WebProNews

Tag: Hangouts

  • New Google+ Android App Lets Users Start a Hangout From Their Phone

    Google today announced that, finally, its update for the Google+ Android app has arrived. The update has already been released for iOS devices, and now the Android Google+ app has a similarly redesigned interface. Google also revealed why the Android app was delayed while the iPhone app was released weeks ago – Google has implemented the ability to start mobile Hangouts directly from the Android Google+ app.

    The announcements came on the Official Google Blog, where Google Engineering Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra revealed the new interface and features. The app’s interface is almost identical to the new iOS version of the app, conforming to Google’s new “simpler, more beautiful” design philosophy. It adds a navigation ribbon, a stream featuring full-screen media, the ability to edit posts inline, and +1 buttons all over the place.

    Though mobile Hangouts have been a part of the Google+ app for a while, users were limited to joining Hangouts that were already in progress. With the updated app, users will be able to start a Hangout from their Phone. From Gundotra’s post:

    To get started, tap “Hangout” in the (new) navigation ribbon, add some friends and tap “Start.” We’ll ring their phones (if you want), and if someone misses the hangout, they can ring you back with a single tap.

    The picture below shows what people invited to a mobile Hangout will see when their phones alert them. The updated app is available now in the Google Play store.

    An incoming Hangout alert on an Android phone

  • Facebook Gets Hangouts Through Oovoo

    Google+ has one major feature that sets them apart from Facebook – the Hangout. With the recent public release of Hangouts on Air, the value is even greater. Facebook only has one-on-one video calling Skype, but a third-party application is looking to close the gap.

    Meet Oovoo, a multi-user video conferencing service that is essentially a Google+ Hangout in stand-alone application form. The service lets users hold up video chats with up to 12 people, two more than what Google+ Hangouts offer. The free service is already being used by 46 million people so obviously the next step is to expand its user base.

    They will be doing this through integration with Facebook. Oovoo will now have its own app on the social networking site that will allow people to hold video chats with up to 12 of their friends via Facebook. It uses the Oovoo software, but it operates within Facebook creating the illusion that Facebook has its own Hangout application.

    The Facebook integration isn’t the only thing that makes it like Hangouts. The conversations can be recorded and uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The application is also available on all iOS and Android devices.

    One of the more interesting things about the new Oovoo is its new feature – Call Link. With this, a user can send a chat invitation through email, text or social media. The person sent the invitation needs only click on the link and they are taken to a Web based version of Oovoo to join the chat immediately.

    It’s not an official app from Facebook, but Oovoo just closed one of the few gaps that Google+ had in front of Facebook. It’s not a huge deal yet as Facebook probably won’t be displaying Oovoo prominently on the front page like Google+ does for Hangouts. It does raise the question of whether or not Facebook might target Oovoo for acquisition to take advantage of its technology. It would be a better purchase than Instagram, that’s for sure.

    If you want to take advantage of Oovoo, hit up their site to download the application for Windows or Mac. It’s also available on iTunes and Google Play.

    [h/t: Gigaom]

  • Hangouts API Version 1.1 Discussed In Office Hours

    The metahangout that is the Google+ Office Hours went down this week and the discussion is one that developers will want to check out. J.D. Salazar and Richard Dunn from the Hangouts API team took time to answer developer questions and talk about the new features in Hangouts API Version 1.1.

    This week’s hangout is chock full of details clocking in at 53 minutes. While you may not want to watch the full thing, there are a few points that you should pay particular attention to. Since this hangout is all aout the new version of the Hangouts API, they obviously spend some time talking about that. That’s not all though as they also discuss other topics like static overlays and hangout resolution.

    From there, it goes into more general questions like uninstalling a Hangout app and accessing Picasa from within a hangout. Other topics include the future of face tracking and WebGL for the platform. As everything moves to HTML5, WebGL is going to become far more important for Hangouts and other online video conferencing systems like WebRTC.

    Finally, they discuss the possibility of an official Hangout App directory. There is an unofficial directory at the moment that is sufficient, but an official Google directory would be much appreciated.

    If you want to know more about the latest developments in the Hangout API, check out the Office Hours below:

  • Google Talks Content API For Shopping Testing

    Only a few days after Google pushed the Hangout for the Content API for Shopping, they’re back again with another Hangout from just last week. This week’s Hangout focuses on a slew of new questions for the Content API team. If you’re using the Content API for Shopping to run a business, you’re going to want to check the 41 minute Hangout.

