PC World Philippines » Gmail

Log into Gmail on a PC via Your Smartphone

Fei — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:00:22 +0000

By Ian Paul
January 18, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO – Google recently introduced a fun (and more secure) way to log into your Google account from a public terminal without entering your password into the PC, and instead using your smartphone and a QR code.

The method is similar to how Google sets up your handset for its two-step log-in process introduced in February 2011. Google’s two-step authentication system requires you to enter your password as well as a unique short code generated by a trusted device (your smartphone) to access your account.
The new Google QR log-in now being discussed on Google+ and Hacker News uses your smartphone as a kind of proxy for the desktop PC’s browser. You will be able to enter your Google account password into your smartphone and then the PC will “automagically” log you in to your Google account on the PC.
This is a neat trick to use when traveling and relying on public computers, and can protect you from a PC with keylogging software that records every keystroke entered into a compromised machine.

In my tests, I was able to log in using an iPhone as well as an Android device, it’s said to also work with Windows Phone 7.

It’s not clear when Google created the new QR code log-in system. The earliest mention I could find was on Reddit in late December, but as far as I can tell Google has never publicly announced this log-in option.
Here’s how to use Google’s new authentication process.

Get a QR Code Reader

To get started, you need a QR code reader for your smartphone. In my tests, any QR code reader will work, including Google Goggles, the search giant’s image-as-query smartphone app. You can find Google Goggles on the Android Market and as part of the Google Search app for iOS.
Once your smartphone is up and running with the QR reader app, go to https://accounts.google.com/sesame, a secure Google page displays a QR code. Next, open the code reader app on your smartphone and take a snapshot, or wait for the app to recognize the code on the screen.
Your app will then tell you the QR code is a URL. Allow the app to open the URL and you will arrive at a Google account log-in screen where you are prompted to enter your account password. The first time you use this system, you may also have to enter your username.

Once that’s done, you should see a warning screen telling you not to proceed unless you scanned a log-in bar code at Google.com. If you have arrived at this page from Google.com, select either “Start with Gmail” or “Start with iGoogle” from the warning screen.

A few seconds later, the browser window on the PC should automatically redirect to your Gmail inbox. In my tests, you could use this process whether your smartphone was using a cellular data connection or the same Wi-Fi network as the PC.

A Word of Caution

While this new log-in method is fun to try and could come in very handy at times, this is not a foolproof method for keeping your log-in credentials safe. If you are using Google’s QR code method in an airport, consider using your 3G/4G connection to enter your password instead of the airport’s free, open Wi-Fi network. That way your activity won’t be grabbed by any malicious hackers using packet sniffers to grab Wi-Fi traffic. Google’s QR authentication does use an encrypted channel through HTTPS, but it’s safer to stay off Wi-Fi anyway.

Also, before scanning the QR code, make absolutely sure that the web address is secure and coming from google.com, and not something like go.ogle.com. If you don’t see a URL that has HTTPS, and “google.com” before the “/” slash then you are not on Google’s web page. It would be very easy for a motivated hacker to set up a fake Google QR code and subsequent log-in page to steal your credentials.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a good way to protect yourself against keylogging attacks, but motivated hackers can use many other tricks to try to steal your log-in credentials and get access to your account. They could, for example, use a man-in-the-middle attack where all data to and from the PC you’re using is intercepted by a third party.

In my tests, the password had to be entered on the smartphone every time in order to get authenticated on the PC. So, if someone steals your phone they may not be able to use your device to log in using the QR method.

Google’s new QR method is a fun way to get access to your Google account, but don’t forget to log out of your account once you’re done.

Access Gmail When You’re Not Connected to the Internet

Fei — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:59:52 +0000

By Rick Broida
September 05, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – Reader David is an avid Gmail user who recently spent five weeks in Brazil, where “any form of permanent [Internet] connection was far from possible.” In other words, he quickly grew frustrated with Gmail because of his limited connectivity.

After all, Google’s mail service lives in your Web browser, and when you can’t get online, you can’t access your messages (new or old). This is true of other Web-based mail services as well, like Hotmail and Yahoo, but Google recently unveiled a new option for offline mail access.

Known as Gmail Offline, this browser plug-in allows users to read, respond to, and search mail even when there’s no Internet connection. It has a nice-looking, simplified interface that’s similar to what you typically see in Gmail–but with fewer options.

Unfortunately, for the moment Gmail Offline is available only for Google Chrome. On the plus side, similar plug-ins are forthcoming for Google Calendar and Google Docs.

There is, of course, another option, one that can solve the offline problem for not just Gmail, but also Hotmail and Yahoo Mail Plus: an e-mail client like Windows Live Mail 2011 or Mozilla Thunderbird 6. Programs like these can be configured to download e-mail and store it locally, thus allowing you to read, respond, and search–just like with Gmail Offline. Just make sure you stick with a POP3 configuration rather than IMAP, as the latter requires a live Internet connection for many functions.

