iSocial Network

Could Apple be looking to create a social network? Apple created computers for people. Then they created portable music devices which became iconic with digital music. They added a set of touch screen devices which would of seemed science fiction only a decade ago.

Apple contribute to a huge amount of our technological lives. Even 'non-Apple' users enjoy the latest movie trailers which are often distributed by Apple using Quicktime and many Windows users organise their music with iTunes. But where next for this technological giant. A sceptic will say that the bubble will eventually burst and Apple's fortune will change. It's speculated that their glory days are over following the death of Steve Jobs and the increasing strength of the competition in the mobile device markets. But more optimistic folk may point out that Apple never stay still and that new products and services will come online to fuel the frenzy associated with Apple fan boys.

They already have numerous services wrapped up under the iCloud brand. These include email, calendar, notes, to do lists etc. This is similar to Google who have a primary focus on web services and of course launched Google+ as a (second) attempt to compete with social networking sites such as Facebook. Their previous service, Buzz, was far from successful. So would Apple try to create a social network to compete with Facebook and Google+?

With Shared Photostreams they have created the ability to share photo content with other iPhone/iPad users. This is similar to a social network as you can comment on, or like, photos (sound familiar). But this feature is limited on the computer and doesn't include a 'profile page' etc. that would expect from a social network. The iMessage service is Apple device specific messaging but again this performs one of the tasks required of a social network and simply replaces SMS messages for iPhone users messaging each other.

Their iOS operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and OS X Mountain Lion for their computers integrate with Facebook and Twitter already. And Apple have tried before to create a social network - Ping - was a music orientated network built within iTunes to help users share music. But this already happend on existing social networking sites, and users often had concerns over their privacy. Who want's to publish online every track they buy from iTunes. No one used to stand over your shoulder when you picked up a CD in HMV or Woolworths!

Based on Apple's previous trend to keep services limited to it's own hardware (iTunes being a notable exception) it is hard to believe that a social network would build any momentum in this cross platform world where Facebook lets you communicate over any device to anyone else using different platform. Would Apple end up competing with device specific services like BBM? Not a great move for the future.

Bottom line is no one needs or wants another social network, especially one that would not be cross-platform or webpage based. And it would not help Apple sell hardware. What Apple could do is integrate more of the existing social networks, such as Google+, into it's iOS and OS X operating systems to make their products more flexible (like Android devices, which can share content to millions* of services)

*millions is probably an exaggeration.

Facebook Poke

Incredibly Facebook now has over one billion active users each month! This huge success is often accredited to Facebook's constantly changing service, always adapting to include new features or keep up with (or purchase!) competition such as Instagram and Google+. Today they have launched yet another iOS application for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. It's simply called "Poke".

Poking a friend has been a decreasingly used feature amongst many users. Since poking became a feature of Facebook a lot has changed. Your profile's wall as become a timeline and the use of mobile or third applications has increased massively. Messages have become a defacto way to prompt a response from a Facebook friend. The new app brings more to poking your Facebook friends.

With the new Poke app you can poke your Facebook friends who also use Poke app too, and you can include a message, photo or video along with your poke. You can even control how long that the recipient can see your poke for, down to only 3 seconds! Poke allows you full control of who gets your poke, and you can select whole groups of users.

Will Poke be a success? Will it replace dropping a quick message to your mates or posting a pic on your timeline? Only time will tell. Many of the options are already built into Facebook, and this app isn't yet cross-platform. It may just be a flash-in-the-pan novelty, but at last it keeps Facebook's ever changing list of services fresh.

Let us know what you think by dropping a comment below.

Google+ Hangout's

Video calling has been around for a long time. Microsoft's MSN Messenger supported video calling from a long time ago, although during Messenger's hay day a lot of people still ran off dial-up internet connections. Skype has been around for many years, and even had the backing of internet auction giant eBay for a time. It has a large user base of people video calling across towns and even continents. The trouble for Skype is that people only seem to use their free video calling service, and aren't so keen to VoIP a call from their computer to a real phone, at real cost. Other video messaging services have their own users too, however most of these platforms focus on either one to one conversations, or small groups of around four participants.

Google+ is different and allows a load of people to join a 'hangout' (video call). They can then share there own webcam stream to everyone, share their screen, work on Google Doc's together. Even group watch a YouTube video. All the while sharing text with one another. A Google+ hangout is almost like being sat around the same table/computer monitor as your fellow participants.

