NathanHJones.comJust thinking outloud

I recently upgraded to WM6 and am slowly getting things working the way I like. Throughout the upgrade and re-setup process I’ve found a couple pretty odd settings. One of those pesky settings has been the type-ahead feature. Similar to most type-ahead features you’ve probably seen around the web, after you type a couple characters it suggests words so you don’t have to type them out.

It’s a great feature but the default configuration has it suggesting words after the first character which taxes the system (very noticeable delays) and just doesn’t make sense. If I’m typing the word ‘the’, I don’t need the computer to suggest the word for me. I’m pretty sure I’m not that poor of a speller. So, for those of you who have also become frustrated by the ridiculous type-ahead settings here’s a quick fix. Nothing mind boggling…just felt it should be documented.

Fixing:

1. Go to the ‘Start’ menu and enter the Settings
2. Select the Input option (looks like a small keyboard)
3. Choose the ‘Word Completion’ tab at the bottom of the screen
4. You can now turn it off completely or just set it up to only trigger when you really need it. Mine is configured to suggest 4 words after I type 4 letters

Hope this helps someone else out!!

Google Docs rolled out a pretty necessary feature today if they intend to get people using their presentation tool. They rolled out the ability to save your Google Presentations as PowerPoint (PPT) files. Honestly, I’m a disappointed it took so long but I understand their quest to take over the world and keep people inside their applications.

Like it or not, Microsoft still commands a huge share of the presentation software market with it’s PowerPoint product. In order for Google, or any of the other start-ups, to ease the transition for users it’s imperative they allow users to save in the traditional PPT format. If users know they won’t impact how other people have to view something, they’ll be a little more likely to make the move from desktop to webtop.

I personally like the online collaboration features that Google has built into the ‘Docs’ application but not many of my friends and family are into it. And for those of you that work in large corporations, let’s be honest, you’ll be sending out presentations as attachments for a while longer.

Good job Google, keep ‘em coming!

I’m relatively new to Twitter, I just signed up a couple weeks ago but I’ve already started realizing its potential. I’ve used it to give TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington a heads up that the Google April Fools jokes were being rolled out and I get updates when friends post messages. It’s great, I can update it from the web or via text message.

Almost a month ago Mashable covered what seemed to be a marriage proposal on Twitter. I obviously don’t know the couple, but after poking around their twitter profiles it seems rather fitting. Shortly after that I figured I should sign up and see what all the hype was about.

That, and I was on a quest to stop developing solutions and start using readily available methods for ’status updates’. Some of you may have noticed on the old version of my blog I had a status section. I’ve since discontinued that custom work and I’m working to integrate my Twitter updates into the blog.

My Twitter activity has taken off relatively slow but I get the random ‘xyz is following you’ emails where someone has elected to follow my updates. This means they get to view my updates in their feeds and keep up with what I’m saying. After browsing profiles of some of the people that have decided to follow me, I noticed that they’re on a quest to grow their Twitter network and become wealthy (as stated in their bio’s at the time).

While I admire their goals, I question how they’ll reach them on Twitter. To my knowledge, Twitter doesn’t have any kind of revenue sharing model for the people that visit your feed. I guess they could build their network and hope for TV and product success like Tila Tequila from MySpace but that’s a 1 in 100,000,000 chance (or 1 in however many users MySpace has). Without underlying content to distribute through a blog or products to push through an online store I don’t think a large Twitter network will bring wealth.

It’s a great service and is a nice utility making and maintaining connections and finding/announcing breaking news but without a foundation of products or content I don’t see the wealth accumulating.

What are your thoughts? Let me know what you’re thinking in the comments!

Update: See the comments for further discussion.  Warren suggested I expand a little on my thoughts of how millionaires can be made.

In a bold move, Google is planning to roll out AdSense for conversations to help you monetize your daily interactions with…well…everyone. The new AdSense system displays contextual advertising on an “unobtrusive screen” (below) mounted to your head. Apparently, when you sign up for the service they’ll send you an adjustable screen that you can customize.

If there aren’t any relevant ads displayed, they suggest repeating yourself or to continue rambling on until the system picks up your conversation. They’ve implemented a pretty neat click process - they transport you directly to the site with their Teleportation Technology. They also mention that you can opt to have the product placed directly in your hands, though they are not clear what kind of setup configuration is required for this.

I think AdSense for Conversations is by far the best April Fools joke Google managed today. However, I will admit that I enjoyed the fact that they admitted to using the e-flux capacitor to solve causality issues in Gmail Custom Time.

(photo credit: AdSense blog)

Is Google creating a time machine? I logged into Gmail this evening (let’s be honest, it’s now morning) to do a little work and was greeted by a new link which is not live. Well, it’s visible but it doesn’t navigate anywhere but a 404, page not found. Great, no offense Google but it kind of kills the joke when it’s a dud after I find it.

Some of you may remember last year’s Gmail April Fools joke - Gmail Paper. Basically, they offered a free service for you to print all your email and they would send it to you on paper. Where do they come up with this stuff?!?

So how will Gmail Custom Time play out? I’m guessing a ’service’ to let you set times emails will be sent (I can actually see a use for this) or when an email should have been sent.

Here’s a shot from my Gmail account.

UPDATE: The link in Gmail is now live and it’s pointing to a page with a similar format to last year’s April Fools. The joke this year is a feature that allows you to set the time emails are ’sent’ as I predicted above. Now I can tell my boss that I sent him that email hours ago even though I didn’t. “Hey boss, refresh your inbox, I know I sent you that TPS report.” Obviously this wouldn’t really work (it’s like printing “hundred of thousands” of emails and having them delivered)…let’s hope they have something else for us when I wake up.

Well, I’m sure they can internally track the packages in their system but they certainly don’t provide those details to customers.  I recently ordered a small item from Amazon and got the email from them when it had shipped.  Good, great, super…

I pull up the email and grab the tracking number a couple days later and navigate to usps.com only to find out that it couldn’t provide me an update.  It just said that they’ve received the ‘electronic shipping information’.  Great, so what does that mean to me…nothing.  Anyways, not totally out of it, I decided to sign up for email alerts.  According to the descriptions, they’ll email me when the status of my shipment changes.  Great, in theory!

I go on my merry way only to check it a couple more times, one of them this morning.  No change…what is going on with USPS and where is my package?!?  Apparently, their system only has a couple statuses - shipping information received and delivered because when I checked my mail this afternoon it had arrived.  Surprise, surprise…I didn’t receive the email from USPS until about three hours after the package was actually delivered.

Good job guys…I’ll be using UPS or FedEx from now on.