Grab all your Google data

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Jesse Zylstra

Google has always been good about helping users leave them.

In fact, they make it really easy to leave. You can literally pack up your virtual Google bags and port yourself to different web services anytime.

Google Takeout is a tool to help with just that. Takeout is a service from Google that will give you an archive of all of your Google data from just about every service Google offers. All you have to do is hit one button, and Google starts putting it all together for you.

You can check it out here:
https://www.google.com/takeout

You can either have it do everything, or you can manually select the services that you want archives of. Services include your +1′s, Google+ Circles, Google + Streams, 3D Warehouse, Blogger, Buzz, Contacts, Drive, Latitude, Pages, Picasa Web Albums, your Google Profile, Reader, Voice and Youtube.

So, whether you’re actually packing your bags and leaving Google (I know I won’t be anytime soon!), or just keeping backups for the coming web apocalypse, just know that Google is ready to help you leave anytime you want. Don’t ever say they made it hard!

 

 

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Google Reader Retiring July 1st, 2013

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Jesse Zylstra

Google has announced that it will be retiring Google Reader on July 1st.

I’m rather surprised. I happened to like this product, and I know quite a number of other people do as well!

Google announced on the Google Reader blog that the reasons for closure are due to a decline in product usage and a shifting in Google of focusing all their resources on fewer products.

I know I’m of the thought that the product was stable, why not just keep it there for those who would like to use it? We won’t complain about lack of updates over the years.

If you have an alternative program or webservice for Google Reader, do share in the comments.

 

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WhatPulse: See How You /Use/ Your Computer

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Jesse Zylstra

WhatPulse is a computer program that monitors statistics regarding your keyboard usage and mouse usage. It tracks what keys you press and how many clicks you make with your mouse, including how far your mouse has traveled across the screen.

The program does not provide a lot of useful information about your computer usage, but it does provide numbers and information that is fun to look at and share with friends.

You can download and see more of what WhatPulse can do here:
http://whatpulse.org/

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Dream Info-graphic

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Jesse Zylstra

A very neat info-graphic about sleep. (click Continue Reading to see it if on the homepage)

Continue reading →

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Spotify for Linux

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Jesse Zylstra

Spotify is an audio application that allows users to stream audio from Spotify’s servers. But, unlike many other services (i.e. Pandora), it only plays the songs you tell it to. The free version is supported by ads, however a low monthly fee will remove the ads.

Spotify has made a “preview” version for Linux. Currently, Spotify will run under Wine (or under Wine with PlayOnLinux assistance) without much problem, but native versions are always better.

The Linux Preview is available for Debian/Ubuntu by adding a package repository. I gave it a spin, it seems to be fairly stable and works just fine. Occasionally, when it stops to buffer (I have slow internet), it won’t start playing again by itself. Still, Spotify for Linux is definitely an application I will be keeping around.

You can learn how to install Spotify for Linux here:
http://www.spotify.com/us/download/previews/

 

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Gmail and Search Field Trial

Posted on December 13, 2012 by Jesse Zylstra

What’s this? A middle-of-the-week post?

Google is now testing a new feature with Gmail to allow search results for your email to appear in your web search results (when logged in as yourself). This is a fantastic way to remind yourself when you wrote an email about a given topic that you may be searching about.

Also introduced with this field trial is Gmail’s enhanced built-in search. When you search for a given word or term in the Gmail search box, it will immediately start to show you relative documents and files that are in your Google Drive.

Users can choose to be opted into this field trial by visiting the field trial website:
https://www.google.com/experimental/gmailfieldtrial

What’s the advantage?
Have you ever found yourself searching for something online, and then completely forgotten that you’ve written an email to someone about it? This feature is a great way to let you know that you have had communications about a given term or subject.

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Quick Gmail Tip

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Jesse Zylstra

Replying to a long email?

In your reply, its easy to select the text that you want quoted at the end of your email.

Simply select the text you want included in the reply email, and hit the “Reply” button. Only the selected text will be copied over.

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Last Results from Spam Testing

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Jesse Zylstra

November 23rd at 6:13PM:
We shut the spam testing site down.

Since December 24th, 2011, there were a total of:
325,008 posts in 246,957 topics by 291,210 spammers.

If you are interested in receiving a copy of the MySQL database which we used for spam testing, this can be arranged. Please use the contact page.

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