I got an iPad on launch day, hoping to free my back from the tyranny of carrying my MB Pro. My intention was for the iPad to be my conference machine. At conferences, I typically only need a browser, Twitter and Evernote. Simple enough. The iPad can handle all these just fine.
But my first few gos were not that pleasing. The virtual keyboard on the iPad is actually decent. At first I carried an Apple bluetooth keyboard, but I found that it did not add enough value for the weight and bulk.
The size and battery life of the iPad are great. I can wander around a conference without a bag, just the iPad in my hand. No need to carry a plug. Chances are, at most conferences, there won't be any available. Big props to TechCrunch in this regard, for stringing hundreds of power strips and even good old ethernet--I love you guys for that.
There were two real problems that were holding me back from loving the iPad as a work machine (I love it at home for reading and the kids).
The first was the lack of multitasking. Switching between apps was cumbersome, and it caused me to miss some notes I should have taken, or not get a witty tweet out (horror!). Of course, this problem has finally been somewhat solved with iOS 4.2, and the iPad is now much better, though still not as slick as just clicking between windows.
The second was, and is, the crippled browser. Mobile Safari is just not a great browser, and the lack of support for extensions means that I can't use 1Password or LastPass in the native browser. Since I can't remember most of my passwords, that means I can't browse a lot of sites. Also, many sites just don't seem to work that well in Mobile Safari, either because of Flash or other issues. I have gotten used to extensions that shorten URLs, mail out links, etc., that make my life easier. None of this works on the iPad.
A related issue is really Google's fault. The consolidated account system they now use in Google Apps, so that my Google Apps account and my Gmail are linked, is really a pain in the ass. It makes it harder to work across the accounts in a single browser, instead of easier. So, on my laptop I just use Safari for Gmail and Chrome for Google Apps. On the iPad, you are in one or the other, and fast switching, which is possible on the desktop browser, is not supported in the mobile version of Google Apps. The Mail app is better in 4.2, but still does not quite integrate properly with Gmail.
So, I resolved to get an MB Air. At first I was just going to pick up a used one during the summer. But then I heard rumours about a new model on its way. For some reason, people on Craigslist seem to be on crack when it comes to what they think their used gear is worth. And so I waited, and waited, and waited. And, finally, last month I got one. The MB Air has basically the same specs as my MB Pro, but at half the size. It is about twice the size of the iPad, but so much more useful. The iPad's battery life was a huge plus for conferences, but the Air can go all day as well, especially if I can get wifi and don't have to use my MiFi.
The iPad has been relegated to home duty. The kids love to read stories and watch videos on it. I read the morning paper and catch up on RSS feeds.
Interestingly (well, maybe only to me), Twitter has been a casualty of the iPad demotion. I love to read Twitter on Flipboard, so I wait until I grab my iPad to read it, instead of following throughout the day.
I almost got the 11" Air, which is more appropriately an iPad replacement. But the screen on the 13" is more usable, and it gives me a lot more power for when I work remotely. Still, that 11" is so small. For users who do most of their stuff in the cloud but still need more than a netbook, it may be the perfect laptop.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Google CR-48 ChromeOS netbook review
So Santa dropped this box off yesterday.
At first I thought my wife had gone insane on Amazon, but it turns out that it was a present from Google. Looking inside.....
Oh yes, CR-48 hotness. There was a one page note with some basic instructions, but interestingly, everything was technical stuff about how to operate the netbook. There were no instructions as to what I was supposed to do with it. Was it a gift? A loan?
Lots (probably thousands) of people received the same gift over the last couple of days. Clearly Google is giving them out to early adopters, and looking for feedback and and some blog posts. So, I will oblige.
The big deal here is obviously the ChromeOS. The hardware is all going to change by the time this gets to a wide public release, but I will touch on it anyway. The CR-48 has the same footprint as a 13" MacBook Air, but is about twice as thick as the thick part of the Air. It is hard to get as excited about the CR-48 as I might be, because I did recently get the new MB Air, and it is abso-frickin-lutely amazing.