How to Make Your Google Accounts More Secure

Fei — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:00:10 +0000

By Angela West
September 01, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – About a month ago I received an email from Blizzard Entertainment stating that a new World of Warcraft account had been started using my personal Gmail address. Someone with the user name of “Zhang” was hoping to do a little night elf adventuring using my data. I got on the phone with Blizzard right away, and they canceled the account faster than you can say Ogrimmar.

“Oh yeah,” the Blizzard rep added, “you might want to change your Gmail password.” I realized at that point that I’d been hacked, just like high-ranking U.S. officials were in June and just now, as Iranian citizens have been.
There was a moment of horror as I realized what kind of private data someone with access to my account could find about me.

For many of us, a Gmail password is not just a Gmail password. It’s a passport to our Google Docs account, our AdWords campaigns, our personal Google calendars, Google Docs, and more. That’s not to mention access to Gmail itself, through which someone can find tax returns, private email conversations, and other data to pull off identity or credit card theft. If you are using Google business apps, you risk damage to your company if staff members’ accounts are insecure.
Luckily, Google has a vested interest in keeping your information as secure as possible. Follow Google’s own Security Checklist for concrete steps to put your Google Account on lockdown, and pay special attention to the advice below.
1. Check for Third-Party and Updated Browser Extensions

Checking your browser for plug-ins, extensions, and applications that may have access to your Google account is a step that merits special attention, particularly because Google doesn’t tell you how to do this.

Internet Explorer
This support page tells you how to disable browser helper objects in IE. If you want to disable third party extensions entirely, click Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, and uncheck the “Enable third party browser extensions” box under “Browsing”. You will need to restart the browser for the setting to take effect.
Firefox
This page automatically detects your Firefox plugins and ensures that they are up to date.
Google Chrome
Google has asked Chrome extension developers to include automatic updates with their extensions to make Google Chrome more secure.
2. Change Your Password Often

Most of us ignore this simple step, not just for our Google Accounts, but all accounts that we use. While there is no set rule to changing your passwords, I’ve aimed for about once a month since my Zhang attack.

3. Set up Two-Step Verification

This is the most important step in Google’s Security Checklist. Two-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your Google account by requiring a special code to be entered on trusted computers once every 30 days, and any time you are accessing the account from a non-trusted computer. But this doesn’t happen by default; you have to set it up with Google first.
I’ll add that printing your backup verification codes is more secure than saving them to a text file. If you do choose to save them to a text file, don’t name it “Backup Google Codes” or something similar.

While signing up for two-step verification with Google is self-explanatory, this video from Google helps it make a lot more sense.
4. Require Google Accounts Used For Business to Be Secure

If you run a small business, ask all of your employees and contractors to run through the Google Security Checklist for their Google accounts. If you share Docs or other applications with clients, create a special outward-facing Gmail address that you can share with other Gmail users who may potentially be insecure themselves.

If you have a good ongoing working relationship with a client with Google accounts, send them this article and ask them to run through Google’s suggested steps.

If you are concerned about security in your industry, have contractors and employees sign a contract that requires them to ensure that their Google Accounts are secure and use two-step verification.

The bottom line is that keeping your Google Account secure requires a bit of extra work. Considering that our Google accounts are digital keychains to our online lives, though, it’s definitely time well spent.

A Look at the New Features in Gmail

Fei — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:59:29 +0000

By Eric Mack
July 26, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO – Google took advantage of the launch of social networking service Google+ to give Gmail a makeover. The company says the process of updating Google Apps is ongoing, and improvements have continued to roll out in recent weeks.

Here’s a primer to help you wade through the changes.

–Multiple calls from Gmail. Google added the ability to place Gmail calls on hold and handle multiple calls simultaneously last week. The feature works for both incoming and outgoing calls, so it’s possible to hold one call while placing or receiving another.

–Choose an inbox style. Most Gmail users have likely already noticed an option at the top of their inbox to choose between the handful of ways Gmail sorts incoming mail. The options will be familiar to most — starred first, unread first and Priority Inbox, which Google started offering last year. After users choose one of the options, the bar across the top disappears. To try a different inbox style, there’s a drop-down on the Inbox link on the left-hand side.

–View ZIP and RAR contents without downloading . Last week, Google added previewing capability for both types of attachments. It’s now possible to see the contents of an archive within your inbox before downloading it. You can also download individual files from the archive to a local source or save them to Google Docs.

–More sender information. A bit of a no-brainer here, but Gmail also now automatically displays the full address of mail from a person not in your contacts list. It also tells you when a message has come from a mail-sending service. The idea is to cramp down on phishing attempts. In fact, Gmail will now call your attention to messages it thinks might be after your personal information, giving you the option to report the address back to Google.

