.... and then Google+ entered

Google.com is one of the hottest properties on the internet, and that has enabled the search giant to get to where it is. Several years passed since 1998 ( when Google was launched ), and then in 2005, Zuck launched Facebook. Gradually the engagement factor of Facebook became a force to reckon with. 

Google’s business model was to provide adverts highly specific to the search query, and it has been a grand success for them so far. One potential pro / con of this approach was the fact that the results were independent of who searched for the results. However, in real life, this is not the case. This is because the same search query can mean multiple things to different people. Google searches, while being highly relevant, were completely devoid of this calculation, and yet it all worked out great for Google…

Then Facebook entered, and with it the user specified a myriad number of their personal preferences, and choices, and likes and dislikes. All of this information was subsequently available to Facebook, and to the other third-party vendors who dealt with Facebook as well. The difference in the level of targeting that Google could provide, versus what Facebook could provide was astounding… This is because Facebook could not only take into account what the user was searching for, but also use a plethora of information about user’s likes, dislikes etc. and then subsequently present advertisements which were relevant not just from the search query POV, but also from the user’s POV…

I believe that Google did not anticipate an attack on their core business from this attack vector, and were complacent initially. Finally Google decided that social was an important angle to the whole targeted advertisement business, and tried to enter the social space. After a few ‘failed’ social experiments ( Orkut, Buzz ), Google finally launched Google+, and also updated it’s privacy policy to more broadly integrate user’s interactions across different Google properties. With this change, Google encourages users to log-in and stay logged-in across the different Google product offerings, and also enables Google to learn more about the logged-in user. Slowly, but surely, Google is on it’s way to building a solid social graph…

State of the Android....

A non-techie post highlighting where Android is, and where it is headed. Will be updated in due course of time as Android evolves and the use cases explode. :-)

• Android is “getting armor-plated”.
• Android is “headed to the Desktop”.
• Android will “power NASA’s mini-satellites”.
• Android will “give you Terminator vision”. :p
• Android will “help you control your TV”.

Commenced the use of 2 Factor Auth for my Google account

Security works best when it layered. Therefore, in order to protect your online accounts, it is best to have a strong-password, and to ensure that you always login from trusted computers and/or via trusted networks ( and preferably using SSL ). However, with most of the online services today, as long as someone has your userid and password, it means that your account can be accessed. In other words, your password is a single-point of failure, and no matter how strong it is, if it gets keylogged or phished, then basically your account is open. One of the ways of preventing this is by using something known as two-factor authentication, which needs additional piece of randomly generated information to complete the login process.

Since February 2011, Google has enabled access to to two-factor authentication for their services to common users. After about 2 weeks of deliberation, I decided to bite the bullet and activate two factor authentication on my account. If you are a heavy user of Google Services, you may consider it worthwhile to enable this feature on your Google account as well. It does add an extra step in the login process as part of increasing your account security, but may be worthwhile if your Google account is important to you. 

The details of how to setup your Google account to use 2FA are here, or here.

A short collection of Tech Blogs and Feeds that I like to visit / read

• HackerNews - http://news.ycombinator.com/
• Gizmodo - http://gizmodo.com/
• GigaOm - http://gigaom.com/
• Engadget - http://www.engadget.com/
• LifeHacker  - http://lifehacker.com/  - I like this blog due to the wide variety, and depth of articles.
• TechCrunch - http://techcrunch.com/ - Mostly for Apple / Google related news. Caution: Some posts can occasionally get high on  opinions, and less on analysis.
• RWW - ReadWriteWeb - http://www.readwriteweb.com/ - For all things Web 2.0
• IBM developerWorks - http://twitter.com/developerworks - IBM’s excellent feed on open source projects.

Thank You Google - for Google Docs

I just love Google Docs. The primary driving factor, which initially prompted me to use Google Docs was the easy collaboration feature, which has improved over time. Also, it seems to gel well with other Google products as well, which is an added advantage. I have started a flight training course, and after every flight I perform a self-debrief, on what my thoughts were. I began documenting the same via a spreadsheet. Within my ‘paper’ notes, I had drawn a simple line illustration of the pre-flight inspections. I imagined it would not be an easy task to obtain the same in a spreadsheet, out-of-the-box, i.e. without using another tool to do the same. However, I just thought of checking if I can do the same in Google Docs. Imagine my surprise when I discovered, that I can indeed do it, right within Google Docs, without any external program, and with Edit History being accessible as well ! Just wanted to say thanks to Google for making Google Docs.

Misc Security Tools

Firewall, Sniffer, Scanner, Nmap, Nessus, SAINT, Snort, Tripwire & SATAN * Cisco Intrusion Detection System, CyberCop, ISS Security Scanner, ISS RealSecure, ISS Preventia, Sniffers - Network Associates Sniffer Pro/ Sniffer Basic, Net-Xray, Ethereal, Snoop, TCP Dump, Novell Lanalyzer, Axent NetProwler, Abirnet Sessionwall, Winpharoah, Nessus, NMap, CyberCop, Internet Security Scanner, SSH Scan, Strobe,Cowpatty, Auditor, Sleuthkit, Autopsy, Helix, Snort, PortSentry, Host Sentry, Tripwire, ITA, ISS, Real Secure, Checkpoint, Cisco PIX, Juniper Netscreen, Secure Computing Sidewinder, Cyberguard, McAfee Intrushield, TippingPoint, SNORT, SourceFire, Fortinet, iPolicy, Cisco, Network General Sniffer, NESSUS, RetinaArcSight, Computer Associates eTrust, eSecurity, Intellitactics, Network Intelligence, PIX

Google Streetview comes to Atlanta

Google streetview comes to Atlanta, well now the house where I lived during my last semester at Tech is featured on Google earth, it seems like that the Google streetview car went infront of our houses at some point of time !!

The link below shows the house which I talked about earlier in this post, on Google earth.

http://tinyurl.com/63tqhr