Testing Surveys! What Survey Tool Works Best?

Let me dust off the cobwebs after leaving this blog blank for over a year.

I'm testing some survey tools.

First up is Survey Monkey. I signed up for a free account and made a simple survey.

Click here to take survey

Next up is Blogger. It appears I can't embed the survey directly into a Blogger post, so the survey appears in the sidebar.

Which one works best?

Google Apologizes For Gmail Outage While Twitter Spreads The News

I came home late after a night at the movies and read the news that Gmail had been down for a few hours.

I use Gmail as my main mail service through Google Applications and checked to see what the fuss was about. Everything was working for me. No problem. I must have missed the outage. This morning, my RSS reader was buzzing with reactions.

The official Gmail blog features an apology from Google. "We heard loud and clear today how much people care about their Gmail accounts", says the Gmail blog. Google says they're reviewing what happened and are moving quickly to fix it.

The Blog Herald features the story "Gmail Outage: Why it Still Says Beta". Thord Daniel Hedengren thinks that the "beta" label at the top of Gmail is "ridiculous" and "it works well enough to replace a desktop mail client".

I found out about the Gmail outage through my Twitter account.  Google mentions the impact of Twitter in their official apology.  CNET's Webware blog reports on the impact of Twitter in reporting the news.  According to B.L.Ochman's Blog, Twitter users were spreading news of the outage before news sites could report it. 

I use Gmail as my desktop email and to manage a the multiple email accounts and my dozens of web app accounts.  I wasn't affected by the outage, but I was at the movies last night.  Had I been in the middle of something crucial or had a deadline, I might not have been so forgiving. 

My main concern about Gmail has always been security.  They're still working on that. 

First look at Google Analytics For Blogger

The Google Analytics Blog offers a first look at the new Google Analytics for Blogger. Based on Measure Map, an analytics tool for blogging, the analytics will be located on a new "stats" tab in the Blogger interface.

Google Analytics for Blogger is still in private beta, but should be out soon. Until then, you can still use traditional Google Analytics.

Google alters time and space for Gmail on April Fools Day

When I signed on to my Gmail account this morning, I was greeted by a new Gmail feature.

The new Gmail Custom Time claims to send email back in time to save you from missed deadlines and anniversaries.

I was already impressed that Google was partnering with Virgin Galactic to send lucky space travelers to set up a colony on Mars. First space travel, now they can send Gmail back in time!

What is the date today? Oh yeah...April 1st.

Microsoft bids to buy Yahoo for $44.6 billion

I just heard this morning that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo.

This deal is focused on generating more advertising dollars, but what really intrigues me are the possibilities with Yahoo's and Microsoft's services intertwining if the deal goes through.

I use Google as my main search engine. I barely use Yahoo or MSN for search, but I do use their other services.

Microsoft's Live Search does have an amazing Birds Eye view of maps that Google Maps can't even touch.

I can't live without the Yahoo-owned Delicious service for social bookmarking and I just signed up for Flickr Pro for photo sharing.

Microsoft has been slow to adapt Microsoft Office to the Web 2.0 world of online document editing and cloud computing, while Google Docs and Zoho Office have been offering online word processing and spreadsheets.

I wonder if Microsoft could integrate Yahoo's web services into the next version of Windows and make the successor to IE7 more Web 2.0 friendly? Making the OS more seamless with web services would be cool, especially if greater security and support were included.

All I ask for is that Microsoft does not add new annoying features to Yahoo.

Don't trust anyone over 30...who uses Facebook or MySpace

Are you over 30 and have a MySpace page or a Facebook account? If you do, many social media users under 30 feel like adults are crashing their party.

News.com.au reports that younger users of sites like Facebook now have their parents and grandparents snooping around their profile.

Gone are the days when adults didn't understand "this Internet thing". Mom and Dad are now visiting their kids pages and checking out their friends list. This is causing some tension because some young users feel that their social media sites are their own space.

The old complaint of "Mom, stay out of my room!" has now become "Mom, stop sending me friend requests!"

Blogger Play can hook you on images

Blogger Play is a site that shows a slide show of photos uploaded to Blogger blogs. According to an entry on The Group Blog, the slide show can be addicting.