things you may not know you have with Google

a lot of people out there are being forced to get a Google account (usually @gmail.com) because of their use of Android based devices.  however, i've been realizing lately that most people have no idea all the various options available to you with a Google account.... so i thought i'd mention a few i use regularly.

it's more than searching the web and getting email, and i highly recommend people check out the services available, and make use of them no matter where you get your email, or what kind of phone you have.

first: email.  most people think of Google email as being email@gmail.com.  but if you own your own domain (like my axxiscorp.com) you can move it's mail services to Google Apps - and do this for FREE for up to 10 users.  even the regular version @gmail has proven to be the most powerful of all the various options and i recommend everyone have one if only as a backup.

with any account comes contact management, everyone should make sure to use this.  with this enabled on your phone, you could lose your phone every week, and never lose a contact.  also, your contacts would be available to you from any computer via the web as well as sync to your Linux and Mac address books.  this would be considered use of the Google 'cloud'.

like contacts, each Google account comes with its own calendar system.  you can create multiple calendars, and share those calendars with other people.  and like the contacts, these calendars are accessible from any computer via the web and will sync to Outlook, Linux, and Apple's iCal.

so - that's the basics, Mail, Contacts, and Calendars.  if you're using an iPhone, make sure to search for the instructions on how to set up your Google account as an EXCHANGE account to make use of this system properly on the iPhone.  this way, your contacts are backed up properly.

from there - Google Books.  a lot of people don't know that Google has been creating a digital archive of books literally by the truckload, and subsequently books are available from Google.  with that, the Google Books reader is available for iPod, iPad, iPhone, and all versions of Android.  http://books.google.com

then when you go to write your own book, a full word processor is available from Google.  actually an entire office suite including a spreadsheet, basic graphics editor, and presentation creator is available via the web and Android app.  everything you create is saved to the Google cloud so accessible from anywhere in the world - BUT - there is some really odd fine print to the EULA that you agree to when you use the system, so don't put anything top secret or super valuable on there.  http://docs.google.com

after documents, there's pictures.  the Google system provides Picasa as a competitor to the Apple iPhoto application, which then stores your pictures online via Picasaweb.  this allows you to store your pictures in albums, on the Google servers.  IMPORTANT THOUGHT:  store your pictures on Picasa, then never have to worry about making sure you have your pictures safely backed up.  the Picasa system comes with 7gb of space at no cost, and can be expanded at little cost.  also, each album you create can have it's own security settings that allow you to share your pictures online, or keep them to yourself.

Google made a run at competing with Facebook with it's Google+ system last year.  the service is not doing well in it's fight, but it's mobile app has an awesome feature called Instant Upload.  with the app, every picture you take with an Android based phone is instantly stored online, making it so you would theoretically never lose a picture.  the iPhone app will upload your pictures as well, but you may start the process by periodically running the app.  i use this system in tandem with Apple's PhotoStream, because the PhotoStream only holds photos for 30 days or 1000 pictures, where the Google+ system places my photos into a secured photo in the Picasa system.

mobile users of any kind should also check out Google Latitude.  the Latitude system is a location service that sends your location to the Google servers and then lets the users you approve see your location at any time.  in my family we use it with teenagers, and i have some friends who will use it with their spouses simply to know when its a good time to call.  the system is completely secure, and depends on granting permission to each person you add to your list, which can be limited in many ways for any of you paranoid about being caught in places you shouldn't be.  and unlike Apple's 'Find My Friends', the system doesn't require you to constantly log in, or like with marketing based systems like 'FourSquare', you don't have to check in places for it to work.  and unlike most 'Family' systems, it's free.  i just think its cool to see all your friends and what they're up to worldwide in real time.

when you're back home, and you realize that you've got something to share, Google provides the Blogger system - which is actually how you're reading this now.  a BLOG?  most people think a blog is for newscasters and info sources, but that's not the case.  anyone can use a blog for many purposes, i recently saw a blog run by a woman who posted about her life so her serviceman husband overseas could read up on what she was up to.  many people have their passions, from hobbies to politics to random ramblings like mine, a blog can be a place to send a message, serve a purpose, communicate, market yourself, or simply flush out your head, and Google provides a blog server that can host as many blogs as you'd like to work on.

after you write your blog, make sure you get it on tape, then put it on YouTube.  yes, YouTube is part of Google.  i know very little about video blogs, but, everyone knows YouTube, so i'm putting that out there.

