Moving to the bay area has it’s advantages. So far I’ve been to more geek parties and events then I’ve ever been able to attend living in Tampa Bay. One of the biggest advantages, is that some of the largest companies in the world are just around the corner, especially some of my favorites like Apple, Google, Flickr, Twitter, etc.

Unfortunately, my day job keeps me from being able to visit these awesome companies during work hours, at least until I get some vacation days.

Well here is my problem. When Google announced Gmail, I was one of the first people with an invite. I’ve used it as my primary and only source of email ever since. It has been the best, fastest, and easiest way to have access to my emails anywhere I go, no matter what phone/device/computer I am on. With the recent thefts that I’ve lived thru, my iPhone and any other computer I can get my hands on (ie Apple Store computers), are my primary source of internet. It is a pain in the butt to read emails on my iPhone, then have to mark them read again inside of Gmail, given that I have very limited access to the internet on a desktop computer.

Google just released a new feature to their Gmail service, IMAP. It allows you to sync emails on any device you are using as marked read, put in folders/labels, etc. No more going thru and spending extra time marking emails I’ve already read again. This is the greatest thing since the Gmail app on the BlackBerry, but wait…where’s my access to this?

When Gmail added Gtalk into Gmail, they seemed to roll it out in reverse order. The newer accounts got it before the older accounts. My friend Adam who got Gmail 3 days after me, was one of the last people to get Gtalk added to his account. My Gtalk access came after his even.

I really hope Google isn’t doing the IMAP in the same fashion…by screwing the long time loyal users. I couldn’t imagine my life without Gmail, and now that IMAP is included, it will even be a more integrated part of my life. Why Google? Why must you always make me wait?

As I mentioned in the beginning of this post, some of the greatest companies are literally minutes from me now, so last night my friend and I (who she now has IMAP, but I still don’t) went to the Google campus, where we looked up the address on Google Maps. I drafted a letter (ala Martin Luther) using Google Docs (available here), and even signed the letter with my Google pen.

So, now I wait and see what happens. I’m hoping that magically my account has IMAP on it today, as opposed to the opposite where they shut down my account for good for breaking into their campus and taking a bottle of Naked Juice and my friend using their bathroom. I can’t think of a better way then to go straight to the source.

Check out the Flickr set of posting the letter on 2 of Google’s buildings.

P.S. We accidentally drove by LinkedIn as well. I’d love to swing by their offices some day as well.

Today Google put up a new Google Doodle celebrating the life of the most famous tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.

Oh yeah, Apple also changed their homepage for some Al guy today….whatever.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the tiny satellite whose crackly beeps started the Space Race between the Cold War superpowers.

It’s hard to remember a time when Google wasn’t around. Now they seem to be at the center of your online world, be it thru Google Search, Gmail, Google News, Google Reader, Google Docs and the list goes on and on.

Today Google turns 9, and I’d personally like to thank them for their services. I don’t think I would of made it this far in San Francisco without Google Maps on my iPhone.

Apple has stated that web 2.0 (read ajaxy) web sites will work on the iPhone. Flash and Java are not supported in the iPhones version of Safari. Well after going to Google’s Talk Gadget with Java and Flash turned off on Safari, the program works like a chucking farm. It even includes the option for multi-user chat, a feature still absent from the desktop and Gmail client. Apple may of forgot iChat on the iPhone, but IM is alive and well with Google Talk.Google has also been colobrating with Apple closely on the iPhone, so is this going to be the official Gtalk client for the iPhone or will Apple/Google be releasing an app for the iPhone?

Read

Update: Turns out that this does need Flash, which isn’t included on the iPhone to work. Oh well, no IM on the iPhone.

To all the dads out there, especially mine…Happy Father’s Day!

Here me out on the logic here. Steve Jobs announced that iPhone apps will all run through rich pages created through Safari on the iPhone. Google has already been working on an ajax’y version of Google Talk, and you can put it right on the main screen of your iGoogle page.

So, one could conclude that Google Talk will work on the iPhone, thus solving my problems in switching to the iPhone…June 29th here I come.