GroupHelp.NET - Easy everything! http://www.grouphelp.net Putting everything you need on your hands! Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:20:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 Dead Heat in Colorado http://www.grouphelp.net/dead-heat-in-colorado.html http://www.grouphelp.net/dead-heat-in-colorado.html#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:20:25 +0000 admin http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/12/dead_heat_in_colorado.html Public Policy Polling survey in Colorado finds Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and challenger Jane Norton (R) tied at 43% in the U.S. Senate race.

Interestingly, Andrew Romanoff (D) actually leads Norton, 44% to 39%, "reflecting other recent polling that has shown him doing better in general election matches than Bennet."

Romanoff is challenging Bennet in a Democratic primary.
]]> Public Policy Polling survey in Colorado finds Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and challenger Jane Norton (R) tied at 43% in the U.S. Senate race.

Interestingly, Andrew Romanoff (D) actually leads Norton, 44% to 39%, "reflecting other recent polling that has shown him doing better in general election matches than Bennet."

Romanoff is challenging Bennet in a Democratic primary.
]]> http://www.grouphelp.net/dead-heat-in-colorado.html/feed Huckabee Doesn’t Sound Like a Candidate http://www.grouphelp.net/huckabee-doesnt-sound-like-a-candidate.html http://www.grouphelp.net/huckabee-doesnt-sound-like-a-candidate.html#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:12:21 +0000 admin http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/12/huckabee_doesnt_sound_like_a_candidate.html NYU News.

In fact, he seems quite content having his own television show on Fox News.

Said Huckabee: "It's kind of given me a new perspective of the power of the media more so than the power of good policy. Running for president did not necessarily cause people to say 'Oh, I know who you are.' But being on Fox News has. It's really embarrassing when you're running for president of the United States and nobody seems to have any clue."

He added: "I'm not sure I'm in a place in my life, personally, that I can afford to take off two years and not have an income."]]> NYU News.

In fact, he seems quite content having his own television show on Fox News.

Said Huckabee: "It's kind of given me a new perspective of the power of the media more so than the power of good policy. Running for president did not necessarily cause people to say 'Oh, I know who you are.' But being on Fox News has. It's really embarrassing when you're running for president of the United States and nobody seems to have any clue."

He added: "I'm not sure I'm in a place in my life, personally, that I can afford to take off two years and not have an income."]]> http://www.grouphelp.net/huckabee-doesnt-sound-like-a-candidate.html/feed Save the Date! http://www.grouphelp.net/save-the-date.html http://www.grouphelp.net/save-the-date.html#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:52:06 +0000 admin http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/12/save_the_date.html
We'll have a great panel with Tucker Carlson, Stuart Rothenberg, Craig Crawford and Walter Shapiro offering their insights and analysis on the midterm elections.

Check back on Monday to sign up since seats will go quickly.
]]>
We'll have a great panel with Tucker Carlson, Stuart Rothenberg, Craig Crawford and Walter Shapiro offering their insights and analysis on the midterm elections.

Check back on Monday to sign up since seats will go quickly.
]]> http://www.grouphelp.net/save-the-date.html/feed Google Wave Extensions Gallery Launches http://www.grouphelp.net/google-wave-extensions-gallery-launches.html http://www.grouphelp.net/google-wave-extensions-gallery-launches.html#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:44:13 +0000 admin http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_wave_extensions_gallery_launches.php This morning, Google launched an "extensions" gallery for their real-time communications product, Google Wave. Within the new gallery, you'll find the tools and add-ons that have been created by the developer community to add additional functionality to the Wave service. Among the extensions are those some Wave users have probably seen before - like the popular "yes/no" voting gadget, for example, which lets you create polls via Wave. However, there are others that you may not have seen yet - like the "iFrame Gadget" that lets you embed webpages into a Wave or the "Likey Gadget" that provides a "like" (and "dislike!") button for showing support for a particular topic, similar to those found on Facebook or Google Buzz.

Sponsor

According to the Google blog post, developers interested in submitting their extensions for inclusion in this gallery can do so by first submitting them for approval here. Google has also released a new Google Wave robots API (v2) for developers to try.

The complete list of extensions includes the following:

  • Wave Sudoku (play Sodoku with friends in a Wave)
  • Extension Installer (for developers only)
  • Colcrop (game)
  • Yellow highlighter (highlight text)
  • Napkin gadget (for doodles)
  • Waffle (date-picker)
  • Iframe gadget (embed webpages in a Wave)
  • Yes/No/Maybe gadget (for polls)
  • Map gadget (insert maps)
  • Video Chat Experience (chat in Waves)
  • Phone Conference (call your friends)
  • Mind Map gadget (collaborate on diagrams)
  • Likey gadget (like/dislike a topic)
  • Pollo gadget (for surveys)
  • Take-out gadget (for ordering out)
  • AccuWeather (weather forecasts)

Will Extensions Bring You Back to Wave?

