Google Apps: the long list of Google products

Eight months ago I suggested waiting before moving Google Apps users onto Google's integrated identity platform.

Tonight, a few months after successfully migrating one of my Google Apps domains, I tried our family domain. Google's introduction is pretty confident ...

You've probably heard that Google is about to make more of its services available to organizations with Google Apps accounts. Well, we're ready!..

Sounds good. So I went for it and got ...

Google Apps - Server error...

... We are unable to process your request at this time, please try again later.

Right. Maybe not quite so ready.

Oh well, quality is so 20th century. Glad Google doesn't get hung up about things not working. Maybe that's why the list of Google services can get to be so very long ...

• 3D Warehouse
• Android Market Publisher Site
• Blogger
• Chrome Web Store
• DART for Publishers
• DoubleClick Customer Resource Center
• DoubleClick DART Enterprise
• DoubleClick for Advertisers
• DoubleClick for Publishers
• DoubleClick Search
• DoubleClick Studio
• FeedBurner
• Fusion Tables
• Google Ad Planner
• Google AdSense
• Google AdSense for TV
• Google Advertising Professionals
• Google AdWords
• Google Affiliate Network
• Google Analytics
• Google App Engine
• Google Base
• Google Bookmarks
• Google Books
• Google Checkout
• Google Chrome Sync
• Google Code
• Google Custom Search
• Google Desktop
• Google Finance
• Google Friend Connect
• Google Groups
• Google Hotpot
• Google in Your Language
• Google Latitude
• Google Map Maker
• Google Maps
• Google Moderator
• Google News
• Google Places
• Google Public Data
• Google Reader
• Google Sidewiki
• Google Squared
• Google Subscribed Links
• Google Translator Toolkit
• Google Voice
• Google Webmaster Tools
• iGoogle
• Knol
• Merchant Center
• New Service
• orkut
• Panoramio
• Partner Program
• Picasa Web Albums
• Shopping List
• User Managed Storage
• Web History
• Website Optimizer
• YouTube
• YouTube CMS
• YouTube Partner Syndication
• YouTube Promoted Videos

I like "New Service" myself.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Tagging in OS X - OpenMeta

I'm a metadata kind of guy, so I did a quick review of OS X OpenMeta. Links are below.

OpenMeta

• OpenMeta = Google Project Hosting
• OpenMetaApplications - Google Project Hosting

OpenMeta applications

• MailTags
• Punakea | nudge:nudge
• Ironic Software
• Fresh
• Tagit - Simple tagging and rating for OS X
• Tags - Simply Organized
• Punakea | nudge:nudge
• Yep 2

Alas, Apple hasn't played along, and Michael Tsai teaches us that OpenMeta Is a Hack. A clever hack, but too risky for me.

Email applications that let you edit received emails - esp subject lines

Outlook lets me edit subject lines (undocumented, there for 10 years, just click on subject line and type. Yes, there's no UI indication that it works. Yes, it works.) It even lets me edit sent or received email bodies.

These are killer features. Gmail doesn't do this, despite my many requests.

I didn't realize Eudora, a program I used heavily throughout the 90s, did the same thing ...

Macintouch - Applications

MailTags -Eudora lets you edit received emails, which I found handy for making notes and changing the subject line. I really missed this in Mail. MailTags doesn't let you edit the email, but you can add a note and change the subject line, and more. The interface is simple, there when you want it and out of the way when you don't.

So, what's this MailTags?! It sounds interesting, but I don't see how it changes the original subject line. I do see Google's partial IMAP implementation doesn't support MailTags metadata.

Review: Seattle Sports Dry Doc Waterproof Digi Case for my iPhone

Jen Wieczner told a story of a friend lost, perhaps but for the sake of a waterproof phone case ...

When Technology Can't Save You - Jen Wieczner - Technology - The Atlantic

... four others, including my friend Tyler Lorenzi, 23, treaded water while the river swept them downstream. Around the same time their fellow sailors were pleading at the door of a strange residence, a tugboat found their overturned vessel and called authorities. Near a ship graveyard known as the Ghost Fleet, Tyler was eventually pulled unconscious from the James; he passed away in the hospital. Another sailor, Alexander Brown, 24, drowned. Tyler, a graduate of Northwestern University, worked as a research engineer for the National Institute of Aerospace, a division of NASA; Alex was earning a doctorate in engineering there.

