Category: Android

CPI: Continuous Privacy Improvement – Part 2

Lorin Olsen
Continuous Improvement
Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement is nothing new. In the early nineties, total quality management (TQM) was all the rage. And even then, TQM was a re-visitation of techniques applied in preceding decades. Today, continuous improvement is embraced in nearly every development methodology. But whether from the “fifties” or the “twenties”, the message is still the same: any measurable improvement (whether in processes or in technologies) is the result of a systematic approach. This is true for software development. And it is true for continuous privacy improvements.

Privacy Is Threatened

With every wave of technology change, there have been concurrent improvements in determining what customers desire – and what they will “spend” in order to obtain something. At the same time, customers have become increasingly frustrated with corporate attempts to “anticipate” their “investment” habits. For example, the deployment of GPS and location technologies has allowed sellers to “reach” potential customers whenever those customers are physically near the point of sale. In short, when you got to the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, you’ll probably get adds for stores that are in your vicinity.

While some people find this exhilarating, many people find it frustrating. And some see these kinds of capabilities as demonstrative of a darker capability: the ability for those with capability to monitor and manage the larger populace. For some, the “sinister” people spying on them are corporations. For many, the “malevolent” forces that they fear are shadowy “hackers” that can steal (or have already stolen) both property and identity. And for a very small group of people, the powers that they fear most are governments and / or similar authorities. For everyone, the capability to monitor and influence behavior is real.

Surveillance And Exploitation Are Not New

Governments have tried to “watch” citizens – whether to protect them from threats or to “manage” them into predetermined behaviors. You can look at every society and see that there have always been areas of our life that we wish to keep private. And balanced against those desires are the desires of other people. So with every generation (and now with every technology change), the dance of “personal privacy” and “group management” is renewed.

As the technology used for surveillance has matured, the tools for ensuring privacy have also changed. And the methods for ensuring privacy today have drastically changed from the tools used even a few years ago. And if history is a good predictor of the future, then we can and should expect that we must continually sharpen our tools for privacy – even as our “adversaries” are sharpening their tools of surveillance. Bottom Line: The process of maintaining our privacy is subject to continuous threat and must be handled in a model akin to continuous process improvement. So let’s start accepting the need for continuous privacy improvement.

Tackling Your Adversaries – One At A Time

If you look at the state of surveillance, you probably are fatigued by the constant fight to maintain your privacy. I know that I am perpetually fatigued. Every time that you harden your defenses, new threats emerge. And the process of determining your threats and your risks seems to be never-ending. And in truth, it really is never-ending. So how do you tackle such a problem? I do it systematically.

As an academic (and lifetime) debater – as well as a trained enterprise architect – I continually assess the current state. That assessment involves the following activities:

  • Specify what the situation is at the present moment.
  • Assess the upsides and downsides of the current situation.
  • Identify those things that are the root causes of the current situation.
  • Outline what kind of future state (or target state) would be preferable.
  • Determine the “gaps” between the current and future states.
  • Develop a plan to address those gaps (and their underlying problems).

And there are many ways to build plans. Some folks love the total replacement model. And while this is feasible for some projects, it is rarely practical for our personal lives. [Note: There are times when threats do require a total transformation. But they are the exception and not the general rule.] Since privacy is such a fundamental part of our lives, we must recognize that changes to our privacy posture must be made incrementally – and continuously. Consequently, we must understand the big picture and then attack in small and continuous ways. In military terms, you want to avoid multi-front campaigns at all cost. Both Napoleon and Hitler eschewed this recommendation. And they lost accordingly.

My Current State – And My Problems

I embarked on my journey towards intentional privacy a few years ago. I’ve given dozens of talks about privacy and security to both IT teams and to personal acquaintances. And I’ve made it a point to chronicle my personal travails along my path to a more private life. But in order to improve, I needed to assess what I’ve done – and what remains to be done.

So here goes…

Over the past two years, I’ve switched my primary email provider. I’ve changed my search providers and my browsers – multiple times. And I’ve even switched from Windows to Linux. But my transformation has always been one step away from its completion.

