spreadsheet

london wednesday 2015 12.8C sunny

i was lamenting that i could not find the google spreadsheet whatsit, and dont know how to make a spreadsheet even if i found it, when lo and behold, a nice blogger i follow showed me how because her latest post featured a spreadsheet link.

thanks to anexactinglife. the example she gave gives me an idea of how to do it. and she used  chrome spreadsheet, which makes it even better because i am using chrome too, and all my data is automatically saved on my drive. 

so all this morning i have been adding data to my spreadsheet. this being december, i have a whole lot of months from jan this year to catch up .

so finally i am able to see the bigger picture. at one glance the whole expenditure for the year. next stop is to compile the data for 2014 and see how it compares. 

 

from the chrome blog

london 8.20am 12.7C cloud. wednesday

i thought this bit of news about chrome in android limiting images downloads into mobile phones to save data usage, is quite interesting. if it detects a slow download, it will stop images from downloading, and requires u to specifically click to allow it. 

it will sway me to buying an android phone because it uses chrome to browse and it has this mode. 

data usage is a big factor in mobile phones with a sim plan. for eg,   the new mobile sim that talktalk is giving to us has only 200MB of data. and if that is exceeded u can bet they will charge the earth for it. i wont be using it as i dont have a smartphone, but if i do, it would be a big factor in deciding to buy an android phone.

another interesting post by chrome , about security. 

and here is news of a $149 chromebook.

 

its the humans who make mistakes and allow breach of security

london 11.12am in library using a wifi that is outside the library. saturday 2015

my chrome allows this wifi, so i know it is safe.

but look at this link, it tells of google discovering that semantec the company that provides digital certificates of validity to websites have ‘issued 23 test certificates without domain owner’s knowledge to five organizations that includes Google and Opera’. google found out and scolded them for it, and askwhether they should be allowed to be given the role of providing these certificates. when they audit it they found it gave out ‘164 certificates for 76 domains and 2,458 certificates issued for domains that had never been registered’.

semantec says it is some of their employees who did it, who have been sacked now. but it is not a good excuse, the company should have strong safeguards against rogue employees.

google is very strict about security and rightly so;  so much so that it wont even allow my chrome book to access the library wifi, just because it has a weak diffie helman whatsist. and it must have used this valid certification as a strong front line in their wall of security. if that valid certification is not worthwhile or is breached,  people will start getting viruses from their chrome OS(operating system); all hell will break lose with the issue of trust in the company. no wonder google is so strict about it. and of course no one is going to  blame semantec for it, but blame google… shame on sematec. 

talking of human error, it was via an administrator account whose username was tim, and password was tim, that got the hackers through the talktalk security. and then it is those people who were fooled into giving out their password to bogus callers, or who were fooled into transferring the money into bogus accounts. the humans are the weakest link. 

outlook by microsoft

london 9.31am thursday 2015 cloudy 15C sunrise 6.48am GMT sunset 4.39pm GMT length of day 9hrs 51mins.

i read here in iwebguy blog that microsoft is adding sunrise calendar, which theybought earlier this year for $100million to its outlook app.

i dont use smartphones but this chrome book has apps, but frankly i have no idea what it is really. in chromebook, there is also something called extensions. no idea what the difference .

but reading it i just thought are they going to put the sunrise and sunset times on the email? i daresay it is not going to be just that, or even that, it may have nothing to do with the movement of the sun. i think sunrise and sunset times are only of interest to us who live in temperate latitudes. those near the equator couldnot careless as it is always more or less the same throughout the year for them.

but not for the first time that i am brought up short by these computer speak. they said microsoft bought the company sunrise, so that might be it, it is just a name. but so much money for a calendar?? weird! right? i suppose it acts like a reminder sending alerts to the phone when the time comes.

i used to have outlook express, but with all their changes they got rid of it because one day i could not use it anymore.  i dont know where it went.

now i just go into my two hotmail.com email addresses and get my mail. before with the outlook express it was very easy to shift between the two.

