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

Someone in the chat last night mentioned the Google Nexus One Android-powered smartphone.

It won’t be sold here, and it won’t work on Telstra’s Next G HSDPA network. See this article in The Australian for more details.

For our brethren abroad, here’s a nifty comparison chart courtesy of Tech Talk Radio’s US correspondent, Mark Diggins:

Apple's iPhone 3GS vs Google's Nexus 1

android · Apple iPhone 3GS · comparison · Google Android · Google Nexus 1 · Google Phone · HSDPA · Next G · smartphone · Tech Talk Radio · telstra

What’s Tethering?

If you have a laptop or netbook, chances are you might want to access the internet.

If you’ve got a blue network cable handy, then that might be useful.  If not, and you’ve got WiFi built-in to your laptop, or a WiFi adapter, AND you’re in a wireless hotspot, then you might be able to connect to the internet via wireless.

If you’ve purchased a data plan from one of Australia’s several mobile telecommunications service providers, and you’ve also purchased a data modem which plugs into a USB port, or a PCMCIA broadband card, then that’s a good option too.

But if you’ve got a data plan and your mobile telephone already operates on one of Australia’s 3G mobile networks, then surely you can use your telephone as a modem and connect to the internet through your mobile telephone?

Yep, you can.  That’s tethering.

Is it easy?  Technically, yes.  Practically, no.

Why not?

Because Australian telecommunications carriers want you to spend more money and buy their network adapters.  Like these.  IT Wire journalist and Tech Talk Radio’s Adam Turner explains it well in this article written for The Age Digital Life.

The Australian Android Market has no tethering applications and isn’t likely to in the near future, for reasons explained by Adam.  But is it mandatory to have applications listed in the Android Market, in order to install 3rd-party software on an Android-powered device?

No, not at all.

Introducing… Android Tethering!

Here’s what you need;

• An Android-powered phone, like the HTC Dream (aka T-Mobile G1, or “Google phone”); or an HTC Magic for example;
• A laptop / netbook / desktop computer;
• A USB cable to connect your phone to your laptop / netbook / desktop; and
• A data plan attached to your mobile telephone service.

Follow the steps at cp.blog, which are, in brief:

• Install the Tetherbot tethering application on your Google phone.  You need to tell your phone to allow installation of non-Android Market applications;
• Ensure the latest Android driver is installed on your laptop;
• Install the Android SDK or “adb” utility on your laptop;
• Open a command prompt and type “adb forward tcp:1080 tcp:1080″ to start the proxy server on your laptop (use  Task Manager to kill the process when you’re done – maybe setup a desktop shortcut to streamline this process);
• Use a web browser like Mozilla Firefox, and install a proxy manager like FoxyProxy.  Follow the configuration instructions in Mike’s post;
• Connect your Google phone, start Tetherbot and press “Start Socks”;

• Click on the web browser FoxyProxy button to force all traffic through the proxy server (“adb”) you have installed and started.  It would have looked something like this:

Bingo! All your web traffic is now routed through your Google phone.  You now have web access to the internet via your mobile telephone network.

I tested my new tethering by first checking my local IP address, through the WiFi connection:

…and then through the new tethered connection, via my mobile phone network:

Yep … definitely using a different network route now!

Warning! Watch your data usage.

Another Warning! Pay close attention to your data usage.

I would be interested to hear from people who have had similar success with this process, or modified the process slightly in order to use other handsets, proxy servers, browsers or browser plug-ins.

Many thanks to Mike Thompson and the Android Developer Community for assistance with this blog post.

android · android sdk · Google Android · Google Phone · HTC Dream · t-mobile g1 · tethering

Google Latitude

In March I blogged about my new HTC Google Phone and was disappointed, at the time, that Latitude wasn’t supported in Google Maps.

Low and behold, the Google Maps on my HTC Dream updated itself a few weeks ago.  Imagine my surprise when I saw a new “Latitude” button in Google Maps!  Hurrah!

I already had Latitude set up through a conventional web browser.  The HTC Dream detected my Google account details and settings, and I could see the location of all my “friends” straight away.  Awesome!  You can set Latitude to manually or automatically update your location, based on GPS latitude/longitude or wireless and telephone networks.  It seems to work well.

Skype Lite Beta

The other exciting development is the addition of Skype Lite Beta to the Australian Android Market.

Users of Android-powered devices can download and install applications from the online Android Market, but Skype is a new addition in Australia and has only just made itself available for download in the last week or so.

I was very excited when Skype Lite Beta finally appeared in my Android Market search results. I was pleased by the quick download and installation; a bit confused that it needed my mobile telephone number at the login screen; but impressed that all my contacts were instantly viewable with my pre-existing Skype account details, and that I could see all my contacts’ statuses (online, offline, busy and so on).

BUT when I made a call to a logged-on Skype contact (not using “Skype Out”), the HTC Dream set up a phone call to a Sydney number.  Huh?  Then I heard ‘ring ring’ and the call was answered at the other end (by my Skype contact, on a Skype client, on her PC in West Melbourne).

We chatted for some time, and the quality was good, but I was a bit confused that my HTC Dream had made a phone call to some type of gateway.  Must be a default setting, I thought, something I can easily change.

But this seems to be by design, and it’s not possible to change.  Read the not-so-fine-print on Skype’s webpage:

“With Skype on your mobile, you’ll always know when your friends are online and you can call them for the cost of a local call (or use your inclusive minutes from your mobile plan).”

And this:

“You can call friends and family from the bus or while you’re sipping a latte in your favorite coffee shop – wherever they are in the world. Best of all, your phone will work as normal – no WiFi or 3G connection needed – and you won’t need to change operator.”

Huh?!?!!  If I’m connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, or an HSDPA telephone network, why can’t I use good old-fashioned “voice-over-IP” Skype to talk to my contacts, and chew-up some of that 3GB on my new data plan?

Then I realised … okay … that’s why Skype Lite Beta needs your mobile telephone number at the login screen.  When the Skype client sets-up a call to the Skype gateway (which BTW is a Sydney indial range, 02 8005 89xx), the Skype server marries your incoming call with your login, and connects your circuit-switched call on the phone network to an outbound Skype call from the Skype data centre.

It also explains how those mysterious “Skype minutes” work on your mobile phone plan.  It’s got nothing to do with bandwidth used for voice traffic, and everything to do with call minutes to and from your local Skype gateway.

Now I’ve looked through all the settings and configuration screens, and I can’t find anything that lets you choose packet-switched calls instead of circuit-switched calls.  Surely the software supports native Skype VoIP?  Well, actually we know that it does, because handsets like these are “WiFi only”.  They’re not mobile phones and can’t “dial-up” a gateway.

The interface is great, call quality is good and the client seems to work quite well.  I just can’t understand why I can’t choose to use packet-switched VoIP Skype, as opposed to dial-up Skype.

Maybe it’s just me. I do get pedantic about these things sometimes.  More testing to be done and more updates soon.

Australian Android Market · Google Android · Google Latitude · Google Phone · HTC Dream · Latitude · skype · Skype Lite Beta