WorldCAD Access

Update: Getting Eudora to Work with GMail

Opinion One of the most frequent questions I get is how to make Eudora work (again) with GMail. The problem is that Google keeps changing its Web pages with your security information, and then my older instructions no longer work. So, here is the version as of September, 2023. In the Eudora menu bar, choose Special | Forget Password(s) Switch to your Web browser, and then log into your google account: https://myaccount.google.com On the left, choose Security In the center, choose 2-step Verification Scroll all the way down to App passwords, and click it Enter a descriptive name in the... Read more →

What it's like to use a $200 Chromebook

$150 cheaper than 11 years ago For the most part, the tech media ignores Chromebooks, given their obsession primarily for products whose names start with i or Mac. In contrast, I've been continually amazed by the high-end Chromebook I've been using for three years now, the Acer Spin 13 with its metal body and fast CPU. The icing on the cake for ChromeOS is its ability to run Android apps, which is a significant advantage Microsoft is trying to copy but makes less sense in the Windows environment. (I had bought the very first Chromebook by Samsung a decade ago,... Read more →

Solving Eudora's June 2022 problem with GMail

Double authentication Google in June 2022 increased the security level needed to access its Gmail service, and as a result some Eudora email users can no longer access their accounts that run through Gmail, such as the Telus and Shaw ISPs in Canada. The error message may read similar to this one: ERR [AUTH] Username and password not accepted. The error message tells us that Eudora has a problem with authenticating who you are to Gmail, and that the username and password are unacceptable to Google. Google had been warning that this would be occurring, but it is not always... Read more →

CAD for ChromeOS is Possible in 2021

More popular than MacOS There are no native CAD applications for ChromeOS. This need not be the case, as proven by Krita, a native Android program meant for tablets that runs as well as a native program on Chromebooks. Here's the point I want to make: Krita for Android is not a reduced-function version of the one that runs on Windows and MacOS. It is full-function. CAD software written for Android, iOS, and Web browsers are all reduced-function versions, even from leaders in this field like Graebert and Autodesk. ChromeOS was originally envisioned as a browser-based operating system, and I... Read more →

Why Google (Cannot) Fall

A reader writes, Here is an article that claims the reign of Big Tech is coming to a close because the huge amounts of data, that currently require huge server farms to process, will soon be replaced by inexpensive and more efficient software and hardware, that can fit on your dining room table (that seems like a wild exaggeration)! I read this with a faint sense of hope that the monopolies of Google, Twitter, and Facebook could be broken up with inexpensive competition, but I find it hard to take the author's argument seriously. It seems to me that Big... Read more →

Google is a virus

It's not evil if we don't consider it evil Google becoming more aggressive about inserting itself into my world. Here are couple of recent examples. It has begun demanding that I use my Google credentials to log into Web sites, ones where I already have independent passwords. In the screen grab below, after I am logged into eBay, Google interferes, and in virus-like fashion tried to hijack my login credentials. Google hijacking a login One morning, I had an interview with a developer. When he sent a Zoom invite from his Gmail account, Google inserted its own Meet link, as... Read more →

ChromeOS Grows Up

Now with Android & Linux support A number of years ago, I bought one of the very first Chromebooks out of curiosity. It was pretty lame. About the only thing I found myself doing with it was periodically booting it up to update ChromeOS. Chromebooks run Google's Chrome Web browser as the operating system. This means that the only thing a Chromebook can do is run Google's Chrome Web browser, and any extensions supported by ChromeOS. Very limiting. I was limited to using apps like Google Docs and lame photo editors, which held no interest to me. Further, the Chromebook... Read more →

Can we believe "Giant corporation stole my idea" pleas?

