Think you know Google Search?

If you think that all there is to using Google Search is entering a few keywords and sorting through the answers, you don't know it very well. There are a number of "featured searches" built into that little search box on the Google page.

Want to know the weather in Arlington? Type in "weather Arlington, TX" or "weather 76010". Challenged by time zones ... like, uh, what time is it in Auckland, New Zealand? Type in "time auckland". Want to see a movie? Type "movies" followed by your zip code.

If you want to see more of these "built-in" searches, take a look at the Google Search Features page. You might find a search so useful it becomes a regular part of your day.

Hmmmmm, I wonder what the weather is like for our Olympic athletes in Beijing?

Texting While Driving

It seems that the written word has triumphed.  "Texting" has become a primary way of communication among teens worldwide.  If you've been living deep in the Brazilian rain forest for the last decade, you might not have heard of texting (sending text messages via cell phone), but everyone else has.  My own daughter's prodigious output/input has hit 15,000 messages a month more than once.  She can key words in at a rate that would make the fastest Morse Code telegrapher envious.  (Remember Morse Code? Remember telegraphy?)

The topic of texting while driving came up yesterday.  A friend told me her daughter had picked up a cellphone while driving and started to input a text message.   Being the passenger in the front seat and not wishing to be any part of an accident, the mom interceded and put an end to it, at least for the moment.

I admit to having tried texting behind the wheel.  I promise to never do it again. It's probably the most dangerous thing you can do while driving, short of imitating Al Pacino.  (Pacino played the part of a blind man who attempted to drive in Scent of a Woman )

If you know someone who might be inclined to drive and text, teach 'em to use Jott instead. Jott automatically transcribes spoken words into e-mail or text messages.  It's still using the cell phone while driving, but far less of an attention diversion.  It's a great productivity tool that I use regularly and have written about before.  Save a life (maybe your own). Don't text, Jott.

Workspace: The Empire Strikes Back

SaaS is all the raage (sic) these days.  "SaaS" stands for "Software as a Service."  That is, SaaS programs require that the end user has an Internet connection and very little or no software on their machine other than the browser.  One particular example that I've written about is Google Docs.  Everything runs through the browser window ... data files exist only out on the web and word processing/ spreadsheet/presentation programs exist only out on the web, too. 

I've also written a bit about online storage, uploading and saving files to services on the Internet.  Examples are Skydrive for file storage and Mozy for file backup.  The former is intended to allow day-to-day use of files. 

Now Microsoft has introduced an online storage service that integrates directly with Microsoft Office programs.  It's called (deep breath) Microsoft Office Live Workspace.  The model here is that you use Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, etc) that are installed on your machine, but access data files that are stored on the web.  You can directly open and save files from/to Workspace.  The service requires running an Office Live Update to add the functionality to Office XP, Office 2003 or Office 2007.  The initial Workspace offering is a space of 500mb, but I expect that to increase in time.  Users can control file/workspace permissions and can store other types of data files.

While Google Docs' program functionality isn't close to the Microsoft Office applications, I still prefer the Google approach.  Their model is NO (expensive) applications required on the local machine.  Everything runs through a browser, program and data.  This post was initially drafted in Google Docs. On the other hand, for people who are attached to Office file formats with the added benefit of storing other data on the web, the Workspace service is worth a look.

"Free" ... and then there's "Free"

Starbucks' announcement last week of free WiFi somewhat stretches the meaning of "free." (WiFi is the most common technology that lets computers connect to networks wirelessly) It's more like "sorta free." One, you have to purchase a Starbucks card and you have to use it within 30 days prior to using the wi-fi service. And, you have to accept promotional e-mail from AT&T. They expect they won't send you one more than every few months. Not too bad ... do a little business with Starbucks, accept a little spam, and you're good for up to two hours per day (but, only a single session) of wi-fi service at their stores. It's almost free and a pretty good deal.

There are other free wi-fi providers near the Central Library: Wendy's, Panera Bread and Coffee Haus come to mind. Still, all of them hope (expect?) that you'll do some business with them while you're connected. There's nothing wrong with that, it's a fair trade. But if you want really free wi-fi, go to any Arlington Public Library branch and connect your computer to COA-Online. It's an all-you-can-surf service during library hours. While you're visiting us, get a library card if you don't have one and maybe check out and read one of those old-fashioned books. That's another fair trade, I'd say ...

Addendum: Did you know that rest stops along Texas highways are now wi-fi equipped?

Online storage update ... better ...

