1.  It’s beta.

2. It’s beta.

3.  Ok, really, it’s beta!  Then entire purpose of this machine is to find out what sucks, report it to Google, get updates, report more bugs, ad infinitum.

For those of you that haven’t read another review and want the specs on this machine, go here (them come back!).  To me they don’t matter much and this is why…

This computer is about the OS, not the damn hardware. Branded hardware will be better.  It just will, I promise.

I opened the case and I was greeted with a Chrome logo before I could get the screen fully opened.  As instructed, I “gently” pressed the power button, went through 4 quick steps (including a self-portrait) and was logged in using my Gmail credentials.   Without any annoying prompts or fuss all of my Chrome options automatically synced with the computer.  I was at an immediate advantage since I use Chrome as my primary browser — all of my plugins, bookmarks, options and history were included.  No annyoing login prompts for Gmail, Google Docs or any other Google services.  One of the coolest features of this is that I could go login to any other computer running ChromeOS with my Gmail credentials and it would do the same thing.  ANY ChromeOS is YOUR OS.  Some people may be put off by this ubiqutious mesh of all your data from any location but what you should keep in mind is that (best estimate) 95% of the data you access is “in the cloud” and not stored on the actual laptop anyway.  This thing only has a 16GB SSD inside.  Sure, lots of room for plenty of personal information, but from everything I’ve seen, it’s purpose is simply to keep only what is needed to run the OS on the laptop.  Your security really goes as far as how secure your password is and how much you trust Google with your data.

ChromeOS is a different experience.  You’ll actually feel right at home if you have already used the Chrome browser, but if not, you might be in for a rude awakening.  There is no Start button akin to Windows nor a comforting Apple logo in the top left corner.  The browser is the OS and the OS is the browser.  Everything is accessed from a single interface – no desktop, no icons, no wallpaper.    You start with one tab open.  With the unibar you can type in a web address, search term or you can use it to access a myriad of other features using special keywords that let to get into guts of the OS and tweak features.  So far, the available apps are lackluster but if Android Market has been any mark of  future success these will improve  in quality and in number quickly as well.  Do I have to remind you this is all still in beta?!

So far, I’ve had a lot of fun using the unit.  My son spent a large amount of time watching episodes of the Simpsons in Flash and he found it perfectly acceptable.  I can keep the unit on the coffe table as a general purpose machine.  It awakes from sleep faster than you can get the screen open so anytime you feel like reading a book or checking the weather, it’s right there.  The battery lasts around 10 hours and I have found I can use it for almost any task.  I can even get an ssh connection on a different screen and use a predefined key on the keyboard to switch between the shell and the OS.  Outside of video/picture editing and gaming — the latter I don’t do on a computer anyway — I really can see a slighly more powerful version of this computer with a release version OS as something I would use as a primary computer.  Becuase of my job, I’ll likely need a full desktop OS for some time but when I’m not working  I can chat, surf, word process, do spreadsheets, listen to music, watch streaming movies/tv/videos and 99% of the other tasks I do on a computer these days, all on a laptop expected to cost under $400.  Hardware is overrated and specs mean shit for almost all computer users.  My grandma doesn’t care how fast her CPU is or if her video card drivers are up-to-date, she just wants to look at pictures of her grandkids or videos on YouTube with as little hassle as possible.  Most people do I think.

I see a bright future for this new type of ubiquitous computing.  Imagine it: one login, any computer, anywhere and you have instant access to all of your everything.  That last sentence screams SECURITY ISSUES but I also have (a probably misguded) trust in the security systems that will be in place by the time this type of scenario actually is a reality.  Whatever the real future, from my perspective, it’s off to an exciting start.

One of the things I like about OS X is the astounding number of quality applications that perform one task but perform that task in an sleek, easy to configure and easy to learn way. Some of my favorites are MailPlane, Things and 1Password. In my line of work 1Password had become indespensible.

For those of you not familiar with the app, 1Password manages all of your passwords and sensitive data for your online accounts, can keep track of all of your software serial numbers and lets you store  post-it style secure notes.  The interface is very slick and the data is kept in a virtual vault that you open  with a master password.  Once you have unlocked your vault, all of your usernames and passwords are automatically filled when you go to web pages that require login.  Because username and password fields are auto-filled you can generate very long and complex passwords for your online accounts that you never have to remember.  For example, I use a randomly generated, 16-character password for my Facebook account that consists of numbers, letters (upper and lower-case) and special characters yet I have no idea what it is.  A password of that strength and complexity is going to be next to impossible to crack.  There are only two downsides to the application — the fact that it is Mac ONLY and that comes with a $39.95 price tag. For a mixed OS user like me the Mac-only compatibility is a frustrating issue (but I’m happy to pay for a good product).

