Great news! Google this evening announced the launch of Google Apps Marketplace!

Why should you care?

Enables your business to integrate applications, tools and systems that you’re already using into Google Apps.

How does it work?

Signing up for Google Apps gives you a platform which third-party application developers can integrate into.

What’s Next?

Check out the Google Apps Marketplace where 50 company’s have already launched their applications.

We’ll be back later with more juicy bits!

A few bits of news you may have overlooked this week.

Google Apps Disaster Recovery

Disaster Recovery by Google: ”…every action you take in Gmail is simultaneously replicated in two data centers at once, so that if one data center fails, we nearly instantly transfer your data over to the other one that’s also been reflecting your actions.”

Google Apps & BlackBerry

Two-way calendar sync in Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server: ”Users can accept/decline meetings, schedule new meetings, move meeting times and add/remove meeting attendees in Google Calendar from their Blackberry devices.”

Google Webmaster Tools

Sharing the verification love: Now Webmaster Tools Site Verification makes it easier to share verified ownership of your websites with other people.

Is your site hacked? New Message Center notifications for hacking and abuse: “These notifications are meant to alert webmasters of potential issues and provide next steps on how to get their sites fixed and back into Google’s search results.”

Gmail

Fast new windows: “Popping out a window is much, much faster. No more “Loading…” progress bar.”

Google Checkout

Quickly customize shipping settings with the shipping setup tool: “This is the first in a series of features and posts from the Checkout team that will make integrating with Checkout, and then running your business on it, even easier.”

Search Engine Optimization

Google’s SEO Report Card: Leading by example. “an effort to provide Google’s product teams with ideas on how they can improve their products’ pages using simple and accepted optimizations.”

I like my mouse. Yes, I’m the person you see in a cramped economy class seat trying to use my mouse on the keyboard or my leg. Don’t get me wrong I like to use shortcut keys but I find my mouse to be far less fatiguing at times.

For those of you that prefer the mouse there’s a nice little Gmail Labs feature you should most definitely check out.

Go to Settings > Labs, find Mouse Gestures and select Enable.

Here’s a quick video of me mousing around…

See all Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts

I want my data back!

Ask and ye shall receive. DataLiberation.org – A central location for information on how to move your data in and out of Google products.

Users should be able to control the data they store in any of Google’s products. Our team’s goal is to make it easier to move data in and out.

- The Data Liberation Front

Want a Data Liberation sticker? Check out the Data Liberation blog!

In the hubbub of email, calendar and document collaboration, we oftentimes overlook the fact that Google Apps comes with a robust Video application for businesses. As part of your Google Apps Premiere Edition account, you get Google Video at no additional cost.

Leveraging video within your business has never been this easy! All you need is a video camera (we use a FlipCam) and an optional screen-casting application (we use ScreenFlow or Camtasia). Here are a few ways we’ve used Google Video for businesses.

Google Apps Video Use Cases

Knowledge Sharing - Show team members how to use a new application, process or lessons learned

Announcements – Announce new business goals, achievements or initiatives

Management – Record the “all hands teleconf” and create a message from management

Introductions - Ask each employee to introduce themselves

Fun - Take a quick video at the team building exercise

Things to keep in mind about Google Video for business

• Videos are private to your business or organization
• Uses the same infrastructure as YouTube
• 3GB of space per user per domain e.g. 100 users x 3GB = 350GB of video space
• Wide array of supported formats e.g. avi, .asf, .mov, .wmv, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp4 and .mod to name a few
• Closed captions are supported…especially handy if you have multi-lingual users

If your business hasn’t yet mastered when/where/how to use video or you want to share an idea feel free to comment below.