The Next (to Last) Step: De-googling

This year, I decided to address the elephant in the room: I decided to take a radical step towards removing Google from my life. I’ve been using Google products for almost half of my professional life. Even though I knew that Google was one of the largest threat actors my ecosystem, I still held on to to a Google lifeline. Specifically, I was still using a phone based upon Google’s ecosystem. [Note: I did not say Android. Because Android is a Linux-oriented phone that Google bought and transformed into a vehicle for data collection and advertising delivery.]

I had retained my Google foothold because I had some key investments that I was unwilling to relinquish. The first of these was a Google Voice number that had been at the heart of my personal life (and my business identity). That number was coupled with my personal Google email identity. It was the anchor of hundreds of accounts. And it was in the address books of hundreds of friends, relatives, colleagues, customers, and potential customers.

Nevertheless, the advantages of keeping a personal Google account were finally outweighed by my firm realization that Google wasn’t giving me an account for free; Google was “giving” me an account to optimize their advertising delivery. Or stated differently, I was willing to sell unfettered access to myself as long as I didn’t mind relinquishing any right to privacy. And after over fifteen years with the same account, I was finally ready to reclaim my right to privacy.

Too Many Options Can Lead To Inaction

I had already taken some steps to eliminate much of the Google stranglehold on my identity. But they still had the lynch pins:

  • I still had a personal Google account, and
  • Google had unfettered access to my mobile computing platform.

So I had to break the connection from myself to my phone. I carefully considered the options that were available to me.

  1. I could switch to an iPhone. Without getting too detailed, I rejected this option as it was simply trading one master for another one. Yes, I had reason to believe that Apple was “less” invasive than Google. But Google was “less” invasive at one point in time. So I rejected trading one for another.
  2. I could install a different version of Android on my current phone. While I have done this in the past, I was not able to do this with my current phone. I had bought a Samsung Galaxy S8+ three years ago. And when I left Sprint for the second time (due to the impending merger), I kept the phone. But this phone was based upon the Qualcomm SnapDragon 855. Consequently, the phone had a locked bootloader. And Qualcomm has never relented and unlocked the bootloader. So I cannot flash a new ROM (like LineageOS) on this phone.
  3. I could install a different version of Android on a new phone. This option had some merit – at the cost of purchasing new phone hardware. I could certainly buy a new (or used) phone that would support GraphenOS or LineageOS. But during these austere times (when consulting contracts are sparse), I will not relinquish any coin of the realm to buy back my privacy. And buying a Pixel sounds more like paying a ransomware demand that buying something of value.
  4. I could take what I had and live with it. Yes, this is the default option. And while I diddled with comparisons, this WAS what I did for over a year. After all, it fell into the adage that if it isn’t broken, then why fix it? But such defaults never last – at least, not for me.
  5. I could use the current phone and take the incremental next step in using a phone with a locked bootloader: I could eliminate the Google bits by eliminating the Google account and by uninstalling (and/or disabling) Google, Samsung, and T-Mobile apps using the Android Debug Bridge (a.k.a., adb).

I had previously decided to de-google my phone before my birthday (in July). So once Independence Day came and went, I got serious about de-googling my phone.

The Road Less Taken

Of all of the options available to me, I landed on the one that cost the least amount of my money but required the most investment of my personal time. So I researched many different lists of Google apps (and frameworks) on the Samsung Galaxy S8+. I first disabled the apps that I had identified. Then I used a tool available on the Google Play Store called Package Disabler Pro. I have used this before. So I used it again to identify those apps that I could readily disable. By doing this, I could determine the full impact of deleted some of these packages – before I actually deleted them. Once I had developed a good list and had validated that the phone would still operate, I made my first attempt.

And as expected, I ran into a few problems. Some of them were unexpected. But most of them were totally expected. Specifically, Google embeds some very good technology in the Google Play Services (gms) and Google Services Framework (gsf). And when you disable / delete these tools, a lot of apps just won’t work completely. This is especially true with notifications.

I also found out that there were some key multimedia messaging services (MMS) capabilities that I was using without realizing it. So when I deleted these MMS tools, I had trouble with some of my routine multi-recipient messages. I solved this by simply re-installing those pieces of software. [Note: If that had not worked, then I was ready to re-flash to a baseline T-Mobile ROM. So I had multiple fallback plans. Fortunately, the re-installation solved the biggest problem.]

