Alex around the World

Over the last months, I’ve discovered and started to use new tools available from Google. As for many Google users, it all started with the basic search engine, available through local domain names (I use google.ch). Some of the free Google tools Google that I currently use are:

• Picasa
• Gmail
• Google Calendar (related post)
• Blogger (I now switched to WordPress)
• Google Earth
• Google Talk
• Analytics (related post)
• Google Groups
• etc.

For a complete list, see: Google Help.

I’ve become a sort of Google-addict, in the way that I’m really happy with the tools they provide and use them almost everyday. But isn’t this going to put me into trouble? I mean, it’s an addiction, and addictions are dangerous, right?

Seriously, I guess while some people are happily using all these tools Google is providing, some others think: “watch out, Google is slowly but surely storing all your private information on their servers.” I’m not a techie, just a lambda user, so I don’t really know how much information Google has about me. I don’t know if it’s interesting to them either, but the questions people are starting to ask around keep me thinking about it.

And then, a few days ago, I went to a book shop and I found this book: “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture“, by John Battelle. I’ve started to read, because I’m really curious about this Google-mania. Let’s see if I can find some answers to my many questions.

I’ve recently discovered Google Calendar, another free online tool from Google (Google Search, Picasa, Google Earth, Gmail, Google Analytics, etc.). I started to use it as a personal calendar but soon realised that my colleagues and I could share information about meetings, appointments and leaves using this the “Share this calendar” functionality.I was also thinking about including information we need to share about ongoing projects (project-related meetings, task deadlines, milestones, etc.).It seems that lots of people are starting to use Google Calendar for work-related tasks (project management, admin stuff shared among colleagues, etc.).Read more:

• Matt Cutts’ review of Google Calendar,
• Lisa Reichelt’s post,
• StopDesign’s tips for Google Calendar.

I just finished installing Automattic’s WordPress Widgets plugin on my blog. What a nice tool! Everything seems much easier now when it comes to moving things around in my theme’s sidebar.As you can read on their plugin page:

You must have a theme that supports sidebar widgets. To help you with that, we’ve included updated files for the WordPress 2.0 Default Theme (Kubrick) and the Classic theme. There are many themes that rely on Classic’s script files, so it’s probably a good idea to install the new Classic files unless you have modified the theme yourself.

As I use the Emire theme (thanks Phu) and I don’t know if this theme is Kubrik-based, I had to make a few changes in the code, mainly about the layout and the CSS. I’m not a php expert, but I don’t think you need to be such an expert in order to fine-tune your theme and adapt it to the plugin.And the results are great: make simple, easy, and powerful changes to your sidebar in only a few clicks.Thank you, Automattic!Read more:

• Del.icio.us search on WordPress Widgets;
• WordPress.org announcement;
• Lorelle on WordPress blog;

I just received Scott Berkun’s “the Art of Project Management” that I ordered from Amazon. I’m still reading the preface but it seems to be a very useful and interesting publication. Read the rest of this entry »