Alternatives to Google webapps?

I find myself using Google products most of the time. These are Google Search, GMail, Reader, Picasa, Groups, Documents, Maps, Translate and so on... They are not bad generally, but I think I might be missing something better just because Google's offer is more popular. Are there some free and better alternatives to them?

From web app Rumen Georgiev

• there's so many alternatives... you can check out the ZOHO suite: http://www.zoho.com/ it's pretty big.

  From Yonatan Karni

• Microsoft offers Office Live Workspace. I haven't tried it myself, but in some comparisons I've read that Google Docs has better collaborative editing whereas Office Live Workspace has some unique features.

  From horsedrowner

• The big new one is Microsoft Office Web Apps, which you can reach here:

  office.microsoft.com/en-us/web-apps/

  You can read a comparison between Office Web Apps and the Google App suite on this Lifehacker article.

  Is there anything specifically that you don't like about the Google Apps? What would you be looking for in new apps? The only ones from your list I would suggest alternatives to are Flickr for Picasa, however I am sure you already know of that, and using any browser extension (what browser do you use?) for translation instead of going to Google's translate page to prevent having to open a separate web page and copy and paste into it.

  In my opinion though, you would be better off sticking with the Google's offerings, I generally find that they are superior to most others.

  From tobeannounced

• This is sort of a loaded question because it really depends on your needs and how you plan to use the various tools. Do you want web only apps? Do you plan to work in a sometimes disconnected state? Will traditional desktop apps that include some collaboration features work for you?

  That being said, here's a rough list of comparable apps:

  • Google search: Bing
  • Gmail: Yahoo Mail!, Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird as a client
  • Reader: Firefox plugin called Sage, Thunderbird's built in reader
  • Picasa: Windows Live Photo Gallery, Flickr or Facebook (For storing images and slight editing)
  • Groups: Yahoo groups, Windows Live Groups
  • Documents: OpenOffice, Office Live
  • Maps: Bing maps, MapQuest
  • Translate: Babelfish, FreeTranslation.com

  Here's an article I found on this subject: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/getting-free-of-googles-grip-the-10-top-alternatives.html

  From beaudetious

• As an alternative to Google Reader, I'd encourage you to check out Feedly. It uses Google Reader to store your feeds, so there's no migration required to try it out, but it offers a much better experience, in my opinion, to the standard Google Reader interface.

  From Kenneth LeFebvre

What web applications are available for mindmapping?

Relevant additional information would be features, offline usage, mobile integration and pricing.

From web app Cade Roux

• Prezi is more suitable for presentation rather than creation of mind maps but is definitely worth looking at.

  From Ian Turner

• Mindmeister.

  It's a good one, the best part is that you can use OpenID to sign in, so there is no need to register yet another account.

  Aaron : Nice thing! Are there any export options available?

  Ngu Soon Hui : @Aaron, if I'm not mistaken there is, but I am not sure.
  From Ngu Soon Hui

• There is a new webapp currently in beta called Popplet. They have a preview video if you want to see what the software can do, and they already have an iPad app to play with too.

  Couple of explaining images grabbed from their home page:

  

  From gnarf

• ThoughtMuse

  http://www.thoughtmuse.com/

  I haven't spent a lot of time playing with this one, but it looks interesting.
  If anyone has a look, please leave a comment saying how you get on.

  From AJ01

• I haven't yet been able to try this but I noticed Google Docs has recently added support for drawings. This might prove to be great for mindmapping.

  From horsedrowner

• https://bubbl.us/beta/

  MadMurf : -1 for no text detailing what this link is... not a helpful answer, expand please...

  danixd : @MadMurf feel free to click on it. The link is for bubbl. My god. I used some common sense. Also, guess what, its a Brainstorming app. WHAT A SURPRISE!
  From danixd

• Two nice webapps for mindmapping that haven't been suggested yet are:

  • www.lovelycharts.com/
  • www.mindomo.com/

  Their mobile integration and offline usage doesn't appear to be fantastic - you might be better off with www.mindmeister.com for that, but it is always good to have more options.