    The first question that the team spends quite a bit of time on is how to test the Content API. They point out that it’s not good to run the API without testing before you start to service consumers. The team goes into a checklist of things that developers need to get ready with the API before they start to sell content.

    Another reveal is that Google will release a Content API developer’s guide for PHP and .NET in the near future. There are already Java and Python developer guides available because most people are probably programming in those languages. He says that the .NET was delayed not because of any dislik for it, but because he’s not as fluent in .NET as he is in other languages.

    The team also talkes in length about batch requests in the Content API. They discuss the limitations of batch requests and the reasoning why they can’t increase the size of requests in the API. They also discuss rate limits.

    All these questions and more are discussed in this edition of the Content API for Shopping Hangout. There’s a lot of good information here. I personally think it’s far more informative than the last one, but that’s because the team can actually provide solid answers this time around. The last Hangout had a lot of vague questions that were returned with vague answers.

  • Google Celebrates National Teachers’ Day

    Google Celebrates National Teachers’ Day

    Cristin Frodella, a group marketing manager for Google Education, revealed today how Google Education is celebrating National Teachers’ Day. Over at the Google Official Blog, Frodella shared two YouTube videos that demonstrate the difference good teachers (in combination with Google services and products, of course) can make in students’ lives.

    The first video tells the story of a North Carolina middle school student, Malachi, who had developmental troubles and struggled with the physical task of using pencils or pens to write. His teacher, Elaine Waters received a Google Chromebook, which enabled Malachi to improve his writing speed.

    The second video shows how Gina Nunez, an Arizona college prep school teacher, was able to use Google+ Hangouts to keep in touch with her class throughout her recovery from a medical procedure. The students were able to interact with their teacher, who was at home on medical leave, almost as if she were in the classroom.

    Frodella claims that the Google in Education Google+ page will feature more of these stories, though none have yet been posted. She suggests that those interested in how Google hopes educators will use technology should check out the YouTube videos from last week’s Education On Air conference, and online education technology conference that Google hosted using Google+ Hangouts. The videos can be found on the eduatgoogle YouTube channel.

    What do you think? Were you ever helped or inspired by a teacher using technology (Google or not) in a creative way? Leave your story below in the comments.

  • Google+ Hangouts On Air Now Available To All Users

    When Google+ introduced Hangouts, it was a major win for Google’s social networking service. It was the major defining feature for a lot of people and set Google+ apart from the competition. Google then introduced Hangouts On Air to a limited number of users that introduced the power of live broadcasting of Hangouts to hundreds of people.

    After being only available to those select people for about a year, Hangouts On Air is now available to all Google+ users worldwide. Now you can broadcast video live to your friends and your followers around the world. Just think of the possibilities: host an improv comedy collab show that invites fans to participate over the Web, broadcast a live concert to your fans, or host a live gaming session to show off the new features coming to a tabletop game.

    While the launch of Hangouts On Air to everyone is already a big win for Google, the company is launching it with some extra features that make it even better.

    Broadcast publicly. By checking “Enable Hangouts On Air,” you can broadcast your live hangout—from the Google+ stream, your YouTube channel or your website—to the entire world.

    See how many viewers you’ve got. During your broadcast, you can look inside the hangout to see how many people are watching live.

    Record and re-share. Once you’re off the air, we’ll upload a public recording to your YouTube channel, and to your original Google+ post. This way it’s easy to share and discuss your broadcast after it’s over.

    As Google points out, launching Hangouts On Air to every Google+ user is going to take some time. So the company will be rolling it out gradually over the next few weeks to make sure everything is in tip top shape. Some big names are already taking advantage of Hangouts On Air over the next week including CBS This Morning, Conan O’Brien and The Nerdist.

    If you’re one of the lucky folks who has access now, start sharing your original content with the world. Google Hangouts On Air is collaborative livestreaming at its finest. Hit up the Hangouts page on Google+ to see what people are broadcasting now. There’s bound to be something interesting going on.

    For help in setting up a Hangouts On Air, Google created a short video that shows you how to set one up. It’s an easy, yet powerful way to stay connected with your fans and followers. It will be really interesting to see how brands use it in the coming months.