They are heart-tugging stories, where an inventor approaches a large corporation with his idea, only to see it "stolen" and marketed by the giant corp (and its deep legal pockets) as its own. While a story today in Israeli business newspaper Globe carries the headline of Architect Eli Attia: Google stole my life's work, the story may well be different. Last week, we learned that Google X spun off Genie to Vannevar Technology, a company that some media outlets quickly anointed as "a technology that could earn the company $120 billion a year." See http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000886261. On Twitter, I immediately scoffed... Read more →

When your computer's hard drive fills up prematurely, blame Google and Picasa

Waking up my computer this morning, I was surprised that my email software had problems overnight downloading my email. It complained the disk was full. Odd, because the hard drive is a 1TB drive. I emptied the Recycle Bin, moved some movie files to another drive, and uninstalled some software, but this freed up a mere 15GB. I needed to pinpoint what what causing the drive to fill up. I found Folder Size by MindGems, downloaded it, installed it, and started it up. The software shows you the largest folders, and then lets me quickly drill down to find the... Read more →

German gamely gatecrashes Grabowski gmail

Google knows who you are: Someone recently tried to use an application to sign in to your Google Account, [email protected]. We prevented the sign-in attempt in case this was a hijacker trying to access your account. Please review the details of the sign-in attempt: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 10:08:53 AM GMT IP Address: 109.47.246.91 (vodafone.de) Location: Stendal, Germany The solution, Google says, is for me to change my password. Problem is that in this single-signon (and leave automatically signed in) world, I would have to arrange to change the password in dozens of areas: multiple Web browsers on my many... Read more →

How much is Google's "And Counting" Worth?

One of the reasons we should prefer GMail, Google tells us, is because of "Lots of space." Over 10242.795151 megabytes (and counting) of free storage. Sure, 10GB is a lot of storage. The reason for the large amount is that Google hopes you will store all your email and associated documents so that it can comb through them and then present you with "relevant" ads -- ads from which it makes 90%+ of its revenues. I wondered, however, about the amount after the decimal point, the "and counting" part. How quickly does it increase, and by how much. The Amount... Read more →

How to watch Google rental videos (what Google doesn't tell you)

I purchased some of Google's 25c rental movies ("The September Issue" and "The King's Speech" so far), and got them to download onto my Android. But my wife would like to see them, too, and so I tried to figure out how to view them on my computer with its bigger screen. Google says I can watch them on Androids or PCs, but doesn't say how. I played around with some and by making mistakes finally figured it out. After you pay for the movie rental, you can watch it on your PC (or Mac) like this: Go to YouTube... Read more →

Google's big announcement week

Engadget has this headline today: Google's big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot Well not quite: Nexus S - not shipping; initially available in just USA and UK. Tablets - Android for tablets not available until next year, unknown date. Chome OS laptops - not available until the middle of next year, at the earliest. eBooks - available in US only, leaving out 94.5% of the world population. So a 100% Fail, 4 out of 4. In any case, I like my Galaxy S Vibrant than the proposed Nexus S for this reason: the... Read more →

Battle of the Headlines Over Chrome OS

I do love the concept of Google's proposed Chrome OS, even if I am not sure I would use it. (It relies on an Internet connection, which a tenuous thing still in 2009, as I am finding with my Internet-needing iPod Touch.) I do love the competing headlines, which have taken on a "Yah, Well Your Momma..." atmosphere: Five Reasons the Google Chrome OS will Flop Five Reasons Google Chrome OS will Succeed 12 reasons Chrome OS will fail 158,616,176 Reasons Why Google Chrome OS Won't Fail Why Chrome OS will fail — big time Why Google Chrome OS has... Read more →

Chrome Doesn't Work -- For Me

I consider Opera to be the only mature Web browser, because it is so feature-rich. But due to its lack of marketshare, I sometimes have to fire up FireFox for certain Web sites or (heaven forbid!) that IE browser thrown in with Windows. My first attempt to download Chrome failed, because Google wrote it to work only on the XP and Vista dialects of Windows -- and my desktop still runs the stable Windows 2000 OS. Who says Chrome is replacing the operating system? After downloading it to my Vista-native HP notebook computer, Chrome offered to copy bookmarks from Firefox... Read more →

