Manage Your Work and Personal Google Profiles

If you're a personal Gmail user at work, you've probably run into a situation where you're visiting a Google resource and it asks for your to login using your MacEwan University credentials. To get back to your personal Gmail, you have to again logout and log back in (or sometimes you're be asked to switch accounts).

A simple solution to this is to use Profiles in Google's Chrome browser. Basically, it's like having 2 different browsers - one for your personal account and one for your work account. This will help ensure that you keep those 2 worlds separate!

Instructions for setup can be found here: https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824?hl=en

Tip

When you setup the accounts, assign different icons and themes to each account so you can easily see which window is logged into which account.

Siri Commands to Simplify Your Life

Until recently, I was using and iPhone 4 (which doesn't support Siri). Now that I have an iPhone 5s, I'm constantly chatting with Siri. However, I use Siri in the true sense of an admin assistant.

First, let's start with a basic setup: I turn off Siri's audio confirmation messages - I don't need her repeating back things to me when I'm out in public. Next, I enable "Raise to speak".  With this setup, here are my favorite commands (I bolded the words that Siri acts on:


Set timer for 30 minutes. Gives you a count down timer. Handy reminder to move clothes from the washer to the dryer.

Remind me to watch the news at 10 pm.  Sets a timed base reminder. Unlike the timer, you can create multiple timed reminders (watch the news and move the wash over).

Remind me to take the hamburger out of the freezer when I get home. Set a reminder based on a location.

Where's my wife? Gives me a location on my wife.

Call my wife. Starts dialling - no need to look up the number.

Tell my wife "You look marvellous!". If she's setup with Apple's Messages, it will send the message that way. If not, it will send an SMS.

Tell my wife where I am. Sends her my location on a map (if she's using Messages).

Email Jimmy about dinner on Thursday. Creates an email message with "Dinner on Thursday" as the subject. Siri will then ask you what you want to say in the message.

Email Jimmy about dinner on Thursday and say "Where do you want to go?" Creates an email message with "Dinner on Thursday" as the subject and "Where do you want to go" as the message.

Setup a meeting for tomorrow at 10 am about "Meeting with Insurance Guy". Creates an appointment at the time indicated with the title "Meeting with Insurance Guy".

Setup a meeting for tomorrow at 10 am about "Meeting with Insurance Guy" with John Walker. As above, but invites John as a participant (you can invite multiple people too).

What movies are playing? Get a local list.

Show me how to get home. Directions

There are lots of other commands you can use with Siri - which ones do you use on a daily basis?

And don't forget that Siri loves to dictate notes for you!

Create a Merge Newsletter with Google Docs (Just in time for Christmas)

Many people enjoy sending out a year in review Christmas letter. One of the things I've always hated about them is that because they're so generic, they feel impersonal.

There are many App Scripts available that can add features and tools to Google Docs. Autocrat allows you to merge data in a spreadsheet with a Google Doc and save the merged files as a Google Document or a PDF. It will even email a copy of the document to individuals.

Now let's take the concept of the newsletter and expand it. In addition to adding the person's name at the top, let's customize the first and last paragraph (the middle will be the generic newsletter content). If I'm writing to my brother Bob, my first paragraph will be a personal message to him (eg: Great seeing you this summer - thanks for inviting us to your cabin). The last paragraph is also customized for him (eg: Looking forward to seeing you at Christmas - your room is ready for you!).

After you've gone through and created all this content in your spreadsheet (or if it's easier for you, use a form to enter your info), you can use Autocrat to create the merged newsletters. You can print them off or you can let Autocrat email them out.

A Simpler Events Page for Your Hangouts on Air

One of the major challenges about using Google tools (hangouts, Event pages, etc) is that to participate you must have a Google+ account. Even something as simple as trying to ask a question often requires your visitors to login - and if you don't have an account already setup, that's another roadblock for your visitor.