  Pricing for Lovely Charts

  http://imgur.com/tvPOc.png

  The pricing converts to ~US$22.60 for Professional, and ~$36.50 for gold.

  Pricing for Mindomo

  www.mindomo.com/pricing.htm

  From tobeannounced

• Mind42.com is a collaborative mindmapping webapp. It appears to be free.

  From moioci

• There's a list here http://www.mind-mapping.org/web-based-mindmappers/ with several pages of details and compatibility info

  Regards

  Vic Gee (@VicGee on Twitter)

  Mind-Mapping.Org

  The master list of mind mapping & information management software

  From Vic

• I use Seavus DropMind™ an excellent web and desktop mind mapping software with a lot of functionalities which can facilitate your everyday thinking process. It is great mind mapping tool for brainstorming, planning, organizing and sharing ideas in real time.

  From Nina

Good webapp for checking availability of domain names?

Is there an web/AJAX app that enables me to check availability of domain names under all top level domains? It would be a plus if it also could recommend similar domain names or have other innovative features.

From web app grm

• Who.is can do that, just type the keyword in without the TLD.

  From Simon Brown

• I love domai.nr for this sort of thing. Doesn't search all TLD's, but checks availability and recommends similar/abbreviated names across TLD's. Not perfect, but the best I've used.

  From tsondermann

• Namechecklist.com is a tool that is launched last week which even checks the chosen name on social networks and gives feedback on how unique it is via google results.

  From PeterEysermans

• Use "Domain Lookup" on whois.net.

  From Mehper C. Palavuzlar

• I use Domize which is simple and quick, they also have a mobile version i believe.

  They have quite a variety of TLDs to search:

  

  And some interesting search options:

  

  From Marc Roberts

• I've toyed with DomainTyper before. It suggests domain "hacks" based on what you type in. It also seems to support quite a variety of TLDs.

  From Grant Palin

• I like Instant domain search. Instant results! :)

  From thunderror

• If you are looking to check for domain names on all TLDs as you say in your question, don't go past iWantMyName which searches over 80 extensions (as far as I can tell - that figure does include things like .co.uk as well though).

  If you are primarily looking for the innovative features and name suggestions, as you say in your question, then check out all of these - and apologies for the plain text, I can't insert more than one hyperlink at my current rep level :(

  • www.nameboy.com
  • www.bustaname.com
  • www.domaintyper.com (also suggested by @Grant Palin)
  • www.domai.nr (also suggested by @tsondermann, and the site I use the most for lookups)
  • www.nxdom.com
  • www.dotomator.com
  From tobeannounced

• How did no one suggest http://ajaxwhois.com? By far the best/fastest option.

  grm : Looks very good, but only support a very limited subset of domains. Although, for .comish names it's a good option. Upvote from me.

  Book 'em Danno : definitely fastest, even though least option driven. upvote
  From mike the mike

• The web app Wordoid.com is superb for name ideas, as well as checking on the availability of .com and .net domains. It lets you specify a starting word, then builds up prefixes and/or suffices around that word, checking for "naturalness" against up to 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, German). You can also specify the maximum word length. Finally, it tells you the approximate current search hits for the suggested names; for building a new brand, this can be crucial, as you'll want to zoom in on words that have few or no current search hits.

  From limist

• Have a look at http://gandi.net - their domain lookup is decent, and they don't try to upsell you like so many others.

  For brainstorming domains, http://domai.nr/ are pretty good and their site is pretty slick too.

  From Mr. Matt

Are there any web-apps that are useful offline?

There are many useful web-apps, and some of them have implemented support for offline use. I understand that this is very useful if you lose your connection, and want to keep using the application until it comes back, but most web-apps are designed to be used when connected to the internet, and revolve around network-based features.

Are there any web-apps that are useful offline? (I.E. That you can use without being connected to the internet.)

From web app Jonas

• Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs support offline too. For that I think you may need to enable Labs features.

  fretje : Why the downvotes? GMail has off-line support out of the box (no need to enable a lab feature, you have to enable the offline support through the settings though), and is very useful that way!

  drye : I use Google offline for gmail, reader and docs all the time. I voted up, but don't understand the votes down.

