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Google is the Internet, Too Big to Fail

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google is the Internet, Too Big to Fail
Today, I woke up late, turned on my cellphone’s screen, and saw six new emails. I touched my fingerprint to the display, unlocked the phone, and briefly checked the messages. The contents and senders weren’t all that important though. What was striking, in this brief moment, was what I realized: Google is the Internet.

We’ve been living with the Internet as we know it for a couple decades now. Technology companies have come and gone, but the behemoths have grown to epic proportions. Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have all become some of the largest companies in the world. But there’s a distinct difference between those other names and Google (or, Alphabet, as it’s now called).

The company launched on August 18, 2004 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange as GOOG. The four-letter ticker symbol was met with great fanfare and excitement. People wanted in on this inventive company that was revolutionizing search, ads, and online video.

Founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, penned an IPO letter before the launch of the stock. They detailed how Google would be different from all the rest. Shareholders wouldn’t be given special privileges and likely wouldn’t benefit from dividends (any time soon). Their votes wouldn’t matter, as control of the company would steadfastly be kept with those in leadership. And the stock could trade wildly, as profits weren’t of utmost importance. Page and Brin wanted to, first and foremost, build great technologies.

This focus on innovation over quarterly profit gains was a winning combination. Alphabet now sits as the second largest market capitalization — to Apple — in America. From a scrappy startup to tens of thousands of employees and billions in profits, this has been a meteoric rise. But it hasn’t always been an easy ride.

Every step they took, they were met with scrutiny. Countless antitrust lawsuits suggest Google is being monopolistic or manipulating search results in their own favor. There are accusations that the company doesn’t respect user’s privacy, and can be easily compelled to hand over what they know to information-hungry government surveillance organizations. They’ve been sued for driving around neighborhoods scanning people’s wi-fi networks and locations, too.

Despite these challenges, their efforts don’t seem to be slowing. The company is creating new hubs around the country. Heck, just north of where I used to live in Colorado they’re building an extensive mini-campus for Googlers! Lest you think construction and new-hires are their only areas of growth, think again. Alphabet is branching into artificial intelligence in mind-bending ways, too. The team, aptly named Google Brain, is leading the charge to develop machines that think for themselves, learn, and become smarter. Right now, they’re capable of beating chess and go champions, moving objects more efficiently, and finding answers more rapidly. In time, it’s easy to see these technologies testing humans’ capabilities.

Amidst this rapid ascendency into artificial intelligence and machine learning is also a company with more earthly ambitions: storing the world’s data. When I get on my smartphone or computer, check my emails in Inbox by Gmail, type out a note about research in Google Drive, write new appointments in Google Calendar, conduct a Google Search to find the 2004 Founders’ IPO Letter for this article, check a stock price on Google Finance (GOOG is at $782 right now), and then wrap this all up by looking at photos from last week on Google Photos, Google is at the heart of it.

Importantly, amidst this growth is an important consideration: most everything is free. For the frugal people that follow my blog, I wouldn’t be surprised if you embraced this cost-effective solution as I do. If you use other technologies, you’ll be spending a small fortune in comparison to Google’s products. Want to get an Apple iPhone? It’ll cost you $600-800 off contract. Google’s smartphones cost about $300-400 less. Want to use a word processor? Microsoft’s will cost you about $10 per month for access. Google’s is free. Interested in getting a new laptop? A good Mac or PC could run you $800-1000. Google’s Chromebooks are about $200-500.

Yes, people will argue that you’re sacrificing your privacy. Some say, “If you use Google, you’re the product because they sell your data to advertisers!” While factually blurry, the gist is true. We’re exchanging this right to services (like the Google Doc I’m typing this into) for our data and privacy. Contrary to popular belief, no individual advertiser has my data; instead, Google aggregates the world’s data for its advertisers.

The cost savings that Google has handed to us has led to an information revolution. Schools can afford to reduce technology costs, while increasing students’ access to the Internet and productivity tools. If we want an answer to Pythagorean theorem, we just Google it. Want to take a free, online course? Google it and start watching the YouTube videos. The answers are there for the taking. Information has been democratized and it’s not because of a government agency or hardware manufacturer. It’s this one software and search company.

So here we are, with Google as the Internet. It’s everything we interact with and rely on to get things done; at least, for much of us. You might be thinking I love this progression, advancement, and technological prowess. But to be honest, I’m concerned.

