Not happy with the current presidential candidates? Me either. That’s why a few months ago, I decided to toss my hat into the ring. Look out McCain and Obama, here I come.
“POWER TO THE PEOPLE!”
Filed under: TV / Video, Life, Random Bits
2 Comments
First point of business, Happy Halloween. Boo!
Now that we have that out of the way, let’s dispense with the pleasantries and move on to the second point of business — where the hell did October go? My last post was on September 27th! Have I been so caught up with Team Fortress 2 that I’ve neglected my lonely little blog in cyberspace? I’m sure that has had a lot to do with it, but to tell you the truth I’ve been fairly unplugged for the last month. At least relative to my normal life-style. A few other projects have been sucking up my time too. Hopefully they will reach fruition soon so I can get back to my life on the interwebz. (The sole purpose of that last sentence was so I could use the word “fruition”. I feel so satisfied now.)
Now on to the main topic, Google. These guys are on a roll. I know, I know, they’ve been on a roll since 1999, but the stuff that they’re gearing up for now is bordering on epic. That’s right, I said epic.
First, let me go through the Google services I use by choice, the Google services I use by acquisition, and the Google services I currently do not use.
Google Search - Okay, who doesn’t use Google as their primary search engine. Seriously, I’d like to meet you. I remember stumbling across Google way back when it was just an itsy-bitsy little search site. They grow up so fast.
Gmail - Phenomenal. That’s all I have to say about that.
Gtalk - This is my primary IM client right now. I still use all the others out of necessity, but if I had my choice, I would make everyone switch to Gtalk. I’m selfish like that.
Google Calendar - I would be lost without it. On the rare occasions when Google Calendar goes down, I can be found wandering the streets aimlessly. I even sync my calendar to MS Outlook so I can sync it to my Blackberry. It’s an ugly hack, but it works.
Google Reader - I used to read all my feeds in Netvibes. Now I’m 100% GR. It’s so smooooth.
Google Maps - This service is getting more incredible by the day. I use it religiously.
Google Images - I use it by default. It does what I need it to do.
Google Groups - Deja was one of Google’s first acquisitions back in 2001. Actually, I think they just acquired Deja’s Usenet archive, but I guess it’s all the same. I started using Deja back in 1999.
Google Docs - Formerly known as Writely. This service was fantastic as Writely and is even more fantastic as Google Docs.
Youtube - Okay, so the whole world was using this before it became part of the Google conglomerate. That’s why they bought it.
Jaiku - Google’s most recent acquisition. I tend to lean more towards Pownce and Twitter, but I have been known to Jaiku from time to time.
Orkut - I’m not a big fan of social networks (though I love the concept) and Orkut is no exception. With that said, I have an account with almost every social network on the face of the Earth, and Orkut was one of the first. This is back when you had to get an invite from someone who already had an Orkut account in order to sign up. **They’ll let anyone in nowadays! :)** Google has recently redesigned the entire site and it will most likely play a key roll in upcoming future developments. But more on that later.
Feedburner - If you’re a blogger or some other kind of content creator, then chances are you use feedburner. This is a fantastic service if you’re trying to syndicate your crap….I mean stuff.
Here is a great list of Google acquisitions in chronological order. It’s fascinating to see how the company has changed throughout the years and the obvious direction they are heading just by analyzing the pattern of acquisitions on this list.
Google Photos (aka: Picassa) - I don’t foresee myself leaving Flickr anytime in the near future. It’s just too much of a great service and it’s really integrated into everything I do online. I do, however, use Picassa’s stand-alone software to organize my pictures on my PC.
Google Bookmarks - Sorry, this service doesn’t even compare to del.icio.us. Then again, it’s not really suppose to. Like Flickr, del.icio.us has really worked its way into everything I do online in some fashion or another. I love it too much to part ways with it. FYI, Flickr and del.icio.us are Yahoo owned companies. Acquisition is the name of the game.
Blogger - Nothing against Blogger, it’s a really nice platform, but I started with Wordpress and I’ll most likely end with Wordpress. –Wow, that sounded morbid.
iGoogle - This is a really nice service and I would recommend it to anyone, however, I have found that one personal start page just doesn’t cut it for me. They just take so long to load. Instead, I launch Firefox with multiple tabs. My first tab is plain old Google, followed by Gmail, followed by my calendar, followed by a blank tab. I find that this loads a lot faster and I can get all the same data as I could from a bloated start page. But hey, that’s just me. If a start page is your thing, then have it…..dork.
So that about wraps up what I use and don’t use out of all the Google services. Everything else is either still a novelty in my eyes, or hasn’t yet graduated from Google Labs. Speaking of which, if you’ve never been there, make it a point to stop by.
What I’m excited for, and this is kind of the point of this long and overly bloated blog post, is how Google plans on pulling it all together. I read a great article on Techcrunch called Google’s response to Facebook: “Maka-Maka”
“Maka-Maka encompasses Google’s grand plan to build a social layer across all of its applications. Some details about Maka-Maka have already leaked out, particularly how Google plans to use the feed engine that powers Google Reader (known internally as Reactor) to create “activity streams” for other applications akin to Facebook’s news and mini feeds. But Maka-Maka goes well beyond that.”
It’s a really good article outlining Google’s master plan to bring all their services together into one social-networky-type thing.
“Huber is on record as saying that the way Google plans to compete is by using the Web as the platform instead of trying to lock developers into Google’s own platform.”
“Web as a platform.” Sound familiar? It’s a term that is often associated with Google and one that I am a huge proponent of. AND, as if Maka-Maka wasn’t exciting enough, now throw into the mix the highly anticipated Gphone and the 700mhz spectrum auction which is slated to begin in January. I can barely contain myself! These are exciting times for Google and Internet enthusiasts.
