Exclusive: Inside Hangouts, Google's big fix for its messaging mess

The Verge has an awesome, comprehensive look at Google’s new chat app. This was my favorite of all the Google I/O 2013 announcements, and I will be making all of my friends install it promptly. One of the main killer features that I think sets it above all the other chat apps is below.

Google says it’s put a lot of thought into reconsidering presence, and it actually works better in Hangouts than on other apps. Instead of using “read receipts” (first popularized on BBM and coming this summer to iOS and Android) or a blanket online / offline indicator, Hangouts inserts tiny little square avatars into the chat history, called “watermarks.” These watermarks show when somebody else is typing, but they also indicate how far others have read in the conversation.

Says Christopher Johnson, a linguist and naming expert, “The problem with Google is that it makes us painfully aware of how unoriginal we are. Before web search, two bands could use the same name in happy ignorance as long as they were serving different geographical and stylistic markets.

Michael Erard - Like a Lead Balloon - The Morning News (via thisistheverge)

So what you’re saying is that I can blame Google for all these terrible band names?

(via thisistheverge)

Common Sense Android App: Wi-Fi Matic

 

This is super useful, especially for those concerned about battery life. This app automatically turns your Wi-Fi on or off depending on your current location. It uses cell tower data instead of GPS in order to not drain battery.

The setup is very easy. Once activated, the app keeps your Wi-Fi off by default. When you want to connect to a network, turn on Wi-Fi and connect as usual. It will then automatically turn it off when you leave the area, but remember the location and turn it back on when you return.

The app is completely free and available in the Google Play Store. 

Common Sense Android App: Light Flow

If you don’t own a Samsung Galaxy Nexus or HTC Nexus One, move along. I guess this app works for other phones in a limited capacity, but from what I can tell I would just as well skip it. However, if you have one of the two mentioned phones, this app is a must.

Light Flow lets you completely customize your build in multi-color LED for notifications. What it does is make sure that the LED blinks a specified color for any notification that your phone receives, that way you can tell exactly what kind of message is waiting for you even with the screen off. It supports all the built in apps like Voice Mail, Messaging, and Gmail, as well as third party apps like Foursquare and Tweetdeck. It can also activate the LED for low battery, no signal, bluetooth connectivity, etc.

This functionality should really just be built in, and is on some custom roms. To me, it is indispensable. You can pick it up in the Google Play Store for $1.99. There is also a “Lite” version that doesn’t have as much third-party app support. 

Alfred, and the Future of the Check-In

I was finally able to use an app called Alfred that I downloaded after hearing that it’s developer, Clever Sense, was just bought out by Google. The app is like a smarter version of Yelp. It too is used to find places to go, but uses a different method than just general categories.

To start out, a user has to “teach” the app what kinds of places to find by answering a series of questions like the one in the picture. It uses this information as well as other Alfred users with similar choices to personalize suggestions. When looking for suggestions, instead of generic restaurants/bars/entertainment/etc categories, it uses more specific things like brunch/dessert/drinks/etc. In my opinion that is way more convenient. My favorite option is the Brunch category because I never know who actually has it besides common places such as IHOP or Denny’s.

I’ve read a few articles saying that Google might be using Alfred to contribute to a Siri competitor, but I assume that it will be used to assist with location check-ins (in addition). No one effectively uses check-in based suggestions yet and this could be a competition killer. By integrating Alfred with Google+/Latitude check-ins, it would cut down on the initial teaching that Alfred needs. It could also keep track of which friends check in with you and make suggestions in the future based on who you’re with.

The only check-in service that I see consistently used across my social networks is Foursquare. Google check-ins, via Google+ or Latitude, never really took off, even with the newer Places part of their Maps app. Facebook check-ins took a sharp dive after the first few weeks. In my opinion, the reason why Foursquare keeps going is that it provides a reason to actually check in to everything instead of just times when you want to say something about the place/location. This reason may only be worthless, arbitrary points and achievement badges, but it provides a goal and creates a little competition among your friends. Alfred could provide its own “reason” since it would be helping future suggestions.

I think that if Google successfully integrates Alfred with a check-in service, but also creates some sort of achievement system a la Foursquare, they could actually pry people away from their existing check-in apps because they would be providing an actual useful service in addition to the generic check-in.

How to Get 8GB+ Extra Dropbox Space for Free with Google AdWords (via Lifehacker)

I just finished attempting this method to increase my Dropbox space. It worked, just not as well as I had hoped. If you don’t know what Dropbox is, it’s a tool to automatically sync files across all of your devices; think Apple iCloud, but better. Feel free to sign up using my referral link: http://db.tt/oShp9Gu :)

Basically, Dropbox gives you a referral link that you can share via email and social networks. Every time someone signs up and then installs the program on their computer using your personal link, you get a space increase on your account (250MB or 500MB if you register as a student). This method walks you through using Google AdWords to advertise your link on Google for people who are searching for Dropbox.

I happened to have a $100 credit from using Google Analytics so I used that to fund my ad. Over 5 days I was able to claim 5GB of the possible 16GB of referral space. My guess is that there were many people doing the same as me and so that’s why I wasn’t able to max out my space as the author of the post had. I’m sure the keywords I used/didn’t use had something to do with it as well. I used the ones suggested in the article, then used AdWords’ keyword tool to generate more, and after a couple days Google suggested some more as well.

If I hadn’t had the credit, it would have cost me $100 for 5GB of space. That is a permanent increase but not really worth it. This will probably be better in a year after everyone is done attempting it.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that about half of the people that signed up using my link didn’t actually install the program on their computer. Once/if they do that I will get more space increases.

EDIT 2: Looks like there’s some of these ads on my Google sidebar ad haha.