Google removes 5 million file creation cap for Drive after backlash

I didn't report on when they implamented because I was curious as to what the impact was going to be. 

First, who is storing that many files to Google Drive? That number is pretty crazy. But on April 4th we see that Google is changing its mind and is rolling this limit back. They stated that the limits were put in place "to preserve stability and optimize performance". That actually made sense to me. I can't imagine the impact of that many files on their system.

I don't disagree with their intent but their lack of communication about the inital implementation wasn't done very well. Hopefully when they approach this again with whatever new approach they are going to use they will do so with a little more information in advance.

YouTubeTV Price Increase

Having made the leap to cutting the cord a couple of years ago, I still don't regret the move.

We have seen price increases across the board now with most of the services, so it seems like a great time to reevaluate all the services that we are using, and maybe, not using.

I have acquired quite a few online digital services for my online entertainment content. I listen to quite a few audio books and I was quite lucky to be able to take advantage of my early membership with Audible to have latch on to the 5 credit per month at the 2 credit price. They don't even offer more than 2 credits anymore! This kind of membership allows me to quickly take on a new author's book series and consume it. This is not even on the table.

We also have the Kindle Unlimited service. This is probably one that we could dial back on but my wife is starting to better understand that service. So it is another one that for now we will keep but watch if it continues to be something we take advantage of.

Now back to what originally started this article! YouTubeTV. It is my core TV service so it has to stay in as well as the 4K option. With the increase in the primary and the decrease in the 4k I still have a net $2.00's savings. This is a no brainer. However, we have Hallmark Movies and I think this is going to go. my wife just like gave me confirmation. This service will be terminated. Sorry Hallmark!

Amazon Prime has to be a keeper as well. It has a couple of series that I enjoy and the other benefits of service makes it a service to keep as well.

Hulu is a strange one that we don't visit much. With YouTubeTV giving us the opportunity to record anything with unlimited storage, why would we? That is another expense that I’m having a hard time justifying.

Netflix we use a lot for comedy specials and of course movie's so I am pretty much stuck there.

Peacock is another example where special content makes you come back.

Acorn has become our go to service for our favorite TV series to watch. We just love British shows and believe it or not, this is the least expensive of all of the services. I have to keep this one, too.

Add them all up and I really still feel that we are getting good value for our money compared to what cable offers. l am still quite happy with our decision to cut cable television from our lives.

How about you?

Note: Hallmark Movies gone! Hulu is still making the cut!

NFC being on is not always a good thing...

Google has patched a bug that let a hacker, and this is key, that is physically close to your phone to send malware to your phone using NFC (Near Field Communication) functions.

Take a look at this report from Sophos's Naked Security Blog that spells out the vulnerability: Click Here

What to do?

• You can turn off permissions for the NFC app to install unknown applications, which will prevent the NFC app from trying to install an APK.
• You can also turn off Android Beam in the NFC and Payment area of your Android device’s settings, while still leaving NFC on for contactless payments.
• Finally, you can install the fix that Google released last month, patching the flaw.

Google chief warns visitors about smart speakers in his home

We put signs up around our businesses when we have video surveillance shouldn't we do the same thing in our homes if you have voice activated devices to warn visitors of their presence? Here is an interesting article that caught Rick Osterloh a little off guard when asked if Home Owners should warn about these devices in their homes. He said that he does… sure.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2019/10/22/google-chief-warns-visitors-about-smart-speakers-in-his-home/

Have you looked at YouTube Red yet?

So what is YouTube Red? Here is another add-on service for YouTube content that provides Ad-Free content for $9.99/month. It also gives you the ability to save the content off-line (stored on your device) so that you can watch, listen or play even when you don’t have internet access. It also let’s you play your content in the background so you can be using a different app then the player at the same time, even when the screen is turned off. You also get a Google Play Music Subscription at no additional cost if it is available in your country. However, this service does not extend to any paid services that you are currently subscribed to. You can cancel this subscription at any time.

For more information look here.

Don't know which Home Assistant to Buy?

Here is a quick overview of the three major products that are in the market today, Apple (HomePod), Google (Google Home) or Amazon's (Amazon Echo). Which one of these out performs the other? What other considerations should you be thinking about? Take a look at this article and see if this helps you to decide.