3-Year Update on Google.Book Revenues

Three years ago, I posted five of my ebooks on Google Books. I limited to 5 (out of 40+) in order to test Google Books -- primarily, how much money could I make off it. The initial results were discouraging; the long-term results continue to be discouraging: After three full years, I've earned $27.22 from 2,782 views. Google only pays once the total reaches $100, so I can expect the cheque in just 8 more years (at the current rate). Read more →

Google's Faster PDF Viewer

I have a new viewer for my PDF files: Google Docs, which now supports PDF files. It must be embarassing for Adobe that I find it faster to view a PDF doc over the Internet in a Web browser than using Acrobat on my computer. The drawback to Google Docs is that I have to first upload any PDF file I want to view through Docs. But uploading to Docs seemed faster than using FTP or email to transmit PDF files. For now, I uploaded all of my ebooks -- around 40 of them. A bulk uploader would have been... Read more →

Yahoo! Maps

Yahoo Maps is muchly improved, with a user interface that is much, much nicer than that of Google Maps. The Google product seems stodgy in comparison. And, all its interactivity works with the Opera Web browser. I find Yahoo Maps faster than Google, especially when displaying satellite images with roads overlaid. Yahoo Maps also knew my home position, where as Google doesn't. However, some data is missing from Yahoo. For example, it could not find the Comfort Inn in a city I'll be in this weekend. OTOH, Google cluttered up the map with dozens of other hotels markers, so that... Read more →

Google Apps Save an Emergency

I had taken along an older notebook computer (should that be an "elder" notebook?) to get some work done on a short business trip. When I started it up, Windows complained of some error and refused to work. How to get my writing done? Then I remembered: Google Apps. I had access to a nearby desktop computer, launched Google Docs, and wrote my thousand words. Back home again, I didn't need to use a USB key to transfer the article from my aging notebook computer (whose wireless is flakey). I just accessed the article on my desktop computer through the... Read more →

Google Mail Likes Opera

I had been using FireFox with Google Mail, but today I noticed that GMail finally works with Opera. Before, I would get warnings that my favorite Web browser would not work with GMail, and then it truly wouldn't work. But now it does. So that's good. Read more →

Indexing in the Cloud

I dabble in Google applications, but not wholeheartedly. I am not keen on one company knowing much about me. I love Picasa, I profit from AdSense, and I use Google Mail occasionally. (I prefer Atlantis over Google Docs, Eudora over Google Mail, Yahoo News over Google News, and so on.) Last night it occurred to me that Google Mail does have a significant advantage in one area, which might become increasingly important: indexing. For example, re-installing software that I downloaded, and now I need to hunt down the license number that was sent by email. It's always been a painful... Read more →

Theseus Competition for Google? No.

Deutesche Welle reports: A group of German-led companies aims to create a multimedia search engine that tops Google. Did Galileo, the European competitor to the America GPS satellite system, succeed? No, and Theseus will fail, too. You can tell by looking at the specs: - EU approved. - Subsidized by the German government. - 22 partner organizations, companies, and universities, including SA and Siemens. - Budget of nearly $300 million, of which more than half is government subsidy. - Born out of the failed Quaero project, the search engine described by the then-president of France as "the answer to the... Read more →

Google Don't Need No Steenkin' OS

As Google yesterday announced that its Desktop software now runs on Linux, I realized that Google doesn't need to provide a Google-branded varient of the Linux operating system. All it needs to do is ensure that: * All its desktop software runs on Linux. * All its Web-based software runs in Linux-based Firefox. Set up a nice Linux dialect like Ubantu on your notebook computer, and away you go: Word-compatible word processing, Excel-compatible spreadsheets, Gmail, Picasa, Maps, Earth, Sketchup, Warehouse, etc, etc. All of it running in the multiple workspaces that's standard with Linux. All of your data available anywhere... Read more →

