VicLovan.com https://www.viclovan.com Computer Help and How To (and maybe a little about me) Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Investing https://www.viclovan.com/2011/09/05/investing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=investing https://www.viclovan.com/2011/09/05/investing/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/947/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/09/05/investing/feed/ 0 Family Decals https://www.viclovan.com/2011/09/02/family-decals/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=family-decals https://www.viclovan.com/2011/09/02/family-decals/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/946/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/09/02/family-decals/feed/ 0 Using Gmail, Calendar and Docs without an Internet connection https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/31/using-gmail-calendar-and-docs-without-an-internet-connection/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=using-gmail-calendar-and-docs-without-an-internet-connection https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/31/using-gmail-calendar-and-docs-without-an-internet-connection/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The Gmail Team https://www.viclovan.com/?guid=c0b73fcb80994a6cbaa001440b0e8fff Posted by Benoît de Boursetty, Product Manager

(Cross-posted on the Google Enterprise Blog)

The great thing about web apps is that you can access all of your information on the go, and we’ve introduced ways to use Google Apps on a variety of devices like mobile phones and tablets. But it’s inevitable that you’ll occasionally find yourself in situations when you don’t have an Internet connection, like planes, trains and carpools. When we announced Chromebooks at Google I/O 2011, we talked about bringing offline access to our web apps, and now we’re taking our first steps in that direction. Gmail offline will be available today, and offline for Google Calendar and Google Docs will be rolling out over the next week, starting today.

Gmail Offline is a Chrome Web Store app that’s intended for situations when you need to read, respond to, organize and archive email without an internet connection. This HTML5-powered app is based on the Gmail web app for tablets, which was built to function with or without web access. After you install the Gmail Offline app from the Chrome Web Store, you can continue using Gmail when you lose your connection by clicking the Gmail Offline icon on Chrome’s “new tab” page.


Google Calendar and Google Docs let you seamlessly transition between on- and offline modes. When you’re offline in Google Calendar, you can view events from your calendars and RSVP to appointments. With Google Docs you can view documents and spreadsheets when you don’t have a connection. Offline editing isn’t ready yet, but we know it’s important to many of you, and we’re working hard to make it a reality. To get started using Google Calendar or Google Docs offline, just click the gear icon at the top right corner of the web app and select the option for offline access.

IT administrators can deploy Chrome Web Store apps to users en masse by setting up organizational policies for Chrome.

Today’s world doesn’t slow down when you’re offline and it’s a great feeling to be productive from anywhere, on any device, at any time. We’re pushing the boundaries of modern browsers to make this possible, and while we hope that many users will already find today’s offline functionality useful, this is only the beginning. Support for offline document editing and customizing the amount of email to be synchronized will be coming in the future. We also look forward to making offline access more widely available when other browsers support advanced functionality (like background pages).
]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/31/using-gmail-calendar-and-docs-without-an-internet-connection/feed/ 0 I’m Sorry https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/31/im-sorry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=im-sorry https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/31/im-sorry/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/945/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/31/im-sorry/feed/ 0 Free calls home from Gmail for all U.S. service members https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/30/free-calls-home-from-gmail-for-all-u-s-service-members/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=free-calls-home-from-gmail-for-all-u-s-service-members https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/30/free-calls-home-from-gmail-for-all-u-s-service-members/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:45:00 +0000 The Gmail Team https://www.viclovan.com/?guid=841ae663e0c4449213688d0df5070849 Posted by Ilya Frank, Senior Software Engineer

We understand that it’s not always easy or affordable for our troops serving overseas to call friends and family at home, so starting today we’re making it completely free for all uniformed military personnel with valid United States Military (.mil) email addresses to call the United States, right from Gmail.

There are two easy steps to enable free calling from Gmail (detailed instructions):
  1. Add your valid .mil email address to your Google Account
  2. Click on the Call phone link at the top of the Gmail chat roster and install the voice and video Gmail plugin if you haven’t already.

