This is a cursory, “first impressions” post about the latest social networking craze, Google+.

Facebook should be very concerned.  So should LinkedIn.  Google’s latest foray into social networking has all the hallmarks of a Facebook-esque social network but with safety and security at the forefront of the user experience.  Maybe they’ve learned from the failed Google Buzz in this regard?

Then again, maybe not.

Here are a few things I just had to get off my chest:

Gripe one: Instant Upload.

I’ve loaded the Google+ application on my Android-powered smartphone. It’s nice and uncluttered, and easy to use. It looks a bit like this:

However, without informing me or asking permission, the Google+ application uploads any photo I’ve taken to my Google+ account. Granted, it doesn’t publish these photos or make them visible, but when I log in to Google+ I get a notification which alerts me to the fact that new photos are waiting to be published:

You can turn this off in the Google+ app, by going into photos, pressing Menu, and unchecking “Instant Upload”. The problem IMHO is that when it installs, it defaults to ‘on’.

This is a bit spooky, like the uncle you always avoided as a kid, that said inappropriate things at Christmas dinner. It just makes you uncomfortable, and there’s no need for it.

Gripe two: User Invitations.

Whenever you share something with a “circle” (in Facebook-speak, post something on your wall), Google+ defaults to asking if you want to “Also email 124 friends not yet using Google+” or however many friends are in the circle but don’t have a Google+ account.  My 124 friends are now complaining that I am continually sending them Google spam, because every time I undertake a task or share something new, all my non-Gmail friends get a Google+ invitation.

It might be more user-friendly to send an invitation to a non-Gmail friend as a once off, rather than every time I do something.

I understand I can just uncheck this checkbox, but again, I don’t think it should default to being ‘on’.  And anyway, a mouse click is a mouse click, right?

Gripe three: Duplicate Contacts.

This isn’t strictly a Google+ problem; but we all have duplicate contacts in our address books, and the problem is exacerbated by Google+ and its circles. If you create a “Tech Talk” circle for example, you might find you’re dragging Dr Ron into the circle three, four, or maybe five times, because of separate contacts you’ve saved for Dr Ron with different phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook accounts and so on.

This is where I think Android has nailed it, with its ability to link multiple accounts and address book entries. Despite five “Dr Ron” contacts, they only appear as one consolidated contact in my contact list. (Thank goodness.)

And seeing as my Android contacts are my Gmail contacts, and my Gmail contacts are my Android contacts, can we somehow get these links pushed into Google+?  Thanks, that would be awesome.

To be continued…

Otherwise, Google+ is working well. It’s also still in beta, and has a long way to go. But I think it’s got a lot more promise than previous social networking attempts like Wave and Buzz.

More soon.

facebook · google · Google Android · Google Phone · HTC · social media · Social Networking

Like many of you in cyberspace, I’ve spent hours… days… weeks… even months of my life, wilfing on YouTube.

There’s the occasional smirk-worthy video, there’s the all-too-common blatant copyright ripoff, and there’s a heap of garbage which you BACK or NEXT after the first few seconds. I’m certain that I’m guilty of posting each of these types of material at various times.

On rare occasions, you actually find something on YouTube that’s worth adding as a Favourite. Sometimes you even hit Play Again. Occasionally, you literally LOL, and you’re compelled to share a YouTube link on Twitter or Facebook.

Here, then, are ten YouTube videos that I consider worthy of sharing.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Mummy / Daddy Song

Every parent’s worst nightmare. Watch until the 1st minute mark.

Be warned, the tune is strangely addictive.

VW commercial

This is hilarious. Darth Vader uses The Force, in his own inimitable fashion.

It’s only clocked-up a lazy 29 million hits.

Ford Sportka commercials

Cat lovers, ornithologists, look away now.

Were these really released by Ford? Yes and no. See what Snopes has to say.

The Man Cold

A short clip from the British TV comedy sketch show, Man Stroke Woman.

For women everywhere that don’t understand what it means for a man to have a cold. And for men everywhere, who know exactly what it means.

Torn

Mr Johann Lippowitz, an “interpretative mime”, performs Natalie Imbruglia’s hit “Torn”.

…and of course, with the great lady herself:

Toto’s Africa by Perpetuum Jazzile

Who needs foley artists when your choir is this talented?

Pomplamoose

The Pomplamoose channel has a heap of home-crafted cover songs, arranged and performed by talented musicians Nataly and Jack.

