Posted by Brent VerWeyst, Product Manager, Google Enterprise Search
Your company has a wealth of collective knowledge and data, but how quickly can employees or customers find the right information? Google Search Appliance (GSA) gives businesses a simple way to search all their content, no matter where it lives or what format it’s in. Today we’re adding new capabilities to GSA with version 7.2, making it even easier to find documents, organize your data and let your team focus on what really matters: getting things done.
Entity management gets easier GSA 7.0 introduced entity recognition, which helps businesses categorize unstructured content by extracting entities—attributes like date, author and product type—from documents. With GSA 7.2, you get a chance to test and tweak your entities before indexing begins. This helps ensure that the entities you choose and apply will work best for your organization’s needs.
Helping to make search more universal Companies rely on GSA to make all their files discoverable from a single search box, no matter where they live. It does this with the help of components called connectors, which link GSA to various data sources and index their contents. In GSA 7.2, we’ve made the connector framework more scalable and flexible. Customers and partners can develop and improve custom connectors more easily, helping GSA become a truly universal information hub.
More search, less typing Relevant results shouldn’t rely on exact queries—especially when you’re dealing with long product names or technical data. Say you’re searching for part number 3728. With GSA 7.2, instead of struggling to remember the exact part number, you can type in “part number 37” plus a wildcard character such as an * to execute the query. With wildcard search, you don’t have to memorize complicated terms to find what you need.
In addition to these features, GSA 7.2 also introduces a redesigned admin console, improved language support and advanced sorting. To upgrade your GSA software, login to the Google Support Portal and download the release beginning at 9:00 am PT today.
To find out more about Google Search Appliance, click here.
Blackberry supplied a free Desktop Manager that made syncing Outlook with the handset via a USB cable very, very easy. Contacts, calendar, notes and tasks on my laptop were also on my Blackberry.
Times move, the iPhone and Androids are now the in-devices. Everyones using it, businesses included. Why then is it so difficult finding something to sync an Android phone with Outlook. I was even willing to pay!!
Fortunately, FJ Software Development came to the rescue with MyPhoneExplorer. Its free too (but Ill definitely be making a PayPal donation!)
To sync via a USB-Cable:
1. Download MyPhoneExplorer [Here] and install 2. Download an ADB Driver [Here] 3. On the mobile, enable USB-Debugging Settings -> Application -> Development Settings -> Apps -> Development Settings -> Developer options: 4. Connect mobile and install an ADB Driver 5. Start the MyPhoneExplorer on your PC 6. Setup the sync options File -> Settings 7. In the Connection-Tab under Phone Typ choose Phone with Google Android-OS and in Connect via... choose the option Autodetect. 8. Connect with the "F1"-button or via "File->Connect" 9. Now your Device should be connected to the MyPhoneExplorer. Select what you want to sync.
I dont buy into the iPad as a laptop replacement—not quite. But it is fantastic at tapping into your computers to access video and audio, documents, and even your full desktop, remotely. Heres how.
The iPad is first a foremost a device for consuming media, and where is most of your media if not on your desktop or laptop? All your videos, both self-created and downloaded; your music collection, which is so much larger than your iPads flash storage can dream of accomodating; your store of documents, which contain so much information about you, your work and your interests. On your iPad, this stuff is too often there, not here—but it doesnt have to be.
You can easily access all of these things from your iPad with a set of simple-to-use apps, and where those dont work, you can actually control your computer—mouse and all—from your iPad. Heres what you need:
Audio and Video
Audio and video streaming on the iPad is, for the time being, the domain of two apps: Air Video and StreamToMe. Theyre extremely similar, sharing their $3 price, iPhone compatibility, and an underlying video conversion library, but a few key differences will determine which one you need to download. So!
If you...
• Have a Windows PC • Dont need to stream audio • Tend to store your content in h.264/mp4 files
Go with Air Video. Its a wonderful app, which lets you stream video—even in formats not natively supported by the iPad—both locally and remotely (with simple port forwarding), and which has both Mac and PC server software. Its flexible as well, giving you precise control over streamed video quality, and options for either transcoding video live, or pre-converting it before streaming.
SEXPAND
h.264 playback, even in HD, seemed cleaner and bit smoother than in StreamToMe, so if youve ripped or downloaded most of your content in that format, Air Video is a slightly better choice. It transcodes your downloaded .avi file beautifully, too.
(Note there currently isnt a good DLNA streaming app, though once its bugs are worked out, PlugPlayer shows promise. For the time being, Air Video is the only way to stream and transcode your video library stored on a Windows PC)
If you...
• Have a Mac • Want to stream audio files as well
Then you should download StreamToMe. It too can transcode video in real time, so you dont need to worry about converting your home video files or P2P downloads. Its main advantage over Air Video is that it can stream audio. Itd be nice if the app had an iTunes-style artist view, but if your iTunes music folder is organized by artist name and album title (if you havent told it to do something else, iTunes will have taken care of this for you), navigating through and playing songs is pretty straightforward.
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The setup routines for both apps are nearly identical. Each requires a server app to be run on your computer, which needs to be pointed to your video library, and each will automatically recognize your computer over a local network. For remote streaming, each app provides guidance for which ports to forward on your router. (For instructions for your specific router, check here.) This means you can stream your home video from anywhere—work, a hotel room, whatever—over Wi-Fi.
Documents
Document sharing on the iPad isnt particularly easy, relying on the awkward iTunes file sharing system, which only lets you access documents in the app theyve been flagged for. To browse apps in a more useful way, youll need get an app called GoodReader. Its $1.
SEXPAND
GoodReader is an app that enables you to connect to all kinds of file servers, be they cloud-based (Google Docs, Dropbox, or MobileMe) or local (an FTP or WebDAV server). Once connected, GoodReader lists files that can be read on a given server, which are left up to the iPads inbuilt viewers to display. This means that Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, as well as a range of other text files, images, and even audio files, can be opened in the app.
SEXPAND
One of the most compelling features of GoodReader is that it can turn your iPad into a local file server, which you can mount and connect to from any Mac or PC. This feature lets you drag and drop your documents to the iPad, as if it were a NAS device. (GoodReader also shows up in the iTunes USB file transfer dialog, but Wi-Fi drag-and-drop transfer is much faster and easier, once its set up.) Instructions for server setup are available here.
Additionally, using the apps "Manage Files" pane, you can sort, administer and email your documents as well. Its basically like having a disk for all kinds of media, on your iPad, along with a file browser. Ha!
Controlling Your Desktop
If you want full access to your computer, video, audio and document file servers wont be enough. What about your applications? Your iPad-incompatible files? Your entire desktop? To get that kind of control, you need to use VNC.
From our previous How To guide on the subject:
VNC (virtual network computing) is one of those tricks that never gets old, and having it set up can often save your ass-whether you left some info on your home computer that you need at work, want to check on your massive BitTorrent queue to schedule the evenings entertainments, or help your poor parents use clip art in Microsoft Word, having remote access can be handy dandy.
For full setup instructions for Windows and OS X, follow our guide here.
Once youve done that, youll need an iPad VNC client. The iPad App Store already has a handful of VNC apps available for download. The ones Id go with are Mocha VNC Lite (a free, limited-capability app), and if you find you like the VNC concept, the $12 Desktop Connect.
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Its strange, controlling a mouse-based computer from a touchscreen device, but theres one option Ive found makes life a lot easier: In Desktop Connect, turn Touchscreen Mode off. This options has you control the mouse as if the whole touchscreen is a trackpad, rather than having to guide the mouse directly with your finger. After a few minutes, youll be clicking around Windows or OS X without thinking about it.