  • Google+ Hangouts API Detailed During Meta-Hangout

    It feels good to have a Google+ office hours Hangout actually come out on time. Today’s hangout comes from just yesterday where the Google+ team and the Hangouts API lead Richard Dunn took the time out of their day to discuss what’s going on with the API.

    Today’s hangout is a bit special and longer than the others. Clocking in at 42 minutes, the entirety of this hangout is all about the Hangouts API. It’s also special because it’s more casual with the developers talking about their current projects.

    By far, the coolest project mentioned is that one of the developers is looking into the possibility of perhaps bringing Netflix movie parties to a Hangout. This would require looking into preventing a Hangout app, like Netflix, during a Hangout On Air. There’s nothing like that yet, but they talked about the possibilities.

    One of the more interesting questions involved bringing Hangouts On Air to Android, but that extends to bringing Hangouts On Air to mobile devices in general. Unfortunately, there aren’t any plans for it yet, but they are looking into it.

    They are also rolling out Hangouts On Air soon that will allow people to livestream their Hangouts on YouTube and other places like Google+.

    All these current questions and more are discussed in the latest Google+ office hours Hangout. There’s some good stuff here for developers who are now just getting their feet wet with the publicly available Hangout API. Check it out and become informed.

  • Google Drive Seen During a Developer Google+ Hangout

    Google has certainly been pushing their Google+ Hangouts recently. Hosting everything from conference panel discussions to an interview with the Secretary General of the UN, Google is hoping Hangout becomes the go-to place for videoconferencing. Anything, however, can happen during a live broadcast, and when you are dealing with cutting-edge technology that may still be somewhat secret, live can mean leaks.

    During a Google Android developer Hangout last Friday the Google Drive icon was able to be seen for a split-second. Google Drive is Google’s forthcoming attempt at a cloud storage service for the public. It will function similar to Dropbox by allowing users a certain amount of space to save files onto, though the base storage amount for Google Drive is 5GB – slightly more than Dropbox’s 3GB.

    This isn’t the first time the Google Drive logo has been leaked prematurely, though it has changed colors since February. This time the icon showed up in a list of options to which a PDF document could be sent. Right alongside the Drive icon is the Dropbox icon, confirming that Google has a working version of Drive and that they are testing its capabilities against Dropbox. This sighting could lend credence to the rumors that Google Drive will be launching soon, maybe even this week.

    What do you think? Will Google Drive be launching sooner rather than later? How does this affect Dropbox and other cloud storage options? Leave a comment below and let me know, right after you take a look at the video in which the leak occurred:

    (via The Verge)

  • Google+ Team Details Hangouts API Version 1.0

    As you are probably aware, Google took the Hangouts API out of preview last month. That means that anybody can mess around with Hangouts now to make their own Web applications that utilize what is arguably Google+‘s most popular feature.

    With any new API, developers are going to have questions. That’s why the Google+ team held their usual Office Hours to discuss the API. You’ll want to check out the video to get all the details on publishing a Hangout app, the terms of service for the API and the Hangout button. This is all very important stuff that any developer worth their salt should know.

    The most interesting part of any Hangout is the Q&A session at the end. This week doesn’t disappoint with some details emerging on the REST APIs and how to set the Hangout topic. The most important question though might be the very last one which covered whether or not you can use the Hangout button with other developer’s Hangout apps. The answer is a resounding yes. As long as the Hangout app is public, you can share it however you like.

    Check out the Hangout in full for all the juicy details on the Hangouts API. Become informed and start building some awesome apps.

  • Google+ Team Talks JavaScript And REST APIs

    It was only yesterday that Google posted the latest Google+ platform office hours on YouTube. That one was from last weekend and contained lots of juicy info including a live coding session. It might surprise you then that Google was a little late in getting one of their past hangouts out on YouTube. It might be old, but it’s still a good one.

    Today’s hangout comes from March 21, but it contains some super important updates regarding Google+. These are the details developers would be keen on learning to get the most out of the platform. As the headline might have tipped you off on, the main focus of this hangout is JavaScript and the REST APIs.

