With all of the information, files and, well… stuff we have stored online, it can be a bit complicated to sift through it all when you need to go back and find something. Greplin makes that sort of search a whole lot easier. It indexes several of your online accounts, not the least of which are Facebook, Dropbox, and Gmail, and works like your own personal Google.
Greplin has been around since the latter part of 2010, and entered public beta in February of this year. Since then, they have been adding more and more services, and have even developed a Chrome extension that plugs them right into your Gmail — for a search experience that is arguably better than Google’s built in functionality.
Greplin is free to use for the most part, indexing up to 10GB worth of data from services like Twitter, Gmail, and other personal Google services like Gcal, Docs and Contacts, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Dropbox. If you want to index accounts like Evernote, Google Apps, and business-related services like Basecamp and Salesforce, however, you will need a premium subscription — which is only $4.99 per month ($49.99/year). There are also a few services that are unlockable via recommendations to friends, such as Tumblr, Google Reader, and Del.icio.us.
If you have a need to search through your online files and life in general, it doesn’t get better than Greplin. The interface is fantastic, the instant search feature saves time, and it actually performs better and faster than Google even in the search giant’s own services. The Chrome extension is a nice touch, as well, as it also plugs into the Omnibar, allowing you to search your data by simply typing the letter g, followed by a space and your search term.
Chrome’s Web Store houses all manner of apps — but they don’t have to be complex to be effective. Timer Tab is really nothing more than a simple countdown timer, alarm, and stopwatch built into a web page (accessible in any browser, including mobile Safari) — but the integration it enjoys with Google Chrome makes it incredibly useful. Time is a commodity that we’re all a little short on, and Timer Tab helps you manage it simply and easily.
The interface of Timer Tab is a minimalist’s dream. It’s uncluttered, functional, and oddly pretty as it basks in its own emptiness. The functionality speaks for itself: enter a time to count down, or an alarm time, and press the start button. The stopwatch doesn’t require any entry at all, just a press of the button, followed by a click on the pause/resume button as needed. Even the options are simple — there are only three, and you get to them by rolling the mouse over the the “more” link on the bottom of the page.
Timer Tab’s Chrome integrations allow for two important functions: desktop notifications and the flashing of the mini-version of the time that hangs out in the title area of the browser tab. This is a fantastic way to make sure your attention is brought to the alarm you set, and is especially helpful if you are trying to keep track of how much time you spend doing something on your computer, or to remind yourself to take a break. Notifications can be enabled or disabled with a single click in the options area, and if you want to, you can add a link to an image or a YouTube video as your alarm.
Theoretically, you should be able to add a YouTube video at a particular time index by adding something like &t=2m18s to the end of the link. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get that to work properly. If you have better luck, let me know!
Timer Tab is a simple, effective, and completely free/good looking way to keep track of time sensitivities when you are in the browser or just on the computer — which is often for so many of us these days. I recommend using it with any browser, but install it in Chrome to get the most out of it.
I hated this app. Not because it wasn’t fun, and not because there was something wrong with it — no, no, none of that. It was because it called to me in the middle of the night, squawking at me softly, compellingly; demanding that I play it over and over again until the wee hours before the dawn. Even now, as I write this, the little red bird that promotes the game’s evil is peeking at me with his sinister cartoony eyes, poking his head around the left-most edge of my Evernote window.
I couldn’t allow it. Angry Birds for Chrome messed with my productivity mojo — and this is why the Birds had to die.
I had been avoiding the game for months. I’ve got an iPhone — and an iPad too. I follow these things. I pay attention. I know exactly how addictive Angry Birds has been for people, so I avoided it like the productivity plague that it was (and is!). But all of that ended on one fateful day when I was trolling the Chrome Web Store for new and exciting apps.
It was late, you see, and I was tired. I had been working my butt off on some freelance projects — a website redesign plan, a proposal for social media marketing, some blog posts for a new productivity blog I’m working on (ironic, I know) — and I needed to blow off some steam. That’s how they get you, see? There’s that moment of weakness, and you see their ad — and suddenly you’re installing, clicking, and watching those poor little birds get their eggs stolen by those bastard green (but cute!) pig heads. Don’t question the logic of it — it’s freaking mesmerizing!
