Articles about Google Apps

Private information relating to more than 280,000 domains registered via Google Apps has leaked, leaving the registrants open to risk of identity theft or spear phishing.

The ability to buy domain names from one of Google's partners is a feature offered by Google Apps to allow easier access to and management of services.

Continue reading →

There's no doubt that cloud office platforms offer gains in productivity and easier collaboration, but they also present challenges for information security teams who need to limit content sharing.

For organizations that must comply with industry regulations like HIPAA this can lead to significant legal risk which, until now, was extremely difficult to mitigate.

Continue reading →

Amazon's Fire phone does not have access to Google's Play Store. I want to get that out of the way first, as it may be a consumer's biggest concern about the phone. However, that said, it might not be a big deal. In fact, it is quite refreshing to experience Google's Linux-based operating system without Google. In my opinion it is dangerous for Android to become synonymous with Google's store.

With Android, you do have the ability to add 3rd party stores without rooting or hacking. Unfortunately, on most devices, only Google's Play Store comes installed. While I have seen some devices come with the Amazon Appstore preloaded too, make no mistake, the Play Store is always the main focus. The Fire phone bucks that trend and puts Amazon's store into the spotlight and that is not a bad thing. Actually, as I will explain later, you can add additional app stores and even install some of Google's apps.

Continue reading →

Backup specialist Spanning Cloud Apps has made two announcements to help cement its position as a trusted SaaS backup and recovery provider.

The first is an update to its backup product for Salesforce. This includes on-page Salesforce data restore which makes it easy for end users to quickly and easily compare and recover previous versions of Salesforce data objects, such as Accounts, Opportunities and Contacts. As before the backup product is delivered entirely via the Salesforce interface.

Continue reading →

As a trained Sociologist, I am always analyzing my surroundings. One of my particular interests is the plight of the working poor. It breaks my heart to see people toil away for low pay, while struggling to pay bills. Even sadder, these hard-working people are often taken advantage of by "pay-day" lenders -- they offer an extremely high-interest loan which targets the poor who cannot make ends meet.

Luckily, technology can be developed to solve many of the world's problems, including the pains of the workers living paycheck to paycheck. Yes, a new app for Android and iOS, called Activehours, is aiming to solve this problem.

Continue reading →

Just yesterday we were looking at how there has been an increase in the level of encrypted traffic online, and today Google announces the launch of Google Apps Message Encryption (GAME). Google is partnering with Zix Corporation to bring fully encrypted communication to enterprise customers even when emailing contacts outside of Google's infrastructure. Emails sent to Google servers have been encrypted by default for a little while now, but the new launch means that emails sent to the likes of Yahoo and Outlook.com will also be encrypted.

As this is a third-party solution provided by Zix Corporation, Google is not offering full customer support for it, but a quick start guide has been published. Available for $35 per user, GAME enables Google Apps customers to not only ensure that the emails they send are encrypted, but also gives the option of setting up custom bounce messages for emails that are sent to unauthorized users who attempt to send encrypted emails.

Continue reading →

Modern classrooms are often anything but -- they can be very outdated. This comes down to many factors, including funding. However, antiquated techniques that are still in practice can be blamed on a lack of technology too. Teachers are not always educated in the newest education management software. Even if they are, it can sometimes be clunky and not cost effective.

Google is aiming to change this with a new tool it calls Classroom. This teaching management solution will eventually be a part of the Google Apps for Education (at no additional charge). Today, to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day, the search giant is accepting applications from teachers to test it.

Continue reading →

Moving to the cloud is one of the biggest trends in enterprise IT at moment, but office systems are still clinging resolutely to in-house machines even though there could be big savings to be had from moving them online.

With the launch of its new SaaS analytics application Israel-based SoftWatch offers IT managers the ability to get real-life usage data from Microsoft Office so they can see the potential benefits and return on investment available from moving to Google Apps.

