Thanks Evernote. Tell the Truth

Because of yet another hack I've spent my entire Saturday morning changing passwords (no I don't use the same one for all sites but I've been on-line since the early 90's and have registered at a lot of sites. A few of them happen to have the same login credentials as I was using for Evernote). Also have been canceling on-line accounts because of another failure in the cloud to keep things secure... I won't get into how this is a management failure. I know.... I have run companies that had iPhone apps, Web-sites etc etc... have hired the security guys. Talked with the guys who built and secured major sites site etc etc etc... there are ways to handle this sort of thing and Evernote failed.

This is what I want to know: Is this a breach or isn't it? Evernote says one thing (LINK) and the Verge (and others) say another (LINK). Or more importantly, does anyone tell the truth anymore? We talk a lot about various problems. Let's start with a basic premise. If you are not honest with yourself, you can't be honest with anyone else and all your relationships personal and professional will be flawed. Thanks Dad. I got it... Too bad there aren't too many of us...
FWIW I use a combination of LastPass and a Drive/Google Doc that lists sites and passwords (it's 6 pages) that is secured behind Google's dual auth system... it can help to ease the pain.

Next Generation Touch Screen Chromebook

I was editing the post below about wanting to get a Chromebook when they were made better and then this showed up on YouTube.. Gotta love it (if it's real). 

I Want a Chromebook... Not Just any Chromebook. Google? Please listen.

I like Google stuff for lots of good reasons. Been on a run here at the Treehouse. Dual-Auth. gMail. Calendar. Chrome (aka the browser that is really fast and syncs everything), Drive, Android, Picasa. Latitude. Blogger.. And I really want a Chromebook. Was at Best Buy in Salinas a couple of weekends back... I was trading. Selling them our used iPhones for more than I paid for them new... walked away with a nice credit and the smart guy who did me right pointed out that I "needed"  a Chromebook. They had just come in "for the 2nd time" and "won't last 2 hours"... Hmmm... I like that sorta stuff... Google had a rep there too... OK. Let's put in my credentials and see what this thing will do.. It was good. Snappy. Even on BestBuy's wi-fi (Hint to retailers: follow Apple's lead and put 2 high speed wi-fi's with YOUR name on them for everyone anywhere near your store to use. Really!). But the Samsung machine sucks... and I mean really sucks... It's cheap feeling. It's really cheap looking. Has absolutely no style whatsoever.. The Acer version looks better but a spinning hard drive? In 2013? No way. I started buying SSD drives in laptops years ago (I'll send you a picture to prove it-have a dell studio xps with a sweet ssd drive in it. Paid a premium for it)... I like to run silent. But enough with the set-up. Here's what I want... a widescreen 13 or 14 inch display (12" would be ok)... retina equivalent display (whatever "retina" means now for a laptop this size). Simple. The screen should look Great and the laptop needs to be something like a MacBook Air. Or one of the many great clones from Samsung, Asus or Acer that have come out in the last year. I want to get two days without a charge. I'll settle for one. Eight hours? Needs LTE and Wi-Fi of course... Ethernet not required. 3.0 usb ports and hdmi. Expansion port. Back-lit keyboard that is the best in the business... a big touchpad. Wish-list will continue..

iPads are cool, but useless without a keyboard. Whatever you use as your traveling machine it needs to last. Last longer than a flight across the country. If you get a message that needs a response while your driving from the airport to downtown, what do you do? I know. Use your phone... but the point is, we need better design and better batteries. Apple has forced the industry to pay attention to design. Thank You. 
We have iPads.. they get used. We use our laptops a lot more though and Google Drive and Office 360 is the future of document management. Google and Android manage Photos better than Apple... Apple's web services are poor.  And Apple is not the only company that makes a beautiful computer anymore. Google programs are looking much better than they ever did. Especially on iOS.  Give us a sweet looking (touch-screen?) Chromebook at $600. With good specs and  a battery that can last and puts the iPad and MacBook Air on the bench... Google, please do this. HP and Lenovo have introduced Chromebooks... HP? Their printers don't last and every laptop I've bought from them crashed and burned. I went through 3 of them in one year including a super expensive, beautiful but slow pos that was fried by cosmic rays in an airport or on a plane. Part of the deal with this machine was that HP would come to wherever you were and replace it after they moved your files onto a new machine. They NEVER showed up... Never. We signed an exclusive contract with these guys. Bought nearly 2000 machines and had to switch vendors because their service and durability was so poor. Think Google has the right vendors in Acer and Samsung, but the current machines need a Big upgrade. Please.