Here we are in the 21st century, and one company seems to be leading everything. If there’s real competition, they either build their own competitor or swallow it up through acquisitions. People are getting rich — wealth is spilling into their coffers. Meanwhile, we place our trust, data, and reliance on this one company to handle it all.

We don’t get to vote on Google’s proceedings. They aren’t a government agency. What they choose to do with our data is their decision. And even if we used tools like Google Takeout to take everything off their servers, we’d probably end up using Google Search, YouTube, and other Google services to get through our day. We’re stuck with this Internet leader — for better and for possibly worse.

As much as I love the company and everything they’ve done to make the Internet more affordable to everyone, I wonder what it might look like if something failed, new leadership took over that wasn’t friendly to users, or if governments around the world started demanding even more from Google’s servers. Right now, Google is too big to fail. And just like banks, that’s a frightening proposition — no matter the cost savings.

What Happens To Data After Death?

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Francie and Me

I miss my grandmother. She brings tears to my eyes when I think back on our time together. She would’ve turned 98 last weekend. And while she lived a good, long life, she’s been dead for about eight years.

Sometimes I wonder what she’d say to me — what she’d think of my academic endeavors, writing, friends, and loves.

Would she be proud of her grandson? Would I be living up to her expectations? Would she understand how much I miss her?

There are times when I stare at an old photo of the two of us. There she is, in her pearl earrings — a gem from another generation. She was a product of a time when women demanded civil liberties and spoke out bravely. Individually, she was highly educated, musically gifted, crafted an alarmingly kind, talented group of friends. She attracted her equals. I admired her.

But now, as I reflect on these eight years, I long for a video, text, or email between us. Something I can click play on.

There is nothing. I can’t find any artifact nor proof of our love and affection — our bond. We only have a handful of progressively fading photographs. Burned, stained from the sun, time is making us increasingly more sepia and prone to rosy retrospection.

Towards the latter years of her life, I grabbed whatever technology I had — at the time, a Motorola Razr — and pointed the “camera” her way. She didn’t mind my intrusion. She didn’t “get” that there was a video camera on the phone. I held it up as she talked to one of her dear friends.

She was talking about me and said into the phone, “Yes, Sam’s going to Colorado University.” I chimed in, like I always had to as her memory waned, “No Francie, Colorado State University.” She quickly relayed that correction.

A few more seconds passed and I turned off the camera. Somehow I knew this would be one of the most important, last moments with her. Her hospice treatments had accelerated. She was becoming weaker, but her hands gripped firm with mine until the end. She’d pass away shortly after this call.

To have that file meant the video was mine. I’d have it as long as I’d like it. A rare glimpse, however distorted and pixelated that would take me back.

Her voice. Her demeanor. Her playfulness. For a few seconds.

It’d have to do. There wasn’t much else to cling and hold.

Maybe it was her birthday, or maybe it was my addiction to nostalgia; whatever it was, I looked for the clip the other day. I desperately wanted to relive it. To touch through time. To bridge the gap between life and death. To see the pixels dance before my eyes and make me feel… there.

Amidst gigabytes of photos and videos on my computer, the little clip was gone. I rummaged through flash drives, hard drives, cloud storage — nothing. There was no file to be found.

It was a foreign feeling — loss — amidst this digital era. We live in a time of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Gmail, Google Drive, iCloud, and Dropbox. Data costs little to nothing. And the world seems settled on one major goal: saving and storing your life for eternity.

Today, it’s not uncommon for me to send hundreds of texts, emails, and tweets in a day between friends and family — many of which include photos and videos.

I’m curious what Francie would think of these advancements. As I get older, the data seems to have a redundancy and staying power — beyond anything we could’ve imagined 10 years ago. She died before we started speaking to our phones, searching for rashes on WebMD, and sharing our meals over Facebook.

A file created today may well live beyond my lifetime, and maybe even my children’s (if I’m lucky enough to have them some day). What of these things would be passed onto future generations?

There’s that photo of me crossing the marathon finish line in Houston. There’s that kiss with my love in Colombia. There’s that random photo of my cousin and I when we were four years old — grinning from ear to ear. There’s that video tour of my old, Siberian-prison inspired apartment.

They’ll outlive me.

Storage is becoming cheaper every day. Companies are propositioning themselves to be the keeper of all your photos and videos, forever — just look at Google Photos. They’re saying they have the ultimate solution. Unlike my missing video of Francie, photos and videos are now saved and backed up; then, replicated across data centers across the globe. No flood, tornado, earthquake, hurricane, or mudslide can touch these memories. No user or device error can stop us now.

