Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Disposable Computers
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Here's another difference between Apple and Google: Apple makes beautiful computers, and Google makes computers disposable. Check out this ChromeOS commercial. I actually recoiled watching the coffee, toaster, sink, and ice cream sundae land on the notebooks in this video and destroy them. Zero data loss is great, but I also love keeping and caring for devices I love. ∞ December 9th, 2010, 23 comments
Google’s Gaggle of Announcements
December 7th, 2010, 4 comments
This week is the last chance for big companies to make 2010 product announcements before things slow down for the holidays, and Google's not letting the opportunity pass them by. Yesterday they announced the Google eBookstore (here's the Android app) and Gingerbread's flagship handset, the Nexus S, which will be on sale on December 16th. (Nexus One users, the over-the-air Gingerbread update will hit your handset in "the next few weeks.") Today, Google announced the Chrome Web Store and their ChromeOS prototype netbook, the Cr-48. Being a laptop girl who loves her keyboard and hasn't personally fallen for the touchscreen tablet craze (no iPad or Galaxy Tab here yet), the Cr-48 is exciting: full-size keyboard, built-in 3G that's free-to-cheap with reasonable pay-for-what-you-use plans from Verizon so you're always online, pure webapps (no native apps) and no spinning hard drive. Needless to say, I applied to be a tester in the pilot program. The boldest thing Google asserted at today's Chrome event: That you can do ANYTHING in a webapp that you can do in a native app. Truthfully I'm dubious--how do you compile code on the web? Is there a web-based Eclipse?--but I'm willing to give it a try. What did you think of the last bits of 2010 Google goodness? There will be much to discuss on tomorrow's episode of TWiG.
This Week in Google, Episode 68
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Got to talk about Google TV, Android tablets, Google bonuses and more with Jeff, Leo, and our guest Joel Johnson this week on TWiG. I was quieter than usual, working on only a couple hours of shuteye after my trip back from DC, but these guys always keep me on my feet. ∞ November 12th, 2010
August 18th, 2010, 18 comments
My greatest hope for the hotly-rumored, might-launch-any-day-now social networking app "Google Me" is that it will not merely clone Facebook in a weak attempt at parity, but that it will innovate and solve problems that plague existing social networks.
Last month, a senior user experience researcher at Google, Paul Adams, gave a presentation entitled "The Real Life Social Network." The 224 slides, embedded below, describe some of the problems and common user behavior on existing social web sites, and suggest how to better design that experience. While the presentation is targeted towards businesses who want to use social media to get their message out, it also serves as a roadmap for what Google will attempt to do with Google Me.
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July 16th, 2010, 7 comments
Update: Google Voice product manager Craig Walker confirms that the Apps transfer is NOT supported right now, and that it was only done for a small group of testers. Sorry, all. The good news? He says there will be a way to transfer your Voice account to Google Apps once the new GApps features that are being tested right now launch. In the meantime, I'm removing the link to the request form from this post.
Update: After I published this post, Google added very strong language to that form insisting that transfers to GApps accounts are NOT SUPPORTED (caps theirs). I'm not sure why it worked for Dustin and myself. Your mileage may vary.
Even though this request form says it doesn't work for Google Apps accounts, I can confirm that Google is transferring Google Voice from regular Google accounts to Google Apps accounts right now. Thanks to a comment by reader Dustin Boston, I gave it a try this afternoon and within the hour, my Google Voice number, texts, and voicemail was ported to my Google Apps account. If you try this, a couple of things to know:
- You'll have to enter your 4-digit PIN into the request form. I forgot mine, had to reset it, got it wrong the first time, got a message saying so, reset it again, and then all worked. Write down your PIN. It's only 4 digits.
- You'll have to re-record your Google Voice name and greeting(s). They don't get ported.
- I maintain an Apps contact list, so this didn't really affect me, but Dustin recommends exporting your Google account contacts before the transfer so you can import them into your Voice account.
Here's the form to request the transfer [removed]. Even though it does say it doesn't work for Google Apps accounts, it did work for Dustin and myself.
