Everyday Nerd » Google

Firefox 4 for Android

Nerd — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 19:33:59 +0000

Firefox has always been a favorite of mine, and well, so is Android. Firefox for Android came out of beta, and can now be installed on you android device. With it, you get Firefox Sync, add-ons tabbed browsing, and much more!

[ Firefox 4 – Android Market ]

Get your EverydayNerd.com Android App NOW!

Nerd — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 03:45:00 +0000

For all you Android users out there, you can now have content from EverydayNerd delivered directly to your Android device! Just hit up the link below for the Market Website, or use the QR code below to install from your phone!

Ring the church bells, wake up the neighbors, tell everyone you know – it’s FREE!!!

Download [ Market ] FREE!!!!

Google BeatBox

Nerd — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:36:34 +0000

Found this morning…. and laughed out loud.. no really, I did…

Go to Google Translate
Set the translator to translate from German to German
Copy and paste this string in the text to be translated box: pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpvpzk kkkkk bsch
Press the translate button and then hit “Listen.”

Google Docs now does OCR!

Nerd — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:13:26 +0000

Finally! Google Docs now can take a scanned image, and convert the image to editable text! OCR is Optical Character Recognition, and has been around for a while, but having this feature in Google Docs, just makes it better Related … Continue reading → Related posts:

Secure Google Search

Nerd — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:44:20 +0000

Google is recently released a more secure Google search – using SSL to encrypt your connection.

From the Google Blog:

When you search on https://www.google.com, an encrypted connection is created between your browser and Google. This secured channel helps protect your search terms and your search results pages from being intercepted by a third party on your network. The service includes a modified logo to help indicate that you’re searching using SSL and that you may encounter a somewhat different Google search experience, but as always, remember to check the start of the address bar for “https” and your browser lock indicators:

To use this service, simply to to https://www.google.com – *Note the “s” in https – this is what enables the SSL connection.

Update your bookmarks or favorites, and even your home page to the new address if you want to secure your Google searches.

Backup Pictures Using Picasa – Get Free Eye-Fi Card!

Nerd — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:18:29 +0000

OK folks… I’ve harped on this before, and I’ll probably harp on it again, but here’s the deal: Your hard drive in your computer WILL fail one day, and when it does, you can kiss all those precious pictures of your family goodbye. I’ve mentioned a couple of ways to backup your stuff, but today I want to share a great way to backup your pictures (usually the largest amount of data (short of music) that people wish to backup).

Google. Picasa. Picasa Web Albums. Yup, I’ve mentioned these before too… Well, combine all three of those, throw in a FREE Eye-Fi card, and you are not only backing up your pictures, you won’t even have to plug in your camera to transfer the pictures to your computer!

Google has been offering more disk space for Picasa Web Albums for a while now, but if it wasn’t a great deal already, they are now throwing in a free 4GB Eye-Fi card when you order 200GB or more space. This is starting at $50 / year for the 200GB, but if you don’t use that much, after the first year, you can downgrade to what you actually need.

Backing up your pictures from Picasa to Picasa Web Albums is as easy as clicking the “Sync to Web” button in each folder.

Next, select the size – I recommend the original size, and set your visibility (security) as you choose. Press Sync, and your photo’s are being backed up to Picasa Web Albums!

You can also select to automatically upload anything that you import:

More about the Eye-Fi card:

4GB memory. Store up to 2,000 photos or 90mn of video, just like with your existing SDHC card.

Wireless. Upload JPEG photos & videos through your home Wi-Fi networks and more (add up to 32 networks).

Compatible. No need to buy a new camera.

Effortless sharing. Wirelessly send your JPEG photos and videos to a popular website. You can choose from many, including Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, MobileMe, and YouTube.

Automatic back-up. Wirelessly upload JPEG photos and videos to folders of your choice on your computer, or even directly into iPhoto for Macs.

Organized. Photos and folders can automatically be renamed with a time stamp, so memories are organized effortlessly.

Pick your pics. You can select which photos and videos upload from your camera.

Get notified. Get email, Facebook, text message* or Twitter alerts when your photos are uploading online.

Quick and sweet. Set up takes just minutes.

To sum it up, this is a FANTASTIC deal. The Eye-Fi card runs about $80 – ish. If anything, this is a great deal to get the card at a discount, plus if you’re not already taking measures to backup your data, you should be. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it till the day I die…

ALL HARD DRIVES FAIL…

[ Eye-Fi ]

[ Google Picasa Web Albums Eye-Fi Promo ]

Google’s Public DNS server

Nerd — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:47:47 +0000

DNS is the phonebook of the internet. Without it, everyone would be typing in numbers to access websites. DNS does a lookup from a name to an IP address – like http://18.62.1.6/ is the same as http://eecs.mit.edu/ – which is easier to remember? Thank you DNS!

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) offers you use of their DNS servers, but is often not the best DNS servers available – both in speed, reliability and security. I’ve told you in the past about OpenDNS, and while Google DNS service does not come with the content filtering that OpenDNS has, it is extremely fast, secure, and very reliable – MUCH more than your ISP’s (especially if you have Charter Communications).

Google’s DNS servers IP address are:

8.8.8.8
8.8.4.4

For instructions how to configure your computer to use Google’s DNS servers, visit Google’s Help website: http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html. They provide excellent instructions for Windows, Mac, Linux, and even your router and mobile device.

To sum up, I like the idea of Google having public DNS servers. Providing you are not using the content filtering aspect of OpenDNS, or not using OpenDNS at all, Google’s DNS is a no-brainer. Start using it today, and you will probably see a difference in your browsing speed!

Sync iPhone Calendar with Google using CalDev

Nerd — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:04:25 +0000

Syncing my iPhone with work (Microsoft Exchange) is great, but I still wanted a to view personal calendar from Google Calendar to be synced to my iPhone too. And yes, I know you can use ActiveSync to sync Calendar on the iphone. This can be done by adding the CalDev calendar sync!

First, click the settings button on the home screen, select Mail, Contacts, Calendars:

Select Add Account, then Other,

Now select Add CalDev Account:

Enter the following information:

Server: www.google.com
User Name: Your Google account email address (can be your Google Apps email address)
Password: Ummm… your Google account password…
Description: Google Calendar (or whatever you want to put here)

Tap the Next button in the top right, and that’s it! I did a quick test, and added an items from both Exchange and Google Calendar, and within 1-2 minutes, it was on synced to my iPhone!

Picasa 3.5 – now with facial recognition!

Nerd — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:18:14 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Picasa for a long time, and now I’ve an even bigger fan! Facial tags were first introduced in Picasa Web Album, and now has gone a step further, and not only detects faces, but also will, after tagging a face, recognize a face, and auto tag it for you! I updated last night, and was truly amazed at how accurate it was! This is a MUST HAVE update for anyone that has digital pictures on your PC.

From the Picasa Blog, here’s a video going over the new features of Picasa 3.5:

Download Picasa 3.5 at [ picasa.google.com ]

Google Sync now “pushes” mail

Nerd — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:53:48 +0000

Until now, Google Sync only worked with Calendar and Contacts, but now supports mail! This is great news for mobile users – both Windows and iPhone!

Read more over at the official [ Google Mobile Blog ]

Bing & Google side by side

Nerd — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:46:31 +0000

OK, so Bing is Microsoft’s new search engine, and it seems to be getting quite a bit of hype, but Google is, well Google! I still prefer Google, but for those of you that are not sure, or want the best of both worlds, this is just for you!

Bing & Google will search both Bing and Google, and display them side by side.

[http://www.bingandgoogle.com/]

Google’s new search engine

Nerd — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:17:20 +0000

It’s in a testing phase, but Google has a new search engine it’s testing. Check it out, and leave a comment about what you think!

http://www2.sandbox.google.com/

YouTube.com | XL

Nerd — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:00:00 +0000

That’s right folks, Google’s YouTube got BIG! If you have a computer attached to a TV, this is going to make you very happy! Now you can watch, and actually navigate YouTube on your TV. With big buttons, and easy to navigate interface, the new YouTube XL site is great for your Media Center PC.

