Advocate's Studio

Yes, I said spiffy. One of the questions most frequently asked of me is how to work on documents across devices and ensure that changes made in one place show up everywhere. There are plenty of different options for reaching this result, but one of my favorites is Google Docs. In its early days, Docs was a super-stripped down word processor that primarily offered the ability to access the document from anywhere. Heavy on the access, light on the processing feature set. But Google has been steadily improving the interface and the tools, making Docs more like a replacement of your local processor, rather than a supplement. And mobile improvements are high on the priority list.

Case in point. Google Docs Blog has just announced a few nice new features specifically designed for Android, including the ability to designate certain files as available for offline access and write-ability and improved view on Android-powered tablets. For files that you’ve selected to make available offline, Docs will automatically update the changes when you enter Wi-Fi. Or manually update when you are in a data connection by simply opening the file. For tablet users, get ready for a high-definition version of your document when viewing online. Swipe left and right to navigate through pages or use the slider at the bottom for quick maneuvering.

Some people are put off by working with their documents on their phones or tablets, but I have found the ability to do so very helpful in certain circumstances. Google Docs and Android users now have even more to love about mobile word processing.

A lot has been going down at Google lately. New collapsed privacy policies, which I am covering in my next class at Solo Practice University, and the roll out of the new Google Search, which adds a + Your World layer to the search giant’s core application – search. What does it all mean? What do I do with this? Big questions, but there are answers to be found and it isn’t as overwhelming and life-changing as one may think when one reads the hue and cries over privacy and search integrity overflowing the tech blogs in the wake of the roll out.

You can read more about the details of Google Search + Your World here. Or check out the video below for an overview.

The essential change is that Search +, as it is being called, will include content added by your friends to your search results when you type in a query. You will also see relevant profiles (Google + profiles, that is) in your results view, and you can expand your social connections with profiles related to your search queries. The assumption, or really the sell, is that content on point generated by your contacts will be of greater relevance, value and presumably veracity than results from the larger, impersonal web. Social results will be marked in your results list with a little blue person, so you can distinguish social or Search + results from general results.

What kinds of content will you see from your friends? Photos, Google + content from your Circles, Google profiles and people and pages related to your topic. So not all of the content being served is directly connected – popular Google social content will also show, which presumably is what traditional SEO companies and advocates are squawking about – it will turn Google relevance on its head. The new mantra is fostering a presence on Google+ in order to improve social search results. Facebook and Twitter won’t help you here – Google is clearly favoring its own content, in part because it can and in part because of impediments to mutually beneficial relationships with Facebook and Twitter. Big business at its best here folks.

Google has been moving in this direction for some time, with its introduction of +1′s across the web improving page ranking and integrating social search back many months ago. It is now giving its own social network, Google +, a leg up in the social search results. And why shouldn’t it? Social search is the next big evolution of search on the web and if Google has readily available relevant social content, they would be “mad” not to include it in their results. And, for all of those users afraid of social polluting their search, you can always toggle off the social search function using the buttons at the upper right corner of the search results screen – or not log into your Google account at all when you search.

So, as a content creator, get yourself on Google + and make the best effort of it. You probably already have a Twitter stream and a Facebook page – get that content moving on Google + too. If that sounds daunting, add some tech wizardry with a cross-posting extension like this one here. If you are a content searcher, then you can toggle social on or off, but consider that you are getting more potentially relevant leads and links with social turned on. Search both to compare results – that one extra step might will put you in a better position than searching one or the other alone.

Google + and social are definitely here to stay. Might as well make the best of it.

We’ve all been there. Wanting to log in to your Google account on a public computer or computer of questionable security. What’s a Googler to do? For a very limited time (it is no longer active) you could use Google’s new experimental QR code secure log-in procedure! Before the experiment was pulled, you could use both your smartphone and the desktop to log-in without having to fork over your password. Start by navigating on the insecure desktop to http://accounts.google.com/sesame. Then, using your smartphone’s bar code reader (like Google Goggles, for e.g.) scan a QR code showing on the desktop. Your smartphone was then directed to a log-in page. Log-in on the phone and, like magic, the desktop would then navigate to your Gmail or iGoogle page. No chance of password hacking there. Very cool indeed.

However, it appears the experiment was short lived – Google announced on Google + that the log-in was experimental and no longer available but that Google was working on something related and better. Better can’t be bad. I’ll be scanning the Google feeds for whatever trick they may be talking about and report back.

Whether you want it or not, the frenzy of election season is upon us and the Iowa caucuses are bearing down hard. To be forewarned is to be forearmed (not to be confused with the right to bear arms), so Google has stepped up to make it easy to track election data and remain in the know. First up: the U.S. Elections Hub – a Google site dedicated to Politics & Elections with a focus on 2012. Left nav gives you trends, “on the ground”, candidates links and issues links. Blogs and news blurbs offer real time coverage down the middle, and the links on the right give you even more navigational informational options.

The trends map link at the bottom offers a compelling animated graphic that moves over time showing peaks and valleys in the trends for various candidates.

Google Politics & Elections also has a Google+ Page with the most up to date information. A quick scroll shows the page to be chock-full of links and blurbs to satisfy even the most avid political junkie. Have at it!

The black bar wasn’t really so awful. But Google apparently is still in the throes of its massive remodel and unification of services, and has announced plans to ditch the black bar in favor of a nested services arrangement under the Google logo itself. Services are linked in a drop-down menu that pops out when you click on the Google logo, showing links to services such as search, Gmail, +, Maps and News.

The bar is split into three regions – the Logo and drop-down menu on left, the familiar search box in the middle and a share box and Google+ notifications on the right side, which are visible on any Google page.

Google believes the redesign makes navigation and sharing “super simple.” I would argue that frequent changes to the set up actually make matters a bit more complicated, at least in the short run.

If the new set up hasn’t yet been rolled out to you, you can check it out in the video below. Hope you like the new digs.