google

Google Buzz

/ Shane / 4 Comments

Can anybody explain to me what the deal is with Google Buzz?

It was sort of billed as Google’s answer to the whole social media thing. In reality, it seems to be just sort of a Twitter aggregator, so you can get your updates in with your mail. So it’s kind of like facebook, except with out all the features. Twitter itself has a better interface. Why add a middle man into things, especially when it adds nothing?

Okay, so maybe I don’t have to check another web page, I can pull that stuff into my gmail. That’s the (dubious) upside. The downside is that it seems to update inconsistently, I don’t completely understand how to use it, and it doesn’t work as well as the original websites it pulls in. In fact, what ends up happening, is that I read a few of the twitter feeds available there, so that when I actually go try to read the real feeds to catch the stuff I missed, I end up re-reading a bunch of things I already saw, and trying to sort those out.

I just can’t figure out what they were going for. What’s the point? This is even more worthless than Google Wave.

That’s two strikes Google! I’m so disappointed with you. Like two months ago, I thought you could do no wrong. Who’s at the wheel over there?

Google Wave = ?

/ Shane / 1 Comment

What to say about Google Wave?

First off, let me say that it is pretty cool. I could see the potential there. It is sort of a combination of chat and email, but the possibilities really shine when multiple people are using it at the same time. It also has some cool potential for work/school/group collaboration. I can see where they were going with it.

BUT

For the average person there doesn’t seem to be much point. It fills a niche that most people didn’t really need to be filled. It doesn’t offer me much more than Gmail already offers me (I even have chat built in to Gmail!). So the net result is that I just have one more website to check. As far as I can tell, Google Wave seems to be a website where people can go to ask each other what the heck Google Wave is and what we are supposed to be doing with it.

So, in summary, Google Wave is kind of cool but kind of useless, until such time that it completely replaces email (a.k.a. just short of never). Anybody disagree?

(And after all that, I have invites! Ask in the comments and I’ll send you one!)

A lot of good information is on the Internet

/ Shane / 6 Comments

I actually tried this to be sure it was true. If you type “why wont” into Google, it will list you the top search terms. And the top search term is…well, I will let the image speak for itself:

By the way, am I the only person who noticed “why won’t god heal amputees” on the list as well?

Link via FailBlog.

Chromed

/ Shane / 2 Comments

Just released: Google’s new webbrowser, Google Chrome.  I installed it 6 minutes after it went live, in fact, I am blogging from it right now.  You can learn more about it in comic form, arguably the best way to learn anything.  (Remind me to tell you about the Cartoon History of the Universe sometime…fantastic!)

So far so good.  Fonts and things are kind of looking funny.  It will take some getting used to with the tabs on the top, but I think it makes sense.  It imported everything from IE seemlessly.  There are a lot of speed and security enhancements, which are hard to quantify.  Best feature so far is the “new tab” page.  Rather than making a blank page when you go to a new tab, it displays a page that is customized to your personal browsing history.  Your most visited pages are there with one click access.  And somehow that new tab seems to load faster than the blank page in IE!

So, first impression is good.  It seems faster than IE and Firefox, but maybe that’s because I haven’t loaded it down with plugins, etc. yet.

Google Street View

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Today Google went live with Street View for Chicago.  It is really cool!  I don’t know if you played around with it when they first put NYC, Las Vegas and San Fransisco, but if you haven’t you should definitely go check it out!  Maybe it won’t be that interesting unless you live in Chicago (I certainly wasn’t interested until it came to Chicago) but at least give it a try.  I already checked, we’re not dancing in our underwear in the windows or anything.  They also added Philadelphia at some point.  They didn’t go far enough out for me to check out my apartment or job, but I did sit and gaze at Jim’s Steaks.  No, I really did.

And as long as you are checking things out, you might want to take a look at Read a Book by D’Mite.  Best song ever!  Sometimes when you want to teach important lessons, you have to speak to someone in their language (think Lil’ John) which in this case includes some foul language.  Be forewarned!  But I think the message is more important than the way it is conveyed…lessons such as personal hygiene, your body’s need for water and the importance of investing your money in land.

That is all.