My setup experience was great, but some of that is due to the fact that I already use Chrome as my primary browser, and I have Chrome Sync set up to sync bookmarks and extensions across my machines. So, when I fired up the machine for the first time and gave it my gmail login, about 10 seconds later, I was looking at exactly the same thing I would be if I were in the browser on any of my machines. Kind of like the way Apple makes it dead simple to migrate settings, but much simpler because so much less is being migrated. My 1Password did not make it over, but LastPass seems to work fine. This is important because I don't store my passwords in the browser, where they are too easy to get too.
Bootup time is a few seconds. And it is basically instant on when you open the lid from standby.
The ChromeOS is basically just the Chrome browser, with some apps tagged on. How well this works for you depends on where you personally are in migrating your life to the web. For myself, I am pretty far along that path. I started the journey a couple of years ago because I wanted to start using multiple machines. Now, I have an iMac at my desk, the MB Air for moving around, and an iPad just for the hell of it. I also have a couple of older Windows laptops. So, I try to use applications that work seamlessly across all of these devices (and my iPhone).
The apps I use most often do, and have cloud-based accessibility, making the ChromeOS a good option. Here are what I use most day to day:
Fortunately, LogMeIn works just fine in ChromeOS, so if I do really need the desktop, I can just remote in to it. For Quicken, I do that anyway from my laptops. Everything else that I use regularly can be dealt with in a browser just fine, except for MS Office apps.
If you can get away with just Google Docs, then it is hard to see how you need more than the ChromeOS. In fact, as Microsoft improves the could versions of the Office suite, then this issue may go away. Offline support is supposed to be coming back to Google Docs, probably specifically to support ChromeOS.
There are apps for the ChromeOS. I tried a few. The NY Times app looks exactly like the iPad app. I would guess that will be true for many apps where they are going to leverage an HTML5 content structure into native wrappers for various platforms. Other apps like Remember The Milk are just web pages masquerading as an app.
The only issue I have had so far is with the trackpad. Some of this is hardware related. The trackpad on the CR-48 is set a bit too far to the right, so the heel of my right palm hits it often. This caused a ton of annoyance with the cursor position bouncing around, and made it very hard to write anything. However, disabling the "tap to click" in settings has helped enormously. The mouse may move around, but at least the cursor position does not change. The trackpad is still wonky and jerky, so they need to spend some time with the drivers to sort that out. Does not seem too hard. I know that they were under pressure to get this out, and feel like this is truly a beta, as opposed to most of Google's betas, which seem more fully baked.
Other users have complained about flash bringing the CR-48 to a crawl, but I ran two simultaneous YouTube streams while typing some of this blog entry and it seemed fine.
I did see some oddness in a couple of emails where the attachments did not show correctly. On another email, I successfully download a .docx attachment into a downloads folder, but I could not open it--it gave me an "Unknown file type" error. This is odd given that Google Docs can deal with the docx format. I could click on "view" instead of "download" to see it in html and then save it to Google Docs, which is what makes sense anyway in a browser-centric universe.
I don't know what the eventual selling price will be for ChromeOS netbooks. Probably similar to the Linux netbooks today and slightly cheaper than netbooks with Windows Starter. I am not a fan of Linux because, while it has gotten more user friendly, it is still not appropriate for the mass market. The ChromeOS may well kill it in netbook applications.
With my MB Air, I am not going to use the CR-48 as much as I might. It would make a great companion computer for a desktop. Battery life seems impressive from an average sized battery, so the processor must not be having to work too hard.
Basically, if you already live a browser intensive lifestyle and use Chrome a lot, you will really not notice the ChromeOS, which is a good thing. It will just feel like any other computer--just a whole lot cheaper.
Lots (probably thousands) of people received the same gift over the last couple of days. Clearly Google is giving them out to early adopters, and looking for feedback and and some blog posts. So, I will oblige.
The big deal here is obviously the ChromeOS. The hardware is all going to change by the time this gets to a wide public release, but I will touch on it anyway. The CR-48 has the same footprint as a 13" MacBook Air, but is about twice as thick as the thick part of the Air. It is hard to get as excited about the CR-48 as I might be, because I did recently get the new MB Air, and it is abso-frickin-lutely amazing.
