Download from Google Drive using wget in Linux

By default, Google Drive does not allow plain wget commands (e.g. wget google-drive-link) in Linux. The workaround is to use the following syntax:

For example, to download the example.zip file from the Google Drive link below:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vzHBVXvpF0dFKaDamJ6THg-0Gc-cSDoR

You can use the following wget command in Linux. Note that you have to enter the google drive file id twice and also enter the file name.
wget --load-cookies /tmp/cookies.txt "https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&confirm=$(wget --quiet --save-cookies /tmp/cookies.txt --keep-session-cookies --no-check-certificate 'https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1vzHBVXvpF0dFKaDamJ6THg-0Gc-cSDoR' -O- | sed -rn 's/.*confirm=([0-9A-Za-z_]+).*/\1\n/p')&id=1vzHBVXvpF0dFKaDamJ6THg-0Gc-cSDoR" -O example.zip && rm -rf /tmp/cookies.txt

Thanks to this website below for the idea:
https:// pc-mind.com/how-to-download-google-drive-files-with-wget-linux-tiny-and-big-file-size/

Gmail for Blackberry

To download Gmail for Blackberry, use the following options:
1. Official Method
Go to http://m.google.com/mail/ and select the “Install Now” link at the top
Note: This is the recommended method because Google determines the appropriate version for your blackberry or other mobile device.
2. Alternate Download Location (Google Mail V 2.0.7 for Blackberry 9650 – 438.6 KB)
Download from here
Important Note: This is a download specific for Blackberry Bold 9650. But you can check if it works for your Blackberry model. This installs Google Mail v2.0.7.
Other Notes: This download link is helpful if you are not able to access the official Gmail Mobile download link (for example: http://m.google.com/mail/ is blocked by your service provider). This is actually a drawback for Google and they should provide alternate download links for downloading Gmail for Mobile.
3. Alternate Download Location (Google Mail V 2.0.6 Generic – 256.4 KB)
Download from here
Important Note: This is a generic version and installed on my Blackberry Bold 9650 but did not work. But you can check if it works for your mobile device.
Older Versions:
Older Gmail Mobile versions are available below (courtesy of WAP Review)
Google Mail V 1.5.0 – 156 KB: JAD, JAR
Google Mail V 1.1.0 – 138 KB: JAD, JAR
Google Mail V 1.0.0 – 113 KB: JAD, JAR
If you are interested in knowing how I was able to get an offline copy of the installation file (refer to #2 above), read on. It took me a couple of days but I finally figured it out.
1. Switch your browser user agent to your mobile device’s user agent
The main problem was that if you try to access http://m.google.com/mail/ from your laptop/desktop browser, it does not show you the Gmail Mobile download link. So, you need to change the user agent for your browser so that Google thinks that you are coming to the website from your mobile device.
1.1 Find the user agent for your mobile device
You can find uthe ser agent string for your mobile device by going to http://ip.maisnam.com/ on your mobile device. Look for the part which says: “You are currently using:”. Using that, I was able to determine that the user agent string for my Blackberry Bold 9650 is:
BlackBerry9650/5.0.0.1006 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105
1.2 Change the user agent on your browser
The next part is to make Google think that you are coming to the website from your mobile device by changing your browser user agent. If you are using Firefox, you can use the User Agent Switcher add-on. Once you have installed the add-on, create a new user agent using the user agent string obtained from step 1.1.
2. Download the .jad file
After switching to the correct user agent for your mobile device, go again to http://m.google.com/mail/ and click the “Install Now” link at the top. This will download a mail.jad file to your computer.
3. Download the .cod files
Now, open the downloaded mail.jad file with a text editor (I usually open it first in Wordpad, save it and then open it again in Notepad). The mail.jad file will look like this. Look for the .cod files (6 in the mail.jad file I downloaded) and download them. In my example, the cod file URLs are:
http://m.google.com/mail/download/binaries/L1/2.0.6/BlackBerry-47/GoogleMail.cod?dc=gorganic&session=3831091937&ver=2.0.6
http://m.google.com/mail/download/binaries/L1/2.0.6/BlackBerry-47/GoogleMail-1.cod?dc=gorganic&session=3831091937&ver=2.0.6
http://m.google.com/mail/download/binaries/L1/2.0.6/BlackBerry-47/GoogleMail-2.cod?dc=gorganic&session=3831091937&ver=2.0.6
http://m.google.com/mail/download/binaries/L1/2.0.6/BlackBerry-47/GoogleMail-3.cod?dc=gorganic&session=3831091937&ver=2.0.6
http://m.google.com/mail/download/binaries/L1/2.0.6/BlackBerry-47/GoogleMail-4.cod?dc=gorganic&session=3831091937&ver=2.0.6
http://m.google.com/mail/download/binaries/L1/2.0.6/BlackBerry-47/GoogleMail-5.cod?dc=gorganic&session=3831091937&ver=2.0.6
4. Edit the mail.jad file
Once you download the .cod files, update the cod file URLs to point to your local copy. The updated mail.jad file will look like this.
5. Upload all the files to your web server and access the .jad file from your mobile device
Next, upload the 6 .cod files and the updated .jad file to your webserver and access the .jad file from your mobile device. If you are using Blackberry Bold 9650, you can download the mail.jad file I created. This is a download specific for Blackberry Bold 9650. But you can check if it works for your Blackberry model. If you do not have access to a webserver, I believe you can create an .alx file and load it using Blackberry Desktop. That process is outlined here: http://www.kleinfelter.com/node/147.
Helpful Links:
http://wapreview.mobi/?p=2578
http://www.kleinfelter.com/node/147
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Mobile/thread?tid=1f2b84444c174ab9&hl=en

Gmail HTML version link

Click the link below if you wish to view the Basic HTML version of Gmail. This is useful when the regular Gmail version is having problems loading.

