Flootlog

I don’t know why Yahoo, MSN or ASK even try anymore.  I mean do you ever think, hey, I need to find something…lets see there is Altavista, dogpile, msn, and lycros?  I remember one occassion when google failed me, I went to msn to do the search.  WOW.  I immediately felt remorse.  How could I have doubted google?  I remember thinking, I probably just typed in the search incorrectly.  If I had typed in the right keyword then google would’ve done its job perfectly.  

I can’t even give that excuse anymore.  Now it has auto-spell check on all searches.  But that is nothing. Now, when there is a fire within miles of where you live and you need some info, you don’t have to read about the San Diego fires in the 1880s.  Now you can seamlessly click one link and eliminate everything but that one bit of info you need to figure out if you need to check your email or evacuate. 

Watch the video for info on what they’ve added to their search:

Check out this new YouTube site:

TV shows and movies, (Crackle, CBS, MGM, Lionsgate, Starz).  Best of all ALF:  

http://www.youtube.com/shows 

In seeking to sync contacts from gmail to my phone, I came accross this post in a forum:

“…. if we all pool together and tell Google we want the Contacts API 
released sooner rather than later.  For this to happen, if we all go 
to the following link: 
http://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/list?can=2&q=&sort=-star… 

and “star” the Contacts API (id 25) we will make sure this feature 
gets top priority from Google and thusly allow Spanning Sync’s team to 
work on a much awaited Address Book to Google Contacts sync. 

Imagine if all paying uers of Spanning Sync were to star this 

feature…. we would get it really fast hopefully.”  

If this post is correct, then that means my vote for certain functions in Google matters – furthermore it lets some people suggest new features.  

This, my friends, is the power I’ve been looking for.  

Here is a link to an updated “issues” list if you’re interested:

http://code.google.com/p/gdata-issues/issues/list

Most of these features are pretty complex as they are for people who write code (I think).  So I wonder if there is a site like this for us lay people???

Suggest a feature

I’m not one to really search for new blogposts or organize them with a blog reader.  But there are a few that I like to read from time to time.  So what do I do?  

1. In gmail account click on SETTINGS then WEBCLIPS.  
2. Remove all the clips you don’t care for
3. Add the blogs/other web stuff you want 

Thanks a lot.  It would’ve been nice if Google had released this a little earlier so I could have added it to my last google post, but it probably deserves its own space anyway.  If they do things right they’ll be able to pull the Skype community off that sometime terrible software, and give us something stable to communicate with.  Let me know how you guys like it….

Click here for a quick summary of how to work it:

Google offers a lot of great stuff.  Here are my all time favorites (many of you will already be familiar with some of these – let me know your favorites – any from the labs that I don’t know about yet?)

Goog 411 – Free 411!  1 800 GOOG 411  - Absolutely the best tool I have on the road.

Gmail – the best email service ever – I still don’t understand why people are still using hotmail or anything else for that matter.

Google Chrome – I’ve posted this before, but it is the only PC browswer that doesn’t crash constantly

Google Docs – Good for collaborative efforts

Google Alerts – Searches the internet for news about anything you ask it to (try making one for your name)

And of course Google Maps – wouldn’t leave home without them:

Hmmm seems like I use Google a little more than I thought I did.  

Want to send a late night email? 

You’ll have to pass Gmail’s late-night tests first (if you enable this new feature)

New in Labs: Stop sending mail you later regret

I’m back from hibernation with an awesome floot: Google Chrome.

Google’s browser is FASTER, slick, gives more view space and has incredible tabbing features.  Oh, and they made that address bar at the top actually useful.

HOWEVER there is much skepticism, so use with care - especially as with any new software there will be many kinks to work out.

www.google.com/chrome

This is nice for those major cities where you’d actually have a better time visiting if you took public transit.

http://www.google.com/transit

If they could take this down to Peru, it would be a gold mine!

Google gives you directions, ETA, and mileage, but it does not give you the price of the trip in gasoline expenditures.  For that important tidbit, check out:

Calculate your road trip gas
http://www.drivepricing.com/

The downside is that you’ll quickly realize how much that “would you mind taking me to the airport” favor is costing you.