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A while back the security department at work started to monitor our PCs more tightly which meant that I had to be more caution of what software I installed (including Google Talk…I probably shouldn’t be using Google Talk at all, but old habits are hard to break. ).  Google Talk doesn’t have a portable version available for USB storage, so I decided to go with a portable version of Pidgin (a multi-protocol instant messaging client that supports Google Talks, MSN, Yahoo!,etc…).

Configuring Pidgin to work with Google Talk

1. Download and install the latest version of Pidgin
2. Open Pidgin and click on ” Add…”
3. From the drop-down box choose XMPP as the Protocol.
4. For Username enter your GMail username only (NOT the full email address).
5. For Domain enter gmail.com
6. For Password enter your GMail password.

Pidgin Add Account

In the “Advanced” tab:

1. Check “Require SSL/TLS”
2. Check “Force old (port 5223) SSL”
3. Enter for 443 for “Connect port”
4. Enter talk.google.com for “Connect server”
5. Click on “Save” and you are done.

Pidgin Advanced Settings

With Google Sync it’s possible to synchronize a Windows Mobile phone with Google services. (Currently, Gmail, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar are supported)

To setup Google Sync on Windows Mobile follow the steps:

1. Open Active Sync from your phone.
2. Click on the “Menu” soft-key, and select “Configure Server…”.
   Enter m.google.com as the server address, check the SSL option, and click “Next”.
   

   Configure server

3. Enter your Google account information with you full Gmail address for the “User name”, and Gmail account password for “Password”. Leave the “Domain” field blank, and click “Next”.
   

   Google Account Settings

4. Check the data which you want to sync e.g. Contacts, Calendar, E-mail. Please note that currently Tasks does NOT work, and the synchronization will fail if it’s checked.
   

   Data to be Synchronize

5. Click the “Finish” soft-key and you are done.  Your data with Google will be sync’d next time you synchronize your phone.
   

More information about Google Sync for Windows Mobile.

A couple of days ago I mentioned about Google Notebook. A couple of days later, I found another useful service by Google: Google Bookmarks. If you are like me, and use multiple computers on a daily basis (work, home, laptop), then you’ll probably end up with different sets of bookmarks for each computer. Google Bookmarks let you organize all this bookmarks so you can access them online from any computer by signing in. Google also lets you add labels and notes to your bookmarks as well.

Occasionally, I find myself sending email to myself. The email could be information that I got from a website I want to read later, or URLs that I found in my office hours that I want to visit when I get home. By doing this, it just floods my inbox more.

A couple days ago, I found a new service from Google: Google Notebook. This service basically lets you write notes to yourself. You can have more than one notebook, and in each notebook you can organizes your notes into different section. It’s definitely worth a try.