Tag Archives: google

Become a GMail Ninja

Posted by on October 9, 2013 Comments Off on Become a GMail Ninja

isinread

As a GMail user I tend to search for emails a lot. Rather than organize by labels I just use the search function. Search for a keyword from the email and up it pops in the results. You want an email from john@smith.com, searching for the email address gives you all the interactions with that person. But how about going deeper with your search?

Say you’ve been picking and choosing which email you click on and now the unread are interspersed with the read. You’d like to see all the unread mail in your inbox. GMail search to the rescue. Simply type in the search box, “is:unread in:inbox“, and the result is a list of exactly those emails and only those emails.  I need all the emails from joe@josts.com prior to 10/1/2013.  Not a problem.  Just search, “before: 2013/10/1 from:joe@josts.com“.

This just scratches the surface of what’s possible.  For the full monty on all things GMail search, check out the Advanced Search page at Google Support.

The Real Eyes of Project Glass, Google-y Eyes

Posted by on February 28, 2013 1 comment

I don’t know if you’re up to date with the latest in wearable computing, so let me introduce you to Google Project Glass.  It’s what can best be described as a heads up display using a small projector over your right eye.  With Glass you are able to access information and display it right in front of you.  Pretty cool idea.  I am a huge fan of the book Daemon by Daniel Suarez in which individuals, in particular a character called Loki Stormbringer, access what’s called the Dark-net on similar fictional technology. It seems amazing, and based on the how it’s described in the book, it is absolutely a technology that I’d like to embrace.

But, there’s a problem that is only now being shown, Google Glass googly eyes, or just Google-y Eyes.

Google-y Eyes

Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has been wearing Google Glass on a regular basis.  I heard that he was even at the Oscars and wearing Glass.  He’s become the spokes model for the product and I haven’t seen a picture of the guy without Glass since early 2012.  Every photograph of Brin looks like the photo on the left above.  He’s looking straight on and fabulous while donning Glass.  Now, I invite you to take a look at the image on the right of Joshua Topolsky of The Verge.  I was reading his article on Google Glass and was surprised by the photographs.  Almost every photo that shows him using Glass shows his eyes up and to the right.  There are more examples to be had at the article.  I encourage you to see and read it for yourself.

These kind of photos obviously bring to mind the movie The Jerk and it’s Opti-Grab and eye problems.  I’d love to have something like Google Glass for myself, but not at the risk of having Google-y eyes.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll wait until Google Glass is something that Loki Stormbringer would wear.

 

Google Apps for Free

Posted by on September 7, 2011 Comments Off on Google Apps for Free

If you’re a small business and are using the email service that comes with your Internet connection, you’re doing it wrong.  Heaven forbid you’re using AOL or Yahoo as your email provider.  At a bare minimum you should have a personalized email address with your company’s domain name.  For example, I have the domain name russturley.com.  When I give out my email address, it has my username, russ, along with my domain name.  It’s much easier to remember than some obscure username at some local ISP’s domain name.

If you’re thinking, “But Russ, those types of service cost money that I don’t have.” I’m totally with you and have the answer.  The solution is Google Apps.  Google Apps provides the following services for companies with 10 users or less, FREE of charge.

Here’s what you get:

  • Gmail
  • Google Calendar
  • Google Docs (Collaborative spreadsheets and word processing and more)
  • Google Reader (News aggregator)
  • Google Sites (Simple web pages)
  • Blogger (Weblogs)
  • More!

If at any time in the future you grow beyond 10 users that you’d like to provide email, etc. for then you an upgrade to the “Business” edition at $50/user/year for a 1 year commitment or $5/user/month with no commitment.  Still a good deal and there are more group features that are available with the upgraded service that a company with that many employees can take advantage of.

All the versions have the option of integrating third-party apps like MailChimp, an email marketing and newsletter service, and Freshbooks, invoicing made easy, into Google Apps.  Great part about the third-party apps is that most have a free version also so you can try them out before making a commitment to the full service.

Google Apps helps groups build communities – Google Apps.

Try Google Plus

Posted by on August 18, 2011 Comments Off on Try Google Plus

If you’re interested in trying out Google+ but haven’t been invited yet, fear not.  Use the link below to get in the new Google social network “field trial“.  And when you’re on there, add me to one of your Circles.

http://powurl.com/gplus

Keeping Monetization in Your Hands

Posted by on December 29, 2010 Comments Off on Keeping Monetization in Your Hands

I read an interesting article today. And by interesting, I mean terrifying, especially if you use Google Adsense in an attempt to monetize your podcast/blog. They article can be found at Duck Works Magazine. It’s the story of a cameraman/boat enthusiast that produced content and put it on YouTube. He was making a good bit of money from the videos by using Adsense to display ads with the videos. Apparently he was making too much money, because Google decided to close his account.  Closed his account, took away any money they owed him and canceled a check!  I’ll let you read the article and get all the details for yourself, but there is one huge thing that you should take away from this article.

Putting the monetization of your blog or podcast in someone elses hands is folly. It’s the easy way to go, especially if you have decent traffic on your site, but in then end someone else is in control. Google didn’t get to be one of the biggest companies around because they’re giving away money. They keep the lion’s share of the ad revenue and you get a tiny sliver of it. Get any more and you’ll get banned. And if you think that you are the exception, here’s another thing to think about. The chips are stacked against you. One of the customers/readers/viewers of the film maker in the article is a lawyer. They examined the Adsense contract and had this to say.

The contract is designed so that it is almost impossible not to break the Google rules.

So there it is. It’s “almost impossible” to play by the rules that Google sets forth. My advice: don’t play.

If you’re looking for ways to monetize your podcast or other online venture, be sure to read my article on monetization or better yet, pick up my ebook, The Virtual Podcast Seminar, to learn about all things podcasting.