Small Business Tech

A reader asked via the comment system if he could post my comments in the Google Picasa 3.5 article. The reader did not leave any contact information so - yes, you can.

Labels: comment, Google, Picasa

If you are traveling beginning now through the holiday season then you could lucky enough to get free wifi. Google is buying travelers free wireless access at up to 47 U.S. airports. Just visit the site freeholidaywifi.com for more information.

Labels: Google, wifi

Good news for Google users. You can now access a dashboard that will list all of your data that is stored with Google. It is somewhat similar to the dashboard that has been available to Google Apps admins. Incidentally, I took a look and my dashboard is not enabled, yet. Hopefully your mileage will vary.

Labels: Google, Google Apps

Google has released version 3.5 of their image editing software Picasa. For many years I have been a frequent user of Adobe Photoshop, but as Picasa develops more tools I find it filling my needs. Essentially when processing family photo's and such I just need to crop, rotate, and maybe adjust the lighting or coloring. Picasa is more than capable of performing these duties. Obviously I still need Photoshop for more advanced image manupalation including changing the color pallette to CMYK for print ads or create images using layers. Incidently, I have been playing around with the free GIMP to possibly replace Photoshop for these jobs.

One of the most noticeable new features in Picasa 3.5 is face recognition. This feature has been available on the web version for quite a long time, but it is easier to use and much faster on the desktop version. It does a remarkable job of picking out and profiling faces in your images. It sort gives you a bit of a chill how it connects faces to your contacts. I hope Google never decided to go to the dark side.

Labels: GIMP, Google, photographs, Photoshop, Picasa

It is not a secret that Google has sights set on Microsoft's enterprise jaugernaut - Exchange. Google Apps has begun a reseller program that has a lot of sales and promotional materials for sellers. Google's sync with nearly any smartphone strategy is working well.


The good news is that Google has a plug-in on the way that will synchronize Outlook with Google Apps email, calendar, and contacts. Google is light on details on options available or the frequency of synchronization. A release date is also missing from the details. You can watch the video here for more information.

This subject does bring us back to a previous post about Cemaphore. If you cannot wait for the Google plug-in you can option Cemaphore MailShadow Desktop Edition. Cemaphore also offers other products that backup your Exchange server to Google Apps.

Labels: Apps, Cemaphore, Exchange, Gmail, Google

Google announced earlier this week that they are killing off some services and stopping development on others. One of the no-more-development victims is Google Notebook. I have used Notebook longer than just about any service outside of Gmail. I saw this coming. There has been very little if any new developments on Notebook for some time. The good news is that Google has stated that they will continue the service for those that have already used it. It is closed to any new users.

Zoho has announced that their notebook application can import Google Notebook data. The Zoho offering is also much more feature rich than Google's product. I do use Zoho on a limited basis, so I might be tempted to try the product.

Labels: Google, zoho

Some may remember the Internet browser wars from the 90's between Netscape and Microsoft. Google fired a shot in the battle this afternoon with the release of Google Chrome. It is Google attempt to build a better browser. Google indicates that it each tab with in the browser will be a separate "sandbox" so that an application crash in one tab will not bring down the whole browser.

Some of speculated that Google wants to have more control with your access to their services. Control including cookie retention, tracking, etc.

You can learn more and download Chrome for Windows right now at http://www.google.com/chrome. Linux and Mac versions are promised later in the beta.

Labels: browser, Chrome, Google

Google has a great tool to find event schedules for the Summer '08 Olympics which get underway this evening in Beijing.

Simply enter the sport and then "olympics"

ie: volleyball Olympics, 100 M Olympics

The schedule will be listed right above the search results.

Labels: Google, Olympics

For years I have searched for the ultimate system to become more organized. Of course it all started on paper in the early 90's using the various brands of planners.

In 1992 I moved to a Casio electronic organizer. What a nightmare. These little devices did not have any method for backing up to a computer, and they were somewhat fragile. I owned a couple of different models, and I remember the chore of typing the data on the very small keyboard.

