google

Google+ white space fix.

by ZombieSkittles on April 15, 2012

I said earlier this week that I didn’t agree with the new Google+ layout. Well, it’s growing on me now, except for the tiny problem of all the white space on the page. Because Google insists on having the feed on the left of the screen, and the chatbar on the right, there is a large chunk of unused space towards the middle of the screen that does not look nice on widescreens.

While that is purely an aesthetic thing, hopefully Google fixes it. In the meantime, one savvy user has released this patch for Google Chrome1 which centres the social network on the screen, so it’s nicer to look at.

  1. There is an equivalent on Firefox.

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I don’t like the Google+ redesign.

by ZombieSkittles on April 12, 2012

image

This may be that bug that Facebook users suffer from, but I don’t like today’s redesign of Google+; it feels messy and cluttered. I’m hoping I’ll get used to it, and maybe come to love it more than the old layout. But what appealed to me about Google+ was it’s simplicity.

The other problem I have with this is that the Google experience –most of their services– have been changed around to suit the design of their social network. With this redesign, are they going to do the same to all the other Google products I use? That’s a scary thought.

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I want to love you Windows Phone 7

by ZombieSkittles on December 1, 2011

I really do, but you’re missing some things. Just a couple, but enough to sadden me deeply in the pants. I’ve listed some things that have bugged me before, but here are a few others that have cropped up and become really apparent to me lately.

GOOGLE, Y U NO PLUS?

There’s no native application for Google+ on Windows Phone 7 yet. The social network has been available to the public for a few months now, and has applications available for Android and iOS, but so far WP7 is very lacking in the Google+ front.
This wouldn’t be a problem if the mobile site looked decent, but it’s very bland and hard to navigate. I love using Google+, but this situation shits me.

In fact, GOOGLE Y U NO ANYTHING?

Focussing on Google still, I use most of their other services pretty heavily too. I use Google Docs when I need to write (I used it for NaNoWriMo this year), and I use Google Reader for almost all my online reading, and of course I have my GMail account.
When it comes to WP7, I’m able to sync my GMail account, and I can download and use an application specially made for Google Search. However, there are absolutely no other official applications for the company in the Marketplace. It’s ridiculous, and coincidentally these two points are the main things making me consider going back to android.

IT SURE WOULD BE NICE IF I COULD TAKE A SCREEN SHOT FOR THIS POST, WOULDN’T IT?

Unfortunately, that’s not possible. I would have taken one of the Google+ mobile site on my phone to display how ugly it is, but unfortunately Windows Phone 7 doesn’t have a simple way to take shots. Sure there are apparently long winded ways to do it, but honestly I just want a simple two button combination to do so, like both the iPhone and Android phones are capable of. This isn’t futuristic technology, it’s taking an image of the current screen.

Is this all really that much to ask for? I don’t think so. I’m giving the Windows Phone some more time before I give up, as I really do love the operating system, and it has a lot of pluses, which mostly outweigh the few negatives I listed above.

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Drama on my Google+?

by ZombieSkittles on November 10, 2011

Today I decided to look at the “What’s Hot” stream on Google+, where you see the most popular things people have posted lately. Apparently there is an uproar because some people are reposting other people’s public images without properly crediting them.
The claims are that it messes up ripples and “post stealing” is unethical.

While I don’t argue against the points Carter Gibson and other people are bringing up, I have to ask; why the fuck should it matter?

PostStealingLook at me, not crediting the original poster of this image. I am a rebel.

From what I’ve seen, the main person accused of this issue is a Mr. Jason Calacanis. I really don’t see the issue. The gentleman in question did not claim the images as his own work, he merely reposted them. He didn’t share them via the “share” button supplied by Google, but does that really matter?
To me, it doesn’t matter as long as I see it. I’d rather see the image than miss it entirely. Half of the things that get posted are things found on Reddit or elsewhere on the Internet anyway. I feel that claiming that because you posted it first everyone should just share your post is just narcissistic, or something like that.

Tumblr is a good example of a community based purely around reposting other peoples works. If someone makes something new and original that is loved by the community, it is reposted a billion times to the point that the original author is forgotten. Do they yell at the top of their lungs about post stealing? No, they don’t.

To me, it doesn’t matter if someone posts the same thing as another person does, as long as people can see it. I’m willing to bet that most of the time the person who originally posted the item didn’t even make the item themselves, but rather found it on another site and thought it was worth sharing.
Even in the event that the item is 100% original, they’re sharing it on a social network site like Google+ or Tumblr because they want other people to see it. If someone else posts it themselves, that just means more people are seeing it. As long as said re-poster doesn’t take credit for the image/post, there really shouldn’t be a problem.

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ZombieSkittles+

by ZombieSkittles on November 9, 2011

Well for those people who read the lame things I post here, ZombieSkittles has it’s own Google+ Page! Why? Because. What will it be used for? Not much beyond having another way to spam you.
Where’s the link? I suggest you click on that rather sexy logo on the left.

The only two things I dislike about the new Brand Pages on Google+ is the lack of a badge similar to the one I use for Facebook in the sidebar, and analytics. Lucky, both have been promised in the future, but how far away these features are is not certain. Hopefully it’s not a long wait.

Coincidentally, Rubenerd.com and Rex Havoc (An epic blog site and awesome story respectively) both have Google+ pages you should add to your circles while you’re there.

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+1

by ZombieSkittles on July 21, 2011

google-plus-logo1Well thanks to an awesome person on Twitter, I’ve been having a fiddle with Google+. Suffice to say, I’m quite enjoying it’s simplicity over Facebook’s bloated feeling. There’s no applications, and everything seems rather simple. Furthermore, the site has some nice features.

