Chromebook contemplation, cont’d.

At home, my wife and I have an iPad 2 parked more or less permanently on the coffee table–and, aside from Skype, we spend most of our time on this thing in its Web browser. Given that background, I should have liked Google’s “nothing but the Web” Chromebook concept. Right?

Wrong. I detail the reasons why I did not in my review for Discovery News, posted on Friday: The Samsung Series 5 machine I tested costs a little too much, weighs a little too much, is sometimes sluggish and is liable to turn into a brick should you stray beyond a wireless signal. I could have inventoried other gripes, such as its cooling fan’s distractingly loud whir, the overly-sensitive keyboard that repeatedly caused me to type duplicate characters, and the strange failure of Google’s Chrome Web Store to highlight Web apps that can run in an offline mode.

All of those aspects fell short of the optimistic presentation at this summer’s Google I/O developer conference that I watched on YouTube after the fact.

Don’t forget the inconvenient fact that Google already has a Web-friendly operating system that both runs programs and saves data on your own device and automatically backs up everything online: Android.

But then there’s the possible market that Google didn’t pursue, the same one that Apple neglected when it introduced the iPad: the beginners who use a computer almost exclusively for Web and e-mail access, and never outside of the house. If you’ve had the privilege of providing Thanksgiving-weekend tech support for these first-timers, you’ll also admit that they probably don’t keep their applications up to date and often neglect to back up their data.

The Chromebook or something like it–a computer that updates itself, focuses on Web and e-mail use, and backs up everything automatically to secure Web storage–could serve that constituency well. But Google’s own marketing message, echoed by such retailers as Best Buy and Amazon, speaks right over this crowd:

Chromebooks are built and optimized for the Web, where you already spend most of your computing time.

There’s a chance left for somebody to connect with people who can’t give a billable-hours breakdown of their computing time and don’t throw around verbs like “optimize.” Right?

#chromeOs #chromebook #googleLaptop #samsungSeries5

Weekly output: Chromebook, newspapers and search engines, Amtrak, photo spheres, Google Calendar, Gmail

What’s not on this list? Any gift-guide pieces or reports about Black Friday sales. I can’t say I miss those two staples of Thanksgiving-week tech coverage… and yet I feel vaguely guilty about dodging them.

11/19/2012: Google’s cheaper Chromebook: enough of a computer, Boing Boing

Having this fall’s implementation by Samsung of Google’s Chromebook laptop concept priced for half of last summer’s made the results easier to like. But Samsung also gave this $249 model better battery life and faster performance, while Google contributed more offline-compatible Web apps. I’m tempted to pick up one to have as a backup computer, which was not the case a year ago.

11/19/2012: A Business Perspective on the Snippet Tax, Disruptive Competition Project

My second post for this tech-policy blog picked up where a 2009 rant over stupid newspaper publishers whining about news-search sites had left off. Now, it’s news organizations in other countries complaining that Google News and sites like it are taking away readers; I’m not any more persuaded by that logic three years later.

11/20/2012: Amtrak’s New App: Does It Actually Make Travel Easier?, The Atlantic Cities

I like trains, and I like smartphone apps that simplify my life a little. I wasn’t sure that Amtrak’s offering for iOS and Android would be worth keeping around, but after using it to book and manage a round-trip from D.C. to NYC, I see where the railroad is going with it.

On Wednesday, USA Today was kind enough to publish a condensed version of last weekend’s Q&A about adding a Start menu to Windows 8 in its print edition. That was the first time I’ve appeared in a newspaper of any kind since Roll Call ran a version of a post I did for the Consumer Electronics Association just over a year a ago , and my first spot in a general-interest paper since I logged off from the Post in April of 2011.

11/24/2012: Spherical Panoramas from a Phone, Discovery News

Writing about a feature confined to a new Android release that most users of Google’s operating system won’t see for months, or ever, seems unfair, but the 4.2 edition’s “photo sphere” option genuinely intrigued me. Alas, I initially neglected to note that the older iOS app Photosynth–from a Redmond, Wash.-based software developer called Microsoft you may have heard of–can also generate interactive spherical panoramas from a phone’s camera.