So I tried the first level. It was easy. Too easy, like all gateway drugs are. Just a little taste, you know? A taste for free.
Free? Ha! I spent the next few hours of my life firing bird after crazy, utterly enraged bird into green-pig-head strongholds. Dozens and dozens died for the cause — it was a bleeding massacre! But I took those little piggies down, man. I got ’em one after the other, after the other. I giggled maniacally as I toppled their houses around their green little piggy ears. I shook my fist and roared after them as they ran away again and again with the eggs of my allies — and I followed them determinedly into battle after glorious battle. Who cared that I had to get up in an hour? I was rocking this game! Physics was my bitch! I — damn, was that my wife’s alarm clock? WTF time was it anyway??
So you see… It wasn’t my fault! I had to do it. I had to go back to my Google Chrome start page. I had to open the Apps section — and I had to kill that app with a single brutal blow to the head. No mercy. Damned thing was f*#^ing up my schedule.
Have you killed any angry birds lately? Tell us your story in the comments.
One of the things that has been a major point of contention in the ongoing Springpad vs Evernote debate (which still rages, despite the different market segments the apps target) has been the lack of a desktop app for Springpad. This was closely followed by the inability to backup and download your Springpad data, which was a strong deterrent for some of our own readers. Well, Springpad has pushed their product forward yet again, and have addressed these issues — and while offline access to the service doesn’t quite stack up to the power of a desktop version, it’s a huge step forward for the web app, and only the beginning of things to come.
Offline Access
The Springpad mobile apps have had offline access for some time now, leaving their web counterpart to catch up. To do this, Springpad has used it’s integration into the Google Chrome browser to its — or, rather, our — advantage. Other browsers will be added soon enough, but for now, all that HTML5 offline goodness is locked into the native Chrome app. If you already have it installed, you will probably have to uninstall it and then grab it from the Chrome Web Store again. Then you need to pop into settings, then services, and click the button to enable offline access and start the sync. If you want to make sure everything you sync remains up to date, then leave the app open while you do other things. I suggest right-clicking on the app and then selecting “open as pinned tab” or as a new window so you can “set it and forget it.”
While the offline access is a fantastic development, there are still a few things that are lacking. Of course, you won’t have access to elements that are internet-dependent, like alerts and links to other sites, but you also won’t be able to use the Board, or the advanced sorting and filtering options. Also, you can only search by title (which is a little annoying), you have no access to the trash, and you can’t add new photos or files for later upload (among other limitations — full list here). Some of these things will be addressed in future updates, and I’m definitely not complaining — I’m happy about the offline access, and fully expect it to improve in leaps and bounds over the next while. I still have that hankering for a desktop app, though. I have no real reason for it, and I fully understand that Springpad’s dedication to the cloud and HTML5 puts them ahead of the curve, but… I want one. It’s probably just me showing my age or something…
Data Backup
I’m loving what Springpad has put together for a data backup solution. Most times, when you download a backup of an online service, it is a CSV file, or some other dump of data that is not otherwise immediately usable. Springpad has basically given you an offline website with a list of your data in HTML form. Unfortunately, it is not easily navigable without a lot of scrolling or using your browser’s Find feature, but it’s all there and it’s easy to read. I downloaded a few thousand notes and bookmarks into a 12 MB zip file (with attachments and photos in their respective folders) that I was able to open and read right away. This made me happy!
The downside of this method is that it is not really ideal for transferring your data to another service, if that is what you want to do. Perhaps Springpad should include a CSV option, but I’m thinking you would have to leave a lot of data behind that way.
In any case, you now have the ability to mitigate the potential disaster of losing all your Springpad data in a freak accident, and will be able to enjoy reading it too. Huzzah!
Springpad isn’t slacking on other fronts, either. They are a part of the Google IO Chrome Sandbox, and have updated their Android apps to support Honeycomb tablet devices. They also have released a version for the Barnes & Noble Nook Color — which is awesome for the owners of the eBook reader/tablet hybrids, considering how Springpad is able to keep track of and deliver alerts on books. I love the steady and focused flow of updates we’ve been getting from Springpad, and I can’t wait to see where they take us next. I’m hoping desktop app – but I’ll take what they give.
