I declare war.

If you read this and you’re using Chrome, install Adblock. Teach the jerks at these ad agencies that you’ll not only ignore their messages but you’ll block ALL messages going forward because of their abuse. What is Adblock? Here are some examples of how it works on Chrome (but it’s available for Firefox too).

Here is a Google search for “Super Bowl” without Adblock – notice the ads on the right.

The same search with Adblock turned on – notice the lovely blank space (you can turn off this type of blocking within Adblock’s settings).

Here is another example – the main page of the New York Times with ads and with Adblock turned off.

Here is the same with Adblock turned on.

I understand that some might find this duplicitous, taking the free content without looking at the ads that fund its existence. However, please believe that my goal isn’t to hurt anyone’s livelihood. Instead, I hope that by rejecting ads temporarily, we’ll provide a simple message to ad agencies – be creative, sway our opinion with wit and originality, not with loud ads that interrupt our browsing experience. After all, we didn’t come to the site to hear about refinancing out apartment – we just wanted the weather…

Let me know your thoughts in the comments – do you think this is cheating?

~ab

But anyway…

Here is what is really important:  Gmail has always supported signatures, but they were lame. You could write in plain text and split it into multiple lines. This all changed today when Gmail introduced “rich text” signatures, so I thought I’d walk through what you can do now.

Part 1: Rich is mostly about formatting

To see your signature, go to Settings and then the General tab. You’ll see the signature window about half-way down the page.

As you can see from my screenshot above, rich formatting gives you that toolbar that you’ve seen above your Gmail for so long. Using the simple buttons like bold, italic and underline, you can add basic flourishes. There are also font options, colors and high-lighting for your spicy new signature. One of my favorite additions is that you can insert true links into your emails.  For example, you can put a link to “my site” rather than spelling out the web address of your homepage.

Part 2: Inserting photos

Inserting photos into your signature is now much easier, although it still requires a bit of work. The first step is to click on this little button:

Once you’ve done this, you’ll be asked for a website where you’ve stored your photo. Yes, I realize that it’s a bit of a pain to have to keep the image online, but as you can see, once you have the link it is very easy to include a photo – even a very stupid one.

When you’re done typing the address, you should see the image appear in the box below the address field (as mine did above). Click OK to finish.

When you’re done with part 1 and/or part 2, don’t forget to save your work! You wouldn’t want to lose it!

Have fun with the new signatures. Feel free to brag about any cool ideas in the comments!
~ab

If you’re trying to decide between the hot new Nexus One vs. the iPhone 3Gs, here’s the skinny on what sets them apart. Both phones sport the aesthetic appeal of that sleek “wow” factor sheen, but there are a few differences you should know about which may make one a better fit for your needs than the other.

Despite its light weight compared to the iPhone 3Gs, the Nexus One picks up where the iPhone left off in the bench-press department. Its faster processor and more efficient Organic LED screen will keep your video sizzling sharp and your images pinpoint crisp while making the overall screen color reproduction more accurate (though strangely enough the orange colors on some of the YouTube videos I streamed to the Nexus One appeared a little too red for my liking).

The built in camera flash on the Nexus One is a very useful feature in low-lighting. It’s also a feature that the iPhone currently lacks, though rumor has it that Apple already put in a big order for flash devices for its next generation of iPhones. No doubt Apple will also be ramping up its camera resolution which is currently only 3-megapixels on the iPhone compared to the whopping 5-megapixel deliciousness of the Nexus One camera.

Unlike the iPhone, the Nexus One sports a full hands-free driving GPS navigation system with turn-by-turn directions functionality included right out of the box. On the iPhone, you only get the standard Google maps directions right now which is basically a little dot moving around on a 2D map…not very impressive unless you are willing to shell over the cash for a third party navigation application such as the $70 Navigon or the $80 iGo My Way.

