The Digital Story of Nativity - (or Christmas 2.0)

An incredibly witty take on the birth of Christ. Enjoy and happy holidays!



Special thanks to @Jks725 and @JakeVerterano for passing this one along.

Gmail Checker Plus makes rapid email checking easy

Google Chrome Extensions are incredibly helpful for the user who is multitasking multitasks. However, in my mind, one extension has certainly earned it's own post - Google Mail Checker Plus.

The extension displays the number of unread messages in your inbox using an icon which appears on the top right if your Chrome browser. That's one feature. 

However, the best feature is that once you select the Gmail icon, your mail tab will comes into view. So for instance, when you're working in up to ten tabs and you just want to find your Gmail tab, you can simply select the icon and your inbox appears. 

Below is a video review of Google Mail Checker Plus.

Features:
• Mail preview window, read mail without leaving the current tab
• Delete, archive, spam, star and mark as read functionality
• Desktop and sound notifications when new mail arrives
• Support for multiple Google and Google Apps accounts
• Mailto-links open in your Gmail or Google Apps Mail account
• Monitor all your labels or priority inbox
• Translated to over 60 languages!
• More than 10 different icon sets, choose your favorite!

• Help and support at official forum: http://chrome.desc.se/forum/

Related posts:

-Five social media extensions for Google Chrome-Four more Google Chrome Extensions

TweetDeck releases app for Android OS

TweetDeck released android app, Wednesday, after months of beta testing. The multi-social-media manager is already one of the most popular social media managers on the iPhone and iPad, however, as the Android operating system continues to grow (last August, Google said it activated more than 200,000 Android phones a day) , TweetDeck could see massive download numbers over the next few months.

Users can sync to their Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz accounts, however, Facebook Fan Pages are not included in the app. This is a big problem for Fan Page users like myself who need to update both Twitter and Fan Pages in one click.

Fan Pages aside, the Android app has customizable update notifications that allow users to assign specific vibrations and sounds to specific friends, geodata, and a speed dial feature similar to that of Google Chrome's SpeedDial extension and Google TV's speed dial feature.

I've had a chance to try the app on a first generation Droid and so far the apps seems pretty fast. Unfortunately, on a 3G iPhone, I've noticed lag time which doesn't appear in the official Twitter app, nor the HootSuite app.

Google announces Google TV

First, the Android operating system, now this - Google TV.

Little information has been released but Google has released a quick tour to its latest product, Google TV. The product which seems to be pretty similar to Apple TV offers Web browsing, apps, customization and more. Like Apple TV, it seems to be where computers and modern TVs collide.

Google has recently announced that it has partnered with Logitech and it's Revue product which allows users to connect Logitech's Keyboard Controller and other products to an HDTV.

Search
How many times have you needed to find a show or sports event on TV but you don't know what channel it's on? Google TV offers a search feature that allows users to search for a program, select it and view it. No more continuous scrolling like in the Verizon and Comcast menu system.

Web

Google TV allows users to surf the Web through a television. Using the system's dual view, users can watch TV and surf the Web at the same time. In an age when everyone is watching TV with a laptop in hand, this could be a pretty nice feature.

Apps

Google TV will come preloaded with apps like Twitter, Pandora, Napster, Netflix, CNBC (an app for watching TV on a TV? That should be interesting) and more. According to the company, developers will be able to create their own apps as soon as next year.

Apps for Google TV

Google TV Remote

Phone apps allow users to control their computers. Now, your phone can control your TV too. The Logitech Harmony App for iPhone and Android allows users to set sync their phones to a Logitech Revue system allowing your phone to work as your Google TV remote. The in-app touch pad and keyboard allow users to have complete browsing and search control.

Personal

If you have used SpeedDial for Chrome, then you'll recognize Google TV's bookmarking style. Simply select a channel, app, or website you know you'll always want to come back to, and add it to your bookmarks. The saved items will be added to your personalized menu with an icon or screen shot for easy selection.

Dual View

Watch a show while you surf the Web or watch two games at the same time. This is nothing new to the world of television but still a nice feature.

