Send SMS from Gmail Chat - if you're in the US that is!

When I saw the red message at the top of Gmail today telling me I could now send SMS messages from Gmail chat, I thought "That sounds good!" And why not? No more SMS charges texting people unless I'm away from a computer - which really isn't very often at all these days.

But oh, when I clicked the Labs icon and scrolled down, what did I behold... "Only available for US mobile numbers". Darn!

Maybe they'll roll it out to non-US mobiles soon. I hope so.

Search unread items in Google Reader??

Does anyone know whether its possible to search unread items in Google Reader? There's an option in the dropdown to search read items but not unread items. is:unread doesn't work. So is there some other way of doing this?

Twitter - the biggest waste of time ever?

Well ok, so posting the odd 'tweet' is perhaps not the biggest time-waster in the history of the universe (although I suppose it depends on how many tweets you send!), but in the last few months since I took the plunge and created a Twitter account, I have come to the conclusion that the whole thing is simply a waste of time.

Yes, I know people rant on about it being a great tool for businesses to 'get the word out' and 'build relationships with customers' or just for friends to 'hang out in cyberspace', but I just don't really see it that way.

For one thing, the vast majority of Twitter users are techy people - the kind of people who'll install the latest gadgets and adapt the latest web services because it's 'cool'. The overwhelming majority of normal web users don't use it and aren't interested.

But secondly and more importantly, it doesn't actually acheive anything that can't be acheived just as well - or better - with existing tools: email, blogs, Facebook, etc. Those things are just as 'real-time', just as accessible, as a tweet and, crucially, because they're not forced into the confines of a ridiculously small number of characters, can generally convey the message far better. Just because it's good to be brief and to the point doesn't mean that you can say everything that needs saying in 140 characters or less!

There's an online Google maps 'mashup' called Twittervision which displays live tweets from Twitter on a world map. Sure, it's cool in one sense, but just spending a few moments watching the sorts of things people are tweeting about is all the evidence you need to see that it's mainly just fluff.

If you want to promote a product or service, write a blog post. If you want to ask a question, send an email. If you want to chat with a mate, use IM... Come on, it's not rocket science!

Next thing you know they'll be coming up with a TV channel where the programmes can only be 15 seconds long... oh, they've already done it!!!

Maybe I sound like a grumpy old man, but it's not that I don't like new technology... if it serves a valid purpose and solves a problem. I just think that things like Twitter solve a problem that never existed!

I'm sure there'll be plenty of people ready to disagree with me, but that's ok, I'm not out to win any arguments here - just say what I'm thinking.

Gmail gets themes!

I know just about every techy blog out there (and probably quite a few not so techy blogs as well) have been buzzing about this for the past couple of days but I might as well add my bit as well!

For anyone who is reading this and doesn't already know, Gmail now has themes, like iGoogle. You get a choice of about 30 different visual styles, some of which are quite pleasant and some not so pleasant!

'GCal Popup' Firefox extension

Although I haven't really got into the habit of using Google Calendar yet (to be honest I've managed to organise my life reasonably well so far without the need for a calendar), for those who do use it, GCal Popup looks like a nice little extension for Firefox.

Quite simply, it adds an icon to the status bar which, when clicked, opens Google Calendar in an overlay over the current web page, lightbox-style. Clicking the icon toggles the calendar.

I've not tested it but I guess the acid test is how quickly it opens. If it's no faster than having a conventional bookmark and opening in a new tab then I guess there's no real advantage, unless its psychological.

Anyway, the extension is currently labelled "experimental" so it might still be a bit buggy. But if anyone tries it out or already uses it, lets hear your comments.

Google Docs Desktop Shortcuts

Digital Inspiration have a handy walk-through guide to creating desktop shortcuts for Google Docs. A nice idea, obvious really but one of those things you don't think of until someone else mentions it!

There are quite a few browser extensions and desktop tools available to integrate Google Docs more fully into your workflow, although I haven't really investigated them all fully yet. The one thing I haven't found yet though is an application for Windows that will automatically open Microsoft Office docs (saved on my computer) in Google Docs.

Upcoming new WYSIWYG editor from 37signals

37signals have announced that they are working on a new open source javascript WYSIWYG editor. I'm going to be keeping a close eye on this as I'm not a big fan of existing WYSIWYG editors (TinyMCE et al), and Textile is just not user-friendly enough for the majority of people, simple though it is.

My biggest bugbears with existing WYSIWYG solutions is they're a pain to install and configure and they generate messy markup. If 37signals can overcome these issues I think they'll be onto a winner.

ScreenToaster

If you need to make a quick and simple screencast that doesn't require any fancy editing, ScreenToaster looks to be a really handy tool. It's completely web-based so no download required.