–Spreadsheet keyboard shortcuts . A new keyboard shortcut sheet is available from within a Google Doc spreadsheet. Pressing Ctrl+/ or Cmd+/ brings it up.

Another change: There’s also now the ability to share Google Docs with the Android app and a few other upgrades to mobile capability.

Google promises more improvements, following the announcement that it will be shutting down its Google Labs division to focus on existing products. tuning capabilities in increasing processors core ratios and DDR3 memory rations, which allows KINGMAX Nano Gaming Ram to boost its performance to maximum and help the system operating the media features more smoothly. KINGMAX Nano Gaming Ram makes the graphic and visual functions of 6 series chipset platform working more efficiently.

To compare the performance of KINGMAX Nano Gaming Ram 2400MHz and 1333MHz on Intel 6 series chipset motherboards, KINGMAX Nano Gaming Ram 2400MHz showcases the extreme performance than 1333MHz with 30% above through the test of AIDA64 Extreme Edition and MaxxMEM2. KINGMAX provides the best memory solution for overclockers on Intel 6 series chipset motherboard.

For more information, visit www.kingmax.com.

5 Ways Facebook Email Could Threaten Gmail

Fei — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 23:00:54 +0000

By Jared Newman
November 15, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – All signs are pointing to Facebook introducing an email service on Monday. Both TechCrunch and VentureBeat have confirmed the rumors with independent sources.

If the rumors are correct, this might explain why Facebook and Google have been going at it recently with concerns to user data–Google has been preventing Facebook from importing Gmail data, and perhaps this is because such a feature would help people migrate from Gmail to Facebook email with ease.

Is Google right to be worried? We won’t know for sure until Monday, but, in the meantime, here are five ways Facebook email could keep Gmail on its toes:

Photo Slideshows

Gmail is still behind when it comes to photo integration–sending users to external Websites to view albums in Picasa or Flickr. Even if Facebook ignores these services in email, it will still have its own (immensely popular) photo service to rely on. A slideshow viewer directly in Facebook email, like Yahoo’s Picasa and Flickr viewer, could be a killer feature.

Smarter Conversation View

Google satisfied the anti-thread contingent in September when it allowed Gmail users to disable conversation view. But maybe these people wouldn’t have had so much rage if Gmail were simply better at threading conversations. Facebook already does a decent job threading status updates, displaying the first message in full, followed by recent comments. A similar system will work nicely for email.

Integrated Bios

Ever get an email from someone, but can’t remember exactly who it is? I’d love to see Facebook tie-in profile data from the people you’re friends with, or whose information is public. This could include photo thumbnails and details that normally appear on the “info” tab on profile pages. Actually, an “info” tab on emails would be great.

Groups Integration

I’m still not completely sold on Facebook Groups, which are supposed to be an organic way of organizing contacts by association. But the idea might be more alluring if it were carried over to email. An automatic labeling system for group e-mail blasts could allow users to see the messages they want and ignore the ones they don’t.

The “Like” in Links

The “Like” button is the most popular new feature Facebook has introduced in recent memory. In just a few months, it’s gotten all over the Web. Why not extend it to e-mail? Whenever someone sends a link in the rumored Facebook mail, it’d be nice to see how many other friends have already checked it out, and what they’ve said about it in their news feeds.

Supercharge Your Business With Google Apps

Fei — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:00:45 +0000

By Zack Stern
August 26, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – All businesses need basic services such as e-mail hosting, document sharing, and file editing. The ways to set up these functions vary greatly, however–pick the wrong method, and you’ll waste time and money.

For example, you don’t need to cover the costs of your own server, since the various Google Apps for businesses shift these tools into the cloud. Plus, the online approach makes your organization more mobile, since it allows you and your staff to connect from any computer and from most smartphones.

Google’s offerings for businesses differ from the company’s consumer applications. But that’s just the beginning. In this article I’ll reveal tips and tweaks that can supercharge Google’s tools to improve your business’s productivity. Whether you are just beginning to explore Google Apps or are already a subscriber, these tricks will help you get the most from the services.

Google Apps Collaboration Tools

In addition to handling your e-mail, Google Apps can help people in your business collaborate. Many tools are available, covering everything from scheduling to document creation to videoconferencing. And though you save everything in the cloud, Google maintains good security to protect your data.

Google Calendar can help you keep appointments and share scheduling with groups. The business service is similar to the consumer version, but oriented toward clusters of employees. You’ll be able to share workday details with coworkers so that they know when you’re free for a possible meeting, for instance. The tool can send meeting invitations and update itself as recipients verify their attendance.

