Google Wave as a Project Collaboration Tool

I'm a'bloggin on the company blog! (Alexander Interactive) Google Wave as a Project Collaboration Tool: "

If you aren't already familiar with Google Wave, check out some basic info, and a very in-depth video here. Wave is a new project from Google that reinvents email communication. Forget everything you know about email, it was invented back in the 70's, things have changed; technology is faster, we have cloud computing, web apps look fancier, and for a while, a large portion of email users are moving (back) to web based clients.

Email is the current method of communication and collaboration when working on a project. You usually have a folder for that project in Outlook, some rules to filter project related messages into that folder, and an email chain for each issue. People reply to messages inside that chain somewhere, the thread gets continued, people get added to the thread, people drop off. You don't know where you are in the chain when you check in a few hours later, and you get bombarded by... STOP!

Wave is very early in its adoption, it's invite only, but it has the strong potential to fix a lot of these problems. It can clean up a lot of the clutter of project communication and throw it on the cloud so you can get to it anywhere. Wave does need some more security built in for the corporate settings, but that is in the pipeline. Right now waves can only be private or public, but once inside a private wave, that user can invite anyone.

Some notes on how Wave can help a project:

• Each Project would get its own folder in wave


• Anyone working on the project would have access to this folder


• Every issue or conversation would get its own wave and everyone who needs to be involved in the issue is added to the wave.


• At this point every project related message is confined to the projects folder. No Outlook rules or message dragging will ever be needed. If a new person needs to be involved in the discussion, they are just added to the wave, no forwarding or reply-all.


• The conversation can continue similar to email, with individual replies, but it can be so much more. In line replies with related topics can appear right with the original topic, not hidden down 6 replies in an email chain


• You can show only new replies on the wave and get caught back up in the discussion quickly


• You can do a playback of all or part of the discussion and see who chimed in and when


• Need to share documents? You will eventually be able to drag them right out of your file system into the browser and into the wave. (This is currently only supported for pictures)

As I said, Wave is very early in its adoption, but after more people join, and more developer plugins come out, I think it will be a very valuable tool both in the workplace and at home.

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Use Google Voice with your existing number

WOOHOO!!!! It's working on my verizon blackberry!

"Up until now, if you wanted to use Google Voice, you needed to choose a new number (a "Google number"). Taking calls through your Google number allows us to offer features like call recording, call screening and getting text messages via email. But we know not everyone wants to switch to a new phone number, so it made sense for us to create a lighter version of Google Voice for people who are willing to trade some features for the ability to use their existing numbers.

We're excited to announce that you now have the choice to get Google Voice with your existing mobile number OR with a Google number.

If you sign up using your existing number, you'll still get many of Google Voice's features. Most notably, you'll get all the functionality of Google voicemail, as explained in this video:



If you already have a Google Voice account, you can add Google voicemail to any mobile phone you've linked to your account. If you're not yet using Google Voice, you can request an invite or ask a friend with a Google Voice account to send you an invitation. When you receive the invitation to sign up, you can choose to use Google Voice with your existing number — or to get a Google number for additional features.

Google Voice is about giving you more control over your communications. We hope this new option makes it easier for you to manage your messages and personalize your voicemail experience."

Google Wave checker for firefox

I'm liking google wave so far (not loving yet, but there aren't that many people on it yet), but one of the annoying things was actually having to be in the app to see if I have new waves. Firefox plugin, problem solved!

Firefox Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts

Here is a list of Firefox keyboard and mouse shortcuts for each of the three major operating systems organized by topic.

Checking if a remote file exists in python

Normally, to check if a remote web file exists I would use urllib's getcode() but that is a 2.6 and newer feature.  In Python 2.5 its a little more interesting.  Thankfully, wget's spider command can help us out.

from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
def url_exists(url):
    command = ["wget", "-S", "--spider", url]
    p = Popen(command, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
    stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
    exists = stderr.find('ERROR 404')
    if int(exists) > -1:
        return False
    else:
        return True

Twitter get phone calls, Facebook gets voice chat

Twitter users on Thursday will, for the first time, be able to make voice calls directly to each other through the microblogging service.


Look out, Facebook users: Here comes voice chat.

Sometime in the next few weeks, the social network's tens of millions of users will begin to be able to have high-quality voice conversations, even as its third-party developers are able to start including voice in their applications.

Fight Gone Bad IV

Anyone want to help me out by donating?

Fight Gone Bad IV: "

On Sept 26th I am competing in Fight Gone Bad IV to raise money for Wounded Warriors and Athletes for a cure.  Fight gone bad is a CrossFit workout scored by the number of reps.

Description from the CrossFit website

4.3. Explain Fight Gone Bad

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. We’ve used this in 3 and 5 round versions. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
3. Box Jump: 20″ box (Reps)
4. Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
5. Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete/s must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

If you can, please donate to help me support these initiatives