    While the above issues take up the majority of the hangout at a whopping 24 minutes, the team still some time out to answer some important viewer questions. The one that may be the most pertinent to Google+ users is if Google has plans on bringing the old +1 button back. I personally like the new sleek look of the +1 button, but I’m sure the old one had its fans as well. Well, Google says that the majority of users seem to like the change to the new +1 button. They do welcome any and all feedback though on the matter.

    Speaking of feedback, Google has a handy Google+ platform issue tracker where developers can submit issues they have with the platform. These kind of things usually don’t see a reply so it’s no surprise that some developers may feel that Google isn’t paying attention. That’s not the case according to the Google+ team. They say that they read each and every one of them and discuss them internally.

    Check out this latest Google+ hangout and become informed. The platform is constantly changing and it’s good to stay on top of said changes.

  • Google+ Platform Office Hours Details jQuery Plugin

    It’s another week and you know what that means – another Google+ platform office hours. While most of these are usually pretty interesting, this week has something that’s far more helpful to developers.

    The office hours last week were hosted by Jennifer Murphy, a developer programs engineer for Google. She gives a short demo of the new jQuery plugin that is making the rounds around the Google+ development scene. The source code is available for you to try out now, but I suggest you check out Murphy’s live coding tour of the software first.

    After showing off jQuery, Murphy answers user questions for the rest of the office hours. One thing that should make a certain developer pretty happy is that you can sign up for a Google+ Platform Preview account. This allows you to see and mess around with pre-release versions of Google+. It’s especially useful for developers who make a Google+ application and don’t want to see it break when new major changes hit the Google+ platform.

    Murphy also addresses some other concerns regarding Google+ APIs and updates to potential problems regarding a conflict between Google Analytics social actions and the +1 button count. It was also announced that moderation tools are not coming to Hangouts yet, but Google is listening to all the feedback regarding this.

    The final announcement sees a change to the Google+ Platform Office Hours schedule. It used to be that the Google+ team would do one every week. They are cutting back soon to a twice a month schedule so they can focus on higher quality content in the hangouts.

    Check out the entire video to learn more about Google+. Become informed and use it to make your Google+ app even better.

  • Google Hangout Live From WWW 2012

    A live Hangout will take place with Googlers at the World Wide Web (WWW) 2012 conference in Lyon, France. The Hangout will take place on Wednesday, April 18 at 10:30 EDT and will feature members of Google’s technical team from the Google Booth at WWW. The announcement of the Hangout was made on the Google Student Blog by Marni Levasseur, Google’s People Programs Specialist for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

    Announced topics of discussion include the “interplay between engineering and research required for product innovation” and “tips on how to be a well-rounded researcher. Only Google Students will be participating in the Google+ Hangout, but anyone can watch it from the Google Students Google+ page. Google is encouraging crowd-sourced questions on its WWW 2012 Google Moderator page, where anyone can submit questions and vote on others. Alternatively, the blog post states that questions in publicly shared Google+ posts using the hashtag #GoogleWWW2012 will also be considered.

    If you are reading this too late to catch the Hangout live, you can see the whole discussion on the Google Students YouTube channel.

    The World Wide Web Conference is a yearly conference on the topic of the future of the Web organized by the International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee. The conference provides a forum for discussion and debate on topics such as the evolution of the web, standardization of web technologies, and the impact of the web on society and culture.

  • Google Hosts First “TechRaking” Conference for Investigative Journalists

    Google and the Center for Investigative Reporting are hosting a conference today at Google headquarters dubbed “TechRaking” 2012. The conference was meant to “inspire muckraking by exploring tools that help reporters tell stories with greater interactivity, opportunities for long-form journalism to thrive in new mediums, best practices for verifying information and fact-checking online, and much more…” according to a post on the official Google blog.

    The Center for Investigative Reporting summarizes its view of the conference on its site:

    Investigative reporting will always be a necessity in society. As we move into the future, technology and muckraking will be intertwined. Reporters will need to know how technology can help their reporting and the presentation of their work to the public. Technologists will will need to understand the art of storytelling in the public interest. Our fates are joined.

    Problems and opportunities abound in this space. We believe that through communication and mutual education, we can form a more perfect union between these two crafts.

