More info. http://lifehac.kr/mEQYcP
---------------------------------------- Have a Better One, Edward Crosby http://about.me/edwardcrosby On Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Cary Preston <[email protected]> wrote: > Last night, you may have heard talk of a mysterious black bar appearing on > the top of Google.com. Or you may have even seen it yourself. No, you > weren’t hallucinating. It was a sign of something about to show itself. > Something big. Google+ <http://plus.google.com/>. > > What is Google+? It’s the super top-secret social project that Google has > been working on for the past year. You know, the one being led by General > Patton<http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/04/war-patten-rommel-vic-gundotra-google-facebook/>(Vic > Gundotra <http://www.crunchbase.com/person/vic-gundotra>) and General > MacArthur (Bradley > Horowitz<http://www.crunchbase.com/person/bradley-horowitz>). > Yes, the one Google has tried to downplay as much as humanly possible — even > as we got leak <http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/02/google-plus-one-brin/>after > leak <http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/07/google-plus-one-pic/> after > leak<http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/17/google-plus-one-video/>of what they were > working <http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/01/google-social-emerald-sea/> on. > Yes, the one they weren’t going to make a big deal > about<http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/13/google-social-launch-event/> with > pomp and circumstance. It’s real. And it’s here. > > Sort of. > > You see, the truth is that Google really is trying not to make a huge deal > out of Google+. That’s not because they don’t have high hopes for it. Or > because they don’t think it’s any good. Instead, it’s because what they’re > comfortable showing off right now is just step one of a much bigger picture. > When I sat down with Gundotra and Horowitz last week, they made this point > very clear. In their minds, Google+ is more than a social product, or even a > social strategy, it’s an extension of Google itself. Hence, Google+. > > How’s that for downplaying it? > > “We believe online sharing is broken. And even awkward,” Gundotra says. “We > think connecting with other people is a basic human need. We do it all the > time in real life, but our online tools are rigid. They force us into > buckets — or into being completely public,” he continues. “Real life sharing > is nuanced and rich. It has been hard to get that into software,” is the > last thing he says before diving into a demo of Google+. > > What he proceeds to show me is a product that in many ways is so well > designed that it doesn’t really even look like a Google product. When I tell > Gundotra and Horowitz this, they laugh. “Thank you,” Gundotra says very > enthusiastically. Clearly, they’ve put a lot of work into both the UI and UX > of Google+. > > The first thing Gundotra shows me about Google+, and the first thing you’re > likely to interact with, is something called “Circles”. You may recall that > talk > of this > feature<http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_to_launch_major_new_social_network_called_c.php>leaked > out a few months ago — though it wasn’t exactly right. In fact, our > story from months prior about a feature of Google +1 (the name of the > network at the time which ended up being the name of the button — more on > that in a bit) called “Loops” may have been a bit > closer<http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/04/google-plus-one-iphone-facebook-loop/>. > That is, Circles isn’t actually a stand-alone product, it’s a feature of > Google+ — an important one. “It’s something core to our product,” Gundotra > says. > > It’s through Circles that users select and organize contacts into groups > for optimal sharing. I know, I know — not more group management. But the > truth is that Google has made the process as pleasant as possible. You > simply select people from a list of recommended contacts (populated from > your Gmail and/or Google Contacts) and drag them into Circles you designate. > The UI for all of this is simple and intuitive — it’s so good, that you > might even say it’s kind of fun. It beats the pants off of the method for > creating a group within Facebook. > > Gundotra realizes that many social services have tried and failed to get > users to create groups. But he believes they’ll succeed with Circles because > he says they’re using software in the correct way to mimic the real world. > More importantly, “you’re rewarded for doing this,” he says. How so? A big > feature of Google+ is the toolbar that exists across the top of all Google > sites (yes, the aforementioned black one). Once your Circles are set, > sharing with any of them from any Google site is simple thanks to this > toolbar. > > Speaking of this black toolbar, which was codenamed the “Sandbar” as Google > was working on it, Horowitz explains that it arose from the fact that > sharing models on different sites