My setup experience was great, but some of that is due to the fact that I already use Chrome as my primary browser, and I have Chrome Sync set up to sync bookmarks and extensions across my machines. So, when I fired up the machine for the first time and gave it my gmail login, about 10 seconds later, I was looking at exactly the same thing I would be if I were in the browser on any of my machines. Kind of like the way Apple makes it dead simple to migrate settings, but much simpler because so much less is being migrated. My 1Password did not make it over, but LastPass seems to work fine. This is important because I don't store my passwords in the browser, where they are too easy to get too.
Bootup time is a few seconds. And it is basically instant on when you open the lid from standby.
The ChromeOS is basically just the Chrome browser, with some apps tagged on. How well this works for you depends on where you personally are in migrating your life to the web. For myself, I am pretty far along that path. I started the journey a couple of years ago because I wanted to start using multiple machines. Now, I have an iMac at my desk, the MB Air for moving around, and an iPad just for the hell of it. I also have a couple of older Windows laptops. So, I try to use applications that work seamlessly across all of these devices (and my iPhone).
The apps I use most often do, and have cloud-based accessibility, making the ChromeOS a good option. Here are what I use most day to day:
- Gmail--I have a Google Apps account and it is my "system of record" for mail, contacts and calendar. I don't use Google Docs much, though.
- Seesmic for social networking--basically Facebook and Twitter
- Evernote
- Quicken 2007--here is one that does rely on the desktop. Mint just does not have enough power to replace it, nor does Quicken Essentials. WTF Intuit? When are we going to see the next version of real Quicken?
Fortunately, LogMeIn works just fine in ChromeOS, so if I do really need the desktop, I can just remote in to it. For Quicken, I do that anyway from my laptops. Everything else that I use regularly can be dealt with in a browser just fine, except for MS Office apps.
If you can get away with just Google Docs, then it is hard to see how you need more than the ChromeOS. In fact, as Microsoft improves the could versions of the Office suite, then this issue may go away. Offline support is supposed to be coming back to Google Docs, probably specifically to support ChromeOS.
There are apps for the ChromeOS. I tried a few. The NY Times app looks exactly like the iPad app. I would guess that will be true for many apps where they are going to leverage an HTML5 content structure into native wrappers for various platforms. Other apps like Remember The Milk are just web pages masquerading as an app.
The only issue I have had so far is with the trackpad. Some of this is hardware related. The trackpad on the CR-48 is set a bit too far to the right, so the heel of my right palm hits it often. This caused a ton of annoyance with the cursor position bouncing around, and made it very hard to write anything. However, disabling the "tap to click" in settings has helped enormously. The mouse may move around, but at least the cursor position does not change. The trackpad is still wonky and jerky, so they need to spend some time with the drivers to sort that out. Does not seem too hard. I know that they were under pressure to get this out, and feel like this is truly a beta, as opposed to most of Google's betas, which seem more fully baked.
Other users have complained about flash bringing the CR-48 to a crawl, but I ran two simultaneous YouTube streams while typing some of this blog entry and it seemed fine.
I did see some oddness in a couple of emails where the attachments did not show correctly. On another email, I successfully download a .docx attachment into a downloads folder, but I could not open it--it gave me an "Unknown file type" error. This is odd given that Google Docs can deal with the docx format. I could click on "view" instead of "download" to see it in html and then save it to Google Docs, which is what makes sense anyway in a browser-centric universe.
I don't know what the eventual selling price will be for ChromeOS netbooks. Probably similar to the Linux netbooks today and slightly cheaper than netbooks with Windows Starter. I am not a fan of Linux because, while it has gotten more user friendly, it is still not appropriate for the mass market. The ChromeOS may well kill it in netbook applications.
With my MB Air, I am not going to use the CR-48 as much as I might. It would make a great companion computer for a desktop. Battery life seems impressive from an average sized battery, so the processor must not be having to work too hard.
Basically, if you already live a browser intensive lifestyle and use Chrome a lot, you will really not notice the ChromeOS, which is a good thing. It will just feel like any other computer--just a whole lot cheaper.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
You ain't from 'round here, is ya boy?
