Updates to Google Forms Improves Information Gathering Tools

With the ability to embed Google Forms on web pages and within emails, they are a powerful tool for gathering information. Recent upgrades are addressing some of the limitations of the tool.

  • Section headers can be added to give longer forms more structure.
  • The editor supports fixed-width
  • The ability to edit multiple forms at once
  • A new HTML structure is more suited for skinning and Javascript applications
  • Forms will display in the user’s localized language

Solve Feature Enhances Google Spreadsheets

If you work with linear equations, check out the new Solve feature in Google Spreadsheets. While it does not yet support equations containing formulas, the feature enhances the complexity of information analysis available in Spreadsheets.

Click here to learn how to use Solve.

Domain-Level Templates in Google Apps

Last fall, Google released a public template gallery for Google Apps. Last week, Google released template galleries for domains using Google Apps Premier and Education Editions.

Now, any user in the domain can submit a template to be shared with all other domain users. Templates exist for Docs, Spreadsheets, Forms, and Presentations.

This feature should improve your ability to standardize the look and feel of corporate documents.

Click Here to learn more …

Backup Axiom #1 – Recovery is Hard

In his IT Project Failures blog, Michael Krigsman bemoans his “Failing with Online Backup” in his effort to backup 350 GB using two popular consumer online backup services (. While many of the comments teased him with “you get what you pay for” taunts, the real issue is …

Backup Axiom #1: Backups are Easy; Recovery is Hard;

In his search for a cheap answer, he neglected to consider is upload speed, the size and nature of his data, the retention points and period, the restore methods of the services, and the likely nature of his restores.

While in the comments he states he is fine with an long initial seed, selecting a service with an offline method of seeding would have avoided the bandwidth and connectivity failures he experienced. And while his intent was to be able to recovery individual files, should he need to restore 20GB, 50GB, or more of his data, he would have been more than frustrated in the process and speed.

Anybody can provide cheap, secure, off-site backup storage. The key is selecting a service that meets your reliability and recovery needs.

Click Here for more …

New Label Features in Gmail Add Flexibility

Last week, the Gmail Team announced three new features related to labels within Gmail. As you may know, Labels are a way to organize and search messages. While they can be used like folders in most email systems, Gmail allows you to apply multiple emails to messages for more intuitive management.

The new features are:

  • New Location: Labels are not located above the Chat box
  • Hide & Show: You can now decide which of your labels you want to see by default, letting you keep often-used labels visible with all labels one-click away
  • Drag & Drop Messages: Drag messages into a label will label and archive the message in one step

  • Drag & Drop Messages: You can drag a label onto selected messages

Click here for details …

Google Contact Updates

Last week, Google added a series of improvements to Google Contacts, primarily targeting business customers.

In addition to additional fields and improvements to the Contacts interface in Gmail and the Contacts screen, Google added new APIs that let administrators add fields and share contacts within the domain.

Click Here to learn more …

Tiny URLs: Convenient, Cool, and Risky

URL shortening, through services such as tinyurl.com and bit.ly, are a convenient way to get shorten URLs so they fit within emails, tweets, and other postings. The convenience, however, does come with risks.


In the CNET Article, URL shortening is hot–but look before you leap, Stephen Shankland identifies some of the risks and offers great advice about picking a service.

SPAM Continues to Trend Upward;

So how do spam trends related to cloud computing? It all depends on how you block and fight SPAM.

According to the Q2 2009 Spam Trends report published by the team at Google Postini Services, spammers have developed means of releasing days worth of spam in just hours. If you are manage spam from within your network, this means your Internet connectivity and servers are more susceptible to performance degradation and failure.

Across our customer base, ~92% of email is spam. Most spam is sent to invalid email addresses. This traffic chews up bandwidth inbound. If it hits your servers, it increases the disk space used for log files as well as outbound bandwidth for non-delivery report messages.

If you stop spam in the cloud, you protect your network and server performance regardless of the volume of spam targeting your domain.

Click Here and Here to learn more …

Google Updates Sync for Microsoft Outlook

Following the release of Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, a number of issues were identified by the user community related to the installation and some of the settings. Last week, Google pushed out an update with the following fixes and improvements.

  • You can choose between native Outlook Search and Windows Desktop Search; Windows Desktop Search is no longer prevented from searching Outlook data.
  • You can now access Windows Live Hotmail via the Microsoft Office Outlook Connector plug-in when the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook is installed
  • Added an option to enable or disable auto-archiving during installation
  • Improved installation to make it easier to know here data in other Outlook accounts is located

With these modifications, Google continues to improve the tools that help organizations migrate to Google Apps.

Click here to learn more …

MV=P2 The Law of Meeting Coordination

How may attendees does it take to schedule a meeting?

While it sounds like the lead-in to a good punchline, the reality is that most organizations thrash when it comes to arranging meetings.

James Gaskin, in his Smart Tech for Small Biz blog on ITworld.com, may be the first to quantify the problem with The Law of Meeting Coordination.

“MV=P2. This formula stands for Mail Volume = Participants Squared”

James makes a compelling case for sharing sufficient calendaring information that attendees can negotiate times and availability without the flurry of “I am/I am not available” emails.

I could not agree more. As we finish our migration from Exchange to Google Apps across all of our businesses, we are experimenting with public access to free/busy information in Google Calendars.