CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-24 01:01:03 (37 comments, 19 reshares, 210 +1s)

Samsung Galaxy S4 ships on Verizon: Shootout of camera

The Samsung Galaxy S4 just arrived in Verizon stores today. I dropped by. One thing I noticed? No lines at the stores. Of course there weren't many S4's there either (I bought it from a smaller store in Pacifica, California). I got the last one, a white one. Yes, I paid my own money for it. Samsung doesn't give me review units. 

Here are images from it compared with my HTC DNA and my Google Glass (the Glass is far worse, hope they pick a better imaging sensor for that when it ships to public next year). So far I like the Samsung a LOT better than the HTC. First if all it's running the current Android, 4.2.2, while the DNA is running 4.1.1. Too bad HTC, but Samsung beat you there. After that everything else is better too. The screen is better, the speed is better. 

Can you see any differences fromt... more »

2013-05-23 17:20:10 (57 comments, 72 reshares, 192 +1s)

Make your Google calendar super productive with Boomerang Calendar

I've just started using this to book my appointments and it sure saves time. Check out how Boomerang Calendar makes Google Calendar much more productive. Try it at http://boomerangcalendar.com/

When you try to schedule me this makes it a LOT easier to find an open spot. 

2013-05-23 16:20:13 (16 comments, 12 reshares, 57 +1s)

"Frustratingly simple": What is it like to develop with Glass

Yesterday I spent a while with the +Thirst Labs development team. They built a Glass app over the weekend even though they don't own a Glass themselves. 

Thirst's Glass app is here: http://www.thirst.co/glass What is it? It's a news aggregator based on topics. Put in a topic, like, say, "Oracle," and you'll get news delivered to your Glass about that. 

Why is this important? Because developers like Thirst will really decide whether Glass succeeds or not. 

Some things they told me:

Glass is frustratingly simple. Already my Glass is seeing too many notifications for the simple "single strip of cards" interface that Glass currently has. Getting back to something a week old is nearly impossible. 

Also, the cards themselvescan&... more »

2013-05-22 15:24:38 (33 comments, 19 reshares, 150 +1s)

In-depth talk with the two big brains behind my favorite news filtered app: Prismatic

I love +Prismatic  . Why? Because I trained it to bring me tech news and that's exactly what it brings. Very filtered, fast, and awesome news. But Prismatic is just getting started so I sat down with two co-founders, +Bradford Cross CEO and +Aria Haghighi CTO, and learned why they are able to hire and keep so many machine learning experts. Get Prismatic at http://getprismatic.com (iOS or web only right now, but Android coming soon).

2013-05-21 15:01:38 (16 comments, 27 reshares, 157 +1s)

Open Garden brings mobile a new kind of network

I'm not sure this makes a good business, but am always intrigued with geeks who try to bring the world better technology. In this case Open Garden builds a mesh network out of your mobile phone. Why do this? Better connectivity and better speeds. 

Its network connects across 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It enables users to create their own ad-hoc mesh networks with other Open Garden-enabled devices including smartphones, tablets and PCs. And it offers benefits for nearly every player in the mobile ecosystem: consumers, carriers. handset and tablet manufacturers.

http://www.opengarden.com

2013-05-21 14:54:56 (24 comments, 56 reshares, 257 +1s)

Touch publishing comes to your iPad

+Flowboard is really cool. Watch a demo of how it lets you do a new kind of beautiful publishing from your iPad.  Great for presentations and brochure-style things. But love the way it works. Hope to see more of this style of app on tablets.

http://flowboard.com/

2013-05-21 14:41:51 (1 comments, 9 reshares, 52 +1s)

Enterprises: you building your own websites? If so, you should know Pantheon

Pantheon is used by thousands of big organizations to manage and build their websites. It's an all-in-one Drupal platform that has scaling built in. Take your mission-critical websites from dev sandboxes to live sites with millions of page views --- all without ever changing infrastructures. 

Listen here to get a demo of what Pantheon does.
http://getpantheon.com

2013-05-20 23:25:08 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 46 +1s)

Startup News magazine is popular. More than 46,000 subscribers. 1,400 articles already. Damn! http://flip.it/6JUgz

2013-05-20 22:26:57 (28 comments, 5 reshares, 151 +1s)

I am in a subway car with a woman who lives in the neighborhood where the tornado in Oklahoma came down. Biggest in history.

She has no idea if her house stands. Doesn't know if all her family and loved ones are safe.

I can't even imagine. What a horrid way to end a vacation.

