Have you ever thought of switching/migrating one of your Gmail accounts to a different one?  I did and I’m about to tell you how I did it.  I had one those Hotmail like screennames (clevername.somethingorother) that I used for years.  Recently I’ve been debating on using my official Gmail account (shealaughlin).  With that said, there were a few things that have often stopped me:

What about my.

• Email?
• Google Calendar?
• Google Reader?
• Google Voice?
• Contacts?
• Filters?
• Feedburner?
• Google Analytics?

Luckily, I was able to answer all the above questions AND migrate all of my data/info.  This is how I did it.

Importing Your Old Email

1. Log into your old email account.
2. Settings –> Forwarding and POP/IMAP –> Select “Enable POP for all mail”.
3. Log into your new email account.
4. Settings –> Accounts and Import –> Add POP3 Account.
   Note: Normally you would you the “Import Mail and Contacts” option BUT Google does not support this option for Gmail to Gmail transfers. Thus, the following steps must be followed.
5. Enter the email address your would like to import.
6. Enter the password for the account.
7. Click “Add Account”.
8. Done!

Exporting/Importing your Google Calendar

1. Log into your Google Calendar.
2. Settings –> Calendar Settings –> Calendar Tab.
3. Select Export Calendar – This will prompt you to save your current calendar entries as a .zip file.  Save!
   
4. Log into your new Gmail account/Google Calendar.  Hint: I recommend using a different browser.  This will enable you to be logged into multiple Gmail accounts at once.
5. Browse to find your .zip file and unzip.
6. Settings –> Calendar Settings –> Calendar Tab.
7. Instead of selecting “Export Calendars”, select “Import Calendars”.
8. Select the new .ics file you just unzipped.
9. Select which calendar you would like the imported events to be “attached” to.  This was my default calendar.  However, depending on how many calendars you have, you might want to create a new calendar to import your old events.
10. Done!

Transferring Your Google Reader Feeds

1. Log into your old Google Reader.
2. Settings –> Reader Settings –> Import/Export.
3. Click “Export your subscriptions as an OPML file”.
4. Log into your new Google Reader.
5. Settings –>Reader Settings –> Import/Export.
6. Click “Choose File” under “Import your subscriptions”.
7. Select the .XML file you just downloaded.
8. Click “Upload”.
9. Done!

Transferring Your Google Voice Account

1. Enter all the the required information into the “Request to allow Google Voice account transfer” form.  Note:  My request was fulfilled in less than 3 hours.

Exporting/Importing Contacts

1. Log into your old Gmail account.
2. Click “Contacts” –>Export –> Save the .csv file based on your export requirements.  Note: I only exported “My Contacts” as this would remove the erroneous contacts that were not important to me.  “My Contacts” is usually your address book.  If you don’t select “My Contacts” then all of your email correspondents will be exported.

1. Log into your new Gmail account
2. Click “Contacts” –>Import –> Import the .csv you exported in step 2.
3. Done!

Exporting/Importing Filters

1. Go to the Google Labs section of your Gmail account –> Enable “Filter import/export”
   
2. Go to Settings –> Filters.
3. Select the filters your would like to export –> Select “Export” at the bottom of the filters menu.
4. Log into your new Gmail account.
5. Go to the Google Labs section of your Gmail account –> Enable “Filter import/export”.
6. Click on “Import Filters”.
7. Select the .xml file you just exported and accept the changes. Note: When you import your filters AND apply those filters to your existing mail, this will then re-create the labels you had in your previous account.
8. Done!

Transferring Your Feedburner Account

1. Log into your old Feedburner account.
2. Select the feed you want to transfer.
3. Select “Transfer Feed”.
   
4. Enter the email address you would like to transfer the feed to.
5. Log into your new Gmail account, open your email, and accept the transfer request.
6. Done!

Transferring Your Google Analytics Account

Unfortunately, there is not way to transfer your account BUT there is a work around.

1. Log into your current Google Analytics Account.
2. You’ll have to add a new user for each of the websites your would like to transfer.
3. To do this select “edit” for each account.
   
4. Select “Add User”
   
5. Enter your new Gmail email address.
6. Change the access type to “Account Administrator” – This will give your new account full admin rights to the respective website/settings.
   
