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Martha Mendoza: > Encryption isn’t meant to keep hackers out, but when it’s designed and implemented correctly, it alters the way messages look. Intruders who don’t have a decryption key see only gobbledygook. Good overview of the often misunderstood encryption arms race.
Martha Mendoza:
> Encryption isn’t meant to keep hackers out, but when it’s designed and implemented correctly, it alters the way messages look. Intruders who don’t have a decryption key see only gobbledygook.
Good overview of the often misunderstood encryption arms race.
It turns out that stripping all military styling from a GORUCK bag strips all character from it too.
At the end of my last post on bags I concluded:
If I had to pick only one of the bags that I currently own it would be the Smart Alec, which is a fantastic bag all around. The Smart Alec’s modular pockets make it exceedingly versatile and less likely to become obsolete when your tech-gear changes.
Given the choice of any bag on the market I would choose the Goruck SK26 (I might even choose the sand color).
I confidently made that statement, without ever trying the SK26 from Goruck, because I own the nearly identical GR1 (reviewed here). Still, it feels uncomfortable to recommend something I don’t own, or haven’t tried. But there are only so many $200-plus backpacks that one man can buy before he must start selling assets. ((And sleeping on the couch.))
Luckily, for me (and you), an incredibly generous reader decided that it didn’t sit well with him either, so he bought me an SK26 — no strings-attached. ((As far as I know this reader has nothing to do with Goruck at all, and confirmed to me that he uses Incase products at the moment.))
I received the SK26 shortly after writing the aforementioned review and have been testing it for almost six weeks straight (it would be longer but I needed to switch between bags a bit to confirm some of my conclusions).
In short: I was wrong.
The SK26 is not the best all-around bag. The Smart Alec is.
However, I’m not planning to use either the SK26, or the Smart Alec. I’m going with the GR1.
The problem here is that I was right (stick with me). The SK26 is, as advertised, the GR1 without military styling. What I failed to notice is that the GR1 without its military styling doesn’t actually have much style at all.
And that’s the problem with the SK26: It’s rather boring.
The best way to describe the look of the SK26 is to compare it to one of those free SWAG bags that get handed out conferences — a bag you use to stuff full of shitty conference sponsor brochures and not cry about leaving behind.
Keep in mind that the SK26’s plainness is exactly the point. But It’s too boring for my taste.
I don’t need my bag screaming for attention but I also don’t want it looking like a cheap-o conference bag when I walk into a meeting to discuss the purchase of a multi-million dollar piece of real estate. And so, after weeks of using the SK26, I have decided that it’s just not the bag for me and also not a bag I would recommend to most others. ((I qualify that because there are very niche uses where this bag would be good. Military applications for sure. Outside of that, avid fans of the GR1 would love the bag if traveling to international destinations that are not in love with the U.S. military — E.g. any other nation.))
I stand by my statement: If you have to choose just one backpack, for almost all uses, the Smart Alec from Tom Bihn is the best choice.
Here’s why:
Those four reasons helped the Smart Alec take the top spot. It’s important to keep those in mind as we discuss the reason I’m moving on from the Smart Alec.
I have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about this subject, and since I would have thought about it anyways, I am going to share my reasons for switching away from the excellent Smart Alec to the equally great Goruck GR1.
For me the Smart Alec falls short because I prefer to choose not to load my bag from the top. While I quite miss the handy side pockets on the Smart Alec, I miss them a lot less than I do the top-load nature of the pack. The Goruck bags are designed to fully unzip and lay flat when open. That’s amazingly helpful for packing in a lot of gear — and I can indeed fit much more, less wrinkled, into my Goruck than I can my Smart Alec. ((They are identically sized, at 26 liters.))
I have to take into consideration my use case scenarios and not the general scenarios that we just talked about. I don’t travel internationally much (except to Canada, but that can’t really be considered international travel) so the military inspired design of the GR1 is of very little concern to me. I also like to day-hike, which I specifically left out of my last post about the best all around bag, because it’s here that the Smart Alec trips up.
For me the Goruck will be better for traveling in the U.S. because it’s easier to pack and unpack. The Goruck will be better to hike with because it has Molle webbing for lashing stuff to. The Goruck also feels robustly constructed, which makes me feel safer taking it out on the trail. ((I have little doubt that for most people both the Goruck and Smart Alec will last a lifetime.))