11/25/2012: How to sync your Google calendar with your iPad, USA Today

Credit for this Q&A item goes to my wife, who asked me about this problem on her iPad. Credit for the tip about a new Gmail search option goes to the Google Operating System blog, an old favorite of mine, which brought that change to my attention last week.

#Amtrak #Android42 #chromeOs #chromebook #Exchange #futureOfJournalism #GCalSync #gmail #GoogleCalendar #GoogleNews #Groupon #ios #newspaperBusinessModel #passengerRail #PhotoSphere #Photosynth #QuickTimeVR #Samsung #sphericalPanorama #Windows8

Rob Pegoraro

2011-08-22 20:49:20

Chromebook contemplation, cont’d.

At home, my wife and I have an iPad 2 parked more or less permanently on the coffee table–and, aside from Skype, we spend most of our time on this thing in its Web browser. Given that background, I should have liked Google’s “nothing but the Web” Chromebook concept. Right?

Wrong. I detail the reasons why I did not in my review for Discovery News, posted on Friday: The Samsung Series 5 machine I tested costs a little too much, weighs a little too much, is sometimes sluggish and is liable to turn into a brick should you stray beyond a wireless signal. I could have inventoried other gripes, such as its cooling fan’s distractingly loud whir, the overly-sensitive keyboard that repeatedly caused me to type duplicate characters, and the strange failure of Google’s Chrome Web Store to highlight Web apps that can run in an offline mode.

All of those aspects fell short of the optimistic presentation at this summer’s Google I/O developer conference that I watched on YouTube after the fact.

Don’t forget the inconvenient fact that Google already has a Web-friendly operating system that both runs programs and saves data on your own device and automatically backs up everything online: Android.

But then there’s the possible market that Google didn’t pursue, the same one that Apple neglected when it introduced the iPad: the beginners who use a computer almost exclusively for Web and e-mail access, and never outside of the house. If you’ve had the privilege of providing Thanksgiving-weekend tech support for these first-timers, you’ll also admit that they probably don’t keep their applications up to date and often neglect to back up their data.

The Chromebook or something like it–a computer that updates itself, focuses on Web and e-mail use, and backs up everything automatically to secure Web storage–could serve that constituency well. But Google’s own marketing message, echoed by such retailers as Best Buy and Amazon, speaks right over this crowd:

Chromebooks are built and optimized for the Web, where you already spend most of your computing time.

There’s a chance left for somebody to connect with people who can’t give a billable-hours breakdown of their computing time and don’t throw around verbs like “optimize.” Right?

#chromeOs #chromebook #googleLaptop #samsungSeries5

Google Chromebooks - Chromebooks are fast, secure, and affordable laptops you’ll love.

Chromebooks are fast, secure, and affordable laptops for work, school, gaming, and everything in between.

^{Google Chromebook}

Weekly output: “Beyond television,” cable boxes and apps, Google I/O (x3), Chrome OS, security, Android N

I had a two-city, four-airport week: I spent Sunday afternoon through Tuesday evening in Boston for the cable industry’s INTX show, flew to SFO that night and spent Wednesday through Friday at Google I/O before flying home Saturday morning. I am seriously exhausted… so it’s not optimal timing that I’m writing this from Dulles. Why? I was invited to moderate a panel at the Connected Conference in Paris later this week (and on the side, meet a bunch of French startups the government wants to show off). I haven’t been to my family’s one-time expat home in 25 years, so this would have been difficult to turn down. But I did think about that.

5/16/2016: Beyond Television: Extending the Media Brand Across the Digital Forever, INTX

I moderated this discussion with BET’s Kay Madati, Fusion’s Jigar Mehta and Scripps Networks Interactive’s Vikki Neil about how cable networks are trying to connect with current and potential fans outside the big screen. I may be a cord cutter, but I do have one of Alton Brown’s cookbooks and I often turn to Fusion’s tech coverage, so I guess I’m an example of successful beyond-television marketing.

