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

Over the Christmas / New Year break, Tech Talk panelists are taking time away from the studio.

During this time, we’re running a “best of” series which showcases highlights from the last few years.

So far, we’ve heard from:

Georgia Simmons, representing the Telstra Foundation;

Graham Henley from GetData;

Michael Crimean, a professional audio engineer;

Adam Turner attending the launch of the HTC Magic in Sydney, as well as the launch of Apple’s iPad and the opening of Apple’s Bondi store in Sydney;

George Pongas, the COO of ISP Domain Central;

Dr James Chon, representing Swinburne University;

Alan Eade from St John Ambulance (Victoria);

Mark Mayer, retired QANTAS airline pilot;

Jeff Alexander and David Glover from Microsoft;

Closet Tech Geek Sally Cockburn (aka “Dr Feelgood“);

Sandrina Branton from BMC Software;

European Correspondent Matthew Robinson;

Gaming expert Leena van Deventer;

Luke Durham from Switch Media, and Adrian Britton from HostWorks;

Independent technology journalist Anthony Caruana;

…as well as select Panel discussions, websites, gadgets and Odd Spots, and entertaining and informative Views from the Couch.

Next week we’ll re-visit the last episode of 2010, and Tech Talk’s inaugural Outside Broadcast, which went to-air live from the Sofia Family Restaurant in December.

We’ll all be back live in the studio on the 14th of February.  Rumours that former Tech Talk panelist Mark Diggins is back in the country are largely founded… stay tuned!

adam turner · apple · Microsoft · Outside Broadcast · social media · Social Networking · Summer Series · Tech Talk Radio · telstra · TTR · Twitter · windows 7

And they said it’d never happen!

After much speculation, rumour and conjecture, it all become a reality on Monday the 6th of December.  The first Tech Talk Radio Outside Broadcast took place at Sofia Family Restaurant in Burwood East.

We were all blown away by the massive turnout.  It was a lot of work, but heaps of fun.  For the first time we could put faces to names, and had a chance to meet “the regulars” who lurk in the chat, post on the forum and send email contributions on a weekly basis.

Importantly, the O.B. was a successful proof-of-concept for us, from a technical standpoint.  We were using traditional audio equipment (a mixing desk, headset microphones, wireless microphones, effects microphones, speakers, amplifiers, compressors and limiters) as well as new linking equipment that we tested for the first time on the 22nd of November in Episode 47.  We used professional STL software called AudioTX Communicator.  This software provides bi-directional high quality audio over any IP-based network.  A laptop in Sofia was our “transmitter” and this connected to a computer in the radio studio at 3WBC via the Telstra NextG network.  The entire 2-hour programme used about 200 MB of data each way.

Long-time friend of Tech Talk radio, and US correspondent Lidija Davis was hooked-up via Skype on Andrew’s laptop.

We even installed some impromptu lighting to brighten-up The Panel:

Thankyou

There are many people that need to be thanked, and without whose help the O.B. would not have been the success that it was:

• Stephanie Stewart, at NetComm Australia, for donating the magnificent MyZone Hot Spot door prize, as well as truck-loads of pens and jelly beans;
• Microsoft’s Michael Kordahi, from popular technology podcast Frankly Speaking, for donating a copy of Microsoft Office 2010; and
• 2K Games for the massive swag including copies of Mafia 2, as well as keyrings, pens, matching cufflinks;  Bioshock; copies of The Bigs 2 Baseball; copies of Carnival Games; Sid Meier’s Pirates; Super Game Day; Civilization V; NBA 2K11; and much, much more!

Thankyou also to Phil at the 3WBC studio, for pushing faders and pressing buttons, and making sure the programme went live-to-air.

And, of course, everyone that rolled-up to make the evening what it was.  Without you, there would be no programme.

We’ll be back in 2011.  In the meantime, enjoy the Summer Series, which showcases highlights from this year’s episodes.

