Yeah, Buzz's privacy settings really weren't good. And the way it kept sending my Buzz conversations to my Googlemail inbox was infuriating. So I've turned it off (at least that's nice and simple- it's a tiny little link right at the bottom of your gmail page).
Article about Buzz: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31322_3-10451428-256.html
If Buzz had just been an extra link below my Inbox (and not being squirting information at me constantly) I would have kept it. Similarly, if there was a way to put a link from that sidebar to my Google Reader or my Blogger dashboard or my Livejournal friendslist I'd be overjoyed.
Hmm. Perhaps it's time to re-visit iGoogle? Perhaps it could be the solution to my problems?
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Google. Show all posts
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
What's the Buzz?
So, yet another Web 2.0 tool is released. This one, Google Buzz, seems to be a mix of Twitter and Facebook. I like the way it can pull in data from other sources - it'll tell everyone if I update Flickr, or share items in Google Reader, or if I update a blog. And it's nicely integrated with Googlemail.
Yeah, not a bad platform.
I must admit, I'm increasingly considering returning to blogging properly. I used to do it on Livejournal and stopped a few years ago, but this 23 Things has reminded me about it. It would be a good way to re-establish contact with old mates...
Yeah, not a bad platform.
I must admit, I'm increasingly considering returning to blogging properly. I used to do it on Livejournal and stopped a few years ago, but this 23 Things has reminded me about it. It would be a good way to re-establish contact with old mates...
Monday, 1 February 2010
Polls
The poll results for last week are in:
Google got an overwhelming positive result, 3/3 people say Yay.
iGoogle was much less popular- 2/4 people said Meh and 2/4 people said Nay.
Blogs were looking good, with 4/5 people saying Yay and only me saying Meh.
I'm interested to see how the votes for Google Reader pan out this week...
Google got an overwhelming positive result, 3/3 people say Yay.
iGoogle was much less popular- 2/4 people said Meh and 2/4 people said Nay.
Blogs were looking good, with 4/5 people saying Yay and only me saying Meh.
I'm interested to see how the votes for Google Reader pan out this week...
Google Reader
Google Reader is excellent!
It's certainly solving a lot of the issues I had with blogs in last week's post- finally I can see when blogs are updated and just read those bits, not all the posts on a blog.
I've subscribed to a big pile of other 23 Things blogs, so I look forward to reading other people's opinions nice and easily. It was very cool the way Google saw all my Blogspot subscriptions and copied them straight into the Reader, made this week's task much easier!
I still prefer Livejournal as my blogging & rss platform, as I think the Livejournal communities are such a good feature, but I can definitely see advantages to the Google & Blogspot combination.
It's certainly solving a lot of the issues I had with blogs in last week's post- finally I can see when blogs are updated and just read those bits, not all the posts on a blog.
I've subscribed to a big pile of other 23 Things blogs, so I look forward to reading other people's opinions nice and easily. It was very cool the way Google saw all my Blogspot subscriptions and copied them straight into the Reader, made this week's task much easier!
I still prefer Livejournal as my blogging & rss platform, as I think the Livejournal communities are such a good feature, but I can definitely see advantages to the Google & Blogspot combination.
Monday, 25 January 2010
iGoogle
The first two challenges in the 23 Things were to sign up for a Google account and customise an iGoogle page.
Luckily I already had a Google account as I use Googlemail, so Thing 1 was complete before I began.
I've long been a fan of Google. Their classic search engine has always been my homepage, and is wonderful- beautifully minimalist, so simple and easy to use. Plus the extra tools (language translation, spell checking and so on) are all wonderfully implemented without cluttering the design. The ability to search images and maps just makes it all the better. The constant adverts are a bit of a detraction, but they're easy enough to ignore.
In addition Googlemail is an incredible tool, and I love it utterly. The combination of searchable emails and the clever way they're combined into threads? Wonderful.
What I particularly like about Google is that all these things- searching, maps, images and email- are just a click of a button away. Conveniant and close at hand, but not in your face.
iGoogle, on the other hand, is simply horrid.
It's so cluttered! Urgh. It's so distracting, so much rubbish being thrown at you at once. I've tried it before and never liked it. Certainly won't be using it outside the program, Classic Home all the way for me. I'd much rather have all the information close-but-not-omnipresent.
A definite "Nay" to iGoogle from me, I'm afraid!
Luckily I already had a Google account as I use Googlemail, so Thing 1 was complete before I began.
I've long been a fan of Google. Their classic search engine has always been my homepage, and is wonderful- beautifully minimalist, so simple and easy to use. Plus the extra tools (language translation, spell checking and so on) are all wonderfully implemented without cluttering the design. The ability to search images and maps just makes it all the better. The constant adverts are a bit of a detraction, but they're easy enough to ignore.
In addition Googlemail is an incredible tool, and I love it utterly. The combination of searchable emails and the clever way they're combined into threads? Wonderful.
What I particularly like about Google is that all these things- searching, maps, images and email- are just a click of a button away. Conveniant and close at hand, but not in your face.
iGoogle, on the other hand, is simply horrid.
It's so cluttered! Urgh. It's so distracting, so much rubbish being thrown at you at once. I've tried it before and never liked it. Certainly won't be using it outside the program, Classic Home all the way for me. I'd much rather have all the information close-but-not-omnipresent.A definite "Nay" to iGoogle from me, I'm afraid!
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