According to Google, "[the] new name ... better reflects [their] mission.

The G Suite is a paid version of the tools also available to registered users of Google's free Gmail, including:

• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Google Docs
• Google Drive
• Google Hangouts

The paid version adds business-specific features such as:

• custom email addresses at your domain (@yourcompany.com)
• at least 30 GB of storage for documents and email (more storage can be purchased)
• 24/7 phone and email support
• administration/management dashboard

The change has no real effect on end-users. We have not seen any changes yet in the functionality of the individual applications in the suite or the administrative dashboard. End-users aren't even seeing the new logo (seen above).

Over it's lifetime, the product has been known by a variety of names, including:

• Google Docs
• Google Apps for Your Domain
• Google Apps 
• Google for Work
• G Suite

(If we've forgotten one, please let us know.) 

The post Google Introduces (Yet Another) New Name for Google for Work appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Over the course of the past few weeks, Google has been rolling out the feature to email addresses in Work accounts. Not all accounts have the feature added yet, so if you don't see it in your account yet, stay tuned.

The first time events are auto-added to your calendar, you'll see a pop-up in your calendar explaining the feature.

Google will also send you an email listing those events. Similar messages are not sent when new events are auto-added after this first time.

Because Gmail is auto-detecting events based on the text of the messages, there is room for potential error. In the initial creation of events from my recent emails, Google got all 17 of my upcoming flights correct (including arrival and departure times [even recognizing the local time zones], as well as confirmation numbers). However, it did also add a hotel stay to my calendar that was generated from an email advertising a conference I did not plan on attending.

Automatically added events are only visible to the calendar owner and not people with whom a calendar is shared. Once the events are added to your Calendar, you can change the Sharing settings for individual events.

The feature can be turned off in the Google Calendar Settings menu.

Events from Gmail is not available to Google Apps for Government accounts.

The post New Gmail Events Feature Finally Comes to Google for Work Accounts appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Today, Google has given us the ability to drag-and-drop the icons for those databases and Apps so that we can rearrange them into an order that more suits our personal priorities for accessing them. The capability is not yet available in all accounts and appears to be rolling out to free Gmail users first - before paid Google Apps customers.

It also appears however, that you are limited to the database/Apps icon set already in the launcher. It does not appear that you can promote services Google has relegated to the "even more form Google" screen (like Google Scholar) to the main screen.

The post Now You Can Rearrange the Google Apps in the Browser Apps Launcher appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Monday February 3, 2014

1:00 - 2:30 pm Eastern

This CLE program on Google Gmail and Calendar will teach you, in plain English, how to transform your law practice by using two of Google's low-cost but powerful tools -- Gmail and Calendar -- to save time and money, and improve communication and collaboration with clients and colleagues. You will learn all about the various functions and features of Gmail and Calendar, as well as several related services and plug-ins that can SUPERCHARGE your Gmail/Calendar experience. Levitt and Rosch will also discuss ethical concerns about security and confidentiality when using Google Gmail and Calendar.

Need ethics credit? This seminar qualifies for 1.5 to1.8 credit hours, including 0.5 to 0.6 ethics credit hours, depending on state requirements, in MCLE jurisdictions that accredit live telephone seminars and/or webcasts on law practice management topics. Click here for a full list of jurisdictions in which this MCLE course is accredited.

Bonus! All registrants will receive a FREE copy of Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch’s e-book, Google Gmail and Calendar in One Hour for Lawyers (a $39.95 value) In addition, all registrants receive a set of downloadable course materials and free access to the archived online program later.

The post Webinar – Google Gmail and Calendar Tips and Tricks Online CLE February 3, 2014 appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

A little over two years ago, in an effort to unify the design of all of its products, Google added a standardized black bar across the top of all of those products. In that black bar (in easily ignored grey text) were links to some of Google’s most popular products and specialized databases.

The goal was to give users access to those popular products in one or two (and sometimes three) clicks.