Over the past few months, buzz has been growing around a new password management application call LastPass so I thought I would check it out.  The things that drew me to LastPass initially were the multiple-OS support and compatibility with Chrome, Firefox, Safari as well as Internet Explorer.  The next attention getter was that it was completely free.  I spent a little over an hour yesterday setting up and reading all of the details about LastPass and I think 1Password is going to have to take a graceful bow and exit stage right.  This is why…

LastPass is free.  LastPass does everything 1Password does.  LastPass can be intergrated with every major browser.  LastPass works on Windows, OS X and Linux. Your passwords are stored on their servers and locally in an encrypted “vault” and only your master password can be used to open the vault.  Even if someone somehow stole your vault files from LastPass.com’s servers or took your laptop your data would be safe.  Lastpass.com cannot read your vault file stored on their server. I repeat, Lastpass.com cannot read the passwords or usernames in your vault file.  As more and more of our data is stored at 3rd party locations it is vital that the our personal privacy is respected and that even if their servers were breached our data would remain safe.

The average person selects passwords that are easy for them to remember and therefore are generally too short, easy to guess and insecure.  By using an application like LastPass (or even 1Password if you prefer) you can increase your online security and privacy by an exponential amount.  You just have to remember one password, it’s easy to install, it syncs across computers and all major browsers.  What else could you want?  Just do download it and start using it.  You won’t regret it.

Subject: Hi Jeremy Buy Heroin, cocaine and other shit from timothystuff
I am very sorry for you Jeremy, is a pity that this is how your life is
going to end as soon as you don’t comply. As you can see there is no need
of introducing myself to you because I don’t have any business with you,
my duty as I am mailing you now is just to KILL you and I have to do it
as I have already been paid for that. But I give you a chance. Call my neighbor 315-678-2789 and say password “there is time to save my skin” and if that would sound convincing, I will forget about you.
Tell him this password for Timothy Sinclair (be sure it is not my real name).

WARNING: DO NOT THINK OF CONTACTING THE POLICE OR EVEN TELLING ANYONE
BECAUSE I WILL KNOW.

Well, if I end up dead, its been a good life.

http://myphoneblaster.com/

What is it?  In short, you call people and when they answer they hear an MP3 you have uploaded through the site.  You select the number to call, set the caller ID (which is the best part, he he…) and upload a MP3 from your computer or select from a few “default” tracks.

Although I’m first reminded of the days of ‘ole (before everyeone had caller ID) when you could prank call people without being immediately called back or reported to the authorities, I’m sure you can use this site for things other than getting into trouble.

For example:

• Send your significant other a sweet song
• Express your anger through music instead of screaming
• Bug your co-workers (as I have already found this effective)
• Brighten up someone’s day
• Fill-in-the-blank

Give http://myphoneblaster.com/ a try.  I think you will quickly find it fun a addicting.

At home I use Linux and Windows, at work I use a Mac.  I enjoy aspects of all three OS’s but for a while Mac’s have had a killer app that was not available on any other OS.  This applications biggest asset was what it didn’t do — Get in the way!

The app is called Growl and it provides useful notifications only from applications you want to monitor.  For example if you are chatting with someone and reading an intriguing article from Wired but your browser is taking up the entire screen.  With Growl there is no need to flip back and forth between the browser and the IM client, instead Growl pops up a small, non-obtrusive “bubble” with the message from your friend which “floats” there for a few seconds, then goes away.  Growl works with a grocery list of applications to display useful information you may want to be aware of like completed downloads, new IM’s, new e-mails and so many other things.  If you want tend to the notification you can click on the bubble and the appropriate application will be made active, if not, it will just fade away after a few seconds.

For you Linux users out there an application with the same idea in mind is available called Mumbles.  It works with the Gnome desktop and can be installed via a source or a .deb package.  The range of supported applications is not as vast but the ones that matter to me work out of the box — Pidgin, Firefox and Thunderbird.  More support is coming and what is available is already a must-have.

Finally, for you Windows users an app called Snarl is available.  The current issue with Snarl is application support.  I believe it’s on its way to being a great app — just give it a few months.  It does have a developers guide available for anyone who wants to add Snarl functionality into their existing application.

While all three apps serve the same purpose Growl is by far the pack leader.  It has been around the longest and provide support for tons of applications. (Both of the others are admitted attempts to bring “Growl” functionality to the respective OS.) If you are on the computer even half as much as I am I can assure you that once you use these apps you will wonder why someone didn’t think of this a long time ago.  Don’t just take my word for it, download the apps and give them a test run!