One important thing to note about traveling with the Smart Alec is that, unlike the Goruck, you must unpack the bag everywhere you go. The Goruck can zip all the way open and act like a traditional suitcase, from which I can cherry pick the items I need. The Smart Alec isn’t like that — you need to unpack it to get anything out of it, well I do at least, and that becomes very tiresome on short trips.
There will certainly be times when the SK26 will prove useful, but at the end of the day I just don’t want my backpack to look as boring as the SK26.
There is one other key difference between the GR1 and SK26 that I did not expect: The straps on the GR1 are better because of the Molle webbing, which takes out some of the rigidity. The SK26 doesn’t have that, so the straps feel far more rigid.
The SK26 is really best suited (for non-military users) as an international travel pack for diehard Goruck lovers. Outside of that I really can’t think of a good reason to get the SK26.
When I wrote the last post about bags my goal was to convince myself that I only needed one bag and to get rid of the rest. Just before writing this article I started to purge. I sold my revision 2 Smart Alec and its companion Brain Cells. I tried to sell the Smart Alec revision 1 and the Flat Pack, but neither have attracted a buyer.
Right now I still have two bags that I could use on a daily basis. So if you want a Flat Pack, or a Smart Alec revision 1 please email me — they are all in excellent condition.
Given the ever changing backpack market I suspect to find something “better” than the GR1 in six months or less. Until then I don’t see any reason to hang on to other bags that I have already decided are not the best for me.
This ‘research’ is expensive.
Charles Arthur: > But many geeks who do change defaults forget that the majority of people don’t. Those people assume – reasonably – that the device they bought for umpty hundred pounds should already have the ideal setup. Changing defaults isn’t unreasonable. But nor should it be necessary.
Charles Arthur:
> But many geeks who do change defaults forget that the majority of people don’t. Those people assume – reasonably – that the device they bought for umpty hundred pounds should already have the ideal setup. Changing defaults isn’t unreasonable. But nor should it be necessary.
With all the NSA revelations that are coming out, and that likely will continue to come out, one of the most important debates is surrounding what privacy we are due. The easiest, and laziest, argument is that privacy only matters to those with things to hide. That’s not only false, but incredibly short-sighted — It…
With all the NSA revelations that are coming out, and that likely will continue to come out, one of the most important debates is surrounding what privacy we are due. The easiest, and laziest, argument is that privacy only matters to those with things to hide. That’s not only false, but incredibly short-sighted — It is a dismissing argument that people should be ashamed to make.
It’s hard to define exactly why privacy, and strong privacy at that, is of paramount importance.
[Marko Polojärvi has the best article](https://markopolojarvi.com/privacy.html) on the importance of privacy that I have seen thus far.
You should read the entire article, but just in case you don’t, be sure to take note of these quotes from his post.
If you run a website:
> It’s important to understand that Google’s dragnet tracking is not limited to your searches on Google.com. Google offers various “free” services to webmasters like Google Analytics. The webmaster installs a piece of code on the website and that code sends your unique tracking data to Google every time you visit that website.
[…]
> As a webmaster by using these services you’re literally selling out your visitors (and for zero profit) and contributing to the problem.
And the how this can effect everything when lawmakers are not kept in check:
> The British police used data obtained from “internet communications” to arrest around 50 potential royal wedding protestors based on predictions that they might cause annoyance. As I’m writing this there’s also new legislation being passed in the UK that makes any behaviour perceived as potentially ’cause nuisance or annoyance’ a criminal offence.
Well worth your time today to read up.
Shane Cole: > For every $1.00 in app download revenue earned by iOS developers, their Android counterparts earn just $0.19, according to data compiled by Business Insider. The gap for up-front and in-app purchases is slightly narrower, with Android bringing in $0.43 for every $1.00 on iOS, while advertising revenue is the closest at $0.77…
Shane Cole:
> For every $1.00 in app download revenue earned by iOS developers, their Android counterparts earn just $0.19, according to data compiled by Business Insider. The gap for up-front and in-app purchases is slightly narrower, with Android bringing in $0.43 for every $1.00 on iOS, while advertising revenue is the closest at $0.77 on the dollar.
