Secure Google Apps

Putting the "s" in "https" with Google Apps.

There is a surprisingly simple way to encrypt documents coming and going from your Google Apps account as well as your stand alone Gmail account.

If you feel more secure using SSL, or perhaps just want to feel like Jack Bower, then you can go about this in a few different ways.

First
You can encrypt individual pages as you are working on them by putting an "s" after the "http" in the browser address bar and hitting enter. This will work on any of the Apps.

Or
You can go into your settings under the "general" tab, scroll to the bottom, and select, "Always use https". This will encrypt everything for you automatically. To change it back just select the other option under the same heading.

What does this mean for you? Well, if you are someone who really likes your privacy, this puts it on lockdown using"High-grade Encryption" or 128 bit encryption. 128 bit encryption is essentialy the internet standard.

Anything that is to be viewed, for whatever reason, by only the creator and the intended recipiant, should be sent via this method.

Labs Comes to Apps!

Google Apps is not fully integrated with Google Labs.

Google Labs, the proving ground for all of Google's neat little toys, contains many super useful tools. Granted, some of these tools are worthless, but some will make it to the main stream thanks to the dedicated people out there that review all of Lab's products.

Google Docs, Google Maps, Google Reader, and many more, are all "graduates of the Google Labs world". What will be next? You, oh devout user of Google Apps (all editions) shall decide. Now all the fun little gadgets you use in your stand alone Gmail account can make it to your apps interface as well.

Choose wisely, for together we decide the future fate of such things as Google Lively, and Google's Checklist.

-Matt

PDF viewing in Gmail

As of today Gmail now allows the viewing, in lieu of downloading, of PDF files in you inbox.

Say, for example, you need to approve an add for your company, or perhaps look at a bill in order to make a credit card payment. If you have no need, and in truth, no desire, to download the file. Simply view it!

This can also be hugely helpful if you are at a hotel or resort and are using their less than wonderful computer lab. First, you wouldn't want to download the file for security reasons. Second, those computers are like rental cars, there is no telling what they have been through to give them that funny feel. They may very well not handle the PDF. Viewing is a safe and effective alternative.

Just another user friendly add for Gmail.

-Matt

What is Google Analytics?

What is Google Analytics? That is a bit more tricky than explaining Gmail or Google Apps.

If you own a website, you then, of course, are doing your best to get it viewed. But how is it being viewed? Google Analytics answers that for you.

In a few clicks, Analytics will describe for you, in both numbers and visuals, just how people are making their way to your website. Basically, Analytics helps you understand how profound your presense on the internet is.

If your just your average Joe with a URL about your family, one that you may send other faimly and friends to, you probably dont care much about analytics. Yet, if you are selling something, getting a word out into the world wide web that you want to have heard, or your just really crave attention, analytics is your new best toy.

You can learn how people that landed on your site did so. This means, if 300 people come to your site searching for the same thing, then that phrase, the one they serached and those like it, may be a great way to get more peopled funneled into your page.

So, Analytics helps you utalize your website, whatever your purpose may be. You can use this tool to beef up sales, traffic, and readership. As captin planet would say, "knowing is half the battle". If you know your readership and what they are after, you can supply them with more efficiancy.

-Matt

What is Google Apps?

What is Google Apps?

Google Apps is, in short, a productivity suite.

The long drawn out version is:

Google Apps exists, benevolently enough, to take care of productivity issues and store stuff you need in a, "cloud" our web based area. This allows users to access it from any location without utilizing Gotomypc.com or something of that nature.

First, it is important to note that there are 2 different versions of Google Apps. For our purposes there is the free one and the not free one.

With either version of Google apps you get:

• Your own domain name. (your email will end in "@yourdomainname.com" in stead of "@yahoo" or "@gmail".
  
• You get your very own home page. This can be decorated with an interesting array of gadgets and gizmos. Those are a different discussion however. Basically this interface allows you to navigate through the other Google and web services.
• Gmail of course. Again, it will be your very own domain name.
• A calendar system. You get this with Gmail as well.
  
