Excellent comment, and I'm a fan of most of what Google does, as well.
But I cannot support Chromebooks with my consumer dollars. (Nor do I like their self-driving car project.) My fiance and I are both in IT security.
The way we see it is- if your PC data is stored "in the cloud" instead of on discs YOU own and control, you're vulnerable in many ways.
Network connectivity goes down for a period of time? Can't do your word processing! Ectetera, etcetera.
I use all kinds of Google web services (including Gmail and Google Docs). I sometimes develop websites for clients that are hosted on third party web servers. I integrate Dropbox with every device I own, and I love it.
But my local discs sync with Dropbox as much and as often as they can. And I would never put something I don't want people to see (pirated media, "sexy" photos of myself, etc.) into my Dropbox folder.
I use "cloud services" but I always back up my content to discs I OWN and CONTROL, and my private stuff never sees the Internet. If something is on a web server you don't own, always assume other people (even if only employees of the company that owns the web server) can see it.
And if network connectivity fails, even if only briefly, it shouldn't be able to stop you from accessing your everyday PC data and engaging in activities that shouldn't have to have Internet access to work.
Noooo... I'd never buy a Chromebook. And I normally love Google and I'm definitely a Linux geek.
I have a rare brain condition, an arachnoid cyst, which is a type of non-cancerous brain tumour I was born with. It's between the parietal and occipital lobes in my left hemisphere, larger than a chicken egg.
My neurophysiology is quite peculiar, and I have traits of hyperlexia and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder. The neuroscience team who are working with me have a lot of testing to do, but I'm certain my cognitive strengths, as well as my cognitive weaknesses, are partially to due with my cyst. It's considered to be congential brain damage.
Interestingly, my fiance (a rather brilliant computer scientist) has acquired brain damage from a car accident, and from the time he fell down a flight of stars and broke his neck and bruised the rear of his brain.
"The late Apple chief executive Steve Jobs famously decreed he would go "thermonuclear" to stop Google's Android from allegedly ripping off Apple's products, conveniently forgetting the many instances of Apple "borrowing" from others' IP at Xerox PARC and elsewhere."
Did you know at least one other corporation had a trademark for the name iPhone before Apple announced their choice of product name in 2007?
Considering what patent trolls Apple is, and considering Brazil is a sizable market for smartphones and computer equipment, this is a tiny bit of karma, as far as I'm concerned.
BTW, Xerox has yet to see money for inventing the OS GUI and the modern mouse.
1. M$ has been trying to sabotage GNU/Linux for at least the past 20 years. "Secureboot" on Windows 8 OEM UEFI is just the most recent attempt.
2. Why should I pay over $120/year ($10/month) for a subscription to an application suite that has all of its GOOD features replicated in LibreOffice, with a shitty UI and all that DRM on top of it?!
P.S. If you try to tell me that Ubuntu, Red Hat, etc. have been working on "Secureboot" fixes, that's irrelevant. The fact that they had to come up with fixes in the first place is horrendous. And now when I buy new socket LGA 1155, 1156 or Xeon mobos, I have to ask if "Secureboot" is on it if it has UEFI BIOS.
Go Daddy is the last company on Earth I would register a domain with, or order ANY services at all.
And we should all remember their position on SOPA. But even before then, they were a crappy company, with lousy service and lousy security, and actively fighting against our digital freedoms.
I stand out a little bit, because although I'm a "Valley-type techie", I'm also a woman with purple hair. Being a woman in tech has its pros and cons.
The Silicon Valley I'M based out of is what some in the tech media refer to as "Silicon Valley North"- Toronto. (I also live near downtown, but that's irrelevant.)
I was a computer whiz ever since I was a very young girl. By the time I was 11, it was 1995 and I just got into web development, as a self-taught hobby. (There, I just dated myself.)
