Get Important Emails As Text Messages On Your Phone

Have you ever been expecting an important email but had to step away from the computer for a while and don't have a blackberry or the new iPhones. Now you too don't have to wait to receive email messages while you're out and about. In previous posts we've talked about receiving notices of scheduled events on your Google Calendar via text messages. Today we'll explain how you can also receive those important emails as text messages. While this technique should work for any mailing software that allows you to set rules for your incoming mail (Outlook or Thunderbird for example) we'll use gmail to show and explain how you can easily setup your phone to receive those important emails as text messages.

DISCOVER YOUR PHONES EMAIL ADDRESS

In addition to having a phone number that allows you to receive standard text messages, most cell phones now also have an email address that you can receive text messages at. To discover this, open up your text message and in the TO: box enter your email address and send yourself a short message. Now check your email and you should receive a new message from your phone. Check the address of the sender and that should be your phone's text message email address. Mine for example was my phone number at vtext.com (for example: 7035551234@vtext.com) I replied to that email to see if I would receive back a text message. After a few seconds my phone chirped to let me know I received a message and it was the email I had just sent.

CREATE A RULE OR FILTER FOR YOUR EMAIL

Now that you know you're phone's text message email address you can setup a rule or filter to send those important emails to your phone so you're always in the know. For Gmail this is quick and simple. After signing into your gmail account click settings and then the "Filters" link. Click Create a new filter. New input fields will pop up with a number of different options to filter new emails. Most email clients have these same options but may call them rules.

One of the options is the "FROM:" field. You can enter in the specific email address of someone you're expecting to hear from or if there are a number of people from the same organization that you don't want to miss emails from you can always use the "*" field and the domain name to apply to all messages from that group (For example: *@gmail.com).

The ability to get these messages on your phones is set at the next step. Select the "Forward it to" option and then enter in the email address for your phones text messages. Apply the filter or rule and you'll be set to receive future emails on your phone as text messages.

Google Desktop 5: Better Equipped To Take On Vista Sidebar?

Google recently announced that they've upgraded their Google Desktop Search to release number 5 (beta of course). They explain that the release offers better search and better security than previous releases. But the greatest addition is the user interface and how its sleek look appears to be added just to take on the Vista Sidebar.


SECURITY

The security received a nice addition which allows you to lock your search from anyone that doesn't have your windows user password. Simple right click on the desktop icon in your taskbar and click the "Lock Search..." option. This will prevent anyone from search for files on your computer without your permission. Follow the same steps and enter your Windows Password to unlock Google Desktop Search.


IMPROVED LOOK

This release of Google Desktop added enhanced visuals to the gadgets, the sidebar, and the add new gadgets window. All of the new additions make having these simple applications on your desktop much more enjoyable. When I first looked at these they instantly reminded me of the sidebar included in Vista. Google must feel that this feature included in Windows Operating system might pull away some of their Desktop search customer base and to combat this they enhanced the look and security of their own desktop search engine.

It would be nice if the search built in to Vista was lockable.

Overall the enhancements are great. If you're already using Google Desktop Search upgrade quickly. If you're not, nows the time to start. You'll find the files you're looking for easier and faster than ever before.

Automatically Mount A Network Drive On Startup

As people start to purchase more and more computers, they often keep their old ones around the home and create home networks so that they can quickly access data or programs on their old systems. This is an approach for Mac OS X and the following is a quick way to use Automator to create a small application that mounts a network drive and then how to set it up so that it automatically runs each time you start your computer.

This article assumes that you know the location of the drive you'd like to mount on your network and and can find it by clicking on Finder and then Network.

CREATING THE MOUNTING APPLICATION IN AUTOMATOR

1. Open Automator for your applications and select Finder from your Library.
2. Select Get Specified Server and drag and drop it to the work area to the right.
3. Click the Plus Button under Get Specified Server
4. Under the "Show:" drop down menu select File Servers
5. Select the drive you'd like to mount
6. Click Connect - The Drive should now show up under Get Specified Servers
7. From the Action list drag and drop Connect to Servers to the work area to the right (This should be number 2 in the workflow)
8. Click Run to make sure everything is working correctly - The Drive should mount to your desktop.
9. Save the Automator script as an application in a location you can easily access it.
10. Go to System Preferences and click accounts - Select the Login Items Tab
11. Drag and drop the Automator application we've created to the area below "These items will open automatically when you login.
12. Restart your computer to make sure that everything is working correctly.

You can also use these steps to mount other types of servers on boot up.

How To View Local Movie Listings in Google Calendar

As I've been using Google Calendar more and more I've come to notice some great features and abilities that are offered to any individual or group that use the web based calendar. One of the recent features I discovered in Google Calendar was searching and adding local movies to my Google Calendar.

SEARCHING FOR A MOVIE

To Search for a movie on Google Calendar you'll need to follow these few easy steps:

1. Login to Google Calendar
2. Know the name of the theater you'd like to watch the movie at
3. Type in the name of the theater and then the location of the theater into the search box. (For example: Regal Countryside 20 Sterling, VA)
4. Click the Search Public Events
5. At this point Google Calendar will show in List View all the movies that are playing at that theater. I prefer to click to Day tab and which will quickly show the movies and their particular show times
6. Click on the Movie at the time you'd like to see it. Google Calendar will open up a small dialog window and show information about the movie including the time, location, map, and a copy to my calendar link.
7. Click Copy to my calendar. Google Calendar will let you know the event was copied and give you an option to view your Calendar.
8. Click View Now
9. The movie will be added to your Calendar with time specific details included. Be sure to set the reminder so you can get an SMS text message reminding you of the upcoming event.

NOT JUST MOVIES

You can use this feature for any event you're interested in attending. Search Public events for everything in your area and you'll never need to wonder what you should do on the weekends again.

Google Maps Gets Pictures / Local Business Coupons

Just after announcing an upgrade to Picasa Web Albums Google has added features to Google Maps.

Again reporting from their blog, Google Maps now include pictures of various locations. Clicking on the icon marking the location will bring up a picture of the place you're looking for. Inside the little window you can click more information and find additional photos and web page links.

Here is a link to the Sony Building in Japan.

Using Google Maps to find new places just got easier.

Additionally, Google allows for local business owners to update information about their business and how it appears on Google Maps. An interesting part about this new feature is the ability to add coupons and other details to your business listings.