There have been very few game-changers in phones and phone calls since the invention of the cellular phone. Sure, we have more sophisticated devices that rival the PCs of just a few years ago and those devices are capable of storing the phone numbers of our friends and family, but the way two people connect hasn’t been improved by much. If you want to call your friend (let’s call him Troy), you need his number and he needs to be there to answer the call. If Troy isn’t answering, you can leave him a voice mail (which he can check when he gets a chance) or you can send him a text and see if he responds to that message.
In a world where most everyone we communicate with has a cell phone, a work phone, a home phone, an email address, a Facebook page and (sometimes) a Twitter account, “getting in touch” with someone should be easier than ever. Instead, you have to play the guessing game of where to start “looking” for Troy. I think that must have been the issue that Google focused on when they decided to start Google Voice. I was lucky enough to participate in the BETA of Google Voice (for about a year now) and the application/tool is now available for everyone to use.
Google has and (hopefully) will always be primarily a search engine. Sure, Google has an insane amount of tools and applications for everything from your computer to your television, but searching the web has always been it’s primary function. It all started with a simple site and a box. No advertisements. No sports scores. No world news. Just a text entry area and a few buttons.
From The Original Search Page Until Now
Over the years, that main Google page has not changed much, but now there is much more going on behind the scenes. “Googling” something has slowly evolved into a very intelligent, yet simple, way to find information on any topic imaginable. Over the last year, Google has introduced new search technology like Social Search and Location Aware Mobile Searching. And now, almost entirely under the radar, some new features have emerged from the Google Labs to further “enhance the experience of searching and help you find exactly what you’re looking for.”
Of all the articles I have written and research I have done, no topic seems to be as popular as wallpaper. Believe it or not, it seems that more people are drawn to dressing up their desktop than making their computer run faster. I sure can’t blame anyone for pursuing a pleasant scene to stare at for hours a day, I was just surprised when I saw the numbers. Luckily for you desktop connoisseurs, I recently stumbled onto an article over at digital inspiration (via lifehacker.com) that outlines the benefits of using bing (the search engine) for wallpaper hunting. You don’t want to miss the details.
The original article on digitalinspiration.com, written by Amit Agarwal, outlines how you can use the bing image search to find wallpaper that fits your screen. While this may not seem like a difficult task to most, picking the proper image size for a desktop background can be more difficult than you think. In order to really explain the benefits of the “bing wallpaper search” I want to take a step back and demonstrate the “old” method for hunting down wallpaper and compare the two.
Back in September, I wrote an article titled Where to turn when your DVR can’t keep up. At the time, I was truly excited about the opportunities presented to all of us that might want to use the web as a supplemental resource for our digital video recorders (DVR). Seven months have now flown by and we find ourselves nearing the end of the “traditional” TV season. Lost only has 5 episodes left and the discussions on which shows will be returning next season are already underway or completed. These last few weeks will be a bitter-sweet time for fans of any program as we approach the inevitable cliffhangers and finales. Unfortunately, some of our recommendations in the September article were simply bitter.
We are a 2-DVR family and both of our units were put through some serious stress-testing this season. Every so often, bad weather or a power outage caused one or both of our DVR units to miss a show, or at least a portion of it. Being the true television fans that we are, we didn’t want to miss out on important plot-lines and details, so we headed out to the world wide web, in search of the episode in question. In almost every situation, we found the solution on the web site of the television station itself. There were however a few situations that required additional searching. That’s where the fun really started.
A busy week. Those words will occupy a lot of thoughts and conversations today. We pack so many activities and so much work into such little time. When it is all done, we are left with a few precious minutes for ourselves. That “leftover” time is typically reserved for sleep, but if we are really lucky it will mean a moment with our favorite gadget, book, magazine, movie, etc.
The key to maximizing our schedules is organization and (ironically) it takes time to get organized. For those of you in the “9 to 5″ crowd, you probably have access to Microsoft Outlook for managing your work hours but what about the rest of your life? What about users who don’t have access to this email/calendar program (part of a $300 Microsoft Office package)? Even if you had a wonderful program like Outlook, would you have the time/opportunity to get in front of a computer regularly throughout the day?
For anyone interested in using a calendar to keep track of events and schedules there is a solution that offers the flexibility of an electronic system and the mobility needed in our busy lives… Google Calendar and Google Sync. They are both FREE and can help you find the time for what really matters, without wasting hours in setup.