Google has been rolling out a new App launcher on the upper right-hand side of its Web Search homepage (and other products) as a replacement to the black bar - to access those same products. The new App launcher is reminiscent of design elements of Google’s Chrome operating system. The new App launcher adds at least one click (and sometimes more) to the process of accessing those products. For example, to reach the journal and caselaw databases at Google Scholar now requires users to:

• click the App launcher on the upper right-hand side of their browser window;
• scan down to the bottom of the list presented
• click the More link
• scan down to the bottom of the subsequent list presented
• click the Even more from Google link
• scroll down the list of products presented and locate the link to Google Scholar

Links to access Gmail and Google’s Image Search are still located in the upper right-hand corner of the Web Search interface.

Users could use direct URLs (e.g., https://www.google.com/scholar) to access products like Google Scholar or create browser Favorites or Shortcuts.

The black bar interface still displays on the search results page(s) for some Google products such as Google Groups.

However, if Google’s goal was to make the products on the More and Even More screens easier to access we don’t see this update as an improvement.

The post Google Changes Search Page Interface – Again appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Written by nationally acclaimed authors and speakers Carole Levitt and Mark Rosch, Google Gmail and Calendar in One Hour for Lawyers is designed as a step-by-step guide for lawyers to learn what features and functions are available in the Business versions of Gmail and Google Calendar, as well as related services such as Google Chat, Google Talk, Google Hangout, and Call Phone. Millions of corporations, small businesses, solo lawyers, large and small law firms, and government agencies have moved from hosting their own e-mail servers ‑ and in some cases, calendars and documents ‑ to using Google Apps for Business.

Google Gmail and Calendar in One Hour for Lawyers illustrates how lawyers are relying on Google Apps for Business for routine functions. Through this book, readers will learn how to:

• Create Google Apps for Business accounts;
• Get started with Gmail as the e-mail service provider;
• Use labels and customized settings to manage e-mail;
• Stay organized with Contacts and Task Manager;
• Access Gmail messages and Calendar offline;
• Communicate with Google Chat, Google Talk and Google Hangout;
• Use Gmail to make phone calls;
• Add, edit, search and print Calendar events;
• Download Google Apps marketplace add-ons and Google Chrome plug-ins to further customize the online experience; and
• Understand security, confidentiality and ethics concerns related to Google Apps.

The book includes anecdotes from lawyers and law firm IT professionals explaining how they use Google Apps for Business at their firms and the value and increased productivity they have derived from the products.

Levitt and Rosch have co-authored several other books, including The Cybersleuth's Guide to the Internet, Google for Lawyers, and Find Info Like a Pro, Volumes 1 and 2. The authors present continuing legal education seminars on these topics throughout the country.

Google Gmail and Calendar in One Hour for Lawyers is published by the American Bar Association's  Law Practice Management Section, a professional membership organization providing resources for lawyers and other legal professionals in the core areas of the business of practicing law — marketing, management, technology, and finance — through its award-winning magazine, webzines, educational CLE programs, website, and publishing division. For more than 30 years, LPM has established itself as a leader within the legal profession by producing ABA TECHSHOW, the world’s premier legal technology conference and expo, and through its publishing arm, which has more than 90 titles in print.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is one of the world’s largest voluntary professional membership organizations. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

The post New Google Gmail and Calendar in One Hour for Lawyers Book Helps Lawyers (from Solos to Large Firms) Use the Business Version of These Google Apps to Transform Their Practice appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.

Google provides a chart to check the status of any of its Apps.

Color coded dots indicate the current status of each service.

• Green indicates "no issues."
• Yellow indicates a "service disruption."
• Red indicates a "service outage."

Clicking a yellow or red dot takes you to a "Service Details" page that outlines the issues surrounding the disruption or outage.

Links are also included on the "Service Details" page to "Incident Reports" containing more detailed information abaout the disruption or outage.

Apps tracked on the chart include:

• Google Mail
• Google Calendar
• Google Talk
• Google Docs List
• Google Documents
• Google Spreadsheets
• Google Presentations
• Google Drawings
• Google Sites
• Google Video for business
• Google Groups Admin control panel / API
• Postini Services

The post Google Apps Provides Status Checker appeared first on Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) in California, MCLE Los Angeles, CLE Orange County, Irvine & San Francisco.