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One week with Microsoft Cortana
"Never mind it. Never mind," I cursed, looking down on the poorly formed monstrosity that gazed back at me with a singular pulsing eye. No, not at me -- through me. This was not my trusty Google Assistant, with whom I shared a deep logistical and day-planning-based bond. This thing barely looked like the AI to which I was accustomed and -- even then -- only in passing. This alien program appears to have eaten my digital assistant and started wearing its skin -- and I'm about to spend the next week having it organize my life.
UK government department swaps Microsoft for Google
For the longest time, the UK government built its systems around Microsoft software. That's still largely the case, but things have slowly changed as departments get to grips with the cloud, and companies like Google have planted their flag. The Register reports that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has decided it's time to make a clean break and has embraced the search giant's cloud services, becoming the first major UK government department to shift away from Microsoft.
Daily Roundup: Valve and Steam, Google Apps privacy bug and more!
Why is Valve getting involved in virtual reality, making Steam Machines or releasing the Source game engine for free? It's all for Steam! Meanwhile, a Google Apps domain registration bug exposed personal details for nearly 300,000 users and we tried to love Monster Hunter and failed. Get the details on these stories and more past the break.
Show all Google Calendars on iOS and Mac
If you have been trying to get your Google Calendar to sync to your iOS device(s) or your Mac, but can't get all of your Google calendars to show up, I may have the answer: Unless you have a paid Google Apps account, use https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect to select which calendars you want to sync via CalDAV. Within your calendar app (on the Mac or on iOS) you can always choose which calendar(s) to show, but when dealing with Google calendar, your other calendars will only appear if they have been enabled. (If you use Gmail over IMAP you may have gone through the process of choosing which labels appear as IMAP folders. The process of enabling CalDAV support for your calendars is something like that.) The biggest enemy that you will have in getting this to work is previous experience with syncing Google and iOS devices, especially because Google has been fairly sloppy with its instructions, all of which led me on a not-very-fun technological wild goose chase tonight. For more on those details, and what to watch out for, keep reading. (Spoiler alert: I've already given away the ending.) Even Google can't keep the instructions straight For as long as I can remember, Google Calendar on iPad or iPhone/iPod touch devices has had this annoying "quirk" - if you have more than one calendar, you have to go to a web page on Google's site and "enable" each calendars you want to use on each iOS device. "Sync Google Calendar with your iOS device" appears to be Google's most up-to-date instructions for setting this up, although it's hard to tell because there's no "as of" or "last updated" date anywhere on the page. At the top of the page are the basic steps on iOS for creating a new account in iOS 7, but the crucial piece of information comes at the very bottom of the page: "By default, only your primary calendar will be synced with your device. If you have additional calendars you'd like to sync, follow the instructions below." The next section is titled "Sync Multiple Calendars" and is hidden, for some reason, behind a collapsed JavaScript... "thing" that you have to click on to reveal the following: (begin quote) Visit the following page from your device's mobile browser: https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect Google Apps users can go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/ Select the calendars you'd like to sync, then click Save. The selected calendars will be displayed on your device at the time of the next sync. (end quote) The seemingly superfluous JavaScript and peculiar formatting are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems. Problem #1: Although the first line says, "Visit the following page from your device's mobile browser: https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect", you don't need to visit it in your device's mobile browser. In fact, when you go to that page, at the very top it says: "Select calendars to sync to your iPhone/iPad/iCal*" and at the bottom of the page "* or any other CalDAV device." So it doesn't matter which browser you use. The good news is that Google no longer has you set different calendars for different devices, which you might remember if you have used Google Calendar with iOS devices in the past. Problem #2: The second line is more problematic: "Google Apps users can go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/". First of all, it's not an actual link, in fact, it's actually wrapped in <code> and </code> for some reason. Let's call that "2a". 2b) But let's ignore the URL itself, because my bigger gripe is with the word "can" as in "Google Apps users can go to..." What does it mean they "can" go there? Does it mean that it's optional? They can use that URL or they can use the previous one? (HINT: NO! IT DOESN'T!) 2c) Although it sounds like that URL might be an optional one for Google Apps users, those URLs lead to two very different pages with two very different results. 