Growl – http://growl.info/

Mumble – http://www.mumbles-project.org/

Snarl -  http://www.fullphat.net

Why all this security?  No, I don’t have government secrets but assuming you know all of the passwords (an no, they aren’t all the same) you would able to access all of my work stuff.  My “work stuff” is my life and since my laptop is basically a grab-and-go piece of hardware (a small Dell Inspiron 700m) I want to make sure that if I were ever to be stolen it would basically be useless to the person who nabbed it – at least without a complete format of the hard drive and new OS installation.  I even have the BIOS password protected and the hard-drive set to the first boot device so getting a new OS installed wouldn’t be a simple process.

I don’t go so far as to encrypt my entire hard-drive because like I said, I’m not harboring government secrets, but unlike the government officials that have let their laptops “disappear” I would be willing to bet if they took even half the security measures I did the rate of data-loss due to lost laptops would drop dramatically.

How far do you take your computer security?

She reminds me when to do things without being rude, stops talking when I tell her to, doesn’t bother me if I don’t want to talk, never forgets anything, and probably best of all, she never costs me a penny.

Doesn’t she sound perfect? In reality Sandy is from iwantsandy.com and she can do some pretty cool things. She is a virtual assistant that you access through something most of you probably use everyday — your e-mail. There is not software to install, nothing to download and no cost.

Sandy can:

• Help you remember something
• Set a reminder
• Make to do lists
• Add contacts that you can lookup with a quick e-mail.

For a more complete list, check out the Quick Guide. Just send her an e-mail and she will remind you whenever you tell her to (or at a default time). One of my favorite things is you can CC: her on an e-mail about something important and Sandy will remember and remind you when it’s time via e-mail, text message, Twitter or all three.

There are all kinds of reminder programs, calendar programs and the like available for download and purchase but what makes this one different, at least for me, is that it integrates so well with my life. I use check my e-mail all the time for work and personal reasons and the options of text reminders are nice when you’re on the go.

If you are looking for an easy way to manage your appointments and save some time, give Sandy a try. She won’t let you down.

For those of you who host your sites on a “shared server” environment, which I would assume the average site owner does, a VPS is an entirely different beast.  To compare, a shared environment houses hundreds of sites on one server.  Resources are limited and if you use to many – say you make it on the front page of Digg or get Slashdotted – your site is likely to be suspended for using to much of the servers shared resources.  You are also limited by what software the hosting provider will allow you to install and use.  Custom configuration is nearly impossible.

These restrictions do not apply with a VPS.  It short, it’s your “private” server to configure, run and use as you wish. It is actually one physical server split, in this case, by software to 5-10 virtual servers that have allotted disk space, RAM, and processors.  The resources allotted are yours and yours alone.  You are only limited by your imagination and what the hardware can handle.  You don’t have to play nice and share with anyone.  You have root access to the server, dedicated IP addresses, and infinite possibilities.

In my particular case I have 512 RAM, 10 GB of space, 200 GB of monthly bandwidth, and 40% CPU usage spread across 8 processors.  The specs may sound shabby compared to the average desktop computer, but when you consider that a web-server is, for the most part, is only completing http requests and making a database queries, that’s plenty of power to run even a demanding website.

I have always used software like cPanel, WHM or Webmin to administer my websites. I am taking this opprotunity to hone my command-line skills and configure everything by hand.  From installing and setting up the web server, FTP server, SSH access, installing domains and configuring DNS.  It is an adventure in the making.  The best part about it is I an not hosting anything mission critical so if I break it beyond repair, I can reset the server and start over – no harm done.

For those wishing to take the next step in web hosting and want total control over your environment, but don’t have the funds for a dedicated server, give VPS a try.

I went to the Slashdot 10th Anniversary party in Ann Arbor, MI, which happens to be home of the founder, CmdrTaco. The turnout was excellent! At least 200 geeks of various shapes, sizes and colors were there. I met Hemos, who gave me the shirt, as well as CmdrTaco. They had name tags printed out for everyone who had RSVP’d with their username and member number on them. The lower the number, the cooler you seemed to be. My number is 102,267 (out of over 1,100,000 registered users) which I got almost 8 years ago. I never though my Slashdot member number would be good for anything, guess I was wrong!

It was a good time. I got my ass kicked in foosball but did manage to set the high score for Mrs. Pac-Man (geeze, I am a geek). The party was still going on when I left and I’m sure it still is. The Leopold Bros. Pub in Ann Arbor is making a killing tonight I’m sure. Thanks for the free shirt Slashdot!