7. Save changes.
8. Done! Your new account should be able to view and edit your Google Analytics preferences.

These were just a few of the Google services that I absolutely needed (and actually use) to move over while switching accounts.  I would definitely be interested in alternative methods to the steps I have stated above and also the steps required to migrate the other Google services that are available.

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Here’s the latest and greatest from the Duluth mayor Don Ness.  Once again, WHY SHOULD DULUTH GET THIS STUPENDOUS PRIVILEGE!?!?  Next thing you know he’ll be asking his constituents to support taxes and other whims without reason.

The transformation of our economy – a call to action

I need your help!  By investing just a few moments of your time, you’ll be part of an incredible transformation of our regional economy.

We’re out to convince Google to build an ultra-high speed fiber network in the Twin Ports.  This system will bring fiber-optic connections to every home and business at speeds of one gigabit per second, up to 1000 times faster than existing “high-speed” Internet connections.

This changes everything.

It changes our economy, it changes how we do business, it puts Duluth and Superior at the forefront of the next great economic revolution in America.  And yes, you’ll be able to download an entire HD movie in 30 seconds.

Could it really happen?  Absolutely.  We fit Google’s criteria extremely well and we believe we have the most comprehensive campaign in the nation.  Ultimately, our success depends on the participation of folks like you.

Our success depends on YOU taking three simple steps:
1)    Go to www.googletwinports.com and join the team.

2)    There you can create a free Google account (if you don’t already have one):
www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
and submit a nomination directly to Google:
www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

3)    Join our Facebook group, www.googletwinports.com/facebook , and post your confirmation code from step 2 to Facebook.
4)    Business can place a GoogleTwinPorts supporter badge on their websites:
http://www.googletwinports.com/web-badges.php

Folks are fired up about this – Duluth is on the national map as a forerunner in this contest.  Don’t let up!  Let’s make this happen – we have just a few weeks until the deadline.

Thanks for your help!
Mayor Don Ness

Ok, I’m off my soapbox…

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The very first thing I would like to say about this post is that I’m NOT AGAINST this project but am skeptical about it.  I’m a huge advocate for high speed internet in every location of the country and world for that matter.  I’m just rather confused about how Duluth, MN and Superior, WI are going about pitching this.  I have yet to see a specific or solid reason as to why Google should pick the Twin Ports.  Some of the questions that I would like answered are:

• How much will this cost the Twin Ports? – Duluth Mayor Don Ness stated that it wouldn’t cost anything.
• Will Google use local companies to install the fiber?
  • Will this create new jobs?
  • Will these be long term sustainable jobs?
• Besides the high speed internet, what incentives do companies have to relocate to the Twin Ports to setup shop?
  • Tax incentives – lower taxes or no taxes.
• Will the Twin Ports support small business development?
  • Will small business be able to get reasonable loans with reasonable rates?
• Are the local hospitals (i.e. St. Lukes, St. Mary’s, and etc) sending or receiving MRI files or anything of that nature that require a large bandwidth pipe?  Are there other companies that needs a large bandwidth pipe?
• Is the current internet speed hindering companies in any way?  Examples please!

This is pure speculation – Are the Twin Ports using this as an opportunity to use the community for pledges and community service?   It might be belittling but I think that but there is a lot of push to show your support through volunteerism and pledging money.  WAIT! – I thought that Google was doing this? So, why the push to donate time and money? – Oh… to show that the Twin Ports is worthy of the high speed fiber.  Will the pledges and volunteerism continue if they win the fiber race?

Once again, please tell me WHY the Twin Ports is a prime location.  The answer provided by here are not sufficient.

Additional Resources:

http://blog.google.twinports.coop/

http://www.googletwinports.com/

http://www.areavoices.com/buzz/?blog=71860

Facebook Fan Page – Google Twin Ports

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It’s as simple as following the steps below…

1. go to http://maps.google.com/
2. enter the address that you would like featured on your map
3. click the “link” button in the upper right corner of the map and copy the code from the embed section.
4. simply paste this code in a div or table cell.
5. you’re done!

With this method of implementing a map into your web page you’re pretty limited on what you can change in appearance and what not.  The attribute that you will probably change is the height and width.

If you were to do this using the the Google Maps API, you would be able to customize your map with just about anything.

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