Miscellaneous Ramblings.... - Google

GMail - Added Feature

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Tue, 8 Jul 2008 16:21:23 -0500

For those users of Google's ubiquitous Gmail client, there is now an added security feature which will let you monitor which computers have been accessing your GMail account past and present.

Google Docs: Offline Version coming?

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 06:30:00 -0500

It looks like Google Docs is going to start offering an offline version of their already popular Google Docs application (which is trying to be a competitor to the Microsoft Online Office Suite). The app works with any modern browser that supports Google Gears, but is currently limited to word documents and doesn't yet support presentations or spreadsheets.

iPhone 1.1.3 Released - Problems with Gmail

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 00:57:06 -0600

At last, iPhone firmware 1.1.3 has been released.
Among the new features:

Google Maps "Locate Me" feature (as well as the cool hybrid feature)

Re-arranging of iPhone home page (including dock)

Can drag and drop applications onto the home page

Webclips (essentially MobileSafari bookmarks on the home page)

Multiple SMS messaging

(Note: if you own a iPodTouch, you need to purchase the software update for $20).

However, there have been some bumps with the latest release. Among the issues is a problem with GMail. Essentially, the GMail protocol on the iPhone has been changed from POP to IMAP, causing a sync of GMail folders (which can be good or bad, depending on how you have your main GMail account set up). To work around this behavior, you can manually configure POP or manually configure IMAP.
As for me, despite the cool Google Maps features, I still can't quite part with my free 3rd party apps, so I'll be waiting for the jailbreak for this firmware, which is not yet available, but there is this status page up to track when one becomes available.

As a (unannounced) side note, with iTunes 7.6, you can finally manually manage music and videos on your iPhone -- hallelujah!
(still no official iPhone disk mode, but getting closer ).

Update (4/17/08): It looks like IMAP support has been pulled from GMail (not sure yet if this is temporary or permanent).

Google additions for iPhone

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Fri, 4 Jan 2008 00:57:00 -0600

Sorry about the lateness of this posting (got stuck in the draft state), but a cool article on some Google additions for the iPhone, namely the addition of tabs for the browsing experience.

Top 10 Overlooked Google Apps

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 18:50:13 -0600

Over at LifeHacker, there is a nice article on the Top 10 Overlooked Google Apps.

Google Streets: Mpls Finally Added!

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:05:00 -0600

Old news to most, but Google Streets has finally added Minneapolis and St. Paul (as well as six other cities). Yeah!

Google As a Password Cracker?

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 04:02:00 -0600

An interesting application of the Google search engine for MD5 password cracking.

SearchMash: SnapShot Previews Added

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 23:27:26 -0500

Google's SearchMash has now added snapshot previews.

GMail adds IMAP support

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:09:00 -0500

If you are a user of Google's ubiquitous Gmail client, you'll might be happy to know that GMail has added IMAP support. There is also tips for iPhone for enabling this feature.

Mozilla/Firefox Tied to Google?

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 21:55:05 -0500

I must have been living in the semi-dark ages, because I was surprised to hear that Google provides 85% of the revenue for the Mozilla foundation (evidently the contract runs through November 2008). Since I don't know what I would do without Firefox, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that Google and Mozilla will remain the best of friends.

iPhone: Safari & Google Map Crashes?

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 06:15:00 -0500

If you regularly use the Google Maps or Safari browser apps on the iPhone, you will have undoubtedly been frustrated by the constant crashes. There are several theories behind what is causing this, one of them being a possible memory leak in the apps. This seems to be highly probably, since a (soft) reboot of the iPhone seems to correct the problem (at least temporarily). Here's hoping that Apple corrects the problem in an upcoming software update soon.

Google Book Search

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Fri, 7 Sep 2007 13:06:09 -0500

Now Google has launched Google Book Search, which will let you add books to your library to create a personalized search source that you can then annotate, review, and share.
Very cool!

Google Earth: Now with Google Sky

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Sat, 1 Sep 2007 09:22:04 -0500

Google has expanded it's Google Earth app with Google Sky. Google Sky lets you view the sky in your current location as well as zoom in on various planets or constellations. The key combination of Ctrl+Alt+A (if you're running OS X it's Command+Option+A) to invoke the hidden Flight Simulator feature.

Google Streets Adds Four More Cities

nospam@example.com (Colleen Velo) — Tue, 7 Aug 2007 15:37:41 -0500

Google Streets has added four more cities (San Diego, Los Angeles, Houston and Orlando), bringing it to a total of 9 cities covered so far. Unfortunately, my city still not among those included.