Idea Of The Day. A new Idea Each Day. Some Don't Suck.

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Our Latest Posts About: Google

Gmail's Missing Features

Wednesday, May 24, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why doesn't Gmail have a way to sort mail?

Ever since the earliest days of the Internet, just about every major email system has had a way to sort your inbox... except Gmail. Why is that?

Don't get me wrong, I love Gmail, but I can't understand why Google left out this fundamental feature. Even the most basic email systems out there have always had the ability to sort you mail by date, sender, title, or even by the size of the attachments, so why doesn't Google offer it?

We Need Real Digital Media Portability

Monday, May 15, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why is it so hard getting our media to work under different platforms?

One of the most frustrating things about digital media is that when you purchase something from one platform, it doesn't work on any other platform. For example, if you buy a movie from Amazon, you can't play it on Apple devices or vice versa, and books purchased from Amazon aren't compatible with Apple's iBooks, Google's Play, or the Barnes and Noble Nook. That's crazy.

What we need is true digital media portability, so that books, music, and movies work on any device, regardless of the platform we purchased them from, just like buying a CD or DVD.

Nobody's #1 On Google

Saturday, April 15, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Ever since Google changed their Page Rank algorithm in 2009, web sites can no longer claim to be #1 for any given search term.

One of the most misunderstood things about search engines is the way they rank websites in search results. A website's position in search results can make or break their business, so it's always been important to get the best rank you can.

Because of this, many companies spend a lot of time and money trying to improve their rank. The problem is, no matter how they try, there is no longer a SINGLE #1 site for any particular keyword. That's because Google's now uses at least 60 different factors to determine a site's rank, and most of those factors are based on the personal information they've gathered on the person who's searching.

For example, if... [More]

Continue...Nobody's #1 On Google...

Ban Fake Download Ads

Sunday, April 2, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why does Google allow FAKE download ads?

One of the biggest scams on the Internet is Fake Download Ads, but you never hear anything about it. A "Fake" download ad is the kind of ad that tricks you into downloading a program you weren't looking for, because its placed on the download page for something you were looking for.

For example, if you go to a legitimate site to download a popular open source program like Open Office, or Audacity, more often than not, the "ads" Google runs on those pages are for entirely different programs, and they have oversized "Download" links in them that confuse many visitors into thinking they are the legitimate download buttons they should be clicking to download whatever it was they were looking for.

Google, and the download site are essent... [More]

Continue...Ban Fake Download Ads...

Hey Google... Stop GUESSING!

Friday, March 31, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

The strange thing about search engines is that nearly 100% of what they index is nothing more than a guess, and sometimes they guess wrong.

I've always been fascinated with search engines. Most of the time, when you search for something, they give you exactly what you're looking for, but sometimes they miss the mark. That's because a lot of the search results include pages that they misclassified due to incorrect guessing about the subject matter.

For example, search engines often misclassify local content as national content and vice versa, or they confuse factual content with fiction. This often leads to bigger problems when new pages are posted based on research from incorrect information.

I think the solution to this is for search engines to create standardized ways... [More]

Continue...Hey Google... Stop GUESSING!...

Web Page Expiration Dates

Thursday, March 30, 2017 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

I hate seeing outdated content in search results.

The web is full of useless, outdated content. There needs to be a way for a web site to specify an expiration date for each page, so that they can be filtered automatically from search results pages.

We know some pages are more timeless than others, but there are a ton of pages for things like Black Friday sales and special events that end up in search results, wasting time and resources.

One solution is to create a standardized way to embed an expiration date into the web page, or site maps so that the search engines can automatically eliminate them from search results.

My Favorite Gmail Feature... That's Missing.

Wednesday, December 28, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why doesn't Gmail have a way to let US control our inbox tabs?

I love Gmail, but it still takes me forever to read my email each day because it's loaded with so much clutter. Some of it is automatically sorted into Gmails default tabs "Primary", "Social", "Promotions", "Updates", and "Forums". It helps a bit, but there is no direct way for us to control how Gmail sorts mail into those tabs, and for what it's worth, I'd rather create my own.

What I'd love to see is a quick way to tag a sender as a "Favorite", then have a simple "Favorites" tab where I can see mail from all of my favorites in one place.

Is Google Chrome... Spyware?

Monday, December 5, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Google Chrome is the most popular browser in the world. It's also the world's most popular spyware.

According to Wikipedia: "Spyware is software that aims to gather information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent." That's exactly what Google Chrome does.