I sort of gave up for a while and used a combination paper and desktop PC system through the mid-90's. There was a Toshiba notebook computer in the mix for a while as well.

In 1998 I discovered the ultimate - the Palm Pilot 5000. This little monochrome-screened wonder not only could store an immense amount of data, but it would backup everything to a computer. The computer software was not fantastic, but it was usable. I quickly picked up the special handwriting language that was used by the Palm. I never did have any luck trying to read email, but as a basic organizer it did very well. I owned two Palm products moving forward.

Sometime around 2000 I purchased a Dell Axim, because Windows CE looked like it might beat the Palm operating system. The Dell Axim used Outlook, which would ultimately be my personal information organizer for many years. I also went through a couple of Dell Axims. I actually still use the X30 to this day. The 624 MHz processor and SD card expansion are great for watching videos.

In 2007 I began to yearn for an online solution to organize my life. Late in the year, I moved my personal finances online with mvelopes.com. All of my banking and bill pay have been online for years. This portion of my life was ready for the Internet.

I looked at several online organizers, but settled on testing iScrybe and Google Calendar.

iScrybe:
I had followed iScrybe for many months following a video that I had seen on YouTube. It appeared to be an amazing way of organizing your life, thoughts, and projects. It relates well to how humans can look at a big picture and then focus on more granular details. The Thoughtpad is great for gathering information from the web and then storing in a controlled manner for a later project. The task list is located right along the calendar, so it is easy to schedule tasks.

I had two problems with iScrybe. One is that it is still in beta so one does not know if it will survive and how much it will cost if it does. The second problem is that iScrybe does not work well on the small screen, and they do not have any provision for mobile access. They do have a provision for off-line access, but I needed access from a PDA.

The developers of iScrybe could fix these problems by indicating how they plan to support the company long-term. I could then feel more comfortable as to how this project will shake-out in the future. The mobile access problem could be tackled by just having a simple WAP sight that lists my schedule for the next few days.

Google Calendar:
I had dabbled with Google calendar for about a year, but the show-stopper for me was the lack of a task list. I know that there are plenty of online task lists, but I wanted one that would integrate with the calendar. Rumors have been abounding that Google is going to add a task list, but Google had never confirmed the rumor.

I then discovered Remember The Milk and more importantly that it would integrate into Google Calendars without an add on. Let me explain that last bit. There are several types of applications that promise to integrate into Gmail and other online services. The problem is that you need to download a small software extension for your browser. This is all fine and good, but it is not good when you need to jump on a public computer. It is also trying when you need to redo your computer. I "redo" my computer about every other month.

Remember The Milk integrates into Google Calendars by showing up as a calendar. This is one of the joys of Google Calendar. If you would like to add the schedule of a favorite sport you just search for that calendar. In my case, I enjoy a NASCAR race on Sunday afternoons. I searched for a 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, and all of a sudden I have the whole schedule on my calendar. The same can be done for holidays of differing religious persuasions, countries, etc. You can also share your calendars with others and vice-versa. They can just viewers or they can add items to your calendar.

The other plus for Google Calendar is integration with Gmail. An example would be that I recently signed up to attend a conference. When they sent my confirmation email, I had an option on the rights bar to add it to my calendar. Google calendar filled in all of the information from the email and even provided a link to Google Maps for driving directions. I had invited someone else to attend the conference as well, so I simply shared this event with them. They were able to indicate in their Google Calendar if they did indeed plan to attend with me.

Mobile access for Google Calendars is okay. It is not entirely straight forward, but it works. You can view a simple listing of your events by day on a mobile web device. To add new tasks you can "text" them to your calendar using SMS.

Remember The Milk:
Remember The Milk (RTM) is a very sophisticated task manager. You can do just about any operation with tasks, and they have various options for listing or tagging tasks. The search is also very intensive.

Mobile access for RTM is amazing. You can do just about any tasks on a mobile browser that can be done on the desktop computer. You can complete tasks, add new ones, or even delete them. They have great search such as "shopping" when you step into the store and for the life of you cannot remember why you are there. They offer off-line support using Google Gears. The service is generally free, but they do reserve some services for Pro accounts which cost $25 per year.

