Cloud Solution Provider in Middle East - Blog

Gmail's New Look

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:34:25 +0400

The New Look opt-out link in Gmail has been removed on Tuesday, March 27th. All users who have previously opted out will be moved to the new look.The new look is now the default for the Gmail, and is the permanent interface for Google Calendar, Google Docs, and Google Sites. The new look will become permanent for Gmail on Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

Note that you can switch back to the old interface for Gmail until March 27th. If you do switch back, the new look will become permanent for your account sometime between March 27th and April 6th.

To adjust the your Gmail Inbox for the new look:

Choose the how much whitespace you prefer in your inbox: Click the Settings gear menu, and then choose a display density: Comfortable (most whitespace), Cozy (less whitespace), or Compact (least whitespace). The Compact setting provides a similar amount of whitespace as the old interface.

To temporarily switch back to the old interface for Gmail:

Click the Settings gear menu, and then choose Revert to the old look temporarily:

To go back to the new look, in the lower-right corner of your Inbox, click Switch to the new look:

To adjust the new look for Google Calendar:

Choose the how much whitespace you prefer in your calendar: Click the Settings gear menu, and then choose a display density: Comfortable (most whitespace), Cozy (less whitespace), or Compact (least whitespace).

To adjust the new look for the Google Docs list :

Choose the how much whitespace you prefer in your Docs list: In Google Docs, click the Settings gear menu, and then choose a display density: Comfortable (most whitespace), Cozy (less whitespace), or Compact (least whitespace):

Google Apps Tech Update Sessions

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:26:39 +0400

Dear Readers

We are pleased to announce that based on the positive feedback and attendance that we received during the Google Apps Update Sessions last week, we will be regularly be delivering online webinar sessions packed with newly launched features of the Google Apps for Business Suite that have recently been released. The webinar series will be delivered monthly and focus on the newest functionality and settings.

Starting next week, we will be announcing three different types of webinars-
1. Google Apps Update Sessions - End Users
2. Google Apps Update Sessions - Admins
3. Introductory Google Apps Sessions - New Users

To keep yourself updated on the upcoming schedule, please visit https://sites.google.com/a/gulfinfotech.com/google-apps-update/home-1

Alternatively, you can also add the following Calendar ID to your list of Google Calendars:
gulfinfotech.com_g7cvikq9c4sql4joikdek5ukog@group.calendar.google.com

We look forward to seeing you at the next session!

Google Apps Update Session!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:00:22 +0400

Hello Readers!

We're pleased to announce an update session to discuss the recently released features and newer functionality of Google Apps. As of 2012, Gulf Infotech L.L.C. has over 80+ clients and we feel that it is important that you stay aware of the latest improvements that Google continuously makes to the applications. Based on your feedback and response, we will conduct the update sessions every month.

In this session, we will discuss the new features of Google Apps that have recently been released. The webinar will also review best practices and provide you with a fresh look into our new service functionality and products focused on bringing more efficiency and productivity to your business.

Please find here the agenda for both sessions. Please ensure that you register.

Dates: Session 1: Sunday, 26th February 2012 / Session 2: Monday, 27th February, 2012
Time: 3pm Oman
Duration: 30 - 45 minutes
Speaker: Sreejith Menon and Krishna Udani
Pre-Requisite: Headset (Speakers & Mic)

We look forward to speaking with you at the session! =)

Managing User Data on Google Apps

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:21:33 +0400

Google Apps is one of the popular Cloud Based Messaging and Collaboration Platform with more than 4 million customers globally and growing very fast. It definitely eases out the IT Teams load from day to day administration of the old traditional Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. But it comes with its own different challenge.

Challenge - Google Apps is not just a email solution, its a great collaboration platform where users once getting hold of Docs just don't stop. Everyone loves to create document and share with others. The issues comes when the user has to leave the organization and with growing global opportunities the attrition rate has been high.

Now when user leaves the organization, the first thing typically a Admin does is Suspend the users for 2 - 3 weeks and if there is no objection from HR / Finance Department the user is deleted. In some organization the admin has to download the data and store it for long term archive.

