CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-18 11:21:39 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2013-05-18 11:11:26 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Long form Plussers have to look at G+ as if it's an online magazine, not a social network

Just now, +James Barraford and I had a, what I believe to be, interesting exchange about G+' new design and the effect it has on so-called long-form plussers. I'd like to quote it here and wonder what you all think about it?

+James Barraford The last UI was the beginning of images over text. We had a lot of discussions on that. This UI completes the image over text as substance.

+Michael van der Galien 
I don't know how others experience it, but I'm noticing that I'm still reading posts with text, lots of them, actually. Interesting. The ones with photos are more clearly visible, but the written ones aren't 'completely lost'.

+James Barraford They aren't lost, but they don't stand out. Some of us have talkedthat we... more »

2013-05-18 10:56:51 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

See, I told you it was a restaurant.
North Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

2013-05-18 10:42:28 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Get your minds out of the gutter.
It's a restuarant outside North Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

2013-05-17 20:21:43 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I miss the good old days when people were bitching about the new Google+ UI. 

2013-05-17 19:53:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

If you're thinking of a vacation out west this summer, I highly recommend Sedona, AZ. The drive from Flagstaff through Glen Canyon to Sedona is in my Top 5 driving experiences.  The Grand Canyon is less that two hours away. My wife and I were there a couple of years ago and our mouths were agape for hours at the beauty.

2013-05-17 19:32:27 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Yahoo trying to be a phoenix..... too late or does Marissa Mayer have the chops to make them a relevant player again?
#yahoo  

2013-05-17 19:20:23 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Unless you're offering me the winning Powerball ticket Saturday night or half price on a tub of Ben & Jerry's.... I'm good.

2013-05-17 14:04:22 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

Nooooobody knows the troubles I've seen

2013-05-17 13:36:29 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

For the west coast music fans. 1O songs with embedded YouTube. 
I'll be doing 10 cool songs every Friday. If you have music suggestions I would love to have them.
If you want to be notified each Friday about that weeks story mention that in the comments section.
#Music   #googlemusic  

2013-05-17 11:18:08 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Music lovers, here are 10 songs for your weekend listening pleasure. From rock to punk, doo wop to rockabilly, pop to jam band. Songs from 2012 and 1954. Some artists you've heard of and others you need to know. I'm starting a Friday feature of 10 cool songs of the week. YouTube links provided for each song.

 If you'd like to be notified each Friday, I've created a circle, let me know in the comments if you want to be in the circle. If you have music suggestions, I'm all ears. Enjoy.

2013-05-17 10:49:45 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Looking for some help. How can I unzip files on a Chromebook?
 I have a Carbonite account that saved my bacon two years ago when a computer crashed with thousands of photos. I can download in batches of two hundred by they come zipped. 

2013-05-17 00:17:34 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

New Google Maps is incredible.  The best I can describe it.

2013-05-16 18:36:05 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I can't wait to see what +Giselle Minoli has to say about the "new" Google+.
#smirkface  

2013-05-16 18:00:45 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

South Dakota Badlands on a beautiful afternoon.

2013-05-16 16:15:32 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

If you're a tech writer - blogger accepting gifts then writing about same company favorably you have no cred to me.

2013-05-16 10:38:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Interesting. I have my Chromebook open as well as my Mac Mini. G+ open in both. If I refresh stream on Chromebook it doesn't refresh the stream on the Mac. And vice versa. Yet Hangouts text refreshes on both. IMO your G+ streams should refresh cross device platform. 

2013-05-16 10:31:40 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

I love that the left side under Home is no longer automatically open. Less visual clutter to leave room for the visual clutter in the middle of the screen.

2013-05-16 10:14:02 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

If you're fighting the +greytext go to the Chrome store and get the extension Readibility for Google Plus. 
I had forgotten about this great extension that came out to combat the last UI greytext. Thanks to +Daryl Hunt for the reminder.

2013-05-16 09:50:12 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

The last UI featured light grey text. Within a week or two Google had to change it to a color that's actually readable without hurting your eyes. They've tried it again here. Who is the Einstein at Google+ that thinks this time everyone will just say okay and be happy with it?
I love the new UI, but the light grey text is an eyestrain... again.
There is a reason websites don't use light grey.

+Bradley Horowitz +Vic Gundotra +Robert Scoble 

2013-05-16 00:29:01 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

On Chromebook there are two columns with the new design. Interesting.

2013-05-15 23:02:54 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Is it me or is everyones stresm not auto loading?
 I'm having to refresh to reload my stream, which means I'm missing a lot of posts.

2013-05-15 22:24:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

If Facebook Timeline picked up Pinterest in a bar and they had a 2am backseat tussle......the new Google+ design would have been the bundle of joy nine months later. 

2013-05-15 20:48:13 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Google TV:  RIP

2013-05-15 20:18:04 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

So Google basically told Skype & Facetime and the telco's to go to hell today with Hangouts. If the people you text/video chat with switch to Hangouts you can dump Skype and your telco texting plan. I wonder what hit this is going to do to Whatsapp. That's a very cool texting app. 

2013-05-15 20:10:30 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I would think Chromebooks and N7's would have been first to get new G+ UI. I have both and not getting yet while others are posting screen shots from other devices. 
#firstworldcrying  

2013-05-15 18:26:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

So Google just made me lost 50 lbs in my photos. Sweet.

#io13  

2013-05-15 18:15:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I wrote this story today thinking it was +Robert Scoble's Christmas..... turns out it's Christmas for all of us.