The New Killer App

Ever since VisiCalc (the first spreadsheet, which ran initially only on Apple II computers, and which drove sales of that machine), marketeers have been on the hunt for The Next Killer App -- a software so compelling that it drives sales of hardware and more software. I think I just read about the New Killer App: Google Spreadsheets Live Data. Imagine a single spreadsheet function that returns Google search info: =GoogleLookup("Vancouver"; "mayor") The result is shown in a spreadsheet cell. And works only in Google's online spreadsheet. Another unique function retrieves financial data: =GoogleFinance("ADSK"; "volume") Reason enough to abandon Excel? Read more →

How Much is Float Worth to Google?

Float is how American Express made its profits in its early days. You would buy AmEx Travellers Cheques, and then days or weeks later use them for payment. In the meantime, AmEx got paid twice: once, when you paid a fee to buy the cheques, and then again from investing your cash until it had to pay the merchant (and perhaps earning a third fee?). I wonder how much profit Google makes from float? That's the money it earns from advertisers, but doesn't pay out to us until our accounts have at least $100 in them. I make more than... Read more →

Google Thinking vs Microsoft Thinking

One of the puzzles of this era is why Google gets it and Microsoft doesn't (cf: Origami, Zune, TabletPC, MobileWindows, Live, Vista). I've come to the conclusion that this is the reason: when a Google programmer creates a new features, he asks himself, "How do I want it to work?" When a Microsoft programmers creates the new feature, he asks, "How does a user want it to work?" As an author of over 100 books about computer software, I have come to learn that it is better to write for the specific person (me) than for the amorphous person (everyone).... Read more →

Lost by Google

With my daughter competing in a regional figure skating competition, I wanted to make sure I know the route to the ice arena, one I had been to just once before. I found Google remarkably clueless. Attempt 1: My first try was with Google Maps, to show me the route. When I entered my home address and "Twin Rinks, Chilliwack, BC", Google Maps claimed it didn't know what I meant by "Twin Rinks": We could not understand the location "Twin Rinks, Chilliwack, BC" Attempt 2: Get the street address, I thought. I copy and pasted "Twin Rinks, Chilliwack, BC" into... Read more →

Why Google Ads are Text

Google makes billions from pushing brief text ads to Web sites. Ever wonder why text, and not pretty pictures and pulsating colors, like many of the banner ads from non-Google sources? Text is highly efficient. It lets Google push millions of ads with far less computing overhead and through thinner networking pipes than is needed with image-based ads -- whether animated GIFs or heavyduty Flash. Conversely, Google can ship many, many more ads through the same Internet facilities than can proponents of fat ads. (Also, text ads are less annoying to users than dancing icons. And, the brevity of the... Read more →

Day-long Video Downloads

I'm wanting to watch an hour-long video on Google Video, and now see this message in the video player: Buffering... (Uninterrupted playing starting in more than a day) Which I why I prefer buying DVDs. Read more →

Google: Provider of Truth

A famous Doonsbury cartoon has a college professor lecturing his dis-interested students. Frustrated, he begins to spout nonsense, among them "White is black." Or maybe the cartoon was warning about the currently-fashionable relativism movement -- where there is no such thing as absolute truth. (Is that absolutely true?) In recent weeks, Google's marketing department has been parading its CEO in front of the media. You've probably seen the front covers of Time and Fortune, read about the speeches by Eric Schmidt. (Side note: Notice that the business-suited Schmidt is being placed in the foreground, with attention over Google's two lab-coated... Read more →

Press Release Pokes the Google Bubble

Intermedia.NET ships a great press release that pokes holes in the Google bubble. (The company uses Microsoft Exchange to host for small and medium businesses, so they have an interest at defeating the Googlenaut.) Commentators have not had a favorable reaction to the new Google Apps for Your Domain service, which promises to read all your documents for Google's own amusement and profit. Here's the points that Intermedia makes, which bare consideration: - Latent support: Clients cannot pick up a phone and get support 24 hours a day; instead, Google makes you fill out a form and wait. - No... Read more →