Google Docs imports and edits basic office-suite files, including .doc, .ppt, and .xls files in its word processor, presentation tool, and spreadsheet app, respectively. Multiple staffers can share documents, each person editing them without worrying about losing someone else’s changes (as they might when downloading and uploading documents to a file server). Google keeps a complete history of each contributor’s updates, and colleagues can even edit files at the same time. This setup can serve as a great group note-taking space for a conference call or during a presentation.
Google Sites, available in each edition of Google Apps, acts as an intranet Website. You can use it as a company bulletin board for everyone, store HR policies, highlight an upcoming event, or otherwise organize information. Google Sites and Google Docs can store any document type, so you can use them for simple file sharing, too.

Google Groups, available in the Premier Edition, acts as a center point for collaboration. Groups allow staffers to send messages within mailing lists at your company, such as a sales-team list. In addition, members can share a calendar and documents as a group. When new people join the group, they gain access to the message history as well as to the rest of the information, so that they can get up to speed with in-progress plans.

Google Video, another Premier-only service, is essentially your company’s own version of YouTube. You can post private, internal videos for training, collaboration, or any other use. The tool also hosts your public videos, eliminating another subscription or service that you might need.

Using Gmail for Business

The main difference between consumer Gmail and the version available through Google Apps is easy to spot: custom domain names. Instead of an @gmail.com address, you get @yourbusinessname.com, which makes a major difference in your branding, even if you operate a sole proprietorship. I know I always assume that bob@bobsmithconstruction.com (or even @bobsmith.com) represents a more established business than does bobsmith@gmail.com.

If you already own a domain name, such as for your Website and current e-mail, you’ll point its MX records to Google. Essentially, when computers contact your domain registrar to locate your mail server, the MX record creates a forwarding address to Google so that mail still flows properly to you. If you don’t own a domain name yet, Google can register one for $10 a year, configuring it automatically.

Small businesses might be content with the free Standard Edition of Google Apps. It supports up to 50 e-mail addresses, each with 7.4GB of storage space. Each e-mail address can send messages to 500 different recipients each day. Unless your business has a wide volume of daily contacts, those limits should be fine. But like consumer Gmail, this mail service includes ads, which might be a reason to move up.

The paid, $50-per-year-per-user Premier Edition eliminates ads and increases those limits. Each address can send to 2000 recipients per day, and you get 25GB of storage per e-mail address.
With the paid or free version, you can share contacts within your company, pooling resources from Web-based or mobile Google Apps.

Next: Tweaking Gmail, Calendar, and Voice

Turn Off Ads in Premier Edition Gmail

If you use the paid, Premier Edition of Google Apps, you might be annoyed to see text ads in your mail service. Relax. Here’s how to turn them off.

When logged in as an administrator, click Manage this domain at the top of the page. Pick Domain settings, and check the box in the middle of the page for Hide all ads for [your domain]. Click Save changes. That’s all it takes, although I’d rather Google assume that paid users want ads off by default.

Follow Business Leads Within Gmail

What happens to your important but misaddressed e-mail, such as when a new client tries to reach out to your business but misspells your name? You can create e-mail aliases for suspected misspellings, catch all misdirected e-mail, and make a group e-mail address for certain teams.

While logged in as an administrator in the Dashboard, click Email. Pick the Email addresses option. Click the user’s name. Scroll down, and click Add a nickname. Enter an alias there–I added “zach.” Click Save changes.

Other misaddressed messages might be junk, but you can catch them just in case they’re important. Go to Service Settings, Email. Scroll down to the ‘Email routing’ section. Click the radio button for Route to catch-all address, enter your username, and click Save changes.

Google Groups can manage internal communication, but you can also use Groups to receive messages from anyone. That way, you could have a sales@yourbusiness.com address that forwards mail to everyone on the team. Just click the Groups button and select Create a new group.

By default, only members of the group can send messages, but you can change that here. Scroll down and click the checkbox for Also allow anyone on the Internet to post messages. Now customers can contact all of your sales staff via one address.

Customize Google Calendar Meeting Reminders

You can set Google Calendar to remind you about meetings in a handful of ways: e-mail, pop-up window, or SMS to your phone (including a plain, dumb handset). Here’s how to configure the defaults to remind you to prepare well in advance and to ping you just before the meeting time.

Within your personal Google Apps account–not the administration dashboard–visit the calendar. Click Calendar settings and Notifications. You can click Add a reminder or remove to layer more or less. Try setting the first default to e-mail you a reminder 1 day in advance. Set another reminder (or two) to send you a text message just before meetings. (First, if necessary, click Set up your mobile phone to receive notifications.) Click Save.

Do More With Additional Apps

The e-mail, calendar, document, and other tools bundled with Google Apps can act as the cornerstone of your business operations. But additional, third-party apps can add more tools, even interfacing with your contacts, calendar, and other data. Among these extras are project management programs, CRM tools, time trackers, and more.

Visit the Google Apps Marketplace to find a mixture of free and paid add-ons. When you find something of interest, click Add it now, and follow the prompts. When you click the button to enable the app, it will be activated for all of your users, saving installation time versus traditional software.