and of course, then there's Google Sites.  with Sites, Google allows people who need a website to create one based on their design system which is packed with an amazing amount of templates.  within the Google Sites system, you can feed your blog from Blogger, your YouTube videos, your Picasa pictures, and so on.

and, as I stated earlier, all of these systems are available to businesses via the Google Apps system.

i would highly recommend everyone check these systems out - set up your schedule on Google calendar, learn how to store your photos online, and add me on Latitude to see where I'm running around.  all these services are free to use, and give the every day user a system equally as powerful as large corporate networks that when properly configured can be used on any computers and will move with you from phone to phone as you grow and times change.

clearing out the past

i feel a little sad today... i realized last night that it was time to do something i had been putting off for months, if not years - cleaning up my address book.

my address book sits on my Google Apps account, and feeds out to all my computers and devices keeping them in sync.  some of those devices also pull information from Facebook and Twitter and so on, plus anyone who's in my G+ circles has the ability to update their own data, and so on... and when women get married or people move and only change their info in one place you end up with extra information, old information, duplications, and so on - ugh, it was a mess.  to the tune of 1300 contacts.

my friend reminded me that some of them were even dead.  reality.

facebook is trying to be a global address book of sorts, those who use it on a mobile level may have noticed it regularly asking for your phone number - this is why.  i realized that the 800 people on facebook don't all need to be in my address book for just that reason.  some of them i rarely talk to, some of them i will probably never need to talk to - but if i really must find them, they were be there.  poof - 100 people gone from the 1300.

(however, the reality is that while i keep a policy that i need to have really known someone before i add them on facebook, via school, or work, or something present or past... the reality is that i could probably clip another 100 from the fb list as well - i'll have to come back to that).

Google has many features, including the ability to find and merge duplications - poof, another 100 gone.  this wasn't as easy for all of them, as some of them were Sr. and Jr. men who shouldn't be merged, and others were women who's names had changed that were listed twice because the link to Facebook had them differently than in my address book.  personally, if i knew you before you got married (and especially if i dont really know your husband), then i know you by your old name... but, to make things easy, i gave and merged new names into old.

then, the dead... this was kind of a bummer.  one woman died a few years ago, she was a brilliant and giving soul who's body just wasn't able to keep going.  i hate to see good people go, she was so fragile, but had no fear, and through her life of poor health recognized what was worth being bothered by and what was a waste of time.  i remember a night when she and i went out and ran into two of the loudest most obnoxious men i know, and she handled them with no problem - even to the point where by the end of the night one was helping her broken body get around, up and down stairs and so on.  on some level, she brought out a good side to the bad.  i didn't know her as well as i wish i had, and it sucked to delete her if only because she was such a good person.  however, life goes on.

from there, an app - because there's always an app for that.  i broke out the MyPhone+ app for iPhone and used that to update as much information in people that could be matched to my facebook friends (541 of them i think)... this also helped with the name changes and so on, though my niece adding to her name had to be adjusted.  after that - another merge.

after that, another page by page review - i'm finally below 950.  this is crazy... i look at some of these people and realize that i may never do business with them, or that the odds are slim i'll ever need to call my friend's mother... but then i think that the point of this is to have those listed so that in the event of the need its available to me.

and, the Google Contact List is the cornerstone of all the Google services... so, G+, and Latitude, and all the facial recognition tags in my Picasa will be screwed up if i delete someone who's listed in any of that, so i can't just take someone out because i talk to them daily.

so... who to keep and who should go?  on some level i'm going to stick with the facebook idea in that i've been lucky enough to meet and get along with many good people in my life.  just this past spring i met a man in hong kong who talks to me often on facebook, great guy, and if i need to contact him i can always do it via facebook.  some people have left facebook for personal reasons, so i'll keep them in my address book.  others have done the infamous 'defriending' of me for one reason or another... i know one woman does that simply because she only uses facebook to communicate with people she is currently actively social with, so she stays in the address book... another woman defriended me for unknown reasons, but has had numerous emotional issues over the last few years and often pointed the finger at others in her inability to move on.... yeah... i'm not sure how to handle her... ugh, before the drama we were friends, she didn't get up in my face about it, and i can't just let people go like that, so she stays.