Maybe she belongs in the past, but she’d be here so much more amidst this technology. I could share a video of Francie to my partner. And I could connect with the memories that my mind slowly lets drift. Nothing would pass the intense scrutiny and analysis of today’s servers. The computers might serve the memories to me when I needed them most.

But what happens now? What will happen to our memories as they pass from generation to generation in this increasingly connected and backed up society? What will companies keep of us? What will our loved ones hold on to? What will they look to for connection with their pasts?

What will happen to our data after death?

Pay for privacy: Apple’s new marketing campaign against Google

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On August 31st, news companies started reporting on a nasty, targeted attack on a variety of celebrities. Of no real fault of their own, these (mostly) female celebrities woke up to a shock: nude and intimate photos and videos, which were leaked onto the Internet. The “anonymous” hacker seemed to specifically target some of the famous celeb’s Apple iCloud information.

See, Apple has long been a terrible cloud provider. Their iCloud service has frequently suffered security leaks, downtime, and inexplicable bugginess. The beleaguered service hasn’t ever gained traction. Unfortunately, without the cloud, Apple’s future revenue might eventually suffer.

The release of private, celebrity photos came at a terrible time — just two weeks before the new iPhone 6 and Apple Watch keynote by Tim Cook. Apple’s taciturn answer: this is not the fault of iCloud servers or our security. Well, if it was that simple, we could pack our bags and move on from this perverted mess. And as a shareholder, I’d love to!

Reality is far murkier here. As it turns out, there were weaknesses in Apple’s iCloud security, which allowed hackers to penetrate into the “Find My iPhone” portion of the website, and repeatedly guess passwords without any restrictions. Through a brute force application (guess-and-checks tons of passwords over and over again until it gets a winner), the accounts were compromised, illegally downloaded, and provided access to a wealth of explicit photos. Likewise, this determined hacker and/or collective aimed for simple security questions, which were easily guessable for public icons like Jennifer Lawrence. This ultimately allowed for a massive leak of data. While Apple claimed innocence, they quickly rectified security gaps and patched problem areas. The hack was rendered inert; albeit, the damage was already done.

As media consumers, we seem to gravitate towards one scandal or story, and then quickly drift to the next — barely remembering what was important in the first place. This quick consumption of news seems to reduce the real importance of important stories. Frankly, it’s yet another consequence of the 24-hour news cycle — it’s literally endless. Apple is relying on us to rapidly forget the iCloud hacks of 2014.

It was a recipe for disaster, but now Apple is manipulating the message for public gain and increased profit. The genius is mind-bending, and it starts with the distinction between privacy and security. By definition, privacy is the right to be left alone. Simple as that. If you’d like to search for strange Christmas ornaments privately, the assumption is that you’re not tracked, nor should you be concerned about others chiming in on that search. Security, on the other hand, is about being free from danger or threat. From the mall cop to the password on your email account, security attempts to protect us from external threats.Privacy and security can be overlapping concepts, where security is necessary for privacy. Without security, privacy quickly disappears.

The point is, privacy and security are different, and Apple is purposively confusing the two. By hacking the iCloud accounts of various celebrities, this mercenary crew showed wicked flaws in Apple’s “secure” platform.

The evil brillance at Apple has been a prolonged offensive on Google’s data-mining business. Tim Cook has repeatedly spoken about the privacy and security embedded in Apple’s products, along with their commitment to respecting individuals’ rights. Each time Cook has mentioned their push for privacy, it’s come with a dig against Google. In the preceding video, Cook lambastes competitors for tracking users, while emphasizing Apple’s age-old push to “try not to collect data.”

Even in the recent keynote address, Apple executives emphasized the privacy features every step of the way. With the recent introduction of payments via Apple Pay (hold an iPhone in front of a receiver to pay), the company said they wouldn’t monitor transactions — that they were between you, the merchant, and credit card company. If you didn’t know better, you might assume that Apple is the most private company in the world.

Apple is clearly trying to quickly evade and rebrand themselves as the last privacy conscious mega-cap company in the country. And if people don’t pay attention, it just might work. If you are a consumer and you hear about individual hackers, corporate espionage, and governmental spies, you’ll want the most private hardware system you can find. Unfortunately, it’ll cost you and arm and a leg (around $1000 for the Macbook Air), and may not even be more secure than other platforms.

