Weekly Tech Tip - March 24, 2014

A new feature in Google Mail - Tabbed Inbox

There is a new feature in the Google Mail that you may enable. If enabled, Google will now read your emails and classify them into tabs, such as Primary, Social, or Promotions. There are also other tabs that you can enable should you choose to do so. This is refereed to as "tabbed email." Much like browser tabs, you can now have email tabs with each tab classifying and organizing your emails. If you choose to enable this feature, your inbox will look something like the picture below.

You can see that I have a Primary Tab, a Social Tab (for things like Facebook, Twitter, etc), and Promotions tab (these would items coming from my resellers, such as Amazon).  You can also choose to have other tabs show on your inbox.

What if emails land inside the wrong tab? No problem, just drag the email to the tab with which you want it associated.

To enable this feature, simply click the settings button (the wheel or clog) on the right side of your email pane, then drag down to "Configure Inbox".  You then choose the tabs you would like to enable and press "Save." Once complete, your inbox will look similar to the picture above.

For more information about tabbed email, please visit the google help page at https://support.google.com/mail/answer/3055016?hl=en

Enjoy,
Gregg

Weekly Tech Tip - March 18, 2014

What has google been up to? Every year, sometimes twice a year, Google does an update that has some affect on our users. They take services away and integrate them into something else. There are two updates that I would like to tell you about in this weekly tech tip.

1) If you have been using google notifier as a service, you need to know that google no longer has that as a service. If you continue to use google notifier, you may get a message that states the service is no longer running. You will want to delete this service from your computer since it no longer functions. I've captured a screen shot for you to reference.

2) Google maps has had an update to include richer content. Google maps can "take you to landmarks, send you flying above mountains in 3D, and can give you sneak peaks of places you plan to visit." Check out the maps and see what you can find. Below is a short intro video to the new google maps.



Until next week,
Gregg

Weekly Tech Tip - March 5, 2014

One question received this week that is worthy of a tech tip - "How do I download a video from a site like youtube and place it in my powerpoint or keynote? Instead of linking to the youtube video, I want to have it inside of my slide?" So, what this means, is that this particular individual wants to be able to play a youtube video that is not tied to the Internet. The video will be downloaded to his/her machine and then it can be inserted as a movie clip.

 The steps are pretty simple and have even become a little easier since the birth of youtube. You can google that question and you will get many, many answers. There are a lot of sites that will direct you to input the website of the video and then send you an email with a download. I don't particularly like those sites simply because they now have my email address and can start sending me emails I do not wish to receive. Enter the open source community. The open source community is a place where folks develop programs and then they are downloadable for free. For example, the Firefox browser is a program strongly developed by the open source community. There are tons of these programs for people to download and use.

Now, to answer the question. A program that I have found that works well is called ClipGrab. It is a very clean, simple program to use. You simply download ClipGrab, install it, and then copy and paste your youtube video link in the open window. Even on the website, it has these simple steps for you to follow. So, the next time you want to download a youtube video to your desktop, just use this handy little utility.

Enjoy,
Gregg