Every time you use Google Chrome, it sends information back to Google about everything you've done online. This means that Google not only knows what you search for using their own search engine, but searches done on other search engines like Bing. It doesn't stop there. Google also knows every site you've ever visited, how long you spent on each site, and everything you've ever shopped for or purchased online. When you... [More]

Continue...Is Google Chrome... Spyware?...

Pay for Google AdWords with AdSense

Saturday, November 19, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why doesn't Google have a way to link AdWords to AdSense?

Most websites today, including IdeaOfTheDay.Com, use Google's AdSense to generate revenue from banner ads. It's pretty simple to set up, and Google takes care of just about everything, including selling the ads. All you do is put some code on your web pages and wait for the money to come in.

Most of the ads they run come from their AdWords service, which lets websites buy ads. Because of this, a lot of websites use both services on a regular basis. Sites pay Google to get traffic, then they get paid for serving ads to that traffic.

The way things are right now, the two services use independent accounts, so you pay for ads using your credit card, and when you earn revenue it's applied to your bank account.

Wo

... [More]

Continue...Pay for Google AdWords with AdSense...

The Web is Full of Identical Content

Sunday, October 30, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why don't more sites focus on original content?

The amount of information published online each day is staggering. The trouble is, most of it is redundant duplicate content.

We live in a copycat world. If you do a search for a sentence from any given web site, odds are you can find the exact same sentence published word for word, on tens of thousands of other pages. Why is that? Doesn't anyone like to write original content anymore?

Even sites that don't copy content word for word, still tend to base most of their content on paraphrasing other sites. Of course, there are exceptions, but the fact is, if you really do the research, you'll find that for every site like mine that writes 100% original content, there seems to be at least a thousand others that are just re-ha... [More]

Continue...The Web is Full of Identical Content...

How Search Engines Take Advantage of Advertisers

Thursday, September 8, 2016 9:21 PM By Joe Crescenzi

I've got a BEEF with Google and Bing.

Google and Bing make billions of dollars when people click on ads in their search engines. So, if you search for "hotels in Miami", they return a Search Engine Results Page (SERP), which contains a mixture web site listings, and ads from companies who pay to be listed on that page. Fair enough, but what if somebody already knows what site they want to go to, and types the exact domain into the search box?

When somebody enters the exact domain they want into the search box, the fair thing would be for the search engine to bring the visitor directly to the website... NOT a search engine results page.

The reason the search engines don't take the visitor directly to the site they typed in is pure greed. They know that by taking the... [More]

Continue...How Search Engines Take Advantage of Advertisers...

Play Apple Movies and Music on Non-Apple Devices

Monday, July 11, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Apple needs to allow people to play their digital media purchases on non-Apple devices.

User Defined Groups in Gmail

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Gmail needs a way to quickly add senders into your own easily defined groups.

My inbox has thousands of emails in it, so it's easy to overlook an important email from a friend, family member or business contact. What I'd like to see is an option that lets me create my own categories, then assign a sender to one of these categories with a single click.

Then, whenever an email comes in it can be automatically assigned the category tags so I can find them.

Tags can be broad, such as Friends, Family, Business, or very specific, such as School Soccer Team Parents.

Technically, Google already has the ability to create your own tags, and they even have a system to let you create your own rules and filters to assign people into your tags, but it's not easy to set up. What they... [More]

Continue...User Defined Groups in Gmail...

Did You Know... Gmail Ignores Periods?

Thursday, December 3, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

How to take advantage of periods in Gmail addresses.

A lot of people aren't aware that Gmail ignores periods in Gmail address. So JohnSmith123@gmail.com is the same as John.Smith.123@gmail.com, and J.o.h.n.Smith.12.3@gmail.com.

While that may not sound groundbreaking, it does open the door to a whole bunch of cool tricks, including the ability to automatically organize your inbox and cut down on Spam.

The principal is pretty simple. Since Google ignores the periods, you can give out multiple variations of your email address, and create simple filters based on where the periods are. For example, if you use periods in specific positions whenever you register your email address at shopping sites, you can create a simple Gmail filter that automatically applies a label like... [More]

Continue...Did You Know... Gmail Ignores Periods?...

Browsers Without Extensions, Plug-ins, or Toolbars

Monday, November 2, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum an villainy than inside the web browser on your computer.

As a tech guy, I get calls every day from people telling me their computer isn't working the way it should. More often than not, the problems are related to something that hijacked their web browser by adding either an extension, plug-in, or a toolbar.

Even when the problem has nothing to do with a virus, all those extensions, plug-ins and toolbars cause countless problems. The trouble is, typical computers are loaded with them and most people don't release how useless, if not harmful they are.

In the photo at the top of this post you'll see an actual screen capture of the extensions settings from my own web browser. The point is... there are no extensions, because... [More]

Continue...Browsers Without Extensions, Plug-ins, or Toolbars...