  Antoops : i was confused with down vote without comment........ thanks fretje and drye for support!! :)

  Stefan Lasiewski : Google Docs has [phased out offline support](http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=176376), and will implement it again sometime in the future (probably with HTML5). It still works offline, sort of, but it nags you every time it tries to save, and you risk losing your changes.
  From Antoops

• If I understand correctly you want an app that runs in the browser, but not online.

  The trouble is where the code is stored. The code running most web apps sits on a server somewhere in the Internet.

  You need to be connected in the beginning, just to get the code downloaded to your computer.

  In theory, with localstorage a simple app could pull down enough JavaScript logic in a single page to provide a useful app (e.g. a whiteboarding application) where there isn't a dependency on searching/retrieving data from a server.

  However most online apps thrive due to being online, and inter-connected with other users and other sites.

  Is there a particular type of site you wish worked offline?

  From scunliffe

• If you are including webapps with native desktop counterparts in this question, then I would argue that Evernote (a powerful note-taking tool) is a webapp that is very useful offline, along with others, such as Dropbox (a file syncing tool that will sync any changes made while offline when you go online).

  If we are excluding these types of apps where the desktop counterpart is the offline component and they are not offline in the browser, then I would nominate Every Time Zone (a great webapp for visualising different timezones), which works offline perfectly in Google Chrome for me, using offline storage (your browser will probably ask you whether you want to allow the site to store data online, so answer yes to this).

  Edit: I came across another app called ThreeTags Online Noteboook, which provides an offline mode using Google Gears, so that might be worth checking out.

  From tobeannounced

• Picasa and Google Earth (the online version is a view in Google Maps) are two more with on-line and off-line counterparts in the sense that tobeannounced mentioned.

  ChrisF : I think with Google Earth you have to be connected to get the imagery. There's simply too much of it to be stored locally.

  citadelgrad : You can increase the cache of Google Earth to improve the amount of data offline.
  From Dennis Williamson

Can I set a reminder for Google Tasks based on their due date?

Is it possible to be notified before a task is due, similar to how you can set notifications for events on Google Calendar?

From web app Senseful

• Google Tasks does not provide email alerts.

  As mentioned by @Antoops, you can set alerts for Google Calendar events which may provide the functionality you are looking for.

  It would be nice to see Google add the ability to set alerts for tasks, but I think they have left it out on purpose (since a task list is something you should check regularly by design vs. being pushed alerts/reminders)

  This support thread has further reading on this feature request.

  From 3rdparty

Facebook: tagging things you're not "related" to.

I know I can tag my friends and groups in Facebook status updates using the @-notation. In addition I would like to tag groups I don't belong to or pages I'm not a "fan" of, like

Went to see @"Hot Tub Time Machine". You should too.

I am aware of the alternatives:

• Joining the group to be able to tag it
• Attaching a link to my status update
• Pasting bit.ly-ed link to the page.

I'm trying to keep my facebook profile clean of ephemeral groups and my feed simple and readable, and I like the idiom of @tagging. Is this possible?

From web app fencliff

• As taken from Facebook's Help page, you cannot. I use the same alternatives as you do.

  Tagging allows you to more actively mention your friends and other things you are connected to on Facebook.

  An extra alternative you may want to add to your list is to use the Facebook Like Feature on websites. This way at least users can like your status. For example in this case , The Internet Movie Database.

  fencliff likes Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) on IMDb.

  Maybe movie theaters will grab in on this idea.

  fencliff : Thanks, I anticipated this might not be possible. I like the Facebook Connect idea on via IMDb.
  From phwd

I want a new unique online identity - how to find one?

I want to start a new online identity and use a single common identifier on as many sites as possible. What web apps or other methods are available for me to check if my proposed nickname is already in use? I definitely want to avoid any service that might start cybersquatting on the name, if any are suspected of doing that.

Edit: agreed, this does make my online presence very searchable, and I'll give that some more thought.

From web app William

• namechk.com will check 149 sites (although some don't seem to work). The check is done on the client-side using JavaScript, so name squatting is not easily possible.

