Google's Fall Spring Cleaning

With the advent of Google+, many of Google's services have become redundant. In a bout of off -season spring cleaning, the Google team is shutting down many of these programs. Programs on the chopping block include:


• Buzz - Buzz is the social sharing network I have written about in the past. It has been eclipsed by Google+ and other services that beat Google to the punch on this front.

• Jaiku - Another social sharing network that allows users to post snippets and share short links. Unlike Buzz, Jaiku could be used to share photos and the like.

• iGoogle sharing - iGoogle was a sort of personalized homepage for your internet experience. They added games and gadgets for more interactivity (like old Yahoo! homepages, remember those?) The social gadgets let you share your favorite things with other iGoogle users - from your to-do list, to games, to articles.

• Bookmarks list - this feature let users share their bookmarks with friends.

• Friend connect - this feature lets users add social features to their websites, including making registration easy and allowing you to add ratings and commenting to content.

• Gears - this feature allowed users to create offline web apps. They are discontinuing this feature in an effort to move into HTML5, an updated language for web design that allows a lot of fancy new application programming and such. HTML5, in combination with CSS3 allows developers to do a lot of things that previously could only be done by the use of things like Flash.

• Search Timeline - this feature let users look at historical search data. This can now be found by using the Google Trends or Insights features.

• Wave - I wrote about the wave before. This was a really neat idea that just never caught on, which allowed users to interact, webchat, and share files throughout their development.

• Knol - This service allowed experts to work together to create and publish web content.

Google's Got Tricks Hidden Up Its Sleeve

I wrote earlier this week about how awesome I think search engines are. I wasn’t being sarcastic or even hyperbolic, in case you were wondering. I really do love search engines.

I prefer Google, though my parent’s use Bing! Either will perform a decent search. Google is known as a corporation that is kind of “fun.” This is reflected in some of their public products. Let’s go through some of my favorites.

These are all known as Easter eggs – “intentional hidden message or an in-joke” in something like a video game or computer program.

1. When you search for the word “anagram,” Google asks you if you meant to search for “nag a ram.” Which, obviously, is an anagram of the word anagram. 
2. Searching for “askew” makes the results screen tilt slightly to the right. When I first experienced this, I didn’t notice at first. I thought there was something wrong with my eyes, then my screen.
3. "Do a barrel roll” makes the results page rotate 360 degrees. This is a reference to an old Nintendo game.
4. The calculator also does some fun things. For instance, when you ask it for “the answer to life, the universe, and everything,” it yields the result “42.” This is a reference to Douglas Adams’ book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
5. The calculator also accepts some funny measurements like “Once in a blue moon” and “donkeypower.”
6. Google maps are also funny, sometimes. When you ask for directions from Japan to China, it tells you to jet ski.
7. Likewise, when you ask for directions from North American to Europe or Africa, it tells you to swim. From North America to Australia, kayak.
8. There is a certain area in Antarctica where the little dude turns into a penguin.
9. At Legoland, he turns into a lego man.
10. In street view, you can actually see some of the people at Google head quarters! I wonder if any of them programmed any of these Easter eggs.

Navigating the Net

The internet can be a magical place. There is just so much STUFF out here. From today’s football scores to the price of tea in China, there’s a good chance there is a website, blog, album, or video series dedicated to it on the internet. But the benefit of the internet is also its downfall. How does one find the price of tea in China on the internet?

Answer: search engines!

A search engine works by going out and indexing or spidering websites. It automatically follows link to link to link. Then it takes all of the content it finds on those pages, and it uses that content to decide what the page is supposed to be about and how valuable that content in. The engine uses very complex algorithms to determine relevance and value in relation to any search term a user might put into the search engine. While most search engines keep their algorithms secret, they do release some general information about how they return results.  These algorithms are updated regularly to be more and more accurate, as well as to keep website owners from cheating to get their pages higher on Google's results page.

And using a search engine is so easy!

The Outlook on Mobile Payment Systems

A digital wallet is a service that allows one to use one's mobile device as a payment medium, much like a credit card.  Google Wallet is one of the major front runners, along with their competitor Isis.  While Google seems to have a lead due to their presence in the smartphone market via the Android operating system, there are several other players who have various associations with credit card and phone provider companies.  Paypal is also in competition with Google on this front, through they say that adoption of mobile payment systems is further away than some think.