Bottom Line

After planning for the eventual elimination of my Google dependence, I finally took the necessary last step towards a more private life; I successfully de-googled my phone – and my personal life. Do I still have some interaction with Google? Of course I do. But those interactions are far less substantial, far more manageable, and far more private. At the same time, I have eliminated a large number of Samsung and T-Mobile tracking tools. So my continuous privacy improvement process (i.e., my intentional privacy improvements) has resulted in a more desirable collaboration between myself and my technology partners.

The Digital Economy Class

Lorin Olsen
Economy Class...With A Little Quality
Economy Class…With Quality Touches

One of the most important things that you do as a consultant is the marketing of your expertise. You have to build a brand that screams, “I AM AN EXPERT”. At the same time, you need a brand that also proclaims, “I am savvy, suave, and not at all desperate for business opportunities.” I usually favor one of these two messages. I need to embrace both of them. In the past few weeks, I have taken a number steps that will amplify both messages. By assembling both spare and specialty parts in innovative ways, I hope to conduct my business in the “digital economy class”.

What do I mean when I say, “digital economy class”? It is exactly what it sounds like. When the first airlines offered transportation services, air flight was novel – and it was expensive. So the airlines offered “first class” accommodations: large (and comfortable) seats, ample storage, and fine dining. But as airlines re-focused upon mass transit goals (exploiting economies-of-scale to reach a larger markets), seats became smaller – and food became paltry – and sometimes non-existent. Today, you can get inexpensive transportation in a no-frills kind of way.

Digital Parallels

The same thing has happened in the digital economy. consulting services have seen the same transformation as airlines. In the eighties and nineties, huge accounting firms provided “first class” services – at a steep prices. And shareholders saw this by the IT department’s impressive share of corporate margins. Yes, you can still find big consultancies. But today’s service landscape now includes budget (commodity) services offered by offshore consultancies. And you can find specialty firms that offer the “first class” experience – but their services are limited to a specific technological niche. For example, there are countless consulting groups that specialize in security or networking or web site / content development. And there are just as many consulting firms that specialize in specific industries.

The final result is the same. As airlines reached out to a larger market, they needed to achieve economies-of-scale in order to maintain shareholder profits. In the same way, digital consulting firms must address digital efficiencies. But in the digital market, there is a very limited cost of entry. You don’t have to spend millions of dollars (or hours) to get into the business and compete. You just need to define your scope and focus on building a team that will deliver premier services to your targeted market.

Proper Scoping Is Essential

I have grand plans for my company. My eyesight may be poor – but my vision is unrestricted. Consequently, I wanted a team that could focus upon anything and everything. I may realize that dream – at some point. But for now, I have to narrow my scope to something more achievable. But where should I focus?

  • I can do application and web site development. So can millions of other people. And my poor eyesight does limit my ability to deliver stunning visuals. Why? Simple. I can’t appreciate visual distinctiveness as well as others.
  • I can sling code. But the nineties taught me that other people would willingly sling code for far less compensation. Yes, I can learn any programming language. I’d even put my adaptability ahead of most folks. But like a renaissance man, my breadth of knowledge and my aptitude at learning new things does not always serve me well. When someone is looking for a house painter, they don’t need the cool flourishes that I can develop just for them. Some people just want paint on a slab.
  • I can architect complex systems. Yes, hundreds of other people can do the same thing. But there are fewer competitors in this space. And if I can further narrow my scope to specific domains, I can stand out even further.
Our Current Scope

So what is our current scope / focus? For today, we are focusing upon strategic services – in the small and medium-sized business market. We can’t compete with the mega-consultancies or the offshore budget services. But we know what we are doing when it comes to key services:

  1. Security architectures
  2. Infrastructure architecture and design services
  3. Business architectures
  4. IT Governance
  5. ITSM / ITL Operations Excellence
  6. IT Collaboration
Building A “Digital Economy Class”

Can we build the digital equivalent of “economy class” services? Sure. But so can others. The toughest part of this is setting the right scope so that we can maintain “first class” attributes in a commodity-oriented market segment. And the way that we deliver this is through our team. Our team wants to offer “white glove” service at an affordable price. We won’t skimp on quality. And our team will innovate wherever possible. We don’t want to deliver the most expensive service. But our team does want to deliver the most affordable “first class” experience. We will get you where you want to go. That is our first priority. But we will make sure that you have enough leg room so that we don’t cut off the circulation to your toes.

