CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-07 21:01:32 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 28 +1s)

Excited to be moving over to +Google Ventures to work on #StartupLab! It's an amazing group of companies and I expect to learn a lot.

2013-05-03 22:19:27 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

I'll be at the inaugural  #ProductTankSF  on May 16th. Join us, especially if you're already in town for Google I/O!

2013-04-12 23:34:28 (9 comments, 50 reshares, 31 +1s)

I had the good fortune to be invited to talk at #productsf sponsored by Greylock and Samsung. It was a blast. Here's the essay version and slides from my talk: "How to work with software engineers."

2013-02-25 01:30:00 (3 comments, 7 reshares, 21 +1s)

My "How to Hire a Product Manager" essay is inexplicably trending on Hacker News. Some great comments, including this one from metalsahu:

Product Managers play a very important role in the success of a product because they allow the specialists to focus on their role. Designers, Engineers, Sales perform well when they have deep narrow focus and goals. The Product Managers' job is to allow them to excel in their specialist role much like the conductor of a multi-piece orchestra.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5275197

2012-12-11 21:22:54 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

BEST ALBUMS OF 2012

#1. ∆ (Alt-J) — An Awesome Wave

Completely unlike anything else released this year, it just grows more magnificent with each listen. Also check out their acoustic Spotify Sessions. Sadly I'll be missing their sold out show tonight at Bottom of the Bill.

This year's contest was considerably closer than in 2011 when I considered Youth Lagoon's "The Year of Hibernation" to be a runaway winner.

And here's the entire list, in alphabetical order:

Beach House — Bloom
Diamond Rings — Special Affections
DIIV — Oshin
Divine Fits — A Thing Called Divine Fits
Grizzly Bear — Shields
Miike Snow — Happy To You
Moonface — With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery
Purity Ring — Shrines
WildNothing — Noctu... more »

2012-10-08 18:08:46 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

New Order were absolutely phenomenal on Friday. I felt fortunate to get to see them again 23 years after my first New Order show. And they played Ceremony, three Joy Division songs, and several tracks from Power Corruption & Lies!

2012-09-26 14:11:10 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Remind me why I bother with Hacker News?

"Moreover, a child had likely not accomplished much in his life, so his disappearance could only affect a limited number of people."

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4572668

2012-09-19 20:24:49 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

American income inequality may be more severe today than it was way back in 1774 -- even if you factor in slavery.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/american-income-inequality-was-better-in-1774-than-it-is-today/262537/

2012-09-19 14:14:55 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Walt Mossberg: "The biggest drawback I found is the new Maps app."

2012-09-14 17:05:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Elite Gymnastics — Ruin (2011)

This otherworldly LP escaped my attention last year. I'm enjoying it.

2012-09-06 21:25:13 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

In 1992 I was a college junior and a young volunteer for Tom Harkin's presidential campaign. That February I was sent to Maine to help coordinate Harkin's increasingly unlikely run at the Maine Democratic Caucus.

My most important duty was to pick up Paul Wellstone at the airport and take him to a party dinner the night before the caucus. Wellstone was a freshman senator from Minnesota and was stumping for Harkin. We had a lively discussion during the drive, he was genuine and compassionate. He was a professor of political science prior to entering the Senate, and as a poli sci student he came across as "one of us."

That evening he spoke in front of about 100 party faithfuls in a Portland hall. I don't remember the substance of his speech as much as I recall the details of our personal conversation. Also speaking that night were Paul Tsongas, Jerry Brown, and a... more »

2012-08-31 19:34:46 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Finally having an opportunity to try Beyond Meat "chicken" for lunch today. It's okay, but not amazing. The consistency is meatier than seitan and more natural than any of the processed chick-patty substitutes.

I'd try it again, but I still prefer seitan, tofu, or tempeh. It could be a good protein candidate for +Summer Bundy's Amazing Seitan Fajitas™.

It's been 25 years since I ate animals so I can't tell if it actually tastes anything like real chicken. If it showed up on my plate without me knowing what I was getting, I'd definitely freak out.

http://beyondmeat.com/

2012-08-30 15:54:38 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

White Laces — Crawl/Collapse (2012)

Stereogum is streaming the new White Laces LP Moves:
http://stereogum.com/1138781/stream-white-laces-moves/album-stream/

2012-08-30 02:06:30 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 5 +1s)

Another insightful post from +Joe Kraus: First, fire thyself.

I'm grateful that once upon a time Joe decided to "fire" himself to hire me as VP of Products at Jotspot. (And the fact that Joe is finding time to blog again shows he's still practicing what he preaches.)

At the start of a company’s life, founding CEOs are often also doing the jobs of other “skill” positions (being the head of product, for example). But, inertia is a very powerful force. It’s very easy to just keep doing what you were doing. If you were a coder in the early part of your company’s life, it’s easy to just keep coding. If you were a product person in the beginning, it’s easy to stay deeply involved in product.

