DigitalFanGirl

Google Offers is currently serving New York, Portland, Oakland and San Fran. But Washington, DC, Boston, Austin, Denver and Seattle are next to get this service. Of coure, I signed up to get notified of the Washington, DC roll out.

So what is Google Offers? Apparently, the same thing as Groupon and LivingSocial; except it’s Google and just because of that I’ll try it out. I admit I drank the Google juice a long time ago and I’m quite bias. From looking at their ‘How Google Offers works’ page, I don’t see anything different from what Groupon and LivingSocial already offer.

1. You sign up for the service to receive daily emails with deals in your area (same with Groupon and LivingSocial)
2. You purchase the deal and they email you a confirmation (same with Groupon and LivingSocial)
3. You print out the confirmation or show the vendor your confirmation from your mobile phone. (I’m not sure if Groupon and LivingSocial allow you to show the confirmation from your mobile phone or not.)
4. Share daily deals with friends, colleagues and family. (You and share Groupon deals with others from within the app)

This ‘Look Inside’ feature may be different. You can view images of the best places to eat, shop, and play. Since it’s Google, I expect it to integrate seamlessly with Google Maps (to get directions to the venue I’ve just purchases a deal from), Google Voice (to call said venue), Google Calendar (to add the deal date to my calednar) and probably Picasa (to view photos of the venue – although I don’t use Picasa).

There is no mention of an app, but I can’t imagine there not being an Google Offers app. So, there doesn’t appear to be anything different from Groupon and Living Social in Google Offers, but it is Google, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Except for you New Yorkers and San Fran folks who get everything first. Let me know how you like and compare Google Offers with Groupon and LivingSocial….

Will you give Google Offers a try?

It’s been 13 days since I joined Google+ and I’ve beem monitoring my activity between Google+, Twitter and Facebook. I have totally abandoned Facebook since joining Google+ and I actually don’t feel guilty about it. While I haven’t actually logged into Facebook over the last 13 days, I still post certain things to Facebook. For instance, I track my runs and workouts with Cardio Trainer and I always share my activity with Facebook from the Cardio Trainer app. But once they add the ability to share with Google+, I probably won’t share it on Facebook anymore.

I still use Twitter, but not everyday and certainly not as much as I did say three or four years ago. But once there’s a Google+ to twitter integration, I have a feeling I’ll be using it a little more.

There is a discussion about cross-posting going on in Google+ right now. Some people are cross-posting Google+ posts to Twitter and Facebook. Someone commented and said cross-posting the same post to all three networks makes your updates static.

I base my posts on my audience. My Facebook is truly full of friends and family and they have no interest in my tech geekery. So, any techie, geeky or web thing I share on Twitter, I will most definitely not share on Facebook. But since I’ve been using Google+, I find my tech community is much more rich over there and I am inclined to post on Google+ first and tweet a link from said Google+ post.

Are you cross-posting the same posts to Twitter, Google+ and Facebook? Why or why not?

I’m calling Google+ The Redemption Product because it feels like Google has really made an effort to make a five star product after the disasters that were Google Buzz and Google Wave.

What I Like About Google Plus:

- It’s easy to add people to your circles. You simply drag and drop the contact to your chosen circle. It’s also extremely easy to create a new circle.
- I actually LOVE the circles. What I talk about with my academia friends is not the same topic of conversation I have with my techie friends. – So, I am loving circles more and more everyday. I find it incredibly useful in keeping those conversations separate, but not separating me from my entire “friend-base”.
- Loving the instant photo and video feature. When I take a photo on my Droid2, it automatically gets loaded to Google Plus (in private mode) and then I can elect to make that photo public or not and share it.
- I love how allow you to edit a post you already posted. Unlike Facebook where the only option is to delete the post and rewrite/repost it.

What I Like About the Google Plus App:

- The app is amazing and since I can’t access Google Plus at work because our browser is not supported, THIS MATTERS TO ME.
- You can still do things like create new circles (which I initially thought you were unable to do) and it’s really simple to do.

What I’d Like to See:

In the APP: When someone posts a status with a YouTube link; it would be nice if that video played within that status update. It currently directs you to YouTube.com to play the video.
In the APP: Would like to see circles where people have added ME. Right now you get a notification that someone has added you to their circle.
From the Web: I know Picasa is a Google product, but I’m still an avid Flickr Pro user and I wish there was a way to link to my Flickr photo albums, but of course their only pushing the Picasa photo integration.
From the Web: The ability to share a circle would be really nice.

