quality help.
Those wishing to get technical advice are also advised to take their devices along with them on the day.
Classes currently run every other Wednesday and Coleen is hoping to start an additional outreach service very soon.
In summary, our technical woes should now be in good hands right across Douglas Shire.
Well, I’m off to update my little black password book, so for now it’s Gazza signing out.
Send your stories to gazza@cairnslocalnews.com.au
