What We2Geeks would like from Project Glass

Augmented Reality and web access from a eyewear device is not new news.  We have been talking about this kind of thing for years but no one has been able to make this happen in a way that would catch on.  

Recently I did an article about Vuzix Smart Glasses and how the slim style was getting closer to what people would be willing to wear on a daily basis inside and out.  Google has taken this one step further with Project Glass.

On the Google+ page they openly ask for comments on what we want to see from Project Glass.   First lets talk about what we see in the video.

Click to read more ...

Quest for a Good Google+ Circle Approach

So when I was first presented with the concept of Google+ Circles I tossed my people into circles that defined where I knew them from. It seemed a good way to organize the people I knew.

But I ran into a problem quickly when I realized that circles also served for sharing specific info.  If I wanted to share something private, i needed a private circle.  So I made Inner Circle.  Then I needed one for gamers cause not everyone cares about that.  And then I saw the incoming problem. My circles were quickly spiraling out of control.  I now had 8 Circles with people in them (plus the following circle which was empty at this time) and 2 of the circles were subgroups of the other 6.  As I add people this is going to get worse and worse.

I came up with a quick idea to Venn diagram my circles and friends.

And although it was interesting to see the people who fell into Gamers from my other circles I was realizing fast that this arrangement had no bearing on what I was saying on Google+.  I was either sharing something only an inner circle of people needed to know or I wasn't.

So did I only need one circle?  I put everyone in one circle. But it wasn't granular enough.  I don't want to share everything with everyone.  So ....there is an inside and an outside.  Well given I am a person with a strong memory for Movie quotes I decided "The Byrnes Circle of Trust" (from The Fockers)

I made a Circle of Trust and A...a....a....a name escaped me.  They weren't outside.  That was everyone else.  Hmmm.  A Circle of Neutrality! Now most everyone was in the Circle of Neutrality and only a few inside the Circle of Trust.  And I was feeling there was another division.  No one in my Circle of Trust would care if i shared Gamer stuff with them even if they were not into it....because we are so close they would ignore it and I would not feel bad and neither would they.  The Neutral group definitely had people who probably didn't want to read everything and people who did.  So one more circle...Outside the Circle.

Most of the people Outside the circle would dissapear or get moved into the Circle of Neutrality.  So perhaps the Outside will be renamed the Circle of Transition.  LOL  I dunno.

As you can see I kept the "Following Circle"  there are 2 or 3 folks in there now.  I really wish this circle was not included in your default stream.  These folks should really only be in your incoming or following stream. On second thought each circle should be able to be included or not included in the normal stream. I like you can just look at one at a time but my default should be somewhat customizable to more then one circle.

Some of you will say?  How did you get that cool red blocked circle?  And to that I would answer ....Block someone.  And it instantly appears.  Yes I already had someone just randomly follow me and they never said a word and only spoke in a language I do not speak.  I am not sure why they followed me I panicked and in the Blocked Circle of Doom they went.   It really needs flames....or the sounds of tortured souls or something.

So I have added one circle you don't see here and that is my Blog circle.  Not everyone wants to see my blogs or my re-posted stuff. Either because they follow me on Blogger already or they just don't care.  I, unlike so many services, have made these posts opt-in.  So if you don't see my blog re-postings you are likely not in this circle.  Please just drop me a message I will toss you in my spam circl--- errrr I mean Blog Circle.

thanks for reading.

Google+ or Google Plus

I finally got into this new thing. And I have to say that there is a strong desire to see where this thing goes.  I like many of the ideas they have and the way they approached the interface.  Here are my first impressions.

Security
I of course jumped in and filled out my profile and was happy to see a very straightforward privacy setting for each field that was available for me to fill in.  Anywhere I was not happy about sharing there was a place for me to limit to just me or circles or just people...or people and circles ....you get the idea.