  William : Nice one, neo. Thanks for that.
  From neo

• Long time ago I started to use couple of random letters (Fczbkk) as my nickname. So far it was everywhere I tried to register. Even my domain (http://fczbkk.com) was free. Choosing "Fczbkk" was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

  So if you just need an unique identifier for your on-line identity, I'd recommend using any random generator. Or you can smash your forehead against the keyboard or something like that.

  William : This is an interesting idea. I was hoping to use something less random but this method is growing on me. I am going to try bashing my head on the keys shortly :D

  Benjol : IIRC, this was how xkcd was born too.

  Julien N : Good idea, and you can choose random letters and then try to give it any meaning. Could result in something quite fun !

  Andrew : On http://reddit.com it's pretty common to create usernames after CAPTCHAs new users get on registration

  Evan Plaice : @Benjol Here's the reference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJOS0sV2a24 @ 44:30

  Andreas : +1 for "forhead against the keyboard" - as if 20 times per day isn't enough
  From Fczbkk

• Similar to namechk.com mentioned by @neo, knowem.com will search 150-300 sites for free, and will register them for you if you pay for their premium service.

  William : Thanks, this is a great choice too. I like the way they divide sites into topics.
  From 3rdparty

• There used to be a website that would make pronounceable passwords for you. You could specify the beginning or end, etc. I used part of the street I lived on and had it generated the rest. I've used Postagulous on many forums and sites.

  The downside is that you are terribly searchable. Horribly so.

  ZoFreX : Tell me about it... the amount of trouble I've gotten into :/

  Satanicpuppy : @ZoFrex: The secret is to be secret. I'm horribly searchable, but my most common online identity isn't associated with my actual name.

  ZoFreX : It wasn't super-easy to link my identities, but my friends knew, and that's enough to get you in trouble if they read bash.org.
  From Postagulous

• I made anagrams out of my favourite things until I found one that wasn't taken!

  BarrettJ : Zoloft, Fresca, and Xtacy?

  ZoFreX : FZeroX. But close!
  From ZoFreX

• I like plain old Google. Google your proposed name, and the fewer hits the better. Then trademark it, and SUE SUE SUE! (Heh).

  From Satanicpuppy

• Also, another option is namechecklist.com which will tell you domain availability and search engine rankings as well.

  Its not as comprehensive on the social media part, but it is quite elegant.

  From 3rdparty

Alternative to Google Sites permitting custom domains?

Is there any alternative to Google Sites that permits custom domain hosting, and a modern selection of templates and GUI web editing tools? I still suggest to people to Google Sites, but the product has really stagnated lately and I'm wondering what else is out there.

From web app Evan Carroll

• Weebly is awesome. It has a wonderfully intuitive website creator.

  I don't know if they have kept adding features at the same pace they did a year ago, but their applications is quite well-rounded and they have a lot of templates to choose from (+ the editor).

  Hope this helps!

  From JMin

• +1 for Weebly. You might also take a look at SquareSpace, very similar.

  From tsondermann

Best online app for importing, viewing and editing mpp project files?

What is the best online application for importing Microsoft Project Files (file extension: .mpp)?

To view and then to further edit. A bonus would be able to then export after edits back into .mpp format.

So far I've found Gantter.com and projec.to but would like to hear from someone who's experience of these or others.

From web app dove

• There is GANTTzilla.com.

  Upload & View: Open your Microsoft Project and Planner files right in the web browser!

  Edit: Edit projects using Gantt or PERT views. And yes, we do version control for your documents ;)

  Export: Use converters to quickly export documents into other project formats as well as PDF or PNG.

  Share: Share your project with colleagues and team members or publish the document so the whole world can see it.

  Track: Report, comment and track project progress in Gantt. It's quick, easy and fun!

  From Mehper C. Palavuzlar

List of non-Google sites which accept a Google account?

Like the Stack Exchange network of sites: How many other sites accept a Google account?

I feel very comfortable to remember only one ID/password for all the systems.

From web app Antoops

• Since Google is now an OpenID provider, I'd say at least all the sites that accept OpenID login.