are all different. The toolbar is an > attempt to unify them. This toolbar will exist across all Google properties > (though it may take some time to fully roll out). And down the road, you can > imagine browser extensions, mobile versions, etc. But again, we’re on step > one here. > > Next, Gundotra showed off a feature called “Sparks”. He was quick to note > that even though it’s a search box, this is not some sort of new search > engine. Instead, he calls is a “sharing engine”. “Great content leads to > great conversations,” he says. With Sparks, you enter an interest you have > and Google goes out and finds elements on the web that they think you’ll > care about. These can be links to blog posts, videos, books — anything that > Google searches for. If you find something you like, you can click on an > item to add it to your interest list (where it will stay for you to quickly > refer to anytime you want). Or you can see what others are liking and > talking about globally in the “Featured interests” area. > > “Our goal here is to connect people. And everyone has a camera in their > pocket,” Gundotra says as he shows me “Instant Upload”. This feature of > Google+ relies on the use of a mobile device (either an Android phone or > iPhone) to take photos or shoot video. From a new app, you’ll do either of > these things and the content will automatically be uploaded to Google+ in > the background and shared with whichever Circle you set. > > Another feature of Google+ is called “Huddle”. It’s essentially a group > messaging app that works across Android, iPhone, and SMS to allow you to > communicate with the people in certain Circles. When I asked why they > wouldn’t just use Disco, the group messaging app that the Slide team within > Google built <http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/25/disco-app/>, Horowitz would > only smile and pretend that he didn’t know what I was talking about. > > Finally, there’s a feature called “Hangouts”. “Everyone has high-speed > networks these days, but how many use group video chat?,” Gundotra asks. > “Not a lot.” He notes that while there are technical challenges, and some > cost money, the biggest problem is that it’s socially awkward to video chat > with someone. The Google+ team set out to fix this by thinking about > neighbors sitting out on porches. If your neighbor is sitting there, you > know that they’ll likely be interested in striking up a conversation. In > fact, it would be rude for you to walk by and not say anything. > > With that in mind, Google+ Hangout attempts to solve the social problem of > video chat by making it easy for you to let others know that you’re > interested in chatting. And if you’re already chatting with a Circle, > everyone else in that Circle will get an alert to come hang out. This works > for up to 10 people. And seeing it in action is a bit magical. Gundotra > starts a Hangout with some co-workers and as they join, conversations start > between multiple people. But the Google+ system is smart enough to focus on > who is controlling the conversation in any given minute. This makes the > conversation easy to watch. It was almost as if an editor is working behind > the scenes, cutting between people. > > Even cooler is that you can share a piece of content, like a YouTube clip, > and everyone in the Hangout can watch it together while talking about it. It > sounds a bit cheesy, but it’s really pretty great. > > After the rundown of all of these features, Google+ may sound a bit > convoluted. But the key to the project is the attempt to unify everything. > This is done via the toolbar (which features a drop-down showing you all of > your relevant Google+ activity), but also on the mobile apps (again, Android > and iPhone), and, of course, on the web. The Google+ site is the main stream > on which you’ll find everything. From here, you can easily switch between > all of your Circles, share content with any of them, start a Hangout, look > up Sparks, etc. > > All of the information flowing through the system does so in real time. As > something is shared with you, it appears at the top of your stream. It’s a > bit like FriendFeed, in this regard (which I love). > > You’ll also find a link to your Google+ Profile, which will replace your > old Google Profile if you have Google+ enabled. On this profile you’ll find > not only a stream of everything you’ve shared across Google+, but also your > +1 content. That’s likely important. While there has been plenty of > speculation (by myself and > others<http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/10/see-you-in-another-life-brother/>) > that the +1 Button is already a dud, the larger picture is still a bit > hidden. While Gundotra and Horowitz declined to specifically talk about it > too much, you’ll see a +1 button on all Google+ content — the +1 Button > clearly ties deeply into all of this. It is going to be their Facebook > “Like” button <http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/30/google-plus-one/>. > > All of this sounds great so far, but what about the downsides? Whether > they’ll admit it or not, Google is making a bold and perhaps risky move by > attempting to attack social from scratch. What if they flop again? > > From the little that I’ve seen so far, Google+ is by far the best effort in > social that Google has put out there yet. But traction will be contingent > upon everyone convincing their contacts to regularly use it. Even for > something with the scale of Google, that’s not the easiest thing in the > world — as we’ve seen with Wave and Buzz. There will need to be compelling > reasons to share on Google+ instead of Facebook and/or Twitter — or, at the > very least, *along* with all of those other networks. The toolbar and > interesting communication tools are the most compelling reasons right now, > but there will need to be more of them. And fast. > > Speaking of Buzz, one thing that strikes me about Google+ is that it seems > a bit like Google Buzz done right. When I asked if Google+ would be the > official > death of Buzz <http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/28/buzz-off-google-buzz/>, > Horowitz declined to say, but did note that it was still be decided how > those pieces will play together. > > And that could be a bigger issue for Google. With much of Google+, they’re > simply creating a new layer rather than utilizing Google’s existing > services. For example, when you upload pictures to Google+, they don’t go to > Picasa (even though it uses the same backend), they simply reside on > Google+. On one hand, that will confuse some users. On the other, it’s quite > refreshing to see Google attempt to start fresh with this new project. > > What about Twitter, Facebook, or other social integration? Horowitz > wouldn’t go into too much detail as it sounds like tie-ins are still being > discussed. As I understand it, right now, Google+ will largely be a > stand-alone network with some low-level third-party social network > integration. > > So when can you try Google+? Here’s the thing that will be a kick in the > pants to some users: Google is beginning to roll it out today, but it will > only be a *very limited* field trial. You can submit your email address > here <http://google.com/+> to be entered into the system and notified as > roll-outs continue, but Google says that they have no set time table for a > full rollout. Again, this is phase one of what Google hopes to do with > Google+, so they’re taking it slow. > > “It’s not about one particular project, it’s about Google getting better. > We know this is going to take us a considerable amount of time. But we want > to make Google better by connecting you with your relationships and > interests,” Gundotra reiterates. He declined to state how big the team > within Google currently working on the project is, but says that it’s a > “decent sized team”. > > “Today’s web is about people. To organize the world’s data, you have to > understand people,” Gundotra concludes, noting that newly crowned CEO Larry > Page has been heavily involved in this project from the get-go. > > As it is unveiled to the world, Google+ sounds and looks great. But we’ve > seen that before from > Google<http://techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/google-wave-drips-with-ambition-can-it-fulfill-googles-grand-web-vision/>. > Now comes the hard part. > > CrunchBase Information <http://www.crunchbase.com/> > Google <http://www.crunchbase.com/company/google> > Information provided by CrunchBase <http://www.crunchbase.com/> > > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gocomments/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godelicious/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gofacebook/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gotwitter/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/gostumble/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/godigg/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > <http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/goreddit/tctechcrunch.wordpress.com/318417/> > > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?a=qcRl2TklLw0:7WOhXAvNKfU:2mJPEYqXBVI> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?a=qcRl2TklLw0:7WOhXAvNKfU:7Q72WNTAKBA> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?a=qcRl2TklLw0:7WOhXAvNKfU:yIl2AUoC8zA> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?a=qcRl2TklLw0:7WOhXAvNKfU:-BTjWOF_DHI> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?a=qcRl2TklLw0:7WOhXAvNKfU:D7DqB2pKExk> > <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Techcrunch?a=qcRl2TklLw0:7WOhXAvNKfU:qj6IDK7rITs> > > > <http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qcRl2TklLw0/> > http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qcRl2TklLw0/ > > > > Sent with MobileRSS > HD<http://itunes.apple.com/app/mobilerss-hd-google-rss-news/id375300540?mt=8> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "The Unique Geek" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/theuniquegeek?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Unique Geek" group. 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