The source is, erm, *questionable* — but that’s a huge disparity even if the data is only close.
Some solid plugins here, recommended by David Sparks no less. Just started using these and now I’m happy to snag them in a bundle.
Some solid plugins here, recommended by David Sparks no less. Just started using these and now I’m happy to snag them in a bundle.
There’s a rather ‘meh’ post [at](http://pando.com/2013/11/27/who-hates-jony-ives-ios7-publishers-thats-who/) PandoDaily with some Newsstand publishers *seemingly* blaming Apple for their lack of success. ((I say seemingly because who knows what context those quotes were given in.)) Most notably is The Magazine’s publisher Glenn Fleishman. The whole post is dumb. It blames the Newsstand icon and design on faltering sales.…
There’s a rather ‘meh’ post [at](http://pando.com/2013/11/27/who-hates-jony-ives-ios7-publishers-thats-who/) PandoDaily with some Newsstand publishers *seemingly* blaming Apple for their lack of success. ((I say seemingly because who knows what context those quotes were given in.)) Most notably is The Magazine’s publisher Glenn Fleishman.
The whole post is dumb. It blames the Newsstand icon and design on faltering sales. Perceived lack of attention from Apple, and lack of icon badging (I assume, because it is never explicitly said) were other ‘excuses’ mentioned.
I have a lot of respect for people making a go of digital publishing like this, and for Fleishman specifically. BUT, it seems to me that if subscribers are dwindling and people are “forgetting” about your publication, then your problem is rather straightforward: content.
Publish things people want to read and they *will* read. Sorry to be Field of Dreams-y there, but it’s applicable here.
I stopped subscribing to *all* Newsstand publications quite a while ago because not a single one had content that interested me enough — that includes the high and mighty New Yorker. I suspect this is also why people stop subscribing to *my* site. It’s not a mystery to *me* why I don’t have more subscribers, it’s because I don’t have good enough content to justify the price in many non-subscribers eyes — especially in comparison to my “competitors”. (Just look at what The Sweet Setup is bringing to the table.)
Eric Jaffe: > In the iPad condition, the endowment effect thrived. On average, test participants using the tablet wanted to sell their item for significantly more than those using the laptop (roughly $213 to $154). Pressing a finger against a digital image on a fake website in a laboratory–that’s all it took to make people…
Eric Jaffe:
> In the iPad condition, the endowment effect thrived. On average, test participants using the tablet wanted to sell their item for significantly more than those using the laptop (roughly $213 to $154). Pressing a finger against a digital image on a fake website in a laboratory–that’s all it took to make people feel like they owned an item, and to value it more as a result.
So, perhaps, the smartest way to save money this “Black Friday” is to *not* use an iPad. I’m screwed.
Greg Sterling: > Unless the sample of impressions that Adfonic is seeing globally is somehow distorted or not reflective of the broader market, it’s very hard to explain why Apple is so dominant. I’d love to hear any theories. It seems rather obvious to me: iOS users *use* their devices [more](http://tech-thoughts.net/2012/11/ios-android-usage-engagement-patterns.html).
Greg Sterling:
> Unless the sample of impressions that Adfonic is seeing globally is somehow distorted or not reflective of the broader market, it’s very hard to explain why Apple is so dominant. I’d love to hear any theories.
It seems rather obvious to me: iOS users *use* their devices [more](http://tech-thoughts.net/2012/11/ios-android-usage-engagement-patterns.html).
I’ve never actually used a recipe manager. Ok, truthfully I have rarely ever used a recipe to begin with, but Paprika is pretty sweet. I just bought the apps so that I force myself to cook a wider variety of things, so be sure to read Steven Owens’ nice review of recipe managers over at…
I’ve never actually used a recipe manager. Ok, truthfully I have rarely ever used a recipe to begin with, but Paprika is pretty sweet. I just bought the apps so that I force myself to cook a wider variety of things, so be sure to read Steven Owens’ nice review of recipe managers over at The Sweet Setup.