The mobile payment system still faces some issues - particularly the security concerns of users.    Some individuals worry that phones could be lost or stolen.  Personally, I think this is the same issue people face with credit cards.  Even if the phone is lost, users will need to enter a 4 digit code.  Additionally, the app will not store identification, so users will still need to carry their IDs with them for use.  Further, while the phone is asleep, you won't be able to make transactions.  This means that no sleeping phone (in your pocket for instance) can unknowingly be charged.

The wallet system has been unveiled for American Eagle Outfitters, The Container Store, Foot Locker, Guess, Jamba Juice, Macy’s, OfficeMax, and Toys R Us as of last week.

Facebook updates, Google+ opens to public

Google+ initially saw limited adopters and mixed reviews. The overall reaction was that while all the features and usability improvements over Facebook were great, everyone was on Facebook already.... you get the idea. While Google+ might be fun to check out, might even seem more attractive as a social networking site, it is a challenge to get millions of users to pick up everything (online) and move to a new home. They continue to gain momentum, however, and it seems like Facebook is helping them do it.


Facebook has become known for making substantial changes to the user interface without a whole lot of advance warning or choice for the users. Recently, they updated their display by introducing a "Facebook within a Facebook" feed on the side bar and adding a "Top News" section at the top of the homepage. Before that it was updates to the friends list. These frequent updates have generally been met with more than reluctance by the user base. Some would even say that they have been met with disgust. Roughly 86% of users dislike the newest round of Facebook updates. That statistic can be found on this really great infographic from SodaHead data with other details about users and opinions of Facebook, as well as on the on-going poll available on the Wall Street Journal (87.4% as of 9/25).

At the same time as Facebook's updates (Kind of. More updates from Facebook are imminent), Google+ is opening to the public. The service is no longer invite-only, but is available to all. They are also amping up the action with an added 100+ features since it was unveiled in June, and more to come. Integration with email and document storage is only part, though it could be a game changer. With Google's full array of services, they are in a position to offer the consumer:

• social networking

• photo sharing

• photo editing

• email

• document storage

• web chat

• video conferencing

• search

• advertising

• an e-library

• blogging

• translation

• news

• geo-check ins

• and more, all from one place

With functionality and ease of use the major item of consideration for the majority of consumers, this may mean quite a bit for the search giant. Add to that the technology (and attitudes) that has won over the geek crowd and Google+ is in a fantastic position.

If only they can talk more users into jumping ship from Facebook.

Got the Invite, Google+ exploration

This past weekend, as I was browsing Facebook, I was excited to discover that a friend had been invited to Google+, and not just from the irony.  Within minutes, I had an invite, but no computer at which to explore.  This week will be a learning week for me, as I interact with Circles, Sparks, etc...

In a previous post, I discussed some of the features of Google+, and I will soon have a review of those features up for you.  I the meantime, I've been inviting people.  The main drawback to the service is currently two-fold for me: not many of my contacts are using it yet, and I cannot take my Facebook photos with me.  For many of use, Facebook has become the main home of our photo albums.  Personally, I have nearly 2000 photos uploaded over the last four or five years, which I do not want to part with.  Further, Google+ is offering a growing suite of editing tools that make its photo albums enticing.  Hopefully a resolution will be found that will allow Google+ users to keep their Facebook photos and integrate them into the new service.

I am also excited to see how Google+ flows into ecommerce and online business.

Since the whole application is still in Beta, we can expect to see quite a few changes and additions before it is widely released.  In the meantime, I'll be making notes and sending invites.chesterc

Google Plus

Google is the number one search engine.  When they roll out algorithm updates, it shakes the SEO world and everyone scrambles to catch up.  Adwords and Analytics are household names in the web industry, like how most disposable adhesive bandages are automatically referred to by the brand name Band Aid.

In the past, Google's forays into the world of social media have been pretty un-spectacular.  Now, however, they have started to release what may well be a game-changer.  Google+ is a social networking application for PC or mobile that brings all of the best features of sites like Facebook and combines then with the Google innovation and resources.  Tying in to their array of currently available services, this new product is currently available through invitation only.  This makes it more desirable and allows the early-adapters to get the hang of it before it becomes widely used.  It also allows Google to respond in real-time to any concerns from users.  I found in my research a couple of places where users had made suggestions and replied a day or so later, thanking Google for actually responding - something many people have despaired of in regards to Facebook for ages.  (Internet ages of course, something like several months or a year in the real world, I suppose.)