Continue reading →

The office suite battle is really starting to heat up. Last week, Microsoft released Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the iPad, signaling a sea change in the company's focus. However, Google is still pushing forward with its attempt to sway users with its web apps. While both are good, no one can deny that Microsoft's offers more features.

With that said, more features does not always equate to better. In other words, if Google's offering meets a user's or business' needs, then it may be more cost effective. Quite frankly, too many features can be seen as noise when unused. One such company, the Glyndebourne opera house, switched from Microsoft to Google with great results.

Continue reading →

Nowadays, things tend to spread virally, thanks to the internet and social media. If you discover something cool, you will share it with friends and followers. People like to share videos, pictures and even apps. With the exception of advertisements masquerading as real suggestions, people share discoveries for the sake of sharing -- it is a nice gesture.

Once a financial incentive comes into play, a suggestion becomes tainted. For example, a salesman on commission may be genuine in their suggestions, but since their pay is dependent on the sale, you can never be 100 percent sure. Sadly, Google announces that it is turning users into sleazy commissioned salespeople with paid referrals. Will you sell your soul for $15.00?

Continue reading →

We all know that backups are important and these days that applies to data stored on cloud services just as much as desktop PCs.

Cloud backup provider Spanning Cloud Apps has announced a major update to its Spanning Backup for Google Apps, offering improved reporting and proactive notifications.

Continue reading →

While the gold-standard of office suites remains Microsoft's Office, many competitors are trying to catch up. While Libreoffice is a nice alternative, it has failed to truly take off beyond Linux users and people who don't want to spend money or cant afford to buy Microsoft's solution.

However, the biggest competitor lately has been Google. The search giant has been making a push with both web apps (like Google Docs) and Chrome OS. Education institutions have been high on Google's web philosophy as it is cheaper. Today, the search giant announces that it will be providing Google Apps for Education to students in the Brazilian city of São Paulo.

Continue reading →

While Android itself is a free, open-source operating system that can be used by any company and individual commercially, the Google apps and services we see bundled on popular devices do not share the same philosophy. Handsets have to be approved by the search giant in order to use the bread and butter of the Android world, which, among other things, includes access to the coveted Play store, and the Gmail and YouTube apps.

Because Google apps and services are not part of Android, we see lots of devices that are sold across the globe without them. Those come from lesser-known vendors, and may be available in anywhere from supermarkets to retail stores in emerging markets. To give those vendors a fighting chance against more popular rivals and increase its reach, Russian tech giant Yandex has announced Yandex.Kit, an Android suite that offers the company's own apps and services as a viable substitute for Google's own offerings on the platform.

Continue reading →

You're probably expecting me to write a scathing exposé on how I've come to dislike Google Apps. That's quite far from the truth behind why we left Google. There is a lot more to the story than meets the eye. It goes way farther than just a decision based on boxes checked off on a spec sheet. After more than one month since making the move to Office 365 full time, I can comfortably say we made the right decision as a company.

And of anyone who can make an honest dissection of Google Apps against Office 365, I'd say I'm as well suited as anyone in the IT blogosphere to be passing such critical judgement. Notwithstanding my own personal usage of Gmail since 2005 and Google Apps for my IT company since early 2010, I've likewise been both a Google Apps Certified Trainer and Google Apps Certified Deployment Specialist for years now. And I've personally been involved in Google Apps transitions for numerous small and large organizations in both the public and private sectors. So to say that I've been deeply invested in Google-ism for some time now is an understatement.

Continue reading →

Microsoft, while not innovating at Mozilla-Google rate, has been stepping up development of Internet Explorer -- thankfully moving on from the dim, dark days of IE6. Windows 8.1 comes with the shiny new Internet Explorer 11, and with that release Google implements plans to begin phasing out version 9 of the browser.

Don't panic yet -- this move is for Google Apps, a service used more in the business realm than the home. It really should not come as a surprise, as the search giant holds firm to a policy of support for current and previous browser versions -- in other words IE 10 and 11 now.

Continue reading →