5/17/2016: What to Expect from Google I/O 2016, Consumer Reports

My debut piece for CR (no subscription required to read it) was a preview of Google I/O’s expected news that I think mostly holds up.

5/18/2016: Live at Google I/O, Jefferson Graham

Right after I picked up my press badge, I ran into Jefferson and a few other USAT pals, and he elected to do a Facebook Live stream on the spot.

5/18/2016: Cable operators are trying to fix the single biggest problem with their apps, Yahoo Finance

I wrote a reality-check piece about the cable industry’s “but we have apps!” response to the Federal Communications Commission’s “unlock the box” proceeding. The cable operator that now seems most far along in providing TV apps that can take a cable box’s place without compromising on major features? Comcast.

5/18/2016: Google just made it clear that it’s trying to catch up in 3 big areas, Yahoo Finance

This recap of the keynote that opened up I/O disappeared sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon due to a publishing glitch nobody noticed at the time. Sorry for the mess!

5/19/2016: Google just revealed it’s ‘bringing the Play Store to Chromebooks’, Yahoo Finance

The news that Chrome OS laptops and desktops shipped in the last two years will get a free update opening them up to the Play Store’s catalogue of 1.5 million Android apps may have been the biggest consumer news out of I/O.

5/20/2016: Google: 3 steps you should take now to secure yourself online, Yahoo Finance

Like at last year’s I/O, Google’s security chief Stephan Somogyi gave a great presentation about the state of security that I judged worth a writeup.

5/22/2016: 6 big changes coming to Android phones, USA Today

My last I/O post broke down the changes coming to the next major Android release. I wound up finishing it on my Android phone–an excruciating experience–after my laptop ran out of battery on Caltrain on the way into San Francisco.

#android #AndroidN #BET #cableBoxes #chromeOs #chromebook #Comcast #encryption #Fusion #GoogleIO #INTX #Scripps #security #unlockTheBox

Rob Pegoraro

2015-11-14 15:31:02

Je t’aime, Paris

Lesser-known fact about me: For one happy summer in 1990, I qualified as a part-time Parisian. I owed that to my dad, who had first lucked into a transfer to his employer’s Paris office and then–nepotism at its finest!–arranged a summer job for me there.

Each morning, I’d board the train in the suburb of Louveciennes, transfer to the RER, escape from the subterranean, odorous archipelago of the Châtelet – les Halles station, and enjoy a short walk to Dad’s office. I’d plug away at building out a database, then take a long lunch break and explore the city.

I’d come back, immerse myself in Paradox for another few hours and then head home. I felt like I’d won an occupational lottery on top of the life-lottery victory of my parents’ move to France in 1989 and my subsequent spring, summer and winter breaks there.

The two and a half years my family spent around France’s capital before returning to the States in 1991 gave me the chance to know the city beyond bucket-list tourist attractions: the sculpture garden of modern architecture that is La Défense; quiet, tree-lined streets in the inner arrondissements; the roof of the old opera building that a friend and I somehow made our way to after ditching a tour.

This time also left me with an enduring fondness for baguettes, croissants, Camembert, crêpes, Côtes du Rhône, steak frites, duck breast, any other entrée done up with a pan sauce, and Calvados.

And it taught me to speak French well enough that Parisians stopped automatically replying in English. (I had an unfair advantage at Georgetown’s foreign-language proficiency exam: When my examiner handed me a Le Monde story and asked me to discuss it, I realized I’d read that piece a week before while spending Easter with my family.) That fluency has faded, but I still enjoy dusting off my rusty French to help a visitor like the gentleman at the Walmart near Union Station who needed a prepaid SIM card for his phone.

I wish I were writing this out of idle nostalgia. But I’m not. The city I adored 25 years ago fell victim to a series of monstrous crimes Friday night, apparently committed by the same craven death cult that has murdered thousands more across the Middle East and has no right to call itself “Islamic” or even “human.”

There is nothing I can do to reverse that. But I can say this much after almost a quarter-century apart: Paris, it’s been so long since last we met, but I will return. That’s a promise.

