CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-04 03:11:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Come on Plusketeers, we're better than them! Donate with me!

2013-04-27 00:55:22 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

If you haven't seen this video yet, you need to, gay or straight, accepting of difference or not. It's a very powerful short film, one that I believe has the ability to effect some real social change if enough people see it.

2013-03-08 10:04:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Let's hope the service is a little better this time. Wish me luck!

2013-02-24 04:47:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Haha, I told you! Anyone remember the piece I wrote predicting the UI and use cases of Google Glass, about a year ago? Well, read 'em and weep. On a more serious note, Glass does look pretty damn amazing; an iPhone level of industry-creating. As it stands now, my decision to buy would be based on cost. It looks useful, yes, but not say, $1500 useful. Not even $1000 useful. $800 would feel pricey for what I'm seeing. But a price point of $600 or under would make it for me, one-hundred percent. It's up to +Google corporate to finish what has been started so well by +Project Glass. What do you think? Could you see yourself using it? What do you think a great 'killer feature' would be?

P.s. The Verge's reporting is becoming very, very good quality. Kudos, +Joshua Topolsky. 

2013-02-23 10:37:14 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

A bus crashed into a building in West End, South Brisbane. I just drove past and at first glance, it looks like it's embedded in the Black Bear Lodge. Anyone in the area with more information or in need of assistance?

2013-02-14 21:04:55 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

The Canadian House of Commons is officially now one of my favourite political bodies, ever. Know of any other governments who've addressed the #zombie apocalypse so well?

2013-02-14 20:56:23 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

#grammarnazi :D

2013-02-14 20:48:41 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Well, I had a lovely birthday yesterday. Met some great new American exchange students, and warning them about the wildlife over here was intensely fun. Although, it was a bit frightening when I got to the end of my terrifying list of dangerous creatures and realised that only the drop bears were fictional. Nevertheless, we ventured outside and ended up going out clubbing (what else to do on a birthday?), along with my long-time friend +Jake Hammond, and one of his friends.

I'm loving Brisbane so far, and I've found a few neat little places. I've also got my job at the University of Queensland started (I get to serve coffee and waffles soon!) and I'm signed on to all of my classes. Computer science, Japanese, Intl. Relations, here I come!

2013-02-03 08:00:16 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

The joining of two cultures.

2013-02-03 07:58:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Some thoughts on ‘the Chinese room’ argument against artificial intelligence, and a little bit about finally going to university.

The ‘Chinese room’ is a thought experiment disproving the idea of computational consciousness. Wikipedia sums it up nicely:

“It supposes that there is a program that gives a computer the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation in written Chinese. If the program is given to someone who speaks only English to execute the instructions of the program by hand, then in theory, the English speaker would also be able to carry on a conversation in written Chinese. However, the English speaker would not be able to understand the conversation. Similarly, Searle concludes, a computer executing the program would not understand the conversation either.”

Now what just occurred to me, is that this comparison is notapples-to-a... more »

2013-01-30 16:38:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

You know what would make the "Time Shift Camera" in BlackBerry 10 pretty much infinitely better? If they leveraged that functionality to let it take .gifs out of those little time slots, and share them to everywhere (including here.) Or maybe even six-second videos...

2013-01-23 10:15:52 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Did anyone know that dragonflies shed an exoskeleton? I had no idea. Any ideas on how best to preserve it? It's currently in perfect condition.

2013-01-23 04:38:58 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Jared Diamond's investigative research has informed global leaders around the world; he knows what he's talking about. Parents could learn a lot from him. +Coral Tinan, I think you'd find this particularly interesting because of your respect for indigenous cultures.

2013-01-22 22:39:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Here is the speech I just gave on our earnings call:

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to our earnings call.  Thank you for joining us this afternoon.

We ended 2012 with a strong quarter.  Revenue was up 36% year-on-year, and 8% quarter-on-quarter.  And we hit $50 billion in revenue for the first time last year – not a bad achievement in just a decade and a half.

We’ve talked a lot about excellence and velocity over the last year.  While many claim it’s my nature never to be satisfied, we’ve actually made real progress creating more beautiful and more intuitive products.

