Oct 2, 2020

Using Nearby Share, migrating mail to Gmail, and more

By Paolo Amoroso • Issue #37 • View online

Nearby Share is Google’s take on Apple’s AirDrop system for sharing files between devices in proximity. It has hit Android and is coming soon to Chrome, thus extending to the desktop.

Transferring images, PDF documents, or other files across devices of different users is not the most interesting use case for me. What excites me is moving content across form factors, such as sharing a web page from my Android phone to my Chromebox. This makes it possible, for example, to continue and move to the desktop a task started on a phone. Think researching in more depth an article read on a phone.

In the meantime, let’s learn to use Nearby Share on Android with the tutorial in this issue.

— Paolo Amoroso

Android

Android 10 features you probably forget to use

Android 11 is here with few user-facing changes. It’ll take a while to land on devices other than Google’s, though. In the meantime, you can continue using Android 10, which still has many features you likely forgot about. Here’s a refresher on some of the best.

My favorite feature is smart swiping for quickly switching to a recent app. What’s yours?

www.computerworld.com • Share

How to use Android Nearby Share

Nearby Share, Google’s reinvention of Apple’s AirDrop content sharing and file transfer system, now works on Android 6 Marshmallow or later. This step-by-step guide tells how to check whether you have Nearby Share, set it up, and use it.

www.howtogeek.com • Share

Chrome OS

How to find your Chromebook’s hardware specs

On Chromebooks, the browser-based environment hides so well the complexity of computers and operating systems, you may forget hardware and specs even exist. This article presents a few native features and apps to dig deeper into the specs and provide system information about your Chromebook. If you’re a geek, you can’t miss this.

chromeunboxed.com • Share

Gmail, Google Keep

How to migrate to Gmail from other email platforms

This detailed, step-by-step 3-part guide explains how to import mail to Gmail from AOL, Yahoo!, and Outlook accounts. Be sure to check also part 2 and part 3. The guide eases migrating from other email platforms. But it helps also if, before switching, you want to try Gmail with actual mail data.

blogs-on-gmail.blogspot.com • Share

Tips for Google Keep on Android

Google Keep is one the Google apps I use most. It’s my productivity hub, the place where I store all sorts of small bits of information on tasks and projects.

The ease of use shouldn’t make you think Google Keep can’t do much. Review these excellent tips to turn Google Keep into a productivity tool. The tips touch on all its range of capabilities. You’ll learn how to organize information, take notes, customize the app, and collaborate.

www.computerworld.com • Share

Android apps

GeoXplorer

GeoXplorer lets you browse thousands of 3D terrain models of geological features on the Earth and Mars. Thanks to Augmented Reality, you can place and view the models in your environment to better appreciate the structure of these landforms.

A great app to learn planetary geology. Or just to explore nature in your area.

play.google.com • Share

Web apps

Convert Words to Time - Talk Time Calculator

This little calculator is a specialized web tool to estimate how much time a specified number of words or a snippet of text takes to read. This is handy to know, for example, if you need to estimate how long it’ll take you do to a presentation. Or how much time the readers of your blog posts will have to spend.

wordstotime.com • Share

Thank you

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By Paolo Amoroso

Weekly practical resources on Google products and related tech. Tips, tutorials, and apps that will expand your Google toolbox and help you do more.

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Paolo Amoroso, C.P. 343, Via Cordusio 4, 20123 Milano, ITALY