App Stores Should Show Performance Requirements

Thursday, October 22, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Nobody wants to pay for an App that does't work.

Manufacturers release new devices every day. Each new release tends to me better than the previous generation. They have faster processors, additional memory, and better graphics, so it's only natural that App developers will jump at a chance to take advantage of all the new features.

The problem is a lot of people still have older devices and they don't realize the slick new App they're about to buy won't work properly on their old device.

Apple's App Store uses very generic terms to describe the system requirements of each App. Instead of listing actual hardware requirements, they list "Compatibility", and only make mention to which version of iOS is required. Other than that, the listing will say "Compatible with iPhon... [More]

Continue...App Stores Should Show Performance Requirements...

Google Should Ban Fake Download Ads

Tuesday, October 6, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

The web is full of sleaze. Google is no exception.

I hate when I see fraud on the Internet, especially when it comes from trusted sources. At least when you see something suspicious on an obscure site, you think twice before clicking, but I've noticed a growing trend of "Fake Links" and "Fake Download" buttons on some very well known sites, and worst thing is that it's Google's fault for allowing it.

Case in point, I often recommend Open Office to clients who need to create occasional documents and spreadsheets. It's a popular Open Source alternative to Microsoft Office. As soon as you click the download link, it takes you to a page on another well known site that hosts Open Source projects.

The trouble is, the download page has a tiny sentence that says the download w... [More]

Continue...Google Should Ban Fake Download Ads...

More Gmail Domains.

Friday, September 4, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

With nearly 1 BILLION Gmail accounts, it's become nearly impossible to create a new account with a good address.

When Google first introduced Gmail, it was pretty easy to come up with a good address that wasn't already taken. Now that there are over 900 million accounts, it's nearly impossible to create an account without adding a bunch of numbers at the end.

The main reason people get a Gmail address is they love the features, so why not offer the same features with a choice of other domains?

Google owns thousands of domains, and I'm sure some of them are the kinds of domains that are fun, and easy to remember. So, when somebody tries to create an account that is already taken, they should offer them the option to select the account name they wanted at another one o... [More]

Continue...More Gmail Domains....

Save or Forward Voicemail as MP3 Files on iPhones

Friday, August 14, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Isn't it strange that there isn't a way to save or forward voicemail on the iPhone?

The iPhone changed the way people use voicemail. It was the first phone to have "Visual Voicemail", giving you the ability to see a list of messages, rather than having to navigate through a series of voice prompts to play back and manage your messages.

Apple made this possible by downloading messages directly to the iPhone, rather than forcing you to call a number to hear them. This not only made it easier to select and play message, but even play them back without relying on over-the-air reception.

Since the iPhone already downloads messages for Visual Voicemail, saving it as an MP3 should be easy for them to implement.

Although you can save a message indefinitely on the iPhone i... [More]

Continue...Save or Forward Voicemail as MP3 Files on iPhones...

Google Job Search

Sunday, July 12, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Isn't it funny that the largest search engine in the world doesn't have a feature to search for a job?

You can find almost anything using a search engine, except a job.

There are hundreds of job sites out there, yet Google doesn't index them, so if you are looking for a job, you've got to register and search a whole bunch of sites. Isn't that odd?

This would not only be good for Google, but it would be good for the job sites, employers, and especially the millions of people looking for jobs. So, what are they waiting for?

Taken to the next level, Google would not only index job sites, but allow individuals and employers to setup alerts that let them know when there's a match as soon it opens up.

Google Job Search wouldn't compete with job sites, it would just make i... [More]

Continue...Google Job Search...

Driving Mode Button. Block Texting With One Touch.

Friday, July 10, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

There needs to be an easy way to turn texting off with one button.

Its extremely dangerous to send text messages while driving a car. Even people who have no intention to send messages can be easily distracted if they receive a message while driving.

Countless lives have been destroyed because of texting, so there should be some method to disable texting while driving.

Most mobile devices already have a quick and easy way to enable "Airplane Mode", so device makers should add a button to disable texting too. After all, more people drive each day than fly.

It's surprising that there isn't an option to disable texting anywhere in the settings menus of any of the major smartphones on the market. This option should not be added, but it should be added someplace like... [More]

Continue...Driving Mode Button. Block Texting With One Touch....

Google Public DNS, With Filters

Wednesday, July 8, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

I've been using Google's Public DNS for years because it's faster. Why not make it... BETTER?

DNS Servers make it possible for people to connect to services without memorizing cryptic IP numbers, as they did in the early days of the Internet. Each DNS server has a list of every domain, along with the addresses of the IPs they point to. So every time you enter a domain, your computer asks a DNS server where to find it.

