Tip: How to Create Gmail Filters

With the introduction of Google Buzz last week and the many emails it introduced, I’ve been actively creating more and more filters to keep my inbox clean. I thought it’d make a nice tip in case your inbox is flooded as well.

If you’re like me and signed up for newsletters, store ads, or other mailing lists, you may want to separate these emails from your more important ones. I personally think important emails should be sent to the inbox and maybe added to an additional label.

Other things from mailing lists can skip the inbox and be added under their own folder, or “label” as Google calls it.
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Popularity: 2% [?]

GameSalad – Create Games without Coding!

I attended MacWorld Expo 2010 recently and one of my favorite booths was GameSalad. They promised that I could make a game without any coding or programming at all. So yes, I was interested! I sat in for the beginner session to see how GameSalad works.

Photo by Albertech.net/@dragonal; Taken at MacWorld Expo 2010; I’m in the lower right!

GameSalad is the world’s most advanced game creation tool for non-programmers. With GameSalad, game makers of all levels can bring their ideas to life without programming a single line of code. Build games visually using a drag-and-drop interface along with a robust behavior system. Publish your games quickly and easy to the iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac Desktop, and the Web.

If you want to learn how to make games for the iPhone (or Mac), try out GameSalad. They had training sessions on the expo floor, which I thought was a lot of fun. Sessions ranged from beginner to advanced, and didn’t require any programming knowledge at all.. just a bit of creativity.

Basically, you can import your graphics (let’s called these actors) into the GameSalad software. Then you can place your actors onto the canvas (like the background) and add in other pieces in layers. Add behaviors to these ‘actors’ and you got yourself a game!

For the beginner session, we made a pinball game. We added the game’s background, along with the flippers, pegs, and pinballs. The flippers behaviors were control by the Left and Right Arrows. When clicked, the flippers would move up in an angle. If the ball touched a peg, points would be added up in a scoreboard.

The creation you create with GameSalad is all yours. This also means if you are creating an iPhone version of the game, an Apple Developer’s license is also require since you are publishing it under your account.

If you’re a graphic designer with an eye for games, definitely consider GameSalad. The software starts at $99 a year. I was able to create a simple pinball game in under 30 minutes… just imagine what you can do with just a little more time.

For more information, see GameSalad.com and follow them on Twitter.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A Glimpse at Droid

Half of my day consisted of reading your tweets and reviewing apps and gadgets. It’s been quite productive. :) Pictured above is the Motorola Droid, running on the 2.0.1, and the free Google Maps Navigation service. This service alone is worth getting the phone. The turn-by-turn voice navigation is quite awesome. :) Stay tuned, a full review of the Droid to come soon!
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Popularity: 1% [?]

Goodbye 2009, Google Wave Style

Wow, Whirled uses Google Wave to say goodbye to 2009. This is incredibly ingenious! Thanks for tweeting about it Robert!

Popularity: 1% [?]

iPhone Apps in iTunes

In the latest version of iTunes (9.0.2.25), you’re now able to view all the iPhone / iPod Touch pages, even if it’s over 11 app pages. You might remember my previous problem of not being able to see all of my apps.

Now that I can easily sort my apps by dragging and dropping, only the ones I really use are on the first 11 pages. The apps on pages 12+ are displayed in iTunes, but not on the iPhone.

Popularity: 1% [?]

More Google Wave Invites!

December is finally here. Happy Holidays! I thought I’d start off the month by giving away a few more Google Wave invites! I’ve been giving them away on a first comment, first serve basis, so I thought I’d change it up this time around.

If you would like a Google Wave invite, please answer the questions below. I will send invites to the most creative answers! Hint: longer answers help!

The reason why I do this is 1) I don’t want to give accounts to spammers and 2) I like to get to know my readers and 3) because it’s fun!

Note: Please leave your gmail account in the email field below (or another way for me to contact you!)

1. How are you going to spend your holiday season?
2. What is your favorite book, movie, or song?
3. What is your favorite internet web show?
4. What is your social media tool(s) of choice?
5. What is one thing you know about me?
6. What would you like to know more about me?

Good luck! I will start sending out the invites this weekend, and continue to while supplies last!

Books on Google Wave

• The Complete Guide to Google Wave by Gina Trapani — only $6 eBook
• Google Wave: Up and Running – On sale for $19.79

Popularity: 1% [?]

Google Wave Invites

Update: 11/13/2009, 10am PST – I’m so sorry, but I am out of Google invites at this time. When I get a new batch of invites, I will announce it on Twitter. Please follow @daynah for updates. Thank you for understanding.

Would you like a Google Wave invite? I have some to give out! All you have to do is leave a comment answering these three quick questions:

1. What are your favorite mobile games (games for iPhone, DS Lite, other smartphones, etc.)?
2. What’s something you know about me?
3. What would you use Google Wave for?

Be sure to leave your Gmail address somewhere also – either in the email field or comment — so I can send you the invite! This is on a first comment, first serve basis, so hurry before I run out of invites. ;)

For more tech news, giveaways, and updates, please follow my Twitter account @daynah. Google Wave ya later!

Note: Google Wave accounts are not activated right away. Activation may take up to a few days.

