From a form generator to a trend tracker to a cloud printer app, these free tools will expand your capabilities and save you time and effort.
Google is one of the most powerful cloud-based tools on the market. Whether you use it for personal tasks, school, business, or pleasure, plenty of apps are available. Some of these apps (such as Docs, Calendar, and Gmail) are all widely used and well known. There are, however, other Google apps you may not have run across -- apps that can go a long way toward making your life a bit easier. These apps may be less well known, but that doesn't mean they are less capable. Let me introduce you to five such apps that you can integrate into your free Google account.
Forms (Figure A) makes it easy to build surveys you can send to your contacts. These forms can help you plan events, organize your priorities, get answers to important questions from clients/relatives/friends, and much more. The form generator is simple to use. You can build your surveys using text, paragraph text, multiple choice options, check boxes, lists, scales (1 to 10), grid, date, and time answers. You can also theme your forms to make them more visually appealing.
Figure A
Once you've created a form, you can send it to Facebook, Google+, or Twitter or share a link via email. When people fill out the form, you can track their answers in a Google spreadsheet.
2: Trends
Trends (Figure B) is where you go when you want to know what searches are trending. This app is handy when you need to know what searches are hot (to work popular keywords into a page or piece of online marketing material). The tool allows you to open multiple areas so you can watch for as many popular search terms as you need. When you see a trend that interests you, click on the box to open the full-blown Google search results for that trend.
Figure B
From the main Trends page you can gauge global interest in a particular subject. Click on the Explore In-Depth link to gain even more insight into trends (and even add specific terms to track). You can also go to the Hot Trends page to see a recent history of trending searches.
3: Scholar
When you need to run a Google search against an index of scholarly literature, turn to Scholar (Figure C). It filters out everything but scholarly papers from your Google searches and runs across an array of formats and disciplines. If you're curious which scholarly databases Scholar indexes, take a look at this page for the list.
Figure C
Scholar lets you include articles (including patents) and case law in the results. When you run a search, you'll notice the results are a bit different from the standard Google return. First, there's a complete lack of advertisements. That alone should prove its worth. Second, the results tend to be heavy on books and PDFs (though websites do appear). If a result links to a website, almost without fail that site is a university or other research institution. Scholar also allows you to track citations, create a library (for use with citations), and view metrics of publications included in Scholar.
4: Cloud Print
Cloud Print (Figure D) is a tool worth setting up immediately -- especially if you're an Android user. It enables you to print to your printer from any device from anywhere, once you have a cloud-ready printer set up. (You can also set up a classic printer, so long as it is attached to a desktop and configured through Google Chrome.)
Figure D
Cloud-ready printers can be shared to other users so that they can easily print to them. Log into your Google account and go to the Manage Printers page, where you can check print jobs, add a cloud-ready printer, add a classic printer, delete printers, and more. If you're a mobile user who's constantly on the go, Cloud Print is a must-have.
5: Groups
Groups (Figure E) has been around for a long time, but with the massive popularity of Facebook, it's often forgotten. However, if you've grown tired of the sophomoric attitudes and sharing on Facebook and want to focus a collection of users into a more helpful resource, create a Google Group.
Figure E
With this app, you can create a discussion group on a specific topic and leave behind the memes, selfies, and political soapboxing. You can create a group as an email list, a web forum, a Q&A forum, or a collaborative inbox. Once you've created the group, you can even embed it (as an iframe) into an external web page. If you select group members carefully, Groups can become an incredibly powerful tool to use for brainstorming, discussion, and collaboration.
Summary: The year's first Technical Preview release of Windows 10 introduces some crucial new features, including the personal assistant, Cortana, as well as a new hub for notifications and some updated apps. Here's what to look for.
The Windows 10 update runs on Windows 7 or 8.1
Windows 10 is far from finished, and this preview is still intended just for advanced Windows users who are unfazed by the possibility of running into pre-release bugs. [I'll update this page with installation links when I have them.]
Zoom the Start menu to full screen
The basic layout of the Windows 10 Start menu is unchanged since the first round of preview releases. This update is cleaner, with much less clutter. And it offers the first peek at Continuum, one of the signature features aimed at easing the transition to touch on hybrid devices. The button in the upper right corner switches the Start menu to a full Start screen.
Setting up Cortana to be more useful
To date, Cortana has only been available on Windows phones, which means most Windows users aren't aware of what this digital assistant can do. Cortana offers a search interface that can be driven by speech or by the keyboard. You can also ask Cortana to set reminders and create appointments.
The introduction of an immersive, interactive, holographic interface from Microsoft could spell new opportunities for businesses and brands in the future.