I just received an invite for Google Plus tonight, so of course I had to start setting it up. To me, it’s always kind of a pain setting up new profiles because it seems like I’m setting up a new service every time I blink. But, it’s Google and from all the rumors that have been going around over the last year about them starting a social network; my curiosity truly got the best of me. So, I’ve just spent that last 1.5 hours setting my Google Plus profile up.

Sidebar: I don’t know whether to refer to it as Google Plus or Google+

So far I like the UI, the ease of use and I love the android app. It’s so smooth. There are a couple of features within Google Plus I’m really excited to try out (not tonight because I’m too freaking sleepy; maybe this weekend) and that is Huddle and Hangouts. After I’ve played with Google Plus a bit more I’ll be able to write a more detailed review. But so far, I kinda like it.

Add me to a circle if you’re using Google Plus.

I love Read it Later and use it alot on my Android I just found a Chrome extension for it, so I’m going to give it a whirl to see how I like it.

Do you use Read it Later? What browser extension or plugin are you using?

I received an invite to Music Beta by Google today and I jumped for joy. I signed up for an invite as soon as Google announced it at Google I/O.

I started setting up my Music Beta account and have been able to use it for the last three days and right now I must say I love it just as much as I love Amazon Cloud Player, which I’ve been using since that service launched.

This post is just a peak inside the terms and service and my initial opinion on how well it works. But as I use it more and am able to check out more of its features, I’ll provide a more in depth review.

A look at some of the additional Terms of Service for Music Beta by Google

The Music Beta Service and Your Music

Music Beta is a Service as defined in Section 1.1 of the Google Terms of Service and is provided to you for your personal, non-commercial use solely in connection with lawfully acquired music files from your personal collection that you choose to make available to yourself through the Service, including all data comprising, describing, or associated with each music file that you choose to upload, such as audio data, metadata, and album art for each selected file (whether referring to individual uploaded files or to your entire uploaded library, “Your Music”). Music Beta consists of (a) Google-provided server space that you can use for storage of Your Music, and (b) software applications and related web sites and services that allow you to upload, manage, access, and play back Your Music through a web browser or through any supported, Service-enabled device. To the extent that you use the Music Application for Android devices in conjunction with Music Beta, those uses are governed by the Terms, including these Additional Terms.

Trial Service Availability and Limitations

Music Beta is a trial or “beta” Service from Google that requires you to register with your new or existing Google account. It is available free for a limited time to residents of the United States (including its territories and protectorates) who have received an invitation from Google and accept the invitation by signing into their Google account to register for use of the Service. As a beta Service, certain limits on storage or usage may apply; these limits may be set or changed by Google at any time, at Google’s discretion, and you agree that you will not attempt to obstruct or prevent the application of those Service limits at any time, or to manipulate your usage of the Service to avoid or circumvent them. You can find more information about applicable Service limits through the Music Beta Help Center.

Your Permissions and Instructions to Google

Section 11 of the Google Terms of Service governing Music Beta by Google is replaced in its entirety by the following:

11.1 You retain any rights you already hold in Your Music. You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for your own conduct and Content (including Your Music) while using the Service and for any consequences thereof. You agree to use the Service only for purposes that are legal, proper, and in accordance with these Terms, and that by using the Service you are requesting that Google make all of the necessary functions and features of the Service available to you in order to facilitate your use of Your Music according to the Terms. Without limiting the generality of this overall permission and instruction, you specifically agree that you are instructing Google to perform the functions described in Sections 11.2, 11.3, and 11.4 below.

11.2 By uploading or submitting Your Music to or through the Service, you are directing Google to store a unique copy of Your Music on your behalf and to make it accessible to you through the use of your login credentials.

11.3 By accessing, managing, playing back, displaying, or using all or any part of Your Music on or through the Service, you are directing Google to initiate and perform the corresponding functions on your behalf, together with any related steps necessary to achieve them, through the Service.

11.4 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide you with the Service as described in the Terms, may (a) transmit Your Music over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to Your Music as are necessary to conform and adapt it to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services, or media. You agree that in each such instance, your use of the Service includes a direction to Google to take these actions on your behalf.

11.5 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority to grant any permissions and give any instructions to Google that may be required to perform the actions necessary to provide you with the Service. You agree that you will not upload, submit, access, manage, play back, display or use any Content (including any portion of Your Music), or direct Google to do anything with Your Music on your behalf, unless you have all of the necessary rights to do so without infringing the rights of any third party or violating any laws or agreements that apply to you, the Content, or Your Music.