Why Google Books Does So Poorly

I make a chunk of change each month from running Google ads on this and my other Web properties. How much? Let's say enough that Google sends me a cheque each month. I'm also participating in Google Print. That's where publishers can have their books hosted by Google's search engine. The usual things apply: when people search for passages in books, ads are displayed and there are links to buying the whole book. Except that they have to use Google Print for seaching. After ten months of my books being live on Google Print (after taking a half-year to get... Read more →

Evil vs Bravery

World magazine suggests a new corporate slogan for Google. Instead of "Don't do evil," it should be “Don’t be brave.” Read more →

Bitten

Last week, Google goes along with squelching human rights in China. They're in for the money. This week, Google loses US$12 billion in market value. They're out a lot of money. Coincidence? Read more →

Why Google Earth Doesn't Line Up

B.F. explains why things like boundaries don't line up on Google Earth: You complained that the Canada-US boundary does not follow the 49th parallel and is not a straight line in Google Earch. You are only partially correct. I agree Google Earth sometimes does not draw the border correctly (take a look at the Peace Arch at the Blaine crossing). On the other hand, contrary to poular opinion, the long, straight portion of the Canada-US border is not quite straight and does not follow the 49th parallel. Yes, that was the intent and the wording of the original treaty. However,... Read more →

Check the China-Sanitized Google Yerself

The China version of Google is at www.google.cn. Try entering an innoucous phrases like "tiananmen" and "Jesus Christ", and then compare the difference in search results from the American version at www.google.com. The differences are particularly dramatic when you click the Images option. For "Jesus Christ," Google.cn allows only eight images thruough their CensorWare, of which six are incorrect. In contrast, Google.com presents 116,000 images for the same search term. Read more →

Depression Follows Hype

After all the hype, the Google announcements at CES were sad: Google Pack and Google Video. I can see why the Google CEO was wary about releasing Pack; it isn't a big deal, especially with it being limited to running on Microsoft's current OS. To make it significant, it should have been made work on all three OSs -- that would have been a better PR move. At least they could'v'e named it Google Shovelware, after seeing the six-month version of Norton software included. Six months of security? I see the handprints of marketing people all over that one. In... Read more →

The Purpose of a Google PC

Techn industry writers are tittering at the thought of a cheap, Google-branded PC being announced this Friday during Larry Page's keynote address at CES. (He a Google co-founder.) Here's the New York Times writer, Sallie Hofmeister: "The machine [sold by Walmart or other retailers] would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows..." How does this fit in with Google's aim of organizing the world's information? It doesn't. You won't see a Google PC, and here's why: - a cheap PC isn't the same as free, which all of Google's consumer offerings are. - for the PC to... Read more →

Unconvincing: Google Software on Lexar Drives

Lexar makes flash memory cards for cameras and USB drives (thumbdrives). It's now including Google's toolbar and search applications to its USB flash drives, called JumpDrives, which they'll start selling in January. Lexar admits that anyone can get the Google apps free off the Internet. So here's the reason Lexar thinks the bundling is a good idea: Customers who use a JumpDrive would plug the device into a USB port on their computer, where they can choose to automatically install Google products. Lexar said it expects the offering to make it easier for users to search documents, photos, music and... Read more →

Google Spins a Change

Google is changing the name of its controversial Print program, which could be read as a noun or as a verb. It's the verb part that got book publishers upset. In an email to members of the Print program, Google wrote, "We're happy to announce an exciting change to the Google Print product. As of today, Google Print has been renamed as Google Book Search." Read more →