But how can you do all of this?

You have to save money some place. So we believe in helping you to reclaim the value from past investments. We want to help you to ‘recycle’ (and redeploy) your technology assets. You’ve already spent thousands (or millions) of dollars for point solutions. And you have a lot of technological assets that can be more fully utilized and/or repurposed.

For some companies, the journey is simple. You can extend the number of years that you keep assets (assuming that you have purchased them). So whenever you buy new infrastructure for a new project, you can cascade established (and lower priority) applications to your more mature infrastructure platforms. There are risks to accept when you do this. But with every new generation of IT technology, those risks are diminishing.

You can also increase systems utilization for existing systems – especially hosting platforms. Because technology efficiency has increased, you can now run your systems at higher utilization levels than you did in the past. So some companies can leverage what economists call economies-of-scale.

Finally, you can re-purpose existing assets that are not currently used. You may not have any such assets. But we have found that many companies have not focused upon their asset inventory and asset disposal processes. Indeed, most companies have surplus (older) assets that can be used for lower priority tasks. Of course, this assumes that you have both a 1-n priority list of your application/system assets and a 1-n list of your technology assets. If you have done just such a asset prioritization, then we can help you to create service tiers and allocate systems to appropriate platforms. If you haven’t categorized your assets into 1-n lists, then we can also help you to do that.

A Simple Example

We have the same technology needs that every other company has. But as a small and nimble company, we have to wring every bit of value out of every asset. So when I started to do the speaking (i.e., Meetup) circuit in the Chicagolands, I needed to have additional capabilities. Specifically, I needed a good presentation platform. That meant having a good laptop, a good traveling network infrastructure, and a good projector.

In most small and medium-sized businesses, I only have to bring my laptop. The network and the projector are usually provided by the host. And this is the same for large venues; there is almost always network infrastructure and a projector. But this is not the case for one of my upcoming presentations.

The venue for this presentation will be a room in a local pub. My host is graciously providing a projector. And the venue may or may not have wireless networking. But since my presentation is about security and privacy, I really didn’t want to run my presentation across an ill-secured public hotspot. So I decided that I wanted to bring my own network to the venue.

This could have been done in one of several ways.
  • Purchase a new router with an embedded mobile network interface: While working for major corporations, I would have just requisitioned what I needed. But I no longer have an infrastructure budget of my own. So every purchase must be connected to a real revenue opportunity. And many of my presentations are now for lead generation. So this option was a non-starter.
  • Re-purpose an old wireless router (that is in our office inventory: Since the router is big, it might have been quite impressive. It’s not a rack-mounted device. But it is bulky. And it doesn’t have builtin mobile network access.
  • Purchase a mobile hotspot. And I may do that at some point. But since this is a meetup function, it made no sense to acquire new corporate or personal funds for a network device, an access contract, or a pre-paid SIM.
  • Build our own mobile hotspot: I consulted our asset inventory and found an unused mobile phone. It was an old Nexus 6p that I had used while working for a carrier. It is an existing asset. And we do have unlimited data plans. So it would be possible to temporarily move an existing SIM to this device. Since this solution meant zero incremental capital or expense investments, I decided to pursue this option. After all, I could always purchase a solution after I tried this option.
The Pixel Experience

I had two phones that I could use. One is my Samsung Galaxy S8+. The other is a Nexus 6p (from Huawei). I needed one phone to be the hotspot and the other phone would then be the device that I would display on the projector. It would have been nice to do both on the same phone. Unfortunately, the builtin hotspot capability turns off the builtin screen casting. Could I have paid for a presentation app that would have done this? I probably could have. But I wanted a stock experience as much as possible. Since all of my mobile phone privacy apps are all on my “daily driver” (the Samsung S8+), I decided to use the Nexus 6p as the hotspot platform.