Custom-Route Unknown Google Voice Callers

Google Voice permits people to reach you by phone wherever you may be. The free service assigns you a single phone number that rings all of your phones. You can have it ring your home number, the office, your cell phone, a temporary location, or anywhere.
Being reachable is great when you’re working, but it’s frustrating when you’re away and you don’t want strangers to call. You could temporarily shut off your mobile-number forwarding, but that would block people you want to be able to call. Instead, manage where calls ring depending on the caller, with calling groups.

First, scale back the default places that Google Voice will ring. Uncheck various lines in Settings, Voice Settings, Phones. Think of these preferences as your away mode, when you don’t want to be reached by strangers. I recommend leaving just your office line enabled. Then click Groups, and edit those profiles. In the Friends group, for example, edit the default to ring all of your phones. Click Save. (Add people to the groups in the Contacts area.)

Now when your friends or members of other groups call, they’ll be routed to certain lines. When strangers call, they’ll reach you at your desk but not at home after-hours.

Apple Kickback Scheme: Don’t Let This Happen to You

Fei — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:00:38 +0000

By Tony Bradley
August 17, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – A global supply chain manager for Apple has been arrested as a result of allegedly accepting more than $1 million in bribes and kickbacks. Apple’s investigation focused on personal Web-based e-mail accounts on the accused manager’s Apple-issued laptop, and provides valuable lessons for enforcing policies and protecting data.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Paul Shin Devine is facing both a federal grand jury indictment and a civil suit from Apple following an investigation which implicates Devine for leaking confidential information to key suppliers to enable them to negotiate better contracts with Apple. In exchange, the Apple suppliers made payments to various bank accounts set up in the names of Devine and his wife according to the indictment.

Apple suspected Devine was violating corporate policy and launched an internal investigation that uncovered suspicious e-mails on his company laptop using personal accounts on Hotmail and Gmail. The e-mails divulged sensitive and confidential information to key Apple suppliers.

Apple deserves some kudos for discovering the alleged improprieties, however had Apple been more proactive about enforcing corporate policy and monitoring employee communications for sensitive data Devine’s actions could have been detected and prevented much earlier. There are some lessons IT admins and security professionals can learn from the Apple kickback scheme.

Most companies have acceptable use policies in place that govern the use of company-owned computers, networks, and communications, and policies related to protecting sensitive and confidential data. What most companies lack, however, are the tools to monitor or enforce those policies. Unethical employees quickly find ways to exploit the honor system.

One solution would be to implement Windows Rights Management. File and folder permissions are typically the only security measure in place to guard sensitive data. Some employees have access, and some don’t. The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t restrict or control what authorized employees do with the data once they access it.

Windows Rights Management Service (RMS) provides IT admins with significantly more control over what happens to data once it is accessed. Rights can be configured to restrict whether the data can be modified, printed, forwarded via e-mail, or other actions–and access can be set to expire. More importantly, the RMS restrictions stay with the file even if it is saved to a USB drive or stored on a user’s personal computer.

Companies can implement more comprehensive monitoring using applications like Spector 360 or Spector CNS from SpectorSoft. These tools can capture every e-mail–including Web-based e-mail–online searches, instant messaging chats, keystrokes typed, Web sites visited, applications used, files accessed and more. Monitoring and restrictions can be configured for the company as a whole, or by department, group, or individual users.

Another option would be to use tools like Zgate or Zlock from Zecurion. Zgate monitors e-mail and social networking communications to detect and block attempts–whether intentional or inadvertent–to transmit sensitive or confidential information, and Zlock restricts the use of peripheral devices for storing or transmitting such data.
With Windows Rights Management in place, Devine might have been prevented from forwarding protected information via e-mail. Tools like Zgate or Zlock would have kept Devine from saving sensitive information to a USB thumb drive, or printing hard copies, or blocked attempts to communicate it via e-mail or social networks. Software such as Spector 360 would have captured every detail of Devine’s actions–allowing Apple to thwart the alleged unethical behavior much sooner, and giving it the tools to quickly and easily conduct an extensive investigation at the push of a button.

Implementing tools to automate monitoring and proactively protect corporate data does not necessarily mean that the company has to act as Big Brother or spy on every action of employees. Having such applications in place, though, gives IT admins access to the details if needed, and provides the tools quickly detect and identify suspicious behavior before it becomes a federal case over $1 million in kickbacks.

Should you trust Google?

Fei — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:59:14 +0000

By Paul Venezia
July 07, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s not the first time that I’ve had this question on my mind, but reading Matt Prigge’s post last week — which echoed my own sentiments about cloud computing — led me to contemplate why we seem to consider Google’s cloud more trustworthy than others.