Accessibility

According to the product's preview, Google TV works as a companion to your current cable or satellite system. It is not clear how the system needs to be set up but it should be similar to Apple TV's installation process.

Three Google videos for three new(ish) products

Ever wonder how to use a certain Google App? The company - who owns YouTube - has a complete catalogue of video tutorials and explanations aimed to educate users about new and future products. Below are three Google videos explaining three new or developing products.

Google Voice

Google Voice gives users more control over their phone calls. Spanning a full range of futuristic features, Voice allow users to assign multiple outgoing messages to specific callers (ie. professional outgoing message to work related phone numbers), voicemail transcriptionand the option to link several phone numbers (ie. home phone, work phone) to your cell phone.

What is Google OS?

The story of Google Chrome and how it inspired the creation of an operating system. Chrome OS is an open-source project in the process of building an operating system for users who spend most of their computing time in the Web browser.

Google Places: Case StudiesGoogle wants nothing more than to grab hold of local communities. Its "Google Case Studies" video follows small businesses who use Google Places to grow and succeed locally.
Google Places allows users to add their business to Google's listings. Business owners can add their company's description to a Places profile as well as opening hours, photos coupons and more.

Google Docs adds six new fonts

Arial, Courier New, Georgia, Tahoma, Times New Roman and Verdana. Up until about three days ago, these were the only fonts available to Google Doc users. Today, however, thanks to an “ever-growing list of Web fonts” and Google’s Font API, Doc users now have access to six additional fonts.

Droid Serif and Droid Sans
Android users will recognize the Droid family of Fonts. Both Droid Serif and Droid Sans feature strong vertical lines and a friendly appearance designed specifically for mobile devices.

Calibri and Cambria
According to Google, Doc users are consistently importing documents from Microsoft Word into Google Docs. Two of the most popular Word fonts, Calibri and Cambria, have been added so that users can import their Word documents to Google Docs without losing their document’s font-style.

Consolas and Corsiva
Consolas is now the second monospaced font in Google Docs - Courier New is the first. Monospaced fonts are typefaces in which every glyph is the same width. This comes in handy for computer programmers and users who need to work in plain text documents.
On the other end of the spectrum, Corsiva is Google Doc’s first italicized font style. This font is expected to win big among users who want to add elegance to fliers or other design-based documents.

Until recently, Web designers have had very limited font pallets. This is because Web browers could only portray fonts that the user - or reader - have installed to their local computer.

Today, however, modern browsers support the ability to download Web fonts automatically thus meaning fonts no longer have to be downloaded to the local computer system.

According to Google, this is only the beginning. The company is already testing it’s “next batch” of fonts, however, there has been no word on when those fonts will be available.

Four more Google Chrome extensions for bloggers

Last June, I posted a list of 5 social media extensions related to social media. This month, the topic is blogging. The extensions listed below are a blogger's dream - tools that make quoting, linking and productivity much easier.

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Amplify

Bloggers will love this extension. Amplify users can grab entire blog posts, images and quotes from any webpage and share that information to a long list of social networks including blogging platforms, Twitter, Facebook, Delicious and more.

To add someone's blog post to your blog, select the Amplify extension, select "clip this page" and select the portion of the post you would like to share. Amplify will then ask you to create an account using your Facebook or Twitter credentials. Finally, once you have created your account, you can create a post to share to the network of your choosing.

RescueTime

RescueTime measures your productive use of Google Chrome by monitoring what sites you visit and for how long. Sites like Twitter and Facebook are recognized as "very distracting time" - a minus two on the productivity scale while email services like Gmail are "neutral" - zero points on the productivity scale.

Now, say social media is part of your job. Users can tell RescueTime that visits to Twitter or Facebook should count as "productive" - one point - or "very productive" - two points.

Finally, the extension measures your productivity points and compares them to other Rescue Time users. Initially, users should expect their productivity to be very low, improving over time thus making RescueTime our favorite app to hate.

BlogThis

Blogs should always link to sources and articles of interest whenever possible. Chrome's BlogThis extension allows users to simply click a "BlogThis!" button whenever they want to add links to drafts on their Blogger account.