I took a few hours and I rebuilt the Nexus 6p. Specifically, I decided to upgrade the phone to a build that would support Android Pie (i.e., Android 9.x). I did this to ensure that I would get the latest hotspot software from the Android team. Then I swapped SIM cards so that I could use my T-Mobile unlimited data on my “presentation” hotspot. Apart from a few hiccups that I encountered while unlocking the bootloader, the process was remarkably simple. When I was done, I had a shiny new Nexus 6p running the Pixel Experience ROM (featuring Android Pie).

Bottom Line

When you need “economy class” services, you can still find distinctiveness. A good company provides economic value to its customers while not sacrificing the personal touches. We did this for ourselves when we leveraged existing gear in innovative ways. You can do this for yourself by selecting technology experts who share your desire to provide high quality to your customers while leveraging the best value at hand.

Me and My Tablet

Lorin Olsen

It’s been twenty-one days since I bought my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 device. And in that time, the tab and I have been through a lot. We’ve had to replace the Zagg screen protector twice. We’ve shared a firmware upgrade (courtesy of the talented Samsung support team). We’ve even solved a DHCP problem with a Belkin router at my office. Throughout that time, we’ve shared many apps (free and paid). All in all, we are becoming quite a couple.
After suffering a lot of anxiety about how we would relate to each other should we take “the ultimate step” in our relationship, we finally set aside any emotional baggage and cemented our relationship. Last night, I rooted my best tablet. By taking this ultimate step in commitment, we are reluctantly saying “goodbye” to direct support from Samsung. But I have high hopes that Steve Kondik (CyanogenMod creator who just joined Samsung) may help to create a new relationship between Samsung, its products and its customers.
-Roo

Bouncing Between Various Quanta of Activity

Lorin Olsen


It has been an amazingly hectic week.  And today has epitomized the chaos that I’ve felt.  This week has seen a lot:

  • We got back from vacation (which was really just a long weekend).  But we have been struggling to re-integrate into our normal routines.
  • The man who enticed me to leave my previous job has left our company.  I am quite disappointed.  But God has already quieted my heart.  And He is teaching me how I can transform a disappointment into a blessing – and a ministry.
  • I’ve decided to step back into the management pool.  So I’ve submitted my name for consideration by the company’s leadership team.  I have been heart warmed to learn that my application was not summarily dismissed!  😉
  • Our dishwasher decided to develop a weak bladder: when we turned it on, it leaked everywhere.  At eight years, it was time to buy a new unit.  So we went and bought an updated dishwasher (Bosch) with a stainless steel finish.  Our black appliances are starting to look a little dated.
  • After getting a new dishwasher, we also realized that it was time to update the refrigerator.  While we liked the looks of a matching Bosch unit, we decided upon a Samsung stainless steel unit because it had better reviews on Consumer Reports.  It also had some features that my wife really wanted.  So Samsung got the nod.
  • We cleaned out the garage to get things ready for appliance delivery.  Actually, we’ve re-arranged some stuff while sorting some other stuff into the trash.  We now have room for the old refrigerator in the garage.  I am voting for a beer and wine fridge; Cindy is considering my suggestion!

With these things as a back drop, today has been chaotic and wonderful.

  • We’ve worked to get the old fridge ready for replacement.  We still have to move the final stuff into coolers.  But we will be ready for the arrival of the new refrigerator.
  • I’ve updated my resume so that I can get it submitted to the leadership team.  I’m really hoping that they have the same opinion of my capabilities that I have.
  • We’ve gotten all the dishes done.  Normally, this is simple.  But it’s been years since I washed a lot of dishes by hand.  We did mostof them earlier in the week.  But we now have to keep up with them throughout the day.
  • My son left a boatload of laundry for us to do for him.  Apparently, he’s been stacking the clothes in his room waiting for someone to do them.  Gosh, are all nineteen-year old men this naive?  And are all middle-aged parents this accommodating?
  • After many hours of sorting and shuffling leftover laundry, we’ve finally gotten around to doing the week’s laundry.  Phew.  I never thought I’d make it to this point today!