Nobody pushes cloud computing harder than Google: Gmail, Google Docs, Google Apps, Google this, Google that. It’s all based on a framework of remote resources and an amorphous blob of processing that’s been tuned to spit out whatever we happen to be looking for, accept whatever documents we create, and send email and IM messages. And unlike so many other cloud service providers, Google seems to be accepted in this role, while others inspire skepticism.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Read about Google's adventures in Wi-Fi snooping in France. | Check out Neil McAllister's comparison of Google Docs and Microsoft Office Web Apps. ]

Most people have heard Google’s corporate motto, “Do no evil,” which has been challenged again and again, from censorship in China right up to Google Street View cars detecting and cataloging nearby Wi-Fi networks. Google claims the latter was inadvertent, but the company is still in hot water for it.

Nonetheless, Google is going a step further. To feed Google Places, it’s placing cameras in certain public places and establishments, so you’ll be able to view the interior of a restaurant, say, before heading out for dinner. And this seems perfectly fine to most people. I wonder what the reaction would be if Microsoft or Oracle tried the same thing? Would it be all roses and sunshine, or would people look at some crusty, beady-eyed Oracle guy and send him packing?
Somehow, Google has convinced the world that the company isn’t, in fact, evil. That’s despite the fact that Google is the most powerful force on the Internet today — a position that companies with different corporate mentalities might wield like a truncheon.

But Google steps lightly and presumes nothing. The famously sparse home page remains free of ads and clutter — a design so beloved that when Google introduced a Microsoft Bing-like background image a few weeks ago, the Internet exploded with outrage, and the situation was quickly reversed. But screaming about background images is like yelling at a prison guard for the quality of the food: You’re still under lock and key, even if the consistency of the pudding improves.

Recently I’ve noted how much Facebook knows about you, but make no mistake, Google knows plenty, too. Based on IP information, they know your searches, naturally, but they also know everything you do with Google tools. Planning a trip? They know where you’re going and how you’re getting there if you use Google Maps and directions. Correlate that information with keywords in messages in your Gmail account and you can determine times, companions, specific destinations, the whole works. Use Google Maps on your smartphone and, technically, they could track your progress.
Given the paranoia about so many other intrusions such as government surveillance, snooping bosses, predators, whatever, it’s amazing what Google has gotten away with. We’ve taken the candy, and in return we’ve given up significant levels of privacy to some huge corporate entity that we inexplicably trust not to betray us.

Maybe we trust Google because it has been benevolent in the past — in not “monetizing” when it could have, in promoting open source here and there, and in providing whimsical perks to its employees. Sure, now and again we’ve sucked air and said, “Oops, that was kinda evil.” But strictly speaking, the company hasn’t screwed over enough people to dent its public image. The idea that Microsoft — or even Apple — could ever make that same claim is almost comical.

Google also has the benefit of being constantly available. Can you even recall the last time that Google Search was unavailable or down? Some apps have had snafus in the past — notably Gmail — but the Google main page has always been ready for service, fast as you please. And that impeccable reliability may have more to do with why folks trust Google with their details, documents, pictures, videos, and so on than anything else.

Me, I don’t trust the cloud. I don’t know that I ever will. Yet I have a Gmail account and I use Google Maps and a variety of other Google tools all the time. At this point in the evolution of the Internet, it’s impossible not to. Let’s just hope that those in control of our information can truly be trusted to do the right thing. Hope, in the end, is all we can do.

How to use Gmail to safely access email from abroad

Fei — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:00:02 +0000

By Rosemary Hattersley
June 22, 2010

LONDON – If you can’t bear to be parted from your email inbox when you venture abroad, it’s important to ensure that the wireless connection you’re using to get online is secure.

However much we try and get away from it all when we head off on holiday, few of us can last the duration without touching base with relatives or colleagues. The occasional text message shouldn’t rack up too much of a bill but, given the prevalence of cheap internet access at bars and cafs, it’s tempting to log on and get an update on what’s happening in the wider world.

Unfortunately, convenient connectivity can extract a hefty price. Very few internet cafs and Wi-Fi hotspots have more than rudimentary security, making them prime targets for wireless snoops. But after a great day at the beach or visiting an iconic destination, many of us are far too relaxed to worry whether someone has an ulterior motive for hanging round a web caf for hours at a stretch.

It may be expensive to call your bank from abroad to check your balance before making an extravagant souvenir purchase, but using a free Wi-Fi connection to check your balance online could be pricier still. Wi-Fi sniffing and keylogging are rife in some parts of the world, so you really shouldn’t be entering password-protected sites or conducting confidential transactions of any sort.

Worryingly, even the commercial Wi-Fi operators offer few guarantees that your data is safe if you log in with them. You may have signed up and got a password and username in return, but not all hotspot services are as secure as they might be. Business users should be cautious about using such services in an open setting – especially if your rivals are likely to be logging in at the same hotspot.

There’s a lot to be said for disposable email addresses that you use for a single purpose, whether that’s as the spam-catcher for the mandatory registration email for a competition you want to enter, or so you can safely conduct conversations from a potentially insecure location without compromising your inbox and contacts.

