Tuesday 30 August 2011

g+ and how Hangouts are Changing Peter's Life


 -  Aug 30, 2011  -  Public
This is what I am talking about...
Peter McDermott's profile photoPeter McDermott originally shared this post:
Google+ and how Hangouts are Changing my Life

Just over the last few days, not even weeks, I have become very active in Google+. If you're a frequenter of Google+ hangouts, you very well may have seen me. Whether it is chatting with my good friend +Brad Chasenore from Australia's Tech Webcast, or watching +Cliff Roth do an amazing job of painting other Hangout participants in a 30-second window, everything I have come across has been completely amazing.

Surely, there have been some things that are less than amazing, like that person that joins your hangout and has 13 children screaming in the background or their television blaring so loud it overpowers everyone's mic. So, of course, you mute that person and they immediately unmute themselves. Admit it, there are people like that in life that can't handle themselves in a cocktail party, so don't sweat it.

The point of this post it to declare that I absolutely LOVE everything I have discovered, the people I have met and the opportunities that have presented themselves since I have joined Google+.

Last night, for example, +Craig Shipp invited me to start doing a series of videos called "Springfield News at 6." Granted, these are not going to be an overnight YouTube sensation, but as more and more Google+ users pick up on our humor and realize how fun it is to "hangout" they will definitely catch on.

It was the courage I used in the hangouts with +Craig Shipp that led me to be invited to join +Michael Mozart in a LIVE YouTube stream that happened just tonight. At the end of the show, he allowed everyone to introduce themselves and I gave him my best Kasey Kasem impression I could. Why? Because I knew, at that time, at that moment, I had an opportunity to show him who I was.

Who is +Peter McDermott? Who are you? Well, Google+ is giving us all the opportunity to show who we really are. No pseudonyms, no masks to hide behind, just hundreds of thousands of people being themselves and connecting with others based solely on their common interests and the content on their character.

Thanks to Google+ and the Google+ hangouts, I am really starting to discover who +Peter McDermott is and where he wants to go in life. If that means challenging +Robert Scoble on his tone, or asking +Chris Pirillo why he doesn't do live hangouts on his YouTube show, I know now that there is a level platform where everyone is able to be heard, but only if you're willing to speak up.

What's your story? Do you think Google+ can change your life or your career? Have you connected with people you wouldn't dream of connecting with before? Share your thoughts in the comment field below. Please, feel free to share and repost on your blog. And when you get the opportunity, circle every influential person here.

Monday 29 August 2011

g+ header Profile One


 -  Aug 29, 2011  -  Public
Here's my new profile shots. I live in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England, UK. A short walk from my house is the ruin of the Kenilworth Castle. I used my own photo, overlay template, screen shot, save and a crop.

+1
3 comments
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  +Janet E Davis Here's that castle and I didn't even have to leave the house as had a stock photo (of mine) on the laptop..
Aug 29, 2011   
Wellington Duran's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Jessica Thomas's profile photo
Aug 30, 2011    

g+ Profile of The Castle


 -  Aug 29, 2011  -  Public
Here's the original shot I used before the five shot edit of the castle. Nikon D90, Picasa edit, graduated tint and slight soft focus.

g+ Plus Minus


ALERT.. before my very eyes just came EXPAND SHRINK NORMAL WIDE along with some little grey triangles clickable expand/contrcats features..