The error I see, far too often, is that founding CEOs do these skill positions way too long and don’t recognize the cost to the organization.

2012-08-28 14:10:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Wild Nothing — Nocturne (2012)

Pitchfork gives my most eagerly awaited album of 2012 an 8.3. Gemini was one of my favorite records of 2010 and Tatum has "fixed" the only minor annoyance with that record (replacing electronic drums with a live kit).

2012-08-24 20:19:40 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

370W Normalized Power (4.8w/kg) for 52:25. Wow. #shutuplegs

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/08/analysis/power-analysis-jens-voigts-winning-power-file-stage-4-of-the-usa-pro-challenge_235832

2012-08-17 23:25:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Twenty years ago today -- two decades ago, today -- I concluded radiation treatments for Hodgkin's lymphoma. Now I drive Mars rovers.

Fuck you, cancer.

(Sorry, I generally keep it family-friendly around here, but there are exceptions. #fuckcancer )

2012-08-17 20:51:32 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Beirut — Guyamas Sonora (2007)

2012-08-15 04:04:56 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Since we're checking out Joy Division covers, how about a Caribbean steelband version of Transmission?

2012-08-15 04:00:52 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Jah Division — Dub Will Tear Us Apart (2004)

A Russian Reggae Joy Division cover band?! This exists.

2012-08-14 22:53:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

+Chris Phipps has taken a break from crushing all of us in the local Masters 1/2/3 racing scene to make some beautiful GPS art on Strava. Check it out.

2012-08-14 14:03:24 (1 comments, 8 reshares, 11 +1s)

United Airlines loses a little girl and nobody cares. Why? Their employees lack "felt accountability" because their system is so rotten. Help arrives only after the girl's mom forces an employee to shed her United identity and empathize as a mother herself.

See also: Stanford Prison Experiment.

2012-08-09 01:49:44 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

Amazing WIRED piece on some of Google's unsung heroes. 

2012-08-08 01:43:51 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Motörhead - Louie Louie (Peel Session, 1978)

You're welcome.

2012-08-05 14:08:04 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 8 +1s)

The story of Mo Farah and Galen Rupp. An inspiring friendship. This is what the Olympics are all about. And what a race!

2012-08-03 03:44:01 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Congratulations to the U.S. women's eight team! Every time I watch crew I think of my college roommate who rowed. Dude was up every morning at 4 a.m. for practice in the Charles and in the weight room until long after I was in bed. Serious athletes.

2012-07-28 01:53:27 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

A Place To Bury Strangers — Dissolved (2012)

APTBS's new record Worship was released on Wednesday. Play it loud.

2012-07-26 17:23:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Purity Ring — Shrines (2012)

I didn't expect to like this LP as much as I do. If the Cocteau Twins or Lush had access to Auto-Tune, this is how they would have used it.

2012-07-21 16:33:12 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

OK. Long form post time. This is from the bestselling book "Bez's theories on management" that will I someday write so that no one will read it.

Why team social events matter

Sometimes people ask why we do so many social events on the Google+ team. (Yesterday we had a gin tasting!) They matter because of something called the Fundamental Attribution Error (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error) and what I call the trust stack.

Fundamental Attribution Error is fancy social psychology phrase that means that people inherently assume the actions of others are governed by their nature rather than situational factors. Here's an example. Ever seen someone on the freeway in front of you change lanes quickly to get to an exit, possibly cutting you off? Most people immediately assume the person is a jerk or a bad driver. Did you consider... more »

2012-07-17 22:24:45 (0 comments, 62 reshares, 37 +1s)

Two weeks ago at Google I/O we announced the early developer preview of the Google+ history API. Back then I mentioned [1] that Google Search activity would soon appear in Google+ history, and I’m happy to report that this feature is now live.

If you’re a Google+ history developer, you (and only you) will now see moments related to your search tasks -- just turn on your web history to start seeing your private search data (http://www.google.com/history/). Rather than write a new moment for each individual search query (like [peter higgs] or [large hadron collider]), we’re writing moments for higher-level tasks (such as “Researched Higgs Boson”).  As you work to write your own moments, we encourage you to consider the right granularity that provides the most value to your users.

As always, we welcome your feedback and questions in our developer forum(https://g... more »

2012-07-17 03:47:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Guilty pleasure.

Purity Ring — Fineshrine (2012)

2012-07-17 02:54:43 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Thanks to +Marissa Mayer on 13 years of helping build great products and a great company at Google.  Congratulations and best wishes on your new adventures with Yahoo!

2012-07-10 17:22:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I am thrilled to share that the Google+ app for iPad is now live in the AppStore!

Go download it now...  and be sure to let us know what you think!

