Google Tasks - Missing Iphone application, going back to Toodledo

Toodledo is simply better.  Game, set, match.  Response, google?  Purchase?  Leverage buyout?

Google Reader - Too Many Buttons

I liked it, wanted to share it and I starred it, but there's really too many buttons here.

Edit tags I suppose refers to the folder that I have the feed in, but I don't want to edit the feed based upon this single post, nor am I trying to tag posts with multiple tags individually.  I could do without it.

Like/Unlike is the same as Star.  I don't see the difference.  One or the other please.

Share and Share with note could be combined by creating a pop up window for "share" that gives you the options to create your post.  This will help personalize Google Buzz and make it more like Twitter and Tumblr.

Gmail - Shva or Shiva?

Shiva is a major Hindudeity, and the Destroyer or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine.

Why is Gmail calling her?  I know this is nitpicky, but it looks pretty weird.  I'm sure it stands for Simple Helper Very Applicable, but it makes no sense to me.  Maybe it could say "load" or "page" instead.

Google Reader - Managing Feeds

very minor complaints today for a product I'm using more and more (and the product who's addiction I could not quit and who's incredibly high quality lead to my current Googlediction).

Importing Multiple Feeds into the same category - sometimes I import several feeds in a row from the same category.  For example, today I converted my Comics over to RSS feeds.  It'd be nice to put them all in the same folder and then let me rename the folder later or have a way of selecting what group to add them into when I add them.  Like a category/folder drop down.

Along the same lines, after I've imported my Comics, I'd like to select multiple feeds and move them all into the comics folder.  I had to do this one at a time from the main Google Reader page. Maybe there's a better way to do this already, but if not, alert the Googlers.  :>

Google Docs - missing tag, folder, label field

too many clicks

Ok great.  I've navigated the annoying pop down menu to create a new document (which could be a simple  one click "Create New Document" button).

I've renamed my document using the easy to type in (but tilt screen box popping) name field. 

Then I want to add a tag, folder, label to my document.  I want to do it in a field right next to Document Name (which shouldn't freak out and bring up a tilt screen, it should just let me type, like when I typed the title of this blog post) and I don't care if it's a tag, folder or label, I just want to type "blog post" or "thunt.net blog post" and let you deal with categorizing and saving it.  Let's leave this "filesystem paradigm" behind.  Let's easily tag documents!

These are my suggestions.  They seem very simple, but they will make the user experience smooth like butter.  Don't you want a user experience that's smooth like butter?  Oh I hear you out there, moaning in the audience, I'm lactose intolerant too, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good butter simile while demanding simple changes to complex applications that have no doubt been debated and discussed in meeting after meeting that they all keep private as they work towards the ultimate googlization of computers.

(learn more about the fate of this "Google Docs Blog Post" entitled Skype is Awesome, but not tagged with anything at Thunt.net.)

Blogger - import blog?

Import blog function is kindof a joke.  I'm coming from Tumblr.  I can download a copy of my blog from them (how gracious), but I can't upload it to you?  Come on Google, I expect better!  I even expect you to just slurp the blog off the net, comments and all.  Import Blog, but for real this time.  Come on google.  I know you can do it.  (then we'll get you started on combing my Moveable Type data with my tumblr data with my personally written blog software (multiple versions) and get all my archives online at one time. ha ha.)

PS: Facebook let me download my data too.  Without a doubt you should be working on a way to import that.

Google Docs - Ruler Delenda Est!

I think that it's hilarious that in Google Docs, clearly one of the most advanced awesome document editing platforms ever built, I still have to turn off that annoying Ruler at the top of the screen.

Ruler Delenda Est!

Ruler Delenda Est!

Google Docs - Discussions - Comments need to send on enter

take away the "post" button.  Facebook has led the charge and now we must all follow.  I can't comment fast enough on Google Docs Discussions because it still has the mousey post button.  It's time for the post buttons to die.  First they came for Print Screen, then they came for Caps Lock, then they'll come for the Windows and Apple keys.  It's time.  Up with CapsLock to Google search, gotta figure out how to remap that on my machines.  (on windows this morning I set the key to ctrl, but couldn't manage a ctrl-ctrl without MacroExpress and that's really too much overhead.  (this new Mac clickpad keeps coming up while I'm typing and f-ing my shit up.  arrgh!)

Anyway, TL;DR comments should send on enter.  I'm sure Google already thought of this though.  

google confusion - Reader, iGoogle, BloggerFollow

Reader, iGoogle, and BloggerFollow all seem to have the same function of "following".  Blogger keeps warning me that I'm not following any blogs, but all my blogs are in Reader.  When I try to follow something from Feedreader it offers to put it in iGoogle or Reader when sometimes I want both because I want to read it casually (iGoogle) and try to make sure I read every article (Reader).  I agree that Blogger must copy or buy Tumblr, but my BloggerFollow queue remains empty and annoying, as I use Blogger to publish, not to browse.

Integrate Reader into Blogger and iGoogle.  Have a folder in Reader where you can manage the news that will be displayed on iGoogle and a folder that displays the Blogger blogs you follow.

