google mobile sync - first impressions

After all the posts this week about the new google mobile sync I figured I'd see what the hub-ub was about.  Here's my first impressions:

The good:  Setup is simple with the instructions provided by google.  These instructions can be found here.  After setup the sync with my 1st generation iPhone went smoothly and quickly.  Important to note it will overwrite your contacts and calendars so please take their advise and backup everything before syncing . . . better safe than sorry.

The bad:  For some reason I got some double entires and sync wanted to resolve all conflicts like a good data moderator which took some time.  The double entries were a bit annoying and took about an hour to deal with (that's for about a 200 contact list . . . actual results may vary).

The bottom line:  After initial setup everything seems to be working nicely.  Even the images I've added to the google contacts have synced to the iPhone.  Push updates seem to be as quick as MobileMe.  If google can get exchange working for gmail it will certainly be a great alternative to MobileMe.  As web apps become more powerful and cost effective (the google suite is free) it will become more difficult to sell MobileMe UNLESS Apple enriches the offering . . . I hope they do.  For now, enjoy the new google sync and let us know how your migration went.

TDL Live and a Special Thanks

Here's this week's TDL Live. Originally airing before our "Welcome to Macintosh" documentary event, there's a live skype interview with the filmmakers in the second half of the show. We also cover the post-Macworld news. Enjoy, and don't forget, you can subscribe to the show as well:

Google Drops From Most Trusted Company List, Apple Joins

Google, the "do no evil" behemoth has dropped off the Ponemon Institute/ TRUSTe privacy trust survey. New to the survey this year? Why it's our friends in Cupertino. Apple made its debut all the way at #8. Also new to the list? Facebook. American Express comes in at #1. Facebook was lucky to make it in before this month's virus started to make it's way through the site.

I can't think of anything Apple has done differently in the last year to warrant the sudden jump. Brand recognition? Is there something else I'm missing?

Apple and Google On A Collision Course

It wasn't that long ago that Google and Apple looked like a dream team. We even considered a fantasy merger of the two back in July. How quickly times have changed.

Now it's iPhone vs. Android, Chrome vs. Safari, and perhaps, Apple mobile search vs. Google search. There are some interesting parallels between this situation and the early days of the Microsoft/Apple rivalry. Microsoft was a key software provider for Apple, while also ramping up its own competing OS for IBM PCs and compatibles.

So where will this end? Can Google and Apple work together against Microsoft as a common enemy, or are we seeing the rivalry of the next decade? Will the next generation of Apple users look back on Google vs. Apple in the same way many of us remember Microsoft vs. Apple? It's not entirely unbelievable to see a path in which Microsoft's influence (continues to) declines to a point of an also-ran. Look at the market gains of Firefox, and to a lesser extent, Safari. Look at the move to online applications, and the increasing marginalization of the desktop OS. Yes, these trends could affect Apple as well, but Apple has a booming hardware business Microsoft can't rely on.

With the recent delay/rejection of Apple's voice search app for the iPhone, we might be seeing this new clash of titans coming far sooner than we thought.

What do you think? Is the ultimate showdown of "Do No Evil," and "Think Different" right around the corner?

Apple and Microsoft Workers: Not That Different Politically

Microsoft and Apple. Diametrically opposed forces, right? Each camp has haters and believers. You know, come to think of it, it's not all that different from the presidential campaign; for many people, if you're not on their side, then clearly you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

Interestingly enough though, when it comes to individual campaigns donations, they aren't all that far apart. (And, there's an even bigger surprise) According to data gathered from fundrace, opensecrets.org, and the fec, roughly 68% of individual campaign contributions from Microsoft employees went to Democratic candidates, with 32% going to Republican candidates. Over at Apple, 83% went to Democrats, and 17% to Republicans. Depending on where you stand, those may or may not be surprising numbers.

Here's the interesting fact though: Both Microsoft and Apple make the list of the top 20 corporations with the highest number of individual contributions to... Ron Paul.

Microsoft comes in at #5, just below google, and Apple is at #19, just above Intel. Besides Microsoft, Apple, and Google, the list is essentially a who's who of defense contractors, and government/military agencies.

Now the disclaimers: bear in mind these are self-identified employees of these companies. As a result, compiling data on Apple in particular, is difficult because some people list the employer as Apple, others as Apple, Inc., Apple Computer, etc. Exploring these numbers creates a rabbit hole from which you could literally spend a month. Getting an exact count is tricky, as are the options in parsing the data: total amount of money vs. total # of contributors, etc split by candidate, pre- convention/post-convention. We will leave that to the more savvy number runners among us.

Still, its interesting to see that despite how different their philosophies are in design and programming, most politically active employees at both companies could sit down and talk about politics in agreement.