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Okay, what? Google, why did you shut down a service that I actually use every day? What is UP? Is today, like, bad decisions Tuesday, or something?
Note from 2022 Rachel: JUST WAIT TIL THEY SHUT DOWN GOOGLE READER
No Fans of Web 2.0 Here
I just want to acknowledge @“tehawesome’s amazing answer to my query about wtf is going on with Google Reader. I asked”Why are there no borders anywhere on this goddamn new layout”? To which they replied:
“Because it’s different and open, like an absurd new-age elementary school. No borders, no walls, man! Everybody gets a crocodile in Spelling.”
Congrats, @tehawesome. You get today’s Laugh Out Loud reward of the day. Your prize was my actually laughing out loud, which you couldn’t hear.
In a few weeks we’ll be retiring Google Buzz.
In a few weeks we’ll be retiring Google Buzz. At that time you won’t be able to create any new posts, but your existing content will remain accessible in two ways:
You can view it on your Google Profile
You can download it using Google TakeoutThank you for using Google Buzz.
(Was there anyone else who noticed this?)
Puppies
Who’s cuter, Ryan or a Puppy?
Reblog your choice
OH MY GOD I CAN’T DECIDE! They both look so good with George Clooney.
CELEBRATEWITH A PUMPKINDANCE
What is the desire, the need, to make others aware of their Morning Person status? There is no doubt in my mind that the inspiration for all the various statuses and tweets along the lines of: “What a beautiful morning, a nice hour of yoga and I’m so ready to attack today! #GettinThatWormBro” is simply to make the rest of us feel bad as we stand, comatose, in front of our coffee machines. I hate you, social networking-capable morning person. You are the worst part of waking up. You are the Anti-Folgers.
What Is Wrong With Morning People? « Thought Catalog
“Our solution was to create a new place that’s lighter-weight where you can see lighter-weight stuff—that’s how we came up with Ticker.” If you translate “lighter-weight” to boring, you’ll understand what Zuckerberg is saying: Facebook now has a place on its site reserved especially for boring updates.”
Facebook Ticker: Mark Zuckerberg’s terrible plan to get us to share everything we do on the Web. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine
Edie Sedgwick rendered by Julabelle
Bead Deals
me: omg Adam. i just got a Groupon.
Adam: ? FOR?
me: for $10 OFF… a BEADING CLASS… OR BEADING SUPPLIES
Adam: BEST
me: AT BEAD GIRL ON LINE
Adam: YES
me: BEAD GIRL ONLINE
Adam: LET’S SPEND $10 MORE ON BEADS THAN WE NORMALLY WOULD AND NOT FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT
I love the interlude in this song where classical musical starts playing and the lead singer snarls: “Turn it off! That ain’t my scene.” Yeah! Turn off that shitty Mozart or whatever. Let’s listen to some Def Leppard instead.
Def Leppard, “Let’s Get Rocked”; 10 Terrible Songs That I Love on Thought Catalog
Purchased. (Hugo the Hippo Leather Keychain)
The Dark Side of Mario by Mitch Loidolt (via Strange And Awesome Fan-Art Marches On: Pics, Videos, Links, News)
You definitely tormented your parents, regardless of whether they were divorced or not, because you know, you were a person, with so many feelings, that they didn’t understand. If you survived a 90s puberty, you probably spent a lot of time genuinely believing the whole world revolved around you, vowing to stick it to the man, and wallowing in your angst.
Can’t stop sharing this video. Sharing it on ALLOFTHETHINGS! Goldfish - We Come Together (OFFICIAL) (by Goldfishlive)
Boy Was I Wrong
Note from 2022 Rachel: File this under things I changed my mind about almost immediately.
—
Google Plus is Google, Plus
Here were some of my first thoughts on Google+:
- “Hey, it looks kind of like Facebook, but prettier!”
- “Hey, you can share things on it like Facebook, but with different circles of people. Or just one person. Like Gmail!”
- “Hey, wait, what the fuck is a circle? How do I add people?”
- “Hey, alright, I get it. Now I’ve got people in my circle, so how do I share things with them?”
- “Hey, okay, so I post things into this box and hit send to specific groups of people… really like Gmail.”
- “Hey, neat, it uses Gchat so I can chat with people… like Gmail.”
- “Hey, so it’s… like facebooktwittergmail? Why do I want this?”
Then I spent four hours on Google+.
Because of the integration with Google’s new topbar, I can absolutely see this being Google’s first successful social media venture. The topbar runs across all of Google’s services. If you’ve embraced the new “Preview” theme, as I have, in Gmail, then the Plus UI is mimicked. Regardless, I’ve been told that notifications still appear in your Gmail interface. So whether you’re in your Gmail inbox or Googling something, your Plus notifications will appear in the topbar, and you can reply to them without ever leaving the service you’re using. You simply click your notification and reply to comments or see your tags, and then go right back to what you’re doing. It’s a brilliant idea, beautifully executed.
And so are the circles, because they recognize your want to share different things with different groups of people, and they make them easy to access and understand. By building in circles as a necessity, rather than a “feature” like Facebook’s “lists”, you’re organizing your friends in a way that makes sense, right off the bat. No one uses Facebook “lists”, but everyone will use Circles - because they have to. This will allow for increased privacy and ease of sharing, two things which Facebook users constantly complain about not having. Granted, the settings are there with Facebook, but in my experience most people find them overly complicated, and difficult to figure out. Settings should be intuitive, and major props go to Google+ for giving the user control without really making them feel like they have to take any extra steps.
The app for android is also pretty spiffy, and while I personally don’t want to “Hangout” with my contacts in video-chat windows of (up to) 10 people, I understand why some might find that feature desirable. It also integrates with Google Chat, so all your chat contacts are already available to you in your sidebar. Which is great, because I am an avid user of Google Chat, and pretty much shun all other chat alternatives.
Final thoughts: Yes, this isn’t really different from Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter (or any/all combinations thereof). But the interface is clean, pretty and easy to use, the integration with other Google products is tight but not pushy (unlike Buzz), and social media is fun.