Now, with iCloud coming out, I guess I’ll have yet another service to try, but I won’t complain because I’ve been wanting the ability to play MY music via the cloud for some time now. So, I’ll just be happy I actually have choices now.

Have you tried Amazon Cloud Player? Did you get an Music Beta by Google invite yet? Are you looking forward to giving iCloud a try?

You may heard mentions of Google Correlate and wondered what the heck it is and you may have taken a visit to Google labs to find out a little more about it. AND you probably read what was on that page and felt more confused than ever.

Well, to help you get a better understanding of what Google Correlate is all about, Google designed a nifty little comic to help break it down for you.

Check out the entire Comic at Google Labs.

Evernote blows our minds once again. Can I just say how much I love Evernote?!?!? They’ve been my exclusive notetaking service since May 2008. Aside from my Gmail and Google Calender, this is the ONLY service I use every single day. Evernote has become a part of my daily routine and I can’t recommend it enough.

I’m also a Chrome user and I think the existing Evernote Google Chrome Extension is pretty damn nice, but they’ve gone on and made some major changes.

Today, Evernote’s Google Chrome Extension gets a major upgrade in functionality, usability and general awesomeness. We’ve received tons of great user feedback on what the ideal web clipping experience should be, and, with this update, the Evernote Chrome Extension takes a big step in that direction.

Let’s take a look and see what all this extension improvement goodness entails..

Thought: I really need to buy an Evernote shirt so I can rock it on the weekends…. #geektshirtfetish

I’ve been hoping Google would put out an official Google Docs app, but they haven’t and they probably won’t. I guess it isn’t in high enough demand. However, for folks like me who use Google Docs exclusively, we hope for an app that will give us access to our docs from our android devices. The only app I’ve found is GDocs. It is not a perfect app and although I see some improvements from when I first installed this app over a year ago; it still has room for improvement. I wish it mimicked Google Docs a little more in terms of how the files and folders are named, organized and structured. But, I can’t complain to much. This app does a lot and the developer continues to improve it.

GDocs is a editor/viewer for your Google Documents. It is a FREE Android application that allows you create, edit, view, import, export and send documents as well sync documents with your Google Docs account.

Features of GDocs:

• Multiple accounts support
• Support of Google Apps accounts (Google Premier accounts)
• PDF viewer
• Automatic document synchronization
• Localized to multiple languages (French, German, Hungarian, Norwegian, Russian, Romanian)
• Android 1.5 supported (Motorola Droid, Nexus One, Hero, Touch, G1 & etc.)
• Import/export of documents and files from Google cloud and your Android device

Download GDocs

Available platforms as of January 8, 2011: Android only

I was going into my Google Docs account to work on a paper and I noticed the pop-out message about users now able to upload and watch videos from Google Docs. My first thought was; would I want to do that? I haven’t answered the question yet. Maybe? I have Viddler and Vimeo accounts and have for a while and am used to going to those accounts to watch any of my videos, but I wonder what the advantage of uploading my videos to Google Docs would be. Would I still upload them to Vimeo? I guess I would because if I wanted to share the video or embed it in my blogs I would need an embed code like Vimeo provides. The information page about playing videos in Google Docs doesn’t mention anything about being able to embed said videos into a blog or webpage. So, I’m still trying to figure out why I would want to do this.

Here is some information from the Google Docs help page:

Once you’ve uploaded your video to Google Docs, you can watch it with the Google Docs video player. Simply click the file from your Documents List, and the player opens in a new page.

Files that you can play

Uploaded video files can be up to 1 GB. These are the most common video formats that you can upload and play:

* WebM files (Vp8 video codec and Vorbis Audio codec)
* .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files – (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs and AAC audio codec)
* .AVI (many cameras use this format – typically the video codec is MJPEG and audio is PCM)
* .MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec and MP2 audio)
* .WMV
* .FLV (Adobe – FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)

Tips and notes

* Upload your video in the original format and in the highest quality possible. The maximum resolution for playback is 1920×1080.
* Audio and video lengths should be the same, audio and video should start and end at the same time.

How to play a video and find information about the file

Just click a video file you’ve uploaded to your Documents List, and the video opens in a new page that includes a video player. You will need to have Flash installed for the video player to work.

While some people may really find this new feature useful, I’m still not sure how and why I would use this feature. Not that I’m knocking, but I can’t see using this feature AND still using Vimeo or using this feature and NOT using Vimeo anymore.

Is this a feature you’ll use? Are you currently using another video service to upload and watch our videos? What am I missing?