Google's Fall Spring Cleaning

With the advent of Google+, many of Google's services have become redundant. In a bout of off -season spring cleaning, the Google team is shutting down many of these programs. Programs on the chopping block include:


• Buzz - Buzz is the social sharing network I have written about in the past. It has been eclipsed by Google+ and other services that beat Google to the punch on this front.

• Jaiku - Another social sharing network that allows users to post snippets and share short links. Unlike Buzz, Jaiku could be used to share photos and the like.

• iGoogle sharing - iGoogle was a sort of personalized homepage for your internet experience. They added games and gadgets for more interactivity (like old Yahoo! homepages, remember those?) The social gadgets let you share your favorite things with other iGoogle users - from your to-do list, to games, to articles.

• Bookmarks list - this feature let users share their bookmarks with friends.

• Friend connect - this feature lets users add social features to their websites, including making registration easy and allowing you to add ratings and commenting to content.

• Gears - this feature allowed users to create offline web apps. They are discontinuing this feature in an effort to move into HTML5, an updated language for web design that allows a lot of fancy new application programming and such. HTML5, in combination with CSS3 allows developers to do a lot of things that previously could only be done by the use of things like Flash.

• Search Timeline - this feature let users look at historical search data. This can now be found by using the Google Trends or Insights features.

• Wave - I wrote about the wave before. This was a really neat idea that just never caught on, which allowed users to interact, webchat, and share files throughout their development.

• Knol - This service allowed experts to work together to create and publish web content.

14- year old invents email!

I’ve written about the history of technology a number of times – from keyboards to the internet itself. One of the more interesting bits of information here is the invention of e-mail. It was invented by a 14-year old. V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai was enrolled in a programming course as a young teenager. Shortly after he finished, a coworker of his mother’s – Les Michelson - asked if he would like a job at the University of Medicine and Dentistry. Of course he agreed. For the next several days, Michaelson had Shiva observe the mail system in place and then told him to go forth and recreate it in electronic form.

Another interesting thing is how little email has changed since the summer Shiva began working on it. He was replicating a system that used to, from, cc, bcc, subject, date, and body on a campus-wide scale. Today’s email still uses the same fields. What Shiva created was entirely adequate, and it’s stability since the late 70s is indicative of his great success.

Google's Got Tricks Hidden Up Its Sleeve

I wrote earlier this week about how awesome I think search engines are. I wasn’t being sarcastic or even hyperbolic, in case you were wondering. I really do love search engines.

I prefer Google, though my parent’s use Bing! Either will perform a decent search. Google is known as a corporation that is kind of “fun.” This is reflected in some of their public products. Let’s go through some of my favorites.

These are all known as Easter eggs – “intentional hidden message or an in-joke” in something like a video game or computer program.

1. When you search for the word “anagram,” Google asks you if you meant to search for “nag a ram.” Which, obviously, is an anagram of the word anagram. 
2. Searching for “askew” makes the results screen tilt slightly to the right. When I first experienced this, I didn’t notice at first. I thought there was something wrong with my eyes, then my screen.
3. "Do a barrel roll” makes the results page rotate 360 degrees. This is a reference to an old Nintendo game.
4. The calculator also does some fun things. For instance, when you ask it for “the answer to life, the universe, and everything,” it yields the result “42.” This is a reference to Douglas Adams’ book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
5. The calculator also accepts some funny measurements like “Once in a blue moon” and “donkeypower.”
6. Google maps are also funny, sometimes. When you ask for directions from Japan to China, it tells you to jet ski.
7. Likewise, when you ask for directions from North American to Europe or Africa, it tells you to swim. From North America to Australia, kayak.
8. There is a certain area in Antarctica where the little dude turns into a penguin.
9. At Legoland, he turns into a lego man.
10. In street view, you can actually see some of the people at Google head quarters! I wonder if any of them programmed any of these Easter eggs.