ah well, it does not matter because google chrome remembers my password and automatically adds it on. i can see i will get into trouble if anyone steals this chrome book, because than they can get into my emails without any need to know the password. ah well, all the more reason to really keep an eye on this chrome book, but then if someone mugs me for it, than it will be taken, and all my care will not be of much use. ( i am hoping even the thief will look with scorn on my chromebook, stealing it would be beneath his dignity)

i guess i must be a security nightmare, being so careless about guarding passwords.

i guard my chromebook with a password, so no one can access it if it is completely shut down, but often i dont shut it down completely. i just close the lid, and it puts it to sleep. and it can awaken without a password if i open the lid.

i suppose i should shut it down completely everytime i finish with it. its easy to do, just press the start button for a longer time than usual.  but it is tiresome to type in the password everytime. i guess someone who is involved with security would scold me for being so lazy. 

i suppose people will say dont ask chrome to remember your passwords…( i dont do it for my internet banking of course) but it is just because i like the convenience that chrome can remember my passwords. sometimes because it is used automatically so often, almost like it is the default, so that i never have to remember it,  i forgot the password myself.

i have been wiping my stuff from my old windows laptop to give to my friend, and realise it is very heavy. now i am so used to my chrome, that old laptop seems to weigh a ton. and it is difficult to use. for one thing he has to install a up to date antivirus system as the AVG i use is 2014. i use to wonder why there are no old laptops that are refurbished and sold second hand and i can see why now. they are very cumbersome to use.

i think chromebooks would make good second hand laptops for those who just want to get emails and surf  the internet.

i would think this chrome book of mine wont really go wrong for ages and wont need to be replaced much. hope i can use it for at least 7yrs. (2021) the old laptops normally last me 5yrs.

 its interesting that hamleys, the 225yr old toyshop in regent st, has been sold for the same amount to a chinese women’s shoe retailer, C. banner international. something in the internet with no physical assets cost the same as one venerable old business that has existed for so long. Life is very topsy turvy isn’t it?

3 cheers for google chrome

london 4.36pm cloudy 20C sunday 2015

i had a really pleasant experience with the google store chap in the pc world store in the tottenham court road shop today.

i went there because my chrome book wont allow me to log on. it was working well as usual, until i was at the marylebone library and tried to log on to the wifi. earlier the library wifi at another library, in paddington where i went to earlier i could not log on, because google says it is unsafe. that is the first time i got that message in relation to the library wifi. but it wont even allow me to connnect to it, so i dont quite see how i got a virus or whatever to affect my chromebook. 

usually when i put in my password, it opens the chrome book and i get into my page. but this time, the screen went dark and then it returned to asking me for my password.

i left it and thought maybe it is a temporary glitch. but i tried to enter when i was on the bus near trafalgar square, as i was coming back from the marylebone library, and the problem still persisted.

i remembered there is a google store in the pcworld shop near warren st tube station, on the tottenham court road, so at the spur of the moment, i decided to leave the bus and catch the 24 to warren street tube.

 i know i had a lot of help from them last time, when i first bought the chrome book. they have a special section devoted to google store, where the chap there did all the work in sending a message via his ipad, to the google help line. it was a lady , we think she is in  america, who called back on his mobile, because i did not bring my mobile with me, and she talked him through how to power wash and reconfigure my chromebook like it is a new chrome book.

once that was done i could get into my chrome book but all my passwords and bookmarks were gone. but not to worry, she sent a email telling how to get it all back, and there was a link to my dashboard with more instructions. i was really glad the google chap was there to do it, as i doubt i would know where those settings are.

anyway, it is all done and i got my chrome book working again.

i dont know how this glitch happened. was it what i did? if so what did i do? or even not my fault but something else? but he said she seem to know exactly what the problem was so it must be something that happens.

thank goodness for google i think. to be able to get this help so quickly and thank goodness for living in london and have quick easy access to a google store. i would highly recommend buying a chrome book.

if it had been a windows laptop i would be unable to get such a lot of help to correct the problem. 