Normally, your Internet provider handles all your domain lookups by using their DNS servers, but savvy tech guys like me normally change the default to Google's Public DNS, because it's faster and somewhat more reliable.

Then I heard about OpenDNS, which is a commerc... [More]

Continue...Google Public DNS, With Filters...

Gmail Reseller Program.

Thursday, June 18, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Why doesn't Google have a Reseller Program for Gmail?

We all know people with horrible email addresses with all sorts of numbers at the end. I'm sure it wasn't their first choice. After all, who would select "MonkeyBuns7474505B@gmail.com" if they didn't try at least a few dozen other ones first.

The trouble is there are literally hundreds of million Gmail users out there, so it's become nearly impossible to register a good @gmail.com address that isn't already taken, without adding some numbers to the end.

The easy solution is for Google to offer addresses at other domains.

They already offer Gmail at other domains to corporate users using Google Apps, but those companies pay a monthly fee for each account. Because of this monthly fee, Google doesn't show advertising... [More]

Continue...Gmail Reseller Program....

Surviving Google's Mobilegeddon - It's not as bad as you think.

Monday, June 1, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

On April 21, 2015, Google stopped including sites that weren't mobile friendly in search results.

They call it Mobilegeddon,. On that date millions of sites completely vanished from search results made by people using mobile devices. Site owners have gone into a panic because they expected to see massive drops in their traffic, especially since the percentage of mobile traffic continues to rise as traditional desktop usage has dropped.

Do you know what I think? It's a big fuss over absolutely nothing.

You've got to see things the way Google sees them. They index a gazillion web pages and it's there job to make sure people find what they are looking for... and to make sure they can actually read it on the device they are using when they requested it.

For some search... [More]

Continue...Surviving Google's Mobilegeddon - It's not as bad as you think....

Don't Bother With SEO. Use Real People Optimization Instead.

Sunday, March 1, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Want advice about improving your rank in search engines? Just build your site... and STOP TRYING to boost your rankings.

It's only natural. If your neighbor was a doctor, sooner or later, you're going to ask him about some of your aches and pains, so it shouldn't surprise me that so many people come to me for advice about getting more search traffic to their web sites. It happens so often, I've come to expect it whenever I'm at a party.

To me, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a dead issue. People are spending way too much time and money on SEO, and it's got to stop.

Don't get me wrong. I know there's an entire industry devoted to Search Engine Optimization. Even big companies like Amazon (Alexa) and GoDaddy jumped on the bandwagon and started to sell services... [More]

Continue...Don't Bother With SEO. Use Real People Optimization Instead....

Google Should Offer Searchable Archives

Saturday, February 21, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Unless a large company like Google dedicates resources to archiving the Web, much of today's history will be erased.

If you want to get a good understanding of what life was like 100 years ago, you could read newspapers from that era. After reading every newspaper for any given month in sequence, you can immerse yourself in the stories and opinions of the people who lived through it.

Each day more people get their news from online news sites, blogs, videos and podcasts and social media than any other form of media. The fact is, there is more information produced online today than in print.

Although printed materials are not going to vanish any time soon, if we don't make a serious effort to archive the Web, vast amounts of history will be lost.

A while back, a non... [More]

Continue...Google Should Offer Searchable Archives...

Google / Bing People Search

Wednesday, February 11, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Remember how easy it was finding somebody using the phone book? Why do search engines do such a lousy job finding people?

Have you noticed how hard it is to find people using search engines? If you search for somebody by name, you get 100,000+ random pages in no particular order.

It seems to me that search engines like Google and Bing should have a dedicated tab for finding people, just like the tabs they have for news, images, videos, maps, etc.

I'm not advocating that we place private information online, just the information people are already posting publicly. So search result pages could simply start with the public profile pages on all the major social media sites like Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Flickr, etc.

Beyond that, addit... [More]

Continue...Google / Bing People Search...

Scheduled Send Option for Gmail

Saturday, January 3, 2015 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

A follow up to yesterday's Idea of The Day. Schedule emails for a specific date and time

Yesterday, I talked about adding a feature to essentially put outbound emails on hold, so they can all be sent at the end of the day or in the morning. The idea behind that was for people to have a way to queue up all the outbound mail, but wait until you hit a button to release them.

The natural progression of that is to individually schedule each email to be sent at a pre-set date and time. Not only would you be able to schedule a birthday or anniversary message to friends and family, but you could schedule a message to yourself the day before, so you can remember to buy a gift.

The ability to schedule a message for a specific date and time would also be a great way for a business... [More]

Continue...Scheduled Send Option for Gmail...

