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For Engineers Week 2021, we're honoring Hedy Lamarr - the glamorous movie star from the black-and-white era of film who co-invented a device that helped make po...ssible the development of GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi technology! Born in Austria in 1914, the mathematically talented Lamarr moved to the US in 1937 to start a Hollywood career. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, she was considered one of cinema's leading ladies and made numerous films; however, her passion for engineering is far less known today. Her interest in inventing was such that she set up an engineering room in her house complete with a drafting table and wall of engineering reference books. With the outbreak of World War II, Lamarr wanted to apply her skills to helping the war effort and, motivated by reports of German U-boats sinking ships in the Atlantic, she began investigating ways to improve torpedo technology. After Lamar met composer George Antheil, who had been experimenting with automated control of musical instruments, together they hit on the idea of "frequency hopping." At the time, radio-controlled torpedoes could easily be detected and jammed by broadcasting interference at the frequency of the control signal, thereby causing the torpedo to go off course. Frequency hopping essentially served to encrypt the control signal because it was impossible for a target to scan and jam all of the frequencies. Lamarr and Antheil were granted a patent for their invention on August 11, 1942, but the US Navy wasn't interested in applying their groundbreaking technology until twenty years later when it was used on military ships during a blockade of Cuba in 1962. Lamarr and Antheil's frequency-hopping concept serves as a basis for the spread-spectrum communication technology used in GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices. Unfortunately, Lamarr's part in its development has been largely overlooked and her efforts weren't recognized until 1997, when the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave her an award for her technological contributions. Hedy Lamarr passed away in 2000 at the age of 85 and, in 2014, she was as long last inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for her invention of a "Secret Communication System" many years ago. To introduce kids to her incredible story, we highly recommend the inspiring picture book "Hedy Lamarr's Double Life" for ages 5 to 9 at https://www.amightygirl.com/hedy-lamarr-double-life For older kids, there is also a graphic novel about her life and work, "Hedy Lamarr and a Secret Communications System" for ages 7 to 10 at https://www.amightygirl.com/hedy-lamarr For adult readers, Hedy Lamarr's incredible story is told in the exceptional historical fiction novel, "The Only Woman in the Room," at https://www.amightygirl.com/the-only-woman-in-the-room She is also the subject of an excellent new documentary "Bombshell: Hedy Lamarr" at https://amzn.to/32xAHcI -- or stream it on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3f0bG1H For a fun way to celebrate this pioneering inventor, she is among several women of science featured on the "Greatest Women in Science Socks" for teens and adults at https://www.amightygirl.com/greatest-women-in-science-socks If you'd like to encourage your children's interest in engineering and invention, check out our blog post: "Building Her Dreams: 60 Building and Engineering Toys for Mighty Girls," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10430

Have you done your recommended software updates yet? Be aware that both Google and Apple have issued recent notifications regarding security breaches which are addressed with these patches. So be sure to update all of your Apple products with the latest version: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222 The Chrome update is 88.0.4324.150 for Windows, Mac and Linux. Message us here if you have any questions, we would be happy to help!

More news from Apple. If you are concerned with digital privacy, Apple will be rolling out a new update in the next few months for their mobile devices. This update will require apps to request a user's permission before tracking user activity and location, allowing for greater transparency with regard to what kind of information is being collected, and giving users better options for opting out. While some companies, such as Facebook, have protested against this new policy for fear it will harm their businesses, they will have to comply if they want their apps to stay available to users. If you have any questions about this, or would like help with understanding privacy settings on your devices contact [email protected]

Do you own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod? Apple released iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4 updates after it was found that attackers may be able to remotely hack certain iPhones, iPads and iPods. On the company's support page, Apple outlined two security threats that have since been fixed in the newest operating system update, version 14.4. It is recommended that you update your operating systems as quickly as possible. ... Please contact Tech Help at [email protected] if you have any questions, or would like help updating your devices.