Friends
Managing your friends is almost fun.  You drop people into circles and their little icon pleasantly falls into the circle and then lines itself up.  You can toss the same person in as many circles as you want and even more convenient is that if you notice someone needs to be in another circle you don't need to add them again.  Just grab them from one circle and drag them into another.  When I tried this I was concerned it would remove them from the first circle but it did not. 

Also hovering over a friend's icon highlights the circles they are currently in and no one is every told what your circles are.

Hangouts
Because there are so few people in Google+ right now its hard to find people to use this function with.  But I found it really easy to just post a general Hangout with video and voice and just wait for people to stroll in.  Very much like leaving your Dorm room door open in college.  In no time at all you can have a party or an in depth conversation on stellar navigation depending on who walks in.  I really like this function and although there were some instabilities (and some reported by others) I think it will get off the ground just fine. 

Sparks
I did not see the huge need to have this in google+ at all. Perhaps because I use Google Reader a whole lot and aggregate content all the time.  Its essentially an aggregator that works on your interests.  I get it....but i don't need it and its less powerful then google reader in a lot of ways.  I am using it as interests only right now.

Conclusion
I am very interested to see where this goes.  I like the interface much better then Facebook which is a personal preference.  I also like that you can really control who you broadcast stuff to with circles.  Granted not everyone is going to understand how to best set them up at the get-go but I think with some trial and error circles allow you to spam less people while at the same time letting folks read stuff they might be interested in.

More later..

Google+ Invites Please Stop complaining

I am a google enthusiast.  So naturally when Google introduced Google+ I wanted to be in line for a beta invite.  I signed up the traditional way.  Then made it clear to my friends who I knew would sign up that I was interested in an invite.

Several days have passed and a bunch of my friends have clearly gotten in because I got not 1 but 3 invites simultaneously to get into Google+.   However...none of the invites get me in. 

I would be mad perhaps if this was new for Google.  An invite to the rest of the planet means you get to come or be in something.  Its a guarantee.  Its not conditional. Perhaps that's part of why people are confused and a bit angry.

I am used to waiting for Alpha's and Beta's.  I really enjoy seeing things before they are finished.  I like to peek behind the walls and see the faceplates put on things. I think it makes me appreciate the final product more when I know how far something has come along.

However if it were up to me (its not....I know that) you don't allow invites without meaning it.   If you are governed by an overall limit for the test phase then just make people sign up and leave it at that.

If you are looking to bring in people who will be active based on the users already testing the system then you should grind out invites that guarantee access and limit those but they would clearly be honored before allowing in the straight sign ups.    If you you wanted you put a 24 hour expire on them to make sure they are used in a timely fashion.

But given my past experience Google doesn't put this much thought (read: Waste Time) into invites and getting one in my gmail simply means that someone knows I want in and was kind enough to send one.  Other then that the invite is meaningless and people should stop getting all worked up about them.   Google will let us in when they are ready to and given overall value for my dollar (free) I cannot complain and would rather not hear you complain either.

For the record I am not in Google+ yet.  I am extremely excited to see it as I am with all Google applications.  And yes...just like you I want to be in it now. 

I promise when I run Google (read: Never) I will spend a disproportionate amount of time and schedule on the temporary invite process so it runs very well. < /sarcasm >

Google launches all out social networking assault with Google+ (video)

I signed up for this but they seem to be full right now.  This is a no brain-er for me as I already use mostly Google tools for everything I do.  Don't get me wrong Facebook is great but my world is already on Google and I simply don't have the energy to move it all over to fbook. 

Google launches all out social networking assault with Google+ (video): "

Social networking has long been Google's white whale. The company has done plenty of dabbling in the space, snatching up Orkut, which has failed to catch on in the US, and rolling out Buzz to the relative indifference of its massive user base. Announced today after seemingly endless leaks, Google+ represents a major push for the software giant. The service began showing itself to a smattering of users last night, as a black bar across the top of various of the company's properties. A '+You' button on the far left of the bar currently brings you to the service's landing page, offering a tour of the many features that fall under the Google+ umbrella. Get to know the services better after the break.
Continue reading Google launches all out social networking assault with Google+ (video)