The down side to the invitation only releases of Google+ is that a social networking site can only get so far if only a fraction of your social network has it.  If no one you know is no it, the only draw is the novelty - there is no practicality until it becomes more widely used.  That same factor was probably the largest downfall of Google Wave, discussed in my previous post.  Every network has to start out with only a few users, however.  The bigger question is whether Google+ will be able to over take or co-exist with Facebook, as Facebook was able to do with MySpace.  (In related news, I have heard rumors that Justin Timberlake recently was involved in a buy-out of MySpace, with plans to revamp it largely as a music sharing site.)

Some distinctive features of Google + include:

• Circles.  Rather than a post going out to everyone you know and then some, you will be able to filter your posts and feeds by your social circles - work colleagues, family, friends from school, friends from *insert hobby here*, etc...
• Sparks.  I haven't used Google+ yet, but it sounds like this feature includes things you're likely to be interested in in your stream without requiring that you go out and find it first.  It also allows you to connect with others with similar interests.
• Hangouts.  This features allows you to jump into a video conference when you feel like it, "stopping by," effectively.  This allows multiple users to swing in and out of video chats as they are available and smoothly shows all the webcams.  Don't have a webcam?  Get one.  Or get an awesome, rugged, portable laptop that comes standard with a great one built in.
• Mobile Upload.  Google+ allows you to sign up for a service that automatically adds pictures to a private album in the cloud so that you can post them anytime any where without the hassle of uploading.

Will these features be enough to push Google+ past the shiny-and-new-and-exclusive stage of its current popularity?  That remains to be seen, but there are rumors and comments indicating that there may be a multitude of extra new features in the works, including shared games directly on the networking service, among other things.  I for one am anxiously awaiting an invitation from my early-adopter friends.  

Google is Making Waves in Social Netwokring

How many of you out there remember Google Wave?  How about Google Buzz?  


Google Wave was a service based on online real-time collaborative editing.  This service was released by invite only, at first, and allowed users to video chat, share documents, edit those documents, and see changes made by other in real time.  It also tracked the changes so you could see who had done what.  This could have revolutionized group projects and business proposals.  There were only two problems.  First, as a completely new type of service to most people, there was quite a bit of a learning curve, not just to learn how to use but also in what situations it would be helpful to use the service.  Second, because of the slow, invitation-only roll-out, there were relatively few others using the service.  Speaking from personal experience as one of the first users of the wave in the general public (I don't consider myself part of the beta, early-adopter, trend-setting crowd), only one of my contacts was using Wave.  There was not a whole lot of incentive to learn all of its features, and we had few applications for it in our lives.  Google Wave is still available, to the best of my knowledge, but I believe that it is no longer being developed or released for new users.


Google Buzz is a social networking service that takes Twitter's lead and moves further.  You can post links, comments, pictures, etc... and share them with your contacts.  What's more, it is integrated directly into Google's mail application, which currently holds over 7% of the market share, if you will, for email clients.  Moreover, Google's mail app is growing in usage by over 20% annually, making it the second fastest growing email client, next to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.  Even so, most people don't bother with Google Buzz.


Now, Google is rolling out a new, more extensive, social networking site.  Look for my next post, with more details.

Crazy New Tech

Technology as it is used by consumers is evolving at a break-neck pace these days.

Fancy new hard ware includes smartphones, touch screens, and tablets, among other, less mainstream, items.

More impressive is the boom in software and applciations that we are seeing right now.  Even in just the last week I have seen an explosion of articles about new versions and new products.

Google, for instance, is the creator of the Android operating system for smart phones.  One of the characteristics that sets Android apart on the market is that Google has a more open-source take on technology.  This means that they will let anyone create programs, change things, tinker, explore. Their new App Inventor allows users to create their own apps for the Android system.  They have a new maps program, too, which shows the landscape and buildings in three dimensions.  Google has also rolled out some beta devides running their new Chrome OS. Chrome is also the name of their internet browser, and the OS is very similar.  With Chrome, all of a user's files would be stored in the cloud and accesible on any device.  It boasts lightning quick boot times and ease of use.  Google is also working on or has recently unveiled a music locker, google books, video productions, and place search.

In the same vein, Mac is launching an App store in the next month, Facebook has unveiled a facial recognition technology, search engine Bing is incorporating all new features, browser Opera just realeased version 11, with stackable tabs and extension support, and private users are hacking the Kinect to do some amazing things including a self-directed hovercraft that uses Kinect technology to "see" the world around it.

What crazy new technology are you excited about?