Microsoft announced the Windows Holographic experience at its Windows 10 event on Wednesday, which is a new immersive, augmented platform. Microsoft wants to put a weather report on your kitchen counter and soccer game on your empty wall, and they want to do it with the HoloLens.
HoloLens is a headset that facilitates an augmented reality experience "where your real world is blended with your digital world," according to their video promo.
"Our industry is constantly evolving towards more personal computing and we want to take the next step by placing your digital content right into your world, right into your life, with more relevance than ever before," a Microsoft spokesperson told TechRepublic.
Microsoft's Alex Kipman said at the event that HoloLens is the first fully untethered holographic computer. The headset includes motion sensors, spatial sound, and transparent lenses. Microsoft built a holographic processing unit to power the headset.
The introductory video showed scenes both at home and in the office, highlighting collaboration, especially among people in separate locations. Gartner analyst Brian Blau said uses could range from creating designs and prototyping, to training and instruction, to situations where a user needs both hands for a task like machine operation.
"There are many more use cases as well, especially for communications where the user could substitute the HMD for flat screens to bring that communication into a more personal setting," he said.
Microsoft referenced the potential of app development. Blau said that taking the platform approach means more developers and end users, consumers, and businesses will have easier access to the technology.
"We are excited about all the possibilities and experiences that will come to this platform and device including applications that span productivity, communications and entertainment," said a Microsoft spokesperson.
What HoloLens could mean for brands at the moment is still to be determined. Forrester's vice president and principal analyst Thomas Husson thinks that while this technology will have an impact on entertainment first, "marketers in all industries should start anticipating new opportunities to deliver their brand experiences."
Looking big picture, he said, "I think Microsoft's HoloLens is a game-changer and will change the way we as individuals interact with machines and objects around us."
Microsoft also announced HoloStudio, which will allow users to create their own holograms.
Image: CNET
Husson thinks it will open up new ways for brands to interact with consumers because of what he called a "new natural computing interface," one that's neither fully augmented reality nor virtual reality.
"I don't think it should be compared to fully immersive Virtual reality like Oculus Rift. Instead of isolating you from the world around you, it will rather offer mixed digital and physical interactions," he said.
Husson also said that the fact that the holographic interface is embedded in Windows 10 could offer brands a platform that should quickly offer reach.
Looking at the broader field, Microsoft's entrance could accelerate the timeline for other similar products in development.
"I do feel that by Microsoft coming into the market that does create some pressure for others who have similar ambitions, but I'll also note that the HMD's are not new and there is a long history here of tech companies trying and failing," Blau said.
That said, he does think that this round of innovation on immersive devices is more mature. As Blau said, AR and VR aren't new, but this might finally be the point in time where the technology catches up to the hype.
Blau has a demo of HoloLens and said it's some of the best immersive hardware and software he's seen in years.
"The technology has advanced enough to allow for these products to reach market and on the app side, developers really just need to start creating immersive experiences," he said.
The prospect of an open Internet and
competition in broadband services may send a frisson of horror through the
telecom industry, but consumers and businesses that rely on the Internet can
cheer these developments.
Speaking in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Obama flayed
telecom giants that have lobbied states for a ban on public networks. "In
too many places across America, some big companies are doing everything they
can to keep out competitors," he said. As a result, 19 states have
"laws on the books thatstamp out competitionand make it really difficult for communities to provide their
own broadband."
Obama argued that municipal broadband "is
not a red or blue issue" -- noting that residents of Yuma County, Colo.,
voted in November to add a community broadband service "even while voting
85 percent in favor of a Republican state senator." And he lauded the
Iowa city for building a municipal network that provides speeds of up to 1Gbps.
"You're 100 times faster than the national average, and you can log on at
about the same price as a fully loaded cable bundle," Obama said.
The National Cable and Telecommunications
Association was swift to decry the unfairness of local governments competing
with private companies and trotted out the obligatory statement about its
members having spent more than $230 billion over the past 20 years to extend
and upgrade their broadband networks. Some would call that a cost of doing
business -- for which those companies have reaped ample rewards -- and not a
rationale for a monopoly. It also ignores the hundreds of billions of dollars
that government has given telecoms in return for promises to deliver open fiber
optic connections to schools and rural communities --promises they for the most part have not kept(although they
kept the money).
As
of January 5th, 2015, America is now 26th in the world in broadband download
speeds and 44th in upload speeds, and we've paid over and over and over again
for upgrades that were never done, including the wiring of schools. We
collectively paid about $400 billion to have the phone networks upgraded to
fiber optics, and the cablecos' collected over $50 billion extra since 2000
under something called the 'Social Contract,' which was supposed to wire the
schools. Meanwhile, Time Warner and Comcast's profit margins on high speed
Internet were 97 percent in 2013, and there have been continuous rate increases
for over 20+ years on cable service.