Another great way to use RTM remotely is to tie it to a Jott account. That is a tease for a service that we discuss more in a later post.

Overall, I am happy with the conjunction of Google Calendar and Remember The Milk. I am still curious to see how or when Google will integrate a task list into Google Calendars. I would have a suggestion - Google please purchase Remember The Milk.

Labels: Exchange, Google, Google Calendar, iScrybe, Jott, productivity, Remember The Milk, RTM

Many have fallen in love with Google Apps including Gmail and Google Calendar, but there are those that still have gotten used to the Outlook interface and folder work flow. Good news for Outlook lovers. A start up called Cemaphore is developing an plug in for Outlook that will interface with Google Apps in much the same way that Outlook interfaces with Microsoft Exchange server.

Robert Scoble has a demonstration video. The execution is still a bit shaky in this video, and they have user preference issues to work out. Overall, the product looks very promising.

This will place Google into a position to be a killer-application for business users. One instance where I can see this to be useful is where Outlook is the bridge between a business application and email. Much software today relies on Outlook to manage email such in sending quotations or communications directly from the software. This will free companies up to use centralized, always-available email with their business applications.

This tool will also eliminate the need for expensive and IT-task-intensive Microsoft Exchange. This will satisfy the same 24/7 email access without the need for a server in the office running day and night. The main advantage of Exchange has been the always backed up central repository of email and scheduling. Google will be able to satisfy this need even more readily with their massive data infrastructure.

Some will argue that this is already available with hosted Exchange. That is true, but the pricing cannot even compare. I have reviewed hosted Exchange plans that cost from $10 to $12 per month compared to Google's $50 per year. The other problem is that a hosted Exchange provider does not exist that can offer the data integrity and availability that is available from Google.

All right. Enough Google-loving for one day.

Labels: Cemaphore, Exchange, Gmail, Google

All of the news about Google this week has been Google Sites and Google Health. A new feature added to Google Docs has me excited. They now have an option to have a spreadsheet filled via an online form. If you need to conduct a simple survey or plan a potluck dinner or any task where you need multiple user input this is a great tool. You can see an example here.

A form is very easy to setup...

• Create a new Google spreadsheet in Google Docs
• Enter form questions along row A
• Save your spreadsheet
  
• Click the "share" tab on the right hand side
• Click the radio button for Live Form
• You are now able to enter a list of email recipients as well arrange and edit your questions.
• The interface even allows you to create multiple choice questions, etc.

Your spreadsheet will now fill with data provided by your recipients. Google will also send you an email alerting you as forms are filled.

Labels: email, Google, productivity

It has long been rumored that Google has wanted to get into the personal computer operating system business. Based on Google's recent moves I doubt they want to go that far but instead have chosen to provide application support to those that want to build low-cost computers based on open source software.

Wal-Mart is now featuring a low-cost PC that is based on Linux with a nice mix of Google-hosted applications and built-in open source software. This isn't a "Black Friday" dash for a low-price computer. It is what appears to be an everyday item in the electronics department in many Wal-Mart stores. The Everex gPC is a low-power $198 computer with a nice mix of applications.

The applications pre-installed or linked to include Skype, Wikipedia, Google Docs, Gmail, Facebook, Google Maps, and Gimp. That is a package that will allow most people to take care of all of their needs. The obstacles that will cause problems for some users is difficulty in finding a printer or scanner that will work with the Linux Ubuntu operating system.

Not all Wal-Marts currently carry this low-priced computer, but many do have them in stock. My father recently saw one at the Deland, FL Wal-Mart store. Here is a list of stores that carry the gPC. One last feature that many will like is that this computer includes 24/7 toll-free phone tech support.

Labels: Google, Linux, thin client, Wal-Mart

I have been a fan of Microsoft Flight Simulator since the DOS days in the 80's. I even remember playing with one on the TI 99/4A before Microsoft released their first version. These days it is difficult to find the time to drag out the peddles and yoke and start up Flight Simulator X. I can get a quick fix with a flight simulator hidden in Google Earth, though.