Navigating the Net

The internet can be a magical place. There is just so much STUFF out here. From today’s football scores to the price of tea in China, there’s a good chance there is a website, blog, album, or video series dedicated to it on the internet. But the benefit of the internet is also its downfall. How does one find the price of tea in China on the internet?

Answer: search engines!

A search engine works by going out and indexing or spidering websites. It automatically follows link to link to link. Then it takes all of the content it finds on those pages, and it uses that content to decide what the page is supposed to be about and how valuable that content in. The engine uses very complex algorithms to determine relevance and value in relation to any search term a user might put into the search engine. While most search engines keep their algorithms secret, they do release some general information about how they return results.  These algorithms are updated regularly to be more and more accurate, as well as to keep website owners from cheating to get their pages higher on Google's results page.

And using a search engine is so easy!

Facebook Celebrates National Cyber Security Month

 

October was national cyber security month.  In honor of that, Facebook has announced some upcoming security updates.

Trusted Friends
Trusted Friends is a feature that helps you get back into your account if you are ever locked out for any reason.  You just select three to five friends that you trust (this is where the name comes in), and they are your fall back.  If you are locked out, Facebook will send them codes. You then get at least three of the codes from your trusted friends, and use the codes to login to your account and reset your password.

App Passwords
Facebook is also introducing app-specific passwords.  These are automatically generated passwords that will be necessary for logging into certain apps, which could otherwise be security risks.

You can view an infographic about Facebook security on Scribd.  (Why they used a third party image service rather than posting it on Facebook, I have no idea.)

The scary part here is in the stats they released on this infographic.  Four percent of the content on Facebook is spam.  When compared to email, this is low.  That being said, that is still almost one item in twenty.  Additionally only 0.06% of accounts are compromised daily.  Unfortunately, that 0.06% is of over one billion, adding up to over 600,000 accounts compromised every day.

Other than Facebook's latest attempts to make their site secure, there are some basic steps you can take to protect all of your accounts.

1.  Don't reuse passwords.
2.  Don’t use a common password, like your birthday.  Try a secure password generator, instead.
3.  Never share your login information.
4.  Change your passwords regularly, and anytime you think an account might be compromised.

Common sense can often save you quite a bit of trouble when it comes to internet security.

No more goofin' off guilt

How many of you ever get bored at work?  Be honest, I won't tell.  Sometimes we all need a break.  A recent study means you shouldn't feel so guilty about that.

According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal this month, recreational web surfing during work actually increases productivity.  Web browsing like that, taking a mini break, is usually to sites that we enjoy.  No one sneaks a break from actual work to do something they dislike.  According to the study, taking a break to do something like respond to emails does not have the same beneficial effects.  Correspondence it not always enjoyable, even though it may be a break from the tasks at hand.  The recreational browsing can refresh a worker and increase their focus once they return to work, allowing them to more than make up for the time spent.

So the next time you're at your desk, glance around, and navigate to angry birds, don't feel so bad.  Just make sure you get back to work sooner rather than later.

Happy Birthday, Technology!

My first CD was the soundtrack to Titanic.  Interestingly enough, my fiancée’s first CD was also a soundtrack - the Matrix.  Do you remember your first CD? (or record, or cassette, or 8-track?)  Our first CD's were from 1997 and 1998, respectively.  Yup.  CD's that are now over 12 years old, which to me sounds old.  Have we really been using compact disks that long?  Whatever happened to cassettes and floppies?  I don't remember my first of either of those, but I definitely had them.  Matter of fact, I still have an old tower at home that reads floppies.  I think the system backups are on floppies for it. But even so, 12 years.  The first CD to ever roll off the line (of the factory, not just a test) was The Visitors album from ABBA.  That was in 1982, almost 29 years ago exactly.

Have we really been using compact disks for twenty-nine years?  What? And now, we have not just the USB port for data transfer, but the USB 2.0.  And the Thunderbolt, previously mentioned, which may eventually usurp the USB's throne.

How fast the world changes...