• Docs. Again, you get this with regular Gmail.
• The ability to have multiple people with the same domain name. "bob@soandso.com", sally@soandso.com".
• The ability to share and collaborate on any of the above tools.

What does the premium addition of Google Apps have that regular Google Apps Doesn't? Well, that could very well be another post to, but basically it is how many people you can bring with you, how secure your email is, and how much storage you get.

There it is, the little snack and the big snack.

What is Gmail?

What is Gmail?

Gmail is, in short, Google Email.

Gmail as an email system brings all that Google has to offer as far as convenience and productivity are concerned. Packaged with it is an impressive array of other services: chat, video chat, sms text messaging, calander, documents, reader, ect.

Gmail, in and of itself, is a powerful tool. A built in spam blocker sets the standard for the internet; the dependibility of the search function is second to few; and the massive amount of archived space allows for all messages to be saved. Moreover, it is a snap to set up on a Blackberry.

All in all, Google does a good job on this project. More features are added constantly, and the intergration with the other google systems is nearly seemless. Try www.gmail.com if your curious.

Google Spam

I got spam...once.

This morning started off simple, just like most mornings. Though, around the time I settled into my computer chair, things got a bit strange.

My normal routine goes something like this: Sit at computer desk, wipe cat hair off monitor, think poorly of cat, hit escape repeatedly to reserect my sleeping computer, curse wildly as it doesn't start and I realize I haven't turned on my monitor...you get the idea.

Once everything is up and running I start going through my three email accounts to make sure I am up to speed. First are my two business emails; both of which are Google Apps email accounts. Then I move to my private email, also a Gmail account, but a true Gmail account in that it ends in "@Gmail.com".

The usual items are at the top of the list, my daily agenda from my Google Calendar and a few others. Then I saw it. Hiding there so innocently in my email, settled right in between my Dad's invitation to dinner, and my mom's complaint that I never call anymore. It's spam. My heart sank. I looked to the heavens and screamed, "GOOGLE, WHY HAST THROUGH FORSAKEN ME". The cats scattered.

Once I mellowed out a bit (ironically the coffee helped), I did what any decent Google mail user should do. I reported the email for what it was and got on with my morning. The interesting thing was that the spam email I received was from another Gmail account. I guess if you can't beat them, join them...then beat them.

In any event. I am starting a running ticker today to see how many hours/days/weeks/months/years it takes for me to get another piece of spam. I'm guessing the Google Squad (effecianatly refered to as "The Goo Boys") has found the individual responsible, and is forcing him to open and close late 90's model computer cases while he slowly bleeds from dozens of cuts known to be brought on by such activities.

Google still has one of the best spam bomb shelters out there, free or not. I will forgive you Google, just this once.

Google Lively Virtually Fails

The below post was written by Ben Collins in July of 2008. Ben definitely called it. Google Lively is dead; figure out your own pun. Enjoy his thoughts and stay posted for more Google snacks.

-Matt

Google just launched a new product called Lively and, well, it’s pretty deadly. Yes, we know it’s a beta. But I haven’t experienced a more frustrating interface since attempting to win a cupie doll at the carvinal with a barely functional squirt gun. There is a lot of grief in the blogosphere and a lot of really dumb hype (mostly about pr0n) from “official” news sources. However - underneath all this bad are some strikingly good ideas.

What is Google Lively and what’s so frustrating?
Google Lively emerged from one of the so-called “20%” projects that Google employees are allowed to work on during the day unrelated to their tasks at hand. It’s basically flash-driven 3-D world with chat rooms and furniture. Sound exciting? It isn’t. The primary problem is that the human-computer interface is like a step backwards. If you are controlling a little animated guy in a 3-D world, then it better at least stand up to SNES or even Doom III. Lets not forget that games like World of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto IV are redefining our concept of what it “means” to navigate an avatar around a virtual world. No, this image is not Google Lively (it is a cute self-interacting image from the equally unlively Runescape), and no, I am not going to attempt to embed this barely-working 3D world on GeekSouth. Maybe later.