PS  No sooner was I just about ready to publish this and along came the Pixel. Is it for real?

Never Thought I'd see the Day.. My Main Phone is an Android

Have read a few of these posts lately.. a simple search will pull them up. Try: Android has left iOS behind. I've switched from iPhone to Android. Thinking different? You're using Android, says the Guru. Hardware matters and the specs are what they are, but specs are only part of the story. That's a good thing for Apple, cause the specs on this Android phone I've switched to are untouchable today. 1080p. 1.5 Quad-core, 2 Gigs of RAM...etc. etc. OK. Specs are never the whole story. Onward.

I have been using the iPhone for years... it finally knocked a Blackberry out of my pocket for good around the time the 3G was introduced and I got the latest iPhone 5 the day it was available (1/2hr wait at the local Verizon store). Love it (used the 4 and 4s and loved them too)... Love 'em still. In fairness, the 3G didn't "sell" me. My friends referred to it as the "iphoney" adding, "any real businessman has a Blackberry". Right! The iPhone had apps and did everything  the Blackberry did and  RIMM/Blackberry ignored the beauty and simplicity of the iPhone and it's app ecosystem. 
I was chatting recently with a technology (and car) loving CTO from England who shares a deep respect for the excitement  trails the tribulations  of Formula 1 racing with me. We communicate through the racing season as the  spirit moves us. When we met we were fanboys. I remember when he went to Android.. He's a Nexus guy now for his good reasons and wrote me a nice explanation of why after I asked him if he owned anything apple now.. We both have Apple TVs and laptop's...  no more iPad for him.. He has a Nexus 7 which is the "perfect device to sit in front of the TV with". He was looking forward to getting a Nexus 4  but there is a technical problem that even the best technologists have very little defense/strategy for and that's sales forecasting as best I can tell.. I assume you know that story too and again, a search will reveal all the ins and outs of LG vs Google as it applies to the availability of the Nexus 4. So I heard the pitch and my friend knows I tried a couple of Samsung Android phones 3 years ago. A lot has changed. Then Android showed promise but was not integrated and developed like it is today. Then there was no Google Now (how great is Google Now? It can give you info so you can redirect your commute based on traffic, handle the ticketing for most flights, along with keeping up with many things that matter to you before you think about them..). 3 years ago you still had to do things over and over like you do on iPhone. Android wasn't intuitive like it is now. Then Android was trying to catch iOS... man how things have really changed. Chrome sync's with all other devices using it (simple) and it's fast and easy, but the Google/Android integration is now no less than (sorry Steve) magical. Put your credentials in ONCE (you are using dual auth right?) and within seconds  gMail, Tasks, Google Voice, Calendar and your inflated (thanks to Google +) contacts list are all there ready for you to arrange  anyway you like... with widgets and apps (yeah the developers still work on the iOS apps first it seems and some are a bit cleaner on iPhone. So what?)...  They are all here... Weather and Surf apps. Evernote, Waze, Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, Hootsuite, Instagram, Pulse, Flipboard... you get the picture. ScoreMobile.. and Maps... Yup.. do that search if you haven't heard enough about Maps and Apple (what the hell were they thinking?). And that's the point... Googlers have really used Android. A Lot! And it shows.. things are faster and more intuitive. Lots of folks have talked about the sharing capabilities (a long list and you enter credentials once for nearly ALL programs) and other capabilities. All good and Android has a few tech celebrity endorsers claiming a new mobile dawn has arrived. But here's the Ace for me. For years I carried a Walkman and a cell phone. Then an iPod and a cell phone and I hoped for one device that would do it all... it came.... But this Android phone is an HTC.. it has Beats Audio.  I have good ears... I grew up listening to and then playing music. I know what sounds good... digital compression is lousy but portability wins while lossless helps the quality. I loaded doubleTwist  and sync'd up (wirelessly!  The cliche of our time is there is an app for that right?) Went for a drive.. first I sync'd the new Phone with the car and then I heard things in the music I only hear on the made for a desert island system that powers up the Man Cave. The system that cost the same as the nice Automobile. As I understand it, Beats uses a "2.5 volt Headset Amp for bigger and better sound". It works... It Works Great... connected over Bluetooth in the car of all things... Do I really care how it works? It sounds absolutely great. I love it. 

