As we all know, Google recently launched Google+, another social media attempt.  On the heels of the failed Google Buzz, Google+ expands Buzz into something most comparable to Facebook (and boy are they comparing it to Facebook).

For those who haven’t signed up, Google+ helps solve the issue of oversharing by placing your friends/contacts into different circle with which you can share specific posts.  So you can post to all your contacts, just your family, just your work friends etc.  Like Facebook you can post different media, have friends reply in thread and 1+ your posts (like).

So far there are small integrations into the other Google products (like the notification bar in Gmail/Reader etc.), however there will likely be much larger ones in time.

I’ll start with my criticisms/apprehensions:

Categorizing friends into circles is inherently counter to healthy relationships.  It makes me rank my friends when I fear that’s impossible.  Certain people should know certain information and I don’t want an unlimited number of circles to choose from or to create.

Similarly, it’s fairly time intensive to create the circles at the beginning.  You have to put some thinking into what types of content you will want to share and how you might want to censor that.  Frankly, I like services like Twitter and foursquare because you don’t have to think much (especially Twitter).

At this point, it’s duplicative.  Right now Google+ isn’t unique enough for me to know what kind of information to share or how to interact. I’ve found myself choosing between publishing on Facebook or Google+.  Though, this might be resolved with time.

Now, for the positives:

It has the potential to become huge.  I don’t mean 750 MM users huge, but as far as presence in our lives.  Google is already a daily (let’s be real, hourly) part of my life, so Google+ has the potential to be as well.

One of the issues with Facebook is that it’s shady.  I mean, I think it’s weird to spend lots of time on it and inherently narcissistic (this comes from the person who updates FB for a living).  Google has an air of legitimacy that will be a welcome change for social media.

Finally, it’s nice to see something challenge Facebook’s dominance.  The are other social media platforms out there, but none as large and reaching as Facebook.  By the same token, Facebook controls an incredible amount of information and no one has come along to force them to check that.  Maybe this will be just the thing.

Now it’s your turn.  What do you think?  Are you on it?

Today is an exciting day: Verizon announced that it will carry the iPhone.  No, I haven’t sold my soul to Steve Jobs, this means great things for us AT&T zombies.

It’s no secret that AT&T’s coverage leaves a lot to be desired, particularly in New York City.  I was walking through the city having a fifteen minute conversation the other day and dropped the call THREE TIMES.  Every day as I walk home from work, I drop calls.  It’s remarkable that in one of the most advance cities in the world I cannot make phone calls.  For a long time I thought AT&T was to blame, it still may be, but I’m not sure it’s that simple.

Apparently, AT&T and Verizon have similar, if not the same, systems.  The high level of data use from smart phones and the iPhone in particular has clogged up the system.  This means that not only will all the new iPhone Verizon customers slow down Verizon’s system, but potentially many current AT&T iPhone users will actually switch over to Verizon, thereby relieving AT&T.

This means that potentially AT&T could improve, but also the Verizon might suffer so it wouldn’t make sense to switch.

In other news, I have been waiting to write a Google Voice post and feel now is the moment.  For those of you who don’t know about Google Voice, it is one of the few mobile applications that has actually affected my life for the better.

Google Voice replaces your current voice mail box.  It works in exactly the same way, except Google Voice also transcribes all your voice mails!

No more listening to the “Hey, it’s me.  Call me back.” Now, you receive an email and/or text message instead.

Granted, not all the transcriptions are accurate.  The quality of the transcription depends on the clarity of the connection and the pronunciation, but it’s usually pretty good.  Furthermore, because you receive an email for every voice mail, you can archive all your voice mails to keep track of them.  Previously, they were gone forever upon deletion, but now, you can keep a record.

I would highly suggest joining Google Voice, maybe even on your new Verizon iPhone.

One way to protect yourself is ForceTLS

Firesheep is a add-in for Firefox that allows hackers to easily capture your session on Facebook, Twitter,Google, Amazon, and WordPress to name a few.  Don’t worry, the nefarious hackers can only access this information if you are on an open WiFi network and aren’t using a VPN or other blockers.

The creator of Firesheep apparently launched this add-in to illustrate this weakness and urge tech companies to solve the problem.  It isn’t a new issue, just one that is making users increasingly susceptible with more WiFi hotspots and digital networks.  Regardless of the motives, I won’t be stealing free WiFi anymore.

Could this be the Nexus Two?

Word has leaked that Samsung will be producing the Nexus Two. Like last year’s Nexus One, this model is another attempt at releasing an unlocked phone. This will also be the first phone with Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread. A giant gingerbread man was seen being installed at Google’s headquarters, so the announcement cannot be far away.  I am seriously considering going Android, and this just may be the phone for me (I’ll be sure to keep you updated).

