Google is the undisputed king of the cloud. If you spend any considerable amount of time on the Internet, you probably have made a Google account at some time or another. And if you’re like me, you use your Google account on a daily, scratch that, hourly basis. Whether I’m at home or at work, on my Mac or on my Blackberry, as long as I am connected to the Internet I can access Google search, Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Maps (Latitude), Reader, Alerts, Analytics, and much, much more. That’s a boat load of cloud computing.

I can’t begin to tell you how much joy Dropbox brings to my life. So much so that Dropbox is now officially one of the first programs I install on any new computer I use. Here’s how it works — first you download and install Dropbox on all of your computers. This will create a folder on each computer called “My Dropbox”. Now, anything you put into your “My Dropbox” folder gets uploaded to your Dropbox web account and subsequently synced with all of your computers that are linked to that account. For me, this is a dream come true. I’m constantly bouncing back and forth between computers and operating systems. It’s cross platform, so it works with Windows, Linux, and OS X. No more emailing myself files or constantly pulling out my thumbdrive every time I need to move my data around. You can also access all of your files via a web browser, which can be super convenient when you’re on the go and don’t have access to your personal computers.

Lala does music, and they do it well. It’s especially nice if you spend a good chunk of your life in front of a computer. Here’s the scoop; after joining Lala, they will scan your entire computer(s) and upload (or match) all of your songs in your library to your Lala account. From that point on, you have access to all of your music anytime you want, as long as you’re on the cloud. But it gets even better. You can play any song that’s not in your library, once, for free. You can even put entire albums in your queue and listen to them in their entirety before you decide if you want to buy them or not. And here’s the beauty, if you like the song and want to purchase it (or them), you have two choices. You can buy the streaming version for only 10 cents per song, or a DRM free MP3 for 99 cents per song (89 cents if you previously bought the streaming version). This is great on so many levels. For one, 10 cents is cheap, and once you buy a streaming song you can listen to it as many times and as often as you’d like as long as your connected to the internet. You also get 50 free streaming songs just for joining Lala. Secondly, you may not need or want to download an entire album. You could buy an entire streaming album for $1.00, then hand pick the songs you want to download (DRM free) to put on your iPod, or your Zune, or your iPod. Lala has a nice wallet feature too that allows you to store a set amount of money for quick purchases. When your wallet runs dry, just add some more cash. $5.00 = 50 streaming songs. Not bad. If I could improve one feature of Lala, it would be their music discovery. Though it’s not all that bad, it’s still not on par with the likes of Pandora. Oh yes, and a Blackberry app — that would be fantastic.

Xmarks, formerly known as Foxmarks, is a browser plug-in for Firefox, IE, and Safari (hopefully soon for Chrome) that stores all of your bookmarks remotely and then syncs them to all of your browsers. Again, this is only handy if you spend a lot of time in multiple environments — but that’s sort of the whole point of cloud computing, not having to be locked down to one computer, one processor, one hard drive… Once installed, Xmarks does everything in the background — set it and forget it. Xmarks is also taking a stab at social bookmarking, similar to sites like Delicious, Stumble Upon, and Digg. Good luck with that one guys — the social bookmarking scene is getting a bit crowded. Personally, I would just stick with bookmark syncing. This is definitely one area where they know their stuff

Reqall is a virtual extension of my memory. The whole reason I started using Reqall was so that I could get thoughts out of my head quickly (GTD-like) and revisit them at a later time. For example, I always remember things while I’m driving. With Reqall, I can call and leave a message on my account. Reqall then transcribes the message and emails it back to me. Now my idea / thought / task / appointment is nice and safe in my email inbox for review at a more appropriate time. Reqall is also linked to my Google Calendar, so if I were to call and say “Dinner with Meg’s parents Sunday at 5 O’Clock”, Reqall would put that entry right on my calendar on the specified day and time. It can be a life saver. Their website is well designed and offers a variety of ways to organize your To-Dos and notes. However, they could work a bit on improving their lists management system which, according to them, is on their list of things to do — no comment. Voice isn’t the only way to add items to reqall. You can use instant messaging, a Firefox extension, email, text messages, or my personal favorite, their mobile app. I can’t speak for the iPhone app, but Reqall’s Blackberry app is probably the best, most well designed app on my phone. Reqall also offers a pro account for $20.00 a year which unlocks a few neat features. I think the free version is sufficient for most people though. At least until they fix some of the minor quirks and add a few more niceties.

International Space Station infected by a Virus. – That’s just sad. Really, really sad.

Google launches Chrome – I wanted to wait until I had some alone time with this browser before I wrote about it. It’s very sleek and super fast, especially if you use a lot of Google’s services (which I do). There is a darkside however. For you security consciousness people out there, you may want to check out Steve Gibson’s security podcast, aptly named Security Now. I’ll be sticking with Firefox for the time being.

Ubiquity, yet another reason not to ditch Firefox. – As you all know, another reason why Firefox is so near and dear to our hearts is because of all the great extensions available for it. Ubiquity is just another fine example of what a great extension can do for you. It has sped up my surfing by 28.37%, no kidding. Install it, check out the tutorial, and take it for a spin.