Ian Crouch: > What you call the looming storm threatening the East Coast this Thanksgiving week depends on where you get your weather news. If it comes from the several platforms of the Weather Channel, then you know that the storm has a name, Boreas (the Greek god of the cold north wind), and so…
Ian Crouch:
> What you call the looming storm threatening the East Coast this Thanksgiving week depends on where you get your weather news. If it comes from the several platforms of the Weather Channel, then you know that the storm has a name, Boreas (the Greek god of the cold north wind), and so are most likely referring to it accordingly. If you get your forecasts elsewhere, then you are probably using some variant of “that shitty storm” as you nervously eye your holiday travel plans.
Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Mark Udall of Colorado and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico: > Our first priority is to keep Americans safe from the threat of terrorism. If government agencies identify a suspected terrorist, they should absolutely go to the relevant phone companies to get that person’s phone records. But this can be…
Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Mark Udall of Colorado and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico:
> Our first priority is to keep Americans safe from the threat of terrorism. If government agencies identify a suspected terrorist, they should absolutely go to the relevant phone companies to get that person’s phone records. But this can be done without collecting the records of millions of law-abiding Americans. We recall Benjamin Franklin’s famous admonition that those who would give up essential liberty in the pursuit of temporary safety will lose both and deserve neither.
Sounds cool, I hadn’t really kept track of it until now. I think I need to add it as a payment method here though…
Sounds cool, I hadn’t really kept track of it until now. I think I need to add it as a payment method here though…
Ken Shirriff: > Some submissions get automatically penalized based on the title, and others get penalized based on the domain. It appears that any article with NSA in the title gets an automatic penalty of .4. I looked for other words causing automatic penalties, such as awesome, bitcoin, and bubble but they do not seem…
Ken Shirriff:
> Some submissions get automatically penalized based on the title, and others get penalized based on the domain. It appears that any article with NSA in the title gets an automatic penalty of .4. I looked for other words causing automatic penalties, such as awesome, bitcoin, and bubble but they do not seem to get penalized.
> I observed that many websites appear to automatically get a penalty of .25 to .8: arstechnica.com, businessinsider.com, easypost.com, github.com, imgur.com, medium.com, quora.com, qz.com, reddit.com, rt.com, stackexchange.com, theguardian.com, theregister.com, theverge.com, torrentfreak.com, youtube.com. I’m sure the actual list is longer. (This is separate from “banned” sites, which were listed at one point.
The problems that HN is trying to avoid by doing this is understandable, but I do think it has been gone about in the wrong way. ((Not that it matters, as HN is largely an Android-VC-HackerNews circle-jerk anyways.))
In addition to sending private data to *other* users phones, Joseph Keller reports: > Also of note is how QuizUp handles access to your contacts. The game allows you to invite your friends to the game via text message, which you need to grant QuizUp access to your contacts to allow. Once this is done,…
In addition to sending private data to *other* users phones, Joseph Keller reports:
> Also of note is how QuizUp handles access to your contacts. The game allows you to invite your friends to the game via text message, which you need to grant QuizUp access to your contacts to allow. Once this is done, QuizUp sends your contact’s emails, in plain text, to their servers, in violation of federal privacy laws. This is the same thing that got social network Path in trouble last year.
“For now, though, it seems rather pointless for the LGs, Sonys, Facebooks and Amazons of this world to keep swallowing down data when they regurgitate recommendations that have barely more accuracy than a horoscope.” — Craig Grannell
“How to Solve Email With Carrier Pigeons” “5 Reasons This Backpack Is Better Than the One I Posted Last Week” “10 Reasons Why You Hate Facebook, and How That Is Your Fault” “How Apple Deleted Photos of My Dead Parents” “Why Google Ads Are Better Than iAds” “Meet the 28 Samsung Phones That Will Kill…
“How to Solve Email With Carrier Pigeons”
“5 Reasons This Backpack Is Better Than the One I Posted Last Week”
“10 Reasons Why You Hate Facebook, and How That Is Your Fault”
“How Apple Deleted Photos of My Dead Parents”
“Why Google Ads Are Better Than iAds”
“Meet the 28 Samsung Phones That Will Kill the iPhone in 2014”
“Here’s the Tablet That Will Kill the iPad”
“15 Reasons I Love Your Site, but Will Never Pay for Your Shitty Paywall”
“The Best Fork”
“16 Extremely Stupid Things That Will Extend Your Macbook Pro Battery Life”
“58 People Senselessly Beaten to Death (Pics!)”