Social Networking is the heart of the internet right now. Scratch that, social networking is much, much bigger. Terms like Facebook, Twitter, share, social, follow, fan, etc. are hurled at us, at the speed of light, both online and offline. Every individual and company (including JumpstartMyPC.com) is trying to figure out the “best” way to share information with fans, friends and family. And now, Google has stepped up to the plate with their offering… Google Buzz.
I realize that many of you have already been exposed to Google Buzz, or at least heard the name, and that this article might seem a little untimely. After all, Google Buzz was released about a month ago (February 9, 2010). The reason I waited to comment on Google Buzz was two-fold: 1) The initial reaction to Google Buzz was panic! (early issues with privacy) and 2) I wasn’t sure if I would even use Buzz for personal and/or business updates. Why would I review or recommend a product for the JumpstartMyPC.com audience if it (Buzz) wasn’t a useful tool that would help you get more out of your PC? Well, I finally spent some time with this new application and I think I’ve wrapped my mind around it.
“Sharing” has to be one of the biggest buzz words of the internet over the last few years. With the introduction of services like email, instant messaging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and now Google Buzz, people have been provided with the tools for staying in contact with friends and family continuously. These services are used mostly for staying in touch, catching up on recent personal events and chatting but they have also introduced one of the most used functions of our day, sharing. People share photos, videos, links to web sites, links to music, favorite articles… the list goes on forever. “Sharing is the center of the social web.”1
In the beginning, digital sharing was done via email. Attachments were sent and frustrations elevated when emails were not received or “kicked back” because the attachments were too large. Sharing methods have evolved and changed over time and we are now inundated with hundreds of ways to share information with one another. Facebook and Twitter are by far the most popular, but many others have great feature sets and large followings. Only one service pulls them all together seamlessly, ShareThis. That little green button (the trademark of ShareThis) has made it’s way onto 130,000+ sites and reaches over 400 million users per month.
Browsing the internet should be easy! Unfortunately, with all of the toolbars, icons, labels and preloaded bookmarks of the most used internet browsers (IE, Firefox) your viewable space can get a bit messy. If you have found yourself a bit overwhelmed by the “clutter” that has accumulated within your browser or simply want to see more of the web pages you are browsing, we have something for you. Welcome to JumpstartMyFirefox! We’re going to show you how to take your browser from A to B.
Over the past few years, Firefox add-ons have grabbed my attention more and more. Each time I found myself with a browsing need or problem, a quick Google search led me to a solution using add-ons, which are basically mini-programs that work within Firefox to customize some part of the browsing experience. I have installed and tested many add-ons during that time and today I bring you my own collection, titled JumpstartMyFirefox, to help you take back your browser.
With all of the social networking tools available today, it is easy to get wrapped up in the fun of it all and forget about the basic rules of life. One of the biggies – Don’t announce to the world that you are not home. Unfortunately, people are happily volunteering this information (along with plenty of other personal tidbits) to the entire world without understanding the potential dangers of doing so. Social media sites/tools are making it increasingly easier for thieves to track your moves and know when you are not home. A great new site PleaseRobMe.com pokes a bit of fun at the phenomenon and aims to educate the masses by showing what NOT to do.
“Listing all those empty homes out there” is the tagline for PleaseRobMe.com and categories like “Recent Empty Homes” are used to demonstrate the dangers of location-aware services. Location-aware services is a broad term that basically means any software, device or site that allows you to share your current geographical location with others. There are a lot of advantages to sharing your location (mostly social) but users should understand the dangers associated with broadcasting your whereabouts. Mainly, telling people you are at point X means you are not at home, thus making your home a target for thieves.
So, you have a question about… anything. Depending on who you are or how you operate, you are probably going to do one of two things. You are going to ask friends, family and co-workers for the answer or you are going to go directly to the internet (specifically Google). Sure, there are other options like phone books and ….. well, I don’t know. I think the vast majority of people in the world will use one of these two options. Now, thanks to Google Social Search, these two methods might begin to merge into one very useful solution.
Google Social Search is a new way to search the web. You simply Google as you always did and a new section will appear in the results, aptly titled “Results from your social circle.” These results will include more relevant, personal web content from your friends and online contacts. These links, images, blogs, etc. are taken from the social networking sites that your friends are part of, like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn, etc. We could explain it further, but this video (by the amazing commoncraft) does it so well.