UPDATE: I didn't get her name so don't know how her story will come out. I just noticed she was in distress and she was talking to her friend trying to get info. It brought life into clear focus for me. I can't even imagine not knowing what happened to my family, friends, and home.

Please donate to the Red Cross.

2013-05-20 21:28:45 (45 comments, 63 reshares, 276 +1s)

Flickr is holding a big announcement in Times Square and is making a big ad. New free terabyte of space and new design.

2013-05-20 17:22:04 (52 comments, 28 reshares, 323 +1s)

Help, NYC Police have my son!

OK, this was sort of fun. The reason I'm in NYC on vacation is because my son will attend John Jay school of criminal justice this fall. He wants to be a police officer. 

So we're here looking at his school, finding him housing, learning the streets, and all that. Last night these two cops called me over and said "is that Google Glass?" 

I was afraid I might get arrested. But they loved it. 

Which made me realize that Glass is going to be big for police. Why? Well, they could turn on the video recording feature and take video while chasing suspects. Or, get messages from the command center. 

Anyway, vacation continues now. We're heading to see a Mets Game tonight. 

Yes, I did this just to try to disturb your Google+ stream. Flashing lights are hard to ignore, huh?

Forthos... more »

2013-05-20 16:57:06 (14 comments, 6 reshares, 61 +1s)

Dijit's new TV guide rocks my world

NextGuide just came to the Web, announced this morning, and it's still my favorite guide for finding TV programs. Listen into CEO +Jeremy Toeman talking about it.

NextGuide Web: http://nextguide.tv/

++++++++++

NextGuide.TV is a new site that lets any TV or movie lover have a single destination that provides: all-in-one search (live TV plus Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, and iTunes), a universal watchlist, one-click DVR recordings, automatic "never miss an episode" reminders, and easy social TV sharing. Think Pinterest meets Evernote meets TV Guide - it's really easy, really beautifully designed, and also (and most importantly) - really useful!

"NextGuide.TV is the easiest way for people to keep track of great shows they want to watch, easily get reminders for new airings on live or... more »

2013-05-20 15:18:14 (7 comments, 15 reshares, 62 +1s)

The Uberization of everything continues with MyTime

If you haven't used Uber yet in a big city to get a ride somewhere you are missing out. It shows you where the rides are, and is simply a better way to get a ride around town (and it has been copied by a ton of competitors).

But here's MyTime. What does this do? Brings that same transparent mobile access that Uber has to appointments. 

Ethan Anderson won Techcrunch's big award a few years back when he ran Red Beacon and sold that to Home Depot. So, he's worth watching in this space. 

+++++++

An easier way to book appointments is finally here. Book whatever you need, when you want, where you want.

MyTime has built a place for you to come whenever you want to find open appointments for services you need. You can check off everything on your to-do list, from Haircuts toO... more »

2013-05-20 15:15:01 (14 comments, 11 reshares, 106 +1s)

Here's why Vic couldn't sleep last night!  A fresh new Google+ Android build that incorporates all of last week's goodness... and more.   Enjoy.

#googleplusupdate

2013-05-20 15:11:54 (6 comments, 12 reshares, 47 +1s)

The best-designed personal assistant: Donna. 

When Techcrunch wrote about Donna, http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/donna/ I was intrigued. I think the personal assistant space is one that still needs a lot of innovation. Google Now is pretty cool, but it isn't exactly configurable. 

Donna is. Check it out.

2013-05-20 15:05:37 (22 comments, 40 reshares, 185 +1s)

Why is indoor mapping so hot?

Last week, this company, Meridian, was bought by Aruba. It does indoor mapping. Why is this so hot? Because in the age of mobile and context you'll need to get directions to things indoors and learn about things you are walking near. This can't be done by GPS alone. Strategically these indoor mapping companies are hot because this is the next smartphone and Google Glass differentiator.  

Apple recently bought WifiSlam for the same reason. Here's an article on Aruba's purchase: http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2013/05/indoor_mapping_startup_meridia.html

Here you get a good look at what indoor mapping does. I

2013-05-20 13:56:53 (62 comments, 26 reshares, 420 +1s)

+Robert Scoble hanging out in Times Square with Google Glass!

2013-05-20 06:49:52 (21 comments, 22 reshares, 333 +1s)

Take the New York City Subway. We did.

#throughglass  

2013-05-20 06:20:21 (25 comments, 25 reshares, 268 +1s)

Fun evening tonight. Went to Keens Steakhouse in New York, met up with +Liva Judic for drinks, then +Dave Winer for dinner, along with my son, +Patrick Scoble. After seeing 'The Iceman,' With Michael Shannon as Richard Kuklinski, http://4d2.r2.ly/ (good movie, recommended) moved onto Times Square, which got its name for the New York Times, here's its latest headquarters. More photos from New York soon. 