Take the Google Chromebook, for instance. This computer costs about $200 to $300 depending on the model you choose. The computer automatically updates to the latest operating system, protects you from viruses and malware, has a verified secure boot (which prevents internal changes from the operating system by outside hackers), and lasts about 10-12 hours on a single charge. These are considered one of the most secure systems on the market today. Chromebooks are perfect for most everything, and they’re a real threat to Apple’s business model. To save all that money, you sacrifice a bit of privacy to Google’s servers, but none of the security.

That’s the problem: Google and their Chromebook line is a threat. Apple has a moment to quickly switch the media spin cycle to full blast, argue that they’re a privacy-focused company, and get you to pay about $800 more on a laptop than necessary.

Apple Pay More For Privacy

We live in a world where privacy and security are threatened in a multitude of ways — not least of which by capitalistic disinformation. From private hackers to the NSA, security is being attacked. And as security goes, so does privacy. But privacy should be a right; in fact, it’s a part of the Fourth Amendment. Privacy is a right afforded to us by our constitution, and one that we must continue to defend. We should never need to pay for privacy, as Apple would have us believe.

Hack Your Data Plan To Save Money, Browse Faster

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Hacking a Computer and Smartphone Data Plan
Hackers Gonna Hack. Photo: Mr. Cacahuate/Flickr

Cellular data plans still cost a small fortune for many users. Data (measured in KB, MB, and GB) is being sent from cellular towers to main Internet lines, and this process often begets a premium to traditional broadband or cable. Unlimited data plans are often more expensive than limited options; if you’re frugal, you’re likely sticking with a pre-paid option.

If you’re stuck on pre-paid, family, or limited data plans, you might have lofty bills, angry siblings, and/or go data-less if you’re over the limit. The inherent problem with many apps is that they are constructed to be data intensive, rich. All the flash and pomp adds up. This can leave your monthly data plan on empty. With some forethought and these three applications, you’ll see your data plan have new power.

1. Google Chrome for Mobile (Android/iOS)

Chrome for OS Data Plan
The All-New Chrome For OS Will Save Your Data Plan

Over the last week, Google released major updates to the iPhone iOS version of its app. Branded as Chrome for iOS, users can activate bandwidth compression technologies that can reduce your data traffic substantially and speed up browsing. Here’s some more information about this development:

By having your web browsing flow through Google’s servers, the company can compress your data (and especially images) to help you save up to 50 percent of bandwidth while you are browsing. Google will not, however, use the proxy for any connections to any sites that use secure connections (HTTPS). (Techcrunch.com)

Like the rest of these apps, some settings must be enabled to engage in data savings. Most everything that Google releases requires an opt-in (especially if it has new privacy implications). The Google Chrome Blog details the necessary settings:

To start saving data and turn on an even more secure browsing experience, visit “Settings” > “Bandwidth management” > “Reduce data usage.” Then simply turn the toggle to “On.” From this menu, you’ll also be able to track how much bandwidth you save each month as you browse on Chrome.

2. Pocket (Android/iOS)

Pocket App Logo Data Plan Savings Hack
Save Your Favorite Articles Offline For Easy Browsing And No Data Plan Usage

Oftentimes, when flying, in no-service areas, and/or nearing the end of my data plan budget for the month, I need an app that gives me access to news offline and on the go. That’s why Pocket is perfect! It downloads everything to the app, in the background (whether open or not). When I save an article on my computer, it automatically syncs the article to my phone for access anywhere, anytime.

The app works smoothly on every platform I’ve ever used and the staff is inspirational in their design. It could not be simpler to use and setup. Once you start syncing articles for access offline (pictures and all), you may find that your data use is escalating. That’s why you need to go into the app and enable a simple setting.

Start by going to “Offline Downloading” within “Settings.” Under this main section, slide the switch on to “Download Only on Wi-Fi.” Now, you can have all the news articles and financial info downloaded right to your phone – no more browsing necessary – and without the massive bandwidth usage.

3. Mailbox (iOS)

The founder of Mailbox app wanted to design a program that finally treated email in a new, functional way. Instead of slowly going through the massive piles of email, the creative team at Mailbox devised a way to organize the clutter for easy reading and task management.

Data Plan Mailbox App Savings
Mailbox App Putting Mail In Its Place And Saving You Data

Unlike most mail apps for mobile platforms, Mailbox strips all messages of rich text, images, and videos. By limiting the type of information to pass through the email system, your phone can receive messages that are comparable to the size of a text message (very small). Moreover, you can expect email to be delivered faster and with less latency. A pretty wicked combo!

What smartphone apps do you use to save data? Do you have any programs that hog much of your plan? Any other apps that you’d recommend?

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