2d) Remember back in "Problem #1" when Google claimed that you had to visit https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect from your device's mobile browser, but you didn't? Well, turns out that you do have to use your mobile device's browser to see the settings at https://m.google.com/sync/settings/, otherwise it will tell you to go to http://m.google.com/sync which, in turn, leads you to http://www.google.com/sync/index.html. If you do go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/ with a mobile browser, it will take you to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/iconfig/welcome which will show you a "Google Sync" page with the header "Manage devices" and a list of iPad and iPhones, showing the date the last sync for each device. There's no information about these devices, no actual device names, and there's no way to remove devices from the list. At the bottom of the page it says: "Bookmark this page so you can easily change your settings" followed by "Trying to manage Google Apps account? Configure your domain at m.google.com". If you have been using Google Calendar with iOS devices for a long time, as I have, you're probably very familiar with that page, and may have even followed Google's advice to bookmark it for future reference. I did. But if you actually do go to http://m.google.com, even on your mobile device's browser, it will actually take you to http://www.google.com/mobile/ios/, which, coincidentally, does not give you any way whatsoever to manage your Google Apps account. Dizzy yet? Confused? Welcome to partial backwards compatibility. Google has no one to blame for this mess except themselves. Most of this mess is a result of Google deciding to kill off Google Sync. Except not really kill it off. Quoting from Google Sync End of Life: "Google Sync was designed to allow access to Gmail, Google Calendar, and Contacts via the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® protocol. With the recent launch of CardDAV, Google now offers similar access via IMAP, CalDAV, and CardDAV, making it possible to build a seamless sync experience using open protocols." Or, to paraphrase: "Look, we had to pay Microsoft to license Exchange ActiveSync, and we were doing it mostly for customers who weren't paying us anything. Well, turns out that paying for something that other people aren't paying you for, is, like, a total bummer, according to our accountants. So we did that for long enough to make sure that people were used to using our stuff, but now there's another way to do this that doesn't cost anything, and so we're going to use that instead, because open! And, also, you know, because paying Microsoft is a downer. But, don't worry, the new version is just as good as what we've always had. Oh, except for push. Yeah, that doesn't work with the free option. But it's totally free! And we don't have to pay Microsoft anymore. Did we mention that part?" Google tried to make this transition as seamless as possible: devices which were already setup to use ActiveSync could continue to use it, but no new devices would be able to use it. (At one point it was suggested that if you restored a new device from an old device you would be able to use it on the new device, but I have not tried that.) Also, people who pay for a Google Apps account could continue to use it. However, free Google Apps users (such as some educational users, non-profits, or personal domains which were grandfathered in before Google shuttered that program) could not, despite being "Google Apps" users. What we are left with is a confusing mix of outdated information (if you just search the web for information about setting up Google calendar on your iOS device), incorrect information (including some from Google itself), or just downright confusing information. This became a lot less theoretical for me when I tried to share my Google calendar with my wife. She could see it on her iPad, but not on her iPhone. When I went to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/iconfig/welcome while logged into her account, it showed an iPad has in sync as of today, but the most recent entry for her iPhone was over a year ago. I spent quite a long time time trying to figure out why the iPhone wouldn't sync properly, and, in fact, wouldn't even show the correct calendars. I was frustrated by the fact that https://m.google.com/sync/settings/iconfig/welcome does not show any device information besides the generic name (iPad or iPhone) and there is no way to delete a device from that list. I could add events to other calendars, even Google calendars, but my calendar stubbornly refused to even appear in the list. I even pulled up the mobile version of Google calendar in Mobile Safari on her iPhone and added an event through it, thinking that might somehow communicate to Google.com that this device was syncing. I could see my calendar in her account through Mobile Safari, but it would still not show up in her list of calendars. I even deleted the account from her iPhone, quit the calendar app, added the account back in, and tried again. Still no sync. Having reached the limit of my ideas, I went to see who else had dealt with this problem, and limiting my search results to only show me relatively recent search results, I came across a forum post which explained: "when you switch from using 'Exchange' sync on the iPhone to configuring a 'Gmail' account (which uses CalDAV), there are ramifications that Google doesn't do a great job of explaining." It then went on to suggest using https://www.google.com/calendar/syncselect or https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect or https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/YOUR.DOMAIN.HERE/iphoneselect instead. (In my experience, all three of those seem to lead to the same page.) That's when it (finally!) occurred to me that although I am using a "Google Apps" account, I am not using a paid Google Apps account, as I have one of the 'grandfathered' accounts. Remember way back up to "Problem #2b" above, where the page said: "Google Apps users can go to https://m.google.com/sync/settings/"? Yup, that's what threw me off, because that's (apparently) only true for paid Google Apps users who are still using the ActiveSync method of syncing their calendars. Paying for Google Apps gets you an extra email and calendar feature, but paying for a Gmail account does not. One last area of confusion I have seen is over "paid Gmail accounts." First of all, technically there aren't "paid Gmail accounts." You can pay for extra storage for your Google account which will be shared across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google+. These plans have changed drastically from back when you could get 20 GB for $5/year. But when it comes to "Google accounts" those are different from "Google Apps" accounts, and (as far as I can see) there is no way to pay for ActiveSync with a regular Gmail account, even if you pay for extra storage.