OB · Outside Broadcast · Social Networking · Sofia · Sponsors · Tech Talk Radio · TTR

Over the course of last week, long-time Tech Talk Radio contributor Adam Turner found himself in the middle of an “election-night social networking scandal” because of comments he posted on the popular micro-blogging service Twitter.

Or so the ABC’s Media Watch would have you believe.

In Episode 30, which broadcast on Monday the 30th of August, Adam received a lambasting from the programme’s host, Paul Barry, for making personal remarks about the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.  In the context of the Opposition Leader saying this:

“There should be no premature triumphalism tonight, there should simply be an appreciation that this has been a great night for the Australian people…”

…Adam duly described Tony Abbott as a “cocksucker”, and an “arsehole”.

Here’s the Media Watch segment in question.

Put simply, Adam made some comments which he now regrets.

Unfortunately for everyone, a Liberal Party supporter saw the comments.  The same supporter also complained to Media Watch.  Someone then complained to Fairfax, who Adam writes for.

The very same Liberal Party supporter then posted this on Twitter:

Hahahaha – I reported @adam_turner to media watch, and they’re playing it! #mediawatch

I think there are a number of issues at stake here:

• A journalist’s right to express a personal opinion;
• The issue of Media Watch running a story, driven by somebody’s political agenda;
• The issue of what is, and isn’t, newsworthy; and
• The hypocrisy of someone complaining to Media Watch about two offensive tweets, then gloating/tweeting like a child because they got someone in trouble.

It’s impossible for me to make an independent, objective comment about the situation, because I know Adam well, and he writes weekly for Tech Talk Radio.  So anything I say won’t be independent, and probably won’t be objective.

What I will say is that it must have been a slow news week.

Also; that mainstream media clearly still doesn’t understand the function of social media, and its place in our lives. Just because someone writes independent product reviews, or publishes objective commentary for a living, doesn’t mean that they don’t have, or can’t have, personal opinions.

Here, then, are some independent websites and blogs which offer opinions about (what I think is) a storm-in-a-teacup:

• Woolly Days blog, by Derek Barry, blogger and journalist working for Queensland’s The Western Star;
• IT Wire blog: Twitter becomes the new oracle of the media by Stan Beer;
• Wolfcat’s Random Rants: when does a freelance tech journo’s point of view on politics matter;
• Machine Gun Keyboard: Portrait of a douchebag: how Media Watch got used to grind an axe;

…and I’m sure you’ll find more yourself, with some judicious Googling.

Yes, of course Adam will continue to contribute to Tech Talk Radio.  His weekly opinions and insight are highly valued, by our audience and the rest of The Panel.  He is an important member of the team.

I think a popular Melbourne Twitterer summed it up well with this 140-character insight:

One day mainstream news will understand the context of social media. That day is not today.

abc · adam turner · Media Watch · Paul Barry · Robert Candelori · social media · Social Networking · Tech Talk Radio · Twitter · View from the Couch

It doesn’t get funnier than this.

awkward moments · funny · inspirational posters · Social Networking

Hahaha … these are fantastic!

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

On Saturday I was invited to attend the AGM of the Wireless Institute of Australia in Traralgon, Gippsland.

The WIA is the organisation which represents amateur radio operators to the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and purports to be the world’s oldest national radio society, having been founded in 1910!

The WIA AGM “Weekend Of Activities” included conference speakers, informative radio-related technical presentations and off-site activities, like a tour of the Powerworks Energy Technology and Visitors’ Centre.

Yours truly did a short presentation on Social Media and Social Networking on Saturday night.  We had a great evening, the meal was delish and fun was had by all.

Photo: Robert Broomhead

Many thanks to Robert Broomhead for inviting me to attend, and for the terrific audio-visual system which “just worked” with my Asus netbook.

(Audio here: Dr Ron’s diatribe on Social Media and Social Networking at the 2009 WIA AGM.)

agm · amateur radio · social media · Social Networking · Tech Talk Radio · wia