Aside from these extra perks included with the Nexus One, the main point of difference I encountered between the two phones was their dependence upon wireless connectivity. iPhone applications run as smoothly when you are out of wireless range as they do when you are in range because your data is largely saved to the phone and is re-synched when your phone reception returns. This approach keeps your most of your data on your physical phone device, at risk of being lost along with the device if that data has not been synchronized and backed up first.  The Nexus One takes the opposite approach. It seems geared toward storing as much of your personal data as possible on Google’s computer clouds rather than on your phone’s memory. Unfortunately, while it does mean that your data is theoretically safer, it also means that you have to have a strong wireless connection for many of your applications to be useful. This is particularly true if you’re looking to leverage some of the coolest features Google provides such as voice recognition (see below).

The included Android Calendar application is a perfect example of why storing data on the cloud isn’t always the best solution. The included Calendar application is barely functional without a direct link to the internet, and it will not operate unless you have first assigned it to a preexisting Google Calendar account. While these limitations may not be an issue for someone who already uses Google Calendar and who has frequent internet access, I found it an unnecessary burden, and wasn’t thrilled about being forced to use a the Google Calendar which was only recently endowed with integrated Task features.

There are a few other ‘gotchas’ you should be aware of before you buy, such as the not-so-multi-touch feature of the Nexus One’s touch screen. The iPhone’s multi-touch feature is more than just fancy hand-waving; it allows you to use more than one finger at a time to interact with your mobile phone screen. This makes the phone easier to operate and cuts down on the number of buttons that would otherwise clutter its interface. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Nexus One. Though the Android interface itself has been given an appealing facelift, (with live animated backgrounds and the like), it is currently limited to single touch functionality. [Note: You can enable multi-touch yourself if you are brave enough to attempt a ROM hack on your Nexus One].

Another iPhone feature I missed in the Nexus One was a simple notepad. You may be able to download one from the Android Market, but not having one pre-installed is inconvenient, and it makes taking notes or jotting down ideas difficult when no pen and paper are handy. If you’re creative, you could record videos of yourself talking and then sync them with Evernote, but if you’re looking for more direct digital copies of you paper masterpieces, check out the Scan2PDF Mobile application which instantly converts phone photos of your notes into fully searchable PDFs.

As any personal trainer will tell you, you won’t see your best results until you’ve put in the necessary hard work and preparation. In the same way, the Nexus One really starts to shine brightest once you start using one of its most underappreciated yet most awesome features, its voice recognition technology. Leveraging the technology it has long been toiling over for its Google Voice telephone service, Google’s Nexus One makes searching as easy as pressing a button and telling your phone what you want it to find. Seriously, it’s that simple! After a few tries, the phone will train itself to recognize your voice patterns and will identify pretty much any word you throw at it. And since every search you do is logged with Google, I’m guessing that your subsequent search patterns will be used to teach the software so that it continually gets better at recognizing which of your verbal commands it interpreted successfully.

Even more useful, and novel by comparison to what the iPhone offers, is the voice-to-text feature which magically transcribes whatever you say to your phone into an email or text message. This voice recognition feature, in particular, turned out to be a big time saver for me, just like using voice recognition in the built-in GPS navigation made hands-free navigation that much easier and safer while driving.

If you currently have an iPhone and are looking for those extra features that will squirt a few more ounces of productivity into your life, you may want to wait until the next iPhone iteration comes out. The additional benefits the Nexus One offers are mostly under the hood, and while they do add up, the margin of difference they make depends upon how ambitious you are about tackling the learning curve burn cycle, especially if you’re already acclimated to the iPhone interface. On the other hand, if you aren’t in love with the iPhone or if you are upgrading from a previous non-iPhone model and are looking for a top of the line phone with tremendous long-term potential, the Nexus One is probably your best bet.

And in case you’re still deliberating over the technical details behind the gloss, I recommend checking out Gizmodo’s definitive smartphone comparison chart for a great side-by-side comparison of these top two contenders.