There are video's demonstrated Google+ Hangout's in the Read More section.

Google's Project Glass - Augmented Reality Glasses

Project Glass is a Google nod to the future, where glasses are the new mobile phone!

When mobile devices became location aware with support for GPS, compasses, accelerometer's and gyroscopes the app developers created Augmented Reality app's. These include directions, weather details and simply 'whats around me?'. Some of the more specific applications include details of the next hole in your golf round, distance, direction etc. or a virtual star map to help you identify stars in the nights sky.

Imagine this technology embedding in glasses! The future is coming....

For details follow Project Glass on Google+

Facebook's New Features

Facebook's under going a self titled "launch season" with site changes in terms of features and content delivery happening all the time. Last week their popular smart phone app was updated to include the new version of the News Feed. Facebook's privacy settings also enjoyed a refresh, prompting the inevitable backlash as they always seems to be too disjointed and complicated for most users.

Interestingly one of the new improvements comes from a combination of privacy settings and content delivery. Many Facebook users have hundreds of friends and many of these peoples "I've had a bad day" status aren't really worth your time. Their new lists include a Close Friends list, so if one of your best mates posts, "I'm off to the pub tonight, if you fancy it, join me!" Facebook will bring this right to the top of your news feed (add a small blue triangle), so you will never miss a trick in your close circle of friends. Wait, did I just say close 'circle' of friends? Well yes... and now that I mention it it sounds exactly like Google+'s Circles feature. As imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Google+'s engineers should be very flattered!! In addition to receiving statuses from your close friends first the activity feed will be live, just like Twitter, so you won't be waiting for updates or refreshing your profile page to check for new content.

Other new features include more integration with third party companies, such as Spotify, to put Facebook at the centre of your online social life, as if it isn't already! To compete with Twitter and Google+ all the tagging and location tagging features of these other services have been recreated too (they are spookily similar).

In a few weeks users will get a whole new profile experience: Timeline. Facebook explains all on their blog: Timeline on Facebook's Blog.

Image: Facebook

It's time to join Google+

Google have recently created their own social network: Google+. Google+ is similar to Facebook but with an emphasis on control. You assign contacts into circles and you can post items specific to circles. For example, "I'm off to the pub, anyone fancy joining me?" Could be posted for your friends circle and not your colleagues. People can appear in multiple circles too. When it's time to chat to a couple of people you can use huddle to create an instant messaging group which works across platforms, so your friends might be using an iPhone, iPad, Android mobile or Android tablet, it really doesn't matter.

If you fancy joining Google+ plus there are plenty of invites out there and if you already have a Gmail account you have already registered!

There's apps too:



Android app

Google+

You have probably seen press coverage of Google+, articles such as "Google+ challenges Facebook in social network battle" (BBC News) and "Google's Facebook rival takes off" (Sydney Morning Herald). But it's difficult to try it yourself as it limited to invited beta testers, although it's expanding every day. It's up to 10 million members!

The first thing you notice is the seamless integration into your Google account. +(Your Name) appears in the top left of the toolbar in Google.com when you are signed in, just like Google Mail, Maps etc. The interface is similar to Facebook, but it's a lot easier to choose who you share information with. It encourages you to put you 'firends' or 'connections' into Circles. A word of caution, by default anyone can see you you are friends with and which circles they are in.

Google suggest Circles called: Friends, Family etc. but you can create any that you like. When you create a post you can share it with the world, any of all of your circles or any of your individual contacts. At the moment you can share and access Google+ through your web browser on a PC, Mac or smart phone. The iPhone has a great mobile site, formatted for touch screen use. Android users have access to a native app which integrates into the Android system like the Gmail app.

The similarity to Facebook continues with an equivalent service to the "like" button, on Google+ it's called "+1". One thing that is very different is the lack of third party apps, spam and advertising. But then it's only a trial at the moment!! It will be interesting to see if Google+ fully replaces the Google Buzz service which is sort of like twitter, it certainly becomes irrelevant when Google+ allows public posts. Google+ does try to share you location too, but you can customise the piracy settings in a similar way to Facebook.

Share your thoughts on Google+ by commenting below, and remember to "+1" this post!

For more information: http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/ or check out this video from Google+: