All posts tagged google

Google Search app for iPad updated

by Dave Caolo on November 21, 2011 in Links with No comments

Google has updated its iOS search app (free, universal) and it’s beautiful. I especially like the large thumbnail preview option (left) and gesture support.

The UI is far superior to that of a Google search with mobile Safari, but I can’t help but wonder if I’ll use this app instead of Safari, especially now that the new “tablet view” looks so good. Plus, I end up clicking “Open in Safari” every time.

Furthermore, will I use it at all once I’ve got Siri? You can watch a promo video after the break.

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Pokemon email [Update]

by Dave Caolo on November 2, 2011 in Links with No comments

Google has released a native Gmail app for the iPhone and iPad (free, universal).

Gee, maybe I can install a separate app for every email account I have. Gotta catch ‘em all!

I’ll stick with Mail’s unified inbox, even if it means I can’t spend time fiddling with tags, categories and priority inbox instead of replying to email.

[Update] Google has pulled the app, citing ”…a bug which broke notifications and caused users to see an error message when first opening the app.”

Mail rules [updated]

by Dave Caolo on September 3, 2010 in Links with No comments

Google’s announcement of the new Priority Inbox feature has got people talking about the procedures they use to filter, sort and otherwise act upon their incoming email. I get several hundred email messages per day across several accounts, gigs and points of reference.

I don’t use a single rule. I have one inbox. I treat them all the same way.

When an email message arrives, I ask myself the following:

  1. What is it? Meaning, is it actionable, reference material or junk?
  2. If it’s actionable, I then consider: Can it be completed in 2 minutes or less? If so, I do it RIGHT THEN. If no, it’s either A.) assigned to an open project, a new project or a single-action task as is appropriate; B.) assigned to a context like “@computer”;  C.) delegated to the appropriate person. If delegated, I make a note of the task, person and date of delegation on a @waiting list for later follow-up. In all cases, it’s processed appropriately to Omnifocus and then deleted. 1
  3. If it’s not actionable, it’s either reference material (stored in Simplenote and then deleted), junk (deleted) or a date-specific item that either will happen in the future (added to calendar and then deleted) or could happen in the future (added to Someday/Maybe list and then deleted).

This process is basically David Allen’s GTD methodology applied to email, and takes about an hour per day. Plus, it’s super simple. No rules. No color coding. No custom inboxes. No scripting. Just observe, decide and act. That’s it.

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Update: Brief follow-up and clarification.

  1. Every email message is deleted after it’s been processed. Your email client is not a filing cabinet. I’ve stood patiently by people’s desks while they scroll through hundreds of messages to find a single bit of information far too often. If it was appropriately stored and tagged in a reference system, life would be much easier. ↩

Google drops Wave

by Dave Caolo on August 4, 2010 in Links with No comments

Google:

“…Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects.”

Google has made the code that powered the service’s marquee features, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, available as open source. It’s also promised to create tools that will let people easily retrieve information they’ve put into Wave.

It’s unfortunate. When I first created an account, I found that most of my co-workers didn’t have one. By the time they did, I had lost interest. Good on Google for making much of the core code available.