Finally, Facebook announced Friendship Pages as a new feature.  These are private (though they can be made public) pages chronicling Facebook activity between friends.  This is wall posts, photos, notes, etc.  It’s an interesting move for Facebook as it is a way to personalize social media in a unique way.  It will encourage friends to engage more because all the content will go directly to a targeted group rather than your 1,000+ friends.

Did I miss anything you found important?

I would love to understand programming a little more than I do.  I flirted briefly with transferring my WordPress.com blog to WordPress.org, but fear that the little time I devote to writing will be eaten by faking my way through programming.  Anyway, I know enough to understand the HTML5 is the emerging technology in place of apps and plug-ins.  Pretty cool stuff, I’ll report back as soon as I know more than Wikipedia has to offer.

But who cares about the technical components of HTML5 anyway?  What is really cool is seeing it work in action.  Google (I’m a fan-girl, it’s no secret) has teamed up with the indie band, Arcade Fire, for an interactive music video utilizing HTML5.  Though I am not running out to purchase the song, I felt the experience was worth 3 minutes of my time… and yours.  Give it a shot – if yours is good, send it my way or post it to the comments.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

We all know that Google has its foot in every door, from email to blogging to mobile platforms.  Well, digital domination doesn’t seem to be enough for the $40.5 billion (according to the always reliable Wikipedia) company. Recently Google announced plans to outfit a guinea pig community with fiber optic cables offering internet speeds of about 100x faster than what most internet users currently use.

1,100 communities jumped at the opportunity to become “Google Town.” The community chosen has nothing to lose: it was received state of the art infrastructure and access to Google’s newest tech experiments.  Only one will be chosen and the winning town won’t be announced for quite a while.

I understand what the community has to gain, but what does Google stand to gain? They will invest incredible sums of money into creating its own ISP, but for no clear fiscal gain (other than perhaps world domination).  Google will get to test out the fiber optics, but it already uses the technology on its own campus, so couldn’t the company just keep it internal?  Gmail and Google search would be the default for all users of the Google service provider, but that’s a small gain, certainly not one large enough to justify such a large investment.

Google is a “one trick pony” in that nearly all its profits come from search.  Every other foray has yielded much less.  As a self proclaimed tech nerd, I appreciate Google’s willingness to experiment.  It seems to be a company with more than profits as its goal.  However, I still don’t trust it.  Why is the company willing to pour money into projects that just won’t generate revenue?  Maybe I’m too cynical, but it really sounds like Google is trying to take over the world and become Big Brother.

I guess, no matter the cost of the project, Google is such a large company, the investment will expand Google’s foothold further and increase reliance on Google’s products.  Particularly for the first and following guinea pig communities.  It also would be good for people in the long run.  Currently, many communities are locked into using the only available internet provider, which might charge higher prices.  By increasing the competition, the consumers win (Micro 101).  Even if the Google ISP doesn’t take off, it could incite startups to try to step in and make a dollar.  Currently, the government has announced plans to do just that, but it is prohibitively expensive, so the private sector (including Google) may have to jump in.

Despite my cynicism, I’d love to be Google’s guinea pig.  It makes awesome products and seems to be a company with a soul.  Though Google-Town is in the future, I’m excited to see what Google has to offer next.

QR (Quick Response) codes are like bar codes that can easily by mobile devices through cameras.  They have become increasingly popular for transferring information to your phone.

The first time I saw it was when I downloaded the new Blackberry Messenger.  Now instead of sending PINs to your friends, you can flash your QR code and they can take a picture of it.  In practice, it’s a little weird and imprecise (requiring several tries and a steady hand), but a neat adaptation of the technology.  Google is using it on stores and restaurants so that users can take a picture of the QR code and have all the information from Google at their fingertips.  Even Microsoft’s new app that I wrote about recently is a take on the QR code.  While Microsoft’s may look a little different than the traditional ones, it works in much the same way.

Today Tech Crunch broke a story about Facebook’s experiments with the QR codes.  There are options on some users’ profiles to generate either a QR code for your profile or status.  While I am not certain of the application, I think it’s cool that Facebook is experimenting.  Much like trading business cards, QR codes could hold the future of exchanging personal information.

I am interested to see how they use the codes and how other companies incorporate them.

I’ve said it before, but if you aren’t using Google Reader, you should be.  It’s the best way to aggregate all your blogs/websites without having to visit each one for new content.

Google has been trying to get into the social media scene recently with Buzz and now with the introduction of Google Reader Play.

Google Reader Play is a graduate of the Reader labs, so it’s not exactly new.  But when Reader will prompt you to activate Play when you sign in.  It will feed you images/videos/text apparently based on the things you already read.

It’s an attempt to compete with sites like Stumble Upon or Digg that work based on users’ recommendations.  Much like Reader, you can star and share items that you like.