With a lot of tasks finally moving through the pipeline, I’ve finally gotten a chance to address a couple of tech challenges.

  • I’ve copied all of the photos from Meredith’s wedding onto our media server.
  • I’ve updated Cindy’s phone so that she can access the media server from where she travels.  The latest firmware build for the storage server is quite good.  Western Digital provides a redirect service so that I can get to my photos (and music and movies) from the public Internet.  This is very cool.  But it reminds me that security is an everyday consideration these days.
  • I’ve updated my router firmware to enable uPNP sharing.  This will certainly help our mobile experience.  But I am a little leery about this change.  I’ll have to research a little more to see if I’ve opened myself up to exploitation.
  • I’ve flashed my phone with the latest CyanogenMod firmware.

I think I’m finally able to breathe a little sigh of relief – but not for long.  Once the refrigerator is delivered, Cindy and I will have a lot of work to do.  But now that most of the prep work is done, this part should be fun.  But I do think that pizza will be in order!

-Roo

Welcome Back My Friends…

Lorin Olsen


…to the show that never ends.
Last weekend was exciting – and frustrating.  Seven days ago, I decided that I needed to switch to a different ROM on my phone.  I loved Liberty GB.  But about a month ago, it lost all of its momentum.  Daily builds had dried up.  And there was no sustainable roadmap for future development.
But the CyanogenMod distribution was thriving.  Nightly builds were flourishing.  And this ROM was even pushing boundaries by adopting cutting edge features from many sources – including the carriers.  CM7 was headed towards Android 2.3.5 (which was delivered this past week).  And CM& has included the T-Mobile Theme Chooser.  This mod was smoking.
So last weekend, I took the plunge…
…and landed in a dry lake bed.
I really didn’t want to wipe my phone to bare metal.  I had read quite a bit that seemed to indicate that I would need to wipe the cache, data and even system files on my phone.  Since I had never wiped the system files and used SBF to rebuild my base system, I was nervous.  Then I read a whole lot of posts that said that if I was on a Gingerbread build (of Liberty), I could just wipe cache and data and then install.  So that’s what I did.  And that’s when I landed in the dry lake bed.
The result of this approach was a fully bricked phone.  In fact, I’ve never torched a system quite as successfully as I had torched my phone.  There was absolutely nothing left on my phone.  So I had to learn about SBF and then do it for myself.  Fortunately, the process is simple.  All you have to do is get the right software on your desktop, connect your phone via USB and then use the bootloader to re-deploy the basic image (that originally came from your carrier).
Once I flashed the phone, I was tempted to just stay put.  That temptation lasted thirty minutes before I flashed the base CyanogenMod system.
And what a wonderful change this has been.
I love this ROM.  It is fast.  It is stable.  Most importantly, it is actively developed.  In the past seven days, I’ve loaded six nightly builds.  The only reason that there weren’t seven nightlies is because one of the nightlies included a whole new Android build (i.e., 2.3.5).  So there was no new build on July 26.  I guess it took an extra day to put together such a big change.
It is even more exciting to see that CM7 is the productof a lot of code branches assembled together.  I am so impressed with the T-Mobile theme chooser.

Is it the best such tool?  Probably not.  But it was developed within a massive company.  Nevertheless, it was released as open source.  So the CM folks pulled it into their ROM distribution.  This is one of the greatest things about open source development.  You are able to pick and  choose the things you want to assemble together.  I suspect that this theme chooser will now find its way into almost every Android distribution.
Vive le difference.
-Roo

Using Android to Remotely Control Media Playback

Lorin Olsen


It’s interesting to see how mobile devices can be used for the oddest little tasks.  My Android phone can do a lot.  It can run all sorts of network apps.  And the latest app I’ve picked up is a remote control tool for the VideoLAN VLC media player.
When you think about it, there isn’t a lot of “never been done before” tools in this kind of application.  But the folks at VideoLAN have really assembled an innovative package.
An http server is installed on the machine that you want to control. The server accepts incoming web connections and processes these requests as control strings to manage the operation of a VLC media player on the target computer.  The server provides content listing and content playback controls via http packets.
A TCP/IP control program on your phone communicates with the web server on your computer.  The mobile control program has a nice little GUI that displays the content and allows you to manage the server.