I didn't know Alex, but Tyler was generous, selfless and warm, and gave hugs without hesitation ... He was dashingly handsome, strong in the way of someone who got that way by going about his regular business, with perpetually tan skin and flushed cheeks, the kind that mark someone who is comfortable outdoors and spends much of his time there...

... According to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which investigated the accident, none of the boaters were carrying cell phones on the fatal night, or at least none that still worked. After Tyler's death, I wondered about what went through the boaters' minds -- tech-savvy young people who worked and studied at NASA programs -- when they fell into the water: Did they immediately realize the gravity of the situation? Dependent on their technology on land, did they reach automatically for their phone before reality settled in? What must it have been like to realize that their means of communication - and hopes of rescue -- were quite literally dead in the water?

... Motorola calls its Defy SmartPhone "life-proof," because it's water- and dust-resistant; its new Brute flip phone is designed to meet military standards for "extreme elements," including "blowing rain," "salt fog" and liquid immersion. RIM, which manufactures Blackberry devices, says, "While it is possible that BlackBerry could work after being submerged in water, RIM does not recommend doing it," and adds that in a recent Yahoo News water test, BlackBerry did just fine.

Needless to say, iPhones are not water resistant. They are notoriously water sensitive [1].

You can, however, buy pouches for $10-$25 that will keep the phone working underwater. You can even use the phone in the pouch.

I tested a cheap one at home. Here's my Amazon review ...

Amazon.com: John Faughnan "John G Faughnan"'s review of Seattle Sports Dry Doc Waterproof Digi 02 ...: ""

I purchased and tested the Seattle Sports Dry Doc Digi Case. The Digi Case 02 appears to be the same case with different attachment device.

I filled the case with a paper towel and then submerged it for 30 minutes in 1 foot of water. The end of the paper towel was slightly moist when I recovered. Most phones, even an iPhone, would probably still be ok at that point.

It looks to me like a new Digi Case, carefully sealed, would protect against a quick dunk. This one is fine for keeping my phone in a non-waterproof bike bag or for insurance on a hiking trip that could involve a stream crossing. I would want something more robust (and more costly) if I were going on a canoe trip.

An iPhone is useable through the case -- the touch controls work.

For an iPhone 4 to fit best, it's probably worth removing any other case. Larger pouches work with a case on the phone.

[1] We inherited a friend's iPhone 1 after it visited a white porcelain bowl. It worked well as an iTouch for my son, save for the lack of a speaker. One day, after about 1-2 years of use, the external speaker started working. I do not understand this.

Lessons from sharing our team videos

In a burst of foolish optimism, I volunteered to do some videos of our team pitchers and share them.

This turned out to be much harder than I imagined. It's one of those tasks where each step has multiple options, but only a few choices really work.

Along the way I tested and abandoned MobileMe's video gallery [1] and Karelia Sandvox [2]. I briefly considered then discarded Picasa Web album video sharing.

I did figure out a path that works. Two of 'em actually. I'll share the easy one first.

The easy option

Use an iPhone. Take short clips. Don't edit. Upload. Share links.

The much more painful deluxe option

The deluxe option assembling multiple video fragments from a Canon dLSR HD video camera into a one video for each pitcher, then embedding them in a web page.

If I ever do this again, this is what I'll do for the deluxe option.

I. Getting the video

1. Bring a tripod (!) and an external microphone.
2. Have the coach use the external microphone to narrate comments.

II. Use iMovie and share via YouTube hidden links

This was the first time I used the new iMovie. I read a few pages in the surprisingly well done Portable Genius Guide to iLife (see [3]).

1. Each player gets one Project/Movie.
2. Edit in 3:4 ratio -- this is the pitcher we're working on.
3. From iMovie share to YouTube as "private" at the highest available resolution.
4. In YouTube change these to "hidden".