Sinister Squirrels Secretly Sabotage

Fiber optic communication is an exciting alternative to traditional electrical transmission.  Using fiber optics, we can transmit information at even greater rates than with copper wiring that is often common.  Information is transmitted through fiber optical cable by sending pulses of light, which forms an electromagnetic wave.  These waves are formulated to carry information.  Once the light pulses reach their destination, it is converted into an electrical signal.    The bandwidth available over fiber optics is staggering, but limited by the distance information must travel.  Lately, we've noticed large spools of fiber optics being put in along the roads near where I grew up.  This is even more exciting because like many areas in the region, the only internet service currently available there is dial-up.  I know.  Terrifying.

How do you feel about squirrels?  They're pretty cute, huh?  All furry and chittery, eating their acorns and stuff.  Not so much if you grew up in the country.  Squirrels are noisy.  They get into everything.  They eat the bird seed.  They eat your one chance at escaping dial-up...

That's right. These diurnal rodents are responsible for a large amount of the damage to fiber optics cables, causing extensive and expensive destruction to the cables.  This not only costs the fiber optics companies money, it also slows the spread of the fiber optics network.

If I had any sympathy for squirrels after they infested my grandparent's basement one winter, it's certainly gone now.

Images from Wikipedia

The World Wide Web turns 20

Last week was the web’s twentieth birthday. I’m a little sorry I missed it.  Now when I say the web, I don’t mean the internet.  Not today, I don’t.  While these terms are generally thought of as synonymous, this was not always the case.  The internet refers to a global system of connected networks, which generally follow a standard set of protocols.  When you are on the internet, you are surfing the web, right?  Technically yes, but they are not the same.  The web, or world wide web, refers to the way the data on these servers is organized.  On the internet as we know if, everything is linked by, well, links.  That is what defines the web.  It is literally a web of interconnected points, tied together with hypertext links.  This is where the “www” in web addresses comes from.  Without the advent of the web, the internet would have no real organization.  Search engines wouldn’t really be workable, as we understand them now.  Imagine trying to find a recipe or some such!  The way the web is all linked together is really the most impressive thing about it, defining of the entire internet, making it usable for passive information sharing, rather than just active communication.

While the internet predates the web (see wiki article here), dating back as far as the 1950′s, the world wide web counted its 20th birthday the first week of August.  The world’s first website is still available as an archived set of pages here.  I’m sure you can forgive their typos, as they were busy making the interwebs happen.

Web 2.0

You have probably heard the phrase "Web 2.0" thrown around a lot.  Its used frequently by the tech-savvy to describe a trend in technology that has grown ever more prominent since the rise of the internet - particularly in the last five years or so.


Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as:

A term associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumers) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. 

Web 1.0, therefore, represents a time when websites were generally used to throw information out there, to be retrieved by anyone who wanted it.  Today, users and creators are one and the same.  It no longer takes a tech or an IT department to create a website, build a blog, or publish a video.  As users became creators, the line between the two has blurred such that most current websites are interactive.  Sites have surveys, forms, games, etc. that allow users to both receive and send information, interacting with a dynamic webpage.  At the very least, a good many of the companies with a grounded web presence offer links to social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn in an effort to engage users.  Engaged users are not only more likely to keep coming back, but they can help you to continually adapt the site to bring in more users.


This give and take of information and ideas is key in the world of online business, building a web presence, and even politics.  Social media and Web 2.0 have molded our world in ways subtle and obvious.  It was not terribly long ago that Twitter helped civilians coordinate a revolution in Egypt, after all, and though some claim Web 2.0 is a fad, this seems to me to be more of an evolution.

Thunderbolt!

Thunderbolt (originally codenamed Light Peak) is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus.  (Wikipedia)

Thunderbolt was explained to me as being the replacement for the USB.  It is a technology that allows super high speed transfer of data, which can also be daisy-chained between multiple devices.

With the 10 Gbps performance of Thunderbolt products you can (Per Intel)

• Transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds
• Backup 1 year of continuous MP3 playback in just over 10 minutes

This technology was developed by Intel, and brought to market through collaboration with Apple.  This technology allows transfer of nearly all types of data.  You can daisy chain up to six devices by connecting them one to the other, and connecting to devices of various levels of performance will not slow the performance of any of the faster devices.

