"google drive sync app,my cloud home" - Google News |
- Switching from MacBook to Chromebook: Is Chrome OS good enough? - Android Police
- Dispersed employees mean dispersed data - SecurityInfoWatch
- My life without Google. Is it possible? - The Startup - Medium
| Switching from MacBook to Chromebook: Is Chrome OS good enough? - Android Police Posted: 26 Apr 2020 08:19 AM PDT Article Contents In 2013, I bought my first Mac, a MacBook Air. It was a great machine that accompanied me on the go for seven years, but as you can imagine, it's been getting long in the tooth lately. I enjoy macOS and have grown accustomed to the platform over the years and decided to buy an iMac a year ago, but as someone who does little other than blogging on a laptop, I was interested in a more significant switch. Instead of going for a new MacBook for work on the go, I decided to try a Chromebook. After a long adjustment period, the experiment turned out to go surprisingly well, especially as I learned to work around the restraints of the machine. I could still never use a Chromebook as my primary machine, but that's not even what I want from a laptop these days. For some added context, here are the devices I'm throwing into the mix: I use a 27-inch iMac with 40GB of RAM and a 9th-gen 3.7GHz 6-core Intel Core i5 at home while my MacBook is running on 4GB of RAM and an aging 4th-gen dual-core Core i5. My new laptop/convertible is a 14-inch HP Chromebook x360 with 8GB of RAM and an 8th-gen dual-core Intel Core i3 (Taylor reviewed a similarly equipped variant here at Android Police).
Design and hardwareIt isn't fair to compare the build quality of a $1,000+ computer to one I got for about $500, but considering the price difference and the resulting compromises in design and material, the Chromebook holds up surprisingly well. That's mostly due to HP's excellent keyboard and the laptop's sturdy exterior — I've got my gripes with the weight, the dark screen with its 16:9 form factor (3:2 is best, don't @ me), and the hinge, which you have to open with two hands. The touchpad isn't too great, either. I tried to play with the settings, but I just couldn't find the perfect speed. I guess there's a reason MacBook trackpads are considered industry-leading. I also dearly miss the four-finger Mission Control gesture, but at least Chrome OS offers a keyboard replacement for it. On the other hand, the Chromebook's three-finger swipe gesture to switch between tabs is just perfect, so it's giving and taking. While I despise Google's decision to replace caps lock with a search icon instead of putting it in the Windows or command key's place, I do like having dedicated browsing buttons in the top row. After some time, I started remembering my go-to keyboard shortcuts like Search + shift + left/right to go to the end or beginning of a line. The screenshot combinations also came in handy once I memorized them.
The HP Chromebook x360 in tent mode. I had hoped I could use this flippable Chromebook as a tablet replacement, but I've found myself gravitating towards laptop mode most of the time, even when I'm consuming content. A 14-inch device is a tad too huge for a tablet, even with Google's latest improvements to touchscreen-only usage. At least tent mode is sleek and space-saving. It would be perfect for content consumption if it weren't for the speakers that sit on top of the keyboard. They're facing backward when the screen is flipped, which is far from ideal. The story will probably be different once we all can travel again, as I'd just connect my hearing aids or headphones to the machine then.
The touchscreen itself is more convenient than I thought it would be, coming from a MacBook. I love tapping icons on the taskbar to launch apps and websites, and sometimes just reaching up and tapping a few buttons in quick succession feels faster than using the touchpad. When I returned to my MacBook a few times, I even found myself trying to scroll and tap the screen. If you've ever run Chrome on macOS (or Windows, for that matter), you know how taxing Google's software is on battery life. On Chromebooks, that's not the case at all. Despite dozens of tabs and a multitude of windows, the machine keeps going. Things got more complicated once I started throwing Android and Linux apps into the mix, though — Chrome OS just isn't optimized for these. I felt like battery life got worse, though that's purely anecdotal, and others on the AP team don't think it's reduced. A performance hit still wouldn't be too surprising since the OS is running these in virtual machines, which translates to more work for the processor. This leads us right to the next section:k Learning to avoid Android and Linux appsApple allows developers to bring over their iOS apps to macOS via Catalyst. While many Mac fans complain about the feel and look of these apps, they run native code, recompiled for Apple's desktop OS thanks to some considerable amount of work on the app developers' side. The same can't be said about Android and Linux apps on Chrome OS. They're straight ports that require little to no adjustment from developers. That also means that both run in virtual machines, which causes additional strain on the processor and the battery, and it shows — both Linux and Android feels out of place on Chrome OS and can't fully access the file system. In the end, I started avoiding either as much as I could, which actually improved my experience on Chrome OS.