25 comments
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Hey Mike, what's allowing you to do that?
Aug 29, 2011   
Marc Jansen's profile photo
Marc Jansen  -  same here... is it the plus minus extension? (I had just installed it)
Aug 29, 2011 (edited)   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  I have no G+Me extension, just noticed photos can be rotated too (that been there very long?)
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  I don't know for sure, Mike. I don't really use Google to edit photos :P
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Btw, Plus Minus and G+Me work well together with a couple of minor tweaks.
If you install G+Me be sure to configure Plus Minus to "Disable Stream Layout", or they'll interfere with each other.
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  It's clicka photo, then ACTIONS, and there are ROTATE LEFT/RIGHT buttons, def not there before
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Handy stuff. I'll have to play with that at some point ;)
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  +Brian Turner these screens are exactly like the Blogger EDIT POSTS screens, with drop down VIEW POST options...
Aug 29, 2011   
Marc Jansen's profile photo
Marc Jansen  -  Seems to be part of the extension, Mike. I installed it right after you did, and am only finding these things as you ask (these options are not in my Firefox window)
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  I'm betting there's a lot of code reuse between them. So Google is repurposing some backend code. Cool ;)
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Oh, I'm loving the Plus Minus options, Marc's right, these are parts of that extension only. Although it'd be nice to see them implemented natively. I've had the extension for a while, but I had stream layout disabled so it'd work with G+Me, seems I was missing some recent upgrades til now ;)
Aug 29, 2011 (edited)   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  Moral of this escapade is anything is possible within Chrome, so with all these expand/wide options, stream looks like some twitter layer with ring pull grenades ..cool
Aug 29, 2011 (edited)   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Don't give people ideas about grenades... They'll make them ;)
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  That's me done, 3am in the UK, when will you be in the hangouts with full video and a mic?
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  When I can replace my good laptop's power brick, no date on that one. Kinda broke. Sleep well :)
Aug 29, 2011   
Alexandra d'Avila Bakker's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Alexandra d'Avila Bakker's profile photo
Alexandra d'Avila Bakker  -  Oooh... forgot to say that the ability to Collapse a Post also works well for those who post Animated Gifs that you don't want to see (or make it stop).... though if you Mute the post, it does the same thing.
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Craig Thornton's profile photo
Craig Thornton  -  Some great tools discussed here, thanks. Have installed G+Me, Replies and more for Google+ and Plus Minus. They work well together.
Aug 29, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011    

Sunday 28 August 2011

g+ global websites


 -  Aug 28, 2011  -  Public
+1
2 shares  -  Danny Ayers and János Haits
4 comments
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 28, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  Oh, ok, we have @yourname which works the same as +Brian Turner So, it is a cross between FB and twitter after all
Aug 28, 2011   
Emily Manning's profile photo
Aug 28, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Gee, now we await the 'one social network to rule them all'
Aug 28, 2011    

g+ Text Formatting


 -  Aug 28, 2011  -  Public
+1
2 shares  -  Danny Ayers and János Haits
4 comments
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 28, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  Oh, ok, we have @yourname which works the same as +Brian Turner So, it is a cross between FB and twitter after all
Aug 28, 2011   
Emily Manning's profile photo
Aug 28, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Gee, now we await the 'one social network to rule them all'
Aug 28, 2011    

g+ Twitter Speed Slow


 -  Aug 28, 2011  -  Public
What's it called when you travel in a car at 70mph then suddenly slow to 30 and it feels so slow, you think you can get out and walk faster?

That's happening to me with G+ versus Twitter. Here's one of my twitter accounts about my home town - every time I look at it, I think I cannot go back there. Darn you G+ for being entertaining, fun and kinda exciting.

+1
8 comments
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  Lol, that's because Twitter has so little actual content and G+ just plain rocks for information ;) (yeah, my two cents, and perhaps slightly biased) :P
Aug 28, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  I have been banging on about how great twitter is and been campaigning to get local politicians, law enforcement and well, everyone on twitter. No sooner have they joined up, I will be asking then to jump ship and start here at G+ .... it too far a big step to make for such no-tech folk.
Aug 28, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Brian Turner  -  That's no joke. But hopefully with the right support, they'll slowly get a clue and figure it out ;)
Aug 28, 2011   
A Stuart Williams's profile photo
A Stuart Williams  -  I doubt many politicians have the attention span for more than 140 characters...
Aug 28, 2011   
Brian Turner's profile photo
Aug 28, 2011   
Christopher Woods's profile photo
Aug 29, 2011   
Christopher Woods's profile photo
Christopher Woods  -  Twitter could become the feeder class for G+. Like GP2 and F1. ;-)
Aug 29, 2011   
Mike Downes's profile photo
Mike Downes  -  +Christopher Woods lol, yes your're right, I did quick spreadshhet last night, seems my @wiKenilworth tweets gone from 45 a day to zero in space of 3 weeks. And +A Stuart Williams you are right, I found one local politician the other day, who had no email address.
Aug 29, 2011    

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