Google’s ‘Password-Killing’ Campaign

May 6, 2013 by 3 Comments

Google LogoGuest author: Brian Kane
Brian is a computer science nerd who loves to write about new programs that are compatible with Linux machines.

Internet behemoth, Google is putting plans in motion to change the way we access our personal pages online. Rather than memorize which email account uses your childhood address as the password, or which website requires you to type in the name of your favorite pet, Google wants you to access your Google accounts on your mobile device, tablet, laptop and desktop with the tap of a unique “finger ring,” says BGR.com’s Brad Reed. Thus marking the beginning of Google’s “password-killing” campaign.

Boosting Security

Google is one of countless websites that have modified password security with a two-step verification process. This process may require you to enter one password online while the website texts you an additional OTP (one time password). RTTNews.com says the combination of these two steps should make hacking into an account impossible.

The need for this extra layer of security became apparent last year when numerous agencies and corporations, like LinkedIn and Verizon, reported security breaches in their system because of hacked accounts.

Hundreds if not thousands of incidents like these have underlined the need for increased online security. According to Wired.com, Google executives Grosse and Upadhyay have even announced that they feel passwords and cookies are no longer enough to keep user data safe.

Improving User Experience

Although the call to change how passwords work is based on security concerns; part of the movement is attributed to making account access more user-friendly. A magic ring or a one-stop authentication device lets consumers sign into their Google accounts by tapping their finger against their desktop or mobile device.

In a paper published by IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, Google’s engineers have outlined how they anticipate this product to work. According to RTTNews.com Google is creating a Yubico cryptographic card that can slide into a USB port that will automatically log users into their protected Google accounts.

Will Passwords Become a Thing of the Past?

Google has already tweaked their Chrome Browser to ensure that it will work with such a device, but there is still more work to do before a one-stop authentication device will become the norm. Websites that are comfortable using the conventional password to protect user data may be the biggest hurdle during this process. Once these other websites realize the potential in killing passwords, they may hop on the anti-password bandwagon.

Although these changes have been designed to improve the user’s experience, they also underscore the transparency of online data. With so much data freely available, it is critical for users to consider their online reputation as well as their online safety. “People need to control their online search results,” states Reputation.com, an agency that helps improve the online reputation of its clients.

When asked whether or not change is imminent, Google’s response is hopeful. They acknowledge that others have tried and failed in similar endeavors, but they maintain that they are eager to test their idea and move forward.

photo credit: FindYourSearch

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7 reasons to love the Nexus 7

March 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Google Nexus 7Another round in the battle of the tablets, Nexus 7 and iPad Mini go head to head to take over the tablet market. Nexus 7 is a keen contender for the prize, despite the domination of iPad in the past. We’ve compiled a list of reasons why, we think, everyone should give Nexus 7 a try.

Open Source App store
Apple are notoriously fussy with what does and doesn’t make it onto the App Store, however, Android have created a software developer’s playground with the Google Play Store. Designers can bring to the market pretty much whatever they want, and can update, tweak and develop until their heart’s content. Meaning, as a user, you get the very best of the good, the bad and the downright weird Apps available.

Portability
It’s smaller, slimmer and lighter than other tablets, meaning it’s the perfect size for using whenever and wherever you please. It’s been likened to an all-powerful e-reader, a handy size which you can use comfortably in one hand, whilst simultaneously being a market leading tablet.

Quad core processor
The Nexus 7 boasts a Tegra 3 Quad core processor and Jelly Bean software; it’s sleek, smooth, fast and powerful –which completely floors the iPad.

Google integration
Whether you’re a Google lover or not, there’s a lot to be said for Nexus 7’s seamless integration of Google products, of course, it’s no less than you’d expect, but it is dreamy. All the Apps an average user would want are there straight out of the box, and Google developments and updates continue to make it effortless to sync all your technology and devices. The Nexus 7 is set to feature Google Now, a clever App which utilises all your current information, such as location and browsing history to compile a collection of things which might be of interest to you in the local area. Google has you covered, wherever you are.