Check out the following links for more info:

Downsides to Thunderbolt

Make Tech Easier

Why we love the internet

The internet.   The tubes.  The interblag.  The bloggosphere.  The webnet.  The intertubes.  The webberblog.  The blagonet.

From Wikipedia:

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. The Internet can also be defined as a worldwide interconnection of computers and computer networks that facilitate the sharing or exchange of information among users. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail.

It goes by many names, but what is the internet to you?

A way to connect

• Sharing pictures with your family, see your grandkids decorating the Christmas tree that day.
• Getting recipes or tips from message boards, any time night or day.
• Ordering prescriptions for pick up from the comfort of your couch and getting a notification on your phone when they're ready.
• Paying bank statements online
• Shopping online
• Playing games from World of Warcraft to Cribbage.
• Catching up on reading - ebooks are cheap and accessible almost anywhere
• Chat with friends on the other side of the country (My pen pal is in Washington state)
• Learn!  There's so much information out there!

What do you use the internet for?

Where Tablets Fall Flat

Today I stumbled across an interesting article about iPads, which I rather agreed with. These are fun little toys, and work great for casual surfing on the go. You can even check your email, if you use a compatible account.

There are downsides aplenty, of course. The most discussed short-fallings are things like lack of Flash support, or sheer adaptability. Flash is necessary to many web applications like video. iPads come with iOS and are strictly regulated, as far as things like compatibility with third-party applications, programs, and software. To make an iPad (or even iPhone) do many of the things Android tablets do, users must "jailbreak" them.

Leaving all the software short-comings aside, the obvious failing of an iPad -- or any tablet, for that matter -- is the lack of physical controls.

Like many users, I have been impressed with the predictive text software on an iPad. This makes it significantly easier to use. However, sometimes an otherwise innocuous typo, caused by the smoothness of the screen and less-than-Olympic level accuracy, is auto-corrected into something completely ridiculous. Oft-times, it is also difficult to navigate on a tablet due to some combination of the webpage or app you are looking at and the way the gestures are intended to work.

Although I am easily classified into the "digital generation" and grew up with technology, I also have to put myself in the "old-fashioned" camp that longs for a tactile keyboard for anything other than "casual" surfing.

Got the Invite, Google+ exploration

This past weekend, as I was browsing Facebook, I was excited to discover that a friend had been invited to Google+, and not just from the irony.  Within minutes, I had an invite, but no computer at which to explore.  This week will be a learning week for me, as I interact with Circles, Sparks, etc...

In a previous post, I discussed some of the features of Google+, and I will soon have a review of those features up for you.  I the meantime, I've been inviting people.  The main drawback to the service is currently two-fold for me: not many of my contacts are using it yet, and I cannot take my Facebook photos with me.  For many of use, Facebook has become the main home of our photo albums.  Personally, I have nearly 2000 photos uploaded over the last four or five years, which I do not want to part with.  Further, Google+ is offering a growing suite of editing tools that make its photo albums enticing.  Hopefully a resolution will be found that will allow Google+ users to keep their Facebook photos and integrate them into the new service.

I am also excited to see how Google+ flows into ecommerce and online business.

Since the whole application is still in Beta, we can expect to see quite a few changes and additions before it is widely released.  In the meantime, I'll be making notes and sending invites.chesterc

Rebels Without a Cause: LulzSec

Most people have heard of Anonymous.  They are a mostly-political activist group of hackers, or hacktivists. Anonymous has gained a fair reputation in the last several months for being powerful enough to take down what sites they like, for supporting file sharing, and for activities supporting revolution in the Middle East.

Aside from these morally motivated pursuits, Anonymous is also responsible for several less defensible attacks and pranks, such as bombarding YouTube with porn disguised as family-friendly film.

