Google Reader: Digitize your paper administration
Jun 18th
Keeping track of your paper administration can be a pain. Well, I know it is to me. Most countries’ laws force you to archive your paper administration pieces like invoices and tax-related papers for up to 10 years. Aside from the legal requirements, it’s important to archive in an orderly fashion, so you can retrieve a given piece easily and quickly.
There are obviously several ways to do this; you could get a shoebox and let everything pile up, or you could go with something more organized like a bunch of [real life] folders in which you divide sections with tabs. This is a fine methodology, but it tends to get rather voluminous after a couple of years. And along with added volume comes greater difficulty at finding what you need when the occasion proposes itself.
To accommodate this issue, I started scanning and digitally storing the most important pieces for a while now. While you could come up with a virtual folder system for local storage, it soon also becomes unpleasant to retrieve something – even with Windows’ Search or Mac OS X’ Spotlight. There are some proprietary database archiving systems out there that let you automate this, but I dislike my data being stuck in a closed box.
Google to the rescue
Recently, I noticed that Google added PDF-support to it’s online productivity suite Google Docs. While I don’t think Google Docs is very suitable for day-to-day word processing/spreadsheet-work, the PDF-support can be of particular use when dealing with administration and the like.
This is how I do things to keep track of my administration:
- I keep paper copies of everything in physical folders as described above.
- I scan the important stuff and export it to PDF.
- I upload the PDFs to Google Docs, archived into a particular directory structure. Just rudimentary folders suffice, e.g. ‘Invoices’, ‘Taxes’, ‘Contracts’, etc.
- That’s it.
While this system works for me, it may not for you. Also, consider your privacy when uploading PDFs to Google Docs. It’s not proven that any physical persons have access to the contents of your account, it’s generally known that Google has software scanning for keywords in order for them to offer contextual text-based advertisements. I acknowledge this is a genuine concern to be taken into account, this doesn’t particularly bother me.
Harnessing Google Search
I keep paper copies of everything because it’s compulsory where I live. The real handiness of putting everything online is the Google Search functionality embedded into Google Docs. This will only work if you enabled OCR when scanning of course (but most scanners do this by default). So whenever I need a given invoice or other document, I can just start typing any string I can remember into the search box and I’ll be sure to find the appropriate document reasonably fast.
I talked about me not liking closed ecosystems, but isn’t Google just that? The short answer to that question is a clear ‘yes’. Google’s solutions are mostly proprietary and thus entirely closed. On the other hand, Google is pretty reliable and offers its services for the best price around – free. All things considered, it’s just as easy to get things into Google as it is to get stuff out of it. At any time, you can download the original PDF back to your computer. There’s no straightforward way to get all of your documents out at once, however (another thing to consider).
A nicety about Google Docs is that it allows for online sharing similar to how Google Docs handles sharing with text documents, presentations and spreadsheets. When you hit the share button associated with any given PDF you’re presented with a form on which you can enter your friends’/coworkers’ e-mail addresses. Once they accept the invite, they’ll get read-only access to the chosen document. The catch: your correspondent must have an active Google Account in order for this to work. You could just as well attach the PDF to an e-mail, while you’re at it, then.
Concluding note
Moving my administration to the cloud was one of the last steps in my digitized ‘getting things done’-effort. Incidentally or not, I ended up entrusting all of my data to Google. The future will point out whether it was a wise choice. For now, Google’s services are pretty darn reliable considering their price (free). As a testament to that, I also have my e-mail, calendars and todo-lists up in the cloud with Google.
Short note to Google: you’ve completely suckered me into your services.
Google Chrome Review, Part 1: The Good
Sep 23rd
Firefox has been a part of my browsing-life since it was still in pre-1.0 beta stages and went by the name of Phoenix. The reason clung so to this new browser (at the time) was due to the fact that I had become frustrated with the much lamented Internet Explorer Microsoft that was developed to sweep Netscape off the table. Back then, Firefox only held a modest percentage of the browsing market-share, its’ main selling point being its open-source nature and security.
Browsers, much like everything else in the computer software business, started to evolve into something much more sophisticated and complex than first envisioned. It seems to me that while Firefox 3.0 was vast improvement over its predecessor, it has lost a lot of its attractiveness, a direct consequence of its increasingly intricate nature.
Tech Headline Watch 9/08
Sep 8th
Mostly Google in the news again with the release of its first slew of [security] updates to it’s newborn baby Chrome. Also, Intel came out with the best performing hard drive on the planet (for now), and it’s an 80 gig SSD. Lastly, eBook lovers can finally eat their hearts out with Plastic Logics’ pretty — almost malleable — e-Ink touchscreen.