And don’t forget that for friends and family at home in the U.S., calling troops abroad is as little as $.02/minute.

Similar to free calling within the U.S., free calling to the U.S. for service members will be available for at least the rest of 2011.

We recognize and appreciate the sacrifices U.S. troops make when they serve abroad, and we’re proud to help make it a little bit easier for them to stay connected and hear a familiar voice.
]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/30/free-calls-home-from-gmail-for-all-u-s-service-members/feed/ 0 Hurricane Names https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-names/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hurricane-names https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-names/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/944/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-names/feed/ 0 Hurricane Names https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-names/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hurricane-names https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-names/#comments Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/944/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/29/hurricane-names/feed/ 0 Faces of Gmail: Brandon Long https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/26/faces-of-gmail-brandon-long/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=faces-of-gmail-brandon-long https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/26/faces-of-gmail-brandon-long/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:49:00 +0000 The Gmail Team https://www.viclovan.com/?guid=37e6ca89561cff093e7d1bf591e5d0b3 Posted by Kathleen Chen, Consumer Operations

In this month’s Faces of Gmail we’ll introduce you to Brandon Long, a parent, ice-hockey player and science fiction fan who makes sure your emails get sent and received.

What do you do on the Gmail team?
I’m the Tech Lead Manager of the Gmail delivery team. Our team is responsible for sending and receiving email for Gmail and many other Google projects. We’re also responsible for the IMAP & POP support for Gmail, which is the most popular way to access Gmail on mobile devices.



What did you do before joining Google?
I founded Neotonic Software which wrote a web application for email customer support. Before that, I worked at eGroups, which was acquired by Yahoo! and is now Yahoo!Groups.

What’s your typical day like?
My typical day involves catching up on email from our teams in other timezones (Google Engineering never sleeps). I also stay on top of escalations from our support team, keep abreast of the running service with our SREs (Site Reliability Engineers), and make sure my team doesn’t have any blockages. Finally, I still manage to keep my hands in the codebase, working as part of the team. When I have some extra time, I take a peek in the Gmail help forum to see if there’s anything brewing or any help I can offer.

What do you like most about what you do?
Scale and ubiquity. Everyone knows about Gmail, many people I know use it. The volume of messages we deal with on a daily basis is pretty staggering, and it’s pretty complicated to keep the whole thing working and continuing to scale.

What are the three Gmail features you wouldn’t be able to live without?
SMTP, IMAP, and keyboard shortcuts. I get thousands of messages a day to my work account, and keyboard shortcuts make all of the difference in handling the volume.



What’s your favorite lab?
Green Robot. I’m an Android fan, and I like to see which of my friends are fans as well.

What do you do when you’re not working on Gmail?
I’m a father of two young children, and I play ice hockey in the local beer league.

Any favorite TV shows?
Burn Notice, The Daily Show, Top Chef, Top Gear

What’s on your reading list?
Switching to the Kindle for reading has allowed me to subscribe to magazines I gave up reading a long time ago. For example, after 15 years I’m back to reading Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine. I find it very convenient to read the short stories during my commute.

What would your last meal be?
Does one go with comfort food or with amazing? For comfort, nothing beats Chicago-style Pizza. In SF, that means Patxi’s. In Chicago, that means Lou Malnati’s or Gino’s East. For amazing, I’m not a foodie myself, but I have enough foodie friends to have been introduced to some meals both amazing and ridiculous. And besides, if it’s going to be my last meal, why not a 25 course gastronomic event taking six hours or more? The last place we tried was e by José Andrés, and it was fabulous.

Photos by Cody Bratt, Google Talk team
]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/26/faces-of-gmail-brandon-long/feed/ 0 Empirical https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/26/empirical/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=empirical https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/26/empirical/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/943/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/26/empirical/feed/ 0 Juggling https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/24/juggling/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=juggling https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/24/juggling/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 04:00:00 +0000 xkcd.com http://xkcd.com/942/ ]]> https://www.viclovan.com/2011/08/24/juggling/feed/ 0