The moment admin decides with downloading all the data of the users, it becomes a time consuming task where the admin has to download all the emails, contacts, calendar & docs of the users independently. Also Downloading Emails using a Outlook POP connection can result in only download of emails in Inbox, not in all the labels and sent items.

Solution - CloudCodes has a direct solution to the above challenge, Google Apps Downloader is a simple to use admin too which with once click downloads Email, Contacts, Calendar & Docs in a User by User Folder in a structured manner for a long term archive. It performs a automated Conversion, and Organized Downloading of all types of data for the admin.

The tool also takes cares of the privacy of the users by not allowing admin to download the data of any users, as to download data of a particular user the admin needs the password of the user.

The Solution is a simple and effective for any size of organization using Google Apps. Below is the graphical presentation of how the tool works.

The tool is installer which can be installed on Admins Desktop or Server. The Details on requesting for a Demo tool can be found on the link -Demo Request Link.

Please feel free to comment on the post if you have any specific questions.

By, Rahul Bhavsar, CEO. Gulf Infotech

New and improved email management features for Admins

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:32:06 +0400

Google Apps Administrators now have access to stronger and better management features. Admins can now access and configure improved email compliance footers, approved/blocked sender lists and file attachment policies for Gmail, directly from the control panel. Previously, Google Apps customers used Google Message Security, powered by Postini, to provide these capabilities. While Message Security for Google Apps -- the integrated version of Postini -- is no longer available for sale or activation, existing customers will continue to be supported. Over the next few months, customers will be transitioned to the new email management features in the Google Apps control panel. These settings can also be configured at the organizational unit level for fine grained policies.

Also available to Admins are new support tools, including the Log Analyzer and Message Header Analyzer.
To diagnose issues pertaining to our migration tools, sync tools and email delivery, Admins can use the Log Analyzer which evaluates logs from a variety of our migration / sync tools and gives guidance on resolving most issues visible in the logs. You can click one of the links below to visit the log analyzer for that tool:

Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook
Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook
Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange
Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server
Google Apps Directory Sync

There you are Admins, all your solutions under one roof. Time to sit back, take a break and allow Google to help!

Reference: http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com/

Motorola, Meet Android

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 16:44:13 +0400

Over the last 2 weeks, the internet has been ablaze with talks of the IT giant acquiring the Telecom giant. For those who are wondering what brought upon this decision, here's a little background information.

With over 550,000 devices that have flood the market through a network of 39 manufacturers and 231 carriers since November 2007, the Android has proved to be a huge success in a short period of time. The epic battle being fought over patents saw Apple joining hands with cut-throat competitor Microsoft and an organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and other companies through bogus patents. The idea is to impose a tax for the patents which would make Android devices more expensive for consumers and make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices.

" In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we’re thrilled at the success they’ve achieved so far. We believe that their mobile business is on an upward trajectory and poised for explosive growth. Motorola is also a market leader in the home devices and video solutions business. With the transition to Internet Protocol, we are excited to work together with Motorola and the industry to support our partners and cooperate with them to accelerate innovation in this space.

Motorola’s total commitment to Android in mobile devices is one of many reasons that there is a natural fit between our two companies. Together, we will create amazing user experiences that supercharge the entire Android ecosystem for the benefit of consumers, partners and developers everywhere. This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences," blogs Larry Page, CEO.

The combination of Google and Motorola will serve to supercharge Android. It is also one of the arrows that Google has in its quiver aimed at enhancing the competition, offering consumers a greater choice among innovative devices and wonderful user experiences and of course delivering a punch to reduce the anti-competitive threats against Android by strengthening their patent portfolio.

Browser Wars

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:43:12 +0400

Since I started on my quest with Gulf Infotech a little more than 6 months ago, there's one nifty piece of software that I have noticed most users bend over backwards for - Internet Explorer. In my quest to figure out the reason behind the popularity of this browser, I approached some of our customers and asked them why they preferred IE over any of the other browsers. Over 90% of them came up with the same reply - "We didn't know we had a choice!"