Once you have downloaded, installed, and started Google Earth, press CTRL+ALT+A keys simultaneously. You will be presented with a dialog box where you can choose from two wildly different aircraft and then your favorite airfield. I understand that most joysticks or game pads are supported.

You can download Google Earth here: link
For more information about control keys, etc.: link

Labels: flight simulator, Google, Google Earth

I posted earlier this year speculating that Google would add presentation software to their portfolio of tools. It has arrived. You can now create documents, spreadsheets, or presentations in the now named Google Docs. The presentation software is also available for Google Apps customers as well.

I briefly tried out the interface. It works very well. Very impressive for a web application. The near-instant ability to share the presentation online is also a big plus for users. It is very difficult to share a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation online without additional software.

You can view the official Google blog post.

Labels: Google, Office, presentation, software

Google to Bid on 700 MHz Frequency Spectrum

First a bit of history. Over-the-air broadcast television uses three different blocks of frequencies. Fortunately, someone was very bright many years ago to just use channel numbers. Otherwise you would say that The Office is on 55.25 MHz every Thursday evening. Initially, television frequencies were going to be licensed well into the 800 MHz range(Channel 83). That space eventually became cellular telephone and emergency communications spectrum. Because there are relatively few television stations compared to the number of available channels, the FCC has decided that the stations could be squeezed into a smaller number of channels. Any station currently broadcasting on stations 55 to 69 are being moved to lower channel numbers. At the same time the stations can convert to digital to enhance our viewing pleasure with high-definition television. That is why you see the big push for HDTV. Television stations currently broadcast on their new channels and old channels. As of February 2009, they will exclusively broadcast on their digital channels.

Ultimately, the FCC is going to auction off these empty frequencies for wireless services and make billions of dollars of revenue for the federal government. You now see why the government has gotten behind this move. It is not so that I can watch Maria Sharapova in the U.S. Open in high definition.

These frequencies are in high-demand by many carriers, companies, and interests. The reason is that the lower the frequency the easier it is for a signal to penetrate buildings and other obstructions. These frequencies are much lower than current wireless telephone spectrum.

It was conventional wisdom that the big wireless providers such as Verizon and AT&T would be involved in the auction. The surprise is that Google also wants to be involved in the auction. Google did approach the FCC with some requirements including that the spectrum would be "open applications, open devices, open networks, and open services". FCC has agreed to most of Google's demands, so it looks like they will be involved in the auction slated for January 16, 2008. Google and the other bidders will need to post 4.6 billion dollars each for the right to bid on the one of 1,099 licenses.

What does Google plan to do with the spectrum if they win some licenses in the auction? No one outside of Google seems to know. There is much speculation that they could get into the Internet service provider business or even the wireless telephone business. We will have to wait and see.

Labels: 700 MHz, Cellular, Google, wireless

Google Expands Number of Cities With Street View

I have been using Google Maps extensively on my vacation. I use the standard version on the notebook computer when stationary, and I utilize the java version on my Smart Phone when I am on the go. It can be a life saver for finding restaurants and hotels. It can make you look like a hero to family members.

Google announced on Monday that they have expanded their Street View to five more cities including our home-base of Orlando. If you are unfamiliar with Street View, it is a street-level view of an area on the map. Visit maps.google.com, zoom into Orlando, then choose Street View by pushing a button along the top of the map. You can then click onto a blue route and a street view window will pop-up.

This will be an amazing tool as it is expanded to more and more cities. Google has not published a release schedule for other locales or how often the data will be updated.

Just a side-note about Internet coverage on the road. We did not find one single hotel that did not have wireless or hard wired Internet in the room. The Internet access on the Smart Phone was nearly always available, but it would come to an absolute crawl in very rural areas. I was literally measuring speeds twice as slow as dial-up in some spots. I was not unhappy about these results, because I was surprised that any coverage was even possible.

Labels: Google, Maps, Orlando, vacation