1 and 100 Zeroes

Import & export those Gmail filters

Scott Granneman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:09:59 +0000

So you go to all the trouble of creating a large & perfectly-customized set of filters for Gmail, and you’re worried that they might get confuzzled somehow so you want a backup, or you want to copy them to a new Gmail account. Now thanks to the magic of Gmail Labs, you can export – and import – your Gmail filters. Information about this new feature can be found at the following articles:

Import and Export Your Gmail Filters
Lifehacker

http://lifehacker.com/5164463/import-and-export-your-gmail-filters

New in Labs: Filter import/export
The Official Gmail Blog

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-in-labs-filter-importexport.html

Export Gmail Filters
Google Operating System

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/03/export-gmail-filters.html

Sync contacts and calendars with your smartphone

Scott Granneman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:36:00 +0000

This is great news – Google has now made it possible for you to sync your contacts & calendars with your smartphone. I’m using it with my iPhone, in fact, and so far it’s been great.

Basically, I sync Google Contacts & my Google Calendars with my iPhone over the air using Google Mobile Sync, but I also sync Contacts and Calendars with my Mac’s Address Book & iCal using Spanning Sync. That way, everything works together seamlessly, which is just the way I want it.

You can read articles about how to enable Mobile Sync for your smartphone, as well as how it all works, in some of the following:

Google Sync for your mobile phones
Google Tutor

http://www.googletutor.com/2009/02/12/google-sync-for-your-mobile-phones/

Google beta of Sync for mobile contacts & calendar is live
The Unofficial Apple Weblog

http://www.tuaw.com/2009/02/09/google-beta-of-sync-for-mobile-contacts-and-calendar-is-live/

Finally: Google Sync Comes to iPhone and Windows Mobile
Mashable

http://mashable.com/2009/02/09/google-sync/

Google Mobile – Sync
Google [the official pages & instructions]

http://www.google.com/mobile/apple/sync.html

Contacts getting better #23: Merge contacts

Scott Granneman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:26:42 +0000

Finally, it appears that Google is improving the anemic Contact Manager that is part of Gmail. The 1st improvement I want to bring to your attention: you can now merge contacts. Thank goodness!

You can read more at:

Merge Multiple Gmail Contacts
Google Tutor

http://www.googletutor.com/2009/02/17/merge-multiple-gmail-contacts/

Merge Gmail Contacts
Google Operating System

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2009/02/merge-gmail-contacts.html

Four changes to Gmail contacts
Official Gmail Blog

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/four-changes-to-gmail-contacts.html

New UI & features for Presentations in Google Docs

Scott Granneman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:09:14 +0000

In early September 2008, Presentations turned 1 year old. Long the furthest behind of any of the Google Docs triad, the UI was spruced up a bit to bring it more in line with the other Google Docs family members. A unified interface is nice, and I must say, the user interfaces have gotten much better in the last several months.

In addition, some new features were unveiled as well:

Undo

Well, it’s about time! Ctrl-z undoes your latest booboo.

Zoom

Need to zoom in on a particular detail of your slide? Got a tiny monitor? Eyes getting worse as you age? You have two choices:

Slide > Zoom
Ctrl-Shift-Right arrow to zoom in, & Ctrl-Shift-Left arrow to zoom back out

Reveals

In other words, you can specify the order in which objects appear on your slides. I use these all the time in Apple’s Keynote; it’s nice to see Presentations get them as well. To use this feature, right-click on an object and choose Incremental Reveal.

Small features, small steps. Progress is good.

Gmail adds themes, but not yet for Google Apps

Scott Granneman — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:00:16 +0000

Following months of speculation, Google has in fact rolled out themes for Gmail. You can view a gallery of screenshots at Lifehacker or at the Official Gmail Blog post announcing the new feature.

No surprise, though – I can see the new Themes tab in my Gmail account, but not on any of my Google Apps accounts. Soon, soon …

Syncing contacts and calendars? I still prefer Spanning Sync

Scott Granneman — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:37:50 +0000

In Google Apps Deciphered I spend a lot of time talking about Spanning Sync, Mac-based software for syncing calendars & contacts. Yes, there are free options, but I still believe that paying $25 for Spanning Sync is a good investment. For a list of good reasons to buy and use Spanning Sync, check out Google Tutor’s “6 Reasons Spanning Sync Still Rocks“. The 6 reasons:

Event Reminders & Alarms
CalDAV Doesn’t Sync Address Book
Two-way Sync is Unreliable
Easier Set-up
iPhone Incompatibility
CalDAV is not Internationally Inclined

I couldn’t agree more.

Take advantage of the new iGoogle

Scott Granneman — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:30:12 +0000

In Google Apps Deciphered I talk about the Google Start Page as the bastard stepchild of iGoogle. Well, while iGoogle continues improving, Start Page continues stagnating. Case in point: Steve Rubel’s article “Three Ways to Rock the New iGoogle“. Three things you can do … with iGoogle. None of which you can do with Start Page. Too typical.