Google vs. The problem of too many computers

or talking about GoingGoogle while linking to Daniel Tosh who I've heard is an effeminate male with a scat fetish. 

laptop, desktop, netbook, iphone, work computer, work laptop.  I have too many computers.  I have too many bookmarks.  I have too many passwords.  I'm geeky and I like to memorize things, but even for me, I've had enough.  Where did I put that file?  What calendar did I add that to?  It's too much.

That's why I've sold out to Google.  The headlines will read "Google acquires Thomas Hunt for more than 7 cents in AdCents revenue!"  But in reality, though I'm not being paid for my transition and I've put my personal data and personal privacy at great risk (especially to forces that are larger than Google), if I can use Google to stop messing around with multiple computers and the complexity that they bring, if I can focus on my own tasks and accomplish my goals,  I will be the one gaining in the end.  That seems like a worthwhile trade off and besides, though I don't like to admit this publicly, but I guess the truth of the matter is, I'm not that important (yet?).  Just another fish in the ocean that waves at Libya and other serious problems, like Japan.  Ginsberg, Kerouac, Hunt, maybe not yet, but with the power of Google?  Who knows.  What it really comes down to is that, I the tech support guy, needed better tech support.  I needed to be coddled and taken care of by people smarter than myself, and I think Google will provide that.  Look at how Blogger keeps flashing and saving what I'm writing! (even now as I do revisions, this is some pretty impressive auto saving, and I've lost dozens of blog posts in the past on other platforms, by pushing the back button or following a link from IM)  That's something I'm not paying for, but I'm receiving great value.  Sure I guess they could develop relevant ads for the drafts of my work, creating a sort of shadow bidding network as advertisers vie to be the first one to sponsor what will become a popular post (of course they'd need an algorithm to determine how viral the post would become, factoring in things like how many links to Rick Astley videos with the coefficient of whether or not a geek beats the shit out of a bully and whether the poster is a good personal friend of Xeni Jardin or Whil Wheaton.  A feverish market of red blooded advertisers furiously outbidding each other for the next BoingBoing, SearchBlog, Kottke post, while a smaller section of the auction is dedicated to finding that one in a million shot, the little blogger that could, the voice in the darkness that gets his own 15 seconds and 25 cents worth of advertising traffic and struggles mightily.  Insiders wonder if the whole market is fixed and if some insider genius at google is manipulating the whole thing, having secretly developed the formula for cool and is slowly draining a fortune from the futures market, but the real serious advertisers don't care about the kooky conspiracy theories.  They just want to bid bid bid till the end as the auction timer is always running and there's a new post to be speculated on every millisecond.  Pre-cog for pre-blog.  Sign up now.

Anyway.  Google Sidebar is revolutionizing my home pc.  It makes Google Calendar and Gmail seem like a part of the desktop and the start bar is just a distant memory waiting on the left side of the screen to be quietly euthanized.  I've got Google Notifier on my macs and it's a nice quiet integration that gives me instant access to mail and calendar when I need them.  Google Authenticator and the two step authentication process is making me feel more encrypted than ever before and Google Voice is preparing me to save hundreds of dollars this year as I live the dream with my prepaid out-of-contract iPhoneWIFI that I mainly use as a pager to then call people back on skype.  What I'd really like is an android phone that focuses more on Skype than the SIM card.  Sure, you could substitute the recent GoogleAquisition Gizmo in for skype and tie it in better with Google Voice and then the gPhone would really be rolling.  They just have to decide they want to save us from the phone companies.  Then they could save us from the broadband caps that are slowly creeping our way, acquire Netflix and Nintendo, merge with Amazon and then take over UPS to conquer the world.  pre-cogAmazonaGoogleGamesnFlixUPS -- all the world shipped to you, on your phone, right now, before you're even thinking of it.

Q: If Google could own the world, what would Google do with the world?


Questions!  Answers!  Googles!  Stay tuned to this blog, as Thunt and his trusty sidekick Google take on the problem of too many computers!  This post was written on a mac laptop, using Blogger and Google Chrome.  Why not a full screen view for blogger with just a black background and text?  Find out!  SOon!  Same bat time.  Same bat channel.  Same unpopular blogger who just had his name ruined by Daniel Tosh of the insipid Tosh 2.0 America's Funniest Home Youtubes, but I guess things are pretty even, given that Tosh is defined as  "an effeminate male with a scat fetish".  I might close all my blog entries with that, kinda make it my Carthago Delenda Est.

PS: I've also sold out to writing more off the cuff blog entries and trying to be fun and informative, throwing off the last of my history degree english degree writing shackles and reserving the right to go on completely insane off topic tangents and then refuse to edit them out, only fixing punctuation (kerouac standard) and spelling (thanks to annoying red squiggly lines).


PS to BLOGGER: Your link button is nice, but when I push link, my cursor needs to default to the link field, because I'm gonna paste the link in there.  Better would be if you just checked the clipboard for a link, and if it was there, linked it to the highlighted text instantly and not waste my time.  I'm sure you probably already thought of this and put it in the new version, or perhaps you have developers already working on it from reading the draft of this post.  pre-cog blog.


