Google - The Graphic Mac

Remove your Google web history easily (before the March 1st deadline)

Internet
23 Feb, 2012

Google search history Google announced back in January that on March 1st, your Google web search history will be made available to all Google properties (YouTube, Google+, Gmail, etc.) as part of their new privacy policy. If you don’t like that idea, you have about a week left to delete your search history. Here’s how you do it.

Log in to your Google account, then visit your Google Web Search History page. You’ll see all your searches and site visits listed. Click the box at the top labeled “Remove all Web History” to remove everything, or tick the checkboxes next to the list items you wish to delete and click the Remove button.

Rant: The annoying year that was 2011

General
3 Jan, 2012

Like any other year, 2011 brought a lot of highs and lows in my tech life. Unlike any other year though, 2011 was filled with situations and trends that just wouldn’t change to my liking.

2011 was just too much sharing for my taste

There were lots of great things happening in tech this year, too many to talk about here. But I have put together a list of things that managed to annoy me to no end. (more…)

Google releases Gmail app for iOS users

Mac & OS X
21 Nov, 2011

Gmail for iOS Get the official Google Gmail experience for your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. As you may know, Google released the app previously, but it was buggy and was pulled shortly after. The app offers little more than the mobile version of Gmail, but users may be interested in giving it a try anyway.

With the Gmail app, you can:

Receive notification badges for new messages
Read your mail with threaded conversations
Organize your mail by archiving, labeling, starring, deleting, and reporting spam
Keep track of important messages with priority inbox
Auto-complete contact names as you type
Send and receive attachments
Search through all your mail

The Gmail app is available for devices running iOS 4+.

Extensis adds Google Web Fonts to the Web Font Plug-in for Photoshop

General / Mac & OS X
14 Nov, 2011

Extensis' Web Font Plug-in makes website mockups in Photoshop easy

Designers have been able to use actual fonts in their websites for quite a while now, but integrating web fonts at all points throughout the creative workflow has been a challenge until now. Extensis closes the web font gap in the traditional web design workflow by adding Google Web Fonts to their plug-in for Adobe Photoshop. Extensis’ Web Font Plug-in already provides web designers with free access to thousands of WebINK web fonts, and now adds convenient access to hundreds of fonts from Google Web Fonts.

The advantage of using Extensis’ WebINK technology with the Web Font plug-in is that you can design your site mockup in Adobe Photoshop even if you don’t already own and have installed the actual web font you want to use on the site.

The free WebINK Photoshop Plug-in is included with Suitcase Fusion 3. If you’re not already a Suitcase Fusion user, you can download the trial version. The free plug-in will continue to work even if you choose not to keep Suitcase Fusion 3.

Raven: Site-specific browsing on the Mac

Mac & OS X
28 Oct, 2011

Raven is a site-specific web browser that allows you to be more productive by creating a dedicated browsing instance for each one of your web apps, such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, CNN, YouTube, and many more.

Raven offers site-specific browsing, putting the features of the
sites you interact with the most easy to access and use

Raven is not a standard web browser to replace Safari, Chrome or Firefox, though you easily could if you wished. Instead it focuses on improving the experience on the sites you interact with the most. For instance, clicking on the Twitter icon in the left sidebar slides open the controls for Tweets, DMs, @Replies and Search for easy access. The controls available depend on what each site offers.

Think of Raven as the Mac OS X Twitter app, only for a plethora of social and news sites. Raven offers bookmarking to Instapaper, a smart bar, history, and even a toolbar icon that loads the mobile version of the site right in the Raven browser window – so you can view the site just as you would on your iPhone.

Some of the sites that take advantage of Raven’s site-specific browsing are: Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, MySpace, Quora, Linkedin, Digg, TechCrunch, Daring Fireball, CNN, New York Times, AllThingsD, The Next Web, Dribble, Instapaper, Dropbox, Hulu Plus, Flickr, Vimeo, and more.

Raven isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely a cool piece of technology worth checking out.

Google updates Chrome Store, and it looks very familiar

Internet
25 Oct, 2011

As you surf through the Chrome Store, things will start looking very familiar...

Google recently updated their Chrome Store, where you can download extensions and apps for the Chrome web browser and Chrome OS. It looks really nice, and for good reason. They basically copied the look and feel of Apple’s Mac App Store. Ugh…

Rant: Stop worrying about your privacy – you aren’t that important

Internet
24 Oct, 2011

Stop complaining about your privacy on social networks and just think about what you post before you post it. What you share is up to YOU!

The last few months, tech sites on the web have been filled with stories of privacy invasions by Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Santa Claus. I’ve grown so tired of hearing about it because for the most part, it’s A) your own fault for not understanding how to configure the site preferences. And B) you shouldn’t worry about it, because you simply aren’t that important.

Let’s take Facebook for example

With the recently-released Ticker on the newsfeed page and the yet-to-be-released Timeline update to your Profile page, people are barking at the moon that their status updates are now out there for the world to see; thus invading their privacy. Well uh, I hate to tell you this but, THEY ALWAYS WERE. And isn’t that the whole point of a SOCIAL network? (more…)

Why you won’t be quitting Facebook – despite the changes

Internet
3 Oct, 2011

The last two weeks on the Internet have been filled with articles covering the changes that recently appeared on Facebook (the Ticker), and the more drastic changes to your Profile that will be arriving shortly. Like every other previous Facebook change, people are so frustrated that they’re threatening to leave Facebook. Uh-huh, sure. Here’s why you won’t be quitting Facebook any time soon.

First of all, the new Profile page (see image below) will take some getting used to. In order to take advantage of what it has to offer, you’ll most likely want to add some additional information. I say want to, because if you’re like most people, you probably like playing with new toys.

The new Facebook Timeline Profile page is actually pretty nice

The new Timeline Profile view offers viewers an easy way to scroll down through your life on Facebook much more easily – via the Timeline bar on the upper right of the page. Want to see what your friend was up to in 2002? Easy, just click the 2002 date in the Timeline bar and you’re zoomed right into place in their Timeline.

The uproar is that it supposedly “invades your privacy” because it puts all your posts in plain view for everyone to see. Well, I’m here to remind you that this has always been the case. It’s just a little easier to find now. (more…)

Get your Google+ invite here

Internet
9 Aug, 2011

Click the image to get your Google+ invite (limited supply)

Save space: search with Google from Safari’s URL bar

Mac & OS X
25 Jul, 2011

One of the things I love about Google Chrome and Firefox is the ability to do Google searches using the address bar, rather than being forced to have valuable space taken up with a separate search box in the toolbar. It’s one of those few relatively minor things that kept me from using Safari for quite a while.

Search from the address bar in Safari

Apparently I wasn’t alone, because a developer has recently released SafariOmnibar (direct download) for Safari for Snow Leopard and Lion. Run the Package installer and you’re good to go. As you can see in the image above, you’ll have the convenience of a single address/search bar.

Tagged: Google