I didn't even consider a career in tech until I was already in my mid-20s. Why? I theorize that being female (girls aren't encouraged to get into computing as much as boys are) was a minor reason, but being told by teachers in the public school system for years that you have to be EXCELLENT at math to get into computing professionally is the main one. I'm not bad at math, but I thought I was when I was a kid. I blame former Ontario premier Mike Harris. In the 1990s, he really fucked up the school system. One of the policy/curriculum changes he and John Snobelen orchestrated was "show your work" in math. As soon as arithmetic and algebra get more complex, I use different techniques to solve problems than the mainstream ones in textbooks. For example, I don't do long division. I look at a division problem, figure out what the largest "X times Y" is that fits into the number I'm dividing, and I work back and forth from there. I can even get a decimal answer correct down to the first few places (3.451, for example), just give me enough time with a pencil and paper.
The way my brain is wired, you can try teaching me long division thousands of times, but my math work in practice will always be with the methods that correlate with how my brain thinks about numbers.
Getting the correct answer without cheating wasn't enough in the Mike Harris curriculum. If, when you "show your work", you aren't using the method that's on the blackboard or in the textbook, you get NO MARKS. Therefore, even though I'm competent enough in math (I wrote my GED later on without studying and got a higher mark than 99% of the adult test takers in the province that year, plus I scored perfectly in the math battery), I thought I was a "dummy."
And since I was told by teachers over and over again that you have to be EXCELLENT in math to get into a career in computing, and those same teachers convinced me I was HORRIBLE at math... guess what?
But in my teens and into my 20s, I kept using computers constantly every day, and I carried on with my web development projects. Web design was only a "hobby" for me, after all.
I had lots of jobs in retail and in call centres. In my personal life, if someone's Windows machine had a problem, I fixed it for them. But I never considered a tech career until I was 25. Which doesn't sound too late, until you consider the people who started working in IT when they were 18.
Well, guess what? People who entered my life in my adulthood kept telling me that I'm "really good with computers."
I started developing websites for a few small businesses because people close to me saw the work I did as a "hobby." I also wrote my CompTIA A+ in my mid 20s and passed with flying colours.
I got into consumer remote Windows tech support (as a call centre employee) for a couple of years. My tickets were varied, but a full 60% of them or more were malware related. Thus began my fascination with not only malware, but IT security in general.
Word spread that I'm good at removing really nasty malware (rootkits that malware removal programs don't have signatures for, etc.), and hardening/securing Windows (which, as we all know, is not a very secure OS platform to begin with, even with the NT kernel and NTFS file system), Mac (more secure because of its Unix roots, but no software is perfect), and Linux (ditto). So I got a job writing about IT security for the InfoSec Institute! http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/author/kimcrawley
Not too long ago, I met a wonderful man, in a setting that had nothing to do with IT or development. His name is Sean Rooney, and we fell in love. It probably helped that, by an amazing series of coincidences, we have the same interests for the most part. It was an amazing coincidence that he's one of the top IT security people Canada has ever produced. He's contributed to the curriculum of the CompTIA Security+ and the CISSP, among others. He's contributed to Canada's laws regarding digital security and rights. He helped catch the notorious USENET "hacker" of the 80s and 90s, "Hipcrime". He's worked for the Canadian Military, Alcatel (public transit system controllers in big cities around the world), and the RCMP, among other big clients.
Sadly, although the old IT security he founded, Coldstream, was very successful for 14 years, a corrupt accountant and a corrupt bureaucrat brought the company down.
Now that we're together, we've relaunched his old company as our new one, Cyberia Labs. http://cyberialabs.coldstream.ca
We have some of the old Coldstream team members with us, including a top cryptogapher, Sandy Harris.
I'm working with computer scientists who can blow me away in many areas of IT and development. But interestingly enough, I'm quicker and better at Windows tech support than any of them, and that also includes Windows Server. I'm the only web developer on the team. So whereas Sandy speaks C++ and Perl, and Sean speaks Assembly languages, I'm the only one who speaks HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and PHP. I'm also an art school dropout. I've had a passion for visual art ever since I was a little girl, and I'm equally comfortable in analogue mediums and digital mediums. I was also a good art college student, but seeing my classmates live as starving artists for the most part, and realizing that my teachers would be starving artists if it weren't for their teaching jobs... discouraged me. But in a group full of techies, I'm the only artist, so I can make our website look nice, etc.
