Lessfeet » Google

New Google+ Features

Mark — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 04:37:39 +0000

This week we saw some great new features in Google+. Most of what’s new is to Hangouts.

Search – First is the one everyone has been waiting for and that’s search. When Plus first came everyone said, “Are you kidding me no search? It’s Google for Christ sake!” Now it’s here. It is very well implemented. It is a great way to find new people to Circle.
Broadcast your Hangouts – Before you could only Hangout with 9 other people. This is still the case but soon many people can watch the hangout. I heard as many as 150,000 people can watch. This feature is being rolled out gradually.
Screen sharing – When you’re in a Hangout you can share anything in your Google Docs with others in you Hangout.
Notes & Sketchpad in Hangouts – You can share and collaborate with notes and sketches in Hangouts.
You can now collaborate and share your Google Docs in Hangouts.
The new Hangouts API is available for developers to get creative with Hangouts.
Last but not least. There is now Hangouts on your Google+ app on your phone.

The a few of these features puts Google + in direct competition with web conferencing products like GoToMeeting.

These new features have really helped to make G+ a very useful tool.

Google+ Tips

Mark — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:33:30 +0000

Still trying to figure out how to use Google+? Veronica has a few helpful hints on getting the most out of the newest social network on this Tekzilla Daily.

Turn Off Email Notifications In G+

Mark — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:21:25 +0000

Hate those irritating Google+ emails notifying you that someone’s added you to their circle? On today’s Tekzilla Daily, Veronica shows you how to make sure that you only get the emails you actually want. Hate those irritating Google+ emails notifying you that someone’s added you to their circle?

Google+ Pros and Cons

Mark — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:47:00 +0000

I’ve been using Google+ for about a month and I think it is fantastic. I’ve been using it to communicate what I think is important in the tech world mostly. I’ve also been reading a lot of post from others, Trey Ratcliff the photographer, Leo Laporte and others in TWiT family to name a few.

There have been some gripes about G+ recently one having to do with Google’s ban on pseudonyms. You must use your first name and last name. No company names, handles or nicknames. Many personalities are known only by some other name. How about the singers Jewell, Pink, Cher and Sting. Very few people know Sting by Gordon Sumner. There’s also Dr. Phil. Oh they let him get by with it but not the less famous Dr. Kiki. Does Google force those people to use their real names. Google is supposed to roll out a plan for commercial users soon.

My issues with G+ all have to do with notifications. If you invite someone to Google+ they immediately begin to receive your post via email. A person invited needs to login to their Google+ account and turn all of email notifications. This should be the setting by default. If you don’t turn them off you get emails about all kinds of things. There also should be granular controls on what you see in notification on G+ and other Google pages. I don’t want to see a lot of chatter . It distracts me from seeing what I really want to see.

Over all it has been a great experience. I share more with other now more than ever before. News stories I’ve been reading, things I’ve been doing and places I’ve been going. I have done what some others are doing. I point my person URL to my G+ page. markmonyhan.me

Using Google+

Mark — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:50:40 +0000

I just got a Google+ invitation a few hours ago and I’ve been using it ever since. Google+ is like Facebook (more like Friendfeed but you don’t know what that is). It is a little like Twitter and it is a little like Skype. The really great thing about G+ is that it is easy to create groups (called circle) and only share with those circles that you want to share. I have not done everything with G+ that it is capable of but what I have used has blown me away. I haven’t done social since I felled to convince others to go to Friendfeed. Now I’m back!

Google +

Mark — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:30:53 +0000

Google has finally come out kinda-sorta with their long awaited social application. Well it’s more like applications. Called called Google + it has many great features the first is the ability to create groups and to only share particular things with that group. Your grandmother wont see how drunk you were at that party. There’s a feature called “Hangouts“ that is video chat but with only the people in the circle choose. No more penis problems like with “Chatroulette” because your only see friends that you choose. You can do regular chat as well. share photos and lots of other things.

I don’t have an account yet so I have not used it. I’m looking forward to doing so!

I think this is a good summery.

TWiG, This Week In Google devoted an entire show to it.

Cloud Music Wars

Mark — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 03:30:17 +0000

The war to be the best streaming music site is on. In April the announcement of Amazon’s Cloud Player and last month Google’s cloud based music service Beta called Google Music. I sign up for Cloud Player. I also requested an invitation to the Google service last month and just got the invitation today and logged in. After messing with it for a few minutes I found Google Music to be easier then Amazon because you can automatically add a lot of free songs so you can begin streaming right away. Amazon you had to wait until you upload some songs to the Cloud Drive or buy some from Amazon. Granted you don’t own the free music but who cares. It’s free! Of the two Cloud Player and Google Music I think Google Music will be a better experience for most people. I take issue with one thing. Google and Amazon have a uploader program that is for Windows and Mac only and I’m a Linux user. Fortunately Amazon has a web based uploader, Google only has the program, so I have to switch to a Windows Machine to get my on songs on Google Music.

Happy listening!

Chromebook Poll

Mark — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:44:13 +0000

New Chromebooks Overview

Mark — Sat, 14 May 2011 04:06:21 +0000

I found this video on YouTube with more about the Samsung and Acer Chromebooks.

Chromebooks Coming

Mark — Fri, 13 May 2011 04:40:19 +0000

The new notebook computers with the Chrome OS will be available for purchase June 15th. Last year we started talking about the new toy that Google was giving away the CR48 notebook computer. It looked pretty much like a regular computer but when you took a closer look you found it only have one program. That’s right the only program was the Chrome web browser. The concept was, to do everything on the cloud. Now being called ChromeBooks they are being manufactured. They’re going to be sold by Amazon and BestBuy starting June 15th but to all other consumer outlets soon. The computers are being manufactured by Samsung and Acer for now.

The first Chromebooks are…

Samsung Series 5 Chromebook

Intel ATOM Processor N570 1.66Ghz
12.1″ LED (WXGA) 1280×800
1 Mega Pixel HD webcam
16GB, Solid State Drive (mSATA)
Weight: 3.26 pounds
With WiFi and 3G, or WiFi only
Price $429 for Wifi only, $499 to include 3G

Details

Acer Chromebook

Google Chrome OS
Intel ATOM Processor NM10
11.6″ LED (WXGA) 1368×768
1.3 Mega Pixel HD webcam
16GB, Solid State Drive (mSATA)
Weight 3.3 pounds
With WiFi and 3G, or WiFi only
Price $349 WiFi only, 3G don’t know

Details

I like this concept since nearly everything I do is on the web but I’ve talked to lots of people who don’t like the idea of paying full price for less. The lower end laptops and the netbooks can be used while not connected to the web. The Chrombooks are the same price as these computers. I and some Google/web 2.0 enthusiast like myself will buy them. Some consumers will buy them because they are bigger than netbooks. They’ll take them home and return them the next day after finding it’s not a full computer.

I’ll let you know what I think after I get one.