Unfortunately, the button only works with Blogger but Chrome offers a Posterous extension and several Wordpress extensions relating to comment moderation.

After the Deadline

This extension uses "artificial intelligence" to correct spelling, grammar and style while keeping an eye out for biased language, cliches, passive voice and redundant phrases.

The extension can copy edit everything from tweets to spreadsheets to blog posts. Perfect for the hurried blogger looking to post breaking news with minimum mistakes.

BONUS: Mini Google Maps

If you're consistently finding yourself hastily accessing Google Maps before you run out the door, then you know that every second counts. Chrome's Mini Google Maps extension saves time and patience in that the extension provides users with a one-click search bar above a mini-Google Map.

The extension even offers a "Get Directions" link which activates Google's location-a, location-b format again without asking users to load the Google Map's webpage.

Google promises Doc editing to iPad and Android users

In an effort to improve Google Apps access to mobile users, Google announced Monday that it will soon provide editing capabilities to both iPad and Android users. This move marks another improvement to Google's cloud services which have expanded rapidly over the past few months.

The company now offers Cloud Print, a print service for both native desktop and wireless devices, and a full range of office apps like Google Calendar, Docs and Gmail. Today, the company even announced that it was upgrading its cloud application security to a double validation system.

Google Apps (a.k.a Google Suite) is just like Microsoft Office or the Adobe Suite. Apps is Google's suite of tools available to Google account users free of charge.

What did we learn from Google Wave?

Citing a lack of user adoption, Google announced Wednesday, via its official blog, that the company will nip development of Google Wave "as a standalone product." Meaning more or less that Google will take all the great parts of Google Wave and use them in other Google Suite (yep, that's what we're calling it) products like Google Docs and Gmail.

Perhaps the problem was a lack of direction from the company. When the company initially announced the product at Google I/O, Google fans were incredibly excited and once the product was released everyone wanted an invite. However, most users (including this blogger) were disappointed with Wave once invites became more abundant.

The fact was that, yes, Google Wave could do practically anything users asked it to but how were we supposed to use it?

We blogged a few months ago giving reasons as to why users should give Wave another chance pointing out the tool's ability to collaborate on fast-paced projects. However, while there was plenty room to use Wave in a work setting, there seemed little need to use Wave for play.

Regardless, Google Wave development is finished but can we really call the product a failure? No.

"...what's possible in the browser"

The truth is Wave taught both developers and users a lot about what was possible in the browser. While Twitter desktop apps like Tweet Deck and Tweetie were growing in popularity, Wave promoted browser-based Twitter applications which now make a lot more sense to HootSuite users.

Real-time collaboration by character

Wave also taught users how efficient real-time collaboration could be. The very fact that users could watch collaborators type sentences by character meant that collaborators could respond to questions and ideas before another collaborator even finished a thought. This developed into faster, more efficient collaboration. Meanwhile to Wave users, having to hit "save" to allow collaborators to see changes in a Google Doc seems almost archaic.

One-stop app

Finally, Google Wave alluded to an idea most of us have been waiting for: when will someone create an app that incorporates email, social networking, Web-browsing and professional-based collaboration tools all in one package? Why do we have to go to hundreds of places to check so many different things. What made Google Wave so exciting initially was that it promised to be an all-in-one browser-based app. Unfortunately, it never came close.

What was your favorite feature of Google Wave and how did you use the tool? Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page.

Three ways to integrate Facebook into your blog

Facebook is by far the largest and most powerful social network on the internet today hosting "more than 400 million active users" according to statistics released by Facebook. But what bloggers should find even more interesting is that those 400 million users spend a combined total of "more than 500 billion minutes on Facebook," according to the statistics.

Today, while Twitter tried to sink its "fail whale" Mashable asked readers an important questions, "Is Facebook Getting Bigger than Google?" The story was related to a report by Hitwise's which said internet users in the UK are visiting Facebook.com more than Google.com for the first time in internet history.