Google's lawyers: If you use Gmail you have no expectation of privacy
While we know none of our readers would ever use email for nefarious purposes, the privacy of one's personal information is a hot topic thanks to the recent revelations about the NSA's domestic spying program. Well, there's bad news for privacy-minded Gmail fans: Google's official legal stance is that you have no expectation of privacy when using their service. The news was highlighted in a new press release from John M. Simpson of Consumer Watchdog drawing attention to a recent brief from Google's lawyers. You can read the brief for yourself here on Consumer Watchdog's site. Google's lawyers filed the brief in an effort to dismiss a class-action complaint accusing the company of violating federal and state wiretap laws this past July. In the filing Google's official lawyers clearly state: Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient's assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient's [email provider] in the course of delivery. Indeed, 'a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties. (Motion to dismiss, Page 19) For Simpson this legal argument doesn't hold water: Google's brief uses a wrong-headed analogy; sending an email is like giving a letter to the Post Office. I expect the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope. I don't expect the mail carrier to open my letter and read it. Similarly when I send an email, I expect it to be delivered to the intended recipient with a Gmail account based on the email address; why would I expect its content will be intercepted by Google and read? While Google's lack of respect for personal privacy won't come as a surprise to privacy advocates, it may surprise some of the company's normal everyday users. Given the popularity of Google Apps, including Gmail, Google Drive and Google Catalog (at least before it was executed) this is an issue that heavily affects iOS users. So keep using your Gmail account for sending Apple Brown Betty recipes, but if you've got a secret to keep just know you can't count on trusting Google to keep your privacy intact.
Gmail push notification no longer works with Mail on new iOS devices
Google's Gmail has provided push notification to iOS users through Mail.app for years, but an announced change has taken effect that will leave users with new devices without push notification in the iPhone's native mail app. Google announced in December that the Microsoft Exchange support offered with Google Sync would be removed, and the company ended that support on January 30, 2013. For those who are using the Gmail push notification feature on existing hardware, there's no cause for concern as Google has grandfathered in your accounts. However, when you get a new iOS device through an upgrade or replacement, you'll find that you can no longer receive instant push notifications for Gmail accounts. According to a post on Apple Insider, these changes went unnoticed by most people, with a number of new threads popping up on the Apple Support Communities regarding push notification issues and even Apple Genius representatives expressing bewilderment with the issue. Gmail users using the iOS Mail app now need to set new devices to fetch their mail on a timed basis (screenshot at right), grab new mail by manually launching the app and refreshing, or begin using another app to continue receiving push notifications. Google's free Gmail app provides push notifications of new emails, as does the highly prized Mailbox app. For those who want to continue using Mail.app, third-party notification service Boxcar can send push notifications separately. Google also provides Exchange support with push notification to Google Apps customers, starting at a monthly cost of US$5 per user.
Google Apps discontinues basic package, asks new customers to pony up $50 per user for premium
Looking towards Mountain View to provide a suite of digital tools for your new business? Make sure to pen per-user costs into your ledger -- Google Apps isn't free anymore. According to Google's enterprise blog, the basic Google Apps package is being abandoned to streamline the service, offering businesses a single, $50 per user option that promises 24/7 phone support, 25GB inboxes and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Pre-existing free customers can still hum along unmolested, of course, and the standard pricing doesn't apply to schools or universities, either. Personal Google accounts are still free too, doling out gratis Gmail and Drive access to anyone with a unique user name. The team hopes that streamlining the Apps will allow it to provide better service, possibly offering enterprise users new features on a faster timetable.