Every “waiting to load” or jerking movement or bug in the interface feels like pure torture. Commentary from curious bystanders essentially is about how lame things are and “Where is the pr0n?” Hey, they wanted to compete with Second Life (wink wink nudge nudge). But lets just move past this and pretend that at some point in the future, Google Lively will be very smooth and easy to use at least…

Why else does it fail besides the choppiness?
The art. The world to me looks like something derived from Cartoon Network of the nineties. Because the avatars have a lot of complicated hugging and dancing movements, you can’t really customize them very much. Basically, generic white dude, generic black dude, and a kitten. And pretty dumb looking furniture that you couldn’t even find at Target. There is also the “rooms” that you create. Yes, it’s not one “massive” world but in fact a bunch of rooms that each person has the freedom to create. Almost every room is miniscule compared to Google’s room, which is a large multi-floor building surrounded by a large grounds. No, don’t even try going in there.

Obviously, there are going to be way more rooms that are available, way more furniture, etc. Lets move past this point and imagine that in the future, rooms will be well designed and larger and there will be so much furniture and “stuff” that you can decorate your room exactly how you want at least…

What exactly is the point?
User accounts. Google has decided their primary focus in the near term is getting everyone on the planet to create a Google Account. What happens after that or the reason you actually did it is not quite as important as the fact that you actually have one. Don’t have an account? Chances are you will soon. They can figure out how to profit later through a million different ways, primarily though their Adwords. There is also something else… something perhaps very powerful.

Anything revolutionary going on here?
I’ve read Google’s explanation of why they created it. I’ve read the analysis of why people think they created it. So far, the gist of the hype is that they want to create a virtual world like Second Life that is distributed instead of centralized. No “land grabs” or anything. Everyone can create a room. Anyone can search for types of rooms. It’s free to play. And, you dont’ have to install a huge program to play it. Finally, you can embed the rooms on your websites! To convince people to sign up for a Google Account!

But there is definitely something interesting happening that the net has never seen. It’s not new to introduce the idea that players can adapt the game they play. Custom levels have been around forever. It’s not new to embed video or even games on other websites. What is new (at least to me) is the concept of combining the web with user-generated content in custom virtual worlds.

When I said “furniture” earlier, what I really meant was “dynamic net-enabled objects.” For example, one object in Google Lively is a “picture frame.” Hilariously, when I struggled to place the object into a room, it ended up on the floor. Try as I might, I could not move it to a wall. Anyway, it was pretty easy to add images from my flickr account to the picture frame. So I had this pretty animated gallery of images in a picture frame! On the floor! Laugh as you might, the idea is pretty powerful. Pictures, video, games, web pages, chat, voice, documents, downloads, Google Apps, Google Ads, Google Earth, where does it end? Sadly, it’s a clearly a bit early and also a bit silly to try to fit the capabilities of PCs and the internet inside a tiny, choppy, poorly animated object. But what I wonder is… what happens when you embed Google Lively inside Google Lively.

Whoa……….

New Google Calendar Toys

Google has produced yet more tools for Google calendar.

First is the Google Maps integration for the calendar interface.
All you have to do: click on the event

and click on the map button.

If you plugged an address into your calendar event, the map page will display its location.

If you need directions just insert your departure address on the map interface and you are set.

Sure, it isn't too much trouble to just go to the Google Maps page. A few clicks, a bit of typing, and you would have everything you need to get to where you need to be. I think this particular gadget does what Google does best. It shortens the distance between what you are doing right now, and what you want to be doing in a second or two. Moreover, if you share a Google calendar event with someone less computer savvy and aren't interested in listening to them fumble through the longer process you can just just say something like, "Billy Bob, just click the little colored bar. Good boy Billy Bob. Now, click the little blue word that says 'map' and your done." Perhaps you don't know Billy Bob, but this is still a great touch by Google.