Me, I have already made my commitment to the Echo line of products. Each of the different product lines have their different pro's that might make you lean towards that product. If all you are looking for is good sound for your music, I would probably stick with none of these and jump back to Sonos. It has the widest flexibility but will make the biggest dent in your pocketbook. If you are looking for the add-on apps to make the unit a true assistant, then the Echo is probably the product you should be looking at. If you are heavily into Google products and apps then it might be Google Home. Lot's of things to consider.

Naked Security: Google joins the efforts to halt the spread of fake news

• By Alison Booth, nakedsecurity.sophos.com
• View Original
• April 13th, 2017

Earlier this week, Google rolled out a new tool to help users around the globe differentiate between real and fake news. Tested on news stories in a handful of countries over recent months, the “Fact Check” tag adds additional information to some of the technology giant’s search and news results. As a Google blog post explains:

This label identifies articles that include information fact checked by news publishers and fact-checking organizations… so people can make more informed judgments

The snippet that’s added reveals the claim and who made it, along with the name of the organization that checked it and what they concluded.

Read on…

Google boosts verification after wave of Maps fake listings fraud

Apparently Google has been having some issues with illegitimate companies populating their maps, some even with ratings. They are getting there through the free to list Google My Business program.

In the Naked  Security Article, John E. Dunn goes into depth about how Google is admitting that it has been working on this problem for awhile.

This is not just a problem with Google’s search engine but other like Bing. So be aware that this is going on and gird yourself against these fraudsters!

Read the entire article here.

Data Privacy Day: know the risks of Amazon Alexa and Google Home

Here is a great discussion of whether you should be concerned with Amazon Alexa and Google Home

See the Naked Security article here.

The article addresses the following topics:

• Your technology is listening
• Lessons from the Dyn attack
• Defensive measures

Sonos’s New CEO Wants To Connect With Alexa, Google And All Services That Matter.

Patrick Spence, Sonos new CEO, has a new mission: Keep Sonos alive in the face of the innovative disruption from the rest of the industry. Amazon’s Alexa and now Google’s Home Products are part of this competition invading the networked speaker environment. Sonos is a manufacturer of home speaker systems that have their own unique connectivity. Instead of embracing standards they have stood alone with their products not interfacing with other manufacturers products.

The Alexa is a good example of this type of device providing more than just sound, but services as well to access information or purchasing merchandise. Integrating this product with internet programming like IFTTT provides an extension to personalize its services.

So if Patrick Spence gets his way, Sonos will be connecting to these other devices that are exploding onto the market. I hope so.

http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2016/8/30/12709452/sonos-amazon-alexa-announced

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/business/sonos-john-macfarlane-ceo.html?_r=0

Google Home to be release Nov 4th

Now available for preorder for $129 which is less expensive than the full blown Amazon Echo device. The Verge discussed a unit that they were able to test  that they felt was smarter than Siri and the Alexa stating that it was able to understand context in a question and find information from around the web.

It is going to be available in different colors, and they felt the speakers had better quality than the Echo. Google Home works with YouTube Music and Google Play Music, six months of YouTube Red,  and integrates with Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio and TuneIn. Any of the third-party services can be used as the default music service if you like.

Home also acts as a Chromecast Audio receiver, so you can choose to cast the music to any Chromecast-connected television or speakers in the house, and you can play music in multiple rooms at once.

Click here to see The Verge’s article here.

Google Play causing issues with battery life?

How Google Play tracks you even if your other apps don’t – Naked Security

Naked Security posted an article that Google Play’s update that is tracking your usage or their service by using GPS which if you didn’t know when turned on and in use can drain your battery very quickly. For more detail on this read the article by clicking on the link above.

In search of a new Note Taking App?

Google Keep might be a good option. First, it is free and Second, Google has just added the ability to categorize your notes to make it easier to organize them. I have been using OneNote from Microsoft for most of the things that I need to make notes about but I have used Google Keep to take a quick note while using my phone or tablet.

While I would still classify my note taking app as OneNote, the ability to organize Google Keep is a big step forward. Before I limited my use of it to just quick and simple notes that I was going to move to something else quickly. Now with the ability to limit the display of your notes that contain a specific label it will be easier to find the one note you are looking for more easily. Don’t forget to add the Chrome Browser add in to help you capture browsed info faster and more easily.