The PC-based server can either send the content to a display attached to your system or the server can stream the ontent to your phone.  And I was incredibly surprised at the picture quality when it was streamed to the phone.  I wish I could share a picture with you, but ShootMe didn’t get any good screen captures of the Android-based VLC player.  I’ll have to try and get these at a later time. But trust me when I say that the streaming quality is good.
So what did this experiment prove?
First, the open nature of the platform breeds this kind of innovative tinkering.  People can fiddle and tweak things as much as they like.  And you don’t have to go through the app police to get a permit in order to test, to distribute and to operate apps.
Second, the size of the Android developer community is huge.  The sheer enormity of the developer base is leading to some very cool innovations.
Finally, it’s great to have lots of choices.  But it can get crowded in any given application category.    There needs to be a good method for recommendations and curation.  The Amazon philosophy of 4/5 star customer ratings is an excellent way to weed through enormous piles of similarly featured tools.
Is this tool cool?  It most certainly is cool.  Is it an essential tool for home media center management?  It most assuredly is not essential.  But sometimes cool is enough – at least for tonight.
 
-Roo
 

A New Market Is On The Horizon

Lorin Olsen

 

 

Just when you thought Google’s plate was too full (with Gingerbread/Honeycomb, Google Music and Google+), it looks like the Android team is sprucing up the Market a bit.
The snapshots above were taken from my phone on the new Market.  The functionality is almost the same as it was before.  But the look and feel seems vastly improved.  More importantly, there are hints about new things on the horizon.  In particular, there appears to be a movie rental option that may soon arrive in the Market.
But from my vantage point, I’m just satisfied with a Market that works when I need it.  In the past, I’ve relied upon the Market to rebuild my system whenever I’ve had to do a clean install of Android.  In fact, I just have to point a newly pressed image at the Market and let my phone build from there.  It is seamless and nearly faultless.  Sure it takes some time to rebuild.  But  the feature is well worth the wait.
Now, the Market also looks great as well.  My only concern is that the newer images will require a great deal more downloading and file transfers.  I sure hope that you aren’t paying for all the new graphics that Google is now pushing at you.
-Roo

Naming Your Phone Ain’t Easy

Lorin Olsen

 

This week has been hectic at work and hectic at home.  When there weren’t too many things to be done, there were hugely important little things that needed to be addressed.

This ain’t either one of those! 🙂

Like a lot of other geeks and music freaks, I’ve been fiddling with Spotify.  I’ll post a full review of Spotify sometime this weekend – along with a more complete review of Google+.  But I saw some things when I installed Spotify that made me address a long-standing challenge I have with Android.  Specifically,  Spotify allows you to sync your music to your mobile devices based upon the host names that your mobile devices present to your WiFi infrastructure.  But Android doesn’t provide useful names for your phone.

In fact, the name that most Android phones provide is positively hideous.  It usually takes the form of Android + <hexadecimal character string>.  And when you have three or more Android phones connecting to your WiFi router, this kind of naming is impossible to manage.  Like most folks, I prefer seeing a name that is customer-selected.

So I began the great Google quest.  I found out where the odd name comes from.  I also found a means of changing that name via a command shell and rot privileges.  I even found an app that will change the name – but it is only effective until the next reboot of the phone.  Finally, I realized that I could change the name on my home network by updating the DHCP tables on the router itself.

So I can affect the change that I desire (see above).  But it sure would be nice if Google (and the Android community) would update the core OS to allow for customer-selected host names.  That way, the platform will be even more manageable for the average user.