In my brief time playing with Play, I think it’s a fun time killer but not something that will actually make my life easier (like most of Google’s products).  I am definitely entertained looking through all the different posts, but don’t think I will actively seek it out.  It’s like surfing YouTube when you have nothing better to do.  This kind of a product is uncharacteristic of Google, so I am interested in seeing the directions Google continues to take.

Look at what I found:

Today Microsoft released its first app for Google’s Android mobile operating platform.  The app, Tag, turns your device into a bar code reader (similar to effort already in existence by Google) that has basically limitless possibilities and applications.  However, the reason this is so strange is because Microsoft is in direct competition with Google and releasing an app for the system is counterintuitive.  However, I think its a good move.

The more good technology Microsoft releases the better. It’s easy to get caught up in the branding and lose sight of what actually matters: the technology.  As long as Microsoft is putting innovative and useful technology into the hand of users, the company will keep a hold of the market.  To some degree, it doesn’t matter what platform the consumer uses the app on, all that matters is that the app is being used.

Many Android consumers are also Microsoft users. The big three operating systems are Microsoft, Apple and Linux, so chances are that Android users ARE using Microsoft products, versus iPhone users.  It could be away to help recapture those users with the release of the Windows phone.  They are more likely to be willing to adapt Microsoft products and remain and more malleable group.

In reality, Android should be blocking the app.  Microsoft is acting rationally and appropriately by releasing apps for Android and iPhone (in December 2008) in order to reach larger audiences and stay relevant.  Not sure if the app will actually catch on, but I would like to see similar releases in the future.

Today Google announced Google Buzz, its first effort in social media. For a company that has its hand in every other part of the internet, it was only time until it released its own social media platform to compete with the already popular, like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter etc.

Buzz will be accessible via Gmail and with 36 million Gmail subscribers, Buzz isn’t starting from ground zero. It connects you with the people you email and chat with the most — with options on opt in or out to protect your privacy. It will publish streams similar to Twitter or Facebook statuses and will allowing sharing of pictures or links like Facebook or Google Reader.

Google is trying to aggregate all your social media-ing into one place, and it just might work. Granted, Facebook already has 400 million users, Goliath to Gmail’s 36 million, but people are looking for a way to decompartmentalize – I think.  This way users won’t have to check several sites to keep up with different friends, they will all be in the one place we all check constantly, your email.

I’m not entirely sure how it works or what it looks like because my account hasn’t been updated yet (has yours?), but there is already headed controversy online.  Apparently, Buzz is just like the already popular FriendFeed, and the creator is not only upset, but passive aggressive (see tweet image).

Yahoo already has a social media tool called Buzz, so they are up in arms.  However it has been said that Yahoo’s Buzz is little more than a rip of Digg.  Microsoft has come out against the platform as well.

So technology moguls’ opinions aside, how will this impact my life?  I think it will in a couple of ways.

It will clog up your email window:  One thing I like about Gmail is that it is clean and easy to use.  I can control it to keep my inbox the way I want and my folders organized just so.  The influx of Buzz updates (which are, of course, controllable) will only serve to clog my box more than my daily shopping emails do.  Similarly, it will be harder to ‘turn off’ the outside world.  Sometimes I just don’t want to see pictures of you drinking from last weekend.

It will open your personal brand:  Google is one of the most ubiquitous sites in the world.  It keeps track of everything and makes it easily searchable.  Suddenly, my entire life will be more viewable.  I suppose, that might be a little dramatic, but as you all know, I am a little paranoid about privacy.  I am certain that Google is going to great lengths to protect its users, but the transition might not be smooth — as is often the burden early adopters must bear.  Already today I have cleaned up my personal Google profile to make sure I have the most current information available and the privacy settings are to my liking.

That said, this does not have to be a bad thing at all.  Once all the kinks are worked out, it will be a nice way to see what all my contacts are doing.  I suppose I need to play around with it more before I am convinced of the benefits and uses.

Buzz is relevant now to consumers in ways that Wave isn’t.  This is like a small step into Google-izing our entire lives (I hope they take this privilege in stride and the world does not become that of 1984) where Wave might be a giant leap.  I am interested in playing around with it, and will have more comprehensive thoughts when I do.  Check out this Mashable article in the meantime.

Who has played with it?  What do you think?

Update: I just signed onto my Gmail account and I have Buzz.  Do you have it yet?

This is on par with other smart phones, with the iPhone running $599 or $699 without an AT&T contract, depending on size.  However, it also means that that phone will be fairly prohibitively expensive, unless you are on T-Mobile.  Tech Crunch does a nice analysis.

Given the lack of press (a press conference has been announced for January 5th, my invite must have been lost in the mail) and hype, Google may just be testing the waters with this phone.  Very few phones are available unlocked, so its success could affect future phone launches.

Will you still buy one?