I have been thinking more recently about how different the Bay Area is from the rest of the country. I am thinking specifically in my professional context as a tech investor. Of course there are plenty of more obvious differences. Just look how we vote in elections--our choices are closer to what you would see in Cuba than Kansas. Priuses (Prii?) infest the highway, even though they are far from the most cost effective way to save the environment. Ford F150s are few and far between.
I was at an investor conference near Santa Rosa on Thursday, and out of 200 people, only 5 raised their hands when asked "do you tweet?" In Mountain View, no one would even bother asking the question anymore. And the conference did not even post a hashtag--shock horror! And yet the average education level and wealth of the audience was well in excess of what you would typically find in Silicon Valley. To be fair, they were also generally older, but they were active investors in technology companies. I checked in to the venue on Foursquare, and I was the only one to check in.
This funny post by Alexia Tsotsis brought it home for me with the video below.....
We live in a little tech bubble in the Bay Area, and I think it has adverse consequences for startup investing, because we assume that all people are like us, when, in fact, they are not. There is a big, bad market out there made up of luddites, rednecks, yokels and others. For most consumer-focused ideas, if you cannot win them over, you don't have a huge idea.
Foursquare is mega, dude! And yet, only 4% of the people in a recent Pew survey use check-ins, and only 1% on any given day. Facebook is mega...Foursquare is hip. There is an important difference when it comes to the power to monetize.
I see a lot of companies have a very successful beta, and strong early adoption, but then they run out of steam. This is where luck plays a strong role. Timing can be everything. If you are early on a trend, whether it be social networks, blogging, online music, whatever...you are doomed. It might seem like it is a great idea because all your friends like it, but what does your mother think about your offering? How will it play in Peoria? Is the solution cool for its own sake, or does it solve a problem real people have?
Do you know any real people?
If you live in Silicon Valley, you probably don't. Fortunately, you don't have to drive far to find them. Head out to Rio Vista or Stockton to the east, Salinas to the south, or Santa Rosa to the north. Here you will find plenty of "salt of the Earth" types, as well as some scum of the Earth mixed among them for good measure.
I was at the Under The Radar conference in Mountain View on Friday. It was a welcome respite--back in The Bubble where geeks reign. There were several startups, including Fanminder (in which I am an investor) promoting solutions that involved text messaging. That seemed to fall flat with the audience.
Why would you bother with SMS? In that room, you wouldn't, because 100% of the audience had a smartphone. In the real world, a little over 20% of people have a smartphone, but almost everyone has a phone of some sort that can SMS. It seems foolish to ignore 80% of the audience because they are unhip. Of course, smarthphones sales are growing quickly, and, according to Neilsen, half of people surveyed indicated that their next phone will be a smartphone. That still means that featurephones will be a big chunk of the total market for years to come.
I am perfectly representative of the Bay Area geek culture. I got my first smartphone, a Blackberry, in 2002, I think. For years before that I carried a phone in one pocket and a large PDA in the other (hence my preference for cargo pants in those days). I carry an iPhone4 today, and it is my fourth iPhone. My junk box has four Blackberries in it of various vintages, and a Nokia E61 (remember Symbian?).
I check in to the places I go about half the time, even though I get absolutely nothing in return except smug points. I am the mayor of a dozen places, only one of which knows my name. I tweet, even though most of my followers are Canadian online pharmacies and Russian prostitutes. I blog, even though no one reads my drivel.
There are a lot of startups right now with products targeting me and my ilk. The bad news is that they might get quickly to 50,000 users, and then they hit the real world. Will it play in Stockton?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
MacBook Air hotness
I broke down (it did not take much) and got a new 13" MacBook Air. It specs out almost identically to my year old 15" MB Pro, but at half the size. The clincher was that they had the extra hot version in stock at the store--processor bump and 4GB of RAM with the 256GB SSD. It will be replacing both my MB Pro and my iPad.
