Google Calendar for Mobiles

Google Calendar now supports a mobile phone web interface!

Just point your calendar to calendar.google.com and you'll see your agenda as well as the ability to add new events quickly and easily.

This is an excellent companion to the GMail app, and solves my 'which is my primary calendar' dilemma. Plus if you set up your calendar to send reminders via SMS alerts to your mobile you'll have a fully mobile calendar that's always in synch with your Google Calendar.

Who's Watching You?

Earlier in the week British police announced the trial of a new CCTV heli-drone that would patrol over the heads of the residents of Merseyside. This is in addition to the existing fixed CCTV cameras that flood Britain, at a rate of 1 for every 14 people. As recently as last week the British government announced plans to add microphones and speakers to existing CCTV cameras.

At the same time more than 3 million people have their DNA stored in a national DNA database. Early this month is was revealed that almost half a million of them are children, and almost 100,000 are under 16. About a third of all samples belong to people with no criminal record. Should their DNA ever be found at a crime scene they will be expected to explain why.

Also yesterday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke to some journalists in London. He describes the future goal of Google -- that the algorithms be smart enough, and their databases thorough enough, that should I ask Google 'What job should I go for?' or 'What should I do tomorrow' it will be able to give me a sensible, personalised answer based on its knowledge of what jobs or events are out there, and which ones I'm likely to enjoy. This system does not yet exist.

Google's database is, like all things Google, entirely opt-in. I can choose if I wish Google to remember my Search History, or if I want to search entirely anonymously. The British governments DNA database and CCTV network is *not* voluntary. The CCTV networks and DNA databases do exist.

Today The Independent, ever mindful of my privacy rights, and rightfully concerned with the spectre of a 'Big Brother' society, ran an article on their front page with the headline, "Google is Watching YOU". Apparently the Forth Estate sees this opt-in system, that may exist some time in the future, written by non-government corporation, as a bigger Orwellian threat to my privacy than the existing, non-voluntary, government run programs whose powers are being constantly expanded.

I can search the web, using Google, and choose not to have my searches remembered. The same option does not exist for 'walking around in London' without being photographed 1,000 times. I suppose I could keep my head covered at all times by wearing a 'hoodie', but that's unlikely to end well.

So, which is more Orwellian, a nation with speaking, listening CCTV cameras every 20feet, where the government keeps my DNA on file, and which is in a never-ending war on 'terror' -- or a search engine that remembers the things I've searched for in the past to generate suggestions for the future?

Any company that compiles a database of my personal behaviour deserves scrutiny. Google is no exception, and I'm glad to hear the European data protection watchdogs are asking Google questions about its data retention policies. But a front page scare article on a major UK broadsheet? I can't help but think they're looking the wrong direction...

GoogleTalk VOIP to Phone Coming Soon?

A new Google Apps Training presentation includes this intriguing screen shot of the Google Talk application that strongly suggests that calls to regular phones and / or SIP support might soon be available in the Windows client.


Google Talk has supported gTalk-to-gTalk VOIP calls for a while, but not calls outside the Google Talk network. The new interface suggests you'll be able to type a number in to the client, or use a 'dialpad' to get a more familiar phone pad interface.

Obviously these new features are still in internal testing, but the use of this screen grab in a Google presentation suggests it might not be too far away.

If Google do start offering calls to the standard phone network or SIP clients via Google Talk the big question will be if they offer it as a paid, free, or audio add-supported service.

Picasaweb Slideshows

Picasaweb have just added a new feature that lets you create Flash slideshows for your web albums. You can embed them in webpages, blogs, MySpace, etc.

Here's what it looks like:

It looks like the same technology that the 'View Presentation' option for Powerpoint slides in GMail is based on, which is more than likely the same technology that Presently (the Google Powerpoint) will be using.

Here's the anouncement from Google.

Update: In related news the Google AJAX Search API blog has also announced a fancy new tool that lets you add a similar slideshow based on any media RSS feed. So now you can embed slideshows for PhotoBucket, Flickr, or any other RSS photo feed right in your blog or site. Nice!

The Absolute Cricket Calendar

If the train-wreck that was the 2007 Cricket World Cup hasn't terminally deadened your enthusiasm for the clash of leather on willow, you're probably ready for a return to some real cricket.

And because too much cricket is barely enough, prepare to thrill at The Cricketing Yak's Ultimate Cricket Calendar. A Google Calendar with every game above junior level for at least the next 4 weeks -- domestic and international -- from all over the cricketing world. If that's more than you can handle, there's the International Cricket Calendar with just the matches involving international sides.

Both calendars are conveniently available on the newly redesigned Cricketing Yak, or you can add them straight to your own Google Calendar [Absolute Cricket or Internationals Only].

Of course with all this cricket being played around the world, you'll need to be reminded of where it's happening, so check out the Live Cricket Map while you're at it, or add it to your iGoogle homepage.

iGoogle

If you've stopped by the Google Personalised Homepage today, you've probably noticed it's been rebranded and is now called 'iGoogle' (which is what the '/ig' stood for).

Philipp's Blogoscoped has the skinny, and you can read the official Google blog post here.

The take-aways are:

• You can create simple, "no programming required", homepage gadgets using their gadget wizard.
• Localised support for multiple languages and locales (22 around the world in fact) -- so http://www.google.co.uk/ig will give you your iGoogle on the UK Google domain.
• iGoogle has been Google's biggest growing service.