We got stopped by a few people, including the police. Why? Everyone wants to talk about Google Glass. Me? I just love these new animated GIFs that Google+ makes. Don't worry, I'll tire of them soon.

By the way, did you watch any of my SRI videos? That's something you can't do at the New York Times: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05/19/what-the-future-looks-like-inside-the-lab-that-brought-us-siri-the-mouse-and-the-internet-itself/

#th... more »

2013-05-19 19:57:22 (142 comments, 231 reshares, 1578 +1s)

Do you hate animated GIF's? My somber visit to 9/11 Memorial

I was just looking at my vacation photos from yesterday and Google+ showed me this set which it automatically converted into an animated GIF.

I used Google Glass to shoot it, took something like seven images very quickly by pushing the camera button on top of the glass while not moving. I was just standing up. Turns out your head is a very good stable platform for photography. 

It's interesting to see the kind of vitriol that animated GIFs cause. But I like them a lot and it's one MAJOR differential from Facebook. I guess if you don't like them, Facebook is a good alternative.

But I do wish they had some controls. For instance, I wish they would only run for 15 seconds and then stop animating. 

I also wish there was a way to filter them into their own feed and get themo... more »

2013-05-19 14:45:13 (3 comments, 16 reshares, 103 +1s)

The video tour of "the future."

Shel Israel, Rocky Barbanica, and I visit SRI International (where the Internet, the Mouse, HDTV, and Siri were invented, among many other things).

Check out the augmented reality binoculars!

The things that they showed us are just mind blowing. The future is bright. Oh, wait, that was one of the projects that will help us work on a workstation of the future.

2013-05-19 15:21:38 (83 comments, 23 reshares, 493 +1s)

Some more photos from Glass in New York (and a couple from my HTC DNA just to throw you off, can you pick out those?)

Why lead with these two girls? Because they were SO excited to be able to try out Glass in the subway. 

Lots of people say online that I'll be mistreated while wearing Glass. That simply has not proven true.

In fact, at the 9/11 Memorial people were excited to try it out too. I've had more people talk to me on this trip than have EVER talked to me in New York.

Now, yes, a lot of that is because these things are new and different, but I've noticed a theme: most people depend on their technology to take photos, get around, get the news, and talk with their friends. Google Glass has them interested.

Oh, and don't think Glass isn't already hurting Apple sales (or sales of Blackberry, Windows Phone, etc). More than one... more »

2013-05-19 16:18:42 (51 comments, 51 reshares, 549 +1s)

More fun with Google+'s new animated GIF feature. 

This one I did of my son on the Brooklyn Bridge. As people walked past I shot a bunch of images on my Google Glass (note that it isn't on a tripod, turns out your head makes a damn good and steady place to hold a camera).

Which gets me to another point. The low-light performance of the camera (this was taken on a cloudy evening after the sun went down) is merely OK. I find I can make better images with my iPhone in low light. I hope Google gets a better sensor on Glass for low light. Since there isn't a flash on Glass, it needs a better low light sensor. 

But, it does make images that are passable and now that Google+ enhances them (and does fun stuff like this) it's passable. 

More shortly from New York.

2013-05-19 02:51:10 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 45 +1s)

On Thursday I was at betaworks "BetaDay" and we did a Gillmor Gang there. Owner John Borthwick says it was the best Gillmor Gang he's been a part of. Me? I like debating Douglas Rushkoff but you already knew where I stood on Google Glass, right? 

2013-05-19 02:47:11 (31 comments, 24 reshares, 315 +1s)

More scenes from New York. This one was a protest rolling through New York's Chinatown. I shot several images on Google Glass and Google+ made the animated GIF.

2013-05-18 22:08:43 (89 comments, 31 reshares, 380 +1s)

Now that everyone makes fun of Google Glass, I'm noticing just how addicted we are to our mobile devices.

I've seen so many people bring Smartphones into bathrooms now that folks like +Nick Bilton make fun of Google Glass wearers in bathrooms ( http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/at-google-conference-even-cameras-in-the-bathroom/ ). We don't mind that you have a super high quality camera in your hand while in a bathroom, but damn it if you are wearing such a camera on your face!

Also, look at these people. All in dangerous areas staring down into their phones. 

What I also notice is that the press is totally treating Glass differently than the person on the street. 99% of the people I meet are absolutely excited about Glass.

Why? Because we're addicted to the Internet and we know it. 

