Cloud Computing with Google Chrome

Cloud computing is “the next big thing” in computer technology and the Google Chrome Operating System is at the forefront of its development. With Google Chrome, the software and the documents you create are all stored on Google servers somewhere. Everything is saved automatically, and backed up automatically. If your Google Chrome computer gets stolen, you lose nothing except the computer - all your stuff is still there on the Google servers. You don’t have to worry about viruses because there is an army of Google engineers watching out for them. Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of Chrome computing is that almost everything is free. That includes the operating system and a complete suite of office applications. Even the computers themselves are very inexpensive with prices starting at around $200. Cloud computing may be the next big thing, but that means that people who want to make use of this new technology will need a guide to help them make the transition from the old way of doing things to the new Chrome way. This book is just such a guide. It distills hundreds of pages of Google support documents into 116 pages of detailed instructions on how to setup and how to use all of the powerful features Chrome makes available. This book explains all of the newest Chrome technologies such as: Two-Step Authentication, Application Specific Passwords, Google Cloud Print, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Groups, and much more. What sets this book apart is that it not only describes these various aspects of Chrome, it also provides step-by-step instructions for setting-up and then using all of the modern Chrome features. Numerous screen shots are included to help clarify what the text says. Whether you have just bought your first Chromebook laptop or whether you have been using the Chrome web browser for some time, you will learn something, perhaps a lot, from this book. Chrome is going to revolutionize the way computing is done in the future. And you can experience that future right now. This book will tell you how. As an example of the level of detail you can expect from this book, here’s a summary of the contents of Section 3.3 discussing Setting Up a New Google Account: 3.1 Choosing a Strong Password 3.2 Creating a New Google Account 3.3 Securing Your Google Account 3.3.1 Turn On Encryption for Your Account 3.3.2 How Does “2-Step Verification Work” 3.3.3 Set-Up “2-Step Verification” 3.3.4 Generate and Print “Backup Codes” 3.3.5 How Do You Use “Backup Codes”? 3.3.6 Generate and Print “Application Specific Passwords” 3.3.7 How Do You Use “Application Specific Passwords”? 3.3.8 Revoking “Application Specific Passwords” 3.3.9 Returning to Your Security Settings Page

Hi, my name is George Root. I graduated with an MSEE degree from Caltech back in the dark ages before there were personal computers. I began my career in the aerospace industry starting with the big mainframe computers from Univac, IBM, and DEC. During the course of my career I have written thousands of pages of technical documentation. But writing this book on Google Chrome has been my most enjoyable writing project. In 1985 I saw a demonstration of a new type of computer called a “Macintosh”. It immediately struck me that this was the way computers were supposed to work. I bought a Mac and ever since then I have been a fan of, some might say fanatic about, Apple computers. Then one day, not long ago, a friend asked me what I knew about Chrome computers. I knew that there was a web browser from Google called Chrome, but I didn’t know there was also a Chrome Operating System and that computers were being built to run that OS. I started reading about Chrome and was once again struck by the thought “this is the way computers are supposed to work”. I bought a Samsung Chromebook and began trying to figure out how to use it. I found that many things about Chrome are different from the way my Mac and other personal computers work. I read hundreds of Google support pages and tried many hands-on experiments This book summarizes what I have learned along the way.