~jp

Justin Palmen is a recovering technoholic with a passion for everything fast, mobile, and cloud enabled.  When not working in cyberspace, he enjoys traveling to exotic locations and would love to travel in real space some day.  He’d also love to receive your questions or comments at jp@justanasterisk.com

SMS (also known as texting) stands for short message service and has become more popular in the US than calling, a fact that was a surprisingly long time coming.  Although we’ve finally caught on to the trend, messages are still rather expensive if you don’t have an unlimited plan or are sending/receiving while out of country. Well there is a small solution built write into your Gmail account that you might not have found yet. Here are the steps to send text messages straight from Google talk!

The first step is to enable texting from your Gmail Account.  To change this, head to the little green flask next to settings.  This should bring up the “labs features”.

Scroll down to the labs feature “Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat” and enable it.

Now head over to your Google Talk window (you might need to log out and then log back in).  When you put your mouse over a contact, you will see a “video & more” menu.  From there you can choose “Send SMS”.

If this is the first time you are sending a message to this contact, you will be prompted for a phone number.  Plug it in phone and click save.

Now you can chat via SMS! The recipient will receive a message from Google, but when they reply, it will appear in the chat window!!!

Now that is pretty cool…

Enjoy!

~ab

Image via Wikipedia

Argue what you will about Starbucks taking over the world. I’m probably not going to argue.  In fact, normally I’d even join you. I experienced the joy of working at a Starbucks on the Upper West Side when I first moved to New York and I’ll be the first to rant about the evils of allowing already self-absorbed morons the to abuse hourly workers in the name of uniqueness.  The number of times I was told something rude by an Upper West Side mommy back from the gym but somehow wearing fur… Ohhhh you wanted your drink with a pint of my blood?  Let me just open a vein.  Coming right up.

However, I found something worth writing about on my recent trip to London: nearly free wireless. I think I’m in love. Here is a brief recap of how it works. Hopefully this truly beautiful gift will remain intact for ever and ever.

After leaving Starbucks for my first office job, I continued to frequent my old store as a loyal customer. For those who want to buy me a cup of coffee, I drink a grande americano with room for milk. Please wait till you come to NYC before you buy me one (no mail please). Anyway, I eventually signed up for the Starbucks rewards card. This lovely piece of plastic provided a 10% discount and ensured my on-going loyalty. This card was replaced recently by another but I still carry it with me and I’m registered online. Now for the magic – Starbucks introduced a program of free wireless via AT&T when you have an active card (used in the last month) that has a balance. What makes this even more incredible is that this service is provided in the UK too!  I get free wireless at all Starbucks in London via BTOpenZone. This is huge!  In a country (the UK) where wireless is crazy expensive, I get free access on nearly ever corner.

And yet, I do have a few questions… I buy an americano every time I connect. This has to be a great revenue creator for Starbucks, but why did I have to figure this out on my own??? Why didn’t someone let me in on the secret?  Moreover, why does this only happen at Starbucks? Obviously, I’ll spend less money at other coffee chains if they don’t offer the same service.

Anyway, I’ve said enough. Fellow American travelers to Britain, please take advantage of this lovely treat from the espresso behemoth. We want this to be successful so it catches on!

Internet access should be free. This is a great step. Well done Starbucks!

~ab

If it doesn’t start there automatically, my favorite line from the 1989 Batman is “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” (at 1:17 into this trailer).  It’s just such a perfect description of how I find geek tools to be both empowering and entertaining.

A friend recently asked if I had any links to share and I thought I’d start the new year with a list of some of the blogs that I read.  My hope is this provides that answer to your question about my toys (yes in this fantasy, I am Batman).

Mental Floss – Some blogs are on my reading list just for me.  I almost never plan on sharing anything I find on Mental Floss (it’s my guilty pleasure) but often the factoids and trivia I pickup here filter their way into my conversations.  I feel like I owe them a permanent footnote after my banter but as I’m not going to end each sentence with “fact provided by Mental Floss”, this shoutout is going to have to do.  My favorite fact to date?

