The following is a post I did for LukeStay.com back in January 2008. It’s all still relevant and my recent Google Voice post reminded me of it, so I thought I’d post it again here since many of you have not read it.

It all started last year when I joined a Virtual Stock Exchange competition with a bunch of friends. We were to play the stock market for a year straight using $10,000 of fake money. Whoever had the biggest gain by the end of the year would win. I came in second, right behind a guy who made some last-minute shortsells, and I have Google to thank for it. I almost doubled my fake money.

I bought their fake stock about 6 months or so ago and it rose slowly in the next months. Then, rumors started about a Google Phone soon to be released and their stock exploded. It rose even higher after they actually released the “Google Phone” and continued to rise after that. What makes them so special? Release after release of easy-to-use, life-easing web applications. Let me just share a few that have struck my fancy.

1. Google Maps

“Google Maps is the best! / Trudat! / Double True!”

Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell knew what they were talking about. Even if Lazy Sunday was a year or so ago. I use it at least once a day without even thinking about it, it has become that much a part of my life.

What makes Google Maps so great is their constant innovation. I once used street view to prove the accuracy of a photo sent to me in an email (Proof here). I just used Satellite view last Sunday to see if there was anywhere to park near our new church building. Over the holidays, I used the route-drag feature to change my driving directions to use the Merrit Parkway to get from Boston to New Jersey, and then to add a pit-stop in Manhattan on the way back. For our wedding, I made my own embedded Google Map that contained markers for all the important venues in the area around our reception. I can’t wait to see what they do next!

2. Google Reader

I used to spend hours every week just checking my friend’s various blogs to see if they had updated anything. After a while I just gave up, it was too much to keep track of. I had heard of reader programs, but never tried any because they seemed so foreign. It wasn’t until I installed Lifehacker’s Better Gmail Firefox extension that I realized how great a reader program could be. It put Google Reader right there in my Gmail window (the new version does not have this feature yet, they’re waiting on someone to come up with an updated Greasemonkey script). I had to try it out.

Basically, like any other reader, it stores your blogs in one central place and updates when your blogs update. But what makes Google Reader so great (besides seamless integration with all the other Google products) is their new sharing feature. I can mark blogs that I think will be useful to my friends without having to email them a link to the site. I just click “share” and move on. Then it’s up to them to look or not.

My wife shares a lot of design possibilities to try in our house after we move and I’ve been exposed to a world I never knew existed with my brother’s programming blog shares. Sure, there’s programs like del.icio.us, digg, and StumbleUpon that do similar things, but with Google Reader, it’s all right in front of me as I read my blogs, no need to bookmark or install anything else.

3. GMail + Google Talk

Before I moved to New York City, I mainly used AOL’s Instant Messenger. I’ve had an account with them since junior high when AOL was the way to the internet. A few of my friends were on MSN Messenger, so I started using programs like Trillian (for PC), or Adium (for Mac) to talk to both in a single program. When I moved to New York, I discovered that I was years behind. Sure I had a gmail account, but I was not on Google Talk. Everyone was on Google Talk. I decided to check it out.

What makes Google Talk so great, is the fact that you don’t have to install any additional software, it’s right there in your web browser. This means I can chat with just about all my friends no matter where I am, whether on my computer or not. My wife uses it at work because it’s so easy to hide. It just looks like you’re typing an email. In fact, that’s how we got to know each other at first. She never would’ve married me if not for GTalk. Sure I use Adium for all my chatting purposes, but that’s only because a few of my friends still have not moved over to Google.

There’s not much to say about GMail that you probably don’t already know except that it’s great. I have about 4 different accounts that forward to one master account for easy labeling on emails like work, family, and online accounts. I use that same account to check my business email using POP, and I have most of my contacts grouped for quick mass emails. UPDATE: You can now drag and drop emails into labels (like folders) and labels onto emails. It saves a step when archiving.

So there it is. Call me a fanboy if you want, but I heart Google. Honorable mentions include iGoogle, Google Calendar (my wife and I share ours to keep up on each other’s appointments), and Google Text. Google Info has potential, but I have yet to see it give me reliable results.

And while I’m linking, check out www.japanesebugfights.com. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like.

Some of my more astute readers may have noticed the little box to the left that appeared not too long ago. It’s the one that says “Call Me,” and it’s all powered by Google Voice. All you have to do is enter your phone number and the robots at Google will call you and me simultaneously, allowing us to connect and discuss your technology needs. I know, it’s amazing, and it doesn’t end there.