  Otherwise, Google also uses OAuth, which means that you authorize the other website/webapp to access your data in your google profile.

  As to how many websites provide either one or the other, I'm sorry, but I can't even give you a ballpark estimate...

  From jfoucher

• Google is an OpenID account provider so all sites accepting OpenID accounts will accept Google accounts.

  Here's a list (which might not be complete).

  Antoops : thanks Crossbrowser!!
  From GoodEnough

Convert time zones with Google?

Can I convert time zone calculations (18:30 CEST to GMT+1 for example) with google? Are there other usable web-applications to do that kind of job?

From web app Aaron

• I've found these:

  http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

  http://www.onlineconversion.com/timezone.php

  Google supplies a reference page but doesn't seem to offer the service itself.

  From ChrisF

• EveryTimeZone is a nice webapp that gives you a really quick simple view of the time (you can drag the 'current time' around) in various common time zones

  pkaeding : This is a great little app that is perfect for figuring out what time it will be halfway across the world when you are trying to set up a time for a call with offshore teammates!
  From Marc Roberts

• Permatime is a nice little site that sets up a URL for your event time and displays it in the viewers local time.

  e.g. The 2010 World Cup Final in Johannesburg, South Africa.

  Jeroen Huinink : I have not used permatime before, but it looks like an excellent suggestion.
  From pelms

• Google currently does not do time conversions but you can always ask Google the current time at a location. Just search for "time in <city>" (e.g. time in london).

  That is the way I use to quickly get the time in a different location. Of course you still have to calculate the difference yourself.

  EDIT: I just found out that this trick only works if the "interface language" for Google is set to English.

  From Turismo

• You can do that with WolframAlpha.

  18:30 CEST to GMT+1

  iAn : Beat me to it - they have an API as well : http://www.wolframalpha.com/developers.html

  Aaron : Thats great, thanks!

  horsedrowner : I used to use Google for small stuff but when I discovered WolframAlpha I was *deeply* impressed. At first because its ability to integrate/derive math functions. O:)
  From horsedrowner

How to use gmail as a repeater

I am trialling "google apps for your domain". I would like to use one address as a repeater for a club.

Forwarding only seems to work for 1 address.

But it looks like a rule will work.

Is it right that gmail will only do this for verified addresses. Is there another way to do this ?

From web app itj

• Gmail will only forward to verified addresses.

  It might be more appropriate to setup a mailing list, such as provided by Yahoo groups, where people can sign up and receive your updates in their inbox.

  You send email to the group inbox, and it is sent to all the subscribers adresses. You can set it so that the owner is the only member allowed to send updates (newsletter)

  From jfoucher

• You should be able to use Groups to achieve this, which at the most basic level are just mailing lists.

  • Access your GAFYD control panel (e.g. https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/yourdomain.com/
  • From the top navigation bar, select Users and Groups, then the Groups tab
  • Create your new Group, if you just want to send emails out to the list, the "Announcement Only" would probably be the best option.

  After you've created the Group, you get the option to enter the emails of members, which supports adding recipients from outside your domain.

  Groups can go beyond traditional email distribution lists - they allow for a shared inbox, self-managed lists etc. There seems to be plenty of online help describing all of this via the links from the group management page.

  itj : Thanks. That is exactly what I needed. Hadn't thought about that as I am used to contact groups in gmail
  From iAn

Is there any importance to the letter-case in bayimg URLs?

When I create an image using http://bayimg.com, I get a URL such as http://bayimg.com/NANmnAaCJ, and the image is hosted at http://image.bayimg.com/nanmnaacj.jpg.

I know that some URL shortening services use mixed case to get an extra 26 characters. However, that doesn't seem to be the case for bayimg.

Why is the URL in mixed case? Can I simply ignore the case and only keep the lowercase version (or is there some kind of hidden feature or future concern I need to worry about)?

From web app Senseful

• bayimg.com is using lighthttpd to host its website. lighthttpd can be hosted both on Windows and Unix based operating systems. Typically for non Windows hosting, the case does matter. So 2 resources by 2 different URLs where only the case of the path differs could refer to 2 different resources.