Check out YouTube XL

Gmail drops the annoying “On Behalf of”

Nerd — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:29:46 +0000

I’ve shown you how to setup your Gmail account to be your central email hub, but when sending email as another account Gmail used to add “On Behalf of” to the From address – showing your real Gmail address or alias. Well, Gmail has taken that crap away thank goodness!

Yes, this is for Google Apps users too!

Setup Gmail to Send & Receive your Live/Hotmail Account

Nerd — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Having POP3 access to Live Mail is great (or any mail account really!) if you have a Google mail account (or Google Apps). Follow the steps below, and you can send and receive mail from Live/Hotmail, or any POP3 mail enabled account!

In Gmail, go to Settings, and click the Accounts page. Select the link to Add a mail account you own.

Enter the email address associated with the POP3 account.

Use the following settings for the connection settings

POP Server: pop3.live.com
Port: 995
Check Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail

Optionally, you can also apply a label to all messages, so to help organizing your messages.

Next, you can setup the ability to send mail as your pop3 account (instead of the from Gmail account)

Enter the name you want to show as “From”

Verify that you own the account you are sending as.

Check your POP3 account, enter the verification code, and you’re done!

One other thing that I do, is set my “Reply” address to same address that the message was sent to.

That’s it folks! Remember, this isn’t just for Live or Hotmail – you can use this to check up to 5 external POP3 accounts. Happy emailing!

Gmail updates toolbar

Nerd — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 01:20:08 +0000

Gmail has updated it’s toolbar, making it easier on the eyes, and more convenient to add labels, and “move” items to a “folder” (Folders are really just labels.)

Looks good Google!

Gmail & Google Apps for your Domain: Available Offline

Nerd — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:39:22 +0000

I am SO happy about Google finally getting their online mail application offline! I clicked the “Labs” icon today, and saw that my domain’s mail (hosted on Google Apps for your Domain) is now available offline!

If you are a Google Apps or Gmail user, this is a GREAT addition to an already good product! Next, lets see how GrandCentral, and the "G-Drive” will play in to future features!

GrandCentral is still alive!

Nerd — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:17:14 +0000

Google’s GrandCentral has been silent since March of 2008 (shortly after Google acquired it). Nothing has been developed from GrandCentral, and many believed that the free service was the next Google app on the chopping block. I’m glad to say, that on the contrary, according to the blog Google Operating System:

Jeff Huber from Google writes that "a new [GrandCentral] version on new infrastructure will be coming soon."

Thank goodness! I personally use it everyday! I was worried that it was going to get canned, but I’m looking forward now for more features!

Blogger.com – Use your own Favicon

Nerd — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:33:11 +0000

I have several blogs, some of which are on Google’s Blogger.com. Being the Nerd that I am, I like to customize almost everything that I use. In this case, Favorite Icon. First, what is a Favicon? It is the small icon that shows in the browsers address bar, next to the bookmark or favorite, or in the Links or Bookmarks toolbar:

Well, when using Blogger.com, by default, you get what Blogger’s branded Favicon, and, well, I don’t like it on my blogs!

So, here’s how to use your own Favorite Icon on Blogger.com:

You will get a text box, with the HTML code of your blog template. Click in the box, and hit Ctrl-F on you keyboard, and type in ]]> and press Enter.

Right below, create a new line with the following code, of course modifying to your domain, and file name of your Favicon. Save, and you’re good to go!

<link href='http://yourdomain.com/favicon.ico' rel='shortcut icon'/>

P.S. If you don’t have a FavIcon, you can make one from any picture you have, just go to this website, and convert any jpg image to an icon file. Happy blogging!

ChromeMailer: Default Email links open in Gmail in Chrome

Nerd — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:50:20 +0000

Are you a fan of the Google Chrome browser? Do you use Gmail as a chrome application? Wouldn’t it be nice to have your mailto links open with Gmail in Chrome? ChromeMailer does exactly that!

Pretty simple program, allows you to set Chrome/Gmail as default, or restore to defaults. Happy Chrome’ing!

Download ChromeMailer

YouTube up’s video upload limit from 100MB to 1GB

Nerd — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:18:27 +0000

Video website giant YouTube.com (owned by Google) has increased their video upload limit from 100MB to 1GB! Sweet!

Here’s a link to to the new uploader

By Request: How to Backup all My Pictures?