Related Links

• Books on Google Wave
• Tekzilla Explains Google Wave
• My First Look at Google Wave
• What is Google Wave?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Google Voice with Your Existing Number

Now you can use Google Voice with your existing number! Before, in order to use Google Voice, you had to sign up for a new phone number. But with the recent changes, you can now add the Google Voice service to your existing phone number! Read the Google Voice blog for more information about this new service.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Flickr: People in Photos

Flickr, a popular photography website, just launched their “People in Photos” feature today. And I love how it works. You simply type in a person’s name and it’ll add them into the photo. If you click on the little icon next to their name, you can create a square around their faces to identify them.

Here is a sample where I used the “People in Photos” feature. In the photo below, you can see Louis Gray, me, and Jesse Stay.

To start tagging people, type in their screen name, real name, or email address into the input box. A list of users will appear. If they are a Flickr contact, select the appropriate one. Else, finish typing and select either “Search this email address” or “send an email to this address.”

To add a square around people’s face, click on the icon shown in the image below:

Once the square is created, drag the square over the person’s face. Continue doing this for the next person, and the next.

You can read more about Flickr’s “People in Photos” here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tekzilla Explains Google Wave

Tekzilla explains what Google Wave is. Thanks so much for the shoutout Veronica! You can jump to the segment at 3:43 or go to the Google Wave segment notes.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Google Chrome Themes

I’ve never really noticed the new Google Chrome Themes until I saw that cute corner fold at the bottom of the page today.

Why stick with this default theme:

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Popularity: 1% [?]

First Look at Google Wave

This is my first look at Google Wave. My account was activated today, and I’m quite thrilled to try it out. I’ll post more as figure out things. For now, this is my first screenshot.

(Bigger Version)

First impression, it looks like an email client, but it’s not. I wanted to change my profile photo, so I clicked on the blank square in the “Contacts” section and it gave me a link to change my photo. This link takes me to my sandbox gmail settings. After more clicking, it takes me to my sandbox Gmail account. It looks like email isn’t integrated into Google Wave interface (yet?) besides having the two accounts linked up.

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Popularity: 22% [?]

Gmail New Emoticons

Have you seen the new Emoticons in Gmail? They’re adorable!

To use them, compose a new email and click on the little happy face.

Once you click on that, a whole screen of icons will show up. Click on one to select. Enjoy!

Check out more new “stuff” at Google!

Popularity: 15% [?]

iPhone App Review: Google Earth

Name: Google Earth
Written By: Google
Category: Travel
Price: Free
Size: 8.9 MB
Requirements: iPhone / iPod Touch

Google Earth (iTunes Link) for the iPhone/iPod touch is amazing. You literally have the whole world in your hands!

When you first start up the app, you will see the earth. Tap on it a few times to zoom in. Keep tapping to zoom in even further.

Tilt your phone to adjust your view. This is great if you want to see mountainsides.

You can also search for a location on the top left. Or you can let Google Earth find your exact location by tapping at the icon in the lower left.

There’s just so much more to explore. Have fun playing with it!

Popularity: 16% [?]

Preview of iPhone App BrightKite

BrightKite is one of my favorite social networks. I’ve been using it mainly as a photolog of the different places I visit. And I’m excited to see that it’s coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch! Watch the demo below:

Brightkite for the iPhone from Brightkite on Vimeo.

BrightKite Video Demo, BrightKite Official Blog, Brightkite iPhone app preview, invites, video in action By David Chartier

Popularity: 1% [?]

iGoogle Layout

Ouu, my iGoogle page looks prettier today. :) I really love the TeaHouse theme.

Popularity: 4% [?]

PDF to Word Converter

I found this great program called PDF to Word. This will come in so handy! Our administrative staff have asked me in the past if they could edit PDFs.. well now they can. :) Hurry and get your copy. The program is $49.95 but free for today only.

PDF to Word is an easy-to-use software for converting a PDF document to an MS Word (RTF) document. The software supports all Adobe PDF modifications and it is possible to open the output RTF file with any version of MS Word, WordPad or OpenOffice. The PDF to Word converter retains the layout, images, text and formatting of the original PDF file.

PDF to Word is a highly efficient standalone software which doesn’t require Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader installed.

You do not need any special skills to operate the software. Just drag and drop the document you want to convert to the main PDF to Word window and click Start Conversion.

Source:
PDF to Word

Popularity: 6% [?]

Google Shell

I love using Goosh, the unofficial Google shell. It brings back the old days of unix shell command lines. Just enter your Google search on the command line and hit enter!

Below you can see that I did a search for “Affinity Zero” and my results are displayed on the screen.

Thanks Emily Chang for finding this tool! And Max Kiesler has a great demo you can watch.

Source: Stefan Grothkopp

Popularity: 13% [?]

Create Surveys using Google Docs

I just learned how to create simple forms in Google Docs & Spreadsheets today.

First, go here to create you own Survey form. Start typing in the title, description, and adding your questions. This step is very intuitive and easy to use. Creating forms have never been this fun!

Next, click on “Next, choose recipients.” You can send the survey to specific people using the “Invite People” box. Or you can put the “Go to live form” link on your website.

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Popularity: 14% [?]

Google Friend Connect

I’m currently learning about Google Friend Connect. It looks like an amazing way of adding social networking to any website with little effort.

Watch Scobleizer’s video from Google Campfire One.

I love how you can log into AOL, Yahoo, Google, etc. to connect to the websites. No need to create another login!

The website is going to live tonight, but invite only. If or when I get an invite, I’ll write more about it. ;)

Sign up for the preview: Google Friend Connect

Sources: TechCrunch, Scobleizer’s Qik Videos, and Google News

Popularity: 23% [?]

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