Randi Zuckerberg Wants to Teach Children Not to Use Facebook So Much

There might be some awkward moments around the Zuckerberg family Thanksgiving table this year. Because Randi Zuckerberg, thekaraoke-singing, reality-show-producing sister of Facebook CEO Mark, is coming out with a children's book that amounts to a passive-aggressive swipe at the obsessive social-media culture her brother's company helped create.

Randi's book Dot, which goes on sale on November 5, is about a little girl named Dot who can't stop fidgeting with her phone. "Dot loves technology. A LOT. She’s obsessed with her devices (sound familiar?), but with a little push, she’s reminded that life’s a little bit richer when you look up from the screen," Randi writes on her blog.

If it sounds odd that the sister of an Internet mogul whose goal is turning the world into a bunch of Facebook-using smartphone addicts would write a children's book that urges people to put down their phones and experience real life, well, it is. It would be like Mario Batali's sister writing a low-carb cookbook.

Luckily, Randi has also written a book for adults, Dot Complicated, which is coming out at the same time as Dot. Dot Complicated is less a tale about device addiction as it is a memoir — a "personal and professional story with a fresh guide to understanding technology and how it influences and informs our lives online and off," according to the book's website. So she's not totally out of the Zucker-fold.

Still, just to keep her family allegiances intact, she may want to think about writing a sequel to Dot, in which Dot, cut off from the world around her by her parents' draconian no-Facebook rules, is thrust into a depressing spiral of social isolation, and is saved only when a good Samaritan pulls her from her home, Harry Potter–style, and restores her access to Graph Search, enabling her to partake once more in the world's glorious open exchange of personal information.

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Hands On With HP's Chromebook 11 And Thinkpad's Chromebook For Education

I love Chromebooks. I’ve used them as my primary laptop since last year when Samsung released their exynos powered Macbook Air lookalike.

When I bought my first Chromebook it was an experiment. At first, I was nervous about not having Microsoft MSFT +0.11% Word because I’m an academic. Could I survive with justGoogle GOOG +13.8% Docs? When not blogging, I write stuff with footnotes, quotes and complex grammar. Unlike most people, I actually do use a lot of the specialized features in Word. So, when I made the switch to ChromeOS, I kept my old Apple AAPL +0.87% laptop hooked up as a desktop–huge monitor, external keyboard, and the magic trackpad.

Now, I use that computer only about once every few weeks. Turns out almost everything I do on a normal basis can be done in a browser.

When Google and HP announced the Chomebook 11 last week, I ordered one immediately. It was the micro USB charger that convinced me. Carrying around just one charger for every device is a kind of emancipation.

When the HP Chromebook arrived, I was immediately struck by the packaging. There’s a story in it. This box isn’t just for shipping. It also begins a relationship. Like a proposal, or an engagement, the packaging asks me to commit to this machine. The white curves mimic the aesthetic of the computer. I was excited for the slick plastic curves before I had even seen the real thing.

The corner-less cardboard box is also reminiscent of a giant pill capsule. It reminds me of The Matrix. By being a consumer of this Chromebook I’m crossing a threshold into the Cloud–away from the tangible, material reality of physical memory and into an ethereal, virtual, and untethered experience.

There’s a mythology of freedom that surrounds Chromebooks. We’re freed from the burden of bloatware, freed from the long wait of the typical start-up time, freed from updates and upgrades, freed from the data back-up anxiety, freed from troubleshooting.

Then, on the other side, we’re reminded that the liberty of the cloud comes with the internet’s shackles. I’m reminded of Randy Newman’s great song, “Rednecks”–I’m free to be put in a cage. Like most computing products, each new sovereignty comes with a flipside. When I sign into this Chromebook, my data becomes available to Google. No more privacy. All the immunity that comes with anonymity is gone.

Oddly, the internet is the only place I can think of where being caught in a web is considered a good thing–where a net promises freedom more than it signals imminent capture.

Imagery like this manifests out of the collective unconscious with intention. There’s meaning behind it. It is not just a superficial accident. There’s a reason we didn’t name this new networked reality the World Wide Tapestry. The cloud is not just an intertwining. A network is not a braid. Not knitting. Not crocheting. Not intermingling.

On the contrary, nets and the webs are technologies of prey. The only freedom is the predator’s ability to capture and feed. Devouring spiders and patient fishermen reign here. They bait their spoils with aesthetics, beauty, and perhaps the promise of a tasty worm.

What’s most thought-provoking, however, is that we’re not fooled. We are all aware of the dangers. And yet, we jump in willingly. We are excited to see how reality looks on the other side of this transition. What will it mean when the privacy of personal identity–the individual self as we know it–is devoured completely? We want to know, and so we let ourselves be caught.

In this case, we’re lured in by shiny new hardware.

The HP Chromebook 11 is hot temptation. The attractive smooth white case feels good to touch. I keep discovering myself rubbing the sides while I’m reading blogs. I’m fondling it, petting it. It just feels good.