Widgets, widgets, widgets
Most people who are proud of not owning an iPhone can contribute their attachment to their Smartphone to the widgets. Widgets are something which until you discover, you’ll never miss, or appreciate, however, once you’ve discovered the simplicity, personalisation and functionality of a widget, you’ll never go back. Widgets give you more of the App on the homescreen, you can use the App and levels of its functions without even going into the App itself. This is great on phones, and even better on tablets.

The price
Most of all, the price of a Nexus 7 blows the iPad out of the water. An Apple iPad Mini 32GB will cost you around £349, a 32GB Nexus 7 will cost you £199 – so, very little competition in terms of cost.

What do you think about the Nexus 7? Are our reasons enough to make you fall in love with it, or do you have a different preference? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

This is a guest post by Les Yates, on behalf of The Snugg. The Snugg offers a range of cases and covers for all leading Smartphones and tablets, including cases for the Nexus 7. Check out their entire range at thesnugg.com. 

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Google+: The New Digital Business Platform for Success

January 28, 2013 by

This is a guest post by Samantha Vick. Samantha maintains over 50 Twitter and Facebook accounts daily. She loves her job and loves helping companies to maximize their business through tech trends and cloud computing solutions.

Social media illustrationAn entrepreneur has to take advantage of every opportunity to promote their company to potential customers. They must have the ability to market to a constantly changing customer base in order to grow. The more people a company can reach, the more growth they will experience. It’s time to dive into Google+, one of the most powerful tools for small businesses today. Read on to find out more about Google+ and how to add it to your Internet arsenal.

What is Google+?

Google+ is the evolution of Google Places. Google Places was a listing for businesses that had basic information like location, hours, phone number and so on. Hosting companies, like MyHosting VPS hosting, should be able to keep up the Internet, even with a high volume of social media output.

By listing your business on Google Places, you ensure your business is accurately represented on the web and your business would appear in Google Search and Google Maps Searches.

How to Start the Process of Using Google+

To begin the process you will need to set up an account with Google+. The process of setting up an account is an easy process. Many of the fields are already filled in so it is easier to finish filling out the profile. You will want to be as detailed as possible about the aspects of your business so it will be picked up by the search engines.

You will also want to use words to describe your business that are descriptive to the services you provide. Be unique when describing your business, so it comes up on top when a search is performed. You will also want to link to other profiles so there are many ways to find your business on the Internet.

The Power of Google+

Google+ was developed by Google as a way to connect with the social media sector (in addition to competing with Facebook). Over 135 million users have signed up for Google+. While not all of them may be regular users, it is still a big potential market for businesses to access.

Networking has helped bring businesses closer to the social sector by linking them together. Your business can now be seen in the social sector, allowing people to become more familiar with your services. You can target people locally and still reach people in other countries.

Google+ also gives business owners access to reviews from real people who have used their services. Your business will be able to change and adapt by the recommendations given by customers.

Google+ Tools Specifically for Businesses: Circles and Hangouts

Google+ is for everyone, but some features are solely for business. One of those is limited visibility. When you create a post, you can now label it as “restricted” to limit the visibility to those inside your business and can’t be re-shared with anyone on the outside. Administrators can set up company-wide sharing defaults for posts and Hangouts. Hangouts are a form of video chats that enable both one-on-one chats and group chats with up to 10 people at a time. Users can now attach Hangouts to Google Calendar events; this enables attendees to join a Hangout directly from the Calendar entry or original invite.

Do you use Google+? Do you find it useful? Why not share your experience in the comments.

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ICO reopens Google Streetview case

June 13, 2012 by

Google Streetview CarI had intended to write about Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference today, but we’ll get to that later. Instead, the news that the UK’s Information Commissioner has decided to reopen a case against Google caught my eye.

You might remember that Google was caught out having “accidentally” gathered data from unsecured WiFi networks while their Streetview cars were mapping towns and cities. The Information Commissioner (ICO) got involved in that incident, but dropped the investigation after Google said only limited data had been gathered, and it wasn’t deliberate.