 

-Roo

 

 

Naming Your Phone Ain't Easy

Lorin Olsen

 

This week has been hectic at work and hectic at home.  When there weren’t too many things to be done, there were hugely important little things that needed to be addressed.
This ain’t either one of those! 🙂
Like a lot of other geeks and music freaks, I’ve been fiddling with Spotify.  I’ll post a full review of Spotify sometime this weekend – along with a more complete review of Google+.  But I saw some things when I installed Spotify that made me address a long-standing challenge I have with Android.  Specifically,  Spotify allows you to sync your music to your mobile devices based upon the host names that your mobile devices present to your WiFi infrastructure.  But Android doesn’t provide useful names for your phone.
In fact, the name that most Android phones provide is positively hideous.  It usually takes the form of Android + <hexadecimal character string>.  And when you have three or more Android phones connecting to your WiFi router, this kind of naming is impossible to manage.  Like most folks, I prefer seeing a name that is customer-selected.
So I began the great Google quest.  I found out where the odd name comes from.  I also found a means of changing that name via a command shell and rot privileges.  I even found an app that will change the name – but it is only effective until the next reboot of the phone.  Finally, I realized that I could change the name on my home network by updating the DHCP tables on the router itself.
So I can affect the change that I desire (see above).  But it sure would be nice if Google (and the Android community) would update the core OS to allow for customer-selected host names.  That way, the platform will be even more manageable for the average user.
 
-Roo
 
 

Google+ Comes Crashing Into Chez Roo

Lorin Olsen


I’ve been hearing the buzz about Google+ for months.  It has been the subject of many tech conversations for quite some time.  But I’ve been way too busy with weddings and work.  So Google+ has taken a back seat at our home.  But that ended yesterday.
A few of my friends saw a plaintive lament for an invite.  Within thirty minutes, I had a slew of invitations in my email.  So thank to everyone who saw fit to share with me.  As of yesterday, I’ve waded into the stream.
So what are my first thoughts?  That’s such a tough question.  I really loved Google Wave.  And since I have been using Google Mail and Google Reader since their inception, I had no trouble getting aboard the Buzz bus.  But Buzz didn’t get any real traction.  I think that this was because Wave was focused on the act of collaboration and Buzz was focused primarily upon the content.  But Facebook (and Friendfeed) were always focused on friends.  And contact/friend management is the real key to social media finesse.  Twitter and Facebook were always focused upon making and contacting friends.
After a few days with Google+, I think that they may have finally gotten the message.  Google+ seems to be about you an your friends.  The lame code word for this is Google+ Circles.  I don’t like the analogy – although I do like the reference to the same meme in the Meet the Parents movies.  Creating clusters of community is really important.  I have so many subsets of friends.  Some love cycling and some hate cycling.  Some love tech while others just use tech.  Some love politics while others shun them.  Like most people, I have groups that can and must be dealt with independently.  And Google+ gets this right.  Now that they have finally spent some time focusing on the people aspects of community, they may just get some traction.
But as a tech enthusiast, I must admit that there are some very cool touches that have piqued my interest.
First, there is excellent integration with Android.  I love the Android app.  And it looks just like the web experience.    You can see your own posts…
your entire stream…
and all the notifications that come your way while you are out and about. 
As the platform matures, I am sure that location-based services will start to flourish.  But the cool part is that you won’t have to wait for Google to build these cool new features.  Android is open.  So you can and should be seeing all sorts of cool phone-based elements from developers near you.
And the desktop will also see some cool integration.  Most of Google+ is accessible via Javascript.  So extensions are not just limited to Android.  I have had a great deal of fun selecting and integrating Chrome extensions into my browser.    The coolest of these are the Push Contacts extension and the Surplus extension.  Both of these extensions deserve their own post/review.  But for now, take my advice and install them into your Chrome browser as soon as possible.  They will make your Google+ experience even more pleasing.
But despite all the really cool possibilities that this platform portends, you do need to realize that this is still a beta – albeit a Google beta.  One of the biggest shortcomings is the lack of integration with Google Reader – coupled with a complete abandonment of RSS as a content source.  This is so incredibly important for me because I share so much content via Google Reader.

And I would really love to see some kind of integration with RSS and enclosures – especially audio content inclusion (like podcasts).
But for a first release (assuming you don’t include Wave and Buzz as early versions), then Google+ may well be able to attack the Zuckerberg monolith – and survive.  Let’s hope so.  And let’s hope that the DoJ keeps its ruddy mitts off of this conflict.  True competition will yield real improvements in our social infrastructure.
-Roo