Google’s new privacy policy has been in effect for over a month now, but there’s still some confusion surrounding the changes. In summary, all information will now be centralized for each user into a single profile. Before the new policy, each Google service-from Gmail to Google Scholar-had it’s own privacy terms.
Google provides a page describing and listing their new terms and policies on their website. To get a better understanding of how these changes affect users, though, it is important to look at both the benefits of the new policy and the harms.
Or perhaps just the resourceful. You can use the Canned Responses feature in Gmail or Tnetmail to send pre-composed emails to similar inquiries. So if you’re tired of typing up the same email for the millionth time or don’t want to go copy/paste it yet again, pay attention. Tranquility found an easy solution:
Last month, CNN released the 50 new tech tools you should know about. At Tranquility, we picked up on a trend within the article. Many of the tools showed a transition from physical objects to the virtual. We chose four of what CNN calls “50 of the most buzzworthy” tech tools. Use these free applications and resources to turn your world digital.
One part virtual notebook, one part personal assistant, Springpad helps you remember stuff today so you can make better decisions tomorrow. – CNN
Because Springpad is made of Internet codes instead of paper, it’s a lot smarter than your average notebook. With this online notebook, you can look up and save movies you want to watch, people you need to contact, products you need to add to your shopping list, etc. You can e-mail information to your Springpad account, make task lists, create sticky notes, and set up alerts among other organizing actions. Springpad is an Internet resource, but you can download the iPhone, iPad, or Android app to make your life more mobile. If you want, you can even share your notes with others…just not junior high style.
We’re up to good designing over the holiday season. We’ve started on our new website design and wanted to give you a heads up that we’re going to be looking good (thanks to our sister company MayeCreate) in 2012.
We’ll keep you up-to-date on our progress. We hope to launch our new site in January!
Gmail has updated its look. The modern design provides a cleaner, easier interface. Users can switch from the old look now, or they can wait for Google to do so for them. If you think you are ready for change, the option to “Switch to the new look” will appear in either the upper or lower right corner of your screen.
Here are six new features that we are excited about:
It’s a mouthful, but Google has decided to include all three of these features into a single pull-down button. With the old interface, they were easy to lose. The space made available by placing them in a pull-down menu has allowed them to stick out, dressed up in a big, red font.
Our sister company, MayeCreate, held a workshop on social media last week. From that workshop came a set of how-to guides, a handout and a Power Point discussing social networking statistics for various sites, frequency and more. Watch the workshop presentation or simply download the how to guides and handout by clicking the links below.
The next MayeCreate workshop is “Get Found, 10 Things You Can do to Improve Google Rankings (SEO) on Your Own” go to the MayeCreate site and sign up online!
Click to learn about other upcoming MayeCreate workshops.
Ready to get out of the gossip ridden, mini-game filled, and SPAM covered cluster that has become the norm in social networking sites? There’s a new network in town that could clean all that up for us, Google+.
As of yet, Facebook and MySpace have dominated the field of social networking, and while MySpace fades away, Facebook has become a super power in terms of users (750 million active accounts.) Just as it appeared that Facebook had acquired a monopoly on social networking, Google has released it’s take on the social network. Google+ is the new social network on the block. Released in the last week of June, it is projected to already have over ten million users.
Alright, so maybe gossip will never leave the conversation, but wouldn’t it be nice if you could aim the gossip where it needed to hit? G+ took the idea of circles and forced it onto online networking. By keeping friends, close friends, work friends, family, extended family, acquaintances etc. separated, you don’t have the problem of discussing private matters with everyone you’ve ever met.
Organizing between Friends, Family, and Acquaintances has never been easier. You can simply drag relevant contacts into the circle of your choice. When posting updates, photos, or videos simply select one or more circle you want to share with.
Looking at your current online social network feed, how many notifications do you have concerning a mini-game? Odds are there are quite a few. And who are half these people? Google has focused social networking back to meaningful updates on your people’s lives.
While you were sifting through the mini-game queue, how many SPAM messages did you run into? If it looks anything like my page, quite a bit! Something handy about G+ is you have a handful of other online endeavors created by Google that hint at what you’re getting yourself into. For instance, look at Gmail, they’ve dominated the field with a minimalist style. They’ve done this with their search engine, messenger, reader, news etc. and Google+ will be the next installment in a long list of successful online outlets.
Sounds like something you’d like to be a part of doesn’t it? Now all you need to do is get invited!
We’re hosting two fabulous artists in our office this Friday, July 22 for Artrageous Fridays. Stop by and view the work of photographer Jackie Rhodes and painter Leslie McCullough-Payne. We’ve got snacks and drinks, cool off with us from 6-9.
Paden Gentry is a fourth year electrical engineering student at the University of Missouri. His role at our sister company, Tranquility Internet Services, is to provide tech support for the Tranquility customers. Paden helps clients integrate and maintain their emails, troubleshoot modem, router, and computer problems. He plans on graduating in two years and wishes to pursue a career as an electrical engineer.