In Dom Perignon’s day, bubbles were considered a serious wine flaw, and the good monk actually went to considerable lengths to eliminate them during his 47 years as cellar-master.

“Bubble Trouble: The Not-So-Sweet History of Champagne“

Check it out and enjoy.

Flowing Data – The lovely graphs and well… data make this site a truly fascinating read.  I’m certainly not a visualization fanatic, but I adore the beauty of this rapidly growing field.  Maybe the blog’s author won’t appreciate it, but it appeals to the same parts of me that enjoy shopping at Muji or the Apple store.

The Universe as We Know It

Lifehacker – The brain child of Gina Trapani, Lifehacker has developed into one of the most vast compilations of useful information on the web.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve searched (on Google) with the terms “Lifehacker” and my query (like best chat client).  It’s just a fantastic way to get at the old stuff.  Moreover, what makes me really jealous is that the new stuff is good too…  These little nuggets will sit in your brain until needed.  Here’s a recent article that I thought exemplified the best of the blog:

Top 10 Mind Hacks for Making Your Resolutions Stick

Weburbanist – Although this is the noisiest site I’ve ever seen, the RSS feed is bearable and worth a read.  The point seems to be featuring gorgeous photography and design and the blog succeeds most of the time.  Sometimes it’s not my cup of tea but it’s often at least entertaining.  Here’s a taste:

Mind-Bending Digital Photo Manipulation by Erik Johansson

Gizmodo – You cannot love gadgets and not be drawn to Gizmodo.  The site really doesn’t need much of a description – they review the coolest, newest stuff and tell us all the gory rumors.  Interested in hearing about the much hyped mac tablet?  Check Gizmodo.  Want someone simply to tell you which gadgets are hot?  Read this article:

The Best Gadgets

That’s probably enough for now.  Remember to use Google Reader to maximize your blog reading experience!

Enjoy

~ab

Enjoy

~ab

You were right.  It took me nearly a year, I swore up and down that my Flickr account was the bees knees, I wrote articles and explanations of how to use Flickr’s advanced tool set, and I ruined perfectly good cocktail party conversations, berating all services that did not stack up to my personal choice.

A year has gone by and now, like a dope, I have to reverse my position.  Why?  Because Picasa just changed the game, and I can no longer ignore the beautiful integration between Picasa and all my other apps.  Before I start into the details, this isn’t to say that Flickr is a bad service – it’s just no longer for me (yes I’m trying to save face – but let’s not write off Flickr entirely… there are too many devotees).

Without any more ado, here are the top 4 reasons I’ve decided to change over.

1. I can host 80GB of files for $20 a year.

This was the clincher, so in a way, it’s normal that it be my number 1  reason.  Suddenly, Flickr and Picasa are essentially evenly priced.  Before this week, buying the required space for all my photos, and future photos, was simply exorbitantly expensive.  My last defense crumbled, which allowed me to acknowledge the next 3 points…

2. Integration

In Flickr, when I wanted to send a photo to someone, there were three options – 1. I had already done this before and saved the email address. 2. I had to go into my email and find the email address before hitting send back in Flickr.  3.  I could just copy the link and ignore the email functions because my address book wasn’t available.

In Picasa, I just click the share button below and poof – my contacts are available from Gmail.

As you can see from the picture, it even looks like a Gmail message.  This is what makes the integration between these tools so powerful.  You don’t have to learn anything new.

This doesn’t end with email.  There is integration with other Google products too.

For example, you can specify the site of the photo on a Google Map, exactly like you did when you were looking for takeout last night.

If your camera (or cell phone camera) can geotag to your photos (a longitude and latitude value), these will appear in the familiar Google Maps interface, just to the right of you photos.  This makes sorting photos by destination a very pleasant task.