Natively Sync Google Calendar with iPhone/iPod Touch [Yay]
Aug 5th
Update: Google’s OTA Syncing
Google has released its own Over-The-Air syncing method for the iPhone/iPod Touch by licensing Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology. Reportedly, it works like NuevaSync but restricts you to 5 dedicated calendars. NuevaSync doesn’t do this, as far as I know. I will have a write-up on this pretty soon.
Continued…
NuevaSync (free) utilizes the built-in Microsoft Exchange support in the iPhone to make native synchronization of Google Calendar possible. Most importantly, the service actually uses PUSH (really this time) to propagate changes issued to the calendar immediately. Finally this has been made possible at no cost, without extra software.
Support for anything other than Outlook on the iPhone has been a long standing issue ever since the marveled mobile device was released. As I described earlier on the subject, one had to go through an irritable/expensive rigamarole to get Google Calendar events synchronized with the iPhone or iPod touch. And if you got it working in the end, you either had to make due with some missing data or pay good money for a third-party application to get the job done.
Use Google's "I'm feeling lucky" from Firefox' address bar [OpenDNS]
Jul 23rd
This trick enables you to regain the ability to use Google’s “I’m feeling lucky”-functionality on the fly from Firefox 3’s address bar, as was natively possible in Firefox 2. To accommodate this, we’ll use OpenDNS’ network shortcuts. Once configured, you’ll be able to type stuff like “goto drupal” and be taken to drupal.org right away.
Note: As advertised, you need to be using OpenDNS for this hack to work. If you don’t know what OpenDNS is, you may want to read up on it, since it’s a great thing to have.
April 1st: Google loves jokes
Apr 1st
Google has a history of loving pranks and especially April Fools’ Day.
Yep, today’s that day.
For a full listing of all of Google’s jokes, visit the Google Operating System Blog.
iGoogle from right to left
Today, I saw my iGoogle homepage shift everything to the right.
Gmail Custom Time
Gmail Custom Time is a feature in Gmail which lets you set how recipients of your mails will see the datestamp. Dates in the past will also be reflected in the recipients’ inbox. And older message will appear lower in the list than newer ones, making your friends believe they’ve just forgotten about your message, instead of you being late.
The catch is that you can’t set dates back before April 1st, 2004, Gmail’s launch-date.
Tagline: “Be on time. Every time”.
Every time, this time, means you can use the option up to 10 times before it disappears.
gDay
Google Australia gDay, a feature that lets you search the web of tomorrow today. It uses a special technique to forecast what websites will like look like and which content they’ll deliver.
Virgle: The First Permanent Human Colony on Mars
Vigle is a contraction of Virgin Airlines and Google and is a company that will make the first human settlement on Mars, announced by Google’s Main Blog. Here’s the video announcement:
Apart from it not being very believable, it also shows signs of bad acting. But who cares.
New Google Docs Option
The file menu on Google Docs now has a new entry, called ‘Create a new airplane’. It renders an image of an airplane. Well, sort of. It still needs to be folder and that task is up to you.
Happy April Fools’ Day everyone!
Google, MS and other partner to free wireless spectrum white space
Mar 24th
So, Google didn’t win the wireless auction. Instead, it has formed a technology coalition with Microsoft, Dell, Intel, HP and Philips Electronics to make sure the white space spectrum will be freed to allow ‘open’ wireless broadband services. Earlier, Bill Gates also urged the FCC for more or less the same reasons.
Broadcasters often fear that the utilization of this white space could cause interference with television broadcasts and wireless microphones.
Google handed the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) a proposal on Monday that promises an enhanced system to prevent wireless devices from causing serious interference.
The FCC is assessing the possibility of allowing two categories of uses for the spectrum:
- For low-power portable devices
- For fixed commercial services
Pan the heavens with Google Sky
Mar 14th
Google has just released its ‘Google Sky’, which allows you to ‘pan the heavens’ as you would a map of the Earth. It’s built on the same Google Maps technology and can be found at sky.google.com. Prior to the web version of Sky, Google created Google Mars, Google Moon and finally integrated Google Sky into the desktop app Google Earth. The web version provides the following feature-set:
- Search the ‘tens of thousands’ of indexed named objects
- Infrared, microwave, ultraviolet or x-ray views
- Best images gallery from Hubble and other telescopes
- Planetary positions and constellations
- ‘Earth & Sky’ podcast gallery
- No download needed
It’s a pretty cool site, though still needs some work, in my opinion. And, of course, you can’t just zoom in ‘infinitely’ like you can on Maps or Earth. Nonetheless, if you’re interested in this kind of stuff, you’ll find it pretty interesting.
Sync iPhone/iPod Touch with Google Calendar
Mar 13th
Update: Over-the-air synchronization available
You can seamlessly synchronize your Google Calendar and Contacts with a free service called NuevaSync, as discussed by me in this article. Google has also recently implemented its own version of OTA sync by licensing Microsoft ActiveSync technology. I’ll have a writeup on this soon. OggSync is still a viable alternative though, if you already incorporate MS Outlook in your workflow and don’t mind the limitations this application causes.
