So what is Gears and where can you get it to work? It’s this fantastic little plug in that Google created, which serves up offline content or provide you with content based on your geographical location. I use Gears primarily for offline use of  Google docs and Google Reader (the most recent 2,000 items). Gears was designed to be used on both Google and non-Google sites. Remember the Milk and the Zoho Office Suite have been using Gears since it’s launch. Personally, I don’t think I could live without Gears now, it’s simply just far too useful.

Installing and using Gears is super fast and easy.  You’ll have to be connected to the internet when you do this of course, because it does require a download. You can get Gears here, and then simply save the file somewhere you’ll remember it. Then, open the file and install it like you would any program.  You’ll need to restart your browser for Gears to activate.

Once you’ve got the plug in installed, you’ll see a little green down arrow like this:

That indicates that you’ve got Gears installed, and when you click on it, you’ll start the download of offline content. I’m actually going through this for Google Reader, but Gears is a pretty intuitive plug in. When you use a site that plays nicely with Gears, you’ll be asked if you want to allow the site to use Gears. If you’d like to enable Gears for the site, check ‘I trust this site. Allow it to use Gears,’ and click the Allow button.

So, if you’re in Google Reader, and you ask the site to go offline, you get this box.

Wait for the download to finish, and Presto! You’re offline. (Ok, I totally stole that from Boingo, but that made me giggle yesterday when the box popped up and told me that Presto! I was online!).

Once you’ve got all the sites you want set up for offline use, simply open your browser and go to the site to use. Gears will serve up your offline information and you’re good to go.

One note of caution: when you’re using Google Docs (and I’m guessing it’s the same for Zoho) offline, you won’t be able to create new documents. You’ll only be able to edit and work on the documents you created when you were online.

(image source: Google Reader via screenshot)

Post from: EveryJoe

Google Gears

I’ve used Windows Live Writer for my offline blog reading, and then Google Gears for offline Google Reader posts, and now, I can throw my drafts up on Mesh and not have to try and remember which draft is where and what I’ve written when.

Live Mesh lets you  synchronize files with all of your devices, so you always have the latest versions handy. Access your files from any device or from the web, easily share them with others, and get notified whenever someone changes a file.

Depending on where you do the majority of your writing, you might want to Mesh just the Drafts folder. Drafts live here: C:\Users\<USERNAME>\Documents\My Weblog Posts\Drafts. So, if you’re writing most of your offline posts at work, just add that one folder to your Live Mesh account and then when you get home, you just sync that one folder.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sync Live Writer Drafts with Mesh Now

• Work on the same document together, instead of sorting out changes in attachments
• Share documents and calendars securely with your co-workers with a click
• Access it all from any computer, and even from mobile phones
• Invite other team members to join and share with you

Here’s the product tour video:

Post from: EveryJoe

Team-up with Google Apps

The announcement of Google’s latest development, Google Gears, was met with a lot of excitement over the last few days — understandably so. The ability of web applications to work even when off-line is a huge step forward for web software, and even if there aren’t a lot of apps that can take advantage of this yet, the beta release of Gears signals big changes in coming months.

But how will Google Gears change your online life? In more ways than you might think.

Let me first issue a disclaimer: there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on Google Gears, and it will be awhile before enough web apps adopt this feature. It’s not going to change the world, but it’s a start in a new direction.

Google Gears and your productivity – [Dumb Little Man]

Post from: EveryJoe

Google Gears and your productivity