It is amazing how much lighter the Air is in my bag. Technically I probably save less than 3 pounds between the laptop and the power supply, but it feels like a lot. I am going to need to get a smaller bag, I guess, but now I seem to have tons of room.
I am using a Rapha backpack, which I highly recommend. Lots of storage in a slim profile. It is designed for commuting by bike, but I find that the slimness works equally well when wading through a thicket of people at a conference. I don't need to carry much. Laptop, charger, cards, checkbook, moleskin notebook and pen (having an analog backup is a good idea, and some people take offense when you pull out a laptop during a meeting), energy bar, iPhone charger, Clipper card, MiFi, Tylenol. I still have room for all the paper crap they give out at conferences, and to stash a lightweight jacket and inflatable lumbar pillow.
It boots up in about 15 seconds, 3x as fast as my MB Pro. The screen is smaller, but with the same number of pixels, so I don't really lose any screen real estate. That is important, as I work in multiple windows.
The MB Pro is now unloved. I have the last generation that had easy to swap hard drives. I am thinking about throwing an SSD in it, but they are still so expensive at retail, so I will probably just sell it. Between my iMac and the Air, it no longer has a place. When I got it, it was my only machine, and it served well for that. I got an iMac for more processor intensive activities and to have massive screen real estate (27" main screen plus a 20" next door--that is 5.6 million pixels). Now the laptop is only for when I am on the move, and the MB Air is plenty powerful, and super portable. In fact, it would be my choice as my only machine if I had to pick one. The only place it starts to choke is on multiple video streams, and I really never need to do that.
More later on iPad vs. Air.
It is amazing how much lighter the Air is in my bag. Technically I probably save less than 3 pounds between the laptop and the power supply, but it feels like a lot. I am going to need to get a smaller bag, I guess, but now I seem to have tons of room.
I am using a Rapha backpack, which I highly recommend. Lots of storage in a slim profile. It is designed for commuting by bike, but I find that the slimness works equally well when wading through a thicket of people at a conference. I don't need to carry much. Laptop, charger, cards, checkbook, moleskin notebook and pen (having an analog backup is a good idea, and some people take offense when you pull out a laptop during a meeting), energy bar, iPhone charger, Clipper card, MiFi, Tylenol. I still have room for all the paper crap they give out at conferences, and to stash a lightweight jacket and inflatable lumbar pillow.
It boots up in about 15 seconds, 3x as fast as my MB Pro. The screen is smaller, but with the same number of pixels, so I don't really lose any screen real estate. That is important, as I work in multiple windows.
The MB Pro is now unloved. I have the last generation that had easy to swap hard drives. I am thinking about throwing an SSD in it, but they are still so expensive at retail, so I will probably just sell it. Between my iMac and the Air, it no longer has a place. When I got it, it was my only machine, and it served well for that. I got an iMac for more processor intensive activities and to have massive screen real estate (27" main screen plus a 20" next door--that is 5.6 million pixels). Now the laptop is only for when I am on the move, and the MB Air is plenty powerful, and super portable. In fact, it would be my choice as my only machine if I had to pick one. The only place it starts to choke is on multiple video streams, and I really never need to do that.
More later on iPad vs. Air.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Startup Hangover
Wow, feeling hungover today after 3 days of TechCrunch Disrupt. Not alcohol hungover, but energy hungover. Being in a hall full of startups (more than a 100) creates an enormous amount of energy. I came home each night tired, but unable to fall asleep as I thought through some of the interesting companies, and mulled over interesting strategic options for them.
Being on the floor of TechCrunch is like being at the Circus Maximus. All of these entrepreneurs have a sincere conviction that they are going to win, but the sad truth is that most will not. Luckily, the consequences of failure in Silicon Valley are a bit less severe than in ancient Rome. After their companies die, they will be back. To paraphrase from Gladiator, "I will have my success, in this life or the next!".
I want my next hit of entrepreneurial energy. I will get some at the Mobile Apps conference next week. In two weeks, I will start my 10 day program at Singularity University--that will be really energizing/exhausting.