    The invite-only conference has a day-long schedule, featuring talks from journalists and engineers. Events at the conference can be followed on the Center For Investigative Reporting’s Google+ page. An early panel discussion took place with California Watch, the Los Angeles Times, and Bradford Cross, co-founder of FlightCaster. Seminars were held on topics as diverse as using “Hackerspace,” global entrepreneurship, experimental filmmaking, and “Tacogate.”

    One of the highlights of the conference was a Google+ Hangout featuring journalists from around the world. Guests in the Hangout included Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Student Affairs for Columbia’s Journalism School; Amna Nawaz, NBC News’ Pakistan bureau chief; Nic Robertson, CNN International senior correspondent; Sarah Hill, news anchor for an NBC affiliate in the midwest; and Krishna Bharat, founder of Google News.

    I don’t know what Google or the Center for Investigative Reporting hope will come from the conference, but I’m glad it’s happening. Journalism, whatever we take it to be, is changing faster than any business model can keep up with. And with reporting and data-gathering happening nearly as fast (or faster) than news can be read, technology will be required to help parse the never-ending stream of information.

  • Google to Stream Hangout with UN Secretary-General

    Google has been updating and using the “Hangouts” feature of Google+ quite a bit lately. From underwater hangouts, to answering developer questions, to launching geeky web channels, it’s clear that Google thinks Hangouts is a feature of their social network that can compete with Facebook. And with the Hangouts API out of preview, developers can now use it and implement it into things not even Google can think of.

    In the spirit of the Digg Dialogg and the Reddit AMA, Google will be hosting a Hangout with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From the Google blog:

    We’re passionate about changing the world. But there’s another organization that’s equally passionate—and has been doing it a lot longer. For more than 60 years, the United Nations has worked to advance a global agenda on ending war and poverty, promoting human rights, protecting the environment and dealing with humanitarian crises—critical issues that will determine the quality of life for future generations to come.

    So we’re delighted that on Tuesday, April 10, some of the voices of the next generation will have the chance to participate in an exclusive global conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon via a Google+ Hangout from the United Nations headquarters in New York.

    Unfortunately, though, the interview won’t be as crowd-sourced as those other internet interviews I mentioned. But six lucky “young people” from the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America will have the opportunity to ask the Secretary-General Questions. The blog post stated the young people were selected “in consultation with partners in civil society, academia and United Nations offices in the field.”

    So, even though you can’t join the Hangout yourself, it will certainly be interesting to hear the types of questions young people from vastly different regions around the world have for the leader of the UN. You can watch the Hangout streaming live tomorrow, April 10, at 3:3o pm EDT. The event will be streamed on YouTube at youtube.com/unitednations.

    Here’s the video preview that accompanies the blog:

  • Google Places Helps Small Businesses Get Noticed

    Google has touted the benefits of Google+ for small businesses through various promotional videos. One service that doesn’t get a lot of public love in regards to small businesses is Google Places. The Google Places team held a Hangout on Google+ recently to answer questions small businesses may have about the service.

    The Hangout covered some core topics that small businesses are sure to find useful including how to get started, getting noticed and other details. There’s some good stuff here so if you’re hoping to get discovered on Google Places, take some of this advice to heart.

    While you can watch the hour long video for yourself, we’ll include some of the more pertinent information. First and most important is reporting a relocated business. You will have to report the old location of your business as having closed so customers won’t go to that location by accident, then update your page with the current location.

    Small businesses can put in descriptions on Google Places for potential customers to read. The Places team says to think of it as “your elevator pitch.” One important thing to remember is that your description has no bearing on search so keywords won’t get you anywhere.

    As for those businesses that deliver services straight to the user, your business can be listed on Google Places as well. Google calls them “service area businesses” and they have created a guide for those who want to use Places for their needs.

    Finally, Google is currently looking at how to connect Google+ and Places. They say that they’re “continuing to evaluate how these tools might work together in the future.”

    If you own a small business, the entire Hangout is worth checking out. You can watch it below:

  • Google+ Hangouts With Extras Are Being Phased Out

    Hangouts are arguably the most popular feature of Google+, and Google has gone out of its way to promote various, prominent Hangouts. The company has also used the medium to have plenty of its own, connecting with users and/or providing in depth discussion amongst staff for the users’ benefit.

    Google introduced Hangouts with Extras in September. This was a set of tools to enhance the Hangouts experience, including things like: screensharing, Sketchpad and Google Docs support, and hangout naming. Google is now doing away with Hangouts with Extras, however, in favor of just making this stuff part of Google Hangouts themselves. In other words, they will no longer be extra. They’ll just be part of the experience.


