Smarterware

Google Apps vs. Google Accounts Parity Coming

Google Apps users who want access to all the same products that regular Google Accounts have won't have to wait much longer. An anonymous tipster tells me a Google Trusted Tester program is underway right now, which "transitions" Google Apps accounts to full access to all GOOG products, including Voice, Reader, Buzz, Analytics, and more. Here's the official Help page which includes a visualization of the transition, in the screenshot here. (Here's a PDF, in case they pull access to the link.)

On this week's episode of TWiG, Leo, Jeff, and I were hoping aloud that there would be some way to merge existing Google/Apps accounts into one. It doesn't look like that will be possible. However, if you have a Google account that "conflicts" with your Apps account because you've assigned the same email address to both, GOOG will resolve the conflict by adding a +personal to your regular account's sign-in address. Stay with me here.

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How to Set Up OpenID on Your Own Domain

For some reason I was under the mistaken impression that setting up an OpenID on my own domain, ginatrapani.org, would be a big hassle: that I'd have to host my own OpenID server software and that it would take all sorts of installation and maintenance BS to do so. I feel strongly about owning my identity online, mapping it to my nameplate domain, and actively choosing an authorizing party instead of just accepting the sign-in service du jour like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, or Google. Still, I never got set up with OpenID on ginatrapani.org because my perceived hassle factor was daunting. Instead, I used idproxy.net for my OpenID and put the domain setup on my "someday I have to do that" list. It meant that my OpenID was ginatrapani.idproxy.net instead of my own domain. Idproxy is a great service and I thank them for getting me started with OpenID; but still, I want my OpenID URL to be a domain name I own and control.

Turns out I was dead wrong about the hassle. Setting up OpenID capabilities on your own domain name is a two-lines-of-HTML affair, and it's finally done. (Thanks to Chris Messina for bringing me into the year 2006.) If you're interested in doing the same, here's what to know.

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Tell the White House What Our Next Tech Challenge Should Be

This week the White House will put out a call to techies and scientists across the internet, asking a simple question: What should the United States' next greatest technological and scientific achievement be? Get your answers ready, geeks.

When you reply to the White House's prompt--on Twitter, Facebook, or via email--your voice will be heard and your ideas will be counted. I know, because I helped build the software that will capture your responses and deliver them directly to the people in charge.

Ready to get involved? Here's what to do.

1. Think big! Imagine an ambitious science or technology challenge (something huge like the moon landing!) which you think can inspire great new ideas and inventions. Here are some examples President Obama listed.
2. Follow @whitehouse on Twitter or become a fan of The White House on Facebook, and watch for a tweet or post about the grand challenges in science and technology between Monday April 12 and Wednesday April 14.
3. Reply to the tweet or post with your idea, or a link to ideas you find interesting. On Twitter, use the hashtag #whgc. Alternately, you can email your response to challenge@ostp.gov.
4. Encourage your friends and followers to respond, too!

Everyone working on the Grand Challenges initiative can't wait to hear what you have to say, so thanks in advance for your insights and participation. We'll be sharing the responses we got both online and at Twitter's first official conference, Chirp, this week in San Francisco.

Give @whitehouse Your Feedback! [Expert Labs]
Join the Conversation on the Future of Science [AAAS]

Correcting Kindle E-Books on the Fly

A few months back I bought Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog--a great book about beating procrastination that I cited in a recent Fast Company video--on my Kindle. Today I got an interesting email from Amazon. To quote:

We're writing about your recent Kindle purchase of Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy. The version you received contained some errors that have been corrected.

An updated version of Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time is now available. It’s important to note that when we send you the updated version, you will lose any highlights, your last page read, and bookmarks made in your current version and the locations of any notes may not match the updated copy of the book.

The whole part about my losing highlights and bookmarks stinks. But Amazon reaching down into my Kindle and correcting errors in a book I bought months ago? Wacky!

Update, 4/12/2010: I posted this in a rush last week and didn't include the entire text of the email, or fully-baked thoughts about it. To clarify: the updates to the book are indeed optional and opt-in. The email ends thusly:

If you wish to receive the updated version, please let us know via e-mail at amazonkindle-feedback@amazon.com.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused, and would like to thank you for your business with Amazon.

My apologies for making it sound like this update was not opt-in. While I wish Amazon would provide a diff between the revisions so I can see exactly what I'm getting when I ask for the update, they won't touch my book unless I ask them.

Google Docs’ “Upload Any File” Available Now

As promised, Google Docs has rolled out the "upload any file" feature that lets you store files up to 250MB in size in Docs (up to 1GB for free, $0.25 per extra GB).

Just checked my account and got the notification near the Upload button explaining the new capability. Coupled with the ability to share folders, this can easily be used to share any kind of media--like an album of MP3s, as shown in the screenshot (supplied by a reader).