Being on the floor of TechCrunch is like being at the Circus Maximus. All of these entrepreneurs have a sincere conviction that they are going to win, but the sad truth is that most will not. Luckily, the consequences of failure in Silicon Valley are a bit less severe than in ancient Rome. After their companies die, they will be back. To paraphrase from Gladiator, "I will have my success, in this life or the next!".
I want my next hit of entrepreneurial energy. I will get some at the Mobile Apps conference next week. In two weeks, I will start my 10 day program at Singularity University--that will be really energizing/exhausting.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Security--random thoughts
My Hotmail account was hacked last week. Very embarassing--I have never had an account hacked before because I use decent passwords and I avoid viruses by not clicking through on strange links and using a Mac. The hackers sent out a link to an online pharmacy, though I suspect the linked page is also use to spread malware. I was able to send out a follow up email within 2 hours to let people know to delete the email, and, fortunately, I don't have a lot of addresses in my hotmail addressbook. My aunt had it even worse--I saw 4 or 5 emails from her account, and she struggled to regain control of it and is now just going to shut it down.
It got me thinking about security, both virtual and physical.
On the virtual side, the long held belief is that a strong password will keep you safe. That is apparently not true, as I just learned. But the reason why is a bit annoying. Hackers use "dictionary" attacks on popular web services, where they just bang on an account trying thousands (hundreds of thousands, actually) of combinations.
The most sophisticated tools (eg. L0phtcrack), easily available online, can crack 25% of passwords in seconds, and can try 17 BILLION combinations an hour. An 8 character password with a combination of letters, numbers and special characters (eg. asterisk, dash, underscore) has only about 100 billion different combinations. So, if someone really wants to crack your account, they just need a few hours. Presumably, the hackers just spend a few seconds to get the easy accounts. The password length I had been using, a mere 6 digits, had only 45 million combinations. I do use longer passwords on my more important accounts, but Hotmail is mostly for spam anyway, so I never upgraded the password.
The real problem here is obvious, but few ever mention it. Why do Hotmail and other services allow hackers to bang on the door thousands of times? If you blow a password 10 times in a row, your account should be locked. Then a simple, easily remembered password would be perfectly adequate.
The problem here, and I suspect why the web services do not enforce this, is that if hackers are banging on Hotmail all the time, thousands of users will be locked out every day, generating an enormous amount of traffic to customer support. Very sensititive systems such as SaaS ERP do enforce a limited number of tries, but they have a small number of users and an enormous reputation problem if they are cracked.
So, perhaps the solution is multifactor authentication. Not the physical token systems that you see some corporate users carrying around, but merely a second layer of security. You could have a password that gets you to the second layer, which would require you to pick out a face or picture from a matrix of options. The human brain is particularly good at remembering faces. Because you can only present 15 or so options, it is really not adding that many combinations, but it would definitely help, and the fact that it eludes keylogging software is a definite bonus.
[UPDATE 9/20: Google just released two factor authentication for Google Apps accounts. It uses a smartphone app to generate an authentication code that is the second step of the process (replacing a dedicated fob such as used by Verisign systems). I am feeling rather pleased with myself for being one day ahead, for once, instead of the reverse.]
So, "strong" passwords present the illusion of security, but in reality are just a slightly higher fence. That works for random attackers, but not an attacker that might be targeting you.
Many physical security measures work on the same principal--you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend. But if someone is targeting you specifically, you are in trouble. This is where things like airport security often fall down. They annoy the casual traveler in the name of protection, but fail to deter the dedicated attacker.
The auto theft statistics for 2009 show almost a 25% drop in theft from 2008--a big decrease. But they also show a drop in the recovery rate. Basically, the casual thief is deterred, but the pros are still doing fine.
The most effective part of a home security system is the sign out front. Casual thieves move on to your neighbor. If you are targeted by pros, then you had better installed something a bit heavier duty than ADT.
It got me thinking about security, both virtual and physical.
On the virtual side, the long held belief is that a strong password will keep you safe. That is apparently not true, as I just learned. But the reason why is a bit annoying. Hackers use "dictionary" attacks on popular web services, where they just bang on an account trying thousands (hundreds of thousands, actually) of combinations.