On that note, we've created a list of ways to integrate Facebook into your blog. In doing so, bloggers are likely to increase readership and even increase the likelihood of reader interaction.

Build a Facebook Fan Page

So you want to get the word out about your blog. The important thing to remember is that even though you may not have many readers coming to your site on a daily basis, there are millions of potential readers visiting Facebook everyday.

You could just post your stories to your personal Facebook wall and hope that readers take interest, click your link and see what's on your blog; however, in doing so you aren't really building a community around the site.

When you create a Facebook Fan Page, you are asking users to show support for your blog and to subscribe to what you post. But you can take it a step further.

When you post your latest blog post to your Facebook Wall, ask questions and encourage readers to interact with one another. Eventually, readers will become more familiar with your blog and the interaction on your blog will improve as well and when it does, be sure to tell your fans by pointing out interesting comments and questions submitted by their fellow readers.

Create a Facebook "Like Box" (Fan Box)

Now that you have a fan page, show it off on your blog page. Create a Like Box at Facebook's Developer page and embed the widget into your site. The Like Box advertises your fan page to readers who may not know that you are on Facebook and, with specifications, links to the latest post on your page. You can also add a Like button to the box so that users can like your fan page directly from your blog.

"Like" Button

The "Like" button is one of the easiest ways for readers to share your blog content to Facebook. When a reader clicks the Like button on a blog post, that post is then immediately shared to the reader's Facebook Wall and network (Statistic: The average Facebook user has 130 friends.) The Like button can be added to almost any kind of website, or blog such as Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr. It's also really easy to make a Like button for individual Web addresses.

Why users should give Google Wave another chance

By Andy Stettler

Chief Blogger

When I first received my Google Wave invitation last November I was ecstatically excited. After a month of tweeting Wave hash tags, begging for an invite, I was finally able to get a feel for what Software Engineering Manager Lars Rasmussen and Google Wave Product Manager Stephanie Hannon had demoed in front of Google staff during the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O.

I had expected a browser application that would allow me to manage all of my social networks, email, documents and means of communication into a one-stop super app. But the truth became clear by the end of my first weekend with Wave that the tool did allow users to do all of the above, but not conveniently. I received my invite on a Saturday morning. By Sunday night I had decided Google Wave just wasn't practical and I wasn't going to use it.

Six months later, I'm reassessing that truth. I've realized that the trouble wasn't that Wave was impractical, the problem was that I didn't have a use for Wave at the time.

Google Wave is made for real-time communication and collaboration. During the Ben Franklin Project, we used Google Wave to connect two of Montgomery Media's two offices, one in Fort Washington, Pa. and another in Souderton, Pa.

Through Google Wave five staff members were able to connect, collaborate and produce an initial press release explaining the project to the public. In a sense, Google Wave not only allowed our team to collaboratively create the project's description, it also worked as a foreshadow to evoke the idea that we would be using new and free technology to connect and create throughout the entire project.

Why Google Docs was not enough
Initially, we began writing our ideas for the press release into a Google Doc but quickly found that the tool was insufficient in that we had to save the doc in order to alert other staff members that we had made changes or updated the doc. We couldn't just type something in the document and rest assured that the other team members would see the changes.

However, let me be clear that we did use Google Docs for almost everything else during the project. It replaced Microsoft Word and Apple Pages during story production. However, when we needed something that could support our need to collaborate in real-time, from different locations, Google Wave worked in our favor.

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New templates to improve the way we Wave

In addition to using "blank documents" on Google Wave, the tool now offers a number of other templates users can work with.

Brainstorm

When you're working with a team of staff on a specific project, use the brainstorm template to produce a list of ideas. As the template suggests, "encourage wild ideas" and "defer judgement." This is a place for creativity, use the discussion template to breakdown your ideas and to decide what is realistic. Note: The brainstorm template offers a visual box that allows users to draw logos, page designs and anything similar.

Discussion

The discussion template can be used in the next step of your brainstorming process. Use the discussion template as a place to differentiate which of your past ideas are worth pursuing and which should go down the shoot. Users can offer the brainstorm ideas or "proposals" while other users can vote in favor or against the idea.

