Silicon Valley: There and back again

How to export your Facebook friends to Google+

Google+ is making a big splash in the social networking world, promising better privacy and access controls to user-generated content. As Google ups the ante in its challenge to Facebook, many users will be switching to Google+. While some tools exist that allow users to export data from Facebook, reports indicate that Facebook is blocking those services.

However, there’s a relatively simple way to get your contacts from Facebook to Google+, and all you need is a Yahoo! Mail account.

Since Google+ uses your Google Contacts (located in Gmail), these steps will get you up and running with your old friends on the new Google service in no time. Keep in mind that this process transfers your Facebook friends who have email addresses visible to you: Read the rest of this entry »

ToodleChrome updated; now Verified Author

Update 28-Nov-2010: Version 0.7 adds some new badge options (thanks, Stephen!)

Google Chrome users with the newest version of the browser are running into problems with some extensions that use popups. ToodleChrome 0.4 is one of these extensions. It looks as though the Chrome/Chromium dev team has changed the way popups are styled. As a result, many extension popups are starting to appear as very skinny windows essentially rendering them useless. While a number of bug reports were filed with the Chromium browser dev team, they’re super busy. So, I thought I’d just make a few changes to the extension itself.

Version 0.5 of ToodleChrome displays the popup correctly. It also adds the capability to detach the popup into its own standalone window; and there is now a small wrench icon that will take users directly to the Options page (thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions).

I’ve also added eliotche.com as the verified author: Read the rest of this entry »

ToodleChrome

Update 2011-Nov: 0.74 renames the extension to “Toodledo Tasks” in order to comply with Google’s branding policies. Get it here.

Update 2010-Nov-07: The 0.5 update fixes the popup issue and adds a couple features. Check out the details here.

Update 2009-Dec-12: The 0.4 update now includes an option to add a badge indicating how many tasks are due. I ended up foregoing the Toodledo API and instead decided to implement a solution that uses the Toodledo RSS feed (which can be customized) and the Google Ajax Feed API. This way the extension doesn’t need to ask for a username or password. While the Toodledo RSS feed is a public one, it is a unique address, and users can change the feed url or disable the feed entirely if necessary.

The ToodleChrome extension is based on Toodledo, a web-based todo application that I’ve come to rely upon on a daily basis. I primarily access my todos via an iPhone app called Todo by Appigo, but there are often times when I want to add some items from my browser.

Tooodle does have a web interface, but I’ve found the slim/mobile version of the site faster and easier to use, especially in conjunction with Appigo’s iPhone app. To make things even more efficient for my workflow, I thought I’d put together a quick and simple extension for the beta version of Google Chrome (my current browser of choice, mainly because it’s fast). Extensions will eventually be enabled in the regular version of Chrome but for now it’s limited to the stable beta.

If you are a Chrome beta user like myself, and need a good way to manage your todos, give the extension a try. It’s listed in the Chrome Extensions directory, and I hope to add some updates via the Toodledo API in the future (specifically, to show due and overdue items in the icon badge). Until then, I hope this small contribution makes it a little easier to keep on top of things.

[Check out ToodleChrome at the Official Google Chrome Repository] [Update: or in the Chrome Web Store]

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