Creating software and superheroes: Google waving with Lyn And Line

When we heard that Caroline Dahllöf and Carolyn Uy, Lyn And Line founders and creators of The Rescue of Ginger, use Google Wave almost exclusively for their business, we asked them to write a post about it. Here's how they use waves to create educational story apps (about superheroes, no less!) for kids between the ages of 2 and 5 for the Android and iPhone platforms.



We're a small software company -- just two people. But we live in two different countries, on two different continents, more than 8500 kilometers apart with a time difference of nine hours. Communication for us is a little more complicated than just yelling across the room whenever we need to discuss something. Since a good part of our working day takes place while the other is sleeping, we have to put in a little extra effort to keep each other informed.

We started using Google Wave to organize our conversations. We set up waves for all the things that we need to discuss. For example, to keep each other informed of source code changes, we created a wave where we add blips for what we changed in our code. We have another wave for tracking our bugs. And we even added our testers to that wave, so they could add bugs they found. This made it easy for everyone to see what needed to be fixed. We have a wave for the next story we are writing, where we can add, edit, or comment on each other’s ideas. We have a wave for people we need to contact. This list goes on and on. For anything that is on-going that we need to keep each other up to date on, we set up a wave.

Because we can have mini conversations inside of our waves, we can keep all of the information pertaining to a particular subject contained inside a single wave. And unlike the clutter of emails that gets saved in some folder, blips of information can be added to a particular wave wherever we need them to keep the conversation flowing and organized.



The beauty of this organization is that every morning, we can look at our inboxes and get a quick overview of what the other person has been doing. Because Google Wave notifies us when there is a change, there is no need for an extra email summarizing what has happened. And there is no need tell the other person, “Make sure you look at XYZ.” Having all of our conversations in different waves has made it easy for us to stay informed despite the distance and time difference.


Contact us at lynandline@googlewave.com .

Google help

I've set up lots of Google Alerts, but suddenly I'm getting a message that says I have too many unverified alerts.

You can create up to ten alerts at a time using the Google Alerts home page. Once you confirm your alerts, you can create more. To view and manage all your Google Alerts in one place, you may want to use a Google Account.

11. What is the maximum number of alerts I can create?

You can create up to 1000 alerts. To create more alerts, you can either delete any existing alerts or request alerts to be sent to a different email address. Please remember that you can only have up to 10 unverified Alerts at any given time.

12. Can I subscribe to alerts in multiple languages?

Yes you can. Once you set your language preferences, you can visit the Google Alerts homepage and create alerts in that language. If the Google Alerts homepage appears in English, then chances are that the language you selected is not yet supported. We are continuously working on adding support for additional languages.

13. I'd like to receive Google Alerts in plain text rather than HTML. Can I do that?

Yes. To change the format of your emails from HTML to plain text, you'll need to sign in to the "Manage Your Alerts" page. Please note that Video Alerts require you to receive email in HTML format.

14. Can I change my email address and still get Google Alerts?

Sure. But you'll need to delete your current alerts and re-enter them using your new email address. We recommend that you associate your new email address with your Google Account, so that you can easily manage your Alerts on an ongoing basis via the "Manage Your Alerts" page.

15. Is this just a way to get my email address so you can sell it to spammers?

No. We value your privacy as much as we do our own. We don't like unsolicited email and we won't sell you out to those who send it, or anyone else for that matter. Your email address will never be shared, traded, sold, delivered, revealed, publicized, or marketed in any way, shape, or form. If you'd like to learn more, we encourage you to read our privacy policy.

16. I'm receiving Google News or Web Clips alerts on my desktop, how can I make them stop?

Google Alerts only provide email messages to recipients and does not provide desktop notifications. We suspect that you're using Google Desktop, which has a "Customized Alerts" feature that displays News, Web Clips, and Email alerts on your desktop. For more information, please see Google Desktop Help Center.
17. How can I receive feeds of alerts?

When creating an alert, select the "feed" in the "Deliver to" drop-down menu. Once created, you can subscribe to the alert by clicking the corresponding "Feed" link. This feed is real-time enabled. Developers and feed readers can receive real-time updates by subscribing to the feed using the PubSubHubbub protocol. This allows applications to be notified of new alerts as they become available.