Google Radar - One Page With All the Stuff You Are Always Looking For.

Friday, December 5, 2014 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

What's on YOUR Radar?

Everyone has hobbies and interests that we are always looking for. Whether we are online or walking through a flea market, there are simply things that we can say are are always on our "Radar".

Whenever we're online, we love reading about some subjects more than others, so when we have some free time, we find ourselves turning to Google to find the latest news about the our favorite subjects.

That's where Google Radar comes in. Think of Google Radar as a constantly updated page with a mixture of all our favorite subjects, just the things on our Radar. So, you wouldn't even need to search; whenever you visit your Google Radar page, you'll find all the latest and greatest pages just waiting for you.

Among other things, my Google Radar Page would be... [More]

Continue...Google Radar - One Page With All the Stuff You Are Always Looking For....

Gmail Is Getting Way Too Creepy. They Need to Re-Think How They Read Our Mail.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Google knew that I was shopping for a lawnmower... even before I did. That's creepy.

As many people know, when Google introduced Gmail, in the Terms of Service, Google reserves the right to use the content of your emails to serve targeted advertising. They don't hide it. They try to make it a point of telling you it's there.

When Gmail first started, it was pretty simple. If you were reading an email about sneakers, there was a good chance the advertising on the Gmail page might be related to sneakers. It freaked some people out at first, including a lot of people in Congress. Google defended their system by making it clear that although their software was indeed reading your email, no human was. At worse, you saw some ads next to your email that seemed to know what you... [More]

Continue...Gmail Is Getting Way Too Creepy. They Need to Re-Think How They Read Our Mail....

Tesla's Making Autopilot Cars in 2015. Why This is More Practical Than Google's Self Driving Cars

Friday, October 17, 2014 1:00 AM By Joe Crescenzi

Johnny Cab was Sci-Fi only a few years ago. Are we ready for the real thing?

10 years ago, DARPA created a race to build self-driving cars that could complete a race in the middle of the Mohave Desert. It didn't end well. None of the cars finished.

Each year, a new race was held and the cars could not only complete the race in the middle of nowhere, but in an urban environment (using an abandoned military base). This means the cars not only had to drive, but merge with traffic, navigate typical obstacles and obey local traffic signs.

Meanwhile, as Google was making headlines showing off prototype / concept cars that could drive themselves, Tesla Motors has been making the real thing, cars that will be shippin... [More]

Continue...Tesla's Making Autopilot Cars in 2015. Why This is More Practical Than Google's Self Driving Cars...

Cat Video Network

Ketchonnaise - Pre-Mixed Ketchup and Mayonnaise

A Guaranteed Spam-Free, Pre-Encrypted Email Service

iPhone and iPad Keyboards Should Show Numbers Too

Sleeveless Snuggies!

Don't Bother With SEO. Use Real People Optimization Instead.

3 Ways Smoke Alarms Can Be More Pet Friendly

Emergency Contact Info Needs to Bypass Locked Phone

Autocorrect Should Translate Text Slang into English... Because Kids Actually Think It's Correct Grammar

Lookalike Finder Site

Out of Ideas? Fusion of Two or More Ideas Could Change Everything.

How Camera Makers Can Simplify On-Camera White Balance

Darth Vader is Retuning to Star Wars?

A Bedside Book Projector - Read Books on the Ceiling!

Reinvent The Wheel? YES. There's Always Room For Improvement.

Amazon Echo as an Intercom. Room to Room Communication, Even Across the World.

TV Needs More Shows Like Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood... The Seinfeld of Children's TV

Stop using default Security Questions... here's why.

A Car Periscope? Why Not?

Digital String on Your Finger... To Remind You You Left Something Behind...

Use Social Media to Listen To Your Customers, or They'll find Somebody Who Does.

Why Doesn't Apple Offer a FULL SIZED Wireless Keyboard?

How Banks Can Make Checking Accounts More Secure

4 Cell Phone Parental Control Ideas Your Kids are Guaranteed to Hate.

.Podcast Domain TLDs. A Direct Domain For Podcasters.

* Note: The ideas on "Idea of the Day" were posted without any formal research into existing inventions.

In some cases, patents may already exist for these ideas, in other cases, there may not be any existing patents and you are free to develop and explore the viability of developing and patenting the ideas.

The authors make no claim that any of the ideas are safe, practical, or suitable for any particular purpose. You are responsible for the results of trying, developing, patenting or using any of the ideas on this site.

For some people, our ideas are just an interesting read, but our goal is to encourage you to take action. If you see an idea that you like, do something with it... Take action.

- Joe

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