Take Search.  The perfect search engine would understand exactly what you mean, and give you exactly what you want.  Our Knowledge Graph brings that much closer.

Search for Nikola Tesla and you’ll get information about this great inventor that is beautifully displayedright from the ... more »

2013-01-19 11:51:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Mrs. M. Stevens Wagner, 1907. That's some truly vintage body art.

2013-01-18 11:15:00 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Thoughts on the new profile picture? I'm on the left.

2013-01-15 07:15:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

If you spend a lot of time online, running across articles or blog posts that you’d like to read or finish later happens fairly often. The Pocket extension (formerly Read it Later) helps you keep track of these articles by saving them on your computer to read later. You can also sync them to your smartphone for reading on the go. 

You can check out the Pocket extension here in the Chrome Web Store: http://goo.gl/PPDJo. 

2013-01-14 08:27:31 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Breaking Bad indulges every academic's secret arrogance that were he only to have deigned he could have been a total badass who took over the world by sheer force of his superior brain. - Dan FIncke

2013-01-12 07:47:44 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Thinking of buying a Raspberry Pi soon; thoughts? Anyone have any advice for a bit of a linux newb?

2013-01-09 13:27:49 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I just finished A Memory Of Light, book fourteen of the Wheel of Time series. I have been reading this series, since I was nine years old. I remember the day I got my first. 20 years this series has been around for, through countless events that have changed our world and countless events in my life. I was, and am, emotionally invested in this series in a way I didn't think possible. I think any longtime fans (friends?) of the series will be a bit emotional in these last pages. +Brandon Sanderson, you have done great honour to Mr Oliver Rigney, and shown great humility in how the book was published, and I appreciate that.

Now, it's 11:27 pm and I need to get to sleep! Sleep well and wake, my friends.

2012-12-26 02:10:15 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Well where are going to go from here?

2012-12-25 23:10:46 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Is anyone able to identify this flower? Any help would be much appreciated!

2012-12-23 21:09:41 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Anyone interested in Seasteading? I've been intrigued since I first discovered them. If you are, feel free to contact +The Seasteading Institute.

2012-12-21 22:23:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Does anyone know a trustworthy dry-cleaner in #Brisbane? Any help appreciated greatly.

2012-12-18 19:37:49 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

I'm running again! The improvement in my leg has been nothing short of astounding post-op. Feels good to be out in the world without a cane.

2012-12-17 00:02:37 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

I took this photo sphere a bit more than a week ago, while on my morning run. Now that I'm recovering from surgery, it's like a little postcard from my past self, telling me to get back out there as soon as I can. I'll be only too happy to oblige :)

2012-12-16 07:43:10 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

I just noticed how I'd rested my headphones and cane beside my bed and couldn't resist snapping a picture. The incongruity made me giggle a little, and then think about the different types of design I appreciate.

P.s. This is my first snap edited with Snapseed since it released for Android, how'd I do?

2012-12-16 04:49:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Come on +Google, you know you want to. To me, it seems like a no-brainer from the consumer standpoint. Not many people are going to need encryption, true, but what consumers do value is peace of mind. Knowing that, if you click the button saying "Send Encrypted Mail", your communications will be completely secure is simply a superior position to be in. Not much use when you're swapping holiday stories with relatives, but when discussing your child's medical issues? Arranging important business deals? Seeking legal counsel? I know I would want a guarantee of security for the things that are truly important in life, and right now +Google, and specifically the +Gmail team, are in what might be the only position left to make that happen. 

2012-12-16 04:35:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Niels & Gang has to be one of my favourite webcomics of all time. A bisexual Danish crimelord in a polygamous relationship makes 'Niels', and the 'Gang' has a ton of characters just as interesting. Agents 250 and 300 are featured in this strip, which is one of my favourites.

