I’m sold on Google Desktop Search and Skype

Google Desktop Search

When I wrote my post Top five software tools and web applications back in April 2004, I had no idea we’d get a search engine that worked on files on your hard drive. The breakthrough came from Google with Google Desktop Search. My inbox is bursting at the seams, with over 40,000 emails by a quick count. The same goes for my documentation folder.

Searching that flood of email in a mail client takes more patience than I can imagine. Looking through documentation on a local drive borders on sadomasochism, and online search does nothing for private documents. In a word, a disaster.

Fortunately, Google Desktop Search addresses some of those problems. It indexes a limited range of files, including AOL Instant Messenger conversations, Outlook and Outlook Express mail, Office files from Excel, Word and PowerPoint, any text files such as HTML, source code and XML, and your browsing history. For me, PDF indexing is the missing piece. Even without it, this is an enormously useful tool.

What people wrote about Google Desktop Search

• Kryl Blog Google Desktop Search
• Yuhůů’s web development blog A few notes on Google Desktop Search
• About weblog Google Desktop Search
• A computer enthusiast’s blog A second look at Google Desktop Search

Skype and internet telephony

I first heard about public internet calling with Skype from Filemon. All you really need is an internet connection and the Skype client, which takes care of registration and account setup. That’s it. Calls between registered users are free, and calling a landline costs next to nothing. Skype supports conference calls of up to four people and instant messaging. Two Czech community sites are Skype.cz and Skyper.

What people wrote about Skype

• Britské listy Call for free over the internet and put Český Telecom out of business
• Hulan VoIP, free phone calls and CDMA (EV-DV) and Skype offers free encrypted calls and instant messaging better than ICQ
• AgiBlok How do Skype and Kazaa fit together?
• A computer enthusiast’s blog Skype in the clutches of a GPRS user