Their catchy, quirky, toe-tappin’ tunes will keep you amused for hours.

You mightn’t be a fan of Lady Gaga, but you’ll be sure to love this arrangement.

Eddie Izzard’s Death Star Canteen & Lego animation

(Audio not safe for work!)

With nearly 13 million hits, this is a YouTube classic.

A Lego animation of comedian Eddie Izzard talking about the ‘Death Star Canteen’.

Every Day … Telstra needs to Go Forward

Former Telstra CEO and oft-described Mexican Bandit Sol Trujilo says a very odd thing.

Notice what he said? He wants to make sure that ARPU sustains itself, or even grows.

The Honda Cog Commercial

And last but not least: this one has been around for a while, but it’s still very clever.

That is all. Now back to work.

facebook · funny · social media · Social Networking · telstra · Twitter · YouTube

I’m a self-confessed Sudoku addict. I like regular Sudoku, Samurai Sudoku and even hexadecimal Sudoku. I do Sudoku in books, newspapers, and (until very recently) on-line. I find it relaxing, entertaining and mentally stimulating.

Hence my horror last week, when in a personal vendetta launched wholly at me and intended to achieve nothing other than leave me in crumpled, listless, lifeless state on the floor of the computer room, grubby Zynga Games shut down their massively popular Challenge Sudoku game on Facebook. At the time this digital atrocity was committed, nearly 20,000 fans were friends of the game and Challenge Sudoku had received a rating of 3.9 stars out of 5 stars, based on 1,468 reviews.

Here’s the heart-wrenching message which greeted me when I logged on, in order to finish a 5-round “harder” marathon against my Facebook arch-nemesis, a game which I can only assume will now remain unfinished until the end of time itself:

Needless to say – but I’ll say it anyway – “important” games like Farmville, CafeWorld and Mafia Wars are still going strong.

Despondent, heart-broken, despised and rejected, I logged off Facebook, shut down the computer and wept quietly for some hours. I then started driving around aimlessly, in an effort to think clearly. I found myself at mum & dad’s, where I stopped seeking consolation and a mug of International Rust.

I confided in my mother, explaining  my Sudoku dilemma.

Mum said, “Well, there’s always the games you used to play in the garage. Let’s have a look.”

Curious, I followed my mother into the garage, where every single game, toy, camping tool, school book and scouting provision from my childhood was safely stored, and will also possibly (and coincidentally) be stored until the end of time itself.

Would you believe, in next to no time, my mother was able to produce 1 x original, genuine, 30-year-old Intellivision games console??!?!?

Woo hooo!! The Intellivision was manufactured in the late-1970s by Mattel, and was a state-of-the-art machine in its day. My family spent thousands of hours in front of this bleeding-edge games console as we attacked aliens from outer space, negotiated Pitfall Harry over alligators and swamps, and even dodged dangerous barrels of burning oil in Donkey Kong.

The Intellivision is a cartridge machine and mum found a big bag of game cartridges too. I raced home and plugged everything in. No fancy HDMI output on this little sucker: the Intellivision was equipped with an RF modulator. Kids, this means you switch the television to channel 0 or channel 1, and plug a coaxial cable between the system and the antenna socket on your TV.

I was concerned that the Intellivision wouldn’t work after all these years, and I was especially concerned that the magnetic media on the games cartridges would have long since become corrupt or erased completely.

I was, however, excitedly surprised to find that most cartridges still actually worked, after at least 30 years of use and abuse, and storage in a high-humidity garage.

Here are some exciting images from the next few hours of my life, showing-off the Intellivision’s magnificent 159 x 192 aspect ratio and 16-colour graphics palette:

…and last, but certainly not least:

Other exciting titles include Happy Trails, Utopia, Star Strike, Auto Racing, Baseball and Thunder Castle.

And the GREAT thing I’m discovering about the Intellivision, 30 years on, is that no-one in the world knows who I am – or anything about me – when I’m playing a game; AND there’s not one single privacy setting which can mean the difference between access to the game itself and criminally-motivated identity fraud.

I’m yet to find a Sudoku cartridge, but for now, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve learned to deal with my Zynga pain. I’m too busy shooting demons and jumping oil barrels.

Long live Mattel!

facebook · games · intellivision · mattel · retro · sudoku

Hahaha … these are fantastic!

awkward moments · facebook · funny · Social Networking · status updates