Google Voice is a free service that allows you to manage your contacts and phone calls in a way you never could before. It’s invite-only at this point, but you can get your invite here and they’ve been rolling it out slowly to those that have requested invites. I got mine a couple weeks ago.

On to the features.

The short video above provides a great overview and you can find more information on Google’s own about page. Basically, Google gives you one phone number to rule all your other phone numbers. For example, if you call my Google number (or click the box to the left) and you happen to be my wife, both my cell phone and my home phone will ring so I can be sure to hear it. If I don’t answer, she’s greeted by a special voicemail greeting that no one else can hear. If you’re a member of my family and I don’t answer, you get another greeting. If I haven’t entered your number in my Google Contacts, just my cell phone will ring, and if I don’t answer, you’ll get the standard greeting.

You can also set it to go straight to voicemail when you receive a call from specified numbers (very helpful for telemarketers) and you can record any call in progress (helpful for telemarketers and customer support calls). Any voicemail or recording is automatically stored in your Google Voice Inbox, where you can play it or read Google’s attempted transcription of the recording (still a work in progress as you can see in the screenshot). I have it set to text message me whenever I miss a call or receive a voicemail, so I can read the voicemail transcription without even calling. It makes a great business phone for any freelancer.

You can also send text messages and start your calls right from the Inbox. Other nice Inbox features are voicemail emailing, recorded call emailing, and text message emailing. You can send pretty much anything recorded to anyone you want. It’s all integrated seamlessly with Google’s other services.

All-in-all, it’s a great service that will only get better. There are rumors of Google porting their service through your existing numbers in the future, which would negate the hassle of telling everyone in your address book about the new number. Until then, Lifehacker has a great post on how to ease your transition to Google Voice.

It’s a cinch to set up. You just choose an area code, then either pick from a list of available numbers or try to make up your own (none of my word combinations were available in my area code). You then give it an existing phone number to work with, it calls to verify, and you’re good to go!

So go ahead, sign up for an invite and let me know what you think. And as always, feel free to ask me any questions, or call me using the fancy new box to the left! Oh, and don’t forget to become a fan on the Facebook page. I’ll be sharing links and other gems over there.

We recently discussed how to sync your iTunes Library between two different computers, but what happens when your computer crashes without a backup and you lose all your precious music? Is there an easy way to get the music off your iPod and back onto your computer? Luckily, thanks to a few great programs, the answer is yes.

There are many of these iPod-ripping programs these days, but I will stick to the two that I have used the most, Senuti for the Mac, and YamiPod for the PC and the Mac. As a disclaimer, I have received no compensation whatsoever for recommending either of these products.

Senuti

Senuti is my all-time favorite iPod-ripping program. Unfortunately, it’s strictly for Mac. It’s simple and easy to use, but packed with plenty of features. The interface looks just like iTunes and works every bit as well. It will even tell you which songs on an iPod are already in your library. You can choose to automatically add any songs transferred to your library, or to add them to a playlist, which is great for importing playlists. You just select the desired playlist on your iPod, set the transfer to playlist in the preferences, and it will automatically transfer the songs both to your library and to the playlist of your choosing. Unfortunately, Senuti is no longer freeware, but it is free to try for 30 days. It’s so easy to use though, and so packed with features, that it’s well worth the $18 registration cost. Be sure to check out their preview videos that walk you through some of the basic features. I found them very helpful.

YamiPod

YamiPod is my go to iPod-ripping program for PC. It used to be PC only, but they have recently added support for both Mac and Linux. Best of all, it’s completely free. They have added a lot of features since I first started using it like Playlist support, duplicate track removal, and more. It’s a bit more complicated then Senuti, but still straightforward enough for beginners to figure out. You basically select the songs you want to import and click the button. As an added bonus, it always reminds me of my friend Nathan Yamashita, who has a brother they call Yami.

The most important step to using any iPod-ripping program is verification. After taking music off any iPod, you want to make sure it ended up in the right place and that all your music is in your iTunes library. If you have lost your music to a hard drive crash or something similar, you’ll be warned that your iPod will be erased when you try to sync. After verification, you are free to restore your iPod and ignore any warinings that your iPod will be erased. As long as the same music that was on your iPod is now in your library again, you have nothing to worry about.

So there you go. Those are my favorite iPod-ripping programs. Feel free to leave any of your favorites in the comments below. As always, any questions are very welcome and I will do my best to answer them promptly!