Modelesis

Leadership, Software Development, Tech Industry, &c

Tech Giants: Please Make Security Usable

Another week, another round of high-profile tech announcements…  And security woes.  Apple announced its new Pay service, which may finally make digital payments mainstream.  It was, however, tainted by concerns arising from “Celebgate” and the presumed role iCloud security played in it.  Meanwhile, Google was busy explaining that the five million Gmail credentials recently published by Russian hackers hadn’t been obtained from their servers.  Tech giants have successfully transitioned us to a cloud-based digital lifestyle, but a lot of work remains to ensure security is actually usable and effective enough.

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Chrome OS First Impressions

Nearly two months ago, Google launched its first internally built laptop, the Chromebook Pixel. Reviews have been polarized (and polarizing): what exactly is the target market? Who is willing to put down ~1,400 dollars for a laptop that can basically only run Google Chrome? The debate had me take a hard, long, critical look at Chrome OS - I have previously done little more than deride it in 15-second rants, tangentially mentioning Google TV and Android. This time, after careful pondering (but not without hesitation), I ended up buying the $249 ARM-based Chromebook. These are my thoughts after finally getting my mitts on Chrome OS.

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