Google to Acquire Valve? – Say What? I’ll believe it when I see it. If you don’t know who Valve is, don’t bother clicking the link. If you don’t know who Google is, get off my site.

Amazon buys Shelfari. – Old news, I know, but I’m still excited. One of the reasons I stuck with Shelfari over Goodreads was the fact that Amazon was an investor in the company. Now that they own it, let all the Amazon goodness ooze right down onto it. Oh, and check out my shelf. Sweet stuff there.

I’ve been using runningmap.com – This isn’t new either, but it’s new to me. I thought I’d throw this out there to my fellow runners. This is what I ran today.

Just installed this. It’s only an early alpha release, but it looks just too promising for me to wait for the beta.

This site uses a lot of CSS and is written in xhtml (transitional), both of which comply with w3c standards. Validate them yourselves if you wish. BUT WAIT! Before you do, I should mention that though the site code complies with w3c standards, some of the content may not always validate properly, e.g., when embedding videos from Youtube. So to validate this site, click on this to leave the front page and then click on the two buttons below.

   &   

Needless to say, the site renders perfectly when using Firefox, Opera, Netscape, Safari, Konqueror, and even older versions of Internet Explorer. Grrrr. I’m so disappointed. I was really looking forward to this release.

So what now? I could block all IE7 users from my site. That’s just mean. Not to mention that in about one months time IE7 is going to be included in Microsoft’s automatic updates – which in turn, means that the majority of Window’s user’s will be upgrading to IE7. That’s a little under 50% of my visitors. Yeah, I thought that was a crazy statistic too. That obviously means that about half of the people that visit this site are using something other than Internet Explorer. Although, I’ve always assumed that people who read and/or write blogs were more likely to use an alternative browser to Internet Explorer, but I never would have guessed 50%. My faith in humanity has just doubled.

Maybe I should just wait for Microsoft to fix this problem for me. (you may now take a moment to laugh). Done?

No, I think my only viable option here is to find a CSS expert who can write me an IE7 hack of some type. If it’s even possible. I really don’t want to do a complete site redesign just because of one stupid company that can’t play nice with the rest of the kids in the yard.

To help clarify my last statement:

• kids = web standards
• yard = the internet
• stupid = Microsoft

Alright, I don’t think Microsoft is stupid. In fact, I think they can be down right brilliant at times. So why, then, can’t they get something as simple as this correct? Why, oh why.

Anyways, I don’t plan on doing anything drastic for a while. Maybe Bill Gates is a frequent reader of my site and will be appalled with what he sees and go back to Redmond and personally fix the problem himself. Thanks Bill! I owe you one.

Enough blabbering. What is the moral of this story ladies and gentlemen? For the love of god, download Firefox.

<!- - end IE7 hack - ->

Firefox commercial

Being the avid Google fan that I am, I, along with thousands of others, awaited the release of the Google Pack with high expectations. Not so much for the pack itself, but to see which programs Google deemed worthy enough to land a spot in this illustrious assortment of software. However, when it was finally released earlier this month, the wave of disappointment over the community was astounding. The mediocrity of the pack was completely out of character for a company known for its innovation, creativity, and originality.

Allow me to express some of my opinions about the software included in this bundle. Shall I? Indeed, I shall.

Realplayer – The problem with putting a multimedia player in the ultimate bundle pack is that there aren’t any that really stand out from the rest. Real Player is OK, but so is QuickTime, and Winamp, and VLC, and Sonique, and even Windows Media Player for that matter. Each player has advantages and disadvantages over the other. In fact, I haven’t found one media player that satisfies all of my multimedia needs (at least not without a struggle). I personally use Windows Media Player, VLC, and occasionally Winamp. It really comes down to personal preference, and putting it in a pack like this is like putting an onion pizza in an ultimate food pack when just as many people like pepperoni pizza.

Adobe Acrobat Reader – Now this is a great program. In fact, I would say it’s an essential program. The thing is most computers already have this installed on them. It ships with virtually every new PC on the market. Not to mention with any software package that uses the Portable Document Format (PDF) for their tutorials/how-tos/instructions or other literature. Case in point, I was installing a video game last night called Far Cry and after the installation it prompted me to install Adobe Acrobat Reader. Of all things, a video games offers Acrobat Reader? There’s nothing ground-breaking about it being included in the Google Pack.

Google Earth – This is just Google showing off. It’s a great program and a lot of fun, but I would say it’s far from being essential. But then again, it is Google’s pack and they are allowed to show off as much as they want. If I wrote an amazing program like that I suppose I’d want it in my pack too. It’s just not a necessity.

Google Desktop – I tried this software for about a month and found it kinda of messy and clunky. It’s almost the sort of product you’d see from AOL or Yahoo, not from Google. It seems to veer away from Google’s minimalistic approach. I also get the feeling that Google is trying to force this particular piece software on users, a trait that also doesn’t fit well with Google’s usually consistent theme of being unobtrusive.