hmm.... the list gets thinner... women i dated but never had a friendship with and haven't spoken to in a while - gone.  you were all beautiful in some way, but if we aren't talking there's a reason... and in reality, getting you back into the fold would probably just lead to trouble.  i'm sure there's a few of you on facebook that need to come to the same fate.

family... oof... my mom is one of 17 kids, there's a LOT of family in my address book.  however, i also get a printed family buzzbook every year, and my mom is a walking address book... so, i may have to thin that out a bit.

then there's an odd problem i think many people have - people i keep in my address book because i DON'T want to hear from them.  people who's name i want to pop up on my screen so i know NOT to answer... how long do i let that go until i've decided they're probably not going to call anymore?  i'm going to go with a year.

i have a friend who keeps well under 100 people in his address book, and those people generally only get one email address, etc.  he's not very social.... and i'm on the other end of the spectrum.  i need to work on keeping this simple, yet current and well rounded.  if anyone has tips - i'd love to hear them!

NYMWARS

google it, its a word - NYMWARS

its an issue on the internet superhighway these days, with growing intensity… and it all surrounds your name.

basically, more and more internet based services are requiring users to use their real names, and some believe this is wrong and causes undue safety risk. not just personal safety, but reputation safety.

WAIT - which one of you morons is stupid enough to publish your personal information and location publicly online without understanding the risks? and why haven't you learned ways to secure it? i use many online social networking and web services, and you don't see me publishing my SSN or passwords or details on when i'll be leaving my home empty and unlocked to anyone. other information which on some level could be used to put together some kind of crime against me that i do put online is secured! i share that information only with specific people, otherwise its hidden from prying eyes. why isn't everyone doing this?

you wouldn't walk into a bar and announce your personal security info out loud, why would you publish it online? you may tell friends you trust, but you wouldn't just tell random people, right?

the other concern was other people seeing your posts or those of a spouse, and it costing you a job or a relationship with someone you secretly insulted online. ya know, i don't have any sympathy for anyone who's not proud of their views and enables others by speaking the truth about them but not to them.

so, my vote in the NYMWARS - don't be stupid, and this won't be a problem… stand by what you have to say, and use your real name!

get your tech p2

ok... so, now you've created your account with Google, this part is a must...

and, hopefully you got one with a decent user ID, you have a decent computer, and you have a smartphone of some kind (Blackberry, iPhone, Android). maybe, you also setup an account with Yahoo!

now, let's get involved... we're going to cover two ideas from this point: finding others, and communication. why find others? let's say there are 2 kinds of people to find: those you already know or knew... and those who may have information you need.

people you already know or knew: a few years ago my mother (who is one of 13 sisters) was talking about her wedding, and i asked who was her maid of honor back in 1967. in the end, it wasn't her sister, in fact it was a woman who she was great friends with, but who moved away when her husband was transferred. back in the 1970's and even the 80's people lost touch - phone calls from one side of a county were long distance and expensive, now they are free across the countRy. so, they lost touch... enter, super-son.

with a little knowledge (last thought to be living in DC, and the name of her husband), i hit the search engines, anywho, and so forth - and i found her. days later they were on the phone laughing and talking about the children and grandchildren and catching up. sadly, mom's maid of honor died a few years later, but she was so happy to again have the chance to catch up.

now, mom is 76 years old, her situation is somewhat of a challenge. however, anyone under born after 1970 (and in many cases, 1950), is going to be more active normally. so, let's think about who you may want to find. for me, it was two women i dated, one was easily found, the other a little more of a challenge.

the first gal moved home to go back to school in Virginia, i had an email address and an old phone number, IM info, a location... and the rumor that she got married, but really hadn't spoken to her in nearly a decade. Enter Facebook. It was with Facebook that I was able to contact her and not go through the odd awkward contacting her parents or possibly calling and getting a husband on the phone. we have now caught up! she is married to a guy who seems to be a really cool dude and they have two kids. after finding each other we email or tweet back and forth publicly... I make this point to show that while I can understand wanting to avoid the awkward call to an ex, there were no secret conversations after contact was made. We email, tweet publicly, I post to her blog, and if we lived in the same town I'd even hope to meet for dinners or lunches with him knowing. I don't expect people to use the internet for shady connections.