I'm all in with Google. The best reasons are security through dual auth, simple design and functionality... not always pretty but getting better all the time.... I really like this new phone and when I pick up the iPhone it seems small and cumbersome somehow.. no longer elegant (it is I know..but not as much). I have to provide the same information again and again to apps. It is NOT different. It's tired. No NFC. No going in and saying "yes" to updates for all apps when they are available (automatic for the people on Android. Just check the box and be done with it). My only complaint is that somehow the carrier (Verizon in this case) has conspired with the phone manufacturers to delay the distribution of the latest OS.. for security reasons? I don't know. Time for another search perhaps. I like to understand these things. This is why my friend Marc loves the Nexus... everything including Android is up to date. We have LTE here.. 25 Mbps on the phone is where it's at.... even put the Verizon Home Fusion Broadband in to use occasionally with the old ATT DSL at 6 Mbps. I still use the iPhone of course... Waze renders better (they'll fix that) and the Apple Remote app controls a lot of the media streaming we do here at the Treehouse. But I'm sold. It's like mobile has been reinvented. Out with the Old and in with the New.
The Phone? Its an HTC Droid DNA. Bought it from Amazon. Got a great deal...  Here's the link: 

Apple just announced earnings and at this point in time their stock is down about $25 after-hours having peaked at just over $700 a few months ago. It will likely be more than $200 a share less tomorrow. Join the revolution. Time for Apple to listen to some of it's old marketing. Or maybe Steve Jobs just cannot be replaced.

From iPhone to ... Android? Windows Phone? It's the Browser.

This instantly reminds me of the Mac vs PC flame wars in the forums on Engadget or Verge or Gizmodo(!). What do you use?  Have an opinion? Today I have an old Dell laptop running Ubuntu. A year old mbp running OSX. An xps laptop running Windows 8 and a big custom, multiscreen powerhouse of a desktop that is happily doing business on the web running Windows 8. I had no problems installing it and running it is great. I discover new, useful capabilities almost everyday. Highly recommended. But, here's the deal. Having got on-line in the early/mid 90's on a dial up 4800 connection with HookedNet, Compuserve, Newsgroups, mosaic etc. the browser has been and remains the critical piece of my digital life. Apps are getting close, but it was about the time that I knew everything except our music (3 servers. nearly 400 Gigs of mostly lossless stuff) would be moving online that the browser became the most critical app/program I used. I spent at least a year using Opera and 5+ with Firefox and have come to the conclusion that across multiple machines Chrome does the best job of syncing things up. Along with being super fast, I now know it well. When the iPhone 4s came out, I loved that device so much I tried to use Safari to keeps things "together" and it just never worked out right. So without getting into a whole endless discussion about this platform and that handset, I want to be able to move as seamlessly as possible from desktop to tablet to iPhone/Android/WinPhone. Chrome will help me get closer to my ideal. It's my answer. I have thought about a Windows Phone. Does it run Chrome? A rep in an ATT store today told me they are selling a lot of Lumina's and 'Droids. "No one cares about specs and customers are "tired" of the same old iPhone". Is he right? Another opinion. Windows Phone? The price is right. Are the apps there (yet)?. I would never count Microsoft out. They have resources as a friend likes to repeat over and over again. And the enterprise uses Office. There are synergies. Mark Cuban recently said the new Lumina "crushes iPhone. Not even close"  Every CTO I know except one is "on Android" and wouldn't think of going back to iPhone or (in one case) Blackberry. Kevin Rose tweeted he is now "100% Android". Kawasaki thinks differently as well...now.  Really? And then there is Music. "A Phone, an Internet device and an iPod" Who said that?... Remember that day? Steve's crowning achievement  Here's the big surprise according to my testing.. Beats Audio on the HTC Droid DNA... best sounding digital music these old, tuned musician ears have heard yet.. Hope Neil Young is reading (is Pono gonna happen?)... give a listen... Doubletwist is the app I used.. sounded great. All the specs lead to a great experience. 1080p screen is spectacular. Now about that keyboard...Chrome is the browser.. gMail, Drive.. Android. Is it waterproof?  maybe the new Sony..