#IO13   #io13  

2013-05-15 18:10:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

So if I could get all the people I text with to use Hangouts I could drop my $20 a month unlimited texting plan with Verizon.
Strongarm time.
#screwyouverizon

2013-05-15 17:34:07 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Does anyone miss the Radio City Rockettes?
#Samsung #Fail

2013-05-15 17:24:53 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

After 20 min using Google All Access a quick review. It's good but I'm not seeing how it will sway Spotify fans. It's US only for one thing. For another, it suffers the same limitations as Spotify, MOG, etc.... gaps in artists. AA doesn't have Led Zep or the Beatles for starters, just as Spotify doesn't. MOG has Led Zep. That's the problem with the streaming services if you are looking for a full catalogue. That doesn't mean AA isn't great, it is. But the gaps still exist. 

2013-05-15 16:57:45 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

So does this mean my self-esteem can now take a beating on G+ when I get crushed at Words with Friends?

2013-05-15 16:54:07 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

+The Verge kicking ass as always on live IO coverage. For a site less than two years old, they are head and shoulders above Mashable.

2013-05-15 15:49:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Very long but excellent read for soccer fans.

2013-05-15 14:17:19 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

They say true love is dead. I say it's just being looked for in all the wrong places.

2013-05-15 12:48:33 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Google I/O 2013: Robert Scoble's Christmas


Today is the Google I/O 2013 keynote. A three-hour orgy of Google goodness that the company will use to handfeed the adoring masses. Between the five hour energy drinks, and extra grande mocha soy lattes with Sergey Brin and Larry Page's likenesses artistically drawn in cream, there's going to be a whole lotta leg crossing going on come hour three. My guess is Robert Scoble found a way to use Google Glass to control his bladder. Chew on that image for a minute.


For the past several months tech writers and Google fanboys alike have been salivating and opining on what Google's coming out with over the rest of 2013. Sergey Brin raised the bar to stunning heights both literally and figuratively in 2012 when he introduced Google Glass by skydiving while wearing them. Robert Scoble has taken that death-defying skydive and... more »

2013-05-15 11:42:09 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I know I brought this up yesterday but how does Flickr not have a group download button for painless photo storing on your computer?

2013-05-15 10:38:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Today is the day. It's Google I/O 2013 and +Robert Scoble is stoked. Below is a live shot of Bob getting ready for the event. 

I'm so excited that I've prepared a guide that highlights what Googlepalooza I/O 2013 is really all about. 
Tech writers.

2013-05-14 20:27:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

GET READY

2013-05-14 20:16:03 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

This is why we don't believe the first thing a reporter says. Or often the second. Jonathan Karl, ABC Chief White House beat reporter, broke a "big scoop" last week on Benghazi that was very damaging to the White House. One teeny problem. The email he obtained from a "source" was fabricated. 

We live in a time when being first is being right. Look at the misinformation pouring out of the Boston Marathon bombings. We still don't know much about what in fact happened. 

Until we demand accountability and reject that who push an agenda, the US presee will continue on the downward spiral of credibilty they are on now.

2013-05-14 18:00:44 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Last night the team I invest year round emotion and financial energy on, the Toronto Maple Leafs, delivered a collapse for the ages. 
This is how I spent those last minutes.
I hate the Boston Bruins in case anyone is wondering.

2013-05-14 13:46:12 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

I agree with Jon Stewart. I know many liberals do today if there were a secret ballot taken on their thoughts. It's hard for progressives to publically condemn the actions of a president they fought so hard to get elected and then reelected. But at some point accountability matters. It's not good enough to say that Bush and other former presidents took some of the same actions Obama is being roasted for at the moment.

 If we expected more from Bush (both of them), and if we expected more from Reagan, then we have to expect more from Obama. The administrations record with regards to Gitmo, civil liberties, targetted killings overseas, and domestic surveillance is absymal. Even a diehard liberal such as myself has to come out and say it.

Pointing fingers at the "tin-foil hats" and the "Wingers" doesn't cut it. Unless we demand more from our side we have... more »

2013-05-14 13:12:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Max Huijgen has been having an interesting discussion the past several days on the topic of using G+ as your primary place to blog. Many thoughtful people have weighed in, some loving the concept and others who don't want to let one place be the anchor for their blog.

I'm of the camp who doesn't believe it's a good idea to make Google+ your blog. However, I'm all for experimenting and seeing both sides. So below is my latest blog post from Monday. For the next several blog stories I do, I'll post here and provide a link to my blog.

http://www.culturalpurveyor.com/


The Return of 24: Jack Bauer Lives


24 is coming back to Fox television and Jack Bauer fans like me couldn’t be happier. The void left when last we saw Jack hasn’t been satisfied even with valiant efforts by shows such as Homeland. No offense Brody,but ... more »

2013-05-14 12:57:32 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Can anyone tell me if there is a pain-free way to move my photos from Flickr to Drive?

2013-05-13 23:28:45 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

This is scary on every level. US gov't seizing news organization phone records for several months in 2012.

2013-05-13 22:57:29 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Jack is back.
My thoughts on the return of 24 in May 2014. As a fan I can't wait. I hope Chloe returns as well. 
Are you a fan of the show and looking forward to the return?
Did the violence of the show turn you off?
Did you find the show to be right wing torture porn?

2013-05-13 20:39:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Jack Bauer is back in May 2014. 
Fans of 24 can rejoice as we don't have to head to the cineplex to watch Jack do what needs to be done.

2013-05-13 14:24:37 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Jack Bauer Lives!

2013-05-13 13:20:38 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Google I/O hits this week. What would you like to see come out of it?

2013-05-13 11:24:47 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

What Christine Warren of Mashable doesn't bother addressing here -- among many things such as shutting out non-cable/sat tv subscribers -- is the data this will suck up from peoples smartphone plans. Come on +Mashable, think about real world ramifications.