I could go on and on, and talk about the various things in Google+ that set it apart and make it good, but I’ll leave that to other people who do it better. This is a much simpler post, targeting a single feature.

Plus One.

The +1 button is a simple idea that has seen many different versions with slightly different purposes. Facebook like buttons, Tweet This buttons and the like all have the same idea, but Google’s does a little bit more. The button can be used as a simple way of liking posts made inside of Google+ itself, but the best part is it’s use outside of the social network.
When you find an article you enjoyed reading, or a video on YouTube you thought was especially good, you can click a corresponding +1 button on the page, and that item will be shared. If enabled, it will show up on your Google+ Profile under the +1 tab, so other people can see what you liked. This makes it relatively simple to spread the word about something, and I really think it’s quite neat, as it doesn’t spam up anyone.

This is basically a vanity post, because if you can’t see it by now, I suggest you scroll down just a little bit. Yes, I’ve added a +1 button to this site, allowing you to +1 singular posts if you so feel inclined. I don’t expect there’ll be many things worthy of a +1 on here, but I figured I like the system, and it couldn’t hurt to incorporate it.

Is anyone else incorporating the button into their blogs or websites?

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Galaxy S GPS fix.

by ZombieSkittles on September 28, 2010

This entry is part 25 of 25 in the series Blog Every Day in September

Days without alcohol/soft drinks: 27

-  -  -

Playing with my Samsung Galaxy S, I’ve been having rather bad GPS problems, as I have demonstrated to friends by showing them how it documents my walking down a straight line by zig-zagging left and right and showing me going through houses and backyards.

Today I believe I found the fix for it, in the form of a disabled option in the settings menu. Quite simple really, and I’m surprised no-one at Optus was able to help me with this. So if you’re having problems with GPS not being able to find your location (which is a major pain if you’re a Foursquare user like me), just follow these steps.

  1. Go into your settings (found in the Applications menu).
  2. Choose “Location and security”.
  3. You will see two options under “My Location sources”; Use wireless networks, and Use GPS satellites. The former will be unselected by default. Tick it. You will get warned that Google will collect anonymous data.

If you’re okay with those conditions, you’ll now have far more accurate location details. This might work with other Android phones with GPS problems (if there are any), but I’m not sure.

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What’s the Buzz?

by ZombieSkittles on April 1, 2010

I’m one of the many people out there on the internet attracted to the new shiny things. When things like Google Wave are released I’m there to check it out, even if I don’t really understand it yet. It’s a problem.

However, since the release of Google Buzz, I’m still not sure what the hell it is, or why I should care. Checking it out, it just seems to be a copy of the service Twitter does, but through Google. It shares your activity in a number of Google-connected sites (Google Reader, YouTube, etc) and any other sites you wish to connect to it (which Twitter does) with people who follow you  (which Twitter does). You’re able to comment on other people’s “buzzes” (as I assume they’re called. Bizzes? Bozzes? I would of expected Google to come up with something catchy.) and “like” them, which seems to be the only significant difference to Twitter, as Twitter instead lets users retweet anything another user wrote (effectively showing you like it and sharing it), and to talk to people directly using @replies.

Google Buzz logo All I know is I want to play UNO now…

I wish I knew what was so special about Buzz that Google would release it alongside Twitter. Can anyone enlighten me as to what Google Buzz is really meant to accomplish, and whether I should actually care at all?

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How do I wave?

by ZombieSkittles on December 2, 2009

By commenting here.

I got myself my very own Google Wave invites the other day, but wasn’t sure how I should give them out. Do I hold a novel game of some sort for fun? Do I give them just to friends? Do I give them to that person who keeps offering to follow me on twitter if I follow them back?

Finally, out of sheer laziness, I’m offering this; comment here with an anti-joke, and include your email address in the email section of the submit form, and I’ll give you one. Don’t know what an anti-joke is? Here’s a Wikipedia article on the phenomenon. Want an example? How about this one; What did Batman say to Robin to get him in the car?

Get in the car.

Simple, right? I absolutely love anti-humour, and I’m always hungry for more. If you have a funny one, please share it. I have 13 invites to give away, so the first 13 people to make a proper anti-joke, without copying any already made here, will get an invite to Google Wave. I think that’s simple enough.

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Hypocritical?

by ZombieSkittles on December 1, 2009

Today while surfing the net, I made the normal visit to YouTube that we all eventually make. As to be expected, Google had an ad on the main page. It was massive.

badad

I know you’re probably saying “that’s not too big, it seems the normal size”, but that’s not the whole ad. You wait 10 seconds, and this happens.

badad2

It turns out all those spotlight videos are fake, and the whole thing is a clickable ad for Coca Cola, that leads to their Facebook page.

Now, I’m no expert in Google’s Terms Of Service when it comes to Adsense for us, but I’m pretty sure that if you disguise an ad as anything but an ad but to gain clicks, you instantly get booted from their program without any chance of appeal (they say you can, but honestly, I can’t say I’ve ever heard of it working.).

Now, here they are on one of their own sites doing just that. As someone who uses Adsense (rather poorly, I might add), I can’t see how they can do this, while the most I can do to mine is put them underneath a rather nice looking horizontal bar (doesn’t the bar above the ads just look so good? I have to admit, it turns me on a little bit.). I’m not sure if the ad in question is actually an Adsense ad, but surely they should adhere to their own rules, at least for the sake of consistency? Am I completely wrong in my assumption, or have they changed the rules? TELL ME!

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