Google+ released today

Here is the invite page:

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googleplus/


Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google+ project: Real-life sharing, rethought for the web

Facebook competitor.

 

Looks fantastic. I love the group conferencing features.

 

Looks alright.
Might check out the android app later.

 

i have a feeling its another fail

 

Seems like its invite only as its in early dev right now.
Need to find out how i can get into closed testing.

Never cared for Facebook, all my "friends" keep nagging and poking me until i play stupid GenericVille. D;

 

Only google employees have invites. Each one gets 50 invites.

 

Seriously... I have never seen such arrogant and delusional self-promotion (marketing) in all my days. Not even the late night ultra low budget '99% of all PCs have incurable MALWARE but we can fix it for you!' commercials come close this naughty pile of G-Luv. Clearly they are aiming at the Facebook morning after effect of "OMG! I can't believe my mom read I'm pregnant!!"

The inanely insignificant examples and situations given by the author that would justify the need for such 'features' can only be described as hilarious. As in the case of Hangout, " ..when you walk into the pub or step onto your front porch, you're in fact signaling to everyone around, “Hey, I've got some time, so feel free to stop by." Sorry Google, but stepping onto the porch at 9am to take the garbage out is not an invite to start a conversation. This is something weird people do, even if I am wearing my awesome G.I. Joe boxers.

Google takes what is essentially Skype or GChat with live video, both of which are available on Android phones, adds a tweak to the camera integration and suddenly they're the saviors to a problem that never existed in the first place? I have no beef with Google forming communication services and even new ports and protocols into their own packages (like the combo of Gchat, Gmail and Gphone into a single account) but to release branded services to the world like you've just beat everyone else to a cure for cancer is beyond ridiculous and shows how gullible Google thinks their customers are.

The ability to form your contacts into buddy groups has been around since early AIM and incorporated into every social networking, IM and chat software since people started having more than 1 friend. (This was a while ago.) This is Circles.

Sparks is evidently now the proprietary name for making note of a site's link for yourself, and sharing said link with somebody in one of your buddy groups. Are browser bookmarks & RSS feeds now too difficult for demographic that can master a console game just by reading the box?

Hangouts. The simpleton MeeGo dialect strikes again. No, Hangouts not a Google sponsored internet cafe, university building or public library. Nor is it a program to bring internet service to low income inner city areas and/or developing countries. It's just another chat program with live floating head video. So old it's new?

Mobile can upload pictures as soon as their taken to your Google cloud account. For quite a while now, smartphones (most cell phones actually) have had the ability to email and/or text photos to contacts of your choice immediately after taking them. However, Mobile also geotags photos (which also has been done for a long time now) and tells your contacts your location when you're calling.

They've turned a software capability previously seen as a negative (an invasion of privacy, as it's been put) into a perceived as desirable perk of service. Not a new tactic, but still a smart one. I applaud Google's sheep herding skills. It's at least good to see that the geo stuff is able to be disabled.

What is most entertaining (or perhaps, most frightening), is this quote pertaining to Huddle, " Coordinating with friends and family in real-time is really hard in real life."

Holy biggest facepalm moment in the universe, are you kidding me? This has officially gone full blown reprogramming misguidance. Texting and multi person calling are in every way equal to, if not superior than (not everyone has unlimited 3G) an IM chat program within an app you must purchase. There's also the simple fact that speaking is easier and faster than typing via a thumbpad or touchscreen. Period. Not that I have a problem with texting, but where is the line drawn between use of a novelty service and outright convenience?

And I challenge anyone to watch the FULL Huddle video, the last one in the article. If you can make it through that vid without the girl's voice urging you to pimp slap your computer, you are either a Kung Fu master or you are her parents and thus put up with her embarrasing verbal hemorrhages on a daily basis.

It really is disgusting that the videos are narrated in a style that indicates what Google perceives Google+'s demographic to consist of. Is this really how Google thinks their customers act? Real people don't talk like a Hannah Montana episode. Real people don't fumble for vocabulary and random phonemes like a synthetic stimulant addict. The videos are if anything, insulting. I've been some places, I've asked some peeps. People aren't actually that dumb.

And just so I don't come off as a total hater, I did like one of the Chromebook promo videos from a few months back. The one where they repeatedly destroy the guy's notebook and bring him a new one, then take it away again. It explained the product in consumer-simple to understand and yet unbelittling dialog. It was humorous, even entertaining and it didn't make me want to reactively upload to my wall a pic of my neighbor's dog taking body shots off the fattest guy in the room.

 

Some interesting ideas, but I'm not interested. Facebook meets my online social networking needs perfectly fine. Although there are some who will jump on this boat (as on Buzz, Wave, etc.), I don't think most FB users will jump ship anytime soon. I certainly won't, in the near future. I could be wrong, though...