“Here’s Why This App Is Worth Billions”
“Why Record Profits Spells the Death of Apple”
“Why Record Amazon Losses Means Their Future Is Bright”
“Why Your Remote Office and Open Concept Office Plans Are Shit”
“15 Ways to Value Your Company for More Than It Is Worth”
“20 Reasons Turning Down a Billion Dollar Buyout Is Smart”
“You’ve Been Cooking Your Eggs Wrong, Here’s How”
“69 Things You Didn’t Know That You Needed to Know”
“My 15 Minute Re-Design of Your Well Studied and Thought Out Design”
I really could keep going all year long.
Looks fantastic. I ordered one, but was tempted to order three.
Looks fantastic. I ordered one, but was tempted to order three.
Marcio Cyrillo: > Whatever the future of digital assistants may be, it’s clear that the service must be fully context-aware, super responsive, and most importantly, learn about you. If Apple doesn’t empower Siri with a true digital brain, the service will soon become a joke when compared to the significant improvements Google Now is achieving.…
Marcio Cyrillo:
> Whatever the future of digital assistants may be, it’s clear that the service must be fully context-aware, super responsive, and most importantly, learn about you. If Apple doesn’t empower Siri with a true digital brain, the service will soon become a joke when compared to the significant improvements Google Now is achieving.
It’s hard to compete with Google on this level when Apple *seems* to be wanting to give users *some* privacy.
I haven't used an Android device in quite a while, so I don't care to debate which is better — I care to have more experience before making those statements — but this “guide” (Google Plus Plus Minus post) from uncle creepy is ridiculous. Naturally, let's dive in. The post on how to switch from…
I haven't used an Android device in quite a while, so I don't care to debate which is better — I care to have more experience before making those statements — but this “guide” (Google Plus Plus Minus post) from uncle creepy is ridiculous.
Naturally, let's dive in. The post on how to switch from iPhone to Android involves 14 steps hidden as four steps and some of it must been done on a PC/Mac. Yeah, super duper easy. Let's pull some choice quotes of ridiculousness: ((I think that's an MTV show, right? I haven't seen it, but I'll now assume it stars Schmidt.))
The latest high-end phones from Samsung (Galaxy S4), Motorola (Verizon Droid Ultra) and the Nexus 5 (for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface.
Where's the proof on that last statement? Also, better and faster in what aspects? All aspects? Proof…?
c) If you are using AT&T, download the Visual Voicemail app from the Play Store.
Wait, honest question here, visual voicemail isn't just built-in?
At this point, you should see all your Gmail, and be able to use any apps and they should work well. Be sure to verify this.
Marketing tip: never end a statement with another statement questioning how well your software may work. “Press the brake petal to stop the car. Be sure to verify this.”
You will need to sign up for Google Wallet and give your credit card information, but it’s free.
I have this same issue with many services: why should I provide a credit card when the service is free?
For texting either use the Messenger app in earlier releases or the “Hangouts” app in Android 4.4.
Why would I be using an earlier version of Android, you told us to update Android in your “step one”? Don't all Android devices get the latest OS right away?
Be sure to use Chrome, not Safari; its safer and better in so many ways.
Wait, I can get Safari on Android? Sweet!
I can't? Then why mention it?
And didn't I read something about new Android phones not coming with a browser? Maybe what the headline said is: “Android can't surf the web?” (See how easy distorting facts is?)
Let's go back to the top for a moment:
Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back as everything will be in the cloud, backed up, and there are so many choices for you. 80% of the world, in the latest surveys, agrees on Android.
Uh huh.
You all know how I feel about this, let's see what Google Plus commenters say about the post:
David Bania
Didn't know about the Visual Voicemail app. Thanks!Jiří Šrámek
I moved from Android to Ios !
LOL.
iPan Baal
I have an Android phone (Galaxy S2, about to upgrade it) – but even I know that +Eric Schmidt didn't write this – his media team did.
Why don't you use your G+ profile to actually write yourself, +Eric Schmidt? Instead of just another advertising platform you can attach your quasi-celebrity name to?
People who read this either already have an Android phone, or don't care.Mikal O'Neil
This just made me switch the default search engine on my Mac and iPhone to Yahoo.
Perfect.