With Google Wave soon becoming a member of the Google Apps family of products sometime this year, it's good to see development work continue on this innovative, if somewhat confusing, real-time tool. Although members of the tech community have expressed mixed feelings about the product in its current state, what Google has presented is definitely a unique service and one that may still be useful in several niche scenarios, if not as the email replacement some hoped it would be. For example, small teams in the workplace needing to collaborate with one another may find Wave a better option than sending multiple emails back and forth.

That being said, traffic to Google Wave has been declining sharply since November or December of 2009, depending which analytics service you use. Looking at the numbers, it's clear that Wave has been abandoned by many of its earliest adopters - users who were once clamoring for invites in ways that haven't been seen since Google first launched Gmail. (On that note, we actually have several spare invites sitting around - if you want one, comment and ask.)

Will extensions actually bring those one-time Wavers back? Probably not - at least, not for longer than a quick look at most. On the flip side, however, Wave advocates feel that there's great potential in this experimental project. Still, even most of those folks have to admit there's a lot of work that needs to be done before Wave could attract a mainstream audience.

So will Wave ever replace email? Perhaps not. But we wouldn't be surprised if some of the innovations developed in the Wave playground ended up in our Gmail inboxes one day. And for that, we'll keep one eye on Wave...even if we're not entirely embracing it just yet.

Discuss


]]> This morning, Google launched an "extensions" gallery for their real-time communications product, Google Wave. Within the new gallery, you'll find the tools and add-ons that have been created by the developer community to add additional functionality to the Wave service. Among the extensions are those some Wave users have probably seen before - like the popular "yes/no" voting gadget, for example, which lets you create polls via Wave. However, there are others that you may not have seen yet - like the "iFrame Gadget" that lets you embed webpages into a Wave or the "Likey Gadget" that provides a "like" (and "dislike!") button for showing support for a particular topic, similar to those found on Facebook or Google Buzz.

Sponsor

According to the Google blog post, developers interested in submitting their extensions for inclusion in this gallery can do so by first submitting them for approval here. Google has also released a new Google Wave robots API (v2) for developers to try.

The complete list of extensions includes the following:

  • Wave Sudoku (play Sodoku with friends in a Wave)
  • Extension Installer (for developers only)
  • Colcrop (game)
  • Yellow highlighter (highlight text)
  • Napkin gadget (for doodles)
  • Waffle (date-picker)
  • Iframe gadget (embed webpages in a Wave)
  • Yes/No/Maybe gadget (for polls)
  • Map gadget (insert maps)
  • Video Chat Experience (chat in Waves)
  • Phone Conference (call your friends)
  • Mind Map gadget (collaborate on diagrams)
  • Likey gadget (like/dislike a topic)
  • Pollo gadget (for surveys)
  • Take-out gadget (for ordering out)
  • AccuWeather (weather forecasts)

Will Extensions Bring You Back to Wave?

With Google Wave soon becoming a member of the Google Apps family of products sometime this year, it's good to see development work continue on this innovative, if somewhat confusing, real-time tool. Although members of the tech community have expressed mixed feelings about the product in its current state, what Google has presented is definitely a unique service and one that may still be useful in several niche scenarios, if not as the email replacement some hoped it would be. For example, small teams in the workplace needing to collaborate with one another may find Wave a better option than sending multiple emails back and forth.

That being said, traffic to Google Wave has been declining sharply since November or December of 2009, depending which analytics service you use. Looking at the numbers, it's clear that Wave has been abandoned by many of its earliest adopters - users who were once clamoring for invites in ways that haven't been seen since Google first launched Gmail. (On that note, we actually have several spare invites sitting around - if you want one, comment and ask.)

Will extensions actually bring those one-time Wavers back? Probably not - at least, not for longer than a quick look at most. On the flip side, however, Wave advocates feel that there's great potential in this experimental project. Still, even most of those folks have to admit there's a lot of work that needs to be done before Wave could attract a mainstream audience.

So will Wave ever replace email? Perhaps not. But we wouldn't be surprised if some of the innovations developed in the Wave playground ended up in our Gmail inboxes one day. And for that, we'll keep one eye on Wave...even if we're not entirely embracing it just yet.

Discuss


]]> http://www.grouphelp.net/google-wave-extensions-gallery-launches.html/feed Who is Barack Obama? http://www.grouphelp.net/who-is-barack-obama.html http://www.grouphelp.net/who-is-barack-obama.html#comments Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:36:01 +0000 admin http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/12/who_is_barack_obama.html David Brooks points out that conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are "diametrically opposed" yet "entirely predictable" in their assessment of President Obama to date.

"Liberals are wrong to call him weak and indecisive. He's just not always pursuing their aims. Conservatives are wrong to call him a big-government liberal. That's just not a fair reading of his agenda."

"The fact is, Obama is as he always has been, a center-left pragmatic reformer."]]> David Brooks points out that conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are "diametrically opposed" yet "entirely predictable" in their assessment of President Obama to date.

"Liberals are wrong to call him weak and indecisive. He's just not always pursuing their aims. Conservatives are wrong to call him a big-government liberal. That's just not a fair reading of his agenda."

"The fact is, Obama is as he always has been, a center-left pragmatic reformer."]]> http://www.grouphelp.net/who-is-barack-obama.html/feed