It would be better for #Google to do one mass layoff than engage in this year-long layoff strategy, as the latter is a moral killer (since you do not know who is going to lose their job next).
Google refuses to create a specific role for someone to oversee the issues of older users, who depend on #Google for so many things but so often get the shaft and lose everything when something goes wrong with their accounts. Google should AT LEAST (I still think the role is crucial), be providing focused help resources and a recurring (at least monthly) blog to help this class of users ("Google for Seniors", "Google Seniors Blog").
This would all be specifically oriented toward helping these users deal with the kinds of Google Account and other Google problems that so often disproportionately affect this group.
This would be good for these users (who Google unreasonably and devastatingly considers to be an unimportant segment of their user base) and frankly good for Google's PR in a highly challenging and toxic political environment.
I'm so tired of having so many people in this category approach me for help with account and other Google issues because they never understood the existing Google resources that, frankly, are written for a different level of tech expertise and understanding.
I have more detailed thoughts on this if anyone cares. No, I'm not holding my breath on this one.
If society and government cared about old people and children tomorrow morning laws would be passed banning any and all forms of mandatory ecommerce and shuttering companies that do not have the traditional snail mail and telephone service for things. But this generation of society and government are a bunch of grifters and parasites who only care about themselves and a zillion things that don't matter.
I am by no means a senior citizen yet I find it a rare occasion when any contact with customer service of any company DOESN'T raise my blood pressure within a couple minutes of dealing with their inept dumb doltery and callous indifference. I can only imagine what this will be like when I'm old.
Ever since I quit Google I've stopped receiving junk emails, used to come about 10 a day and would end up in promotions folder, or updates, or socials, which google created. Now, I get nothing. Only newsletters, some of which are industry related so I don't mind them. #email#google#webdev
@protonprivacy@carturo222@thunderbird My complaint is that Thunderbird doesn't handle proton folders well, and leads to a lot of clutter and more inconvenience since it creates duplicate folders under each email address
@itsfoss it is clear that they are going to move development to countries with low wages to increase their profits. Typical. This means that the quality of the product will go down.
Alright, so my work is switching to Google Meet. I want to grill the IT team on Google harvesting biometrics and using it to train AI, but I need proof?
Comms on Google Meet are apparently "encrypted", but I call bullshit.
@pluralistic Cory, this might be of interest, taking up your ‘Too big to care’ post. GMX licenses Google results. GMX results are superior to Google’s (without paying for Kagi’s metasearch).
Google has dominated the search market for more than two decades, accounting for as much as 90% of all global searches. But OpenAI could be about to take on Google at its own game, with the launch of a new search engine based on ChatGPT tech.
Rumors began when a domain name and security certificate for search.chatgpt.com was found, with an AI influencer later hinting an announcement was coming on 9 May. Here’s more from Tom's Guide.
PassKeys seem like a bad idea. Google backs them up to the cloud, so if your Google account is compromised then all your private keys are compromised. I don't see how that's an improvement over password+2FA at all.
Now security keys I get; keep the private key on an airgapped device. That's good. Hell I even keep my 2FA-OTP salts on a YubiKey.
Structural security trumps computational security ... or ...
Diffuse structural security trumps amalgamated computational security ...
All your big, strong passkeys in one basket is less secure than your passwords in many individual baskets ...
Trying to explain this to tech bros can resemble pushing a wagon uphill ...
Because they want to sell something, logic is not paramount.
"A password in my brain is generally safer than an app or SMS stream that can be compromised. Although a passphrase may in some cases not be computationally more secure than a token mechanism or two-factor sytem, the simple passphrase is often structurally more secure because that passphrase only links to and exposes one service target."
"I like to compare it to having one basket of eggs in one spot, and many baskets of eggs in many places. If your one basket of eggs has the master key to all the other stronger keys, is it easier to get the one basket, or the many baskets with weaker keys? So in this scenario cipher strength is not the most important factor for security. With a single basket one fox or pick-pocket or one search warrant can own all of your eggs for all your services."
If you're looking for an explanation of what's happening at Google with the current layoffs, just watch this video. Steve Jobs' reflections about what happened at Apple provide the best explanation. It's something you'll encounter in all corporate companies. #google#stevejobs#layoffs#entshittification
I'm frequently asked to explain #Google's Privacy Sandbox that is supposed to replace third party cookies and why the former is more privacy-positive.
Unfortunately, though I like to think that I understand it, I've still found this to be nearly impossible to explain effectively to nontechies. And nearly impossible to explain to other techies.
@lauren As a company, this wouldn't be the first time I've observed Google having the problem that a solution is too clever so it works for people who just Trust the System and generates strong negative opinion among people who don't.
I can explain how Google shows you retargeted ads without either Google knowing the content of the ads its showing you or the company showing the ad knowing your browsing history, but I need a lot of thumbtacks and red string to do it.
It's not very convincing to conspiracy theorists when you come at them with something that's definitely a conspiracy board. 😉
Time for this week's #Linux and #OpenSource News video!
In this one, we have the law forcing #TikTok to sell or be banned in the US being passed, we have an article explaining why #Google Search is so much worse these days, we have the release of #Fedora 40 and #Ubuntu 24.04, and #Nvidia contributing to the NVK open source drivers:
@thelinuxEXP How interesting it would be, for him to live in France & have a name that at least LOOKS French, and not be French!
(Imagines him walking around with a cash belt, loudly insisting in English that people call him by the aforementioned mangled pronunciation of his name.)
So yeah, I rescind the comment. 🤭