Since then, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded that the code designed to gather that additional data was deliberately written, and that the engineer who wrote it informed a senior manager about it. That engineer also gave the Streetview team a document detailing what work he had done on the project. The ICO has decided, in the light of the FCC report, that this no longer looks like a simple mistake. Rather, it looks like the data was gathered deliberately and with the knowledge of Google management.

The information that’s been gathered is also a bit hairy – IP addresses, full user names, telephone numbers, complete email messages, email headings, instant messages and their content, logins, medical listings and legal infractions, information relating to online dating and visits to pornographic sites, and data contained in video and audio files.

What next?

The ICO is asking Google to provide them with some information:

  1. What kind of personal and sensitive data was captured in the UK.
  2. At what point Google managers became aware of the type of data being gathered, and what was done to limit its collection.
  3. Why the sorts of data mentioned above weren’t included in a data sample given to the ICO.
  4. At what point the senior managers within Google knew what the data gathering code was doing.
  5. Copies of the original design document for the data gathering software, along with any subsequent updates.
  6. An outline of the privacy concerns identified by Google managers once they knew about this practice, and what decisions were made to either continue or terminate it.
  7. What measures were introduced to prevent breaches of the Data Protection Act.
  8. A certificate of destruction relating to the captured data.

Google have said they are happy to answer the ICO’s questions, but I would guess that some will be wondering whether those questions will be answered truthfully.

What do you think?

This one just doesn’t seem to be going away. What do you think about it all? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments.

[source: ZDNet]

Post image by FanIntoFlames – used under Creative Commons License.

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Google doodle celebrates Robert Moog

May 23, 2012 by

Moog Synthesiser Google Doodle

It’s Robert Moog’s birthday! Who’s Robert Moog? He was the founder of Moog Music, and inventor of the Moog analog synthesiser. Moog synths are something of a revered item in the electronic music world… somewhat like a vintage Les Paul guitar or a Steinway piano are in their respective fields.

If you want to have a bit of synthesiser fun, check out today’s Google doodle – a fully functional HTML5 synth. You can record, play back, and muck about with the settings to change the sound.

If you want more Moog goodness, and have an iPhone, check out Animoog for iPhone.

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Why You’ll Be Able To Ditch Your Credit Card for Your Phone

March 5, 2012 by

Google WalletThis is a guest post by Andreas Nicolaides of MoneySupermarket.com.

As everything is becoming quicker and easier in this technically advanced day and age, it comes as no surprise that new developments will soon allow us to pay for purchases without actually having to open our wallets. Google is introducing the new Google Wallet, a virtual wallet that combines details of your payments and credit cards with special offers and discounts all together on your smart phone and online.

How does it work?

The idea behind Google Wallet is to have all your relevant card details safely stored in one place, your virtual wallet. That information is accessed via your mobile phone as and when you need it by using the special PayPass reader available at the check-out area of a shop. Simply pass your phone by the reader and your details will be transferred instantly and the payment made. It is quick and easy and means that all you need to take to the shop is your mobile phone.

The process works in a similar way online, offering an extra level of security when buying over the internet. When you buy online, just look for the Google Wallet symbol and you can make your purchase quickly and easily by simply signing into your Google account.

Is this really a safe way to pay?

For many people, the question of security is at the forefront of their minds. Google has said that the online wallet has been designed to be safe and offers many security features that current methods of payment don’t have. Before you start to use the technology, you will be asked to set up your own PIN, which you will then need to enter before making a purchase, in the same way you use the PIN on your current credit cards.

All your personal details will be safely encrypted on a computer chip within your mobile phone, which Google call the Secure Element. This chip will only work with certain programs, so it can’t be accessed by any other rogue technology. The PayPass reader also uses its own encryption technology to make sure your details are protected from the minute they are sent from your phone.

