Why I love Google+

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The past few weeks has seen me pretty much turn back into a Google fanboy again.

I strayed away from their products and services when I got my Macbook Pro and iPhone, as I was using the inbuilt email clients instead. But let’s face it, the native Apple mail can’t compete with Gmail, and the iPhone app looks

gorgeous

. With this I started using Google+ again, and joined some great communities.

These communities are essentially like every other forum/social network ‘group’, but with a few added features. However it’s not really the functionality of the groups that’s great; it’s the level of engagement. Ask a question on the Chromebooks group and there’s an answer in minutes. Drop into the Nexus group and see a bunch of geeky guys positing their awesome homescreen layouts, with a ton of comments to follow. There’s no spam, no (serious) trolling, no fake accounts, just a bunch of people with the same interests, genuinely engaging in interesting conversation.

I would say Google+ is the only social network available with this level of quality engagement. I use Twitter a lot, and still think it’s great, but the conversation isn't quite as complex due to the character limitations, and there are a ton of people who are just collecting followers and are totally disengaged. I only really use Facebook when I want to see fountains of shit spewing from my news feed, it’s a joke how bad it’s become.

So get on Google+, search for your interests on the ‘Communities’ section and start chatting, or even set up your own community.

Update: in one day, this post has 7 shares, over 20 comments and 54 +1's (and counting) from Google+. Twitter and Facebook have had no engagement.

My Initial Impressions of the Samsung Chromebook

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I recently purchased a Samsung Series 3 Chromebook. The hype round the Pixel and the general love for the devices from the Chromebook G+ community encouraged me, and they're only £230. I've been using it for a week now, for work and play, so here are my initial impressions.

The screen is just lovely. I use a Macbook Pro most the time, so coming from that glossy display was strange at first; I was sort of thinking 'what the hell is this matte piece of crap??' when I turned the Chromebook on, but it's actually a much nicer viewing experience when using it in bright environments and for long periods of time.

The search button is glorious! Why don't all computers have this dedicated key? I don't miss caps lock at all (and you can alt + search for caps anyways).

It's ridiculously simple. Obviously I knew this before I bought it, but it isn't until you start using a Chromebook that your realise just how stripped down everything is. In a good way. This is certainly the future of computers, I know it would be much easier for most people to use, no messing around, just get on with what you have to do in the browser.

It takes ages to bring up the wifi login screens. Most the wifi networks I use outside of home need to launch a page in the browser first to login. My Mac, iPhone and Nexus devices just bring this up right after you connect. The Chromebook has, for me, taken up to a minute to load this - really annoying.

The touchpad is pretty naff. It scrolls really nicely with 2 fingers, but the accuracy of it is noticeably poor. 2 finger touch is right click though, a nice feature from Mac which works well.

The keyboard is just brilliant. It is seriously the nicest keyboard I've ever used. It feels a little cheap at first, but the sound it makes and the way the keys feel is just perfect. Maybe it has something to do with the layout or size, I'm not sure really, but it just seems like the only keyboard I ever want to type on ever again.

It's fast, really fast. Some apps are terrible compared to their native Windows and Mac versions (Evernote for instance) so you do get slowed down now and again, but in general it's lightning quick. 7 second boot? Yes please.

The sound is crazy loud for a device this size. It's actually louder than my Macbook Pro, although not as good quality.

That's it for now, I'll be posting a proper review once I've gotten some use out of it.

Productivity over many operating systems

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I've recently turned to the dark side and started using Apple products again. I bought a Macbook Pro and naturally an iPhone followed (because I'm a pretentious dick like that, really). However I've still kept my Nexus 7 because I love the damn thing (and what else am I going use to read the first 5 pages of a book I may or may not buy?) and at work I am forced to use a Windows 7 machine. 

This means trying to balance my personal and work life over 4 computers, and use Microsoft, Apple and Google in a way that they all play nicely. So, after using many apps and web apps and cloud this and that, I've stuck with 3 that play best.

Wunderlist, Evernote & Google Drive.

Wunderlist

, as the name suggests, is Wunderful (sorry). It's a todo list, but has its own sync service which requires only a very fast registration. It's available on Mac, Android and iOS as an app, and you can use it on a desktop PC via a Chrome app or just by logging onto the site. What I like most about Wunderlist is that the design is extremely consistent throughout all devices, to the point that even the wallpaper of the app syncs (sounds lame, but try it, it's really cool). The todo lists are as simple as the Apple Reminders app, but they have more sneaky features like adding sub tasks and repeating tasks as often as you like. Add in the fact that the lists can be shared, and you have yourself a pretty slick project management tool. And I should probably mention it's completely free. 

I'm sure I don't have to bang on about

Evernote

too much, you've probably heard of it already. I used it a while back but got annoyed with waiting for everything to sync and notes being unavailable without connection. The Evernote team seem to have sorted all that out now, and the apps for Android and iOS are just stunning. It's much faster than it used to be too. For meetings, the document capture mode is perfect, and the sharing options almost always result in others following suit. £3.99 a month for the paid version, but it's well worth it.

Google Drive

is essentially Dropbox with balls on. I've blabbed on about it before, but it really is just so reliable. My Macbook isn't connected to the network at work, so Drive has proved extremely useful. I believe I pay $2.49 p/m for 25GB of storage; an absolute bargain. No more messing around with USB pen drives.

Using these three services has turned me into one organised badass (nerd), and juggling 2 projects at work and many out of work has become a breeze. 

Where will Social Media be in Ten Years Time?

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Although massively popular; Social Media is relatively young technology. Considering Facebook is under 8 years old, 900 million users is a pretty ridiculous amount. But we all know how popular it is, because we all have an account, and so do our friends and family, and pretty much anyone with a smartphone or a computer.