Google offers Enterprise Partner Search to help businesses find local tech support
Business-types! Fancy moving your enterprise onto Google's web-apps, but want some local tech support? Well, Mountain View won't be offering you any official hand-holding, its Enterprise Partner Search will point you in the direction of someone who can. The new service will find your location and offer up the listings of your nearest qualified reseller, leaving your employees more time to make papier-mâché statues of you to line the office.
Google Apps to shed support for Internet Explorer 8, your Windows XP machine won't cut it
Google has been aggressive about keeping Google Apps owners on the same (web) page. The company's cloud platform typically won't acknowledge any browser more than one version out of date, and it's about to put that rapid upgrade strategy to the test by dropping support for Internet Explorer 8. On November 15th, shortly after IE10 arrives in sync with Windows 8, Google will leave IE8 web app users to fend for themselves -- and, by extension, Windows XP users without an alternative browser. While the cutoff doesn't amount to a full-fledged block, Google Apps users still stuck in 2009 will be reminded that they're on their own until they upgrade. Is it the end of the world for web apps on older PCs? No, but it's clear that their days are numbered.
Google offering Google+ for businesses, free until the end of 2013
Google is bringing the enterprise-friendly elements of its Apps platform into Google+ in order to help businesses collaborate on projects online. The company's been using the service internally, but feels it's time to launch, in Google tradition, a "full preview" with a free and open beta that'll run until the end of 2013. The feature set includes private sharing, admin tools and, most impressively, hangouts directly integrated into Calendar, Gmail and Docs -- letting you video chat with multiple colleagues while you draft that project proposal, or resignation letter. Apps chief Clay Bavor hasn't mentioned how much the service will cost when the preview period finishes, but we'd be surprised if it was much more than what it currently charges if it's trying to snare the Yammer and Salesforce crowds.
Google Takeout introduces transfer tool for Google+ circles, merges your work and personal life
Those who extol the virtues of keeping one's personal and professional life separate probably never had to juggle two Google+ accounts. Folks saddled with a Google+ profile for both their personal Gmail account and their organization's Google Apps account can now migrate circles, blocks and other information from one account to another using Google Takeout. The new tool won't eliminate your double digital life completely, however -- content such as posts, profile information and comments don't migrate. The process takes time, too, kicking off with a seven day waiting period before restricting the user's Google+ access for 48 hours while Takeout boxes up the data. Still, this should make managing Circles across multiple accounts a little simpler. Check out the official Google help page at the source link below.
Google acquires Quickoffice, expands cloud-based app suite for enterprise
What's a search giant with nigh endless cash reserves to do? Acquire, acquire, acquire -- that's what. In keeping with its recent track record, Google's taken yet another company under its ever expansive wing with the purchase of Quickoffice. The move, no doubt positioned to further the company's reach in enterprise cloud services, should enhance its existing portfolio of GApps and, by logical extension, Docs. It's safe to say that the company just bought itself an existing suit-and-tie user base and a mobile future filled with even more native productivity applications. Check out the source below for Mountain View's official release.
Gmail Meter brings detailed analytics to your inbox
Just in case a constantly increasing unread messages counter isn't providing enough details about the flow of messages to your inbox, the Official Gmail Blog has pointed out the Gmail Meter tool for detailed monthly activity breakdowns. A Google Apps script developed by Romain Vialard, it can show you stats on volume, daily traffic, traffic pattern, email categories, time before first response, word count and thread lengths; providing an even deeper dive than Google's own Account Activity dashboard. Setting this up on one's account requires setting up a Google docs spreadsheet and then installing the script on it and requesting a report, there's a YouTube video embedded after the break and a tutorial linked below to help you along. On the plus side, now when someone asks "why haven't you responded to my email yet?", you can show them they're still well within the average time before first response window.
Google aids accessibility with ChromeVox reader, better YouTube captions and more
Engineers from Google have commandeered a booth at this year's CSUN accessibility conference and they're keen to talk up their latest efforts. For the visually impaired, there's now a beta version of a Chrome screen reader called ChromeVox (demo'd after the break), plus improved shortcuts and screen reader support in Google Docs, Sites and Calendar. Meanwhile, YouTube boasts expanded caption support for the hard of hearing, with automatic captions enabled for 135 million video clips -- a healthy tripling of last year's total. Check the source link for full details or, if you're anywhere near San Diego, go and hassle those engineers the old-fashioned way.
