Google Plus – Android app and Invites

Posted by BA on Jul 1, 2011 in Android, Google | 25 comments

I’m sure you must have heard about Google+ by now, it’s yet another social network by Google. It feels that they are palnning to do it right this time, let’s see how good it will be in the days to come. All we can do is jump in, try using it and give our feedback. So first thing first, how to get into Google+.

How to get invited to Google+

If you do not have an invite yet, just leave your comment here and I’ll try to invite you to the network right away.

How to invite friends to Google+

Once you are in, its simple to invite friends. If you do not have any invites explicitly available, just create a stream (your new status) and add more people to share with, type in all the email address you want to invite here and as soon as you press the “Share” button, everyone listed will get an email invite.

How to get Google+ Android app

Simply go to http://m.google.com/plus from your Android browser. This should work for most of you. If your market says it’s not available, dont panic, you can get the APK file right from one of the links below. Download the apk file, load it up on your phone’s memory card and open it to install Google+. Do leave a comment if this works for you

http://tinyurl.com/5wqsg33

http://tinyurl.com/6jlpdys

http://tinyurl.com/6yvhu9j

Done with the Google account dilemma

Posted by BA on May 15, 2011 in Gmail, Google, Google Apps, Google Maps, Google Voice | 0 comments

I’m sure there are many of you out there who have gone through the Google Account dilemma when using a Google Apps account. Google Apps is a service that allows you to use many of Google’s main services with your own domain or with your company domain. I use it with basitali.com as well. My email @basitali.com essentially was a GMail like address that could sign for Google Talk, Google Maps and many other services.

Apparently, Google had not decided what to do with such Google Apps account with many of these services. So, when signing up for Picasa for example, you can use a)  A Gmail account, b) A Google account with google apps email address, c) Any other email address.

Now, I was having conflicting accounts as Google defines and finally the day has come. From 16th May, all your services that you are using with  your Google Apps email address which may be considered as a Google Apps account or considered as a non Google email address, both will be merged.

Google has planned to make the transition as smooth as possible, but there are still some rough areas. I’ll be blogging more about them as the things happen.

So far I have moved all my services to the Google Apps account email address and the services are no more available with a non Google Apps address now. Transition which did not work or was not allowed were:

* Now Google Voice automatic transition available yet

* No Gmail transition possibilities yet

I’ll keep updating this post as I get to see more problems or issues regarding this service. You can read more about this transition here: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=183605

Gmail Attachment Intelligence

Posted by BA on Dec 12, 2010 in Gmail, Google | 1 comment

Guess what, I wrote an email this morning and the body of the email said “I’ve attached something” in the body of the email and forgot to attach it. When I pressed the Send button, following message saved me from the trouble and I’m loving Google for one more reason now.

Google Maps 3D on Nexus S

Posted by BA on Dec 12, 2010 in Android, Android Apps, Google, Google Maps, Mobile Apps | 0 comments

Android users with Nexus S should watch this video for sure and those who are planning to get a new phone, Nexus S is recommended if not anything else, because of this 3d maps feature only.

Google 411 No More

Posted by BA on Nov 14, 2010 in Android, Google, Google Voice | 0 comments

Google 411 was a local service in US to search local businesses and places by just dialing 1800-Goog411. Google has recently pulled the plug on the service and it is not available for the users anymore. Quite interestingly it has been the tool not only to provide free POI, people and telephone number searching for general public, but it has also been a great way of training Google’s voice recognition engine.

I believe not many people are using this tool now as everyone is now moving on to the smarter phones like iPhone, Android, BlackBerries or Windows 7 phones. Google has also found better ways of training it’s voice engine to further perfection.

Google Voice transcribes users’ calls that end up in the voice mail and sends it as emails etc. Android phones are also doing lots of searching and other commands based voice commands and all these tools are helping Google’s engine to learn how it can take voice recognition to the next level.

As a result, Google Mobile has announced support for African languages like Zulu and Afrikaans. They will also support voice recognition for South African accented English language as well. Read more about it here.