2012-12-16 00:21:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Can you solve this mystery? University of Chicago gets package for Indiana Jones. Really. via +Jennifer Ouellette

2012-12-12 23:20:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Wow. What an incredible piece. This sort of journalism is too, too rare. Quinn cared about #Occupy and you can feel it in your bones when you read this. The world needs change, and #Occupy just realised that too early for the liking of the larger authorities. I believe in change, but I have hope that gradually, the existing infrastructure will change if people are not apathetic. #Occupy showed me that people do care, that the people are not necessarily docile, ambivalent sheep paralysed by fear and ignorance. On the other hand, another thing that #Occupy taught me is that people will organise themselves, but not well enough. That bad actors (or provocateurs) will dominate the movement if they're not prevented from doing so.

So what is the solution? In my mind, at least, it's evolution, not revolution. But apathy is the solution to approximately nothing.

2012-11-02 11:01:06 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

:: when hurricane sandy hit NYC the other night I wondered what times square would look like in the middle of the storm - here's the view via photo sphere. #nexus4 #photosphere #hurricanesandy #nyc ::

2012-10-29 02:47:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

On my gay way home, might as well check into a Catholic Parish!

2012-10-17 21:26:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Well, I've got the 4.1.2 update, and there's nearly nothing new or exciting. Hopefully I'll notice a smoother running phone, but for now I am comforted by the revolutionary… one-fingered rich notification expansion swipe!

All jibes aside, the feature is a pretty useful one. It just means this incremental update is very incremental.

2012-10-04 07:01:35 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Easily the best part of the Presidential Debate tonight. #PresidentialCampaign2012 #NationalBoyfriendDay  

2012-10-04 06:55:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Going through my stream, I see a lot of people pointing out the bias in posts about the Presidential debates from either side. Funnily enough, I don't see very many of these biased political posts. Maybe the people I follow have just been selected for objectivity more than the average +Google+ group?

#presidentialcampaign2012  

2012-10-04 06:50:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

#NationalBoyfriendDay
For +Sebastien Defrance 

2012-10-01 08:58:17 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Could Google+ ever overtake Facebook?

2012-09-27 02:10:25 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

So, what does the world think about Australia bidding for the United Nations Security Council? Do you think we'll get in? Do you see any significant disadvantages? Any significant advantages? I'm really curious as to how the world perceives both Australia and this move.

2012-09-25 03:43:46 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Ah, +Oskar Petersen's young love is a joy to behold. It gives him so much energy, I think. 

2012-09-20 05:25:25 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Ah, +Google, don't let your lead go.

2012-09-14 10:14:31 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Politically NSFW:

However, I found this bloody hilarious. Sometimes what's not said is just as important as what is said.

2012-09-12 11:19:39 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Can't wait for the release of what I'm hoping will be the single best mobile OS the world has seen yet. The last update was really incremental, and they're working on that incredible new hardware that should be a real game-changer, so here's hoping that this new one is really, really big. My only question is, what's a dessert that starts with "K"?

2012-09-12 08:19:47 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Before I turn this into a salad, I just want you all to know how perfect this lettuce is.

2012-09-11 21:57:01 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I just found out exactly how amazing the number '108' is.

2012-09-09 02:59:08 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Should genetic testing and counselling be a prerequisite for pregnancy?

What are your thoughts? Pros, cons?

2012-09-02 11:39:54 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A photo of me from last night, rather dishevelled.

2012-08-28 11:45:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I am going to do a hell of a lot with my life. I will make this world a better place for my existing, help more people than have helped me, and accomplish things everyone said were impossible.

And then, when I'm forty and there is a trail of overthrown dictatorships, eradicated diseases, and social justice victories behind me, I want to raise a child in a good household. With two loving fathers, and enough money to be comfortable, in a place that will never, ever, be unsafe.

Then I can begin my plans to close the inequality gap.

2012-08-27 13:53:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Oops

There was a little too much interest in 'The question' for the comment-enabled form to handle. Try this published version, if you want to have a shot at it! Or comment here, if you have anything to suggest.

Once again, this question is for anyone wanting to test their #chemistry, #physics, and #astronomy chops.

2012-08-27 13:41:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Any masters of physics or chemistry out there? I wrote this question and I misplaced my carefully calculated answer, and I'd be ever so grateful if you could quickly run through and figure it out.