A few months ago, I prognosticated the imminent arrival of online file storage services from Google (so did the Wall Street Journal, I should add). The service has never materialized (I can qualify that answer slightly as it's possible to buy more storage space for Gmail and Picasa Web Albums). I had sniffed at Microsoft Live's Skydrive online file storage and their mere 512 megabytes of storage. In the meantime, Microsoft has upgraded Skydrive to 5 gigabytes of free storage. Again, I'm sticking with my USB drive, but I'm now considering backing some of the USB's files up to Skydrive. Google or Microsoft, I still think that file transer time is likely to be a sticking point for such services, even with a broadband connection.

Google Earth update ... news, again ... but, better news ... much better

I've previously mentioned the somewhat disappointing New York Times layer in Google Earth. Selected Times articles are "georeferenced" to where they occurred. Cool idea, but the articles were a bit sparse and not always timely. Now, Google has added a layer featuring its own Google News summaries. This is a much more "dense" selection of news stories than the Times. Unlike the Times, Google News is an aggregator of news stories linked back to a broad range of source publications. You'll find the new feature under "Gallery" in the Layers panel. (minor gripe: I wish the summaries were dated/timestamped)

Tragedy Mapped

Even in this hyper-connected world, it's sometimes hard to get a feel for the size of disasters or even relate to where they occur. Yesterday's (May 12) 7.9 magnitude earthquake in China is getting fairly decent news coverage as is the cyclone that hit Myanmar the previous weekend.

Still, those countries are far away and mostly out of mind. Even if you know where the countries are located, you might not know much about their geography. The Google Earth community has created a number of add-in layers that give depth to these events and their locations.

For the disaster in China, it might be instructive to visualize the location of the earthquake(s) that hit Sichuan province. The U.S. Geological Society makes available a layer to display real-time earthquake activity worldwide (below). To add this layer to Google Earth yourself, explore the KML Gallery on Google's website and look for "Real-Time Earthquakes."



Because there's been a bit more time since Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis, there have been a number of efforts to plot disaster data. The Google LatLong: Master collection of Cyclone Nargis layers in the Google Earth Lat Long blog is a collection of layers that detail storm track and flooding areas (below).

Alltop.com - RSS in a Bottle

Many users are intimidated by the abbreviation "RSS" (Really Simple Syndication). And, if they're intimidated by those three letters, then chances are that they're not going to take advantage of the technology. Still, using RSS has gotten a bit less complex ... ok, it's really simple ... with the addition of dedicated buttons to add a newsfeed into a reader (Google Reader, Bloglines, etc.) or a home page (My Yahoo!, iGoogle, etc.).

However, if you're not inclined to want to learn a little about RSS in order to read blogs, you might take a look at Alltop.com. Alltop's home page is a series of topics grouping some of the best blogs on the Net. Under every text link on the home page, you'll find dozens of quality blogs addressing each subject area.

If you're willing to have your blog reading selected for you (and with so many choices, I hesitate to say that), Alltop.com is a way to dispense with the (small) hassle of RSS and feed readers. I'd encourage you to explore the web for even more blogs, but Alltop.com is a great place to start and maybe all some people will ever need.

It's a New Day for Google Earth

As someone who is addicted to Google Earth, I'm thrilled whenever there's an update to the program. I was truly happy when the Google people finally updated the DFW imagery from about 2001 to October of 2007.

Now, there's a new version: Google Earth 4.3. I could list all the updates to the product, but I'll just mention a few here. The change that I felt was most needed was dating of earth imagery and now we have it (most of the time). Daytime shadows are emulated on 3-D terrain and global daylight/night is displayed. Street View, which already existed in Google Maps has now been incorporated into Google Earth. And there's more, but I'll direct you to the Google Lat Long Blog for the rest of the story.

Below: Google Street View positions around the George W. Hawkes Central Library.



The darkness of night approaches Europe at the end of the day.

Organization Tools

PC World has published a list of nine online organization tools.  I won't summarize the whole article here, but will say that I already use three of the services, including the previously mentioned, including Jott.  I also use Remember the Milk for a personal task list (what a great name!) and Google Notebook.  Even though it's not mentioned in the article, Google Calendar is a core organization tool in my life.  Take a look if you haven't already taken advantage of these free resources.

Update on Google Earth / NY Times

A few days ago, I was excited about the possibilities of this particular mashup.  Since its introduction, I've felt like there weren't as many articles as I'd expected.  The articles weren't as newsy (timely) as I'd hoped, either.  To be fair, it's early and maybe the quantity and speed of news data will improve.