  Even if different case variations give you the same result, I'd not assume that they will always point to the same resource. Use the exact URL with casing that they give you.

  You never know they may even have some computers hosting on Windows and others on a Unix based system. Maybe you just happen to hit one of their Windows servers via DNS load balancing.

  There is mention in RFC1738 - Uniform Resource Locators (URL) that the scheme should be case insensitive (example: HTTP://), but there is no mention about the path of the URL, so don't assume 2 different cased URLs are the same, even if they happen to point to the same resource for you on your test.

  David Zaslavsky : I remember reading that domain names are also case-insensitive, but URL paths are (or at least are supposed to be) case-sensitive. Not sure where I read it, though - it might have been the HTTP spec.

  Senseful : The point is that they don't really give you the URL. I think the only way is to right-click and view the image's source. Which will then give you a lowercase version of the URL. I guess, though, that this is probably the one they want you to use.
  From Brian R. Bondy

• Why don't you try changing the case in an existing URL and see if you still get the same image?

  From trying it just now, it looks like the answer is that the page URLs are case-insensitive and the image URLs are case-sensitive. However, unless this is documented anywhere, they have every right to change it and break your assumption. (I suppose they have the right to do it even if it's documented, but it's not very nice).

  Just use the URL as they provide it and you'll probably be alright.

  From Stephen Jennings

My Facebook Friends count is constantly changing

I tend to keep numbers in my head a lot so if I see <X> number of friends today that okay. But tomorrow or later tonight that number changes to <X-1> or <X+2>. This also happens alot during the end/start of a semester <X-15> or <X+15>.

Are my friends just constantly changing their privacy settings or deactivating/reactivating Facebook? What is the reason for these fluctuations ?

From web app phwd

• I believe that the only things that affect your friend count are: if someone friends/unfriends you, someone activates/deactivates their account, or if someone deletes their account permanently. I don't think there are any privacy settings that would prevent you from seeing which friends you have.

  Deleting a profile:
  You'll notice that the query delete facebook has been constantly on the rise, but a few months ago, there was a sharp fluctuation; this was probably because of Quit Facebook Day where people permanently deleted their Facebook accounts. It could just be that people are fed up with the privacy issues and are deleting their profiles.

  Deactivating a profile:
  I know that I've had friends that find themselves on Facebook way too much and deactivate their account in a attempt to be more productive. This usually fails though, as they reactivate their accounts shortly after.

  Unfriending:
  As far as unfriending you, you seem like a pretty decent guy, so that's probably not the reason the numbers are changing : ) However, you could try to use one of these methods to see which friends are being removed from the list. Once you find someone that is no longer on your friend list, you can try to access their profile. If you can access it, that means they unfriended you. If you can't, they either unfriended and blocked you, deactivated their account, or deleted their account.

  From Senseful

• I have very few friends on Facebook and can easily notice an addition or deletion though I have these fluctuations as well without anyone actually being added or removed.

  To scale on the level of Facebook, I'm sure they cache a lot and have multiple locations that aren't always in sync. Maybe just a symptom of the BASE (basically available, soft state, eventually consistent) model.

  From Seth

What's the best website for googling things?

I'm looking for a website where I can google things. I'd appreciate any help.

From web app James

• This question may not be as dumb as it seems (maybe a shock to the OP even if it was meant as a joke)

  The best website for googling things depends on which site/information you'd like to google. Perhaps some sites are using a google search appliance to access information which is not available to the main public google.com service. In that case their site would be the best place to google things.

  If the website you are on offers it, Google site search is also an option for specific branded results without advertising.

  Perhaps someone is using Google custom search so they can make some money on sponsered ads via Adsense. And perhaps you want to help that company.

  Another example is using the default firefox search page. Google search from there is desirable because you know you're helping the Firefox team make some money.

  Finally Google Labs offer different variants of Google searching services. You can read up on them to see if one meets your needs better.

  As a last (or first) result, there's also always http://www.google.com obviously :)

  Reference Wikipedia

  The transitive verb to google (also spelled to Google) refers to using the Google search engine to obtain information on the Web.

  rchern : Sure, a lack of details in the question isn't helping.
  From Brian R. Bondy

How can I change the security settings of Google App's Exchange protocol?

