Healthy Blog Reviews

Here’s a quick little Gmail update that will come in handy. The next time a client, friend, or..anyone actually…sends you an email with a street address in it, Gmail will display a Google Map of the location. Like this: The new feature needs to be enabled via the Gmail Labs tab within your Settings. Oh, and those of you that have persevered with Google Buzz, will find that adding a Google Maps link to a post will also embed a map preview. Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Tags: enabled-via, google maps, google-buzz, Local/Mobile, location, new-feature, quick-little, settings, street-address, will-display
Posted June 9, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Well, maybe this signals the beginning of the end. Maybe this is the sign of the end times. Maybe, just maybe, there is a chance that things like losing deals happen for Google just like, gulp, the rest of the business world. Despite big wins in the past year like the city of Los Angeles moving to Google Apps for e-mail and more it appears that Google is not just gonna steamroll their way into enterprise accounts normally reserved for Microsoft. Mashable reports The University of California – Davis has stopped using Gmail for its 30,000-member staff and faculty body. The university was trying Gmail for faculty and staff with plans to roll out service to the entire campus. But school officials say this email system isn’t secure or private enough to meet their standards. CIO Peter Siegel, Academic Senate IT chair Niels Jensen and Campus Council IT chair Joe Kiskis said the plug was pulled on Gmail because faculty were concerned that Google’s services wouldn’t keep their correspondence private enough. Many privacy experts also say that Gmail’s social component, Google Buzz, is the source of privacy and security vulnerabilities. Ouch. That’s gonna bruise. If Google Buzz was indeed one of the reasons for a 30,000 seat deal going down the crapper then treating everyone’s privacy like it didn’t exist may hurt Google where it really hurts: in the wallet. Apparently this is not the first time that security concerns from a prominent institution of higher learning has put the brakes on “going Google”. About a month ago, Yale University made a similar decision. Yale’s concerns centered around security issues, technological risks and the way Google manages data in the cloud. It’s interesting that big city governments like LA and Washington, DC have gone with Google no problem. Wonder how the Google Buzz privacy debacle went over in those accounts? Well, maybe Google’s products aren’t what they claim to be since they appear to be just “close enough for government work”.

Tags: academic-senate, Business, California, campus-council, correspondence, google-buzz, more-it-appears, Peter Siegel, source, university
Posted May 6, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Google is moving forward with all things Buzz even as they try to finally put the privacy issues to rest. Today in the Google Mobile blog it is reported that Buzz is now integrated into your mobile Gmail inbox just like it is on your desktop. You even get the little Buzz icon! Here’s a picture. Google’s version With the latest iteration of Gmail for mobile, we’ve worked to integrate buzz with your mobile inbox. Now, you’ll see buzz in your inbox on your phone just like you do in the desktop version of Gmail, complete with the little Google Buzz icon. When you open a buzz post from your inbox, you can perform all the standard functions, such as liking the post or commenting, just as you can from the desktop Gmail inbox. I am not a fan of Google Buzz. I guess I just needed to state that. Maybe I’m not cool enough but it just doesn’t make much sense to me. I think the bigger point here is that Google continues to make the experience of all Google products as uniform as possible across desktop and mobile options. Now that is something I do get and like.

Tags: desktop, experience, google-buzz, google-mobile, inbox, Local/Mobile, mobile, phone, such-as-liking
Posted April 6, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

As Mashable predicted , Google Buzz issued a “ privacy reset ” to all users yesterday. As Mashable mentioned, Google Buzz has worked hard to make its privacy settings more legal user-friendly—but many of their changes were implemented after early adopters opted in. Present users didn’t have to go through the extended sign up process that safeguarded users’ privacy and preferences. But now Google is changing that, for that exact reason: But many of you started using Google Buzz before we made these changes, and we want to help you ensure that Buzz is set up the way you want. Offering everyone who uses our products transparency and control is very important to us, so if you started using Google Buzz before we changed the start-up experience, you’ll see the following confirmation page the next time you click into the Buzz tab: Which happens to be the exact screenshot Mashable predicted. It’s the Buzz settings screen, but obviously many users haven’t customized their settings—or may not even know where to find it. By forcing users to look at the page, Google makes sure users have the chance to “view and edit the people you’re following and the people following you” “elect whether you want those lists appearing on your public Google profile” “modify any of the sites you have connected to Google Buzz, like Picasa, Google Reader, or Twitter” Google also promises YouTube videos on how to update settings, in the new Google Buzz channel . Naturally, these privacy changes aren’t enough for some privacy advocates, as MediaPost reports . For example, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Marc Rotenberg, “calls Google’s latest move ‘helpful,’ but says it doesn’t solve the problems created by Buzz. ‘Google initially disclosed a lot of personal information when it tried to turn Gmail users into Buzz converts,’ he says. ‘As is often the case with privacy, there’s no way to undo a disclosure once it occurs.’” What do you think? Will you be making privacy changes? Are Google’s efforts enough?

Tags: Buzz, edit-the-people, google-buzz, legal, often-the-case, once-it-occurs, says-it-doesn, settings-screen, update-settings, videos-on-how
Posted April 6, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Google Buzz lived up to its name in its first week. After not fully testing the product , Google launched Buzz and forced all Gmail users into it without a way to opt out. Then we realized they were automatically sharing the list of people we chatted with and emailed most frequently. Finally, Google backed off many of these “features,” and made it possible to disable Buzz (and not just hide it). But there are still some privacy concerns, especially for people who joined Buzz before the privacy changes. Mashable reports that Google will be issuing a “privacy reset” for Buzz tomorrow. The reset will automatically show all Buzz users the settings page the next time they click on the Buzz option in Gmail, to ensure they’ve set their privacy levels how they really want them: This isn’t a giant step for mankind, but it is at least a step in the right direction for Google. The Buzz settings page was notoriously hard to find, and even active users may not be fully versed in the privacy options—or their own settings—found there. Mashable says this effort may be enough to get Congress off Facebook Buzz’s back . Well, actually, Congress asked the FTC to look into Buzz, as have a bunch of others, and even the outgoing commissioner couldn’t help but slam Google —not to mention the troubles Buzz has faced abroad . What do you think? Will this “privacy reset” change anything for Buzz users? Will it assuage federal concerns? Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Tags: asked-the-ftc, assuage-federal, congress, google-buzz, outgoing, privacy-levels, privacy-reset, Rumors, settings, settings-page, Social, will-it-assuage
Posted April 5, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media