In theory, this could be a fast and convenient way to make a payment and means you can keep all your information in one place instead of carrying various cards around with you. All you will need to do is enter your PIN before passing your phone across the reader machine.

One worry is what will happen if you were to lose your phone? According to Google, the layers of security surrounding your details means if someone were to find your phone, they wouldn’t be able to access your virtual wallet unless their knew your PIN. However, to be completely safe, it might be worth cancelling your credit cards regardless.

What do you think of Google Wallet? Is it the future of payments, or just one big security risk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

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Is Google in more hot water over privacy?

January 30, 2012 by

Google LogoI guess when information is your business, you’re going to come under close scrutiny for how you put that information to use. Google‘s business is information – gathering it, packaging it up, and making it available to users. When they were just indexing websites there wasn’t too much controversy, but with the arrival of products like Gmail, StreetView, Buzz and, latterly, Google+, the information they had on hand got much more personal. And people care about their personal information.

Google’s latest update to their privacy policy is designed to do away with the many, many policies they have and create one unified policy instead. Why? Well, imagine you get an email that reminds you to schedule a family get together, or to find that funny video to send to your sister. Google wants to be able to share information across all their products, like Gmail, Calendar, Search and YouTube to allow that sort of multi-system integration.

Or let’s say you constantly talk about Jaguar cars in Google+ and want to find out about the latest model in Google Search… Google hopes to better tailor your search results based on information in their other products – picking up the cars rather than the cats.

This combined policy is proving controversial, though, with various groups and individuals expressing concern. One of the major concerns is that the new policy is compulsory – if you want to keep using Google products you have to accept that your data will be shared between them.

My question is, is that so unusual? If a company updates their privacy policy, isn’t it normal that you should have to accept it to carry on using their services? Obviously this is a very large update, but I don’t see anything controversial about it being compulsory. Where it gets controversial is the potential for trying all those systems together creating situations where your information is unexpectedly exposed and, given Google’s prior form with privacy, I can understand people worrying about that.

What do you think about Google’s updated privacy policy? Should they have consulted with users, or is it fair enough to make the new policy compulsory? Is it a good idea to link all their products together to aid the flow of information? Or is that just too big a risk? I’m falling into the “fair enough” category, but I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. 

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The Battle for Web Dominance – Who will Win?

February 8, 2011 by

This is a guest post by Neil Jones who is head of marketing for eMobileScan, one of the UK’s leading Barcode Reader specialists.

The search engine wars, where engines fought for domination over their rivals, were only the warm up act for what is likely to take place this year. The undisputed champions of Search and social are inevitably going to lock horns sometime soon.

The ever increasing need to grow, expand and dominate is what is forcing these to internet behemoths to collide and if you haven’t already guessed, it’s Facebook and Google. Both reign supreme in their respective sectors but both want domination and whoever wins it is going to mean a big shift in how we interact with the web.

Let’s take Google first; A couple of years ago their position of power was unquestioned and barring the occasional uprising from either Yahoo or Bing, and then a combination of the two, Google had everything thing their own way. Google are great at a lot of what they do; their search results are usually pretty good, their email is great and Google maps are all an excellent addition to the internet. What they have not been good at is social media, but it’s not from a lack of trying. Wave and Buzz are all failed attempts to move into the social space. I’d say it’s safe to suggest that Google have failed in their attempts to move into social media.

And now for Facebook; The stats about Facebook are jaw dropping and it’s fair to say that they really have dominated in the social sphere. For instance Facebook is now the largest photo sharing site on the net. Before researching I had assumed Flickr was the dominant force here, but seemingly not and there are plenty of other similar examples in the social space where Facebook has crushed the competition.

The one thing that Facebook hasn’t tried yet is to move into the search engine space, but it’s only a matter of time. I believe that they are drawing the battle lines and here is how they are doing it. Going head to head with Google in the search engines would be a crazy so instead they plan to use social connections made by their members to connect the web, interlinking pages and sites with Facebook as the hub.