Who Really is a User??

So today Google announced it bought Snapseed... awesome buy. along with the announcement on Google+ was this:

"This week we also hit an important milestone--over 400,000,000 people have upgraded to Google+. It was only a year ago that we opened public sign-up, and we couldn’t have imagined that so many people would join in just 12 months. While Google+ is all about creating a better experience across Google, it’s also a destination. And here too, I’m happy to report that we have just crossed 100,000,000 monthly active users on Google+ (plus.google.com and mobile app)."

Seems fairly obvious to a reasonable person that those number really don't matter. We all sign up for things and promptly forget about them. For me that has included Google+. So far. I sure never thought of it as an upgrade. From Buzz maybe? or Wave? Active Users? I end up on Google+ mostly by mistake. I might poke around a little.. would hardly consider me a user. This isn't about Google+ and it's relative merits (or lack thereof) it's about the phony biz speak BS that keeps me giggling. Seems like everyone has their sites set on politics. Why is the number 47 trending on twitter tonight? Email me. Thanks.

Threat Levels in Europe

ALERTS TO THREATS IN 2012 EUROPE: 

BY JOHN CLEESE 

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada. 

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years. 

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability. 

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides." 

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose." 

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels. 

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy. 

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be all right, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the Barbie this weekend!" and "The Barbie is cancelled" So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level. 

A final thought -“ Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC." 

Pt Lobos -Right Now.

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woods here

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lupine

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Point Lobos

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Is Seth Godin Important? a Joke?

Saw this tweet where @jeffjarvis sticks up for ...nevermind ..here ya go: "Apple rejects @sethgodin's book because he linked to buy @dweinberger's book. Not good." 

By the way, Seth doesn't use @sethgodin because??? . He uses @ThisIsSethsBlog. "@sethgodin Seth is not active on Twitter. This is a placeholder. BUT! You can follow my blog by following @thisissethsblog. Anyone who says they're me on Twitter is lying." really? 

Over on The Domino Project (.."a new way to think about publishing. Founded by Seth Godin and powered by Amazon, we're trying to change the way books are built, sold and spread. Find out more about our mission here.") Seth whines about Apple rejecting his next book (excuse me, his Manifesto) Stop Stealing Dreams because "inside the manifesto" are links to buy the books he mentions in the bibliography at Amazon. 

Really? Apple doesn't want to sell your book because you are going to have links in the book to go buy stuff from a competitor? A link that likely results in a commission paid to you?

Everybody is the new digital revolutionary. Seth has "powerful" ideas. Just ask him!

Some of these guys really don't get it..  A trojan horse is a trojan horse.. was yesterday, is today and will be tomorrow.. 

This is a free country. Apple can sell whatever it wants and as Steve would say, "if you don't like it, don't buy it". 

As for Seth and his jumping up and down because he won't get his way? Now that's how I want to be.. how about you?

I subscribed to Seth's newsletter for a few days. It was some of the most simpleminded garbage I'd ever read. Spare me. Your mileage may differ. 

BTW, I know how to set links but didn't in this piece. Easy enough to right click and search if you want to check my sources.

How does your digital music sound? What do you do about it?

Neil Young made some waves (in my head anyway) last week talking about Steve Jobs being a digital music pioneer but listening to "records" when he went home. I have no evidence of that one way or another even though I did hang out with Steve once in his favorite audio porn emporium in Palo Alto (the Audible Difference). I know he didn't like "tape", but never heard him talk negatively about cd's.
Have heard the similar refrain from Peter Gabriel who surely knows a thing or two about making music sound good.  

I have been told that lossless (which I use as much as possible) is equivalent to a redboard cd (which is good but not great). I'd like to get some feedback from folks in the know. Or not in the know...Maybe some links and comments about what you hear and what you do about it..