Lately, a new hacker group has been making headlines: LulzSec.  LulzSec, or Lulz Security, is a grey hat hacker group committed to revealing and making fun of embarrassing security flaws.  Grey hat in this case means neither malicious hacking for personal gain (black hat), or paid hacking meant to test security features and reveal gaps before they are exploited (white hat).  Big name hacks include PBS, Sony, Bethesda Games, pron.com, Infragaurd (affiliated with FBI), and CIA.

These attacks range from just-for-fun, pointing-out-a-problem-cause-we-want-to-help, on down to the government attacks, motivated by a statement made by the Pentagon that hacking could be considered an act of war.  LulzSec considers it a game, not war, and seemed upset by the comparison.  In retaliation, they hacked the Senate website, releasing some non-crucial data along with  taunting statement (previous link is to an article by LulzSec, contains profanity).

LulzSec's main message breaks down into a few points:

1. Don't everyone be so serious.
2. Be more careful with your security (don't reuse passwords).
3.   It's a game.  We're winning.

Personally, I'd say the first two are fairly good advice.  

Security Tips

Given my recent post discussing the flood of online attacks recently making the news, I thought it might be nice to follow up with some safety tips for your online adventures.

1. When a site asks for information, always ask yourself why they need it.  If your signing up to receive a free enewsletter about knitting, do they really need your birthday, full name, and home address?  
2. At the same time, keep in mind who is asking for the information.  Is it a site you trust?  Do they have a strong reputation?  
3. Use a SPAM filter.  Most of it is just junk mail, but some of it can be an actual threat if you open it up.
4. Never open attachments from email addresses you don't recognize and trust.  
5. Never give out secure information over an email.  This includes links in emails.  If there is a link in an email, make sure it takes you where you think it should - check the URL or even the IP address to confirm that it is part of the correct site - one you can trust.
6. In fact, always take a look at the URL before submitting information.  Malicious sites often use very similar web addresses to the sites they are impersonating.
7. If you get an email request for anything secure, you may want to contact the company directly to confirm its legitimacy.
8. Use security software.  Anti-virus, anti-malware.   This does not need to be something you pay for.  My free antivirus of choice is Avast.
9. Check the URL to see if the site utilizes Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure.  This means the site uses encryption, and can be confirmed if the URL uses https:// instead of http://
10. Get creative with passwords.  Make them long, use numbers and letters, use special characters, use capitalization.  And make them unique - don't recycle.  If one account gets broken into, you don't want every other account to go down with it.  (ie - Do not use your birthday.  Ever)

My Mother is on Facebook

I was having a hard time coming up with a topic to write about today, so I took to browsing the internet – my solution to a wide variety of quandaries.   Among ideas like “Great things about my community” and “When I feel frustrated…,” I found this topic.  It’s true.  My mother is on Facebook (all the time).  My Grandmother has a Facebook, too.  And my Grandfather.  My mom’s best friend. My best friend’s mom.   My aunt.  My elementary school office lady.  While Facebook definitely began as a network for peers, it has grown into so much more.  Facebook has five hundred million active users.  500,000,000. On any given day, half of those users log on. 

It is not just the younger generation surfing the net these days.  While older users are busily learning the ins and outs of the world wide web, they are also learning how to interface with the hardware that gets them there.  For a lot of these users, however, this presents problems.  They may have never learned to type, and hunt-and-peck for every letter.  They may not have the eyesight to read the monitor or the keyboard.  Arthritis may make typing or even using a mouse increasingly difficult. 

That’s where some basic assistive technology devices come in.  For virtually every stumbling block to access, there is a tool to get past it.  Chester Creek specializes in this arena.  We are here to offer you, your mother, your grandmother, your grandfather, your mom’s best friend, your best friend’s mom, your aunt, and your elementary school office lady everything we can, to help you do what you want to do with a computer, from typing away on email correspondence to hitting level 47 on Farmville.  Come stop by the Creek and take a look around; I can virtually guarantee there is something you will look at and say “That would be perfect for ___!” 

And speaking of Grandmothers, happy birthday to our favorite pay-roll/accountant/accounts payable/accounts receivable lady, Karen!