Another issue with WAZE

I had read an earlier article about how to prevent Snoops from stalking you in Waze with “ghost” drivers on Naked security that discussed an paper published by a team of researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara claiming they can track a Waze driver’s exact route using thousands of simulated “ghost” vehicles in the app.

If you’re not familiar with Waze, it’s a Google-owned app that relies on crowdsourcing as people report accidents, traffic jams, and speed and police traps, while its online map editor gives drivers updates on roads, landmarks, house numbers, and the cheapest nearby fuel.

Naked Security has a take on another problem that has been reported with this Google Application. It appears a quiet neighborhood in Takoma Park, Maryland has been invaded by drivers trying to find a shortcut around a construction area. One of the residents then tried to turn the tide by posting bogus traffic data to trick the app into sending motorists away from his area.

He lasted about two weeks before Waze kicked him out for reporting bogus data. Take a look at the article it has a lot if interesting detail.

How do I share my work calendar with all the applications that I use?

Like a lot of you, I would want to have to enter information into my computer once in the best of all worlds have it show up everywhere that I may want to access it from.

I live and breathe inside of Microsoft Outlook with everything from email, scheduling, task management and accessing information about the people I need to be in contact with. So Outlook is a good container to house all this information for me. It also integrates with a lot of the business applications that we use at our office so it is an essential part of my daily routine.

So over the past month I've been experimenting with some ways to be able to share information that is in Outlook with other applications and devices that I use. The picture to the right is a good example of how I have accomplished at some the things that I use on a daily basis.

Google Calendar seems to be the central application that I need to coordinate the sharing of all the calendar data. Using a shareware program that I've commented on last month, called Outlook Google Calendar Sync, I have the conduit that I can use to connect Outlook calendar to Google calendar and have them synchronized automatically. This allows me to set up the connection from Cozi Calendar to Google Calendar to display all of my events for my family to share, again, without me having to reenter the information.

So now as I enter new events into my Calendar in Outlook, the Outlook Google Calendar Sync Application periodically updates Google Calendar and when ever my wife looks at our family Cozi Calendar she has the ability to plan around my schedule very easily. Another nice thing that happens is that unable to connect our Amazon Echo to my Google account and when I come down in the morning I can just ask Alexis what my days schedule is. I know then what I have to ramp up you soon I need to get moving towards the office. Voilà! Information at your fingertips

• Outlook Google Calendar Sync - Offers calendar synchronization between Outlook and Google, including attendees and reminders. Completely free, no install necessary, works behind web proxies and actively developed.
• Google Calendar -  With Google's free online calendar, it's easy to keep track of life's important events all in one place.
• Cozi - Cozi is the must-have organizer for families. It helps coordinate and communicate everyone’s schedules and activities, track grocery lists, manage to do lists, plan ahead for dinner, and keep the whole family on the same page.
• Amazon Echo - Echo provides hands-free voice control for Amazon Music, Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and TuneIn. Plus, Echo is Bluetooth-enabled so you can stream other popular music services like iTunes from your phone or tablet. .

Safe Browsing Site Status – Transparency Report – Google

So what is this all about? Is it a hoax? Is it a disclaimer? I don’t know but it just goes to prove that it isn’t 100% safe anywhere on the Web.

Safe Browsing Site Status

Google’s Safe Browsing technology examines billions of URLs per day looking for unsafe websites. Every day, we discover thousands of new unsafe sites, many of which are legitimate websites that have been compromised. When we detect unsafe sites, we show warnings on Google Search and in web browsers. You can search to see whether a website is currently dangerous to visit

Podcasts are now available through Google Play Music

This is not going to be anything that I am accessing soon, their library is something to be desired. No place to go but up, right? I’m still using my BEYONDPOD APP to access my favorites and that still seems to be working pretty well. So I won’t be leaving that anytime soon. Of course you have to pretty much program where you want to take things from (the RSS Feed) to be able to get the items that you care about. Apple still seems the king of the hill with their management of Podcast access through iTunes (GAG!).

But this is why in the Android world we have so many apps that we can use to gather our content into. A wide open world with no restrictions. I like it. Hopefully Google were work on this and make it a better experience soon.

By the way… Google Play Music Podcasts are only available in the US and Canada. I am sure that will be changing as well soon.