So, instead of resisting we're excitedby ... more »

2013-05-18 21:22:18 (67 comments, 49 reshares, 580 +1s)

OK, these new things that Google+ does are pretty cool. I shot this on Google Glass in the Subway (I made several images of my son, Patrick) and it automatically joined them together into this animated GIF. 

It was unexpected and made me smile. Thanks Google!

2013-05-18 21:03:41 (3 comments, 8 reshares, 62 +1s)

2013-05-18 00:05:22 (152 comments, 208 reshares, 2309 +1s)

My son and I agree. The new World Trade Center rocks. Google Glass? The hit of the crowds in New York.

Our bartenders were just raving over them. A guy on the street stopped me and asked if I had Glass. "yep."

"Sick!"

Translation for those who don't understand youth language: "can I try them on pretty please?"

#throughglass of course!

2013-05-17 22:27:07 (67 comments, 28 reshares, 406 +1s)

"I love TWiT," our driver says, while showing us his podcasting app "PocketCasts." Says he has tried all the podcasting apps on his Android (Samsung Galaxy Note II).

Love meeting people from all walks of life who are into technology.

2013-05-17 22:11:19 (99 comments, 18 reshares, 290 +1s)

What is safer when crossing a street in New York? IPhone or Google Glass? I have been taking pictures of people with their smartphones on my Google Glass.

Notice where her eyes are: not on the street.

My eyes are always ahead and on the street. I find walking around with Google Glass is much safer than staring into my smartphone. Plus it is a lot nicer for seeing the sights around you.

We are in NY until Tuesday on vacation (my son, Patrick, is attending John Jay school here in the fall so we are getting him setup).

Where should I test out Glass in NYC?

2013-05-16 18:03:02 (14 comments, 3 reshares, 226 +1s)

Live from New York it is a special Gillmor Gang from BetaWorks Betaday. http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/16/gillmor-gang-live-05-16-13-tctv/ Starts shortly.

2013-05-16 13:38:10 (88 comments, 16 reshares, 201 +1s)

Are you a Glasshole?

I love that this term is sticking (even though I imagine Google isn't that happy with the term).

Why? Makes it easy to find my Flipboard magazine on Google Glass. 16,000 subscribers in less than a month.

Oh, and now I have a list of all the tech cynics to make fun of for the next decade.

But more seriously, the future has always been scary and this product certainly has more than its fair share of haters.

I have never seen a product cause emotion the way Glass does.

Every great push forward has had its haters (I still remember the Unix heads back in 1989 who told me that GUIs were for babies.

I can't remember when tech cynics were ever right. Can you?

Either way, I am a proud Glasshole and all this hate is doing is making me more excited about the future.

People only get pissed... more »

2013-05-16 03:40:52 (65 comments, 59 reshares, 266 +1s)

A new Google Glass competitor?

I bet you are asking "who is Recon?" and "why is Recon a competitor for Google Glass?" It's the company that makes the displays inside Oakley and Smith Micro's latest goggles.

But now Recon is showing off its next product, for this winter, wearable sports devices. AKA "Jet." http://jet.reconinstruments.com/

So, why should Recon be taken seriously? 

Well, first, Google Glass won't be out this year. But even taking that out of the equation Recon is going after two very fanatical audiences: snow sports and cyclists (both motor and pedal action). The athletes in both areas spend a lot keeping any edge possible. Plus they are one of the places "cool" culture comes from. What they choose is very important and could doom other competitors. 

I used Recon's tech onth... more »

2013-05-16 01:31:44 (153 comments, 8 reshares, 553 +1s)

Nice job Google+

I'm loving the new design so far. 

If you don't love it, complain here: :-)

2013-05-16 00:16:39 (69 comments, 38 reshares, 296 +1s)

Larry Page gave me heck about wearing Google Glass into the shower after I got to the microphones first this morning at the Google I/O 2013 keynote.

Me? I was shocked at what didn't come out.

No new news about Google Glass.
No new news about Android. Well, they did announce they have 900 million activations.
No major "blow your mind" demos and no one jumped out of any blimps the way they did last year.*

That said, the new voice search is quite nice, the new maps are much nicer, the Google+ improvements are awesome and should keep Mark Zuckerberg up at night for a few nights at least.

So, at the end of the day, a lot of new stuff important for Google and the industry but nothing really mind-blowing. *=yeah the voice search and photography improvements are pretty close to mind-blowing but, really, they didn't blow my mind but maybe... more »

2013-05-16 00:00:46 (16 comments, 47 reshares, 138 +1s)

A look at the best 3D printer company: Type A Machines

It's not me saying that Type A Machines has the best 3D printer in the midrange category, it's Make Magazine. Speaking of Make, this weekend is Maker Faire http://makerfaire.com/ at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds. If you never have been, I highly recommend it. Going there you can see tons of vendors like Type A Machines and meet lots of people passionate about making things. 

