No More Excuses: Google makes switch from Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL easy

If you are one of the large number of users stuck using AOL or wanting to migrate from Yahoo or Hotmail to Google's Gmail, it just got a whole lot easier.

TechCrunch has details of Google's new migration tools.

Now, I'd encourage users to take it one-step-further. Sign up for Google Apps, register a domain name and create your own name@business.com or name@yourname.com email address with a domain YOU control. Google Apps is free and a domain registration is $8-10/year.

Then whenever you change email service providers, intern providers, you can take your email address with you!

You'll thank me later.

Google Announces Mobile Phone Strategy

There will be no one "gPhone".

Deciding instead to concentrate on an open-source mobile phone platform, Google today announced plans to ship a developer kit in the coming weeks.

The first devices to run Google's new phone operating system are expected mid-next year and will not carry the Google brand. Rather, these devices will be made by one of several hardware manufacturers that belong to the newly-announced Open Handset Alliance.

More on this story:

• Where's my Gphone? (Official Google Blog)

California Wildfires: "On Fire" (per Google)

While we send our thoughts and well-wishes to those affected by the Southern California wildfires, Google has something of an (incidental) ironic observation. The search engine tracks popular search terms and presents a relative scale (using phrases from "mild" to "volcanic") of their popularity for a given day.

On Monday 22 October 2007, "california wildfires" was ranked on the "hotness" scale as On Fire.

Check it out here (or click the screenshot above).

View the current list of Hot Trends using the Google Trends tool.

Online Small Business Software: Google vs. Microsoft

KXL Tech Expert Segment for February 26, 2007
Want to get your small business online but don't have the expensive resources to do it yourself? Microsoft and Google both launched new versions of their online web presence offerings last week and KXL Tech Expert Brian Westbrook has the three-minute rundown of what you need to know. Listen weekly to "Features on the :40's" on Newsradio 750 KXL (and online at KXL.com) each Monday for more

Listen to my report on Google and Microsoft's new offerings here: kxl_techexpert-onlinesoftware_20070226.mp3