However, there are chat services available that makes it easy to participate - without requiring a login account. Zoho Chat (http://zoho.chat.com) is one of those services where your visitor selects a name for themselves and then can start chatting. By embedding the code for chatting with the code for your HOA you can create a simplified version of a Google Event:

Setup

If you're html handy, you can embed the two pieces of code anywhere, but if you're not, an easy solution is Google's Blogger. You create a specific blog to host your events and then create a new entry for each event/HOA. However you do it, be sure to test it ahead of time as there are many solutions that either don't accept the code (eg. Wordpress.com) or rewrites the code and it won't function properly (eg. Google Sites). For purpose of this example, I'll be embedding a live version further down.

Creating your chat

Visit chat.zoho.com and login using either one of the provided services or with Zoho itself.  You need to do this to create and administer your rooms. Once you're logged in, select the Shoutbox style from the right (there are other chat styles available, but this is the one that lets all users chat with each other).

.

Next, you need to give the name for this chat box (for administration purposes), a title and customize the look of your chat box, changing the colors to match your web site. As I may create a chat for each HOA I create, I'll want to identify it by topic and date.

When everything's looking the way you want, generate the code for the embed. Now you just need to go to a page where you can paste in the HOA code along side the chat code. Here's a live sample below (the current video would be substituted for the HOA code):

 

If you'd prefer, you could even have the chat open in a separate window:

Open Chat in new window
   
  

Pros/Cons

There's a lot to be said for using Google's comments tools located within Events and YouTube. You can have a conversation that takes place before and after your event, with notifications sent to you with each new posting. However, you still have to have a Google+ or YouTube account setup. Other sites like 

+Business Hangouts have created solutions to make the process easier by allowing viewers to login with Facebook, Linkedin in addition to Google+, but if you have a visitor who hasn't signed up for any of those is still forced to do so.

Although this method is sign-up free, it's not without it's own challenges: you can't moderate the chat or block users. Once the HOA is over, you do not receive any updates of further comments made to the chat. And of course, there's no way to followup with users because they can use false names.  However, you could create a form to collect contact information before providing them with the link to the actual hangout. Still with all it's challenges, if you want a simple way for anyone to join into a conversation without having to login, this is an effective tool.

Want to learn more about using this method? Just leave a comment below and I'll contact you with information about an upcoming training video/Hangout on Air.

Combining multiple Gmail filters into one

Gmail's filters and labels are an incredible powerful combination. Typically users create multiple filters and assign them to a single label, but you can easily combine a number of filters into one by using the OR command.

Just open one of your existing filters and add additional email addresses separated by OR with a space on either side (e.g. space-OR-space):

here@there.com OR me@round.com OR peter@parker.com

Send Emails with Google Forms

Google Forms is a great tool for collecting information, but you can also use it as a contact form on your website. Unfortunately, it doesn't email you the contents of the form - at best you can have Google send you a notification when there is a change in the spreadsheet.

That's where scripts come in. Thanks to the genius of others, there are many scripts you can use to extend the functionality of spreadsheets. The one I use is FormEmailer by +Henrique Abreu. This wonderful script makes it easy to send emails with customized messages. Check out the video below and be sure to visit the FormEmailer  site!

Add a Placeholder Video to your Hangout on Air's Event Page

As a new user to Google+, one thing that many people find confusing is that an Event page is not the actual Hangout on Air (HOA). I'll often see comments like "Where's the video?" on the event page 2 or 3 days before the actual event.

Many of these users expect the Event page to be like a television station - there's something always playing, but they're show will start at the advertised time. To help educate visitors, I created this video which I place in my Event's YouTube URL:

Now the visitors know to tune in at the scheduled time to see the live HOA.

Other things you could do:

• create a "commercial" with your participants that will explain what they can expect when they tune in at the proper time
• run a related video
• run a cartoon or movie
• run your favourite music video

If you want to create your own video, one of the easiest ways is to use YouTube's Slideshow tool. You can create slides in your favourite graphics editor (or PowerPoint), save them as files and upload them. (Tip: use music from YouTube's library so your video won't get pulled for infringement). Or create something in a movie editor and upload.

Easier still, just link to the video I created and paste it into your Event!

For more information be sure to read Clearing up the Confusion of Google Events and Hangouts on Air (HOAs).