Ironically, FCC Commissioner Michael O'Reilly
opposes preempting state laws that ban municipal broadband. His reasoning:
"This debate is about preempting a state's right to prevent taxpayer
rip-offs."
"The state of Missouri is the latest
legislature to attempt to erect barriers to the deployment of broadband
networks that are critical to the future of its local economies and the
nation," said theCoalition for Local Internet Choice.
"It is ironic that while the International CES show in Las Vegas
spotlighted hundreds of new devices and applications that require big
bandwidth, legislation would be introduced in Missouri that would impair the
development of networks that enable that bandwidth."
Private ISPs seemingly must be defended from
municipal broadband even in places where they have no interest in providing
service. Last year Republican State Senator Julia Lynn unsuccessfully proposed
outlawing community broadband in Kansas. The bill was aimed at the town of
Chanute, which was interested inoffering gigabit services to residents.
City officials approached AT&T about installing a fiber optic network in
Chanute in 2009, butAT&T showed no interest, according to
Chanute Utilities Director Larry Gates. Sometimes, necessity is also the mother
of fiber Internet service.
"You can't survive today without fast
Internet," Deb Socia, executive director of Next Generation Cities, a
bipartisan coalition of 55 cities, toldComputerworld. "Our group talks about
broadband as a people issue and not a partisan issue," Socia said.
The FCC is reportedlyscheduled to vote on petitions to
invalidate state lawsin Tennessee and North Carolina on Feb. 26, the same day it is
also expected to vote on a proposal to reclassify broadband as a Title II
public utility.
It'll take at least five years, and at least $10 billion, for this global communications system to bring high-speed Internet connectivity to all.
Where does Elon Musk find the time? When the ambitious entrepreneur isn't busy dreaming up the future of electric vehicles, or the future of space travel, he seems to either enjoy spending his time playing Kerbal Space Program or pondering up new ways that he can effect massive change in an otherwise stagnant technological field.
In this case, Musk has said that he wants to create a brand-new global communications system that would be able to provide low-cost Internet service that's of a reasonable speed (and good connectivity) to the billions around the world who don't have it. Said service would allegedly be as fast as the fiber-optic connectivity that is ever-so-slowly being deployed around various U.S. cities at the moment.
"The speed of light is 40 percent faster in the vacuum of space than it is for fiber," said Musk, in an interview with Businessweek. "The long-term potential is to be the primary means of long-distance Internet traffic and to serve people in sparsely populated areas."
Musk's system—name yet to be announced—would use hundreds of satellites positioned roughly 750 miles or so above the Earth in a geosynchronous orbit. As Businessweek notes, that's a lot shorter of an altitude than the 22,000-mile heights that communications satellites are typically positioned away from the Earth. The shorter distance is where Musk is undoubtedly getting the speed advantage, as it would take a lot less time to data to travel to the satellites, bounce around the orbital network, and beam back down to its intended destination.
If this idea sounds more fanciful than realistic, Musk did note that his project will likely be headquartered in SpaceX's new Seattle office. Around 60 people, who will also be working on SpaceX's many rockets and cargo systems, will likely help kickstart the communications effort. Musk said he believes that the project could employ up to 1,000 people within a few years.
As for a timeline, Musk doesn't expect that such a service will be ready for at least the next five years, if that. And it'll probably cost around $10 billion or so for SpaceX to actually create. However, creating this giant communications system will help SpaceX address a secondary goal—at some point, getting a global communications network up-and-running for a Mars expedition.
That is, of course, assuming that this communication network can get off the ground. Virgin founder Richard Branson said that he doesn't believe SpaceX even has the spectrum to create such a network, let alone any space in the air where its hundred-plus satellites could live.
What's the best way to get teens to pay attention when they're behind the wheel? How about a little distracted driving demo with the help of the Oculus Rift?
That's the idea behind Toyota's TeenDrive365 simulator, which has teenagers strap on an Oculus Rift, get into a stationary vehicle, and navigate some virtual roads.
While driving, however, teenagers will have to juggle various distractions, like traffic noises, the radio, text messages, and virtual friends sitting in the passenger and back seats.
Those who lose focus will "experience the consequences of distracted driving within the virtual setting," according to Toyota. Ideally, the company wants teens to "come away a little wiser about what it takes to be safe behind the wheel."
"Oculus Rift provides a virtual reality driving experience that mirrors real life behind the wheel, giving us a powerful, one-of-a-kind way to show parents and teens how everyday distractions can affect their ability to drive safely," Marjorie Schussel, corporate marketing director for Toyota, said in a statement.