Gmail Basic HTML Version: https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html

To go back to the regular version, you can:

  1. Use the links at the bottom of your Gmail screeen, or
  2. Log out and log back in, or
  3. Use the following links to toggle between the different versions:

 

Google Apps Free/Standard Version Link

Looks like Google Apps has made the free/standard version harder to find. If you search for “google apps” in Google, you get pointed to www.google.com/apps/ but that does not have the link to the free/standard version.
As of 9/28/2009, the link to the Free/Standard version of Google Apps is:
www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/
or
www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new
or
www.google.com/a/ and then click on the “Standard” link

Importing waypoints from Garmin 650 GPS

You can import your waypoints from the Garmin 650 GPS using Google Earth.
Import GPS waypoints using Google Earth - click to enlarge (24 kb).
[1] Connect your Garmin 650 GPS to your computer via the USB cable
[2] Turn on your Garmin 650 GPS
[3] Go to Tools > GPS in Google Earth
[4] Click on “Garmin”
[5] Click the “Import” button
Detailed instructions: http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_gps.html#import
Waypoints current.gpx file
Note: The waypoints are stored in a current.gpx file. The location is F:\Garmin\gpx\current.gpx. In this case, the GPS shows up on my computer as the “F” drive. It is an XML file and you can read it using Notepad/Wordpad or drag/drop into Google Earth.
GPS coordinates in Google Maps
If you know want to send a GPS coordinate link in Google Maps by email, you can use the following syntax.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.89767,-77.03655
In this case, 38.89767 is the longitude and -77.03655 is the latitude. This is similar to entering 38.89767,-77.03655 in Google Maps.

Virgle, Custom Time, gDay – April Fool’s Day from Google

Google always has provided a April Fool’s Day practical joke on its main page. This time however, there are many more – on different Google products like Gmail, Orkut, YouTube and Google Docs. I came across 3 of them.

If you want to see the entire list (15 total) including the ones from previous years, you can check out the Google’s Hoaxes page at Wikipedia. I feel that there are too many this year. In fact, too many that it is a crowd. They should have stuck to the hoax on the main page and maybe a few more.

12/12: Label “important” not allowed in Gmail

I figured out today that the label “important” is not allowed in Gmail. I thought it was a problem only with my account. But then I tried in some other gmail accounts that I have and I found that you cannot name a label “important”. I get the error message: The label name “important” is invalid. I did have a label named “important” a couple of weeks back and one fine day it stopped working and I had to rename it to “important2” :).
Label important not allowed in Gmail
I wonder if it is a Gmail bug or if it is on purpose. If it is on purpose/by design, the only reason I can think of is privacy issues. If you flag emails with the “important” label, most probably it is important and might contain banking or other sensitive information, maybe that’s why Gmail does not allow its labels to be named “important” to avoid potential privacy issues.
Let me know if anybody else has the same issue.
Related links:
Gmail Help – Using labels
p.s. Today is Dec 12, hence the 12/12 in the blog post title πŸ™‚

GoogleMail.com

One of my friends in the UK sent me an email from his Gmail account and I noticed that he had a username@googlemail.com email address instead of a username@gmail.com one. I went to www.googlemail.com and saw that it redirected to Gmail.
At first I thought that a username@googlemail.com email address will be different from a username@gmail.com email address (for example, if username@yahoo.co.uk works, then username@yahoo.com will not work). But later I sent a test email to my own Gmail account using googlemail.com instead of gmail.com and it worked.
I googled a bit (of course :)) and found that Google has problems with the Gmail trademark in the UK and so they are using the googlemail.com address instead of the gmail.com one. More information about this is here and here (cached).
Maybe, this website (www.gmail.co.uk) is the one they are problems with???

Google Moon and the Copernicus Initiative

Just chanced upon a blog post about Google Moon. Google Moon is a Google Map version of the moon and shows imagery on the Moon’s surface. It was created in honor of the first manned Moon landing, which took place on July 20, 1969. It uses NASA imagery and so the zoom level is limited (By the way, try zooming in too close and see what happens πŸ™‚ ).
Google Moon - screenshot - click to enlarge (204 kb).
Also, in 2069, Google will fully integrate Google Local search capabilities into Google Moon and will open a research and technology center on the Moon! This project is called the Copernicus Initiative (also called GCHEESE, acronym for “Google Copernicus Hosting Environment and Experiment in Search Engineering”). A very ambitious project indeed.
Also, note the last paragraph on the Lunar Jobs page :).

Applicants must be at least 18 years of age by April 1, 2007 and have proof of earth residency. Google is an equal opportunity employer.

Visit the Google Moon website: http://moon.google.com/.