Still not available for Google Apps users - which sucks.
Google+ opened to world+dog
Google has allowed world+dog onto Google+, its latest attempt to turn itself into Facebook. Mountain View launched a "Google+ field trial" in late June, letting users join by invitation only. But after making "99" different improvements to the social networking service, the company has announced that anyone can now sign up …
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Tuesday 20th September 2011 17:31 GMT Anonymous Coward
Hmm, bit late?
Pretty much anyone who uses teh interweb on a frequent basis already got in and got their mates in ... erm, and then .. well, not much really.
My google+ account is mostly silent - 30 or 40 contacts, nobody posting anything - and the only posts that were there, were pretty much just an alternate version of tweets etc.
Guess google is going the slow burn route, which I suppose they can more than afford to do.
However, something tells me Google+ is going to be another Buzz - is there really enough space in the market for another social network like facebook ?
Time will tell. I initially hoped it would be more of a thinking persons facebook, but it's pretty much a non-starter right now - comments from a few of the people in my circles "this place is dead"
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Wednesday 21st September 2011 08:56 GMT Anonymous Coward
Don't get me started on my rant about twitter haters!
It's how you use it that counts, so although there'll be a *massive* amount of vapid 'I'm at xyz doing xyz right now', there's plenty of quirky, funny, useful tweets - you just need to find the diamonds in the muck.
To dismiss twitter in it's entirety as being 'vapid' is missing the point. You may as well say the entire www is 'vapid', based on the fact that 95% of websites on it are shit.
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Tuesday 20th September 2011 17:48 GMT Andrew Jones 2
for Android users....
For Android users having a social network that actually works on their phone AND gets realtime (most of the time) notifications is a big win for Google.
Facebook have updated their app countless times for Android but they seem incapable of making the most basic part of the app work - we get NO notifications at all - not even polled notifications. Nada.
(oh except Messages - which aren't really messages, event invites and friend requests)
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Tuesday 20th September 2011 18:10 GMT Paul Shirley
The FB app was notorious for quickly draining batteries and a background service that wasn't keen on being stopped, whether you wanted it or not.
Sure you want to encourage these inept clowns to try harder at having the app running permanently?
Even Google can't always get this right, the maps apps background service also has a history as a battery destroyer for example, and also can't be stopped in many versions of the app even if you never start the maps app! I'd bet on FB deliberately trying to run the damn app behind users backs.
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Tuesday 20th September 2011 23:36 GMT Steve Evans
The latest FB app on Android powers up the GPS to get a location lock the moment you start the app, which really annoys me!
I very very very rarely ever use the location feature, and if I did I would be willing to wait for it to get a lock. I don't appreciate the app trying to get a lock (and doing who-knows-what with the info) and clobbering my battery when all I wanted was to read a message.
A couple of times the GPS has remained active even after I've exited the app, and killed any facebook related processes and services. I had to "turn it off and on again"
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Tuesday 20th September 2011 23:13 GMT Matt Piechota
"For Android users having a social network that actually works on their phone AND gets realtime (most of the time) notifications is a big win for Google."
That's pretty interesting. On my phone (US Verizon Droid Classic, I think that's the Milestone in .eu), after installing the Plus app I noticed all my Google stuff suddenly had delays getting to my phone. I mostly noticed it on Gmail and Gtalk, where it would take between 1 and 20 minutes for stuff to show up. After I uninstalled, everything seems to have gone back to normal.
Haven't had time to go back and retest to see if I can replicate the behavior.
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Tuesday 20th September 2011 17:49 GMT clanger9
Don't do it!!
Be warned: as soon as you create your profile, [whatever you enter as] your real name is plastered publicly all over any other Google services you may use (YouTube, Picasa, Maps, Like this, Reader, Blogger, Docs, Groups, etc, etc.). Which means your real name starts popping up all over the Google search results.
The may (or may not) be what you want to happen. Regardless, you have no choice.
Only solution is to delete you public profile and wait a few days for Google to purge your name from the search results...
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Wednesday 21st September 2011 11:29 GMT Kamal Hashmi
Optional
Y'know why don't you have two accounts? One for your nefarious activities, online stalking, flaming etc; and one with your real name for your friends and family....
I have one of the latter (and one more for business use).
I may need one of the first kind when I turn into a grumpy old git in a few years (every time I think I already am one, I just read a few pages of comments on TheRegister and I realise I'm still relatively a cheerful positive bloke).
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Wednesday 21st September 2011 05:15 GMT Jolyon Smith
Horses for Courses...
Someone mentioned that they have very little activity in their Google+ sphere... I can say the same. My Google+ stream spews forth only about 10% of the content that my FaceBook wall has.
But here's the difference... 98% of the FaceBook stuff is drivel. Absolute and utter toss that I have no interest in.
My Google+ stream on the other hand is exactly the opposite.
Partly this will be because in Google+ I have deliberately sought out professional colleagues, associates, acquaintances to put in my circles precisely to avoid polluting it with the inane witterings of my distant cousins, long lost school friends etc etc ad nauseum.
This is perhaps even more surprising given that I have more people in my Google+ Circles than I do "Friends" FaceBook (over 100 in each case, but still Google+ wins on that particular metric by quite a margin).
I am also more active on Google+... I tend to (mostly) post stuff related to my work (software development)... stuff that isn't really relevant to FaceBook but which is relevant to my circles. But at the same time, I have discovered other shared interests with people on Google+ that I was otherwise unaware of. In that way, I think Google+ is more of a social networkING service than a social network per se.
The bottom line is, I don't see Google+ replacing FaceBook, but I do see it as a very effective service that - for me - provides something a bit different than FaceBook, although the two are similar enough that comparisons are bound to be made I don't see that it *has* to be "either/or".
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Wednesday 21st September 2011 14:42 GMT Rovindi
@Joylon
I´d have to agree about the quantity vs. quality debate. I sadly use FB to keep in touch my friends and family back in blighty. The downside is, I get innundated with spam/virus/shite from my nephew´s/niece´s FB accounts on a regular basis.
With G+, I have a specific bunch of people that I can keep in touch with, or groups with common interests and I´m not bombarded with drivel all day, every day. These indivduals and circles span my worklife and the things I do outside of work and are very low maintenance, in terms of interacting with them. Quite the opposite of FB.
As for the Android App, it runs like a treat and hasn´t caused me a single problem. I´d have to say that FB for Android App is a shite. Buggy/unstable and not particularly useful.
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Wednesday 21st September 2011 15:20 GMT rvt
beta?
I don't understand why Google makes everything 'Beta'. If I buy a car and the sales guy say 'Sir, this is a brand new car, it's beta so it might break, but good look with it' I would never buy it.
If I go to the spurt to buy a package of beta milk, or beta cookies, I would never buy it.
I would never buy a beta house, and if somebody give me a beta bike, I would not ride it.
Why does make Google everything beta, and why it seems that everybody buys beta google?
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Wednesday 21st September 2011 17:17 GMT sheep++;
Re: Beta? (@rvt)
Absolutely bloody agree with you about Google and others using "Beta" on every product. The Google+ thing even said there was a field trial _before_ the Beta version came out! [Sorry to do this - but did cows do a field trial and then said - there's a beta one over there]
Anyway, just release version 1 and send out tons of patches afterwards like a major USA software mangler (sorry, development company).
Footnote - Might as well go through the whole Greek Alpha... (pun intended) ...bet. Windows will be OK because when they get to version Delta, there'll be some changes ;-)
That was a terrible posting so I'll get both my coats.
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