I also have had a bit of a career in soft journalism. My tech writing is for the InfoSec Institute, but if you Google my real name, Kim Crawley, you'll find some op-eds I wrote which were syndicated in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and other publications. I got the writing bug from my Dad, who is a rather successful novelist. So, I'm the only member of the Cyberia team who can write in "English" to a professional, readable standard. I've edited technical and scientific articles from many scientists and tech people. Their ideas are wonderful! Their content is amazing! But it's totally unreadable. If I had a penny for every time I had to turn a scientist's 500 word sentence into several paragraphs...
So you see, dmor, even though I'm a "techie" and I'm the co-founder of a tech startup (we already have clients!), my non-tech skills- art, creative writing, my ability to translate "techie speak" into language end users understand, and my instinct for marketing, make me vital to our team.
Although I really dislike Steve Jobs (his walled garden system for Apple products, and the way he's abused his subordinates over the years), no one can argue that he had a natural talent for marketing.
In THAT sense only, I see myself as Cyberia's "Steve Jobs" to my fiance Sean's "Steve Wozniak". I'm technically inclined enough to "fit-in" in Silicon Valley, but Sean is the one with the patents and white papers. (Sandy has patents too, and it's all very important IT security related technology.) But I'm the "pretty" one (not that Jobs was "pretty", but you know what I mean), and I'm the one who can market, make things look stylish and artistic, and sell our business to people who aren't "nerds."
I figure, dmor, a lot of the people here on HN have non-tech skills and talents that help them in their tech careers. And getting good at those non-tech skills would be impossible if there wasn't some non-tech in their backgrounds or experience.
Sean and I are co-founders of an IT security startup, Cyberia Labs: http://cyberialabs.coldstream.ca
Sean has 25 experience doing IT security work for Alcatel, the Canadian Military, and Sears, among others. As far as blackhats go, he was instrumental in helping the FBI catch "Hipcrime" (Google it).
As far as whitehats go, we ARE whitehats. We've got the patents, years of 2600 magazine issues, and http://hacklab.to memberships to prove it. ;)
My dad is also a screenwriter, newbee40, so we'd be glad to help you make your character seem authentic. Visit our website, send me an inquiry via the web form on our website, and we'll see if we can arrange something.
Warmly,
Kim
I know how you feel, diggan. Go to my startup's About Us section on our website (which I develop! http://cyberialabs.coldstream.ca ) and read my bio (my IRL name is Kimberly Crawley).
I have a mere CompTIA A+, but like you, I have a self-taught web development background (since 1995, age 11).
I've done some consumer tech support (Windows, x86 hardware). But it was really tough for me to get my tech support job (it was before I got my A+, even!), where we weren't paid much and treated like crap.
Now, my only real employment is in my co-founded IT security/data centre startup. We got our first client (few days ago) but our business has yet to have revenue (we're getting there pretty soon, first client).
In addition to everything else, I'm a woman. One who looks even more feminine than average. I've got to fight tooth-and-nail to be taken seriously in this "boy's club" industry.
At least my fiance and co-founder is a Computer Scientist (who, even with his amazing IT security career, including working for the military and international public transit systems, and contributing to data security laws here in Canada), finds it tough to make money these days, hence our startup.
I'd gladly take you on, especially if you have some skills outside of web development, and you can remote into our work in Toronto, Canada and South Africa.
We could pay you once we start making SOME money... I'd have to learn more about you though, honesty.
Sean Rooney, I (Kimberly Crawley) and Mike Kaulbach are partners in this new business venture.
Sean Rooney has over 25 years of experience as an IT security scientist who has contributed to the curriculum for the CISSP and the CompTIA Security . He ran a successful IT security firm (Coldstream Associates) for nearly 15 years, with clients such as Alcatel, Sears Canada, and the Canadian government. He also owns three patents for firewalls.
I am an experienced web developer, tech support agent and SEO/marketing guru.
Mike Kaulbach has years of experience running data centres and working as a sysadmin.
We already have a server room on Bay Street in downtown Toronto.
Mike already has companies who are interested in using data centre/cloud services.