    Hangouts Extras

    Hangouts Extras

    Hangouts Extras

    Hangouts Extras

    Google’s Chee Chew said in a Google+ post, “Last year we launched hangouts with extras as a way to preview certain features (like screensharing and google docs). Since then we’ve graduated nearly all of these extras to hangouts proper, and yesterday’s launch of hangout apps provides even more things to do together and opportunities for developers to expand the experience.”

    “Looking ahead, we think it’s important to focus on the core hangouts experience — both to reduce complexity, and to release new features more quickly,” added Chew. “So as a result, we’re going to phase out hangouts with extras over the next few weeks. There is, of course, one major extra not yet graduated — the ability to name a hangout — rest assured we’ll bring it to hangouts proper before retiring extras completely.”

    Last month, Google announced that Google Docs are now a core port of Hangouts.

    Since then, Google launched the Google Hangouts API opening the door for all kinds of real extras built on Google Hangouts.

  • YouTube Slam Now Lets You Create Your Own Battles

    Back in December of 2011, YouTube launched YouTube Slam, a game/discovery mechanism where certain types of videos are pitted against each other in a one-on-one style battle. The videos are be in the same general category like “comedy slam” or “dance slam.” Each slam has the viewer select which video “won” the battle, and there are online leaderboards and such.

    “This is the place for discovering talented amateur singers, the most adorable clips and the craziest videos on YouTube,” they said at the time. Recently, YouTube hosted a Valentine’s Day slam where users’ proposal videos were matched up against on another.

    Today, YouTube has announced that users can now make their own Slam battles, using their own playlists.

    You can now turn any of your playlists into a YouTube Slam. Play solo, share the YouTube link with your friends or even play together in a Google+ Hangout. Here’s how to do it:

    1. Make a playlist with the videos you want to include in the Slam (you’ll need at least two videos and they have to be public), or choose a playlist you have already
    2. Go to www.youtube.com/slam/create
    3. Click the “Create Slam” button next to one of your playlists.

    After that, a button to play your slam will appear, as will one to remove the slam from public consumption.

    I just tried it out, using my playlist of video clips from, about, or mashed-up from the film Home Alone.

    While this is fun and all to do by yourself and to share with your friends for them to do by themselves – it would be a lot more fun if you could all vote on the video battles together. Luckily, YouTube says that you can. Google+ Hangouts now support YouTube Slams. Having the ability to watch YouTube videos with your friends inside a Hangout was already pretty fun, but this could really spark the use of YouTube inside Hangouts.

    So next time you and your friends are arguing about which standup comedian is funnier, or which faceplant video is the most brutal – just put it to a vote.

  • Google+ Shares Daria Musk: Hangout Success Story

    If you’ve got something to share and you want to reach a wide network of people Google+ might be for you. Today Google shared on their blog the story of Daria Musk, a young musical performer who made her dreams come true using Google+ hangouts.

    Daria had a dream of reaching out to people with her music and playing in front of large crowds. Using Google+ Hangouts she was able to advertise shows and bring people together to watch them. Before she could even recognize the power of this type of social networking she was playing to huge global crowds.

    Daria comments on what she was thinking about when she decided to try Google+:

    “I was dreaming maybe there’s this wider world that I can sing for,”

    “Maybe my people are out there somewhere.”

    “Right now if you get on Google+ and you show that you’re doing something remarkable, they’ll notice you,”

    Take a look at her video:

    Daria included some advice about how to have success with Hangouts on the blog. Here’s what she recommends:

    * Announce the Hangout: Be excited! Hang a virtual poster on your stream and tell users what you’ll be doing or discussing.

    * Encourage participants: If you’ve noticed great comments, invite those users directly to get a lively discussion going.

    * Follow up: After the Hangout, post a summary on your stream. What happened? What was discussed? What will you do with what you learned?

    This is simple advice that can really go a long way to get people interested in what you’re promoting whether it is yourself or a particular product/service. What she’s doing would work for many different applications. This something Google provides for free so users should really take advantage of it.

    As of the 13th of this month Daria reached a milestone with Google+, she has one million followers. It took her about eight months to reach this point, and if you are wondering if it furthered her career, it certainly did.