Nerd — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:46:57 +0000

Thanks KF for asking a great question, and something that almost everyone with a digital camera is going to ask at some point in time!

There are several ways to backup items on your computer; burning files to DVD (See Infra Recorder), using online backup services such as Mozy, or as simple as taking your flash memory to any photo processing location, and letting them archive the pictures to CD/DVD.

But in this case, when talking specifically about pictures, I only have one way that I will back them up: Picasa!

That’s right, you read that right, Picasa! I’ve told you before about how much I love Picasa, especially Picasa 3! Well, now, here’s one more reason to love it even more!

Open Picasa, and go to Tools, Backup Pictures.

At the bottom of Picasa, the Backup steps (all two of them) appear:

First, either accept the default backup set name, or create/edit the set in Step 1. The set can be customized to backup to DVD, or to a drive (good if you are backing up to an external Hard Drive, or network drive), as well as choosing All file types, All Pictures, or only JPEG with Camera Information. I go with the default, because I want my movies backed up as well (I have Picasa “watch” my home movies folder as well).

If this is your first time backing up your pictures, you will want to choose “Select All” in step 2, otherwise, Picasa will automatically select all the pictures that have not been backed up since your last backup.

Also, if you wish, you can manually select the folders that you want to backup.

If you have a lot of pictures, it may take a couple of DVD’s to backup, but trust me, it’s a LOT better to have a backup of those precious memories, than your hard drive going “clack clack clack” with the only copy of your pictures on it…

Restoring from the Picasa DVD Backups is just as easy as the backup process. Simply insert the DVD, let the auto-play run, and a nice restore wizard asks you if you want to restore to the original location, or a new one. Easy as pie!

REMEMBER: ALL HARD DRIVES GO BAD! It’s a matter of when – not if!

Backup often, cry less…

Download Picasa 3

Website of the week: Picasa Web Albums

Nerd — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:00:02 +0000

OK, so I’m really loving Picasa 3 as you know, and although I’ve used Picasa Web Albums in the past, I’m beginning to see them in a new light – and I like it!

My favorite feature is Face Tagging. This new technology can recognize a face, or faces in a photo, and once you tag one, it can usually recognize it again! Pretty cool huh? I’d love to see this in the Picasa application itself! This would make organizing photos so much easier! Well, for now, your online albums can be uber organized.

Sharing between Picasa and Picasa Web Albums is easy, especially with Picasa 3. You can still choose if you want your albums to be private or public. Note, that just because it’s private, it doesn’t mean someone can’t see it. If they know the URL, anyone can view the album. The difference is if your pictures will be searchable or not.

One new feature allows you to upload photos via email. You pick a secret word, then you can upload from literally anywhere – including your mobile device!

Link to Picasa Web Albums

Picasa 3 – WOW!!!!

Nerd — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:58:19 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Picasa since before Google acquired it. Then it was free, and it was great! Then they came out with Picasa 2, and it was even better! Now, they have released Picasa 3, and all I can say is WOW!!!!

Picasa 3 comes slam pack with some awesome new features:

Create custom collages (I really mean CUSTOM)
Automatic red eye detection
Easy upload and/or Sync pictures / albums to Picasa Web Albums
Upload video to YouTube
Enhanced photo preview for Windows
Create custom slide show or movie
Fix blemishes in photos
Write text on photos
and many more!

The Picasa team has put together a great little promo video of the new capabilities, so instead of me tell you, let them show you!

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I know! WOW! Ok, now you have watched the video, go download it yourself, and have fun!!!

Download Picasa 3

Google Chrome EULA – Welcome to the dark side

Nerd — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:27:44 +0000

So I installed the snazzy Chrome browser yesterday, and aside from know issues with Symantec Endpoint Security (that I had to uninstall to get to work) it was OK. Well, that was until I actually read the EULA (end user license agreement)!

Check this out!

11. Content license from you

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

Yeah…. I’m not that attracted to shiny objects! I’ll be sticking to Firefox for now…

UPDATE:

Seems all the blogs out here raising a fuss about the EULA has made Google release the following statement:

"We are working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.

Well that was nice of them…. still… pretty creepy….

[Source] MattCutts.com