Picasa Web Doesn't Charge You Storage for Every Photo/Video

I kept wondering why my storage meter wasn't increasing on Picasa Web. It turns out they don't "charge" for storage if photos and videos are below a certain size or length.

http://support.google.com/picasa/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1224181

"Free storage limits

Picasa Web Albums offers 1 GB of free storage for photos and videos. However, files under certain size limits don't count towards this free storage limit. This applies to uploads for other Google product that store photos and videos in Picasa Web Albums, including Blogger, Google+ and Google Maps.

The free storage sizes are good for sharing photos on the web, but if you prefer to upload your images at a larger size for better quality (archival or print), you can buy more storage at any time. Learn more"

Use 2-step Verification for your Google Account

via youtube.com

Why you should use 2-step verification

"2-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your Google Account by requiring you to have access to your phone – as well as your username and password – when you sign in. In addition to your username and password, you'll enter a code that Google will send you via text or voice message upon signing in.

2-step verification drastically reduces the chances of having the personal information in your Google account stolen by someone else. Why? Because hackers would have to not only get your password and your username, they'd have to get a hold of your phone."

I recently switched to using 2-step verification and it is only a little more work and a lot more secure. There are a couple of apps that don't work with it - like the Picasa Logitech Revue App, but most will work using an "application specific password". This video talks about those as well. I was recently prompted by a friend to do this after E-mails in my name that *appeared* to come from my gmail account. In the end it was a spoof and my account was fine. Still it scared me enough to change my password and switch to 2-step verification.

Wave Goodbye: Google Wave Sunsetting in 2012

Like many of Google's projects, Wave was ambitious and bold, but not grounded in reality. People needed to be weened off "e-mail for everything". Wave had to be pervasive or it would lack the utility. (In this regard, Google Plus is *just* eking by..) So we are stuck with the aged, but tried and "true", e-mail for some time to come. In some regards, Google Plus is a continuation of Wave - group chats/huddles, discussions via circles, games, etc.

From: Google Wave <wave-noreply@google.com>

Subject: Google Wave Sunsetting in 2012
...
Google Wave Sunsetting in 2012

Dear Wavers,

More than a year ago, we announced that Google Wave would no longer be developed as a separate product. At the time, we committed to maintaining the site at least through to the end of 2010. Today, we are sharing the specific dates for ending this maintenance period and shutting down Wave. As of January 31, 2012, all waves will be read-only, and the Wave service will be turned off on April 30, 2012. You will be able to continue exporting individual waves using the existing PDF export feature until the Google Wave service is turned off. We encourage you to export any important data before April 30, 2012.

If you would like to continue using Wave, there are a number of open source projects, including Apache Wave. There is also an open source project called Walkaround that includes an experimental feature that lets you import all your Waves from Google. This feature will also work until the Wave service is turned off on April 30, 2012.

For more details, please see our help center.

Yours sincerely,

The Wave Team

© 2011 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google Wave account.

Google TV update coming

Google says the Google TV update is coming. I say its about time!

Hello,
Thank you for having purchased a Google TV product with the initial version of our software.
We’re excited to send you this advance notice about a number of software improvements that will soon be coming to your device through an automatic update. The update is rolling out over the next few weeks.
When you see a dialogue box on your TV saying “update available,” feel free to click “update now,” otherwise you can postpone the update by a few hours by clicking “not now” (handy if you’re in the middle of watching a movie). Once the update has downloaded, just follow the on-screen instructions.
The on-screen instructions include a quick guide to what’s new, but here’s an overview of the exciting new features we’re bringing you:

Keep it simple
The interface is now much simpler. The new customizable home screen gets you to your favorite content quickly. And within “all apps” you can see all of your shortcuts, similar to your Android phone or tablet.

Make it easy to find something worth watching
We’ve improved search across the board for content from live TV, Netflix, YouTube, HBO GO, and more. But what if you don’t know what to search for? There’s now an app called “TV & Movies” that let’s you easily browse through 80,000 movies and TV episodes across cable or satellite, Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and many other sites. If you’ve opted in to recommendations, we can better predict what you want to watch next.

Make YouTube better on TV
We’re launching a new YouTube experience specifically built for Google TV. It is now fast and easy to get to your favorite HD-quality YouTube entertainment. And we’ve integrated YouTube more closely with Google TV search, so that you can turn virtually any topic – mountain biking, cooking, etc. – into a channel.

Bring more apps to TV
We are opening up the TV to the creativity of content creators large and small through Android Market. Android developers can now bring existing mobile apps or entirely new ones to TV. Initially, the number of apps won’t be large – for example, apps requiring a touch screen, GPS, or telephony won’t show up – but 50 developers have seeded the Market with some cool and useful apps for the TV. We’re excited to see the number of apps grow.

For even more information on these changes, check out these links:

Help Center

Website

You can also see our revised Additional Terms of Service and Privacy Note that apply to our updated software here

Happy TV watching!

The Google TV Team

© 2011 Google Inc. 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043
You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your Google TV product or account.

G+ and Spam

It was only a matter of time...

Google Plus Ready for the Facebook Masses - Games are Here!

And now G+ is ready for the Facebook masses - games are here!

Bradley Horowitz originally shared this post: Let the Games begin! We're rolled out! Many folks have been itching to get the Game's icon on their G+... By now most of you should have it! (Refresh your browsers) Should be an exciting weekend! Be advised, that like any feature during Field Trial, we may need to rollback as we monitor system load and learn... but I hope you enjoy the experience and share your feedback. http://plus.google.com/games

via plus.google.com

Google Music Beta

Finally started trying out Google Music Beta... I wonder how long it will take for my music to upload? There is no iPhone/iPod app yet and there doesn't seem to be an iOS optimized web site yet.

(download)

UPDATE: A Couple of days have passed and I already have ~1500 songs uploaded out of the 5500+ songs I have currently in my library. At this pace, my entire library could be backed up in the cloud in under a week. A screenshot of the web interface has been added to the photo gallery.

iOS App for Google+

Yay! iOS app for Google+! They say if you search for "google huddle" you can find it. Or click here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google/id447119634?mt=8

In re. Posterous Autoposting to Google Plus

The following is a very prompt and concise reply from the Posterous support team in regards to Google+ autoposting from Posterous.

Begin forwarded message:

Thank-you for your feedback. When Google + comes out of beta and develops an API, we will begin to consider it as an autoposting destination.

BTW. If you haven't considered Posterous for your blogging or community news letter needs, you should really check it out. Getting content to the web was never so easy!

Google+ Debut - Facebook Contender or 90 Second Knock Out?

Google+ is Googe's version of Facebook and I'm in. I really like the clean interface, the lack of obnoxious advertisements, and its "circle" privacy management. A social service only works though if all the people you care about uses it. It is the *only* reason I bothered with Facebook - even my elderly and technophobic in-laws were using it. So what will lure people from Facebook to Google+?

First, time wasters. I think they'll have to add those stupid games that people play on Facebook.

Second, integration with other services - including Facebook. At least for the short term, the ability to cross post status to facebook will be important. Services like Posterous and Ping will need to add a Google+ option too.

Like Google Wave before it, I'm rooting for Google+. While less ambitious than Wave in terms of innovation and totally changing how we communicate, Google+ is trying to take on THE social network site, Facebook, with its 750 million active users. If nothing else, maybe this competition will force Facebook to fix some of its problems with privacy.

One thing is for sure, this new entry in the social space is going to confuse my in-laws when they get their invitation from me. :)

John Duprey's Post[erou]s

Pictures, notes, and more

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