 

Holy crap.

Calm down Rwuk o_o you think anyone's going to read all of that?

 

Heh, they don't have to. I forgot to add my disclaimer.

/rant.

 

I just ignored it after the first 2 lines LOL

 

Interesting ideas, and they do illustrate some fundamental problems with the way Facebook is organized/presented.

Google has not been very successful outside of its search engine and advertising, however. Buzz, its last social project (twitter competitor) was a total failure. The company does not appear to have much in the way of direction - "moving forward".

 

I disconnected from the Facebook matrix a couple years ago and have never regretted it. Google+ is more of the same, IMO. My closed Twitter account is all the social media I'll ever need.

 

And what about the new black bar across the top of Google homepage? I always thought one of the best things about the philosophy behind Google's design is their non-intrusive, low-key, minimal attitude.

I hate pages full of things popping out trying to grab my attention. Google won over Yahoo!, Altavista and all those search engines no one remembers in part because of its simplicity, clean look and functionality. If they loose that factor, they're out.

I wonder how well it integrates with Google+'s design, though, and I understand the rationale behind this radical design move. After so many years of white, the bar really stands out and it could be a really good strategy to lure people into trying their new social network.

'In a few years all social media and commerce will be crosslinked and datamined into the transweb entity Omnigoogabook and you won't even be able to tweet a meme without generating mountains of microdemographically optimized recommendations (you-might-also-likes) and fnord.' (kyzf42 on Reddit)

Google really knows how to sell a product.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnJ5Bl4kLI&feature=player_embedded

 

Google gave original Mac designer Andy Herzfeld free rein on Google+. While no one seems to have an invite that I could find, the design is already getting good reviews and we now know the reason why.

AppleInsider | Google gave original Mac designer free rein on new Google+ UI

 

Oh boy if it's half as good as Orkut I'm sure hundreds of people will love it.

 

I'd like to try it, just in case it happens to be the rare google social network that takes off (I mean, it's people like us that will determine that, might as well see if it's worthwhile enough to spread). I got on gmail back in the early days when it was hard to get an invite, and I'm glad I did. Anyone have invites yet by any chance?

 

Another google thing eh? The one thing I was interested in was google wave, that was a super freakin great concept but it just never worked right.

e-mail is outdated and a centralized email server like wave was a brilliant idea.

 

I really liked the idea of wave, I just didn't find it as practical as I thought.

 

"Seriously... I have never seen such arrogant and delusional self-promotion (marketing) in all my days."

I stopped reading there, but I want to say I have... APPLE! (and they do it in an even worse fashion).

 

Got a Google+ invite you would like to sell? Apparently many wish to buy it from you.

Google+ Stops Invites Citing 'Insane Demand' -- InformationWeek

 

Can't believe anyone's paying. I sent out a million invites last night for free.

Also, wave was a terrible idea and it completely misunderstood the use of email/ IMing.

 

It's not hard to get an invite, anyone who has been invited can send out as many invites as they like. you simple just post and attach someones email.

I'm playing around with it and I think it has greeeeaaaat potential!

 

The Google+ carryover interface to Gmail is simply hideous... even on my 1680x1050 monitor, the "Preview (Dense)" theme is barely usable. I'd hate to imagine using it on a 1024x600 netbook monitor.

 

what are you talking about interface in Gmail? Gmail looks like its old self (with a slight new colour change) ?? image please.

 

works absolutely great here on all kind of sizes..
and works great on maps, calendar, and google search. just waiting for google reader..

go to settings, chose a new theme, and there you have two themes: preview, and preview (dense).

 

It's not bad at all in the other Google Applications--looks clean and crisp, and contains a lot of design cues from MS's Metro. In Gmail, though, there is far too much whitespace between each mail item, along the sides, between the buttons, etc. On the Bold Blue and Classic themes (which I usually use) and with my multiple inbox setup, I can see 30+ lines of emails on my T500. Switching to the Preview (Dense) theme, I can see only ~20 lines (each of which are much shorter as well, to accommodate for the large white borders).

In short, I have no problem with the interface style, but it needs major work before I'd be willing to switch to it: there's far too much wasted space.

 

no, you just have too much mails

 

Uuuuhhh!! I like the new gmail theme!! full HD screen here.

 

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googleplus/

 

I used it for several course projects and such. It was amazing for collaboration and quick sharing of ideas.

Sure you can do that through email, but Wave just made more sense.

 

http://i.imgur.com/lzj4k.gif

and still waiting for that invite.

 

I'm waiting till I get a definitive answer on whether Google involuntarily adds your Google+ friends to your Gmail contact list.

 

I got in thanks to my pal, but I never cared and probably will never care for social networking. This is my first such experience (yes I don't have failbook or myspace etc.). I created and account and that's it, I'm done. Forgot about it already lol