Google adding Public Alerts to Maps, keeps you in the loop in times of worry
You can't deny that Google often hands out marvelous tools for the masses to utilize (yes, some can be a miss), and today the King of Search is launching a fresh virtual apparatus as part of its Crisis Response project. Dubbed "Public Alerts," the feature is accessible from within Google Maps, keeping you in the loop during times of high alert. Your search query will trigger things like weather relevant to your area, public safety and earthquake alerts -- all of which are provided by the NOAA, the National Weather Service and the US Geological Survey. The Crisis Response squad says its goal is "to surface emergency information through the online tools you use everyday," which is a great idea, but we honestly hope that you don't have to use it very often. Those of you stateside can start using Public Alerts now -- as for the rest, let's hope that the search giant brings its alerts to a map near you sooner rather than later...
Amazon releases Kindle Fire source code, devs figure out how to install Android Market
The Kindle Fire's nascent hacking community is heating up, now that Amazon has released the source code for its new Android tablet. Homebrewers, of course, will first have to root the device before tweaking with the Fire's Gingerbread-based build, but fortunately for them, there's already a guide for that. Once that's taken care of, you can also load the Android Market and a slate of other Google apps, using a handy how-to guide published on xda Forums. It certainly doesn't seem like the simplest of processes, but several xda users have posted successful reports. Check out the links below for the full guide, along with the source code download.
Google+ learns about trending topics, photo filters and how to appease Google Apps users
Still having a blast adding people into circles? Well hold on tight, because Mountain View just introduced some worthy upgrades to its social network. First up is a new feature dubbed "What's Hot" which, much like trending topics on Twitter, highlights popular content being shared on the social network. Photography aficionados in the audience can gussy up snaps with more photo editing features dubbed "Creative Kit", including a multitude of filters -- some of which (for a limited time) pertain to Halloween. And finally, those of you who use Google Apps within an organization can now partake in all the Google+ fun -- provided your IT admin isn't a social networking-hating luddite. Links explaining all that and more await you below, but before you go, why not hop past the break for some vampiric renditions of Larry and Sergey, and a few other celebs. [Thanks, Rich]
Google Maps update adds top-rated reviews, photos to Places
Updates can be somewhat of an addiction to the Android faithful -- just peep those XDA forums. And even though this particular Google upgrade isn't exactly the Ice Cream Sandwich of our Autumn dreams, it's still a noteworthy bump to the oft-used Maps app. Bundled up in version 5.10.0 are two minor, but useful tweaks that'll display your four and five star rated Places, as well as letting you tack a photo onto your review. We managed to download the update directly to our phone, but last we checked, the web-based marketplace still hadn't refreshed with the latest offering. Make sure to hit the source link below to keep your Gapps up to snuff.
Offline Google Mail hands-on
One of the things that made Google apps the web-based productivity suite to beat was the ability to access your information offline using Gears. When that experiment was killed, many of us let loose a single tear as we contemplated returning to our desktop apps. Well, as promised, HTML5 is finally returning Gmail to its former offline glory. Docs and Calendar will follow in the coming days, but anyone can get access to their Gmail accounts offline now by installing the Offline Google Mail app for Chrome. Before we had even finished spreading the wonderful news we already had it installed and fired up. So, how's it work? Well, you'll just have to keep reading after the break to find out. %Gallery-132197%
Google code reveals inner Circles, a social secret weapon?
Nothing livens the day like a blurry screen grab of some Javascript, especially when it hints at the ghostly form of a social networking tool that doesn't officially exist. The code was spotted hiding in plain sight at Google Profiles by Austrian blogger Florian Rohrweck, who fortunately enjoys browsing computer-speak more than playing in the park. Rohrweck noticed the word "circles" used repeatedly in the context of people adding and maintaining groups of contacts, and made the connection to the Google Circles social networking platform that was feverishly rumored and then vehemently denied earlier this year (a saga fully recapped at the More Coverage link). It's impossible to know whether these few lines of code represent a forthcoming service, another social layer on top of existing services, or just pure experimentation on the part of Google devs. In any case, the circular references have apparently now been zapped, leaving us with nothing more than that screen grab -- oh yeah, and Facebook.