Left: 100% scaling. Right: 90% scaling. Zoom in and look at the text, you can tell the difference. Android apps, in particular, feel like second class citizens once you display size scaling. On my Chromebook's standard 100% 864 x 1536 scaling, apps look just as pristine as websites, but when you prefer using a less dense scaling like the native 1920 x 1080 at 80%, apps look fuzzy and text is harder to read. While I'm grateful that I can download Netflix and Amazon Prime shows on the Chromebook, both streaming services seem to limit video quality to SD on their Android apps, despite the HP x360 supporting Widevine L1 DRM protection. The ability to download some music on YouTube Music is outright great, though. I was pretty pumped to return to GIMP and LibreOffice after working with Pixelmator Pro and Microsoft Office on my Mac, but I just couldn't get used to the Linux limitations on my machine: programs were slow to start, files had to be imported to the Linux partition of the Chromebook, and touchscreen interactions were limited. Instead, I started working with Office Online and OneDrive for my Office needs and was positively surprised by the web app Photopea after finding my way around it. Thanks to Excel online, I also learned to love the Chromebook's full-screen interface, accessible via the button in place of F4. There are still some missing features: I can't print envelopes in Word, and links to files in Excel documents don't work in the online version, both of which I rely on regularly. I'd also love some more keyboard shortcuts in Photopea.
I don't like the tablet mode for most things, but script reading is great on it. The only exception to all of these rules is Foxit PDF. For my gig as a script reader, I couldn't find a PDF annotation solution with OneDrive integration outside of the Play Store, so I stuck with the excellent Android app despite the scaling and battery issues. Reading is also the only workflow where I fully embrace the tablet form factor offered by the Chromebook — it's just awesome to view a script page on a full-screen 14-inch display. Missing my macOS apps and utilitiesAfter finding solutions for my table, text, and image processing needs, I quickly noticed that I missed some of my favorite Mac utilities. The third-party Spotlight replacement Alfred supercharges my productivity and file finding game on the Mac, in addition to having a clipboard manager and a keywords expansion feature on board. I also use Clocker, which adds other time zones right to the Mac status bar. I've grown accustomed to some native Mac features, too: It's a bummer I can't batch-rename files on the Chromebook, and even fundamentals like cluttering my desktop with files and folders are impossible on Google's OS for some reason.
It's always good to know what time it is across the pond when you work for a US website. Over time, I found some alternatives to some of the tools. There's TextBlaze for keyword expansion, and Artem thankfully added up-to-date PST to our WordPress installation, mitigating my need to have it in the taskbar at all times. I also tried using Clipboard History Pro for clipboard management, but instead of getting used to the new shortcut, I've stopped using a tool like this altogether. There are things that I prefer on Chrome OS, though, like the task switching behavior on alt + tab that shuffles through all windows instead of applications like on macOS. In fact, I'm using Contexts on my Mac to make app switching feel more like it does on Windows and Linux. Before I started using OneDrive and Word in my browser, my biggest gripe with Chrome OS was actually the lack of third-party cloud service integration. I badly wanted a solution that would allow me to integrate OneDrive just like Google Drive. Over time, though, I got used to having access to my files in my browser only, and while I don't love it, it works fine enough — maybe I'll even switch back to Google Drive once my Office 365 subscription runs out, though that will lead to some compatibility problems with another gig outside of Android Police. Ecosystem integrationApart from Instant Tethering and the usual data saved to your Google account, I haven't gotten too much of an ecosystem advantage out of my switch to Chrome OS. Sure, I can use Google Drive to sync files across the two, and I could see my text messages on Messages' web interface if I didn't use Telegram, but that's also possible on other desktop OSs.
Android and Chrome OS don't work together too well. Compared to Apple's excellent ecosystem advantages when you use both macOS and iOS or even Microsoft's Your Phone app for Windows and Android symbiosis that keeps getting better and better, this is outright disappointing, but not really news to me — after all, I've always been using the mostly incompatible Android and macOS in tandem. VerdictI could break down the verdict into this sentence: Chrome OS is a great browser, but it isn't a great OS. My experience reminds me of the one I had on the iPad (pre-iOS 13, I should note). A lot of things are great for a specific set of purposes, but once I leave that comfort zone, I start running into issues that make me want to return to a proper desktop OS. On my Chromebook, the situation got better once I stopped trying to run Android and Linux apps and stuck with capable web apps as much as possible instead. However, I still miss my familiar, friction-free image editing software on the machine, and I'd love to see proper third-party cloud storage support.