Apple not immune as new virus spreads

Apple not immune as new virus spreads.

seems this is a worm that is cooked up by researchers, to show it can be done. and spread by plugging in accessories, rather than infected emails, or via a website.

i think the future must be the google chrome model, where u dont plug in anything to the gadget because it is all operated via the cloud. and it is easier to monitor the cloud for malware, and to correct it centrally. it also means if the laptop is stolen, all your data is safe and recoverable, as they are all in the cloud. u just lose a cheap gadget which wont be of use to anyone if u have passport protect it. that means no one will want to steal it, in the first place.

that is why i dont really have to bother with antivirus safeguards. if there is any virus or worm in the program and  i try to click onto, the chrome blocks me from getting it, saying it is an unsafe thingy, and that is that, i cannot download it.

even with wifi it can refuse to connect to any that it thinks is dubious. to me, it means i cannot get online at that area, but then who cares, i dont. haha. i dont mind not being online all the time when i am out and about in town. at home i have my own broadband, so i can be online whenever i like.

i think that must be the future way of doing things.

Look at pictures of cats from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection with this chrome extension

Look at pictures of cats from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection with this chrome extension.

if u are using chrome, and u like cats, this extension will suit you. it even got me wondering if i should click on it and use it.  it opens a new tab with pictures of cats from the metropolitan museum. rather neat, and from the examples of cats they show, it seems they got a vast and very unusual collection of cats pictures.

google chrome vs microsoft explorer

london

Yesterday, simon was so frustrated with his explorer browser that he downloaded google chrome, with some encouragement from me.

He had a laptop running microsoft and it wont start anymore. so he bought a windows 8 software program (costing £100)  and installed it. usually it would wipe out the existing windows and install the new one as if like new. but he told me even though he clicked the box which says this will delete all your files, he found that it did not. then i get him coming to me occasionally throughout the evening complaining of this thing or that thing which dont work. haha. I was real glad that i dont have to bother with microsoft explorer now i got my chromebook.

Anyway, after he installed google chrome, he began to learn how to use it. he found he had to download iplayer from google chrome to get it to work . before he was complaining to me that his iplayer did not work . he found out that when he deleted that (downloaded using explorer) and than reinstall with the download using google chrome, the iplayer used google chrome as the default ,instead of explorer,and so it worked.

Nowadays each system does its utmost to shut out the other… i have noticed that. in the past they allow others using a different system to access each other… i guess this was due to microsoft windows letting others access windows, because everyone was using windows. now windows is realising that their free access is allowing google chrome to steal business and customers from them.

I have noticed that google chrome do not let explorer users (and i presume other browsers too ) full use of their system. you are forced to get google chrome. That is why simon could not run his iplayer downloaded using explorer, to play on his google chrome browser; it is google stopping it from accessing google chrome.

That might explain why so many have switched to google chrome. AS well as the fact that google chrome is much easier to use and u dont have to bother with upgrades and virus attacks like you have to when you are using explorer windows.

I can say this, their strategy is working because even i have switched and i am very resistant to change my browser.

Google chrome have so attracted me that when i have to buy a new laptop, i was sure i dont want a laptop with windows 8 on it.  The ideal would be a windows 7 explorer with google chrome in it.  That way u get the easy use of windows for saving stuff and copy and paste things, with the quick response of google chrome in opening web pages. But windows 8 destroyed this easy marriage.

Or rather, i should correct myself and say people just got confused using two systems, and google chrome being the easier to understand, people just shut off explorer instead.

simon has a windows 8 and he was able to download and use googlechrome, so i guess he will get the best of the two systems. But i noticed his laptop is v heavy, now that i can compare it with my chromebook. somehow when something is so heavy u feel very reluctant to carry it about. certainly i noticed i carry my chromebook out and about now whereas when i got my laptop  i never carry it outside.