I often think about how social media will be used in the future, so I offer my thoughts here. It'll be interesting to look back at this article and see how wrong I was!

Social Media as a primary communications tool is something which seems to me to be getting more and more evident. As smartphones pretty much dominate the mobile market, it is now affordable for most people to have a device with social networking capabilities, primarily Facebook and Twitter. It often seems easier and more convenient to follow someone on Twitter or add them on Facebook than it does to exchange mobile numbers. I think in the future, Twitter has the potential to be seen as a primary method of communication which we take for granted, much like a text message. This potential is from the fact that Twitter can integrate your contacts interests and favourite brands into one, creating a 'go-to' service when used correctly. If Facebook got their act together with their mobile apps (outside of iOS) then their Messenger could become something useful like Whatsapp is, and again be taken for granted rather than a novelty, but I don't see that happening any time soon...

Social Media shaping traditional news and media is already being seen, and any news and media agencies with a slight bit of sense are allowing people to Tweet their views, have their say on comments sections and interact with live television programs. This can only become more and more of the norm, and Twitter could lead the way in creating a society which is more engaged with local and national issues, having their say through the public social network. But in the long term, I think that this will only fuel more censorship and control from the government and social networks themselves, particularly if Twitter is used to promote negative events such as the London riots. Let's hope I'm wrong.

For business; LinkedIn has a lot of potential. I've found it extremely useful for job hunting and networking. It could become something really special if the majority of businesses saw it as more of an essential business tool than a social network. If LinkedIn can be integrated with tools like Google+ hangouts and Google Docs, whilst utilising their already great tools such as groups and answers; it may just play a big part in the growth of businesses and the development of employee skills and knowledge.

Social Networks with a smaller audience such as Google+, Pinterest and newer networks like Branch have potential, and are often better than Facebook and Twitter (Google+!). However I think they will stay alive with their own communities and loyal users, but will not become much more successful. The sheer amount of people on Facebook and Twitter cannot be ignored, and I often hear friends commenting on joining a new social network as being pointless when so many people use the two most popular so often.

And finally, Social Networks will be used as a main customer service tool. This to me seems obvious, but to many brands it does not. People don't always want to ring an 0800 number and be put through pressing options for 3 minutes just to get an answer to a small query. Social Media can help with these queries, and also promote a good brand image. Social Networks will be seen as an essential part of customer service, and not just an add on for the sake of it. 

What do you think? Am I completely off target? It'll be interesting to hear peoples comments and views. 

How long will the UK have to wait for NFC Payments?

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Reading an article on Fourth Source entitled

'What does 2012 have in store for the world of payments'

I couldn't help but think the NFC technology described in the article is so far off the current year we live in, at least for the UK. NFC payments seem like a brilliant idea, particularly for public transport, and while all London buses may be accepting contactless payments by the end of 2012, how many people will actually be embracing the technology? And how long will it be before contactless payments become the norm on public transport for someone who lives outside of London? I can guarantee we'll be waiting a lot longer than the end of 2012. Even if the contactless technology does come into place, the chances of 1/5 of the public having NFC enabled smartphones by the end of 2014 seems slim. And another solution posed by Barclaycard seems to suggest that they realise this will be the case, offering borrowers the chance of using contactless payments without the NFC enabled smartphone.

Even if you did decide to get an NFC enabled smartphone and use it for payments, it is likely that the technology will become fragmented with too many providers and payment systems, which is already something of a trend considering Orange, Visa/Vodafone and Mastercard all have separate services in the UK, and there will likely be more to come. This will only create more confusion for consumers and deter them from the technology.

Another thing to consider is the simple factor of: will people want the technology? I personally work in retail in the UK and it is amazing to see such a high amount of people every day having trouble using Chip & Pin, technology which has been around for years. I could never imagine these people wanting to take the time to set up a payment system on their mobile phones.

I'm always embracing new technology, but in the case of NFC payments via mobile, I think it will be at least 5 years before it is used effectively in the UK. 

Google Wallet, an NFC mobile payment system, is said to be available for the 2012 Olympics.

Will on Google+

How to make your HTC look more like stock Android 4.0 without Rooting

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I use an HTC Sensation XE, which is a great phone. Recently HTC updated it to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), but in typical HTC style; it looks nothing like what Google released on the Nexus. There's nothing wrong with HTC sense, but it's not quite as modern looking as Ice Cream Sandwich is, and I'm the sort of nerd who gets bothered by stuff like that.

So, I was messing around on the Play Store and came across some ways you can make your HTC phone look that little bit more like beautiful clean stock 4.0, mostly for free.

If you haven't already, get the Go Launcher EX home application, and set it to the default home app instead of HTC sense. It's a great home app with an impressive amount of customisation. Once you have that, you can apply the ICS Theme for Go Launcher EX. Already it looks like stock ICS and has cost you nothing.

The Go Keyboard is a much better keyboard than the HTC one. In my opinion the Sense keyboard on the older HTC devices looks awful and dated. This keyboard has many pre-installed themes but you can download an ICS theme here. It's 65 pence but worth it for such a clean looking keyboard.

Lastly there's the ICS Messaging app (free) which gives you a whole new messaging interface, which is much  improved upon the HTC one, and has a similar feel to the Gmail app.

So you now have a few more tweaks which make your phone look more like tasty Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich without Rooting your device.
One more thing; there is a Go Launcher Lock screen app and a corresponding ICS theme for it. The reason I didn't recommend it is because it has been buggy on my device, but you're welcome to try it out. Let me know if it works for you.