the second gal moved across the country after high school, she's the one who caused this series of blog entries. i had next to nothing, i wasn't even sure where she was - PLUS, her last name while far from complex, was also often misspelled, but kinda common. in that, i found a few people with her name - with both spellings - but none were her. Enter Facebook, again. Her brother i found through a chain of people, and I emailed him asking for her contact information - but he didn't reply. he did however, pass the message along that i was looking for her, and that's really the key. remember - some people may not want to be found! and, their reasons may be shady, but people have the right to live their lives however they want... just like its up to you to decide if you'll keep talking to them if you realize they are doing it secretly.

so... for people born after 1970 - Facebook is key. other valuable tools, sites like anywho.com... and think about he person in question & what they may be involved with. in my mom's case, all i had was some names and a 30 year old location, but the first friend i found has an online blog with her married name all over it, plus she's part of her college alumni club, and had other involvements that gave her a presence online.

and this brings up the real point of all this - getting involved. if you're this far along, you have your Google account, and you may have used that gmail address to sign up for Facebook and Twitter. HEY - just because you sign up doesn't mean you have to check in every day, some people check in monthly, but why not? be proud of your life!

i know a gal who gets all worked up if the men she's dating don't change their relationship info on social sites like Facebook, now she's engaged, but there are no pics of her and the guy online, and no mention of it on her page (isn't she proud?). she will say its unimportant and that she has better things to do than waste the 45 seconds it would take to show off her most recent accomplishment, after all, the dog she got made it, but apparently the engagement isn't an important life detail - but it certainly was important when she was looking at the pages of the men she was dating. people want to know, and most people should be proud of their lives. put up pics of yourself, show people how you've barely aged, the dog you've had since it was a puppy, your kids, and so on. don't be shady like the woman i mention here, if you're going to get involved - get involved, you don't have to tell your life story with dental records, but cover the basics and be proud of your life - someone may be looking for you too!

which brings us to the second part - communication! there is first and foremost, email. but also you can email within sites: Facebook and some bulletin boards have email systems within themselves, in fact, you will often be notified via email, when you have email on one of those systems.

then, there's 'chat', also known as 'instant messaging'. this is a system where a window opens and you type in it, whatever you type in gets sent to the other person and pops up on their screen instantly. in my experience the Yahoo! Messenger system seems to be the one most commonly used, and since you may have gotten an account with Yahoo!, you would have the ability to use that system already, you just need to download and install Yahoo! Messenger software.

now, you wonder why - well, to talk to people! once you're reconnected with them, you can talk to them! if you reconnect via Facebook its easy, you can talk in real time there - if not, and they have an Instant Messaging system use that. People with Apple computers have AOL's IM system built in with the iChat program - use it!

then lastly Twitter - this one is a little advanced. twitter is where people throw out random thoughts all day and all night, in 140 characters or less. for example, I just tweeted something random about how the heat was killing me. you can tweet anything, and people may reply or not... you can't be concerned about who you're talking to, you're talking to the world. now, you can also 'protect' your tweets, so only your authorized friends can see them. yeah, be that paranoid, because you're close friends didn't know something you should keep to yourself, so you tweeted it to them? either you aren't that close, or you have control issues. Twitter is not the place to discuss the intricate details of your finances or home life. but, it is the place to say, "hoping to travel to this place, anyone recommend a good hotel?". again, like with Facebook, grow up, learn how to handle life, don't rely on the site's security to protect you.... and if you're not relying on the site but your own wisdom to know what to put online - then, leave your tweets public. bear in mind that your reading the tweets of someone you have interest in for their knowledge may apply to you in some way as well.

ok, the heat really is killing me - more to come later... from here we're going to cover sharing media. Be prepared to spend money on a camera if your phone isn't good enough. We're going to share pics of your life online! PS - Chrissy, can't believe you tweeted a link to my blog... god love ya.

get your tech on

Recently I was reconnected with a friend I hadn't spoken to in 15 years - 15 years!

KEB came back into my life with a 2 page handwritten letter, after which we talked on the phone at length. I commented on my inability to find her over the years, especially with the internet... anyone can be found online with enough work: Facebook and Twitter alone can make easy work of finding someone, then there are services like Intelius if you're willing to pay to find people (and do background checks). With those are ways of fine tuning searches if you know where and how to look, professional sites like Plaxo & LinkedIn can provide the same benefit as Facebook, and even sites you wouldn't expect can do so and more. For example, I have nearly 100 albums in Picasa, which does face recognition and links to people in my address book. Anyone in my Picasa could be found and in that, a method to reconnect.