How do I delete my alerts?

You can delete your alerts by simply clicking on the 'delete alert' link at the bottom of your alert emails. If you're signed in to your Google Account, you'll automatically be taken to the 'Manage your Alerts' page and the alert you deleted will be removed from the list of your alerts. If don't have a Google Account, then you'll be taken to a confirmation page notifying you that the alert has been successfully deleted. Of course, you can also delete alerts directly from the "Manage Your Alerts" page once you've logged in.

If you see neither of these pages, then you might already be logged into a Google Account other than the one on which you are currently receiving alerts. You will need to sign out and then delete your alert again.

Why am I not able to sign in on the Google Alerts homepage?

If you're seeing an error message "username and password do not match," please check to make sure you're using the correct email address. If the email address is correct and you still seeing this error message, you may want to try resetting your account password. If you've requested password assistance and you receive a message that there's no Account in our system with your email address, this means that you don't have a Google Account registered to that email address. If you're receiving alerts at that address, don't worry, this isn't a bug; many users receive Google Alerts without ever creating a Google Account. If you'd like to cancel those alerts, you can do so by clicking on the delete link at the bottom of the alert emails. If you'd like to change your Alerts, you'll need to create a Google Account. If you associate your email address with your Google Account, you will be able to manage all the alerts that you've set up to be delivered to that email address.

I have lots of Google Alerts. How do I manage them all?

On the 'Manage Your Alerts' page, you can view, create, verify, edit, and remove any alert you wish. To access this page, you'll need to create a Google Account. Doing so requires only your email address and a password. For more information, click the link at the bottom of the Google Alerts home page.

I'm not getting the alerts that I expected. How do I get more relevant results?

If the alerts that you are receiving for a particular query are not what you expected, then chances are that the terms you have picked are too broad or include incorrect punctuation. Try performing the same query on the property (Google News, Web, Video, etc.) from where you want to generate the alerts. If the results are too broad, then narrow down your terms. Also try putting quotes around searches with multiple keywords.
If the search returns no results, here are a few other suggestions:

•Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
•Try different keywords
•Try more general keywords
•Try fewer keywords
Also try using advanced search queries for your Google Alerts. To learn how to refine your overall Google web searches, visit our general Advanced Search page. To narrow your news searches, try our Advanced News Search page. Once you're happy with the results you get from an advanced search, copy and paste your advanced search query into the search box on the Google Alerts home page.

I'm not getting the alerts that I expected. How do I get more relevant results?

If the alerts that you are receiving for a particular query are not what you expected, then chances are that the terms you have picked are too broad or include incorrect punctuation. Try performing the same query on the property (Google News, Web, Video, etc.) from where you want to generate the alerts. If the results are too broad, then narrow down your terms. Also try putting quotes around searches with multiple keywords.
If the search returns no results, here are a few other suggestions:

•Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
•Try different keywords
•Try more general keywords
•Try fewer keywords
Also try using advanced search queries for your Google Alerts. To learn how to refine your overall Google web searches, visit our general Advanced Search page. To narrow your news searches, try our Advanced News Search page. Once you're happy with the results you get from an advanced search, copy and paste your advanced search query into the search box on the Google Alerts home page.

What kinds of topics make for interesting Google Alerts?

Well, if it's interesting to you, it's a good subject for a Google Alert. We've found that many alerts are set up by people who are:
•monitoring a developing news story
•keeping current on a competitor or industry
•tracking medical advances
•getting the latest on a celebrity or sports team
•watching for new videos that match a specific topic

How frequently will I receive alerts?

The frequency you select when you set up your alert determines how often we check for new results, not necessarily how often you'll receive alerts. If you select "once a day," we'll check for new results once a day, which means you'll get a maximum of one email per day. If you choose the "as it happens," we'll check for new results continuously and send you an alert whenever we find a new result.

How frequently will I receive alerts?

The frequency you select when you set up your alert determines how often we check for new results, not necessarily how often you'll receive alerts. If you select "once a day," we'll check for new results once a day, which means you'll get a maximum of one email per day. If you choose the "as it happens," we'll check for new results continuously and send you an alert whenever we find a new result.