Podcasts coming to Google Play

It's about time. One of the keystones to Apple’s iTunes has been its access to the huge reservoir of independent information sources known as podcasts. For many of us ensconced in the tech industry this has been our method of gathering both technical and current newscasts of up and coming industry products and services. There is a wide range of subjects to draw upon that are both audio only and video content.

Hopefully Google’s access to this vast library of information will catch up quickly to what Apple offers. I will be watching closely to see where there goes.

It's about time. One of the keystones to Apple’s iTunes has been its access to the huge reservoir of independent information sources known as podcasts. For many of us ensconced in the tech industry this has been our method of gathering both technical and current newscasts of up and coming industry products and services. There is a wide range of subjects to draw upon that are both audio only and video content.

Hopefully Google’s access to this vast library of information will catch up quickly to what Apple offers. I will be watching closely to see where there goes.

Google I/O: Google Photos

Built on these three key concepts:

• Home for your Photos and Videos - a safe and private place to store all of your photos and videos that is avaialble on any device
• Help you organize and access this media - the concept is to make an app that helps you organize and access your media so that you spend more time making more memories not on organizing old ones.
• Make it easy to share this media - sharing should be easy and simple. Receiving this information should be easy to access and use it on the other end.

Google Photos is available now from your iOS, Android or Web enabled platform. It provides free unlimited photo and video storage of compressed images up to 16 GB for photos and videos at 1080p. A lot of time was spent showing the automatic organization capabilities based upon time, facial recognition, and geolocation.

One of the demos showed the ability to pull out a baseball photo array by just typing in the work baseball. They continued on to demonstrate how you can easily select the group of photos and share them simply by holding down on the first image and dragging to the last image to select, and create a share link that you can send off to a friend or family member that they can have access to those photos. The recipient of that shared link had total access to those images and can do whatever they wanted with them on their own device.

One of things to remember is that all of photos that were being accessed or online and came up instantly as though they were on the device that you are working with. Was very quick and made a compelling reason to consider Google Photos as a great place to store all your photos and videos.

I am anxious to see how well and if this service will work with Adobe's LightRoom and if this will be a viable service to use as a secondary source for storing all of your images.

Google I/O: Some of the new features that coming in the Android "M" operating system

In the keynote address, one of the things that was discussed was the new Android "M" opertating system and the six key feature updates that Google thinks we should be focused on. Their main direction with this upgrade was to "polish" the interface. 

First: App Permissions - they have simplified the range of items that are being addressed (location, camera, microphone, contacts, phone, SMS, calendar and sensor). They are also changing when you have to decide whether to grant the App permission to use a feature. It will now be addressed at the time of first access and not during the intial installation. They are also going to give us the ability to go into settings and access the App and add or subtract permissions as you see fit. You also will be able to look at a feature and see what Apps have access to it and add or subtract for there as well. Google expects the new App persmissions will help get the App up and running faster.

Second: This is more of a programming feature but Google is giving access to a new feature called Chrome Custom Tabs so that programmers will be able to take advantage of the Chrome browser capabilities without having to build in their own web browser in their app. This will decrease programming time and increase the security that is inherent in the Chrome browser.

Third: They are giving the App developer/program to provide a more complete linking experience. You won't need to continue to pick which App you want to use everytime you click on a link. They claim that this will give the enduser a more seamless experience.

Fourth: Android Pay - So it sounds like they are going to replace Google Pay with something called Android Pay. Their claim it that it is focused on three things: Simplicity, Security and Choice. So what does this mean? The process is as follows: unlock your phone and place it near the NFC terminal. That is all. A virtual card is created so your real card is not used with the terminal. Google is working closely with banks and retailers to achieve a more comprehensive solution. 

Fifth: Fingerprint - They are planning on increasing the use of fingerprint recognition with Android Pay as well as other Apps.

Sixth: Power Mangement - with the new "M" they are building in a smarter standby function to minimize power useage with up to 2x the battery useage. They are also promoting the new USB 3.0 format that will to decrease charge times by a fact of 5x. The "M" operating system will also give you the abiltiy to choose what the charging cable is doing for you, like, Charge or File Transfers etc... Ok.

Also highlighted were some editing feature changes as well as smarter data sharing. The smarter data sharing is based on your device being able to learn what Apps you use to share most often and to make them avaialble when you request sharing. Not a significant change but a nice one.