Beyond Messaging

Google Set to Take on Collaboration Giants

Signaling an intent to compete with giants in the collaboration software space, Google on Thursday is introducing an API to extend the Google Sites collaborative content development tool, featuring a capability to migrate files from workspace applications such as Microsoft SharePoint and Lotus Notes to Sites.

One application already built using the Google Sites API is SharePoint Move for Google Apps, developed by LTech for migrating data and content from SharePoint to Sites. Google Sites [1] is a free application for building and sharing Web sites; it is described by Google [2] as a collaborative content creation tool to upload file attachments, information other Google applications such as Google Docs, and free-form content.

[ Also on InfoWorld: "An early look at SharePoint 2010 [3]." ]

Migration of Notes and SharePoint files and content was one of several business-use cases presented for the API. Asked if Google, with its API, plans to compete with SharePoint and Lotus Notes in the collaboration space, a Google official sidestepped the question.

via infoworld.com

Google Apps enterprise users will be interested in the new Google APIs for collaboration. This toolset can be used to migrate Sharepoint and Notes applications to Google Apps.

It can also be used to export and import Google sites pages for offline automated tasks.

This is good news for companies like Cloud Sherpas, who are writing toolsets and custom applications for companies who have moved to Google Apps.

Working Moms Are the Mobile Power Users in the U.S.

The average cell phone bill for a working mom is $94, which is 21% higher than that of the average mobile user. Additionally, working moms are 42% more likely to download content to their phone than the average cell phone user.

via mashable.com

This has got to be one of those "um yeah" survey results. Of course working moms have some of the highest cell phone usage. They are extremely busy and have a lot of important people to keep track of. Therefore being able to get email, phone calls, and other types of messages on the go is a huge boon to the working parent.

You can check in on your kids during the workday, and check in with work when you are taking the kids to the doctor, or whatever type of crazy multitasking activity your are doing.

Just me personally, am likely to be getting emails from my kid's school, calls from daycare, cub scout updates, calls from MY mom, and more on my phone. At the same time I am keeping in touch with prospective employers, taking calls from recruiters, Twittering, and blogging from my Blackberry.

Push for GMail now available for iPhone or Windows Mobile with Google Sync

Using Google Sync, you can now get your Gmail messages pushed directly to your phone. Having an over-the-air, always-on connection means that your inbox is up to date, no matter where you are or what you're doing. Sync works with your phone's native email application so there's no additional software needed. Only interested in syncing your Gmail, but not your Calendar? Google Sync allows you to sync just your Contacts, Calendar, or Gmail, or any combination of the three.

via googlemobile.blogspot.com

I've been using Google Sync on my Blackberry for about a year, and I love the way it syncs my Blackberry calendar with the Google Calendar feature. But until now Google Sync just did contacts and calendar.

Today Google announced that Google Sync will now provide real "push" email for Gmail to iPhones, iPod Touch, Windows Mobile devices, and S60 devices. This is going to make a lot of people really happy.

Now I have to figure out what I can do on my Blackberry. It's a bit of an older version of Blackberry as well. Well, wish me luck because if things go well for me next Tuesday you just never know what type of mobile device I might be sporting soon. Fingers crossed, folks. Fingers crossed.

Embedding a Spreadsheet on a Web Page with Google Docs

I am having fun this morning experimenting with Google Docs.  I have uploaded a spreadsheet listing all the sizes of circular knitting needles I own.  (Even though I have inherited two grandmother's worth of knitting needles in just about every size and type imaginable, it is amazing how the one size I need for any given new project turns out to be the one size I do not have.

My goal is to have a list of what I have so that when I am out shopping and viewing patterns I can use my Blackberry to see the list and fill in any missing blanks.  Now that I know how to use the embeddable Google Doc viewer, I can even have my spreadsheet show up embedded in an iFrame on my web page.  As long as I format it for mobile viewing I should be able to see what knitting needles I have and what I still need.

By the way, here is the code I used to embed the spreadsheet into this blog post using an iFrame. There are other ways to do it, but I wanted it to look clean and simple, without the editing controls so it will look ok on a mobile device.  Tip: make your sheet very simple with small cells.  Use the "merge cells" button on the toolbar to get text to show across multiple cells.

<iframe src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AjMpyePv9g-xdEJaRFJnTzVqMWlyRk9jZ3hhYXllY1E&hl%E2%80%9D" height="450" width="430"></iframe>

Google This: 5 Reasons to Switch to Bing

Microsoft has been pumping an endless supply of dollars into its marketing and advertising initiatives around Bing, and the strategy is clearly paying off. Hype aside, Bing happens to be a very viable search alternative to Google, and offers several incentives that Google can’t compete with at the moment.

via mashable.com

I know that more and more people are using Bing, because when I look at the statistics for my websites I can see the traffic Bing brings me each week. I have better results for certain keywords from Bing than I doo from Google. Particularly, I notice Squidoo sites (shunned by Google a few months ago) are getting traffic from Bing.

I am glad that Microsoft is making strides in breaking the headlock Google has on internet search. Neither of these companies is exactly escaping the "evil empire" designation in my opinion, for each has their own methods of squashing competition and attempting to control user behaviors, benevolently or not. However the old saw goes that competition in the marketplace benefits consumers, and I believe in this instance it is true.

6 Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Google Docs

Whether you’re a regular user or have just been thinking about trying it out, here are the top 6 tips and tricks to help you get the most out of Google Docs.

via sixrevisions.com

I was so proud of myself when I learned how to embed a document on a web page with Google Docs, that I was interested in this set of tips from SixRevisions.com, as well.

Did you know you can chat "in" Google Docs? That you can color code documents based on rules? Or that you can use the new drawing tools for flow charts and simple drawings? How about this - in the spreadsheets function you could set up a spreadsheet that pulls a data field live from the internet. I could envision the live update from the web being useful for things like currency conversions and stock prices.

Good Overview of Search Features in Exchange 2007

Because of performance reasons, many administrators were reluctant to use content indexing on Exchange 2003 mailbox databases. In Exchange 2007, the performance cost for content indexing is generally low and content indexing is now recommended as a best practice for all Exchange 2007 mailbox databases. All those improvements together have made Exchange 2007 Search much faster and much less resource intensive than previous versions.

via msexchangeteam.com

Many companies are in the midst of Exchange 2007 upgrades. Here, from the MS Exchange Team blog, is a nice overview of what's different and better about search functionality in Exchange 2007.

Backing Up the Cloud

Google's new Data Liberation Front is designed to help you liberate your data from any Google service with as little pain as possible, so you're not locked into Gmail, for example, just because all your old email is there.

via lifehacker.com

The other day I read an article recommending you use free cloud services such as Flickr, GMail, and YouTube to help back up your files. Here's a list of solutions for the opposite problem - how to get your information OUT of the cloud and back in your hands.

14 Great Cheat Sheets & Posters to Make You a Software Wizard

To be able to revise quickly and often, it helps if the information is terse and to the point highlighting only the important aspects. Something like an application cheat sheet or a poster that you can print and pin to a board or keep on your desk.

via www.makeuseof.com

Get ready with the plotter or wide format printer, folks, these are some super handy cheat sheets for lots of software from the "Anatomy of a Linux System," to Photoshop. Love the one of Vi. I think I used to have this at one point. Don't even get me started on how I feel about using this fine piece of software from 1976. (sarcasm font)

Get a Nicer Looking Easier to Remember URL for OWA w/ 2010

Exchange 2010 with IIS 7.0 makes it easier to clean up your Outlook Web Access URL.  Here's instructions on how to do it, from Henrik Walther on the MSExchange.org blog.