Category: ideas

30 Day Challenges

I got this idea from Matt Cutts of Google. Committing to something different for 30 days each month (or every other month or whatever). I was thinking about doing this for quite a while.

During Lent this year, I gave up junk food, which I narrowed down to the 4 c’s (cake, candy, chips, cookies). That was sort of a 30 day challenge of itself (40+ days actually). I only messed up once completely accidentally and mindlessly during Church coffee hour. I picked up a brownie and took a bite, then realized it and threw the rest away. Besides being the annoying one who turns down cake at birthday parties, it was relatively easy for me. I don’t eat much of it to begin with.

The 30 day challenge doesn’t need to be a sacrifice however. Rather motivation to try new things.

So the new month begins and so does my first 30 day challenge. This is something I put off for over a year and a half. It is stream-of-consciousness writing. The one recommendation I’m going to ignore is to do it in writing. Rather, I’m going to type them keep them in a Google Docs folder. I’m going to isolate myself from distractions first and commit a half hour to each.

Lets see how this goes…

Another Google Feature Request for Calendar

A lot of others are asking for the same thing:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Calendar/thread?tid=6950872dc50541b6&hl=en

Please let users choose a calendar for the Google Calendar / Outlook sync function. Right now it just syncs with the main calendar.

Listen Google, 99.9972% of businesses use Outlook. Deal with it. People want to sync their work with their personal calendar using Google Calendar, but maintain them separately. So howsaboutit?

Idea for Chrome (or other browsers)

Browsers should have a setting to allow multiple profiles.

For example:
I have a Google profile for personal (bookmarks, gmail, calendar, reader, etc) .

But I also have a Google profile for work (adwords, analytics, etc) .

Since I use both throughout the day, I have to use Chrome for personal and general browsing and Firefox or IE for work. Otherwise I’d have to log in and out all day depending on what service I need (work or personal).

I wish Chrome (or the other browsers) would offer a way to maintain different profiles (e.g. work / personal / testing ,etc) where cookie settings and storage, bookmarks, etc. would be unique for each.

So you can use one browser without having to log in and out all day.

Bookmark Site I’d Like to See

I use both delicious and Google Bookmarks. Both are ok, but both also have their limitations. Not so much for capturing and saving bookmarks, but for giving you access to them. It hit me when I saw All My Faves that delicious or Google Bookmarks (or any other for that matter) should let you customize a page and lay out your bookmarks the way you want. Perhaps even giving your “public” or “shared” bookmarks a public url.

My Google Wishlist

I love Google and use almost all of their apps, but some things just bug me. Especially seemingly simple things and how all of their services are tied together (or not tied together). I’d like not to have to use other apps or services to manage or hack (e.g. gmarks or Remember the Milk). I use the Toolbar, Gmail, Reader, Notes, Docs & Spreadsheets, Blogger, Calendar, Webmaster Tools, Analytics, AdWords, AdSense, Chrome, and try out most if not all of everything else they offer.

Reader
– Add “Blog This” to Google Reader for a one click posting to my blog.
– Have shared items show up in “your shared stuff” page.

Bookmarks
– Let me edit urls.
– Allow for a public html page (sort of like delicious) so I don’t have to log into Google to access my bookmarks. Preferably set some to private and others public.
– Allow subfolders or sub tags for better organization.

Picasa
– Allow for more than one account to access and update so my wife and I can maintain one photo gallery. This applies to both the desktop software and the online pages.

Gmail
– I know this kind of goes against one the things Gmail is all about, but have a “traditional” view so e-mails aren’t grouped by conversation. It’s a pain in the neck and hard to follow when a conversation is forwarded and there are several threads with the same subject.

Calendar
– Give me a simple to do list feature. Nothing fancy.

Shared Stuff
– Let me share calendar items, bookmarks, Picasa items, blog entries, reader items.

Blogger
– Use the same profile info as my main Google account profile. Instead of updating separate profiles.
– I HATE the blogs I follow feature. C’mon. Let me manage this through Google Reader instead of having to import and maintain 2 lists.

Chrome
– For the love of God, integrate the Google Toolbar!