Here, we look at how to secure your Gmail account for use abroad.
Use a Gmail account to access your email abroad

Step 1. Use a webmail system with HTTPS for the whole session. Most use HTTPS when asking you to log in, but they usually switch back to HTTP after authentication. The two exceptions are the web version of Microsoft Outlook and Gmail. Unless you use one of these, your mail won’t be secure.

Step 2. If your email isn’t encrypted, everyone on the same Wi-Fi network can read the content of your messages. In certain cases, a person can steal your session cookie and log into your webmail without your password. If you check your work messages using local software, you may or may not be using encryption.

Also see:
Security Advisor Broadband Advisor
If you can’t bear to be parted from your email inbox when you venture abroad, it’s important to ensure that the wireless connection you’re using to get online is secure.

Step 3. If you need to access your whole Gmail inbox while you’re away, POP email is your best option. Go to Settings, Forwarding and POP/IMAP and tick ‘enable POP for mail that arrives from now on’. Click Save Changes. Messages in your inbox will be readable from Google’s servers even if you aren’t connected to the web.

Step 4. Even if you don’t usually use Gmail, it’s worth signing up for an account and having emails redirected using it for the duration of your trip. Sign up at the Google website, then go to Settings, Accounts and Import and enter details of your other webmail account. Enter the password and choose how Gmail should handle the messages.

Step 5. If you wish, you can use the custom ‘From’ option in Gmail to make it appear as though your email is being sent from your regular email account. Go to Settings, Accounts and Import and click ‘Send mail from another address’. Enter your email address details, click Next Step and follow the prompts.

Step 6. If you anticipate having to wade through a lot of emails, adding a filter to the message list will let only important mail get through. Go to Filters, Create a Filter to set up a new rule. When you return from your trip, turn off the email forwarding service in the Settings, Accounts menu.

How to Use Google Buzz

Fei — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:00:40 +0000

By Patrick Miller
February 15, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO – On Tuesday, Google announced Buzz, a new social networking service integrated with Gmail. On Wednesday, you probably mashed your F5 key waiting for it to arrive in your Gmail account–and maybe you even tried to cut in line. By Thursday, you were likely worried about the privacy issues. Well, if you’re buzzing about Buzz, we have the tips you need to make it work for you. And if you’re wishing it would buzz off, we’ll show you how to remove it from your Gmail account.

Keep Buzz Out of Your Inbox

Google Buzz’s default settings send you an e-mail notification every time someone mentions you in a post with an @ reference or replies to one of your buzzes. Since all this stuff also shows up in your Buzz stream anyway, the redundant reminders get annoying fast.

Fortunately, Buzz e-mail notifications are easy to eliminate with Gmail’s filter tools. Just click the Create a filter link at the top of the page, to the right of the search field. In the ‘Has the words’ field, type label:buzz and click OK. In the next screen, select Skip the Inbox and Mark as read to ensure that the message doesn’t show in the inbox or set off your Gmail notifications (alternatively, you can choose to delete the notifications entirely).

(For more Buzz filtering tips, read “Google Buzz: 5 Tips for Power Users.”)

Hide Your Followers

While Twitter users adore broadcasting their follower counts to the world, Buzz users have plenty of good reasons to keep such information private–particularly since in Buzz, the following/follower lists are not attached just to a cryptic pseudonym but to publicly viewable account names complete with a first name, a last name, and in many cases an e-mail address and links to Picasa and Blogger accounts.

Combined with Buzz’s opt-out privacy policy and automatically suggested followers, this arrangement can lead to uncomfortable situations for some users, such as one user who ended up automatically adding his landlord, another who involuntarily added a one-time contact from a Craigslist transaction, and still another whose list somehow included her abusive ex-husband. If you don’t want your contacts to be a matter of public record, you can hide your following/follower list by going to your Google Profile, choosing Edit Profile, and unchecking the Display the list of people I’m following and people following me box.

Learn to Love the Side Menu

If your Buzz feed is getting out of hand, look for several management features embedded in the drop-down menu in the top-right corner of each post. For other people’s buzzes, you can choose to mute a particularly active buzz that you don’t care about, or stop following that person. For your own buzzes, you can mute, edit the content of a buzz, delete some of the comments, or delete the buzz itself.

Prep Your Contacts List

Buzz’s privacy settings are based on your Gmail contacts list, so if you haven’t already set that up you’ll want to go through it before getting too busy with Buzz. You can do so via the Contacts menu on the left side of the Gmail window (just click the New Groups button to the left of the Search Contacts field), or through the Buzz input box’s privacy settings (click the Public button and pick Private to get the option to publish to existing Contacts groups or create a new group).

You’ll probably want to create a few commonly used groups before diving into Buzz–having to spend a few minutes dealing with the privacy settings each time you want to post a new buzz to a new group kind of kills the spontaneity of it all. (Also, the Buzz Web app doesn’t let you specify new groups–you have to do it from the normal Gmail page.)

