Working Anywhere

Life Without a MacBook

I traded in three aging MacBooks today, after spending a good part of Sunday wiping the hard drives of my 2012 Mac Book Pro, a 2013 Mac Book Air and my workhorse and faithful travel companion, the 2015 Mac Book. In many ways the 2015 is a collectors item, but having had two battery replacements and an aging processor, I decided to buy the new Mac Book Air, fully loaded.

With the trade ins I'm paying less than the price of the entry level Mac Book Air and getting a new Mac that is actually for me, better than the current (last year's model) Mac Book Pro.'

So what's it been like yesterday and today with no Mac Book to work on, and only my new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook to use? Not much difference. I kinda get the same feeling I get when I "cheat" on my iPhone and use the Android based One Plus 7t Pro McLaren  I have. That feeling is, sorta like, there's not much difference but I do miss iMessage. 

Beyond the lack of iMessage and FaceTime, working on the Chromebook, before it was a Pixelbook, has been a rather regular thing, but I always had the Mac Book to fire up. All this said, the new Mac Book Air arrives this week, but with so much of what I've been doing the past 12 years or so resting in the cloud, I'm far better off than someone who has been so dependent on their PC and can't live without it.

Google and Microsoft Go To War On Zoom

ZOOM was the darling of the media two weeks or so ago, as Working From Home and all kinds of ZOOM meetups became the flavor of the day. Then as security issues arose ZOOM became the harlot, and many media were as quick to damn them as they were to praise them. So goes the idea of loyalty and trust. Sure, ZOOM has had their issues, and yes states and some countries are banning its use. So too has Google, telling their employees ZOOM is not approved for use any longer due to "security" concerns.

So never being shy about seizing opportunity from another company's misfortune, both Microsoft and Google have launched massive PR and marketing efforts around Teams, Skype and Meet (the app formerly known as Hangouts Meet).

Microsoft and Google may take their shots and they may fan the flames by leaking things like bugs. If any company excelled at opposition PR over the years it has been Microsoft. And Google, with their search engine and news page, well, they have the ability to pour gasoline on the fire and have it go, um, ZOOM.

Yesterday I watched the weekly webinar as ZOOM’ CEO handled the “crisis” very well. He was open, honest, addressed things clearly (despite his accent). He could have ducked the problem. He could have had another company officer handle the webinar. Instead he showed leadership. He didn’t waver, and most of all he was candid.

In times of crisis leaders get in front of the camera, and deal with the problem. They get their story out, so the right facts are there. Zoom, between the series of webinars, blog posts and media briefings is handling things very well. And for Microsoft and Google, what goes around comes around.

You don’t yet see the media jumping on the issues with GMail or the Google Dashboard yesterday. No, those items are buried, missed or forgotten. ZOOM is a much more interesting target because while not an overnight success, they did become an overnight sensation in the eyes of the fickle media members.

So while the big bullies pick on the radical independent, ask yourself who is willing to get out in front and tell things that are happening, and who isn’t. Then decide where you put your support.

Are You Calling Securely at Home

A friend of a friend called me today to pick my brain about VoIP and how to make their calling more secure now that the team is working more from home than ever before and corporate espionage, in their industry, seems to be an almost everyday thing.

So now with the entire team working remotely, my friend's friend wanted some ideas on how to help keep things locked down. I thought his questions were timely, as working from home brings with it a whole bunch of security and privacy issues not really thought about before.

I offered a few suggestions ranging from using SilentCircle for encrypted calling between the internal team and still having the ability to be called by outsiders with a real PSTN phone number. But for off the PSTN encrypted calling, I made two additional suggestions.

The first was Signal. Like Silent Circle the app is available for iOS and Android devices, but unlike Silent Circle, the ability to call the PSTN isn't there.  Signal does however have Linux, Mac and Windows apps available adding an additional layer of being reached by others on the Signal platform.

 

My next suggestion was Wire. Created by longtime friend Alan Duric (ex Telio and Camino Networks), Wire has been at the front end since their launch at encrypted communications with desktop and mobile versions much like Signal. If any service is secure from its start, it is Wired. Wire has the benefit of group calling and video conferencing,
all in a highly secure mode, as does Silent Circle. With desktop and mobile apps, Wire is a great choice for those who want full featured communications that are secure across a variety of platforms.

With these three services, my friend's friend now has options for secure calling from home, just like in the office and so do you.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook

I'm not a product reviewer, and I don't usually write reviews, especially when there are real experts like Matt Miller of ZD-Net on mobile devices, or ex GigaOm'er Kevin Tofel when it comes to all things Chromebook, but after less than 24 hours of using my new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook, I have to say, having now owned and still owning and using as many as six different Chromebooks since their earliest days, this is by far the best one I've ever owned. And given I still own a Google Pixelbook, and for many months it was, and has been, my primary day to day computer, at home, and more importantly, on the road, I always figured finding something better would be hard to beat.

Well that day has come. While it's likely you can find more in depth reviews at Wired, Engadget and other mass audience sites, the real reviews will come from people Kevin's About Chromebooks and Chome Unboxed, two sites that really take the time to dig into the inner workings of Chromebooks. this

1. Screen-It's bright. Really bright. It has true to life colors and great contrast between them. It's about as sharp as anything I've used on my lap or desk. To make a comparison, it's akin to when SONY introduced Triniton to color TV sets and distanced themselves from all the competition.
2. Audio-I love music, and on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook I get really awesome sound, that's both clear and rich. For conference calls and phone calls on ZOOM, UberConference or via Dialpad, Hangouts, Messenger, etc. audio is clean, clear, crisp.  I've yet to connect a Bluetooth headset or speaker, but that's for today.
3. Video-For YouTube, Vimeo, Showtime, YouTubeTV and more streaming video the clarity, sharpness and depth of field was there. It was as good as any laptop to date and seemed brighter when watched in normal room lit daylight.
4. Keyboard Travel--this is where I'm really excited. The size and dimensions of the keyboard are perfect for me. I'm mostly a touch typist and grew up with typewriters, first standards, then electric (can you remember the IBM Selectric or Smith Coronas?). As a result muscle memory has me fighting on so many of the 11" and 12" and 13" inch keyboards as my hands are used to wider keyboards. With the Galaxy Chromebook, my fingers are flying across it.
5. Browser Speed-It's fast. Pages load faster than on my Mac Book Pro. Caching seems to be typical for Chrome 80. 
6. WiFi-I've run speedtests a few times day and night. On my Xfinity gigabit connection I've seen over 460 megs down and the usual 35-40 megs up. The download is the fastest of any PC in my house, wireless. I'll need to test with a wired connection sometime today.

I've installed my usual suspect of plugins, extensions (actually, it happened automatically, one of the perks of Chome 0r curses depending on your viewpoint) and nothing seemed to go wonky. Slack, in the browser is faster than in the app, and I've opened less apps than on my Pixelbook and yet I don't seem to be missing any functionality so far. Beyond that, setup is virtually, all done. For those not technically enlightened, the Chromebook remains the easiest device to set up and maintain, much like a Mac Book Air is.

Bottom line. The Galaxy Chromebook is not cheap at $999.00. It's not for everyone, but it is for those who spend long hours on the keyboard, working from home, on airplanes, at coffee shops or anywhere who need a power packed, cloud based PC.  My guess is somewhere along the way, a DELL, Acer or Asus will be released with better specs, performance or looks, but as a Chromebooks go, this is just about the best you'll find today, price aside.