Norton Antivirus- You’ve come to the wrong place if you’re looking for a Norton supporter, or a Mcafee supporter while we’re at it. Both companies are a thorn in my side. They are system hogs and a bitch to uninstall. I’ve also never trusted any antivirus company that charges for their products. Their whole business is built on people getting viruses. Do I even need to mention the trouble Norton (Symantec) got into recently for secretly installing rootkits onto their customers computers. Come on! That’s like an animal rights activist kicking the crap out of a helpless Poodle. Sure, it might be fun, but it’s just wrong. Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.

Google also tossed in a screensaver pack and an art gallery viewer. I’m assuming these were used as filler. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they’re fabulous programs. My computer just doesn’t need anymore fillers.

Google didn’t get it all wrong though. They did manage to include some must have programs into their bundle. That got me thinking. If I had to make a Skyecade Pack, what amazing programs would I include in it? Hmm. Let’s give it a shot, shall we? Indeed, we shall.

• Firefox – A definite must have for the internet warrior. Firefox is a very customizable and secure web browser. This is one piece of software that Google got right. If there is one thing you should download from this list it should be this. And if you use Outlook for your mail, make sure to check out Thunderbird from Mozilla. It’s good alternative to Microsoft’s flagship mail client.
• Google Toolbar for Firefox Google got this one right too. But of course you’ll want to download the Firefox version and not the one for Internet Explorer since you’re a die-hard Firefox user now.
• Picasa 2 This cool little program made it onto Google’s list too, and I would have to agree with them. It’s a great program (owned by Google) that manages all of your photos on your PC. I was very impressed by it’s intuitive interface and use of tags, in addition to folders. It’s also relatively small and doesn’t install all kinds of other unwanted crap onto your computer *cough* AOL *cough* sucks *cough*. Excuse me, I had something gross in my throat.
• Trillian OK, well maybe Google’s not doing so bad. They did put this little gem in there pack. I’ve used this program for years now. If you’re like me, and pray your not, you may find yourself using multiple chat/voip programs. Trillian merges AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk (Jabber format), and IRC in one tight little bundle. One chat program to rule them all. See that reference to Lord of the Rings right there? Yeah, that’s what I’m all about. Two other alternatives to Trillian are Gaim and Miranda. Both are also nice programs.
• Ad-Aware This is a spyware/ad-ware protection utility. This should be on every ones computer until a better program comes out. It detects spyware, trojans, malware, browser hijackers, dialers, etc… And it’s free.
• Antivir This is my rebuttal to Google’s endorsement of Norton Antivirus. It’s free, it’s better, it’s free, it doesn’t suck, it’s free, and unlike other companies, it will protect you against viruses, not install them. In 3 years of using this program there has never been a virus this program didn’t detect and remove. I recommend this antivirus program out of personal experience, but there are other free antivirus programs that are supposed to be excellent. A few are avast , AVG, and BitDefender. All come highly recommended.
• Keynote This is an outline program that I discovered by accident and now can’t live without. There are too many possible uses for this program to list here. Just download it and start experimenting.
• OpenOffice This didn’t make Google’s list, but in all fairness, I would be surprised if it didn’t make the next release of the Google Pack. I have completely abandoned Microsoft Office for this free office suite. It is fully compatible with all the standard office formats and continuously under development (an example of web 2.0 and the perpetual beta). It has has a word processor, spreadsheet application, presentation software, a vector based graphics program, and a ton more.
• WinRAR Windows XP has there own compression tool, but it isn’t nearly as robust as winRAR. Sooner or later you are going run into a .gz, or .tar and windows is going to curl up in the fetal position and crash. But fear not, you were savvy enough to install winRAR. Good for you.
• Filezilla Filezilla is an FTP program. Not all of you are going to need one of these, but should the day come that you need to upload or download large sums of files from a FTP server, this is the program you should have. I used to use smartFTP almost exclusively. It’s a good enough program, but I found when I really needed a work horse, nothing beat Filezilla. I could let the thing run all night and not worry about it losing a connection.
• Artrage I suppose I couldn’t classify this program as essential, but it’s cool as hell. It’s a very realistic creative art program. It’s also one of the coolest and most natural feeling art programs I have ever seen.
• Ubuntu This is the ultimate in free software. Ubuntu is a whole other operating system. Specifically, it is a version of the Linux operating system. Not only is it a free OS, but it comes with thousands of free programs, some of which are mentioned in this list. Other versions of Linux I’ve used are Red Hat, Mandrake (now called Mandriva), Suse, and Slackware. Slackware was my favorite for the longest time, but it definitely isn’t as user friendly as Ubuntu. And the Ubuntu community is amazing. See for yourself. Just be warned, this is not for the average Joe. Make sure you know what you’re getting into before you decide to go and wipe out you’re Windows partition. I don’t want any angry emails coming my way.

That’s all I can think of right now. That was kind of fun. I may add new programs as I remember them,
or as I discover them — which ever comes first. And don’t fret, I’m still a huge fan of Google, I just hope there’s no tension between us since the release of the extremely popular Skyecade Pack. I wouldn’t want to piss off Google’s shareholders or anything.

*No Poodles were injured during the writing of this article.