I still think my Chromebook can have a valid spot in my workflow, just like my iPad used to be great for reading tons of texts during university. I must admit that it took long until the Chromebook grew on me, though — I can't say that about the iPad, which has always been fun and enjoyable to interact with, despite its limitations. That's my personal situation, though. I recognize that there are many people who need more than a browser or tablet to get their job done, and I know there's a big fraction who would be perfectly fine with a Chromebook since they just need something to check mails, shop Amazon, and surf the news on a familiar laptop form factor. For now, I'm going to stick with the Chromebook for my mobile needs, but I might still pick up a new MacBook in the long term. The latest Air looks intriguing, and I'm eagerly awaiting the rumored refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro with a scissor-switch keyboard. Those ARM rumors are intriguing, too. |
| Dispersed employees mean dispersed data - SecurityInfoWatch Posted: 05 May 2020 12:59 PM PDT  Employees around the world have recently been asked to work from home in response to COVID-19. While this isn't new for many — globally, 52% of employees work from home at least once every week — this new period of regular remote work represents uncharted territory for millions of staffers and thousands of organizations worldwide, spanning all industries. Remote work brings its specific challenges, ranging from finding an ideal workspace to ensuring communication between customers, prospects, vendors, and colleagues continues to remain fluid. But one of the largest obstacles associated with remote work is also one of the most overlooked — ensuring organizations understand the risk of dispersed data. For example, in order for an organization to stay in close communication with employees, it might host regular company-wide video conferences. During these virtual meetings, an executive might screen share sensitive information, such as future product roadmaps, sales figures, legal happenings and more. Many leaders trust their employees to not disclose this information, but is trust ever enough? What happens when a staffer screenshots or screen records this information and saves it to their personal drive on the cloud? While a harmless act, it presents a new unknown data vulnerability that can be exploited if not secured correctly. In another scenario, as sales professionals move prospects to clients, where are they storing proposals, signed contracts and other sensitive information needed during the onboarding process? Most will store materials in several locations, with some of the most common including within local "My Documents" folders; synced onto cloud storage folders; uploaded onto CRM systems; archived in "Sent Items" emails; re-downloaded onto a "My Downloads" folder; shared via internal chat apps, leading others to store it in other locations, as well. Just as much as the workforce is spread across the globe, so is the organization's data, now more than ever before. With the following best practices, your business can proactively create systems and policies to create a more secure remote work environment: Whose Device Is It, Anyway?When working remotely, it is important to begin by establishing a clear company position on device ownership, particularly as BYOD has only increased in the workplace over time. Generally, an organization will fall into one of three device ownership categories: ● All devices used are owned by the company ● All devices used are owned by the employee ● Some devices are owned by the company, while others are owned by the employee Complete device ownership by the company is the ideal scenario for most organizations, as it allows total control over all devices, which enables remote monitoring to validate any device is safe and secure for use. This poses the lowest risk. On the other hand, this option also comes at the highest cost, as it requires the company to maintain a laptop and proper security software for each staff member. Sometimes, an organization does not have a choice and employees are forced to use their own devices when working remotely. While this is a low-cost option and the deployment time is rather short, it also brings with it significant consequences. Working from employee-owned devices poses the highest security risk, as sensitive company data will inevitably be stored on non-company devices. This can also lead to potential privacy and compliance violations, which can lead a company to its end. Organizations that implement a hybrid approach, meaning a range of company-owned and employee-owned devices are used on the job, will face significant challenges. For one, IT teams lack the proper visibility to differentiate a "safe user" from a "rogue" one, and it creates internal confusion of how certain policies apply to each device. Furthermore, companies who want to fully eliminate personal device usage are challenged due to supply chain issues. Hardware deliveries continue to be delayed due to supply chain disruptions, meaning even if companies want to deploy managed, locked-down devices that are within the corporate standard, they're resorting to temporary measures -- the use of unmanaged employee devices -- to not disrupt productivity. Regardless of the devices, an organization is using, one thing remains a constant -- leadership must establish a clear company position. Employees either provide their own equipment or the company will provide it, without the murky waters of a hybrid approach. This will then allow the organization to shape proper security policies around the devices used, getting all staff on the same page. Set and Share the Security StandardJust as essential as a quiet workspace and strong internet connection is a security standard for remote employees to follow. As part of these guidelines, organizations should ensure remote employees have WPA2 encrypted WiFi. It's recommended to enable the Guest Network feature and move all non-essential devices (such as your smart fridge, television, streaming services and more) to that network. Keep the main network clean for business use. Next, if supplying a company-owned device, ensure only employees use the device. By giving family or roommates access, it increases the chances of visiting unsecure sites. Perhaps worse, if an organization employs corporate proxy logging, the employee needs to understand the company logs everything for security purposes - if a family member starts