Tie Your Sites Together

Now that you have your Buzz feed under control, it’s time to start tying in your various social networks. When Buzz first surfaced in your Gmail account, you created a Google Profile (if you didn’t have one already). At that time, you should have had the option to link other networks to your Buzz account–Flickr and Picasa accounts for sharing pictures, for example, or your Blogger feed. As of this writing, you can officially link only Blogger, Flickr, Picasa, your Google Reader Shared Items, GChat status, and Twitter accounts to your Buzz feed, though WordPress blogs can connect to Google Buzz with a little more work.

To add these sites, just click over to the Buzz tab in your Gmail and click the X Connected Sites link to bring up a window that lets you pick which ones to add. If you have an account or a page you want to link that isn’t showing up, go over to your Google Profile, click Edit Profile (in the upper-right corner) and add it to your Links list there.

While you’re connecting these sites, you can also set them to share only to certain groups of friends, which is worth doing if you don’t want buzzes about your public tweets, photos, and so on to be indexed by Google as part of your Buzz account.

Keep in mind that if you’re an avid user of Google Reader, all of your Shared Items will also be posted as buzzes. This means that anyone following you through Buzz and Reader (which is bound to be a decent amount of your follower base, considering that Buzz pulls from your Google Reader followers) is going to get hit with twice the posts, so you might want to consider keeping them separate until Google comes out with more-integrated sharing functions.

Buzz by E-Mail

You can Buzz via e-mail by sending a message to buzz@gmail.com. This works only with messages sent from your Gmail address, though, so SMS and MMS items sent through an e-mail gateway won’t do the trick.

Since you can’t define privacy permissions within an e-mail, you need to set them in advance. Start by sending a test e-mail to buzz@gmail.com; once it goes through, you’ll see that the Connected Sites option now includes privacy settings for ‘Posted via Buzz@Gmail’. Set it to Public or Private as you wish.

At the moment, only the e-mail’s image and subject heading will show up in the buzz. Anything you put in the main e-mail field will not.

POP/IMAP mail-client users will want to read Gmail’s desktop client support page for help in making sure that they’re sending from the right address (for more, see “Google Buzz: 5 Tips for Power Users“).

Touch Up Your Text

Though Google Buzz’s input box lacks the rich text formatting options of an e-mail or blog post, you can still use a few tricks to make your text stand out. Bracketing your text with *asterisks*, _underscores_, and -dashes- will turn it into bold, italicized, and struck-through text, respectively.

Grab Some Add-Ons

Already, a handful of Buzz add-ons to help you integrate Buzz into your social life have surfaced. Firefox users should check out Buzz It, which lets you share your current Web page in Buzz via Gmail (useful if you want to keep your Google Reader shares separate from your Buzz shares.) Chrome users have Chrome Buzz, which adds a menu item that keeps tabs on your Buzz feed so that you don’t have to keep checking back to the Gmail page. And WordPress users can add their buzzes to their WordPress blog with the Google Buzz ER sidebar widget.

Push Your Buzzes to Twitter

You can peruse your Google Buzz feed just as you would read any other RSS feed by going to the URL http://buzz.googleapis.com/feeds/username/public/posted, where username is your Google account name. This is a feed of all your public buzzes, which can then appear in any application that can use RSS feeds–handy if you want to see buzzes in an RSS reader, for example.

Combine this feature with TwitterFeed, a service that lets you use RSS feeds to publish in Facebook and Twitter, and you can get Google Buzz to publish your buzzes to Twitter. The arrangement isn’t perfect–the RSS feed refreshes every 30 minutes–but considering that there’s no native support for Buzz-to-Twitter publishing, it’s worth trying out for now. You’ll want to set TwitterFeed to post only the description, or you’ll end up with a lot of tweets saying “Buzz from your username”; to do so, under Advanced Settings in the Create Feed page, set ‘Post Content’ to Include description only.

Kill Buzz Dead

Gone through all this and still don’t like what Buzz has to offer? You’re not alone. Unfortunately, truly getting rid of Buzz takes some doing.

You can disable Buzz by scrolling down to the bottom of your Gmail page and clicking the tiny turn off buzz link, but that won’t get rid of it completely–you’ll still have followers and connected sites, you just won’t see them from the Gmail page. (Logging in through the mobile Web app, for example, should still work fine.)

Before you eliminate Buzz entirely, you need to go through a few steps. From the main Buzz page, click the Following X People link and unfollow everyone; then click on the X followers link and block everyone. Next, you need to delete your Google Profile: Go to Google Profiles, select View My Profile, Edit profile, scroll down to the bottom of the screen, and select Delete profile.

Once you’ve done that, disable Buzz from the Gmail window. You’ll have successfully killed your Buzz.