The glossy screen is pure pleasure to look at. They say that this particular IPS display is not as high resolution as the one on the Pixel Chromebook, but honestly, it is stimulating enough.

As promised, the sound is both rich and crisp. Much stronger than any of the other Chromebooks.

The trackpad is just as responsive as the Samsung’s. And the keyboard is feels slightly better; there’s a little more spring in these chiclets.

From a sensory standpoint, this HP Chromebook trumps all the other cheap ones. In terms of performance, the HP Chromebook 11 struggles when I have too many browser windows opened. But that seems true of all the budget Chromebooks.  I haven’t tried the Pixel, but I’ve used the Samsung, the Acer , and the Lenovo Thinkpad.

Among all the options I have tried, the Lenovo Thinkpad X131e Chromebook foreducation has the best performance. That’s not surprising, it has a Thinkpad keyboard, Trackpoint nipple navigation, and a better processor than all the others. However, it is also big and heavy because it is built ruggedly for schools–“to withstand enthusiastic typing, bustling group work, and everyday school adventures.” I use it at home when I’m more or less stationary. I wouldn’t want to carry it around in my messenger bag. It is just not built for mobility beyond classroom use. The X131e is not designed for consumers, it is only available to institutions. Still, I fantasize that one day Lenovo will build a thin X series Thinkpad Chromebook for everyday use. I’d pay a premium price for it quicker than I’d buy the Pixel.

For now, the HP Chromebook 11 is my everywhere computer. It is cheap enough that I can throw it in a bag and travel without worrying that it might be damaged.

I bought the one with green trim. It is pretty. It is light. It does everything I need.

And it is guiding me, for better or worse, into the next phase of human consciousness.

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Shanghai Surprise: Chinese Couple Sells Baby For Money To Buy Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone And Pair Of Shoes

The lure of the iPhone has driven people to extremes to get one. Reuters

An unemployed Shanghai couple is accused of selling their newborn in exchange for up to 50,000 yuan (US$8,000) and then using the proceeds to going on a shopping spree -- including the purchase of an iPhone. 

The couple, identified in Chinese media only as “Mr. Teng and Ms. Zhang,” will stand trial in Shanghai for allegedly auctioning off their baby and using the proceeds to finance a shopping spree. Shanghai's Jiefang Daily newspaper said that the couple posted advertisements for the unborn child in June suggesting they'd  be willing to give up their unborn baby in exchange for money.

Chinese prosecutors said the couple hid the woman’s pregnancy to avoid arousing suspicion among friends and strangers. To explain her growing bump, the woman told neighbors that she had a tumor, according to the U.K. Telegraph. After a home birth, the couple reportedly handed their daughter over to an anonymous buyer, who then made a direct deposit into their bank account later the same day.

According to media accounts, the couple said in court testimony that they were acting in the child's best interest. The couple said that they didn't have steady incomes and would have had difficulty caring for the child. They hoped by auctioning her off, the child would be placed in a good, stable home and receive a good education. “We did not give the baby away for money but in order to give it more security,” the couple said, according to the Telegraph.

Prosecutors said that authorities have examined the couple’s bank records and believe the transactions indicate that the couple masterminded a “sinister conspiracy” to profit from the child's birth. One credit card bill showed that immediately after the baby was "traded" in, the couple spent large amounts of cash during an online shopping spree, which included the purchase of an iPhone and a pair of "high-end" sneakers.

This isn't the first time someone in China has gone to extremes for an Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) product. Last year, a 17-year-old boy in central China’s Hunan province sold his kidney to earn enough money to buy an iPhone and an iPad, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency. The teenager told his mother about his desperate act after he began feeling pain due to renal failure following extraction of the organ, the report said.

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Apple Inc. (AAPL) Vehemently Denies iMessage Security Claims

Following the Snowden scandal, Apple Inc. and others are fighting back against claims that it is complicit in offering governments access to your communications. Earlier this year, the Cupertino company claimed that its end-to-end encryption that protects its iMessage service is so secure that the company can’t decrypt it. This claim, however, was quickly refuted by the security company QuarksLab on Thursday.

Apple can read your iMessages

“Apple Inc. can read your iMessages if they choose to, or if they are required to do so by a government order,” QuarksLab said in a white paper presented Thursday at the Hack in the Box conference.

As I’m not a hacker, I’ll quickly summarize the byzantine findings. QuarksLab claims that because Apple Inc. controls the keys used in encryption on both ends, the company could launch a “man-in-the-middle attack” that would leave both parties believing that they are chatting directly with each other when they are not. This would, therefore, allow Apple Inc. to read iMessage communications.