As long as someone isn't the kind of person who hides everything online and goes out of their way to hide what should be unimportant details, you should be able to find something they are involved in and thus a way to reconnect. If not, they're either a paranoid who's probably not very trustworthy, or, they are one of the rare few who have somehow avoided the internet.

KEB was one of the latter. She had an email address, but that was it. She had a laptop, but never learned how to use it well. And, she had a boyfriend she was eager to get rid of who didn't like the idea of their lives being online... shocker, he's a cheater. After years of letting her codependence control what she did with life, she wanted to get on the information superhighway - and into the fast lane. Ironically, her reconnection with me was perfectly timed.

After the last 2 weeks of helping her with this, I thought it would make a good write up. No matter where you stand with the internet, I think these tools can help. I'm going to consider the 'standard' to be Apple's MobileMe service and iLife. It provides online storage, email, web space, blog space, Photo organization and gallery, a calendar for scheduling your life, a contact management system, and mobile connectivity.

First, get a Google account... sign up for Gmail. Even if you have an email account that you've been using for over a decade, sign up with Google. You don't have to use it for the email address - think outside the box - it's not just email we're going for here. Within Google is everything someone could need, email with gmail, webspace with google sites, blog space with blogger.com, a youtube account to share videos, Picasa to organize and share photos, a calendaring system, a contact system, and access from mobile devices via Exchange connectors.

The best part - its free. At this point, you have the infrastructure in place to do almost anything.

I would also recommend getting a Yahoo! account, and use the same name for that that you used for your Gmail account. Why? Its just easier that way. And don't be stupid with your account names - make them something you can use that's short and easy. Examples:

Initials and last name: flast@yahoo.com

Last name and birth year: last81@gmail.com

...and so on.

From here, now we need to know what you have now, and what you want to do.

KEB had a year old laptop and a 5 year old flip phone with a VGA camera. The laptop works, the phone needed to be replaced. I'm a mac guy, and in that I like iPhone. However, as PCs are to Macs, Android is to iPhone - and Android was designed by Google. So find a carrier your like (I would assume your current carrier is good) and see what they have that is Android based... or if you're with AT&T, consider iPhone.

Yes, this will cost you a few hundred dollars and increase your cell phone bill. BUT, some of the newer Android based phones like Nexus1 (AT&T and T-Mobile), Droid Incredible (Verizon) and the EVO 4G (Sprint) are crazy with features. The EVO has and 8mp camera!

Once you have a smartphone, get in sync. Get your computers and your phones connected so they keep their information in 'the cloud'. You should be able to check your email on your computers and your phone, setup your calendars for the same access, and your contacts lists as well. Any changes you make on one device, should be reflected in other devices - because the information isn't kept on the computer or phone, its kept online.

At this point, I'm going to take a break - maybe I'll continue on or I won't... I've been blogging a lot lately because I've had a lot on my mind and find it cathartic. I may have a great day and never come back... but, from here we're going to sign up for various websites, get more equipment, network a little, organize our media, and get life online.

If you're the kind of person who's worried about people knowing too much about you, face the reality that probably, no one really cares, get over yourself and learn to enjoy. If you're worried about criminals and ex-lovers, you have to remember to not let bad people impact you... and do things in general terms and ways. For example: I live in either Kirkwood, Missouri or Elmhurst, Illinois, and as I'm writing this I can tell you that I'll be bouncing between both locations all summer. Does this leave me exposed to stalkers or burglars? No, I haven't given anyone my address, my schedule, or the schedule of those in my life who also come & go from my homes.

From here, when I get back, if I get back, we're going to get on some sites and get around, and then archive life online.

ECTO WINS

ok gang, like many people, I'm a fan of open source apps, because they're usually free... but Ecto is the winner in the blogging app race for the Mac OSX platform so far. I'm open to other suggestions.

Here's what I wanted: I wanted an app that would allow me to open my blog from any machine, refresh the blogs published from elsewhere, make changes, be as WYSIWYG as possible, and of course, post. Ecto is it.

And, as much as I hate to acknowledge M$, their LiveWriter is winning me over in the Wintel arena... of course, I'm only on that rarely, and have no idea what's going to happen with Windows 7... but so far it seems to do just as well as Ecto.

Yeah... in the realm of OSX Blogging Client Comparison, Ecto seems to be the tops... at least for me in blogspot.