Learn more about Type A Machines at http://www.typeamachines.com/

The maker world has never been hotter and listening to Type A Machines CEO Kevin Rowney gets you into this manufacturing revolution. Watch the video here:

2013-05-15 19:20:27 (19 comments, 6 reshares, 218 +1s)

#throughglass

2013-05-15 20:37:14 (60 comments, 63 reshares, 506 +1s)

Wow +Vic Gundotra introduces new Google+. New desktop design, and dozens of new features. Nice to see Google+ getting a much needed upgrade.

2013-05-15 17:21:31 (15 comments, 5 reshares, 154 +1s)

Sitting next to +Rosa Golijan. She makes wearing Glass much cooler than I do.

So far at Google IO the new contextual APIs are the most exciting.

Oh, until they gave a Chrome Pixel to everyone.

2013-05-15 02:21:14 (12 comments, 15 reshares, 154 +1s)

#throughglass

2013-05-15 01:10:32 (15 comments, 9 reshares, 166 +1s)

#throughglass

2013-05-14 16:08:41 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 41 +1s)

Startups: only a few days left to enter this startup challenge. 

2013-05-14 04:21:48 (7 comments, 16 reshares, 56 +1s)

The company at Launch that got me to pull out my credit card

I was a judge at +Jason Calacanis's launch conference and this was the first company that got me to pull out my credit card and said "I want it."

What does it do? 

Lets marketing departments buy advertising and track its effectiveness much easier. 

Learn more in this video with cofounder and CEO Sahil Jain, or visit Adstage at: http://adstage.io

2013-05-14 04:14:43 (4 comments, 6 reshares, 28 +1s)

The latest startups from NewMe accelerator

The NewMe Accelerator helps women and minorities get businesses started, San Francisco style. They move a bunch of entrepreneurs to San Francisco, where they get mentorship, meet with investors and press, and get their companies started. Here +Angela Benton, head of NewMe, explains what NewMe is and introduces us to some of the best startups to come out of its 2013 spring program. Learn more at http://www.newmeaccelerator.com/

Oh, and careful ears will indeed notice that one of the startups started in jail. Great idea, too!

2013-05-14 03:35:46 (287 comments, 676 reshares, 1664 +1s)

New keyboard "pops" off of glass screen

If the next iPhone has this I might just give up my Android (which has a much better keyboard than an iPhone has).

Tactus shows me how its new keyboard works (it pops off the glass). Really awesome engineering and I dig into it here (it won all sorts of awards at CES earlier this year). Learn more about this technology here: http://www.tactustechnology.com/

2013-05-14 03:21:20 (16 comments, 8 reshares, 143 +1s)

The BBC shoots my Glass

The media attention continues to focus on Google Glass, particularly this week, as many of the world's top tech journalists attend the Google IO event.

This is BBC's +Rory Cellan-Jones shooting me for an upcoming piece on Glass (they will be at Google tomorrow).

Don't worry, they didn't shoot me in the shower.

Glass trivia: many of the scenes shown taken by Glass at last year's Google IO demo were shot at the Half Moon Bay Ritz which is where I took the BBC film crew this afternoon for a stunning sunset. 

Questions Glass explorers are still being asked? Privacy? Freaky factor, er, what's the "fashion cost"? What is it good for? Can I try it?

Here's a photo of Rory that I shot on my Glass. Nice quality! #throughglass  

2013-05-13 22:59:16 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 25 +1s)

2013-05-11 19:50:34 (8 comments, 31 reshares, 143 +1s)

A look at CubeSat (small, disruptive satellites) at SRI

Sneak peek at our SRI visit (birthplace of Internet, the Mouse, SIRI, Nuance, HDTV, and more)

Early next week we'll have a whole article and tons of video up on The Next Web about our visit to SRI, which is the most important research lab in Silicon Valley (SRI has brought us tons of innovations from the mouse to SIRI). 

Here's just a piece of our tour where we get a closer look at SRI's Cubesats. These are small boxes which can launch small satellites. This dramatically lowers the costs of getting experiments and other instruments into space. 

Take a look and get ready for a ton of other mind-blowing things from SRI.

More on SRI's Space programs: http://www.sri.com/research-development/earth-space#top

More on SRI: http://www.sri.com

2013-05-11 08:18:12 (24 comments, 19 reshares, 86 +1s)