I'm using Google Apps's Exchange protocol. When I use it on my iPhone, I notice that it sets the phone to automatically lock after a minute and this value cannot be changed. I'm wondering if there is any way to tweak this value in Google Apps.

Update: I'm using the Standard Edition of Google Apps.

From web app Senseful

• Tweaking the security settings is a feature of the Premier edition, as described in this support article.

  Edit: From this thread, it appears Google has changed this. If you delete your Exchange account, then disable and re-enable the mobile sync service in Google Apps, it appears that this reverts the policy to not require an automatic lock.

  From Stephen Jennings

• I had this same problem. I believe Google has fixed it, so there is no more security requirement. You have to pay for a premier account to change the settings. Also, be sure to install the hotfix from apple. If you remove your mail account from your iphone and re-add it, you should be all set.

  http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3398

  Senseful : This didn't require for me to download any hotfix. I just had to remove and add the account, I believe.
  From Andy Schneider

Configure Outlook 2010 to use Google Sync Exchange server

On Windows Mobile it is possible to configure GMail, Google Calendar and Google Contacts with the mobile version of Outlook, using the Google Sync service that works like an Exchange server.

Now I'm trying to do the same thing on the desktop version of Outlook but I get an error when I do "check name" and I can't continue. It is possible to workaround that? (I don't want to use Calendar Sync, IMAP or other alternatives, I would the Exchange-like functionality)

From web app Lorenzo

• Outlook cannot set up an account that uses ActiveSync, it can only speak the native Exchange protocol through RPC (or RPC over HTTPS, also known as Outlook Anywhere).

  Gmail only publishes an ActiveSync endpoint, so unfortunately on the desktop you'll need to use IMAP for email and Google Calendar Sync for calendars.

  It appears that Outlook 2007 has proper support for calendars over WebDAV, so you might give that a try. You still won't be using the Exchange protocol, but at least you won't need a program sitting around just to sync calendars.

  Lorenzo : That's sad. However, thank you, that's a clarifying answer.
  From Stephen Jennings

Website with an up-to-date worldwide list of cell phone carriers searchable by phone number?

Is there a website with an up-to-date worldwide list of cell phone carriers searchable by phone number?

From web app axk

• Wikipedia has some pretty extensive lists of mobile network operators :

  • Europe
  • Americas
  • Middle East + Africa
  • Asia / Pacific

  This answers your the first part of your question - as for the second - searchable by phone number, is going to be tricky. You've not said if you just want to lookup numbers yourself or are trying to write / integrate the feature into some sort of application.

  For the former, There seem to be a lot of web sites offering country specific lookups, but none/few offering global searches. The latter, integrating it into your site / app, a quick Google brings up Mobile Network Lookup, this looks like a good starting point, but I'm not sure how reliable this is.

  One word of warning about relying on "static" lists of data - e.g numbers 1234-0001 to 1234-4999 was assigned to Operator X. Certainly in the UK, and most of Europe, it is quite common to "port" your number to a new operator when changing contract/subscription plans. This makes such static lists obsolete quite quickly

  axk : Thanks! I looked at the Wikipedia list, but as you're pointing out it doesn't have the codes. I was looking for a website, not an API.
  From iAn

How to know when a user unfollows on Twitter

Twitter sends an email notification mentioning so-and-so-person [with their tweets, followers, etc info] is following me, the moment someone follows me.

But Twitter does not send any email after someone unfollows me. Is it possible to know when someone unfollows me on Twitter?

From web app Prashanth Babu

• There are a few services and bots out there that perform this function, but the easiest to use appear to be Qwitter and TwUnfollow.

  From Raithlin

• I use http://goodbyebuddy.com/. Works well, with a nice responsive UI

  From Mohit Nanda

• Another site, basically doing the same thing: Who Unfollowed Me

  The downside to all of these sites: they only track your unfollowers from the moment you sign up with the site, so there is no way (as far as I know, and I've been looking ;) to find out who unfollowed you in the past.

  From Jemus42