Google introduce the Google+ project – Social Network

Google today introduced their social network, the Google + project.

Among the most basic of human needs is the need to connect with others. With a smile, a laugh, a whisper or a cheer, we connect with others every single day.

Today, the connections between people increasingly happen online. Yet the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions are lost in the rigidness of our online tools.

In this basic, human way, online sharing is awkward. Even broken. And we aim to fix it.

We’d like to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software. We want to make Google better by including you, your relationships, and your interests.

The social network seems to consist of the following five components:

• +Circles: share what matters, with the people who matter most
• +Sparks: strike up a conversation, about pretty much anything
• +Hangouts: stop by and say hello, face-to-face-to-face
• +Mobile: share what’s around, right now, without any hassle
• +Huddle: Coordinating with friends and family in real-time

Here are the introductions videos:

and here is the link to the Google Blog Post:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/introducing-google-project-real-life.html

Will you be checking  this out, we sure will.  We are hoping it is not going to end up the same way as Google Wave.

Google have also informed us that they are taking our security very seriously:

You and over a billion others trust Google, and we don’t take this lightly. In fact we’ve focused on the user for over a decade: liberating data, working for an open Internet, and respecting people’s freedom to be who they want to be. We realize, however, that Google+ is a different kind of project, requiring a different kind of focus—on you. That’s why we’re giving you more ways to stay private or go public; more meaningful choices around your friends and your data; and more ways to let us know how we’re doing. All across Google.

Google+ is currently invite only and is under field trial right now.  You can show your interest by navigating to:

https://plus.google.com/up/start/?sw=1&type=st

Wave Goodbye to Wave

It’s time to wave goodbye to Wave.  Google have announced that they are shutting down Google Wave.

….Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily “liberate” their content from Wave.

We remember the excitement of this new Google App and many were convinced this was going to change the way we communicate.  It was also suggested that Wave would replace email.  Much like Gmail, getting an account was like a blessing and tracking down friends, family or anyone who had the ability to send you an invite was a daily task.

Gina Trapani has always championed Wave and spoke at the Web 2.0 expo back in 2009 in a presentation called “How to make sense of Google Wave”.  She then went on to write “The Complete Guide to Google Wave” which has been very successful.  I am sure she will be mortified at the recent news.

We are sad to see Wave go, even though we never really used it after a week.  How do you guys feel?

Eurovision 2010 and Google Wave

Here’s something that you could use Google Wave for, Eurovision.  That’s right, get everyone involved in the fun and joy that is Eurovision.  Comments are flowing very well on Twitter right now.