As a result, I like to practice using features when I find them.  Some stick, becoming part of my daily routine and ritual, others fade away as simple novelty.  Knowing what your iPhone or Android phone can do is good.  Learning which features are right for you is better.

Just to give you an example, I was waiting for the wifie at the wine store and remembered Google’s photo search called “Goggles” that is part of the iPhone Google App.  Not really needing an excuse to buy wine (“google told me to”), I tried it out on a nice bottle of cabernet.

Googles Goggles (a tongue twister ain’t it?) went to work on my cab, using the image as the search query.  The result was pretty spectacular – even by the standards of the ever impressive Google.

In less than a minute, I was reading a great review of my selection and soon after SOLD.  It was a great shopping experience.  I was selected a bottle that looked about right (2 minutes), Googled it (30 seconds), learned about it (1 minute) and finished my purchase.  Not bad!  The process was fast enough that I would have happily continued to photograph bottles for a while, but the results rich enough to help me make an educated decision.  Sweet.

In closing for this rather short post, remember that the point isn’t Google’s Goggles.  The point is that my phone had a feature that was worth exploring and that a little practice was enough for me to see how I could use it in future.  That’s the key – use it and see if it’s useful to you.  If not, no sweat.  There are another 999,999 features to look into.

For the record, the wine was excellent.

~ab

What the program does

This program is for emailing new events to your Google Calendar.  It checks your Gmail account for new events that were sent to a special label every ten seconds.  It can only process one calendar entry every ten seconds (but if you’r emailing in more than that, it’s pretty impressive and you are far too busy to be playing with my software).

I couldn’t find any 3rd party services that do this, so I had to improvise using AutoHotKey and a script I wrote previously for quick adding events to Google calendar.  The result is a bit rickety, but it does the job.  Improvements may or may not occur over time and currently it does not work with google apps (although it couldn’t be that hard to fix this).

Setup

It requires three pieces of setup (these are the defaults which can be modified if you know how to script):

1. Create a Gmail filter that puts take email sent to youraddress+jaacal@gmail.com into a new folder/label called jaacal.  You can also say “skip the inbox” so these emails don’t clutter things up.

2. Download the zip file from this link – Email to Google Calendar (406) – and unpack it to a directory of your choosing.

3.  Change the logon.txt file to include your email, your user name (email without @gmail.com) and your password.  Make sure you keep this file in the same folder as the EXE file.

Workin’ it

Once you’ve done these three steps, run the EXE file and walk away.  Send an email with your quick add text in the subject line to the address above and it will appear on your calendar within about 20 seconds.  An example of a quick add subject line could be something like “dinner with Dave to thank him for such a good idea tommorrow 10pm”.  It doesn’t matter what you put in the body, the program will just ignore it.

Download Email to Google Calendar (406)

And that’s about it! Let me know your thoughts at ab@justanasterisk.com or in the comments.

~ab

Good luck!!!

~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