July 2nd, 2010, 27 comments
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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Disable Google’s Search Results Sidebar
May 6th, 2010, 1 comment
I don't mind it so much, but a few people have told me they hate the new icon-studded search options panel that appears on the left side of Google search results by default now. To kill the sidebar, try the Google Classic or Remove Google Sidebar Greasemonkey user scripts. Update: There's also the Hide Google options extension for Firefox and Chrome. (Thanks, Ken!)
The Power Users Guide to Google Apps at Maximum PC
March 26th, 2010
My Maximum PC magazine cover story, The Power Users Guide to Google Apps, is now available online. In it, I pick my favorite advanced features in Google Maps, Calendar, Docs, Wave, Reader, Alerts, Profiles, Chrome, Search, Picasa, and Gmail--and trust me, there are a lot of them.
February 19th, 2010, 41 comments
Update, May 7th: The Official Google Enterprise Blog promises that more services will be coming this year for Google Apps users. Hooray for that! (Thanks, Brad.)
If you've taken the leap and hosted your domain email with Google Apps, no doubt you've noticed that you miss out on services that regular Gmail accounts get: like Google Reader, Voice, Wave, Analytics, and right now, Buzz.
After complaining about the disparities on a recent episode of This Week in Google, a helpful Googler unofficially got in touch to clarify and confirm the problem. Let's call her/him "Helpful McGoogler." Here's what HM said.
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January 12th, 2010, 2 comments
Google says it's taking "a new approach to China" and will stop censoring search results there, even if it means they have to shut down Google.cn and their China offices. The announcement is a huge deal, and it set off some fantastic insta-commentary from tech writers on Twitter. My favorite, shown above, is courtesy of Joel Johnson. More inside.
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Update Your Google Account Password Recovery Options
December 19th, 2009, 3 comments
Now that you're auditing your online account security, log into your Google account(s) and visit the Account Recovery Options page. Here you can update your secret question and answer, your secondary email address, and even associate your mobile phone number with your account so you can get a password recovery code via text message. (Just a tip: don't set your Google Voice number as the phone number or automatically forward mail from your secondary email accounts to your Gmail account--if you do, in the event that you lose your password, the recovery process won't work.)
Year-End To-do: Audit Your Email Account Security
December 19th, 2009
Two stories of online account break-ins this week: First, Twitter.com got redirected to an Iranian hacker page because attackers were able to get into the email account registered with their site DNS service. Second, savvy blogger Amit Agarwal's Gmail and Google Apps accounts were taken over because the attacker got access to Amit's secondary email address and sent a password change request there to get into the accounts. Do yourself a favor: Before 2010 is upon us, do a quick audit of all your most important accounts. Make sure your passwords are strong and remember: Never use inactive webmail as your secondary email account.
December 16th, 2009
This past year was a watershed moment for the real-time web, cloud computing, and mobile application development, thanks in large part to Google. This morning over at Lifehacker, I rounded up the biggest Google product releases and updates of 2009.
I may co-host a weekly podcast dedicated to Google news, but seeing the amount of mind-bending stuff Google released this year in one place still blew my mind.
While Google's three biggest launches of the year--Wave, Chromium OS, and Droid/Android 2.0--are still very much developer/early-adopter-only, their impact will resonate through the next ten years on the web (even if they don't stick around in their current forms). For more on Google app updates, acquisitions, legal battles, and a complete timeline of what came out when this year, check it out: This Year in Google: The 2009 Edition.
December 12th, 2009, 2 comments
Just found out about a neat Google Easter Egg for the New Year: on the Google homepage, click on the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button with nothing in the search box, to see a live countdown of seconds left in 2009. They should have linked the seconds number to a "seconds in days" calculator search to let people know what it is. Time marches on. Thanks, Nom de Guerre!
Bruce Schneier’s Answer to Google CEO Eric Schmidt on Privacy
December 9th, 2009, 6 comments
"...if we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose our individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable." This is what you say in response to "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place." (via)
My greatest hope for the hotly-rumored, might-launch-any-day-now social networking app "Google Me" is that it will not merely clone Facebook in a weak attempt at parity, but that it will innovate and solve problems that plague existing social networks. 
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