As far as integration goes, using Picasa if you already use Gmail for contacts and email will save you a ton of time.  If you don’t use Gmail, you might not be better off…

3. Ease of use

Gmail caught on because it was easy and fast.   When I started evangelizing, often I heard “but I already have an email program” and “I just don’t get it”.  These same people are nearly all Gmail users now.  I have to believe that the snappy response time for searches and other tasks makes a serious difference.  I won’t rant and rave about how Picasa takes things to a new level – in most ways it doesn’t.  However, it does benefit from the same value created by Gmail and other Google products – a simple interface.

4. All the same features (or at least the ones I use)

Finally, it’s worth emphasizing that this is not a baby version of the other popular photos sites.  There are some serious features involved.  Hardcore photographers will be asking, where are the camera related details for each picture?  Where are the ISO settings?  Where are the exposure details?  Well these are all available (if you hit more info), but are hidden to make the screen less cramped and to provide a better viewing space for your work.

Other fancy pants features exist too:  We’ve mentioned geotagging above.  There is also facial recognition, allowing you to tag your friends photos (using their integrated contact information from your Gmail).  In addition, there are collaborative albums, fans, commenting, full tagging features, video capabilities, email upload, and mobile access…

In conclusion

Yes I was wrong, dear wife, but I’m working to fix it.  This probably won’t be my last change of heart in the technology department.  You do deserve credit for seeing most of this right from day one.  Nice work.  Feel like writing for JAA?

~ab

I’ve put a few videos below as examples of what you might find while trolling through YouTube.  Feel free to post your favorites in the comments!

~ab

My father (always tending to my educational needs…) sent me this video, which is actually part of a short series.  The rather excited teacher gives a decent presentation on the ideas of Calculus in 20 minutes (actually 9:04).

Did you know that the entire Nova series from PBS is on YouTube?  Here is a full hour of learning!  I found this episode about the future of the automobile to be quite interesting.

Or maybe you want a new hobby?  Why not learn a bit of origami?

And finally, perhaps you simply want to learn the basic skills that you never seemed to pickup?  How about how to iron a shirt?  This series from Esquire Magazine has quite a few great tips.

Filter one – Star messages that are confirmations of orders.

When I order something online, I often star confirmation messages of pending deliveries for quick reference.   I’ve had about 99% accuracy with this search:

((confirmation OR Thank you) and order)

Give it a try.  Put that same search in your search bar in Gmail.

Did it work?  The results should pretty much just be order confirmations… Click on to create your own filter with the same query.  Put the terms in the “Has the words” section, as shown below and click next step.

Check the box “Star It” as shown below, or you could add a new label for your orders.

Finally, click “create filter”.  In my case, I didn’t want to apply this to previous conversations, only new ones, so I didn’t check the box next to “Also apply filter to ### conversations below”

Filter 2 – Travel Itineraries

I travel quite a bit and my itineraries end up getting lost in a sea of incoming email.  I call them out with this query:

(Itinerary and confirmation) –unsubscribe

You might be wondering why I include the –unsubscribe.  This is to remove emails from vendors who are trying to sell me travel software (that can track itineraries and confirmations and therefore appear in my results).  Who needs a piece of software when I can make Gmail do it?

The setup for this one is similar.  Follow the steps above, but in the first screen put:

You could also have put unsubscribe in the “doesn’t have” field (without the “-“) and it has the same effect.

In this case, you might want to include a new label, creating a folder for all your travel plans.

Filter 3 – Work Emails need their own space.

This one is going to need to be customized, but it’s still a goodie.  I send most of my mail to the same place.  However, personal mixed with professional else gets a bit tiresome (and confusing).  Luckily, there is a simple solution.  A domain specific filter.  This will put email from a specific domain (like “gmail.com”) in a special folder.

Create a new filter and try this:

By including the @justanasterisk.com in your “From” field, you filter only the messages sent by that domain.  In the next screen you can apply a new label and save your changes.

I hope that these little filter tricks have either given you some new tools or some food for thought.  Let me know if you have any filter tricks in the comments.  I’d love to hear them!

~ab