Sean has business contacts who are interested in IT security auditing, penetration testing and digital forensics services.
We have a few Linux based servers connected to a high bandwidth and heavily secured network.
We're combining our talents and business contacts for our start-up, Cyberia Technical Security Workshoppe.
Feel free to research Sean and Mike's work history and credentials.
With enough funding, we can buy new equipment (rackmount servers, networking infrastructure, thousands of terabytes of disk, etc.) and spend money on promoting our business to attract new clientele.
We'll be offering a combination of IT security services (pen testing, security auditing, data recovery, network hardening and digital forensics) and data centre services (web hosting and remote databases).
We can also use funds to market Sean's firewall patents to tech firms such as Cisco, Alcatel, and MTS Allstream.
If you can't help us financially (even with $10), please help us out with two minutes of your time by promoting us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
Sean Rooney, I (Kimberly Crawley) and Mike Kaulbach are partners in this new business venture.
Sean Rooney has over 25 years of experience as an IT security scientist who has contributed to the curriculum for the CISSP and the CompTIA Security . He ran a successful IT security firm (Coldstream Associates) for nearly 15 years, with clients such as Alcatel, Sears Canada, and the Canadian government. He also owns three patents for firewalls.
I am an experienced web developer, tech support agent and SEO/marketing guru.
Mike Kaulbach has years of experience running data centres and working as a sysadmin.
We already have a server room on Bay Street in downtown Toronto.
Mike already has companies who are interested in using data centre/cloud services.
Sean has business contacts who are interested in IT security auditing, penetration testing and digital forensics services.
We have a few Linux based servers connected to a high bandwidth and heavily secured network.
We're combining our talents and business contacts for our start-up, Cyberia Technical Security Workshoppe.
Feel free to research Sean and Mike's work history and credentials.
With enough funding, we can buy new equipment (rackmount servers, networking infrastructure, thousands of terabytes of disk, etc.) and spend money on promoting our business to attract new clientele.
We'll be offering a combination of IT security services (pen testing, security auditing, data recovery, network hardening and digital forensics) and data centre services (web hosting and remote databases).
We can also use funds to market Sean's firewall patents to tech firms such as Cisco, Alcatel, and MTS Allstream.
If you can't help us financially (even with $10), please help us out with two minutes of your time by promoting us on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.
I like ChilledLime. I signed up. BTW, I run a start up that offers web development, web hosting, IT security, and data centre services. We have a big ass server room in downtown Toronto. Could we help each other out (promotion, crosslinking, etc.)? http://cyberialabs.coldstream.ca
I hope, despite the number of Apple fanboys on HN, that you enjoyed my article. I hope many more articles from Liberbyte, the tech blog I share with Pawel K., get upvoted in the future. We differentiate Liberbyte from most other sources of tech news by explaining open source and digital rights to people of all walks of life, n00bs included. Pawel in particular is a gifted hacker, I'm more of an IT person with an interest in journalism. Pleased to meet you all, my name IRL is Kimberly Crawley.
But I cannot support Chromebooks with my consumer dollars. (Nor do I like their self-driving car project.) My fiance and I are both in IT security.
The way we see it is- if your PC data is stored "in the cloud" instead of on discs YOU own and control, you're vulnerable in many ways.
Network connectivity goes down for a period of time? Can't do your word processing! Ectetera, etcetera.
I use all kinds of Google web services (including Gmail and Google Docs). I sometimes develop websites for clients that are hosted on third party web servers. I integrate Dropbox with every device I own, and I love it.
But my local discs sync with Dropbox as much and as often as they can. And I would never put something I don't want people to see (pirated media, "sexy" photos of myself, etc.) into my Dropbox folder.
I use "cloud services" but I always back up my content to discs I OWN and CONTROL, and my private stuff never sees the Internet. If something is on a web server you don't own, always assume other people (even if only employees of the company that owns the web server) can see it.
And if network connectivity fails, even if only briefly, it shouldn't be able to stop you from accessing your everyday PC data and engaging in activities that shouldn't have to have Internet access to work.
Noooo... I'd never buy a Chromebook. And I normally love Google and I'm definitely a Linux geek.