PPS to BLOGGER: Also needed is some kind of AutoLink mode, where it could scan the text and when I say Whil Wheaton, automatically link to him, as well as things like Google Voice, maybe I could select which auto links I like the same way I use a spell checker, of course I don't use a spell checker anymore, so you'd probably want to do the auto links the same way you do the auto spell checking, hilighting and giving options.  I expect for Tosh 2.0, one of the options would be "an effeminate male with a scat fetish". 

the more google I try, the more google I love

just now trying out the new sidebar.  I think it's really neat now that it's plugged into Docs, Mail and Calendar.  I really do have a whole little google ecosystem going on my windows box.  Magical.  Also impressed with the ctrl-ctrl search box pop up.  I still don't want google to search all the files on my computer, so I wish sidebar wasn't coupled with Desktop, but I turned off the indexing, so it should be fine.  Fantastic product as always.

Google Maps - now with photo overlay!

Just reading about the possible discovery of the Lost City of Atlantis, and I was browsing the map for Cadiz, Spain:

I switched to street view, of course surprised and expressed to see that they've charted even España.  I looked at what I believe to be a capitol type building:

I noticed the appearance of small photos on the building, I then hovered over one of the photos, to be surprised an amazed as the photo overlaid itself on the building, even matching the angle of the shot:

I then clicked the photo and was greeted by an entire gallery of similar photos taken by tourists at this very spot! 

Thanks again Google for making my day more magical and educational!

Update:  I don't know if I can do it justice in screen shots, but it seems like they also linked together the tourist shots so you can navigate by view, so you can see the building from different angles using the tourist shots.  Incredible!

Blogger - automatic Picasa album of all images uploaded

More great work from The Google.  Turned on picasa and it offered me really neat albums of all the images I've uploaded to this blog.  So you could browse the blog like a directory of images instantly.

Whoa, I spoke too soon.  Broken link on the "learn more about privacy":

I was going to link to the album here, but I guess we'll have to save that for next time.  Looks like it's still under construction, but I'd like to say, that as usual, I'm impressed.

Chrome - Stats for nerds, cool!

Yet another cool feature from the Chrome.  Saw an interesting (1) (not sure if they were trying to attract my interest, but they did) and clicked on it:

Stats for Nerds?!  Cool!  :>

Pretty cool work Chrome!

Chrome - Google quietly fixes PDF Viewer

Though I still don't see the helpful Print and Save buttons, pushing CTRL-P/CTRL-S (apple-P/apple-S) finally allows you to Save and Print PDF files, transforming Google Chrome into a useful browser again for using PDF files.  It's about time.

Now if we could just get some easy to use Print and Save buttons, we'd be all set.

Blogger - new editor/picture upload

It's getting harder and harder to use Tumblr.  Blogger's new editor and image uploader is sooo nice.  Tried to do a post on Tumblr today with inline images and gave up, because it just wasn't as easy and pretty as Blogger's interface.

Chrome - new preference screen blows my mind

The more you give in to the greatness of Google, the better it gets.  Just look at this preferences screen:

See the search?  Brilliant!

Everything else, so clearly labeled and explained.  Firefox, though I've forgotten you and you're no more than a cool looking patch on my gym bag now, if you're still out there somewhere, and looking for new ideas to steal, this is where you should start.  But you'll never catch up, because google is too fast and too smart and growing exponentially.  All hail our future googler rulers.  As long as they keep doing great shit like this.

Blogger - missing Iphone application

I know I'm not using Android (and sure, I'd like try it, if someone wanted to send me one) and Iphone is the enemy (despite Google's former cuddliness), but you still have to compete with Tumblr right?  And if I can use Tumblr on the Iphone (yes, I know I'm capping that wrong, and I intend to continue doing so) then I should be able to use a similarly useful Blogger app that would allow me to Add Posts, Upload Photos and more from the road (instead of trying to use this webpage with mobile Safari).

Blogger - new photo uploader

is elegant, easy to use, handles multiple photos well and makes me think Google hasn't just forgotten and abandoned Blogger.  (though I still think they should buy tumblr so their servers will stop going down and Blogger can finally receive facebook and twitter integration.)

Google Reader - Missing New Folder button

The "New Folder" button in Google Reader is hard to find.  If you click the small down arrow next to a post it's there:

Sure, if you go to the bottom of the list, you could create a folder.

or if you go into manage subscriptions-> "add to folder" dropdown menu, it's there:

In subscriptions, you can create a folder, but it's buried in a dropdown.

but let's talk about where it's not.  It's not in Manage Subscriptions -> Folders and Tags, which is really confusing:

You can manage your folders, but you can't create one.

and it's not on the main Google Reader left hand task bar, where it really needs to be.  A small, "new folder" button, perhaps next to the "add a subscription" button:

This is the way it oughta be

So that was my complaint, but now I have to complain how Google failed to accept my feedback.  I started by joining the forums to comment on GoogleReader needing a new folder button, but it didn't seem like the right place.  I wasn't describing a bug, I was describing a new feature (or a missing feature), so I ended up in Google's Product Ideas, where I was sadly informed that my attempts to improve Google Reader were all for naught:

(which is just sad)