What are your thoughts on the latest Springpad updates?
One of Google Chrome’s best features is the Apps Dashboard. With the current push toward cloud computing, it sometimes seems that a new web app surfaces almost daily. When used in conjunction with the Chrome Web Store, it’s easy to sort through the multitudes of services out there, get a quick review, and have your favourites at your fingertips. Sometimes the buttons are nothing more than spiffy bookmarks, and others integrate with the browser, adding context menu functionality and other things that make your life easier. The ability to sync your apps between machines is an added bonus, bringing us one step closer to Google’s dream of us all living in the almighty Browser [see ChromeOS].
Unfortunately, if you are a Firefox user, even with the recent leaps forward in Firefox 4, there is no native service that offers what the Apps Dashboard does in Chrome. You could use specialized start page plugins or services and put together your favourite quick-links, but you would still be missing out on the best feature: discoverability. Unless you use Jolicloud, that is.
Jolicloud started as a specialized Linux OS for netbooks, attempting to give those small screens an easy and visual user experience. Because netbooks are small and built mostly for web browsing, it made sense for Jolicloud to focus on web apps, and while they did offer native software installs, they were much more cloud-based (hence the name). They added a social component to their OS, allowing you to connect with and share your favourite web app recommendations with other users, and you could log in on any Jolicloud machine and sync your apps over to it, too! This might sound a lot like Google ChromeOS, but Jolicloud was doing all of this actively before ChromeOS was even out of the gate.
These days, Jolicloud still exists as an OS, but has changed its name to JoliOS. What Jolicloud is now is a very pretty web app itself that functions as a dashboard that can be opened in any Firefox 4 or Safari 5 browser. It can also be opened in Google Chrome — and is actually an app in the Google Web Store. Jolicloud has built up a decent list of web apps in its directory, and though it doesn’t have the ability to integrate its apps into your browser, it does a few things that the Google Chrome App Dashboard can’t do. Like look pretty — or be multi-page.
Jolicloud has many different wallpapers that can be applied to it, and has several pages for you to organize your apps. The pages function very much like iOS in that you can drag the app icons around and move them from page to page by pushing them against the right or left edge of the screen. Combined with the fact that the apps are always in the same position you left them in, no matter what computer you open them on — as opposed to Google Chrome missing some in syncs, or occasionally reordering them on you — and you end up with a very good experience.
Another thing that actually gives Jolicloud a leg up over Chrome’s App Dashboard is the ability to add whatever site you like by URL, using the Add New App button on the bottom of the web apps category list, which you get to by pressing the big green plus button. Essentially, you could use Jolicloud as your web app library and as your speed-dial to your favourite sites — very handy! If that’s not enough for you to give it a shot, then click on the folder tab in the top left — you can actually connect Dropbox and Google Docs right into the app, with available space reports, and in-app previews and editing, which makes for all kinds of convenience.
I’ve found only two annoying things about Jolicloud:
That the site has experienced the occasional weird 400 error, and made it seem that my apps were wiped out. That can usually be fixed by restarting the browser, sometimes with a clean cache, and logging in again.
That the sync with the actual OS will bring over apps — or offer apps in the list — that are actually for installed software. Generally, these are just greyed out if you are using them in JoliOS, but there are times they can be made to work. I got Skype to launch from Jolicloud, for example.
If you want to use Jolicloud with your Firefox 4 or Safari 5 install (Opera is not supported, and IE only works — sometimes — with Chrome Frame), just head to Jolicloud.com and create an account, then click on My Jolicloud. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. Once you have your apps in place, either set Jolicloud as a pinned tab, or have it open as your start page. The are reports of the devs working to create a Firefox extension for Jolicloud to make it an even better experience for FF users. They are also apparently working on Android compatibility, and already have experimental iPad support.
If you like Jolicloud a bunch, you might want to go the whole way and install JoliOS — it can be installed and removed in Windows and configures your system for dual boot. You could also buy the cute little Jolibook computer, if you have some spare cash and are in the UK.