Exciting times indeed!
Filed under: Google, Life, Web 2.0
No Comments
Too often do we read about customer service nightmares, and too rarely do we read about the pleasures of dealing with certain companies. I’ve always thought this was a bit backwards.
Well, I just had a great customer service experience and I want to give credit where credit is due. Last week I ordered a book from Amazon.com called Getting Things Done by David Allen. The book arrived, I went home, cracked open a beer, sat on my brand new lazy boy, and slowly opened the book — savoring that new book smell. Oddly enough, the book jumped right into the thick of things. No table of contents, no preface, nuttin. I was three pages into it when it dawned on me that I might be missing some pages. Sure enough, pages one through fourteen were no where to be seen. I was a little bummed, but I know that these things can happen from time to time. The first thing I did was to see if anyone had had similar problems with this particular title, and they had.
So I did the next obvious thing, I contacted Amazon. Or more precisely, they contacted me. While I was on their site searching for contact information, I came across a “Call Me” button. Being the spontaneous adventurer that I am, I clicked it. It then prompted me for my phone number and options for when I would like them to call me back; right now, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes. I really wasn’t doing anything at the time, due to lack of reading material, so I clicked right now. Almost the same instant I clicked the button, my phone started to ring. “No Way!” was all that came to mind. So I answered it. It was a recording telling me they were connecting me to Amazon. A few seconds later I was talking to an Amazon customer support representative. Since I was logged into my account when I clicked the “Call Me” button, he had all of my information already up on his screen. He politely asked me a security question to verify that I was who I said I was, and then went on to ask me how he could help me this evening. I went on to tell him my sad story. He apologized to me and assured me that he would send out a replacement immediately. All I had to do was print up the prepaid mailing label that he emailed to me and send my defective copy back to them free of charge.
It couldn’t have gone any better. The whole experience took less time than it did to write this blog entry. Anyways, that’s my story. I’ve always loved doing business with Amazon, and this is just one of the many reasons why.
Filed under: Books, Life, Random Bits
3 Comments
I thought I’d mess around with ustream.tv. I’ll broadcast from our cottage from time to time. Keep checking back. We’ll be up here until Thursday. (August 2nd)
P.S. I’m using the neighbors Wi-Fi. Shh, don’t tell.
Filed under: TV / Video, Life
No Comments
I read quite a few blogs. The vast majority of these blogs are technology based. See for yourself. But if you asked me what my absolute favorite blog was, the one that I look forward to reading the most week after week, it wouldn’t be technology based at all. My answer would be Zen Habits.
Zen Habits is a motivational and, I think, inspirational website dedicated to abolishing bad habits and creating good habits. I think what I like most about this site, is the fact that the author, Leo, is just a regular person like you or me. He writes about the different techniques and philosophies he uses to improve various aspects of his life. Specifically, he writes about productivity, organization, finance, family, simplicity, happiness, and health. His two main philosophies seem to be GTD (get things done) and simplification. I’ve always been a big believer in the latter approach toward life, hence the reason why I think I’m so drawn to his website.
If improving your life is subject that interests you, and it should be, then I would highly, highly recommend checking out Zen Habits. It’s extremely well written and I always leave the site with a renewed sense of confidence.
Since my blogroll is comprised mostly of tech sites, it’s sometimes hard to weed out all the other non-tech blogs that I like to read. Here is a list of some other sites that are also dedicated to improving your life in one way or another.
43 Folders
Lifehack
Lifehacker
Pick The Brain
Get Rich Slowly
Dumb Little Man
I’m happy to see that all of the above websites also made it onto Leo’s blogroll. Of course, Leo has quite a few more self-improvement sites in his list than I do in mine. I’ll have to take a closer look at what he’s reading. If they’re even half as good as Zen Habits, then they would be worth a look.
Filed under: Life, Productivity, Mind, Body, Soul, Internet
No Comments
HAPPY INDEPENDECE DAY!!!
Here is a clip from one of the most obnoxious parades in America. It’s absolutely fantastic.
This goes on for about half an hour and includes fire trucks from dozens of towns. The video really doesn’t do it any justice at all. It could be the loudest single event I’ve ever been a part of — and I go back year after year for more.
Hope every one has a great and safe 4th of July.
Filed under: Life, Random Bits
No Comments
I’m driving down route 495 the other day, minding my own business, when I notice a little green blob moving across the rear window of my car. The little green blob then proceeded to jump from the middle of the window to the rear windshield wiper. All this while speeding along at 61 knots (that’s 70 miles per hour for you landlubbers).
Needless to say, I did what every other true American would do. I sped up to see how long he could hang on! It wasn’t that long. — Alright, relax! I pulled over and let him off. I almost killed us both while taking that picture though. They say not to talk on a cell phone while driving, but I’ve never heard anyone say “don’t turn around and take a picture of a frog on your rear window while traveling 70 miles per hour” (that’s 112.65 Km/h for you metric lovers).
Filed under: Life, Random Bits
2 Comments
Good times on Father’s Day is right, at least for my 6 month old nephew. For some reason, he finds my daughter to funnier than Will Ferrell, Jim Carey, and Elmo all put together.
Personally, I just think she spikes his oatmeal.
Filed under: Life, Mind, Body, Soul, Random Bits
4 Comments
My name is Robert Sinclaire, I am a geek, and this is my web site. I've been an Internet enthusiast for many years and I have a true affinity for cyberculture. My love for the Net is matched only by my love for computers, technology, and all things geeky. more...
www.flickr.com
|