What are the different types of alerts I can sign up for?

Google Alerts currently offers 6 variations of alerts - 'News', 'Web', 'Blogs', 'Comprehensive', 'Video' and 'Groups'.


•A 'News' alert is an email aggregate of the latest news articles that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google News search.
•A 'Web' alert is an email aggregate of the latest web pages that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top twenty results of your Google Web search.
•A 'Blogs' alert is an email aggregate of the latest blog posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Blog search.
•A 'Comprehensive' alert is an aggregate of the latest results from multiple sources (News, Web and Blogs) into a single email to provide maximum coverage on the topic of your choice.
•A 'Video' alert is an email aggregate of the latest videos that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top ten results of your Google Video search.
•A 'Groups' alert is an email aggregate of new posts that contain the search terms of your choice and appear in the top fifty results of your Google Groups search.

Why would I want to run ads on the Content Network?

The Google Content Network comprises hundreds of thousands of websites, news pages, and blogs that partner with Google to display targeted AdWords ads. When you choose to advertise on the Content Network, you can expand your marketing reach to targeted audiences--and potential customers--visiting these sites every day. We strive to maintain the largest contextual advertising network in the world.

Extensive exposure
The Google Content Network reaches over 75% of unique internet users in more than 20 languages and over 100 countries. As a result, if you advertise on both the Google Search Network and the Google Content Network, you have the potential to reach three of every four unique internet users on Earth. (Of course, you're always in control of your ad targeting: you can narrow or expand your focus to specific countries or regions at any time.)

Country Unique Reach
Germany 89%
Japan 86%
France 79%
United Kingdom 75%
United States 76%
Global 75%
Source: comScore Networks machine-based panel


Relevant placements
Google continually scans the millions of pages from the Content Network to look for relevant matches with your keywords and other campaign data. When we find a match, your ad becomes eligible to run on that page. Google's extensive web search and linguistic processing technology can decipher the meaning of virtually any Content Network page to ensure we're showing the most relevant ads. You can think of this contextual advertising as an extension of search advertising. Just as users can search for keywords on Google and see ads related to those keywords, visitors to Content Network sites can see ads related specifically to the content they're viewing on a web page.

Flexible controls

As an AdWords advertiser, you can hand-pick sites (managed placements) from the Content Network or simply let Google's proven ad targeting display your ads on the website pages most relevant to your products and services (automatic placements).

In addition, here are just some of the other flexible features:

•Exclude placements if you don't want your ads to appear on them at all.
•Manage individual or default bids to adjust how competitive you want to be on certain placements.
•Add keywords and negative keywords to refine where your ads run.
•See URL-level details on the placements where your ads appear and quickly make data-driven decisions to improve your ad group's performance.

How do I edit, pause, delete, or resume an ad?

You can edit, pause, delete, and resume ads at any time on the Ads tab of your Campaigns page.

Edit your ad and URLs
1.Sign in to your AdWords account at http://adwords.google.com.
2.Navigate to the Ads tab.
3.Click on the text of your ad (or the pencil icon next to the ad) to edit the headline, test, display URL, and destination URL right there. This is called inline editing.
4.Click Save. This will automatically submit your new ad for review.


Before editing your ads, review our ad policies and see these performance tips.
Be aware that editing an ad (such as changing text or uploading a new image) is the same as deleting the original ad and creating a new one. This means that after editing the ad, its statistics will be reset to zero. The same is true when you move an ad to another ad group.

Edit your ad status
Edit the status of a single ad:

1.Navigate to the Ads tab.
2.Click the status icon (such as the green dot or the pause symbol) right next to your ad.
3.In the drop-down menu that appears, select Enabled or Paused to change the status of your ad.
Edit the status of several ads at once:

1.Navigate to the Ads tab.
2.Select the checkboxes next to the ads you want to change.
3.At the top of the ads table, click the Change status drop-down menu and choose Pause, Enable, or Delete for the selected ads.
Also, the More actions drop-down offers several other options for your ads like "Copy & move" or "Export table" to download your ads to a file.

How do I contact an AdWords representative?