visiting non-productive websites, that is under the employee's log. Lastly, as part of the security standards for all employees, highlight that a device is an extension of the trusted company network. Do not use it to access personal storage, including portable drives, or copy personal media onto the device. Have all employees read the standards and sign off on them. Re-circulate the guidelines a minimum of once every quarter, so employees understand the importance of a secure approach to remote work. Do Not Forget About PrintersIt is important to factor personal printers within an organization's security standards. If there is a need to print out physical documents during remote work, the organization must consider the following in order to provide a policy and position on printing: ● Should the use of personal printers be permitted? ● Should staff move business documents to a personal computer to print it? Would this inadvertently violate the policy on handling personal data on non-work systems? ● Will there be any justified business need to consider this? ● If your corporate default is to lock down the device, how will you permit the setup of a personal printer via USB or network? There are multiple ways to address the challenge of printing, which are not mutually exclusive, including: ● Establish technical controls where practical. For example, both Google and Office365/Azure cloud platforms provide options to help limit printing and download of documents to reduce data leakage. ● Think about scenarios where printing is a genuine requirement, such as the signing of documents with original signatures. Ask: Can you mitigate this requirement? Can traditional paper-based users be trained to rely solely on on-screen document review? If not, what level of seniority or roles have a truly justified reason to print? Most importantly, regardless of the approach, ensure the organization's security policy clearly articulates the position on the printing of documents. Support this with clear training, and ensure refreshers are delivered for all remote staff covering key relevant risk areas, including printing, or saving of company data to local devices. Conduct Regular Workstation ScansOnce an organization defines which devices can be used, and proper security measures when working on them, it must also conduct regular housekeeping of the data stored across the workspaces. Regularly, and especially in today's remote work environment, take the time to conduct a data discovery sweep across servers, databases, workstations and in the cloud. Ensure sensitive data is being housed in a responsible, compliant manner, and that employees are not being negligent with those valuable assets. Now is also the appropriate time to re-assess an organization's existing data backup strategy, which has traditionally posed as a challenge for many organizations. Now is the time to ask: ● Will it continue to operate as is, or does it need to be changed to factor in the remote nature of work? ● If an employee loses valuable data or does not have a working device, how can they get back up and running in minimal time? ● Does the company have a default save to server / save to company cloud policy to limit data being saved on local devices? And does the company policy support this? ● Are remote devices regularly backed up? If not, or not possible to implement, what mitigating controls can be implemented to circumvent this risk? Typically, the best strategy is to eliminate or minimize the risk of data being saved on endpoint devices; however, this is often not impossible to avoid. This reinforces the need to monitor for sensitive data across all possible locations, including endpoints. By ensuring the spread of sensitive data is minimized, the associated risk of a data breach can be contained and mitigated. Right now, fast decisions are being made and these choices can have a lifelong impact on an organization. Do not let security risk posture fall off the list of priorities -- use the remote workforce as a means to make it stronger than ever before. About the Author: Stephen Cavey is a co-founder of Ground Labs, leading a global team empowering its customers to discover, identify and secure sensitive data across their organizations. As the Chief Evangelist, he leads its worldwide product development, sales and marketing and business operations and was instrumental in extending Ground Labs' presence with enterprise customers. Stephen has deep security domain expertise with a focus on electronic payments and data security compliance. He is a frequent speaker at industry events on topics related to data security, risk mitigation and cybersecurity trends and futures. He started Ground Labs after holding engineering and leadership positions at Paycorp Holdings (now part of MYOB), a provider of integrated electronic payments solutions and Webpay, a payment services provider later acquired by Fidelity. |
| My life without Google. Is it possible? - The Startup - Medium Posted: 03 May 2020 12:20 PM PDT My conclusionsIn conclusion, I think that living completely without Google is very difficult. On the one hand, this company offers really excellent, powerful and easy-to-use products and services. They have made the Internet the focus of their work, so everything is optimized for sharing and access from any device. In addition, Google products are widely used by everyone, even companies. So you are often forced to work with these tools to collaborate with other people. However, you can take some precautions to better protect your privacy when using the services of this company. When you subscribe to a service, it is good practice to always spend a few minutes browsing through the settings and choosing the most suitable ones. From your Google account settings you can deactivate many entries, such as browsing history or location history. You can also deactivate the Google Assistant, so that there is no microphone listening to everything you say. It may seem paranoid, all this control over your privacy. Many may not be interested, they may argue that they have nothing to hide. Someone once said:
Our privacy is more than that: it is a matter of dignity and human rights. We have the right, when we do a search, to see all the same results, but with Google this does not happen. Everyone receives personalized results, which are manipulated especially for us. We have the right to use a search engine to find answers, not to find what we want to hear. |
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