Google Docs
This writer has all his documents, spreadsheets and presentations online. Creating these documents offline has become cumbersome because, with the option of storing them on the cloud, moving them around requires extra work (but that’s if you’re OK with your files being accessible only via the Internet). Ever since Google Docs and Drive launched, it’s made very little sense for someone moving around so much to use Microsoft Office, etc.
Last week, Google Docs announced more updates for a cleaner, ‘more colourful’ look that makes navigating the productivity suite easier. Google has simplified the header, made it leaner, and added coloured tags to make looking for your documents easier. Also, where the ‘Back to Drive’ button was visible only on hover, now clicking the tags themselves will take you back to the parent folder.
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(Also last week: Google Japan installed ‘game vending machines’ in Tokyo. If you’re ever in that city and have an Android 4.0+ with NFC, just place your phone in the slots in one of these machines, download your game, and off you go. Cool, right?)
Dropbox
Over the last few weeks, Dropbox has transformed itself from just a personal vault on the cloud to streamlining almost every activity you could perform online with the storage service. If you have Dropbox on your phone, you can actively back-up photos and videos you just shot to your Dropbox folder. It’s become really handy.
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Now, the app can work with screenshots as well. Whenever you take a screenshot, it will directly be synced online. What’s more, Dropbox will also generate a shortlink for the snap you just took, put it in your clipboard (that’s Ctrl+V-ready) and make it ready-to-share.
Facebook’s Graph Search tool has received a lukewarm response. It makes the job much easier for those who are looking for other people, but tougher for those who want stuff to stay hidden. But where it gets interesting is with its latest update: Graph Search will now be able to trawl through status updates, posts and comments, and find what people are talking about within them.
This is feature makes Graph Search more dynamic and brings Facebook as such one stop closer to Twitter: both services are now useful to look for ongoing conversations.