If you have a problem or question about your Google AdWords account, here's how to get help:

Email us
You can contact our team via email for certain issues. Please start here -- our contact process will help you find a possible answer and provide tips along the way.


Chat with us
You might be able to get live chat help if chat is available in your location and if a specialist is currently available. When chat is an option for you, you'll see a yellow box called Chat with a specialist now at the side of this page. If you do not see the yellow box, please email us instead.


Find answers fast in the AdWords Help Center.
This help center is your first, best resource, with answers to all our most commonly asked questions.
Popular topics:
My Ads Aren't Showing | Billing & Payments | Ad Policies & Approval | Ad Rank



Get answers from other users.
Find help and advice from other AdWords advertisers and Google representatives through the AdWords Help Forum.

Browser cache

Your browser cache is a temporary record of your internet activity, including images, sounds, and downloads, that is stored within a file on your computer for a short while. Clearing your cache can make it easier or faster to access some AdSense functions.

Alternate ads

Alternate Ads allow you to monetize your ad space in the event that Google is unable to serve targeted ads to your page. By specifying an image or ad server of your choice, you can make sure that your advertising space is always being used effectively, either by targeted AdSense ads, or by your own choice of content. Alternate Ads, if specified, will be shown when there are no targeted ads available for your page. The ad space will not be branded as 'Ads by Google.' More...

What are 'Alternate Ads?'

Alternate ads allow you to utilize your ad space in the event that Google is unable to serve targeted ads to your page. By specifying an image, HTML page, or ad server of your choice, you can make sure that your advertising space is always being used effectively, either by targeted Google ads, or by your own choice of content. You can also select a solid color as your alternate ad, if you prefer not to display other advertisements or content when targeted Google ads are unavailable.

Alternate ads count as ad unit impressions like any other ad. Google does not keep track of clicks on alternate ads, and you will not receive revenue for them.

Alternate ads, if specified, will be shown when there are no targeted ads available for your page. The ad space will not be branded as 'Ads by Google.'

You can learn more about alternate ads by visiting our Alternate Ad Guide.

How do I add sites to my filter list?

You can enter either the actual URL of the website or the URL that is displayed on the ad for that website.

•Sign in to your account.
•On the AdSense Setup tab , click the Competitive Ad Filter link.
•Choose the appropriate product sub-tab
•Click Add / Edit Sites
•In the text box, enter the URLs of the sites whose ads you would like to filter from your site or AdSense for search results pages. Enter one URL per line. You can add up to 500 URLs.
•Save your changes
Changes to your filter list should be reflected on your site within 30 minutes.

Where can I get regular AdSense news, feature updates and optimization tips?

You can find news, updates, tips and more by visiting the AdSense blog at adsense.blogspot.com. AdSense team members post several times a week on a wide range of topics, from optimizing AdSense for your forum pages to getting more visibility for your site.

Google AdSense PIN Process

What is a PIN?

In order to become eligible to receive payments for your AdSense account, all publishers are required to enter a Personal Identification Number (PIN). PINs are printed on white 4.5 x 6 inch (11.4 x 15.2 cm) postcards and sent via standard mail. To view the outside of the PIN mailer, please see our entry on What does the PIN mailer look like?

Why do I need a PIN?

PINs are necessary to verify the accuracy of your contact information and to help ensure that you can receive your payments.

When should I expect to receive a PIN?

We'll print and send your PIN via standard mail several days after your account balance reaches the verification threshold for the first time. PINs typically arrive within 2-4 weeks, but may take longer depending on your location.

How long do I have to enter a PIN?

You'll have 6 months from the initial issue date to enter your PIN. If you have not entered a PIN within 4 months, we will replace the paid advertisements on your site with unpaid Public Service Ads. If you still have not entered your PIN within 6 months, your account will be disabled and your unpaid earnings will be refunded to the appropriate advertisers.

What if I do not receive my PIN?

If you do not receive your first PIN, you can request 2 replacement PINs. For instructions on requesting a new PIN, visit How can I request a new PIN?.

If you have requested your maximum of 3 PINs and have not received any of them within 90 days, then sign in to your account. You'll see a notice on the Reports Overview page with further instructions.