For years I bought master recordings and them put them on master tape to play in the car. They sounded great. When I plug my iPhone into my car and crank it up, I'm sometimes impressed (even with 320kbps) and sometimes not so much. It seems to me that it's all in the preparation and UE. Like apple computers, the specs don't necessarily determine the performance..or perceived performance.

I have ears.. played music professionally from the time I was 8 until I was 25 and then was a concert promoter and tour manager. Left the business long ago but my ears could tell who was out of tune in a 100+ piece orchestra and they still don't like laptop speakers (etc.).

4 years ago I started the process of putting a 4000 cd collection onto servers. Backed them up and backed them up again ..and again. Had moved them 3 times and just didn't want to do it again.. We are starting to do the same thing with books. We are near 60 and have accumulated a lot of "stuff" along the way. I got rid of the turntable in the early 90's and will not go back. Most of our listening is casual. So, please tell me what you have found and what you've done. Appreciated..of course. Thanks.

the goat.

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a relaxed start

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boat graveyard

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Phil's Sign

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our neighbor billy

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The Internet Needs Your Help (SOPA)

I posted a link to the White House Site (please go there and sign the petition) tonight on Facebook and Twitter. I, like many others, who spend so much time on-line are shocked at the implications of a bill to shoot now and aim later as it pertains to content on the Internet. The view of its necessity to me is summed up in some tweets by Jim Cramer: "We all kid ourselves about the web. It is just a way to destroy great media institutions and steal value from the good guys. We know that." and previously, "I wish people really knew how corrupt the web is. How it is all a game of search engine optimization and intellectual theft. Do you think the truth will ever come out about the web? People pretending to be others, Stealing from others. Gaming everything? I am simply saying that all of the papers i applied to or worked for are hurt or killed by the web."

Techmeme rips headlines and curates one of the most read site on-line. Jim's point it seems. He rightly points out: "I can be Seeking Alpha. All i have to do is report what Jim Cramer says and then misquote him, grade him, trash him, praise him."   

I see it differently. 

My friend Aaron Breden on Facebook said, "between the national defense authorization act and this (SOPA) and some of the other actions the government is taking it leads me to believe we are in deep shit."

I have a sense of the same thing from time to time.. then I think SOPA is nothing more than big business acting out of pure self interest. Knowing that there are principled leaders running companies with reasonable ideas about competition and success, not acting out of pure greed, is small comfort. This bill is a grab. The Internet still represents freedom. Yup.. it's so overly commercial and noisy. Trolls all over the place and individuals cowardly posting under assumed names etc..I asked a reporter (@acarvin) to stop with the non-stop tweets ("write a blog dude") tonight (he dominated a list of "journalists" which is very active-has 69 members). He YELLED at back at me and told me to "unfollow me" (spell check unnecessary).. then caught a troll who was posting under "URaDouchbag" with no avatar giving me the clear view of a pimpled 16 year old virgin on meth about how freedom is being able to say and do whatever you want. It's a graceless age. Maybe the Internet doesn't matter. But hidden in all the noise is a great deal of our collective intellect.. That's what I came here for. Not success  measured by followers, users or readers but in the quality of the search (thanks Wikipedia, BING and Google). Google+ has it right. Publish under your own name or at least be visible.. this is no place to hide. I'll write my confession about how I got tossed out of chat rooms on the original aol in the late 80's.. maybe early 90's? It was dial up at 9600.. that was fast!

I was one of the first 100 guys with ISDN at dual 128. WooT!

Maybe we just need to learn some manners and reread the 10 commandments.

I helped build 10,000 route miles of the westcoast Internet backbone in the 90's. Between the Phone Companies with their greed and the trolls it's sometimes hard to feel good about that. 

Now and then I hear a story of information saving a life or communicating vital information to better mankind.. just more of the same thing.. the yin with the yang..the ocean keeps wearing away the shore.. see below and keep breathing.

Moss Landing, CA Beach Pano

Taken at Moss Landing with iPhone4S and the Pano app. Touched up with Picasa.

neighbors

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floating

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Google Evolves

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/116899029375914044550/albums/5680923598455113089

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Looking East from the Top of the Hill

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