Midori Productions

Midori Productions

Justin Greene

[	website	\|	JustinGreene.org	]
[	userinfo	\|	livejournal userinfo	]
[	archive	\|	journal archive	]

Google+ vs. deviantART	[Aug. 7th, 2011\|01:16 pm]
I've been pondering this concept for a few days now, wondering if G+ in it's current or potential form could replace my uses for dA? +Trey Ratcliff has definitely shown that you can gain an audience very quickly in G+ and get quite alot of quality feedback. Here's some of the things I've noticed so far. 1) The G+ lightbox for photos is awesome, I love the layout and the sidebar stream for comments. The things I loose currently from dA are the ability to +fav a pic and add a picture title in addition to a description. Could +1 be adapted to become a G+ image "favoriting" system? 2) Audience currently in G+ is still invite only, but can I say dA has 25 million users (or more now)? No, but not everyone on G+ is an artist either. So it's a give and take situation on what kind of feedback we're talking about. 3) G+ hands down destroys dA on managing people you watch. The groups functionality of dA has served ZERO purpose for the 8 years I've been on dA. Grouping people together and creating lists doesn't even give you any additional options to managing your +deviantWATCH. Circles wins by default. 4) Funny enough...dA has Search. This is temporary, but it's worth noting. 5) One of the things dA has really set me off with is the lack of the ability to do a name change. If you have an old AOL style screenname (Justin316a) and you want to change that to something more modern, you have to start from scratch. Not even a new issue, this is something dA has sat on for years. Even a paid option is better than cluttering up the system with people who've had to make multiple accounts 3 or 4 times over. My G+ account is attached to me, so I can control the name associated with the account. Now the current "real names" debate going on right now is something of another issue in my mind. That's something I feel is still evolving in what Google wants this site to be. In the end I think Google will have a option to service those who prefer a screen name and those using their real name. What do you guys think?
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Sony Open House	[Jul. 19th, 2011\|07:51 pm]
Nelson Staffing will be hosting an Open House the 20th and 21st for Game Testing positions @ Sony Computer Entertainment. Details in the attached Google Docs Flyer. Do you love playing video games? Would you like to get paid for previewing the best new games? Do you have great attention to detail? QA Testing is the perfect job for you. Nelson Interactive will be conducting interviews in San Diego for QA Testers. https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=1VN_yfjYmuQdje_-xGqhkfmUOZaQT5VninxtQ6kRxTpBqz8dLwr53tKgPG-dN&sort=name&layout=list&num=50
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Google+ Test runs

[Jul. 13th, 2011|08:04 pm]

[	mood	\|	tired	]
[	music	\|	Google Music Beta	]

Still messing about in Google+ and experimenting with its features. Functionality-wise it's got alot to give Facebook a run for its money. How well its adoption goes with the general public is up in the air and could go either way. Here's my quick rundown of the features and a link to the demo.

http://plus.google.com

Google Circles: Google's answer to friend list creation. This interface is so nice it actually makes making these list alittle fun. The demo above demonstrates this far better than I can explain here, but basically allows you to individualize how you want your posts shared. Things you might not want shared with your family you can separate from your core group of friends, and vice-versa. You could do some of these things in Facebook, but as anyone whose tried will attest, it's a pain in the ass. Whenever you make a post, G+ asks you if want it shared with the Public or select Circles.

Google Hangouts: This is the draw that seems to catch most people attention. Hangout are a spin-off of Google Talk that allows Users to create 10-User video chatrooms, which are exceptionally smooth. You have a line of all the Users webcams in a room, and in the main window is always the loudest person talking in chat. Text and YouTube sharing are also enabled so the group can easily share vids and media. Additionally, if the original host leaves, the chat keeps going. Hangouts can be shared with the public or set to individual private Circles the User sets. I'm hoping to use this with a Ustream or Livestream broadcast soon so stay tuned.

Google Sparks: Sparks is a list of the things you find interesting, also like Facebook. The difference is where Facebook uses these interests to mostly just to show you ads based on those interests, Sparks attempts to show you stories from Google News relevant to those interests. I say "attempts" because it's pretty obvious this feature is not fully complete yet. The absence of any Google Reader implementation is really noticeable, which Google says is coming soon. Ideally, I think this will be an awesome feature if I'm able to guide Sparks with my tastes by importing feeds from sites I frequently visit and Thumbs Up/Down Spark's suggested stories (i.e. Pandora's recommendations engine for music).

Browser Extensions: This is something I really didn't think about until I actually got on G+. Because the system uses open standards, HTML5 and CSS, Users can add all kinds of features to their own user interface. Just browsing my stream and the Chrome Web Store, I've found a bunch of tips and tricks to individualize my personal experience with the site. Think of it like the way User's made all those crazy and radically different layouts on MySpace, but only you see those changes that you choose to add. A simple Java applet let me add a radio stream from AmazingRadio and video streams from NASA, BBC and TWiT (Google Pushbar). A simple browser extension for Firefox and Chrome let me make slight changes to the pages CSS template to make the flow of my stream more readable (Usability Boost for Google Plus). All this allows me to make little or big changes to the look of G+ without subjugating my visitors to my preference of layout.

Mobile App
Instant Upload: Simple, yet efficient photo uploading system. Take a picture with your phone and it can be set to automatically upload to a waiting list where you can approve them to share, archive, or delete. No wires, drives, or space restrictions. And because it's in a holding locker waiting for approval, you don't have to worry about what you did at that crazy party last night getting blasted out to the masses.

Huddle: A group SMS client for Circles. This is something I'll definitely use at a Con. It's like a mobile chatroom using TXT messaging, allowing the group in the Circle to communicate with everyone else, so no multiple TXTs to keep everyone on the same page in an outing. Again check out the link above to see a better demonstration.

Interestingly enough, the devs have been extremely open to user requests and suggestions for features. Some of the most intriguing I've hear are things like adding Google Translate to your Stream, allowing Users to follow and communicate directly with other Users in different languages. So what do you guys think, I'm indulging my nerd-side here but this is the stuff I live for. =P

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