There is no end-to-end encryption

“As Apple Inc. claims, there is end-to-end encryption,” QuarksLab explains. “The weakness is in the key infrastructure as it is controlled by Apple Inc. They can change a key any time they want, [and] thus read the content of our iMessages.” QuarksLab, it should be noted, has no evidence that Apple Inc. does or has done this. Its presentation begins with this explicit statement: “What we are not saying: Apple reads your iMessages. What we are saying: Apple Inc. can read your iMessages if they choose to, or if they are required to do so by a government order.”

So far, the security community seems to agree with QuarksLab’s claims.

Apple’s iMessages security

“I think what their presentation demonstrates is that it’s very difficult, but not impossible, for an outside attacker to intercept messages if they’re able to control key aspects of the network,” independent security researcher Ashkan Soltani told AllThingsD. “Probably not something that just any actor can do, but definitely something a state/government actor or Apple Inc. themselves could do, if motivated.”

Apple Inc. has recently fired back by sticking to the claims it made earlier this year.

“iMessage is not architected to allow Apple Inc. to read messages,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller in a statement to AllThingsD. “The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple Inc. to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so.”

At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of how much you trust Apple Inc.

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Maria Kang, 'fit Facebook mom' accused of fat-shaming with Facebook picture

Elk Grove, Calif. - Elk Grove, Calif., mother and fitness buff Maria Kang has ignited a firestorm in cyberspace with her "what's your excuse?" Facebook photo, which shows her in a sports bra and short shorts, posing with her three young sons.

Some call it flattering and inspiring, others call it insulting and overly revealing, but Kang's photo has gone viral -- and global -- as media outlets from California to London have covered the controversy.

Posters and bloggers have accused Kang, 32, of "fat shaming," claiming her photo suggests that all women can look like her if they just work hard enough.

On her blog about motherhood, Theinklingsoflife.com, Morgan Moss declared: "You, as a woman, should be ashamed that you are furthering the downward spiral of how society views women, and how we women view ourselves. ... Most REAL moms don't look like you, sweetheart."

Kang has been called a hurtful, hateful bully. One online commenter said, "People like you who post pictures like this make me cry because without surgery I will never look like you."

By Saturday afternoon, Kang's Facebook photo had generated 241,801 "likes," 21,795 "shares" and 33,665 comments, and Kang said the international exposure, ranging from CNN to Good Morning America, The New York Daily News and The Daily Mail in Great Britain, has pushed her page views to 1 million.

Kang recently told her critics: "I'm sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way. I ... had an eating disorder, work full time owning two businesses, have no nanny, am not naturally skinny and do not work as a personal trainer."

Kang said her Facebook photo, posted to promote her free fitness classes, meant to send the message that women should "make no excuses not to follow through on your fitness action plan."

Kang, who runs two board-and-care homes for the elderly, says she doesn't profit from fitness and just wants to help people get healthy. She runs an unpaid nonprofit, Fitness Without Borders, a free Mom-Me Fit Club that meets in public parks three times a week and free 12-week family fitness boot camps.

''I discovered fitness was my passion because my mom was very sick, had diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure and a stroke at a young age because of her eating habits and lack of exercises," she said.

Kang said she has battled her weight and, from ages 23 to 27, struggled with bulimia. "I was binging and purging three times a day, five times a week for four years straight," she said. Kang, a Catholic, said she turned to prayer and moved from San Francisco back home to Elk Grove to help her mother, who needed dialysis three times a week.

Kang has been a cheerleader, kickboxer, personal trainer and beauty pageant winner, but gained 35 to 40 pounds with each pregnancy. Her sons Christian, Nicholas and Gabriel are now 4, 3 and 1.

She said she started the Mom-Me Fit Club in 2009, using a grant from the First Five Sacramento commission. She said 15 to 20 moms bring their kids to each outdoor session to work out. "We do ab exercises, circuit training, lunges -- it's really inspirational," said Kang, who first posted the "What's your excuse?" photo in September 2012 and reposted it a few weeks ago.

Asked to describe her fitness regimen: Kang said she wakes up at 6 a.m., tries to run 3 miles on her treadmill, and serves her kids raisin bran, sweet potato pancakes, fruit or eggs for breakfast -- "no pop tarts, no sugar cereals." She squeezes in an hour of strength-training at California Family Fitness by taking her children to the gym's child-care center.

Getting in shape "only takes 30 minutes a day" and doesn't require a gym, Kang said. "Wake up an hour earlier, do it at lunch time or after dinner instead of watching TV. Eating is 80percent of your results."

Kang said she thinks walking is the best exercise, and she encourages moms who work out with her in the park to do 20 pushups, squats, crunches and jumping jacks five times in a row without stopping.

At least one Northern California blogger offers Kang grudging respect on her Facebook page. Janelle Hanchett of Renegademothering.com declares: "Maria Kang, I hate you. But you're right. And now I hate you more. ... I am currently 40 pounds overweight. Why? Because I use food for emotional comfort. Because I'm lazy. Because I put things before my health, Hanchett wrote. "I'm tired of my own excuses."

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