This is time consuming. It took about 10 minutes for each clip to create a movie and upload. An alternative would be to export as .mp4 (NOT default .m4v) then bulk upload overnight [4]

III. Share images using Blogger and MarsEdit or HTML markup

1. I tried a few web page editors, but, as noted above, I didn't have much luck.
2. Instead I used YouTube's embed code (iframe markup) and pasted the embed text into the MarsEdit HTML view for each video. It was tedious but gave good results.

- fn -

[1] I'd not tried it before. Now I see why Apple gave up on the Galleries.
[2] Crashed on me during my video uploading attempts. Could be just bad luck -- pretty much every OS X app I use crashes sooner or later. Almost like 10.6.7 is an unhappy host OS. Still, bad timing.
[3] iMovie notes

• Clip Library is a pool of shared clips that can be included by reference in multiple Projects (movies). Clips can be stored in iPhoto, Aperture 3+ or iMovie. I think Clip processing is smoothest if they live in iMovie. Clips can be split, reorganized, rated, merged. Even deleted, though that's not obvious.
• A "project" is a movie.
• In a clip or a project/movie click to set start point, space to play
• click then drag to create a frame within a single clip (can't span clip): Click into  this frame and drag and drop to the Project area. It took me forever to understand this. I kept thinking I had to edit the clip first.
• Native export is .m4v -> evil, vile, worthless, foul spawn of satan. Want .mp4

[4] The settings to make this work are not obvious. I got decent results when I used Export to Quicktime, MP4, then set data rate to 4096, image size 768x576, Fit within size for crop, and "best quality" encoding mode in video options.

The unremarked defects of Apple's newer iPhone cables

I've not seen this mentioned anywhere. Time to remedy that.

We have a collection of about 8 iPhone/iPod USB cables. The older ones locked onto devices. The newer ones have friction locks.

All of the old ones are in great shape.

Two of the three newer ones are damaged. The cables separate from the connectors at both ends.

Clearly, something went wrong. Looks like a manufacturing defect.

I wonder if it's fixed with newer cables.

Why I hate video: Format, codecs, DRM and m4v vs mp4

My version of iMovie exports (09), by default, .m4v. (emphases mine)

The M4V file format is a video file format developed by Apple and is very close to MP4 format. The differences are the optional Apple's DRM copyright protection, and the treatment of AC3 (Dolby Digital) audio which is not standardized for MP4 container.

Google's Picasa service doesn't support .m4v ...

Video Upload Requirements : Video - Picasa Help:

... Uploadable Video File Types .3gp, .avi, .asf, .mov, .wmv, .mpg, .mp4, .m2t, .mmv, .m2ts ...

Neither does YouTube ...

Supported YouTube file formats - YouTube Help

WebM files - Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codecs

.MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files - Typically supporting h264, mpeg4 video codecs, and AAC audio codec

.AVI - Many cameras output this format - typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM

.MPEGPS - Typically supporting MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio

.WMV

.FLV - Adobe-FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio

Heavens, but I do hate video data standard issues.

It's the patents, it's the DRM, and above all, it's Apple. Data formats and DRM are at the core of Apple's great flaw -- a deep addiction to data lock [1].

[1] Pro video customers of Apple's Final Cut Pro are learning all about what Apple's data lock means.

Update 7/5/11: Two wikipedia articles on Apple's ProRes 422 and ProRes 4444 and these additional articles help capture the full horror of the 2011 state of video codecs -- and the complexity of the video editing workflow. There is nothing analogous to JPEG or even JPEG 2000. See also ...

• Apple ProRes - MultimediaWiki
• Final Cut Pro 7 - Working with Apple ProRes Codecs - "Apple ProRes is an extremely flexible post-production format. The post-production possibilities with Apple ProRes range from offline editing on a MacBook Pro to advanced “digital negative” workflows for theatrical releases on film."
• Final Cut Pro 7 - Types of Apple ProRes Codecs

FCP X didn't add anything new to ProRes (mercifully). It will do "native editing" on h.264, which sounds interesting.