#googleplusupdates

2012-07-09 20:17:42 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The Invisible Chainsaw, The Literalist, Grabbin' an Apple From the Tree, and Yessssss, Mom Got Me Aerosmith Tickets For Graduation!!!

2012-07-05 16:03:23 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Song of the Day: Wild Nothing - Shadow

2012-07-05 01:37:21 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Higgs and Englert win for sure.

2012-07-03 19:18:59 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

Amazing fossil.

2012-06-30 23:58:48 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Nooo they be stealin' mah bucket!

At the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito.

2012-06-29 21:23:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

DIIV — Doused (2012)

This new record from DIIV (née Dive) is amazing. DIIV is the side-project of the guitarist from the Beach Fossils.

2012-06-29 17:36:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

That was fast! Google already posted a full video of our Google+ Platform "fireside chat" that I participated in yesterday, along with +David Glazer, +chee chew, +seth sternberg, +Ken Norton, and Bradley Horowitz. Enjoy!

2012-06-29 02:38:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

+David Glazer, +Joseph Smarr, +chee chew, +seth sternberg, +Ken Norton, and +Bradley Horowitz live at #googleio.

2012-06-28 19:37:25 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm very excited to announce the Google+ platform for mobile!   #io12  

2012-06-28 18:49:21 (1 comments, 11 reshares, 9 +1s)

+Timothy Jordan gets us started with a very cool demo of +Last.fm "scrobbling" to Google+ history.

2012-06-27 18:03:01 (7 comments, 100 reshares, 85 +1s)

One of my favorite Google+ features is Instant Upload. All the pictures I take with my phone appear in a private album online, and from there I can share with my circles (or not). For me it's a great way to remember my favorite moments, and strike up the right conversations with just the right people.

More generally, we think this difference between saving and sharing is really important for communicating online. After all: not every thought that crosses your mind comes out of your mouth :-) Features like Instant Upload give you control over how you save and share your photos. And today -- with an early developer preview of Google+ history -- we're starting to bring this save/share capability to other online activities.

If you’re a developer, you can get started with today’s preview release by visiting http://developers.google.com/+/history/preview/. With just a fewlin... more »

2012-06-27 02:46:02 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

The Google+ team is hosting 2 fireside chats at #io12  where the Hangouts and Platform teams will be around to answer all your questions. We'll take a mix of questions from the audience and online, so even if you can't be there in person you can still participate! 

Hangouts Fireside Chat: June 27th at 2:45pm - 3:45pm PT. Submit questions here: http://goo.gl/mckpk 
Platform Fireside Chat: June 28th at 4:00pm - 5:00pm PT. Submit questions here: http://goo.gl/F5SZY

Room 2 at Moscone or watch on channel 3 at
https://developers.google.com/events/io

2012-06-14 15:11:27 (1 comments, 4 reshares, 6 +1s)

If you had asked me which single accomplishment in sports I could wish upon any particular athlete, it would be for Matt Cain to pitch a no-hitter (a perfect game would have seemed a little too crazy.) My Dad (+Jack Norton) has been predicting he'd do it, and it was just a matter of time.

Matt Cain has been my favorite Giant since he was signed in 2002. From the beginning he's encompassed everything I love about baseball: guts, patience, fearlessness, unfathomable talent, and sportsmanship. As someone who loves baseball statistics, he combines the "see-I-told-you-so" proof that win-loss records are meaningless with the head-scratching uncertainty of "it-can't-be-possible" metrics (WTF BABIP?).

Cain's shrugged off poor offensive support his entire career (he only just returned to a career winning average last month.) I even made up a statistic just... more »

2012-06-04 23:47:58 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Ultra Vivid Scene — Mercy Seat (1989)

Proving I have way too much music trivia taking up precious brain cells:
— This is not a cover of the Nick Cave song by the same name.
— Look for a young Moby on guitar.
— Kurt Ralske of UVS is now a professor at RISD.
— UVS was criminally under-appreciated.

2012-06-02 02:53:56 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The History of Colour TV — I Knew It Was Wrong But I Did It Anyway (2011)

Retro-shoegaze.

2012-06-01 21:39:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

It's live. The cute, little project I've been working on the last couple of weeks. Ben & Jerry's on tour again with their Fair! Ice Tour 2012. Different than last year though, you can follow the bus live on fairicetour.de. The crew on board also posts live updates and photos while giving away ice cream for free to the masses.

Built on Google services, it was actually quite simple to get it running. The position of the bus is provided by Google Latitude, a service that lets you know where your friends are. It's constantly updating the location unless the bus crew decides they're taking a day off. Updates and photos are provided by – you guessed it – Google+. Working out the technical concept I realized there's no better way to do it. You get your phone to do the hard-lifting, uploading those photos in the best available resolution and just attach them toyou... more »

2012-05-26 18:54:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

sigur rós release 'valtari' on may 28th, details here: http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/valtari/