Task Tracking

Use the Task Tracking Template to record what needs to be done in order to put your ideas to work. Users can arrange jobs by priority (high, medium, low, not going to do) using the Wave as a place to come back to in order to see what is next on the agenda.

Meeting

Use the Meeting Template to create agendas for meetings. These Waves, when shared with other team members, help to provide a structure to your meetings. Write who will be attending, what needs to be discussed and what jobs need to be done (refer to your Task Tracking Wave).

Have an addition to our report on Google Wave? Send us an email at AndyStettler@Gmail.com.

Five social media extensions for Google Chrome

Google Chrome is by far the fastest browser available for download according to tech reviews from ZDNet and CNet. However, can Google's browser compete with FireFox's add-on catalog? Over the past few weeks 140 Characters has collected five Chrome extensions that may even push FireFox into your second-string browser slot. Below is a list of five Chrome extensions which can greatly enhance your social media use and reduce time-spent tweeting and posting to Facebook.

Facebook for Google Chrome

Manage the essentials of your Facebook account from the top-right corner of your Chrome browser. Using the Chrome Facebook extension, users can view the news feed, wall and messages and receive Facebook notifications. If developers were to include a Facebook Chat feature, this extension would nearly replace the need to run Facebook in the browser. NOTE: Users cannot edit their fan pages nor groups or events.

Chromed Bird

This extension is just like the previous tool but for Twitter. Users can literally manage their entire account from this extension including tweets, @replies, direct messages, favorites and lists or hash tags. The downside to this extension is that you cannot manage multiple accounts and since you cannot install the same extension twice, users may revert back to their primary desktop app (Tweet Deck, Tweetie).

Goo.gl URL Shortener

It's hard to mention any URL shortener other than Bit.ly but here goes. Google's URL shortener goo.gl is probably the simplest shortener around. Unlike Bit.ly, no sidebar will pop-up and users definitely do not need to go to any Web page to shorten a link. Instead, just select the Goo.gl URL shortener extension in the Chrome browser and a small speech bubble will appear with the shortened link. Unfortunately, Google's shortener does not track clicks like Bit.ly does but if you're using SnipURL, I recommend using Goo.gl instead.

Autopen - Email Signatures

It seems Gmail will never have the ability to build social media icons into user signatures. Instead, the email service relies on WiseStamp in FireFox and now Autopen in Chrome. But while WiseStamp asks users to select a social network and add a profile link, Autopen allows users to use HTML to create buttons.

This is both good and bad. For users who have HTML experience, this allows greater freedom to customize your social media icons. However, for users who don't know HTML (or refuse to find the proper codes via Google), Autopen is almost useless.

UPDATE: You can copy and paste your WiseStamp signature into Autopen and link the social media icons to the proper Web addresses.

Speed Dial

This is just barely a social media tool but it's still worth mentioning. Remember the last time you pulled up a new tab in Chrome or Safari only for your co-workers and friends to see that you've visited an embarrassing site enough that it became one of your browser short cuts? Well this extension will put an end to the embarrassment.

Speed Dial allows users to assign up to 12 shortcuts in the Chrome browser once a blank, new tab is opened. The extension also offers a number of backgrounds to use in the Speed Dial tab.

Foursquare Now on the Maps

Just a few days after announcing its check-ins would now appear in Bing maps, Foursquare has made a second announcement; check-ins are now on Google maps too. Along with Gowalla and Brightkite, two similar location based mobile social networking games, Foursquare is visible in Google maps via a browser accessible application called Checkin Mania.

What's to see?

Anyone using Checkin Mania will see venues Foursquare users have added in the game, plus tips and visitor information like who the mayor of that venue is and who else is there. Overall, this is a pretty cool idea. It's a very futuristic way of looking at Bing and Google maps where users can look for reviews or opinions rather than locations only.

Note: When I accessed Checkin Mania for the first time, I was able to see almost every venue tagged in Foursquare but after a reloaded, I wasn't able to see the games information. In fact, Gowalla was the only network I could see in the app after the first reload. Is anyone else having this problem?