Google Docs, Calendar and Gmail Head Offline
With the recent launch of Chromebooks (netbooks powered by Google’s Chrome OS) it was inevitable that we would see significant changes to the Google app suite. If they intend to have netbook users regularly using their products it is logical to assume they’ll look to improve their offering.
One of the more obvious problems for users of Google Apps – such as Gmail, Docs or Calendar – is the lack of offline functionality. I’m a person who likes to be online all the time but even I sometimes struggle to get a decent connection. When travelling by train I like to be able to use the time to book meetings, return emails or write blog posts. If I had a Chromebook or relied solely on Google Apps, I wouldn’t be able to.
That is until now. Google has today announced Google Docs, Calendar and Gmail will all be receiving some offline functionality. They will not have full functionality but they are making inroads that needed to be made.
In the case of Gmail Offline, users will be required to download the Chrome Web App for Google Chrome. This will enable users to continue using Gmail when connections are lost. Google said:
Gmail Offline is a Chrome Web Store app that’s intended for situations when you need to read, respond to, organize and archive email without an internet connection. This HTML5-powered app is based on the Gmail web app for tablets, which was built to function with or without web access.
Google Calendar and Google Docs will now be able to be accessed with no net connection so you can now view events in your calendar or access your existing Google Docs. It’s worth saying that at this stage you will not be able to edit Docs in offline mode. This is something that Google say they are continuing to work on as it is obviously a feature that Docs users want to see.
I think this is a step in the right direction for Google. If Chrome OS is to stand any chance of securing a foothold in the personal computing operation system market, it needs to provide users with offline functionality for its apps. Until we reach a point where everything is online all of the time (which isn’t going to happen overnight), Chrome OS will be seen as a poor option for anyone used to working away from the cloud.
Google+: The First Two Months
Sparks: not lighting any fires just yet
Google’s latest venture into the realm of social has been up and running for two months now so I thought I would have a look at the service and how it is doing to date.
First of all I should say that Google+ is still exclusively for individuals. There are no business accounts on there yet. Google have told us that business profiles are coming though. We’ll just have to wait a short while.
How many individuals have signed up for G+? Official figures are difficult to come by but we do know what 10m users signed up within the first two weeks of launch setting a new social media record. Recent reports suggest that in the US 13% of adults have signed up for the service. That’s an impressive figure for a service so young. The figure is unlikely to be anywhere near as high in the UK.
One of the nice aspects of G+ is that the team behind it are encouraging users to give a lot of feedback. When new features are rolled out, they usually give a detailed breakdown of what it means and why they introduced the change. Despite being one of millions of G= users, you feel like you have a stake in the platform’s development.
As a G+ users from the UK, I am finding the lack of local users slightly frustrating. I think the platform has great potential for sharing news with people of similar interests but there just aren’t that many people on there right now. For instance, I created the DCFC Fans on G+ website to help Derby County fans locate other Derby County fans on G+. After a couple of weeks of use, we have less that 20 people signed up.
The rate of development in Google+ is extraordinary. We’ve already seen several significant changes to the service and it is only eight weeks old. Take the privacy changes that Google most recently announce: ignore and block. These two features allow you to silence people in your stream (ignore) or stop them receiving any of your updates at all (block). This allows you to be polite to people by adding them to a circle and then immediately ignore them because they keep sharing content related to Justin Bieber and My Little Pony ebay auctions.
Overall, I am impressed with the rate of development of Google+. The features for Android users are great (instant photo upload!) and the promise of an API release soon means we will likely see some great integration with social media dashboards. If you haven’t got yourself a Google+ account yet, sign up today. With Google’s plans to own your online ID, you’re going to do it sooner or later anyway.
Written by Martin Broadhurst
Facebook Overhauls Privacy Settings
Lock Down: Facebook gives you more control
One of the major changes comes in the form of the photo tagging system. You will now be able to approve a tag before it is visible to others which gives you more control over what photos you can be found it.
You will also be able to tag people that you are not friends with. This has been a frustrating quirk for many Facebook users in the past. I for one have tried tagging people that I know the names of, but am not Facebook friends with, only to discover I could not. From now on this will be possible although these tags will always require approval from the third party.