    After some searching I found Daria featured on Taylor Guitars website. Taylor Guitars is a huge manufacturer and distributor of guitars worldwide. Being featured on their site is a big deal and if she were to secure some type of endorsement deal in the future, it could bring her a lot of recognition.

    Check out the video Taylor Guitars has of Daria on their website:

    Seems like she’s doing pretty good to me, this was a great story for Google to feature on their new social networking platform. It definitely opens up my mind two the Google+ experience.

  • Google+ Hangouts API Out Of Preview

    One of the more impressive features of Google+ is the Hangouts feature. It enables video chatting among multiple friends at once over the Google+ platform, but organizations also use it to meet one-on-one with people. Googlers do it all the time to interact with developers. President Obama even joined in on a Hangout that may have won an out of work man a job.

    With Hangouts providing a platform for all these kinds of events, it was pretty big news when Google released a Hangouts API preview a few months back. It’s fantastic news then that the Hangouts API is now out of preview and available to the entirety of the development community.

    Now developers of all sizes will be able to create Hangout apps. The good news is that Hangout app building should be recognizable to people who build web apps as it is essentially just that. Google describes it as just “a big window inside the Hangout UI.” The features available to Hangout features now include:

    Initiate a group video chat with up to 10 people
    Control hangout microphones, cameras, speakers and volume levels
    Add sound effects and attach image overlays to faces
    Set UI elements such as the video feed, chat pane, and notifications

    Once you get your Hangout app published, you can use the new Hangout button to direct people to it from your Web site. This should be especially handy for organizations or groups who hold frequent Hangouts.

    If you want to get cracking at new apps right now, check out the documentation for it. Hangouts is definitely one of the coolest things to come out of Google+, so I’m sure there will be some equally cool Hangout apps being created over the next few months.

  • How Google Approaches User Experience

    How Google Approaches User Experience

    Google posted the following video from an on air Google+ hangout in which a handful of the company’s UX designers talk for about a half hour about the kinds of things they do when approaching user experience projects and issues. Included in the discussion are a YouTube designer, a Google visual designer working on the Chrome Web Store, and a UX guy from the Google Analytics team (he’s also worked on the Google TV team and some of Google’s ad teams).

    The discussion starts off by talking about how putting the user first is Google’s primary objective. The YouTube designer talks about how the UX staff put themselves in the mindset of the user and meet with the company’s various product managers and engineers to push this element of things. They’ll draw up mocks and prototypes on paper to illustrate things to the other Googlers.

    A big part of their job is to work with other Google teams and talk to partners about where the user experience can be improved. The YouTube guy talks about meeting with partners at SXSW, for example, and collecting feedback.

    Google+ itself has been huge for Google to collect feedback. Various Googlers are communicating with users throughout the social network, by hangouts and posts all the time. Even if Google+ never gets Facebook-like engagement from users, it’s already proven to be an invaluable tool for communicating with Google itself. I don’t think there are too many Googlers who aren’t on Google+.

    It’s also good for just learning more about the inner-workings of Google – whether that’s a random employee ranting about problems he has with Google’s strategies, or discussions like the one in the video above.

  • Google+ Hangouts Get Free Calls To U.S. & Canada

    Another feature has graduated the Hangouts with Extras class and is now a core part of the Google+ Hangouts experience. As of today, you can now place free calls anywhere in the U.S. and Canada right inside your Hangout box.

    In the past few months, we’ve graduated two widely-used features from Hangouts with extras to the main Hangouts experience: screensharing and Google Docs. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’re graduating a third and very popular feature — the ability to call a phone number from Hangouts. Calls to the US and Canada are free, and international calling rates are super, super low.

    How low, you ask? According to Google’s current calling rates, calls to France and Germany will cost $0.10, India $0.02, and Mexico $0.15. You can check out their rate calculator to determine the current charges to other countries around the world.

    Once inside a hangout, all you have to do is click the “invite” button and then the “+telephone” link. Enter the number you want to call and click “add.” You can only dial one number at a time.

    The original Hangouts with Extras class included screensharing, Sketchpad, and Google Docs support. Earlier this month, Google Docs graduated and is now a core part of Hangouts. Hangout participants can collaboratively edit documents at one time.