#expat #France #ISIL #Isis #Paris #ParisAttacks

What dishes have the best effort-to-result ratio?

Rob Pegoraro's answer: Pan sauces. Take a chicken breast or a thin-cut pork chop, season it with salt and pepper, and sauté it in some butter or olive oil. You now have a serviceable but bland main course and no sides, plus a pan to scrub.

^Quora

Yes, there are many ways to install Linux on a Chromebook. In my humble opinion, this is the best way. Maybe you'll like it!

In today's thrilling episode of Veronica Explains, I'll introduce you to the Chrultrabook project, and the process of installing a more vanilla Coreboot on Chromebooks, overwriting the stock firmware, and to paraphrase the Coreboot docs, take the training wheels off of your Chromebook.

Then we'll install lots of Linuxes and a few other things!

Veronica Explains wouldn't be possible without your support. Monthly sustainers get extra perks like a weekly newsletter and a positive community. More perks being added regularly, so come check it out!

• patreon.com/VeronicaExplains
• ko-fi.com/VeronicaExplains

Links referenced in my video:

• Chrultrabook Docs: docs.chrultrabook.com
• Chrultrabook Forums: forum.chrultrabook.com
• MrChromebox script homepage: mrchromebox.tech
• Supported devices for this firmware: docs.chrultrabook.com/docs/fir…
• SuzyQable eBay listing which I found useful (not an affiliate link): ebay.com/itm/335130747039
• Debian Testing: debian.org/devel/debian-instal…

Chapters:
0:00 Why install Linux on a Chromebook?
1:34 Cautions, disclaimers, no warranty, YMMV, etc
2:46 My Linux Chromebook: a Thinkpad C13 Yoga
3:23 Introducing Chrultrabook and the MrChromebox scripts
4:36 Determining your Chromebook architecture with crosh
5:13 Putting your Chromebook in Developer Mode
6:17 ChromeOS' VT-2 terminal vs crosh
7:00 Choosing replacement Chromebook firmware: RW_LEGACY or UEFI Full ROM
8:43 Disabling write protect features on a Chromebook
9:58 Running the MrChromebox firmware utility script
13:20 Installing (almost) every Linux on my modified Chromebook (and a few other OSes)
15:42 The saga of installing Debian on my Chromebook
18:39 The Chrultrabook community: an awesome resource

#Linux #chromeos #chromebook

ah, makes sense. That's why I use Linux personally (for decades now). None of that AI stuff, unless you purposefully install it. IMHO Windows is great for gaming (tho many of my titles run on Linux now. Yay!), and in the enterprise of course (where I get my paycheck lol), and that's it.

Something to keep in mind, W10 hits EOL this October, so it won't be patched further after then. #APT groups will increase attacks using #0days once MSFT ceases official support exponentially.

You can still disable #Copilot in the registry of W11 24H3 (Pro and Enterprise SKUs, not Home as far as I can find). Not sure how long that will last though as #MSFT pushes hard to further integrate AI in everything they offer. At least on the Enterprise side they give us #sysadmins control over a lot of that. Consumers have much less control. It's either you embrace it, or change to a different platform.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), Linux is the only non-AI embedded OS left that I'm aware of. The next release of #macOS has #AppleIntelligence built in, #iOS 18.0 and later has it baked in, the latest release of #ChromeOS for Enterprise has #Gemini baked in, and #Android13 has #Gemini baked in on supported devices. As you know, W10 has Copilot optional with supporting hardware, W11 is baked in but can be toggled off. W12 will be a fully AI-OS.

Even still, if you're running any of the latest #IntelUltra processors, they have AI built-in at the hardware level. The new #AMDRyzen processors are doing the same.

I decided to embrace the AI evolution rather than fight it. I use my knowledge and skills to protect myself, my family, and my company as much as is possible, and keep abreast of developments in the sector...I also use AI for #cyberdefense. Only way to keep up with the threat landscape anymore.

For now, I still have control of my bubble lol, and that's about all I can do anymore, short of going completely dark. Not quite there yet lol.