- Native syncing with NuevaSync << Ace on Tech.com
Continued…
Synchronize multiple (primary and secondary) Google Calendars to Outlook and your iPhone/iPod Touch for free with OggSync.
- Download OggSync 3.22 for Outlook (direct link)
- www.oggsync.com
The iPhone and iPod Touch don’t support calendaring very well out of the box. Apple provides some rudimentary implementation for Microsoft Outlook on the Windows side (the majority of the user base is Windows-users – after all). And that’s pretty much where it stops. Most likely, when the iPhone SDK makes its debut the tables will turn once the third-party developers get their foot behind the door, but for now we’re stuck with Outlook.
The only way to get your Google Calendar(s) onto the iPhone* (i.e. without hacking) is to go through Microsoft Outlook. This means you’ll have to subsequently synchronize your calendars with Outlook and then with the iPhone. Furthermore, the latest version of the ‘Home & Student’ edition of Office [2007] doesn’t come equipped with Outlook anymore, like previous iterations used to. If you’re a Windows user and want calendaring on the iPhone, you’ll have to acquire Outlook first.
Lame, I know.
The secondary calendars dilemma
The problem with Google’s own syncing app for Outlook is that it only supports 1 calendar, the primary calendar. If you like a certain structure in your events, like I do, this will rapidly become a problem. If you want, it is possible to merge all your calendars into one. In that case, you can go ahead and sync to Outlook with Google’s own app.
In order to accomplish a merged primary calendar, you can:
- Move the events to your primary calendar, or
- Export your entire secondary calendar and import them into your primary calendar
(Google promises to make the multi-calendar feature available in the future, but doesn’t specify a date)
OggSync (Google-Outlook Sync) to the rescue
For those who refuse to make such a sacrifice (hell, I do) there’s a free app out there called OggSync. It’s an Outlook Add-In that supports primary and secondary calendars seamlessly and best of all, it’s free. It docks right into the standard Calendar view as a toolbar and provides you with a few options. Once you’re set, all you need to do is hit the ‘Sync’-button. Magically, GCal events will start to trickle into your Outlook Calendar…
After that, plug in your iPhone and sync away.
Pros:
- Full support for all your calendars
- Support for both Outlook 2003 AND 2007
- Pro version available, but optional
- Free!
Cons:
- A bit of a hassle, but heck, it’s better than nothing, no?
- No calendar coloring support [yet] in Outlook 2007
- An occasional freeze, but they don’t usually linger for long
Download OggSync 3.22 for Outlook (direct link)
Notes
*: You can also access your Google Calendars via the Safari browser on the iPhone. However, this is a static view and means you cannot add or edit events. Furthermore, you will need WiFi availability in order for this work. Experience has shown you don’t usually have wireless around when you need that desperate peek at your calendar.
Google is bidding on 700Mhz spectrum
Nov 16th
From ArsTechnica:
“Google’s going to bid. Google representative: Our goal is to make sure that American consumers have more choices in an open and competitive wireless world. FCC rules require us to reveal our plans by December 3, and we fully intend to do so. In the meantime, we are making all the necessary preparations to become an applicant to bid in the auction.”
For those who haven’t followed the news on this topic, the 700Mhz spectrum is a wireless spectrum that was formerly used for analog TV broadcasting in the United States. Since the requirement of TV having to go digital, this spectrum will come free. It’s a highly efficient broadband wireless network and spans nation-wide.
This spectrum will be auctioned off to one of the participating bidders on January 28th, 2008. Companies entering are Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Frontline Wireless and Google. One of the proposed provisions was the requirement to keep the acquired network open for anyone to access. This would mean that the winning bidder could lease bandwidth at wholesale to any interested company for whatever device.
Currently, the wireless telecommunication companies have a suffocating clamp on the conventional wireless networks and are in a powerful position. This stranglehold could be loosened if Google wins the auction and is serious about the open access thing — which in general, would be a good thing. Because of competition, consumers will get more choice.
It’s obvious that Google is up to something with the wireless space. Recently, it has also announced it mobile (OS) platform called Android. It would turn out to be some kind of open-source (Linux?) operating system that could potentially run on any mobile device. Many of the better device makers have already consented to manufacturing compliant devices. Combine Android, the Open Handsets-principle and the pending 700Mhz-auction: whatever results from it, we’ll be seeing some pioneering stuff happening with Google in the mobile space in the near future.
If all of this takes place and and turns out to be sucessful, might cause it to cross over-seas. There has been talk of an auction of a similar spectrum in the UK, in which Google might also want a stake.