Tag: google

Macintosh users become comfortable with the tools that come with or can be inexpensively added to their Macs (e.g., iTunes, iPhoto). Why bother with similar apps? I don’t really have a great answer for this question. For me, possible answers include curiosity and perhaps experience with an application that works cross platform. The integration with cloud services may represent another advantage – mobileme is still too much of a mystery for me and I am willing to continue the search for something more.

I have commented on Picasa (Google) in previous posts. The caveat in my previous post was the lack of a Mac version. This has now changed – beta for the Macintosh. You need an intel-based Mac and 10.4+.

When you begin, Picasa offers the opportunity to search your computer for images. I turned the program loose without carefully considering the potential consequences. I have a huge collection of images in iPhoto. The message that offered me a choice of where to locate images specifically mentioned iPhoto. Picasa leaves images where they are (potentially scattered all over your hard drive) so my typically full speed ahead approach did not get me in trouble. Picasa is also sensitive to the presence of iPhoto and treats images stored in iPhoto as protected (read only) and makes a copy if you want to use the Picasa editing tools. This is a very nice approach for Mac users with a commitment to iPhoto.

The advantage of Picasa on the Mac is probably the easy integration with Picasa online. Sample of uploaded images. Until the Yahoo financial situation is resolved, I am a little concerned about a total commitment to Flickr. Picasa (from Google) is a good hedge.

While based on “web kit“, underlying code more central to Apple web ventures, Google decided to first release their new browser, Chrome, for the Windows platform. Mac users may be envious of the Google strategy.

Here is a temporary fix. LifeHacker describes how others have already created a port of Chrome for Linux and Mac users.

I gave CrossOver Chromium a try and it is functional, i.e., something to experiment with until Google releases the official version.

Google was officially incorporated 10 years ago today and for good or bad the way we locate information has forever changed. The BBC provides an interesting summary of the Google decade.

Google’s company motto could quite as well be: “Anything you can do I can do better – and for free.”

The tech news the last few days promoted the arrival of Chrome – a browser from Google. If you are a windows user, you can download Chrome now. Mac users will have to wait (you can sign up for information).

I downloaded Chrome and took a look. My first reaction was – nice browser, it seems to work. I have been trying to read some things online to try to determine what I am missing. Why spend the time and money to generate another browser. There are a few things you notice from the demos. You can type anything into the web address window and if the entry is not a web address the browser assumes you want to search. That is a little different. I think it is called the “omnibox”.

The Google folks must have anticipated that “the differences” would not be obvious so they commissioned a comic book to explain things. As I understand some of the technical details, the present advantage lies in independence of processes (one page can crash and this will not influence another page), a new implementation of javascript, and a more socially-based method of debugging (using automated feedback from willing users). The independence thing is technically interesting – each “tab” kind of works like another browser. I can’t really say my browser crashes frequently, bit perhaps this will be a larger issue as we move beyond viewing pages and on to more demanding apps.

From other sites, I get the feeling this venture also has to do with a browser that can be trusted to support the “cloud apps” that Google sees as the future. In offering users a browser, Google knows there will be a browser that works well with other Google products.

The missing piece at present seems to be “plugins”. The comic books describes some of the issues with plugins, but plugins and other add-ons offer the features I like the most in Firefox. Plugins in some form must be on the way.

What could be wrong with another browser? Have you ever had the experience that a function you want to perform (e.g., Yepshot) is only available on another browser? The occasional annoyance aside, I think it is a good thing that there are multiple competitors in any field.

Now, if Google could just get their Mac version finished so I could invest enough time to really see how things work.

I wonder if the IE for the Mac will ever resurface.

The Chrome story according to Wired.

Cindy forwarded a post by Kim Cofino that describes how to share a Gmail account with others (e.g., an elementary class). For whatever reason, Google allows the attachment of additional information to the name in a Gmail address and this additional information could be the name of a student (for those who are familiar with web forms, it appears to work in a similar manner to the attachment of variables to the URL). For example, information could be added to my Gmail address as follows: markgrabe+cindyg@gmail.com.

As I read the post, this hack does not get you all of the way to where you want to go. You need to also add a filter to gmail to recognize expected additions (in this case the names of students). With the filter, when the filter is tripped by an incoming email, a label appears in the Gmail sidebar. So a filter set to detect cgrabe would be triggered when incoming mail was addressed to markgrabe+cindyg. Once applied, students could connect to the common account and check the sidebar to see if they have received any email.

The Cofino post includes a link to a screencast that offers a demonstration.

Is this worth the trouble? I would assume the value is in convincing the administration that you will take responsibility for the email of  your students because you will have the capability of screening all material.

Could the system be abused? I would think so. There is not really a way to set priviledges to my knowledge so you still really have one account and no way to identify who might be sending outbound mail or who looks at what within the mail received. With access to the account, couldn’t you assume the identity of the teacher or any other student?

Will the profit motive influence corporate values? Despite the famous “Don’t be Evil” mantra, we already know Google folded under pressure from China and altered search options to block disapproved content.

Now, it appears it is Apple’s turn to evaluate company values. It is reported that the iTunes store is blocked in China. The explanation given is that iTunes recently offered a benefit collection for Tibet.

[Comment from AppleInsider]

FollowUp – Wired

You may be interested in the present conflict involving Georgia and attempting to see what you can learn (where is Georgia?) from the Internet. Bloggers have begun to post on the topic of what content is available.

I tried Google Maps (search for Georgia Europe) after reading a post from Google Lat Long Blog. Use the link “explore the area” to bring up photographs and video.