Changes will also be made to the share options on your content. Currently, when you click on the small padlock by a status update, you can choose whether to share with friends, friends of friends, everyone or create a custom setting. Well, Facebook will be removing the confusing “everyone” option and replacing it with “public.” This make it clear that the content will be visible to anybody, not just anybody with a Facebook account.
It seems clear to many commentators that this move have been brought about due to the positive response that Google+, Facebook’s latest rival, has received since it launched. One of the aspects that Google+ users has been praised for is its excellent privacy controls although it has come under some criticism for not allowing users to post under pseudonyms or nicknames.
Head to the official Facebook blog for a full breakdown of the changes being made to Facebook’s privacy settings.
Written by Martin Broadhurst
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Considering Moving to the Clouds
A scene from IT strategy meetings the world over?
It isn’t just the social networks that occupy us when we are online. We also use many cloud based services because of the flexibility they afford us. Storing files on the cloud or using web apps gives us the freedom to work on the move.
Cloud computing is still in a growth phase and the size of the market is expected to increase by a factor of five over the next decade. As more and more of us move our files into the cloud, what do we need to consider?
Outages
One of the biggest business benefits of operating within the cloud is that the costs associated with purchasing, maintaing and upgrading hardware are replaced with what is, in effect, a rental fee. By using other organisation’s servers, businesses can dramatically cut costs but with this comes the loss of control over the system. This means that when the servers go down for any reason, you can do little more than wait patiently.
The counter point to this is that dedicated cloud service providers specialise in this field and are likely to have less down time than most in-house IT solutions would experience. It is the bread and butter of these service providers to stay online so it ought to be their priority to stay online.
Security
Storing your data on the servers of another company means that more people can access your data than if it were on your own servers. Admittedly, the likelihood of someone from the hosting company accessing your data is slim but it is something to consider. How comfortable are you with knowing that your data is in the hands of others?
It is worth saying that it is in the interests of cloud based service providers to have the best security measures in place for their clients. Given the costs involved in maintaining a well protected network, it may well be the case that your data is more secure on the cloud than it would be in-house.
Compatibility
The cloud computing industry is still very much in a growth phase and, as such, industry standards have not emerged just yet. While you may be using one service and wanting to share data with a client or supplier, they may not be using that same bit of software which could potentially cause compatibility problems. It is important you understand how much cross-platform compatibility your chosen service provider has in order to limit potential issues in the future.
Data Migration
At some stage you may wish to swap provider for one service or another. Given how much data companies will be storing in the cloud, it is a wise business owner that investigates how easily they can migrate their data porting before signing up for one particular service provider. The last thing you as a business owner will want is to find out your data is stuck on one platform unless you jump through a hundred hoops, each requiring the technical knowledge of a senior Google engineer, before you can move your data elsewhere.
Back-Ups
When you move onto the cloud, you are making savings through the fact that investment in hardware is no longer such a great consideration. That said, you cannot simply wash your hands off the ownership of your data because it is still your data. You own it. Outsourcing the storage of it does not mean that you can forget about it and pass the buck onto the service provider should something terrible happen. You still have a responsibility to back-up your data for those emergency scenarios. Even the biggest of cloud computing firms can have significant data losses. Make sure you back up regularly to avoid the worst.
Written by Martin Broadhurst
Contact Status Social today to find out how your business can benefit from social media marketing and cloud based services.
Read MoreNow Open: Foursquare Pages
Status' Foursquare Page
Foursquare, the location based social network where users check-in to locations and share tips in order to earn badges, has opened up pages for business so that business owners no longer need to contact the Foursquare team in order to set up a profile.
Foursquare pages allow businesses to share tips and check-ins with followers. the pages can be administered by multiple users and updated via mobile devices also.
What benefits does this have for businesses? For one, it makes your business more visible and gives your more owned media. Secondly, it allows you to build relationships with other businesses. If you check-in and compliment the service at a particular business, who knows what discounts they’ll offer you in future.
The Foursquare Pages are in a very early stage so there is much work to be done with them. No doubt as more businesses start to use the service we will see more uses for Foursquare appearing over time.
Follow Status Social on Foursquare today. We share tips about bacon.
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