Check Guest and Resource Availability in Google Calendar

The Google Apps Calendar was intermittently offline for maintenance yesterday. The result? They've rolled out a feature that lets you 'find a time' that's available for all attendees when scheduling events.

Clicking 'Check guest and resource availability' brings up a 'find a time' dialog which indicates which times are free / usy in the calendars of each attendee. It's essentially the same functionality that you get when you choose the 'Scheduling' tab in Outlook.

I've only seen this in the Google Apps calendar so far, and it's a welcome addition.

UPDATE: Tony Ruscoe points out that he saw this feature months ago when Google Apps Premier was released. So it's more of a case of rolling a feature out to more users rather than a new feature. Add a comment if you're seeing this feature and if it's new for you.

2007 English Domestic Cricket on Google

The World Cup is (finally) heading in to its final stages and after yesterday's performance, England aren't going to be part of the proceedings.

Luckily the County Championship kicks off today and I've updated my English domestic cricket calendars with the full fixtures for 2007.

• The County Championship (Domestic First class championship)
• Pro40 (Limited overs championship)
• Pro20 (Twenty20 competition)
• Friends Providence Trophy (50 over competition -- last year's C&G Trophy)

For a different view of who's playing where the World Cricket Map Google homepage widget is updated daily and shows cricket being played around the world, with each match pinpointed on a map. Zoom out to see England, then zoom in to see satellite footage of each venue.

As usual CricInfo's Australian Irish English commentary team will be covering all the matches for your reading pleasure.

Google Office Timesheets v1.0.3 Released

[ Google Office Tools: Timesheeting Timesheet Quick Start Guide Downloads ]
[ Latest Version: 1.0.3 (10/04/2007) ]

The new release of Google Office Timesheets is now available for download.

Improvements in version 1.0.3:

• Support for offline time entry support.
• Remembers your default time entry calendar.
• Minimises to the system tray with a global hotkey for time entry.
• Dramatically improved speed.
• Single application for time entry and reporting.
• Visual 'day bar' shows you how long you've worked.
• Lets you customise your start and end of day times.

We're continuously improving this little app, so if you've got suggestions, send us a comment.

Real 3D Buildings in Google Maps

The hardworking Google Maps team have added proper 3D building outlines to Google Maps.



Two new zoom levels are now available in 'Map' view that extend the existing 'pseudo 3D' effect to full fledged to scale building outlines. So far 3D building support seems limited to US cities. I've been able to view the enhanced building outlines in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago.

With any luck they'll extend this to every building available in Google Earth -- and then every building available via public Sketchup models. Then all we need is textures on the models.

The biggest zoom level is quite impressive -- here's the Chrysler building in New York

Google Maps isn't the first to offer the 3D view, Live Local has been offering it for a while, but it's a welcome addition to the increasingly impressive Google Maps service.

Kurt Vonnegut Has Died at 84

Kurt Vonnegut, author and playwright, passed away in Manhattan on Tuesday aged 84.

Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors, penning such incredible novels as 'Mother Night' (adapted into a hugely underrated film) and the incomparable 'Slaughterhouse 5'.

Google My Maps World Cup Venue Mashup

If you're watching the World Cup and you haven't yet used any of my resources to see where the action is being played out, I've decided to add one more way of seeing the venues.

Using Google Map's new 'My Maps' feature, I've published a Google 'My Maps' hosted mashup of World Cup 2007 venues.

For mashup developers, the process of porting the data from an existing mashup into a 'My Maps' mashup took about an hour. The main thing I missed was the ability to change the alignment of text within the description balloon -- otherwise the process was quick and straightforward.

Google Maps My Maps - Dynamic Google Mashups

Ever wanted to create a Google Maps mashup but lacked the Javascript skills?


Google have just released 'My Maps', a service that lets you create your own Google mashups on the fly within the Google Maps interface. The interface lets you add markers, lines, and draw polygons. Each marker can have a full HTML description including full text, images, and videos.

Once you've finished creating your mashup you can publish it for others to search and find, or share it privately with friends, family, or workmates. There's even an option to export to KML for use in Google Earth.

The interface provides the same 'get directions to / from here' options you get with Google Maps, so the resulting mashups are even more useful than before.

Here's an example I've started for Test Cricket Venues that will eventually replace my existing cricket stadium mashup.


This service is amazing.

• Use it at home with Picasaweb to share your holiday pictures with your family and friends. Draw lines across the world to demonstrate where you've been and where you're going.
• Office based Google users can map their clients and projects.
• Plan your next holiday. Put markers in possible destination along with details and links for each hotel / country / beach you plan on visiting.
• Integrate with Google Calendar to show exactly where events are taking place, with annotations describing venue features, possible parking locations and detailed directions.

My call: Best Google innovation of 2007 so far.

What's missing?

• Sub folders for markers / lines / polygons to add some structure.
• Ability to 'hide' lines / polygons so they're on the map but don't appear in the left hand list.
• Custom marker images. Need to be able to add markers using uploaded / linked images.
• Being able to measure distances.

Adsense for TV

Today Google announced its long anticipated move into television with an Adsense / Adwords trial. Google are partnering with Echostar and Astound Cable in the US.

It will be interesting to see how their TV ads business works following the relative failure of their attempts to move in to radio via their dMarc acquisition last year.