Google+ and Twitter: A Month In

Every time I leave Google+ and duck back into the Twitterverse, I get frustrated at a few things:

1) Lack of stickiness. It is way too easy to miss posts. I have a bunch of Twitter lists that help, but I still end up doing a lot of scrolling. Messages that can fit in what G+ message are only broken up into dozens of tweets, filling my stream. This also has the opposite effect - if I tweet, I usually get all of the responses that I'm going to get within an hour or so. My G+ posts get responses, likes, and shares days after I post them.

2) Spammers. I'm sure G+ will get its fair share of spammers and bots, but I haven't seen any yet. I hate when i get an @ reply based on one of my posts matching some random bot algorithm.

3) Lack of visualization. Twitter's stream of text is beginning to look boring. I really, really love how visual G+ is, with pics and videos (yes, and animated Gifs) right in the browser.

These are issues that I learned to deal with before Google+, mainly because Twitter is so much better than alternatives like Facebook when it comes to having a conversation. But now, they stick out like a sore thumb.

Google+ For iPhone: Needs a Bit More Time In The Oven

 The Google+ app has replaced the Calculator on my home screeen

Google finally released an iPhone app for its Google+ social network. However, there are a few things that are missing - things that make it hard for me to depend on the app for my mobile social networking needs.

Photo Problems

The good news is that I can take a photo on the iPhone and upload it directly to Google+, which is great for random daily shots. However, the pics automatically go into its own album.  If I have an existing album that I want to add photos to, I can't.  Also, I can't create an entirely new album and add photos to it.  These are all things that I can do in the Facebook app, and really helps to keep track of photos taken during a trip.

Post Management

Tagging people in posts is totally borked. It brings up a list of random users that I may or may not be connected with, instead of prioritzing people that I've already added to circles like the desktop version of Google+ does.  This is especially inconvenient when commenting on posts whcih a large amount of existing comments.

When I'm Twitter, I'm a constant retweeter.  I believe in spreading info that people have already provided, which also gives them credit.  Unfortunately, I can't do that in the Google+ app. I can vote up (or +1) posts that I like, but I can't +1 individual comments. 

Other Annoyances

Most icons within the app do not change at all when you press them.  If I press a button, I can't tell if the app has frozen, if the app didn't register my touch, or if the app is just taking its sweet time to load. It's incredibly annoying.

Touchdown!

Welcome home, Atlantis.

iPhone - Legal Jailbreaking

Check out my iPhone home screen below.  It used to be that you need to hack into your iPhone ("jailbreaking") to enable cool third party applications that were superior to the existing Apple apps. The sucess of the App store combined with a relaxing of Apple's policy has given a rise to the number of approved apps that are awesome.  And guess what, Apple finally realized that it means more money for them! Remember, they get 30% of every App sale.  Combine that with the fact that an (admittenly) small amount of people will buy a phone based on some of these apps, and it's a win - win for all.

Spotify - Music player and discovery engine (see my Spotify post)

Instacast - Podcast player. Features automatic downloading, favoriting, and importing from itunes

Farenheit - Updates the weather right on the home screen - can open it for more details.  Yes, it's 82 degrees at 9 in the morning.

Pandora - Streaming internet radio

Google Voice - Get text transcripts of voice mails

Squarespace - The software I use to power this site. I can make and edit posts, manage comments, and view website stats

Articles - Wikipedia with an easy to use interface

CNN gets live streaming - if you pay for cable

CNN has jumped into the new media game headfirst by allowing live streaming of its TV channel. You can log on anywhere and view CNN on your web browser, iPhone, or iPad. Yes!

The catch? You have to be a paying cable subscriber. Since I'm in Philly, I had to verify my Comcast username and password. The good news is that I'm not tied to my Comcast internet connection - I can view CNN from any wifi access point.

This is a great move by CNN, and I'm sure it's only possible because its restricted to cable subscribers. Still, it doesn't help me to cut the cord, get rid of cable, and stream all of my TV online. Maybe it's just a dream ....