Asymptomatic

Posts tagged: Google

Family Fridge Calendar
November 12, 2013
calendar Google fridge refrigerator

Fride CalWe use shared Google Calendars for our family calendaring. Each of us has his/her own calendar, and we have a shared calendar for stuff that we all participate in. But when we're sitting in the kitchen with the kids at meals, particularly while getting ready for school in the morning, it would be nice not to have to fish out the phones and cross-reference, and blah blah blah.

I set out to find a solution to this issue. The obvious solution is a traditional calendar. Berta bought one and added October's events to it, but it had some of the traditional problems.

Google Maps Quirks
July 16, 2013
Google maps UX

I've been using Google Maps at home to find out how long it would take to get from one place to another before I actually do it.  Route planning is really essential to arriving on time, and planning ahead for traffic, when possible, is a useful way to avoid being late for that important meeting or missing the bobblehead give-away at the ballpark.  But it's with this use of Google Maps that I am frustrated, in part because it could do more, and in part because it seems like some features have been omitted in Google's latest Maps re-build.

My first issue is with a new feature that is actually something I've been longing for on Google Maps for the longest time.  I can now create a "Home" address and a "Work" address that reflect those locations, so I no longer have to enter the addresses for those places instead.  This is so handy, since (let's admit it) when Google knows everything about me already, it seems stupid for them not to use that information to make my life easier.  But it has one quirk that I'm not easily able to figure out.

Why Privacy Doesn't Matter
March 12, 2013
privacy Google Glass

I was driving Riley home from karate when he asked me, "What if the Earth was 150 degrees all the time?"

There are two answers to this question, and one isn't very interesting.  I went with the second, more interesting one, "If it was 150 degrees all of the time, then when life evolved on this planet, it would have evolved to survive in 150-degree weather.  ...  It probably would have looked a lot different from what you see around here today, too."