It’s two different approaches. And that makes sense since the two have different motives. At the end of the day, Android exists so that Google can get more people searching — and keep them searching as mobile devices overtake computers. The iPhone exists to be one of the mobile devices that overtakes computers so that Apple can keep selling high-margin machines.
Just had a random thought while writing my previous post: my experience in programming shows up when I write English, as I try to be very careful about crossing my t’s and dotting my i’s when I write. This probably came from programming, because syntax has to be very exact or the computer will trip over your code.
However, this is somewhat unnecessary when it comes to writing English, as humans are actually very good at filling in the gaps. Maybe I can afford to be a little more careless?
Of course, if there’s too much ambiguity, different people are going to fill in the gaps differently and things start getting lost in translation.
It’s still good to be clear.
As more and more services are moving onto the ‘cloud’, aka the internet, we place more reliance on our passwords to keep sensitive information away from prying eyes. Basically, passwords have become the ‘keys’ to our online life.
However, many people don’t treat their passwords in the same way that they treat their real keys. They don’t realize the importance of having strong passwords (emphasis on plural) until its too late. And even if they know they should have different passwords for different services, they figured that it’s impossible for them to remember so many passwords, so they don’t bother.
Case in point: hundreds of confidential Twitter documents were leaked after a Twitter employee’s email account was hacked into.
As the saying goes, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. Here are some suggestions based on analysis of the “weak links” in the Twitter attack.
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Don’t leave passwords in your email
Many services that you sign up for online send you a registration email that usually includes your login information. If your email account ever gets compromised, your passwords for other services will be revealed to all and sundry. It can happen pretty easil. Something as simple as forgetting to log out of your email account on a public computer could get you in trouble.
You should delete those emails that contain passwords. A simple way to do that quickly is to do a search in your email using your password(s) as the search term. Delete all the emails that show up in your search results. You might be surprised at how many of those emails are lying around in your inbox.
You should have the habit of deleting registration emails as soon as you receive them.
Have a system to create unique passwords
Every web service you sign up for online should have a unique password. This ensures that even if one password is compromised, the rest of your data on other services will still remain safe. It doesn’t even have to be your fault that your password is leaked. There have been cases where a web company accidentally leaks their users passwords to the public.
It might sound pretty daunting to have a unique password for each service, but if you follow a system, it shouldn’t be much trouble.
One system that you could use is as follows:
Pick a base password of, say, 8 random alphanumeric characters. Spend some time memorizing it really well.
Next, pick 2 or 3 characters in this base password that you want to vary for each service. Replace those characters with characters derived from the web service you are using the password for. For example, you could replace 2 characters of the base password with the first and last characters of each web service.
After some practice, it shouldn’t take much effort to recall the passwords.
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Hacking and security attacks are going to be more frequent as it becomes more and more lucrative for hackers. A good guideline to follow is to treat your passwords the same way as your keys. If you don’t leave your keys lying around and use one key for everything, why would you do that with your passwords?
For the first time ever, Google has an ad during the Super Bowl. I found it to be quite a breath of fresh air amongst all the usual ads focused on cars, beer and women.
In an extremely simple yet effective manner, the ad showcases how Google’s technology touches our everyday lives. A series of search queries turn out to tell a story, with a slight surprise at the end.
This is a short film (a fast paced preview of a larger effort) by MAYA Design created to put some perspective on the invisible but fast approaching challenges and opportunities in the pervasive computing age.
An interesting way of putting things into perspective, including looking back at early uses of computing. And very nice animations to boot!
It reminds me about a reading I did a few days back for my technological entrepreneurship class about legacy costs for a company and how it can come back to bite the company. I think if we’re building for trillions in the future, using legacy infrastructure carried over from the past (or even the present), the legacy stuff is going to come back and bite us hard. The film is basically saying that we have to build for the trillions from the ground up. That requires a complete rethink of the way we build our networks and devices now, which is very challenging to do as we’re so invested in the current way of doing things.
It’s also interesting how the film is also saying that everything that we need for building for trillions is already present in nature. The complexity of God’s creation is just so staggering that I wonder if we can ever come close to building something like that, and have it work as efficiently as nature does.
So Microsoft previewed their upcoming motion sensing system codenamed Project Natal at the E3 expo yesterday. Its supposed to work with the Xbox 360 and it allows for full body motion control by tracking 3D movement. It also recognizes voices, and is meant to fully immerses the players into the game. The promotional video by Microsoft makes the whole system look pretty awesome.
I think its an interesting concept and its sort of an extension from the Wii, minus the controller. However, I have my doubts about how well this thing is going to work in the real world. The technology being used (motion tracking, voice recognition) have all proven to be pretty iffy in real world use. The last thing you want is the system not detecting your move on a crucial point in the game. Also, the racing game in the video looks a bit awkward to play as you’re just holding your hands up in the air like you’re gripping a steering wheel. I would imagine that people’s hands would get tired pretty quickly.
Its good to see Microsoft innovating though, with the announcement of “Project Natal” hot on the heels of the launch of their new search engine “Bing“, which has some pretty positive reviews so far. I think they have been resting on their laurels for way too long, always having to play catch up to others like Google and Apple. Its a good thing if Microsoft can provide some form of competition against Google and Apple as this will force all the companies to keep innovating and pushing the boundaries of technology.
Speaking of Microsoft, I remember coming across, a while ago, another two very cool and potentially ground-breaking pieces of technology that they have been working on, called Seadragon and Photosynth. My jaw literally dropped as I watched the demo. Very cool stuff.
Eric Schmidt’s keynote speech at Carnegie Mellon’s 112th commencement ceremony. I find that there are some very good points in his speech and also some funny observations.
“We got our news from newspapers, your generation gets it from blogs and tweets, and for those of you who don’t know, that’s not what you hear in zoos.”
“We thought ‘friend’ is a noun, you think it’s a verb.”
Today, I watched the Atlantis space shuttle liftoff for mission STS-125 live online. Space shuttle launches never fail to give me goosebumps. It’s always such a grand sight. Engineering at its very best.
Be sure to watch the video at full screen to enjoy the launch at its best.
I like what the NASA commentator said upon liftoff of the space shuttle:
Liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis. Final visit to enhance the vision of Hubble into the deepest grandeur of our universe.
Sadly though, this also marks the last repairs mission that will be conducted on the Hubble Space Telescope. After that, astronomers will just use the Hubble for as long as possible before vital components start breaking down again. Once it can no longer serve its purpose, it’ll be left to slowly orbit the Earth until drag causes its orbit to decay to a point that it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up.
I think he makes some really good points in there. Also interesting to know some of the stories behind Google (Larry Page is the co-founder of Google).
The full transcript can also be found here.
An animated spot about Google’s browser Chrome. It emphasizes some of the revolutionary features of Chrome in a colorful and lively manner. The 1 1/2 minute animation reminds me of some of Apple’s ads for its iPods. Lots of color + Nice music = Success.
I tested out Chrome since the first day it was released and it has become my primary browser ever since. Its simplicity, speed and ease of use simply won me over. Give it a try if you have yet to.
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