Posts Tagged
Google
It sounds simple: don’t be evil. How hard can it be, really? Don’t kill kittens. Don’t perform illegal acts involving chainsaws, guns, or exotic fruits. Easy.
For such a simple motto – slogan, really – Google seems to have been having difficulties with this lately. Has the omnipresent company grown from its don’t be evil roots, or are they as good-hearted as they’ve ever been?
In my last article, I talked about all of the advancements social media made in 2011. This included the launch and relatively quick rise of Google+, Google’s shiny new social network that allows people to connect, share, and even hangout (via video chat, that is). While Google did enter the social scene, however, their main function as a search company is still to disseminate information. Thus, it’s not surprising that Google+ has some nice built-in ways of doing this.
I know what you’re thinking. Obviously a social network can disseminate information. Just look at Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and every other social network out there. They all spread information- people post things for other people to read. But I think Google+ has a couple of extra layers that the other social networks don’t have. Let’s start with an obvious one: Circles.
2011 was a huge year for social media. Granted, since 2004 we’ve seen an explosion of social networks, an insane growth in Facebook users, and Twitter take on widespread adoption. More of my students are using Twitter today that in previous semesters.
But still, in comparison to other years, this year was huge for social media. Not only did Facebook and Twitter see massive changes, but we saw another big tech company enter the social media ring: Google. The big three are all moving decidedly in one direction: mobile.
That’s right! AppStorm has now landed on Google+ and will be delivering you app related goodness right to your Stream! We’re excited to let you know that now, in addition to Twitter and Facebook, you can get involved with Web.AppStorm over at Google+! We’ll be using Google+ to let you know about the latest app news, reviews, how-tos, and roundups. Read on to find out more…
Ever since Google killed off Google Gears, users were left without any way to access their Gmail accounts without internet. Google said they were ending Gears because they wanted to focus on implementing HTML5 to get a newer, more complete, and less plugin-based system for offline email.
Even though it’s been a long time in the making, Google’s finally kept their word: the Offline Gmail app is now available for free in the Chrome Web Store. Let’s check out what it’s like!
Google’s never been known for the best design. They once lost a designer after one too many tests for the right shade of blue, among other oddities. But any sweeping change to their entire suite of web properties would surely be welcomed with open arms, right?
Not entirely. The design changes that were launched with Google+ have now rolled out to most of Google’s properties, and even less consumer-orientated sites like Adsense have seen a refresh. For the most part, the changes seem nice, but the new style in Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Reader have been the most controversial. Gmail’s new design has been well received for the most part, but the new label-less buttons seem unintuitive and downright un-googley (isn’t Google known for text over icons?). Google Reader sparked the most controversy, with a more confusing interface and less sharing features. Google Docs’ interface seems blander than before, but it’s still hands-down the best online office suite for most purposes.
Our recent article on the changes got a number of comments, with most readers agreeing that the new Gmail was mostly nice, but the new Google Reader was frustrating at best. Across the web, the sentiment has been mostly the same. So we’d love to know what you think. Do you like Google’s new design changes, or do you want the old Gmail and Google Reader back? Should Google try harder with design, or are they best with sticking with spartan text-driven interfaces?
Like a lot of people, I too believe that these days there is a social overdose online. Even sub-standard apps mask themselves under the social veil to grab some traction. So, when Google launched its latest attempt at dominating the social graph with Google+, it got a rather lackluster reception. And the usage since launch seems to be dwindling exponentially.
There is no doubt that Google+ is a worthy competitor to Facebook, but it arrived a bit too late. Even without having to examine it under a microscope, Google+ is a better social product with a ton of cool features. Privacy issues that haunted Google and the last social product of theirs, Google Buzz, have been fixed for good. Even with that, it’s still hard to grab an audience when everyone’s already on Facebook, Twitter, and 1.5 million other social networks.
To spice up an already awesome product, Google has rolled out hot new features like trending topics, analytics, and image editing among other things. Let’s take a peek at them and see if there’s enough to entice users to Google’s network now.
Several major web companies are pushing the idea of using web apps as replacement for native apps, including Google on desktop and Mozilla on mobile. The launch of the Chromebook and the continued developments in their web apps signalled that Google definitely wants web apps, such as those on the Chrome Web Store, to supersede most traditional native apps like office suites. While there has been little news about them since their launch, I always loved the vision of Chromebooks being used in education environments with their low-cost, less-likely-to-break nature.
However, Google seems to have taken a bit of a step back from the vision of an entirely web-app powered computer by introducing a plugin for NaCl (Native Client, not sodium chloride) apps to be executed within a browser.
If you do a lot of traveling, you’re no doubt familiar with services like Kayak and Hipmunk that let you quickly and painlessly book flights on the cheap. This past Tuesday, Google threw it’s hat into yet another ring with a relatively quiet launch of Google Flight Search.
Built right into the search engine (as many Google apps are), Flight Search lets you search using standard terms like “flights from Cincinnati to San Francisco” to access a customizable list of flight results. But how does it stack up to the tried and true competitors in the realm of flight search engines?
After taking a break from social networking, I was interested to see a review of the Twitter app Wren in our sister site Mac.AppStorm.net. Wren’s a beautifully designed app for posting on Twitter … and nothing else. You can’t see your Twitter feed, DMs, @replies, or anything else. All you can do is post your thoughts to Twitter.
Sounds like a crazy idea perhaps, but truth be told, most of us are bombarded with too much information anyhow. It’s nice to share your thoughts online throughout the workday, and sometimes you come across something you feel you’ve got to share. Problem is, you’ll likely find yourself still browsing random links a half hour later instead of getting back to work.
Wren is a Mac-only app, and it’s only for Twitter. But turns out, most social networks have a way to post online without getting distracted by your feeds. Here’s how you can use Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and even Reddit and Hacker News in a distraction-free way.