In an era where gigantic IT companies have been known to battle each other so valiantly, where hundreds of computer manufacturers boast their state of the art products, where emerging IT trends like cloud computing and tablet PCs are steadily taking over the workforce, why limit your Internet experience to just one little browser?

Here are the top 5 benefits to using Google Chrome that we've put together after getting feedback from customers who are ardent fans of the browser -

1. Blazing Speed - Google Chrome relies on WebKit to allow web browsers to render web pages to match the blazing speed with which Scotty would beam up Captain Kirk. WebKit also powers other browsers like Safari which allows Macintosh users like me to speedily surf the web.

2. Incognito-oh! - For times when you want to browse in stealth mode, Google Chrome offers the incognito browsing mode. Hit Control-Shift-N to feel the magic.

3. Drag & Drop Tabs - You can drag a tab out of Chrome into a separate window, and you can drag a separate window back into tab bar, where it’ll be happily received by Chrome. A small but seductive feature which makes us want to stick around.

4. Minimized Crashes - With its high stability and unheard-of browser crashes Chrome becomes an instant winner in our eyes.

5. Intelligent Start Page- Besides the ubiquitous search bar, Chrome also gives you a list of most commonly visited Web pages which can be fired up quickly.

We have vowed our allegiance to Google Chrome. Treat yourself to a simpler, lighter and faster browser by visiting http://www.google.com/chrome

Email Preview Pane

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:22:08 +0400

Tired of having to open up each email to check its contents? Wouldn't it be more convenient to preview a conversation before opening it? With a solution to our pain, here comes Google with Email Preview Panes! (We're really excited about this feature, do forgive us the pun) With the click of a button and a twirl of your mouse, you will see message snippets to figure out which messages to open first. Welcome to a simpler, faster and more efficient way to manage your email!

You will have access to a 3-window panel with the Preview Pane in between the navigation and email panes. Click on the email on the left, to view its contents on the right.

To enable this feature, simply navigate to Google Labs and enable 'Preview Pane.' Once done, you will see a toggle button in the top right corner of your message list which allows you to switch between preview and list views. You can choose to have more vertical space by moving the preview pane below the message list. The dropdown arrow next to the toggle button allows you to do this.

Drop a comment to let us know what you think about Preview Panes. We'd love to hear your feedback!

Gulf Infotech to provide Amazon Web Services

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:12:54 +0400

Gulf Infotech is now proudly an official Amazon Solution Provider for Middle East & India!

Why does this call for a company-wide holiday? Well, imagine being able to track, graph and set alarms for your own application metrics or accessing simple templates to deploy your AWS Infrastructure, all of that while preserving the flexibility to choose whichever development platform or programming model makes the most sense for the problems you’re trying to solve.

No longer are you tied down to a specific Operating System, a certain development platform or a programming model. Whether its a Cloud based backup and storage solution that you're looking for, a simple notification service or even a relational database, together Gulf Infotech and AWS bring you a range of applications that are resilient, reliable, flexible and easy on the wallet!

The People Widget

Mon, 30 May 2011 14:17:40 +0400

Today, email systems play a vital role in keeping communication channels open in small, medium and large sized organizations. Gmail has taken efficiency and comfort in communication to a whole new level with the people widget. In the words of Zohair Hyder, a Software Engineer at Google, "Email is just as much about the people you communicate with as it is what you communicate about. We think it can be helpful to view relevant information in context, which is why over the next two weeks we’re rolling out a new people widget located on the right hand side of your messages. The people widget surfaces content from friends, family and colleagues that is already available to you but may be hard to find and makes it easier to connect with them."

Here's a sneak peak at the widget !

Beside every email message, the people widget displays relevant information about the people who are a part of the conversation. This includes recent email, Google Buzz posts, calendar events as well as shared Google documents! It is now easier than ever to wish your co-worker at another site a happy birthday, use your Google Calendar to invite a friend to lunch or start a group chat to brain storm on a new idea!

Add more hues to rid those blues!
Happy Monday everyone!

Courtesy: Google Blogspot