Joshua Guffey

Posts Tagged ‘google’

If you attempted to use Google Wave when it came out last year, it’s likely that you met with the same fate as I did.  Honestly, I tried it for a bit, found (at least at first) that NO ONE was on the service, and discovered that, worst of all, there were no notifications of any kind when ‘waves’ were updated.  (They also don’t have a practical version for iPhone yet, but I won’t go into that.)  So I dropped it.

Well yesterday Google announced that they have created the option for email alerts when waves are updated.  It’s a bit tricky to find the option to turn it on.  You’ve got to push the arrow to the right of your Wave inbox tab to view the option.

Google hasn’t gotten it perfect yet, as you can see from their psuedo-disclaimer below.  Still, this is a huge leap forward with a feature that, in retrospect, should have been shipped out-of-box for a service that has positioned itself as a tremendous advance in online collaboration.

How do you use Google Wave?

As you know, Google Buzz hasn’t even been out a week yet and it’s been big news…and yet not.

What I like about Google Buzz

• My Gmail contacts are already there.
• Since this is a Google service connected to Gmail, it’s likely that it’ll
  draw more of my non-Twitter friends into a social media space…where I live.
• Inevitable integration with Google’s gamut of innovative and powerful products.
• Nearby feature which is pretty good (like Tweetie for iPhone does)
• Integration of tweets into my buzzstream.
  • I’m already on Twitter & Facebook. I don’t need a new place to consider posting to. It’s nice to be able to buzz without ‘going there’ on my iPhone or MacBook. Then I get updates via email. And if I want to see what’s happening outside of ‘my’ conversations I drop into Buzz and look around.

What I don’t like about Google Buzz

• If I comment on anything Mashable posts, my iPhone buzzes like mad
  for hours. This is fixed easily enough by ‘muting’ the gmail conversation.
• The eery feeling I get that Google is going to release something so
  integrated and so powerful into the mobile space that I will love my iPhone a little less.

What I’d like to see Google Buzz do

• Location based check-ins. Of the major players in this arena I prefer
  Foursquare, but I don’t like the way they format links in my Twitter.
  And I’m over the ‘game’ aspect of it. Google’s got great positioning
  to enter the local check-in game. (maps/local+reviews+buzz=useful!)
• A Google Buzz widget that I can install on my website so that peeps
  can Buzz me from there.
• Easier integration of pics and other multimedia using iPhone
• Functional @mentions and some type of tagging, perhaps #hashtags
• Local, regional, national and global trends.
• Aardvark integration (they bought Aardvark this past week)
• Google Talk integration to take a thread to private chat
• Integration with analytics like bit.ly’s stats but better, perhaps
  with Google Analytics
• Filters as powerful as Gmail’s filters
• Integration with Google Voice (click to call). Permissions would be
  highly important here.
• Alerts like ‘Google Alerts’ but applied like a persistent Twitter Search.
  So you know when your company’s name is mentioned or when people
  buzz about your product or industry.

What did I forget? Please add your thoughts to the conversation in the blog comments.

Ever wonder about RSS feeds?  You hear about them all over the net, but what are they?

This may not be news to all of you, but since a many of my readers are unfamiliar with RSS feeds (what they are and how they actually can be of benefit), I thought that I would share this 1 minute video by Google that explains it a bit.  It’s actually fun to watch ‘cuz Google knows we like that stuff.  =P

Get going with Google Reader at www.google.com/reader

(Incidentally, here’s a link to subscribe to my posts via Google Reader or via any reader)

Hmmm… Good question.  (in response to ‘is Google ethical?‘)

The gathering of data = not an ethical question…
At least in this case since we agree to it when we choose to use the service.

The exploitation of an individual based upon that information is unethical. Of course, exploitation is unethical regardless.  Which removes Google from the picture entirely.

My point – It is the crook who acts unethically, not the book-keeper (unless they’re also a crook).

Our world is accelerating into an unprecedented era of ‘transparency by choice’.  If you think that Google has a lot of information about you, think further, consider Twitter or how about Facebook?

Questions come to mind such as… How long will it be until there is an attempt to use social media in legal proceedings?  Is that a violation of rights? Will we have our Twitter streams hard-bound and give them to our children?

Okay… that was over-the-top.  But you see my point.  As technology changes more rapidly, so does the way in which it impacts our lives.

Technology today is evolving so quickly that we are literally ‘evolving’ to keep up with the new demands.  As our options increase and lag times decrease, we are left with a great challenge… one of focus. Our rapidly expanding information age offers unprecedented opportunities for us to become overwhelmed, confused and distracted.

I’m certainly not trying to make the blanket statement that ‘technology is bad’ (God knows I love it!) but, I AM saying that we need to be more alert than ever because we are at risk of falling asleep.

Perhaps the economy will wake us up a bit. What are your thoughts about this?
Why not leave your comments and entertaining ponderings below…