The simulator will be making appearances at auto shows around the country. Starting today, it will be available at the New England International Auto Show in Boston, and it will be at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit from Jan. 17-25. Look out for it at the Washington Auto Show and Philadelphia Auto Show later this month, too.
Toyota TeenDrive365 has been around since 2013, but this is the first time the car maker has integrated an Oculus Rift headset. It was developed by Brightline Interactive in partnership with 360i and with support from The PEERS Foundation.
Last year, a study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development revealed that drivers ages 15 to 20 represent more than 6 percent of all motorists on the road, but account for more than 11 percent of fatalities, and 14 percent of police-reported, injury-inducing crashes. The report compared the results of two studies that pit 100 drivers ages 18 to 72 with an average 20 years of on-road experience against 42 teens who had drivers' licenses for less than three weeks.
In related news, Verizon today announced Verizon Vehicle, a new service that will provide drivers with diagnostic technology, live assistance, and GPS-based roadside assistance.
Verizon Vehicle will be compatible with nearly every vehicle made and sold in the U.S. since 1996, the company said, and you don't have to be an existing Verizon customer. It will cost $14.99 per month, plus $12.99 per month for any additional vehicles. You can pre-order your kit now and Verizon expects to start shipping them around April 10.
CES is the proving ground for many new innovations in technology. Here are the Google and Android trends you need to know from CES 2015.
The journey to Las Vegas every year for CES is something of a pilgrimage for technophiles. It is among the show tunes and slot machines that you will see the latest and greatest in tech, and identify the trends for the year ahead.
Google, however, typically isn't much of a center stage player at CES. The search company tends to release new products and information through its own, proprietary events, such as the I/O developer conference, where it doesn't have to share the spotlight with other companies.
While Google didn't divulge any earth-shattering news, or unveil its next big product at CES 2015, the company had a presence there and several of its partners shared new developments. Here are the top three trends to watch in the Google and Android ecosystems from CES 2015.
1. It starts in the home
Google hasn't been shy about its interest in the Internet of Things space. Early last year, the company acquired smart thermostat maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion, catalyzing its headlong dive into the connected home. Much of what we saw at CES this year pointed to an even bigger play at this market.
Nest, which is still operated as a separate company, kicked off the CES festivities by announcing a host of new partnerships for home automation. The initiative is called "Works with Nest," and companies such as smart lock maker August, LG, Philips Hue, and UniKey joined Dropcam, Whirlpool, and Mercedes Benz as part of the collaboration effort.
Google's efforts in the home won't stop at automation, though.
When it comes to consumer electronics at CES, there were plenty of conversations around televisions, especially regarding 4K. Sony was one of the top exhibitors of 4K TVs, displaying its KDL-W850C series which has Android TV integration.
Google also recently released its Nexus Player and an updated version of the Chromecast, showing its eagerness to capitalize on the streaming video market. Another announcement it made at CES was the impending launch of Google Cast for audio. Soon, users will be able to stream audio from approved apps directly to compatible speakers. Additionally, there were third party products like the Razer Forge TV that use the Android OS to stream other media.
2. All about the automobile
Some of the biggest hype around Android at CES had to do with its Android Auto initiative, which is the Android OS powering specific vehicle infotainment displays. The initiative was announced earlier this year at the company's I/O conference for developers.
Audio company Pioneer was one of the first companies to roll out Apple's Carplay technology, and they showcased their aftermarket Android Auto integration at CES this year. Android Auto will be available on the second-generation NEX receivers by Pioneer in March 2015.
One of the fullest integrations came from Korean car manufacturer Hyundai. Called Blue Link, the Android Auto service built out by Hyundai is integrated with other tools such as car alarms and car starters. Hyundai took it one step further by building out an accompanying Android Wear app that allows users to remotely start or stop the engine, lock or unlock the doors, flash the lights, honk the horn, or geo locate the car.
3. Mobile reigns
Android, at its core, is still a mobile OS, and that was apparent at CES. Android news at the show centered around smartphones, specifically the LG Flex 2.
The Flex 2's keystone feature is its curved display. The phone's screen is 5.5 inches, setting it on the edge of the phablet category. The phones is powered by a Snapdragon 810 quad-core processor and will ship with Android 5.0.
Android Wear, Google's wearable initiative, has been a big undertaking for the company in 2014 and will continue to be a big part of its strategy in 2015. One of the most unique Android Wear smartwatches on display was the GoldKey Secure Communicator. The phone has its own secure storage and payments tools, setting it apart as a potential enterprise contender.