The most sophisticated tools (eg. L0phtcrack), easily available online, can crack 25% of passwords in seconds, and can try 17 BILLION combinations an hour. An 8 character password with a combination of letters, numbers and special characters (eg. asterisk, dash, underscore) has only about 100 billion different combinations. So, if someone really wants to crack your account, they just need a few hours. Presumably, the hackers just spend a few seconds to get the easy accounts. The password length I had been using, a mere 6 digits, had only 45 million combinations. I do use longer passwords on my more important accounts, but Hotmail is mostly for spam anyway, so I never upgraded the password.
The real problem here is obvious, but few ever mention it. Why do Hotmail and other services allow hackers to bang on the door thousands of times? If you blow a password 10 times in a row, your account should be locked. Then a simple, easily remembered password would be perfectly adequate.
The problem here, and I suspect why the web services do not enforce this, is that if hackers are banging on Hotmail all the time, thousands of users will be locked out every day, generating an enormous amount of traffic to customer support. Very sensititive systems such as SaaS ERP do enforce a limited number of tries, but they have a small number of users and an enormous reputation problem if they are cracked.
So, perhaps the solution is multifactor authentication. Not the physical token systems that you see some corporate users carrying around, but merely a second layer of security. You could have a password that gets you to the second layer, which would require you to pick out a face or picture from a matrix of options. The human brain is particularly good at remembering faces. Because you can only present 15 or so options, it is really not adding that many combinations, but it would definitely help, and the fact that it eludes keylogging software is a definite bonus.
[UPDATE 9/20: Google just released two factor authentication for Google Apps accounts. It uses a smartphone app to generate an authentication code that is the second step of the process (replacing a dedicated fob such as used by Verisign systems). I am feeling rather pleased with myself for being one day ahead, for once, instead of the reverse.]
So, "strong" passwords present the illusion of security, but in reality are just a slightly higher fence. That works for random attackers, but not an attacker that might be targeting you.
Many physical security measures work on the same principal--you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend. But if someone is targeting you specifically, you are in trouble. This is where things like airport security often fall down. They annoy the casual traveler in the name of protection, but fail to deter the dedicated attacker.
The auto theft statistics for 2009 show almost a 25% drop in theft from 2008--a big decrease. But they also show a drop in the recovery rate. Basically, the casual thief is deterred, but the pros are still doing fine.
The most effective part of a home security system is the sign out front. Casual thieves move on to your neighbor. If you are targeted by pros, then you had better installed something a bit heavier duty than ADT.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Google Priority Inbox--the end of Serendipity?
First off, I am in the Google ghetto, as apparently the only person for whom Google has yet to turn on the Priority Inbox feature. I even pay for a premium account, and still I am not cool enough.
People in the tech industry, whether entrepreneurs, investors, business development or whatnot, suffer famously from email overload. I use a tiered system of email accounts to deal with it and prioritize emails.
It is hard enough to get noticed as an outsider when you send an email, but it is possible with a pithy subject line and succinct opening paragraph. Now, you are at the mercy of the machine. Is there going to be an SEO business for emails to try and find your way into the priority inbox? For many harried execs, an email in the non-priority queue might as well be in the spam folder.
Is this the end of the serendipitous connection? Does that matter? Are we now doomed to insularity?
It certainly means that having a warm introduction to a targeted contact is more critical than ever. It also means that the conference business is going to see a rebound, because you need to find your targets in person, not digitally.
People in the tech industry, whether entrepreneurs, investors, business development or whatnot, suffer famously from email overload. I use a tiered system of email accounts to deal with it and prioritize emails.
It is hard enough to get noticed as an outsider when you send an email, but it is possible with a pithy subject line and succinct opening paragraph. Now, you are at the mercy of the machine. Is there going to be an SEO business for emails to try and find your way into the priority inbox? For many harried execs, an email in the non-priority queue might as well be in the spam folder.
Is this the end of the serendipitous connection? Does that matter? Are we now doomed to insularity?
It certainly means that having a warm introduction to a targeted contact is more critical than ever. It also means that the conference business is going to see a rebound, because you need to find your targets in person, not digitally.
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