By building a set of buttons, widgets and plugins they are essentially letting their members spider the internet for them.  The first goal is to get as many sites as possible to add their set of buttons and the second is to get their members to share the links and click the “likes” button on these sites.

Presently, Facebook members share in excess of 1 million links in just 20 minutes. In that same timeframe nearly 8 million “likes” are generated, and on average 10k sites a day are adding Facebook’s widgets.

Facebook’s whole plan is based around building a semantic web and with those figures I think they are making a pretty decent start.

The first Sideswipes

Both companies have been trying to undermine each other’s power. The first blow came when Google tried to invest in Facebook only to miss out to Microsoft (Google’s oldest enemy). Facebook countered by continually trying to poach some of Google top execs. Google bought a considerable stake in Zynga who develop social games on the Facebook API and are one of the biggest spenders on the Facebook ad network. Google have also been buying stakes in some of the other companies that have risen to prominence through Facebook. Facebook, on the other hand, announced the launch of the Fcommerce platform where webshops can be launched directly on Facebook. Both sides are continually adjusting and adding new features but who will make the first real assault is still a little unclear.

It’s safe to say that there is no love lost between these two and I don’t think it will be long before we start to see the first real all-out assault on each other’s territory.

What do you think? Are Google and Facebook gearing up for an almighty web-war? Is there space for them both on the Internet, or are they intrinsically destined to fight for the same user base? We’d love to know your thoughts, so please tell us in the comments.

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More Google StreetView shenanigans

November 25, 2010 by

The Google StreetView soap opera just rolls on and on… In case you’ve missed the build-up, check out these two articles:

The BBC reported on Friday of last week that Google (UK) would be deleting the WiFi data accidentally gathered by their StreetView cars. The Information Commissioner seems happy with this and has stated that no further investigation will be required. Additionally, no fine will be levied against Google for the breach. Interestingly, though, the Information Commissioner’s Office has just imposed its first two fines against other organisations.

Things have taken a bit of a bizarre twist in Germany, though. Google was required to give people the opportunity to have their homes blurred on StreetView before the service went live, and almost a quarter of a million Germans asked for that to happen. So far so good, but some of the people of Essen who have requested their home to be blurred have experienced vandalism, including having eggs thrown at their homes and signs pinned to the door saying “Google’s Cool”. How strange…

So what will happen next in the Google StreetView drama? Will opposition to the service grow? Will pro-Google vigilantes hunt down dissenters worldwide, forcing them to live in safe-houses for their own protection? And when will Google discover that Facebook is having an affair with MySpace? Tune in next time to find out ;)

Post image by FanIntoFlames – used under Creative Commons License.

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Google hotpot tells you what’s hot in your area

November 17, 2010 by

Well, it seems to be quite the week for big companies making announcements. Facebook unveiled Project Titan, Apple announced that the Beatles are now available on iTunes, and Google has unveiled hotpot (yes, it’s meant to be a lower-case m).

Hotpot is a recommendation system that uses the things you like to recommend more. Say, for instance, you search for cafes in your town. You’ll get a list of businesses Google knows about and can submit ratings and reviews for any you’ve tried out. I rated one highly and next time I checked the page again there was a recommendation to try a restaurant based on my review.

OK, so that’s a very easy connection to make, but I would imagine that as the list of venues you’ve rated grows you will receive more frequent, and more accurate recommendations on other local attractions you might like.

Hotpot also includes a social element. Add your friends and you’ll see their recommendations… and they’ll see yours. This is great if your friends share similar interests to you, and assuming you have at least one friend with more eclectic tastes you might just discover something completely new.

I like these recommendation engines, but more out of interest than true discovery. For instance, when I’m thinking of where to eat in town, I’m more likely to go with something I’ve had before than search for recommendations online. Still, hotpot makes it easy to share what you’re interested in and there’s always the chance you’ll uncover a little-known gem.

Why not give hotpot a try and let us know what you think in the comments? Is it recommending stuff you’re actually interested in? Would you ever use something like this to discover new venues? Let us know your thoughts.

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