Uwinding the Spun Yarn

It's always good to read a fellow journalist unwinding Microsoft spin, and Cringely does it well on the two supposedly-leaked Microsoft memos. Here's a sample: But I have to say that Gates or Ozzie or whoever actually wrote these documents has done a very effective job of differentiating the company roles in a way that makes Google appear to be the bad guy, and Microsoft appear to be the good guy. Google is going to develop and deploy Internet services while Microsoft is going to ENABLE the deployment of such services BY ITS DEVELOPER PARTNERS. This makes Google the would-be... Read more →

Google's Browser

"Nobody in the media who writes about Google Earth gets it. Google Earth is a 3D browser." Over at Loomisboy, Randall Newton notes that Google Earth, which runs as a stand-alone app accessing the Internet, browses aerial photography and map data for the entire world. Read more →

Google Print Struggles

You know a product is in trouble when the company sends out an email saying it's not. Google recently sent an email to publishers, like me, saying: There have been some incorrect characterizations about this program in the press, and we want to be sure you have a clear understanding of the program.... Some groups were charging Google with bypassing copyrights through the digitizing of books from libraries. The Google Print Team emphasizes this is not the case: Our goal is to help people discover books online, not read them online; a user who finds a copyrighted books that was... Read more →

Google's Takeover Plan

Stephen Arnold spent the last year researcing Google's patents for his new US$180 PDF ebook, “The Google Legacy.” From examining the patents, he thinks he knows where Google is headed, and how it will outfox Microsoft by changing the focus of computing from the desktop to the network (just as Microsoft outfoxed IBM by changing the focus from the data center to the desktop.) Some of his points are: - Google has distributed data centers (the basis of its search engines). - Google is buying unused fiber optic transmission cables. - Google is interested in wireless networking. - Google’s RTG... Read more →

WebOS

Jason Kottke at kottke.org describes what a WebOS would need to be capable of. The most important aspect is that you and I can continue working with applications even when the computer is not connected to the Internet -- which requires a sophisticated local cache. Gee, sounds like Windows! But the idea, of course, is to end Microsoft's dominance. As well as create a programming environment where developers no longer need to write a Windows version and a Web version. Many of us already use a a form of Internet-access/local-cache: MP3 playack software. The songs are downloaded and then cached... Read more →

Fortune Smiles on the Larger Advertiser

Here is a classroom exercise for editors: The cover story of last month's Fortune magazine is about how Google's software is scaring (apparently) Microsoft into reacting. Questions Q: As editor, what picture do you put on the cover? Q: How do you word the cover headline? (Fortune's answer is down below.) (I get Fortune magazine because I enjoy the writing style, as well as learn stuff about business. In the last year, however, I have noticed that articles have become subtle puff pieces. The change parallels the decline in advertising; Microsoft is an advertiser with Fortune, and Google is not.)... Read more →

Google Print P-a-i-n-f-u-l-l-y Slow

Last January, I signed up with Google Print to help promote upFront.eZine's line of e-books. I was part of the beta program working with PDF files. (Until then, Google Print worked only with printed books. I am guessing they hired a scanning and digitizing firm in India to rip out the pages and scan/digitize them to some raster format.) I figured that converting PDF files to Google's database would be a trivial exercise, especially my short e-books, which are in the range of 100-250 pages. But something at the Google end screwd up majorly. Google, tight-lipped as always, isn't saying... Read more →

One Browser Shall Rule Them All

No, not developmentally-arrested Internet Explorer. But whatever Google decides. Google is touted as developing a computing platform that ignores the operating system -- completing the work that Netscape began. Netscape is said to have failed, because they didn't accomplish their mission; but their idea of OS-independence lives on. (The idea is to eliminate Microsoft from the equation by nullifying one of its primary advantges, Windows APIs. Microsoft's other advantage is its exclusive-install agreements with PC vendors, but that is being nullified as the world moves beyond PCs and onto cell phones, media players, digital cameras, and other non-PC devices. You... Read more →