Tag: Google Drive

Chuck Spalliero on ChromeBooks

+Stephen Glasskeys provides some level-headed commentary on the by Ben Llyod (plus.google.com)

+Stephen Glasskeys provides some level-headed commentary on the "Chromebooks in enterprise" hype and rightly highlights some of the major problems with ... - Ben Lloyd (Tech Copywriter) - Google+

+Ian Ray "Google makes nothing on Chromebooks". And therein lies the entire problem with the Google ecosystem. They are not a technology company. They are an advertising and marketing company. They exist and their entire business/revenue model is to sell you to their true customers, other businesses that are pining to learn more about you for their own marketing purposes. This is my issue with everything happening in IT today and the whole "free love" culture we're falling into. Most any service or product that you get "free" has an underlying cost to it. Not to say there isn't some very good, altruistic freeware out there, but for the most part that freeware is made by hobbyists who have no interest in financial gain. While I have issues with Microsoft and some of their licensing practices, at least I always knew what I was actually paying for utilizing their products. I felt that my privacy was not at stake and their interest was in providing me with a product that met my needs without compromising my privacy. The business and revenue model with much of the cloud and mobile revolution is centred around advertising and backdoor marketing. So here's an example, granted of what is now considered legacy media, but regardless: When I watch TV, if I don't care to watch/hear the advertising and BS I simply change the channel, turn down the volume, leave the room or just turn the dang thing off. In today's world and devices, I don't really have any of those options other than to turn the dang thing off. I don't like not having many options or having my privacy taken and therefore that is why I am opposed to much of what's happening in the cloud-centric and mobile world we are becoming. Not to mention that having our purchasing and many other decisions made for us through this technology impedes our ability to think for ourselves and make our own decisions?Chuck Spalliero via Google+

While Google does received some income from Chromebooks I understand Chuck's sentiments. It seems that tech culture has become addicted to FREE (as in FREE beer) and willing to prostitute their privacy.

My goal by the end of the year is to rid myself of every Google account except for my Google+. I'm moving my email ( I've had Gmail since 2004 so it will take a while), already moved my calendar and contacts, deleted my YouTube account, emptied my Google Drive, and removed Google Analytics from every web site I own1.

Check out ownCloud.org for a way to build your own personal cloud.

  1. I'm using a paid Feedpress.it account with bit.ly. ↩

Anyone else having OS X 10.9 issues?

I’m not having a good experience with Mavericks on my 2008 iMac. I think the upgrade messed up my keychain in some way. Mail, Contacts and Calendar (my Google account) no longer sync — I’m constantly prompted to enter passwords over and over again. Removing the account and adding them back doesn't resolve the issue. Since my contacts and calendar are hosted by Google I don’t have access to them locally.

Facebook, Twitter, Flickr integration are also not working. I've removed them from the "Internet Accounts" panel in System Settings but the system won't let me add them back.

The iCloud Keychain won’t activate at all. I get an error message that my Mac failed to contact the iCloud server. Sigh!

What's annoying is that everything works fine from my wife's 2013 MacBook Air. I don't have any problems using any of the new features from my account on that MacBook.

In the mean time, I have switched to using AirMail and I may also switch my contact over to Cobook. AirMail takes a while to start-up but once it gets going it does a great job. I especially like that I can attach documents directly from cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Cobook also has an iOS version. I like that close integration.

Anyone else having OS X 10.9 issues?

Google Drive

Google drive cloud to rain on Apple, Dropbox parade

Never one to miss out on an up-and-coming tech trend, Google is all set to launch its very own cloud storage service, competing with the likes of Dropbox, Microsoft and Apple.

People familiar with the matter were unable to keep schtum and spilt to the Wall Street Journal (paywall), telling it that the Chocolate Factory's new service Drive was getting ready to burst on the scene with online storage for files that can be accessed from any device with a Wi-Fi connection.

I thought this was mostly a rumor. I already pay Google for extra storage for Picasa, Google Docs. I would be excited to have direct access to that from my desktop.

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