Blake Dowling, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Blake DowlingAugust 5, 2017

Uber, Netflix, Amazon Go, Legal Robot, Watson, Einstein, Starship … all examples of disruption and the artificial intelligence that is changing the legal, medical and business world every day. Maybe you have heard of some (or all) of them; they all have an interesting story. Whether it’s a smart grocery store, robot doctor or automated […]

Blake DowlingJuly 29, 2017

For those in the spotlight, the internet is not so fun. Not a moment can go by when the world isn’t critiquing politicians, athletes, celebrities and various other public figures. I joke with my fraternity brothers (with whom I hold football season tickets) about how it was such a blessing to have attended college right […]

Blake DowlingJuly 22, 2017

Ray Tomlinson invented email in 1972. Tomlinson was an ARPANET contractor and picked the @ symbol to reference digital communications between computers. Since then, things have changed — just a wee bit. In a perfect world, organizations use email to share quick bursts of info with clients, colleagues, constituents, etc. But, in the real world, […]

Blake DowlingJuly 15, 2017

The technical landscape of 2017 offers a never-ending parade of innovation, as well as a full-on riot of various tech threats. Cyber crooks and terrorists want your dollars and to cause chaos, too. To that end, they use several motivational tools, including one ransomware scheme that asks you to infect two other people before they […]

Blake DowlingJuly 8, 2017

The “Leon Consulate of Florida” was overthrown this week, thanks to the chumps at the Moroccan Islamic Union-Mail. I suppose they meant Leon County, since this hacking wing of ISIS hasn’t quite mastered English. What they refer to is the Leon County (North Florida) website; it was indeed hacked for a couple of minutes, replaced […]

Blake DowlingJuly 1, 2017

Who remembers when beer commercials were awesome? What happened to Spuds McKenzie? This awesome Lone Star Beer ad really shines: Or the team of studs at Elsinore Brewery: And — last but not least – this Schlitz Malt Liquor ads that ruled the early 80s (which might have been the pinnacle). No one does it […]

Blake DowlingJune 24, 2017

Only in the world of politics can an election take place with both sides claiming they got the W. In college football, it’s simple; you win or you lose — unless you are a Tennessee fan, then you get to be a “champion of life.” I am sure Tennessee Coach Butch Jones meant well when […]

Blake DowlingJune 17, 2017

WikiLeaks is at it again. They are dropping new information (unverified) on the web about the Engineering Development Group. Who are they? They are the CIA, specifically its elite hacking unit. Not too cool for national security potentially but good to know if you care about your digital privacy, or if you are an enemy […]

Blake DowlingJune 10, 2017

How many of us use Apple products in our day to day business, political and personal lives? When I switched from a Treo to an iPhone 3GS in 2009, it was a game changer for workplace mobility; a truly wonderful device (which I still have as a paperweight). I read Walter Isaacson’s book on Steve […]

Blake DowlingJune 3, 2017

Let’s see … what should I write about today? Pretending to murder the President of the United States? No, that’s been done. It was ironic as I was posting my Memorial column about togetherness and unity on Twitter the other day and I see all these Tweets about Kathy Griffin. Let’s see what she is […]

Blake Dowling
Image via Facebook (TCEC).

Blake Dowling: Disruption and artificial intelligence

Blake Dowling: Embarrassing moments of 2017

Blake Dowling: The almighty email

Blake Dowling: This week’s threat — LeakerLocker

Blake Dowling: Wise Kim meets Leon County

Blake Dowling: With ads, 2017 is an all-new animal

Blake Dowling: 2018 is coming, time to tighten up voter tech

Blake Dowling: WikiLeaks, Cherry Blossoms and Pandemics

Blake Dowling: Apples to Apples

Blake Dowling: Dark Data, Dark Web, Dark Side?