Google+: Should Facebook Be Worried?

We all know that the social networking world just got a little more crowded with the introduction of Google+. This fast growing new network aims to dominate the reigning social champion that is Facebook and people sure are buzzing like Google+ has a chance. However, one must pose the question: Is Facebook actually nearing its end and will Google+ dethrone the king?
The answer is simply, no. Too many roadblocks are in Google’s planned path to the top. For one, with over 750 million users, Facebook has become very, very well established on a worldwide basis. In fact, if Facebook were a country, it’d be the third most populous nation in the world. Google+ has too long a way to go to even remotely come near the power of Facebook. It’s like the iPod and Zune situation that happened a few years ago: the iPod was too popular for any other competitor to have a chance in the market and, ultimately, the Zune died. Where is the space for Google+?
Seriously, congratulations to Google+ for reaching ten million users in a very quick three weeks when it took Facebook three years to reach twelve million users. The speed of Google+ adoption surely is impressive. However, let’s think critically about these numbers.

The people who have created a Google+ account are clearly interested in social media and it must be a fairly large part of their life to actually want to test out a beta version of a new service. Because of this, it’s safe to say that most Google+ users still use their Facebook to stay connected with their friends on that service. They’re still updating their status, sharing newsworthy stories, and uploading photos. So, just because Google+ has twenty million users does not mean that Facebook has lost twenty million. To be honest, I’ve created a Google+ profile but do not use it because what is there to do? I can choose to communicate with the seven people I’m connected to on Google+ or communicate with these seven and over 500 more on Facebook. The choice is easy.

The numbers are only one side of the story, though. Additionally, requiring people to switch from a well-established service is too large a barrier for Google+. The activity of Facebooking has practically become a ritual activity for most young people. Who doesn’t have the App on their smartphone, use Chat to communicate with friends during a college class, or check their News Feed after work? For many, Facebook has become an ingrained, required activity in their day and users have invested hours upon hours into their profiles. Many people have tons of interests, connected to pages and groups, and filled their page with large amounts of pictures and videos. Basically, Google+ is asking people to scrap their efforts on Facebook and start fresh, only to redo the same things all over again.

And, what about my 50-something year old parents and all the other late Facebook adopters? What has caused Facebook’s numbers to increase so much lately isn’t the same as to what caused it to grow a few years ago. Lately its older, middle-aged adults finally, maybe grudgingly, creating accounts, not young people. These people have created an account probably because they felt they have to in order to stay connected. I highly doubt that they would at all be interested in switching their learning and using efforts to a new service like Goolge+.
This brings us to the point that Google+ is nearly identical to Facebook. Where is the incentive to create an account on a site that offers the same service? Some will say that Google+ has features that Facebook does not, like Circles and Hangouts. This is not true. Facebook already has a Circles feature titled Lists. Truth be told, most people do not use Lists, but it is still there. Also, Facebook has already matched Hangouts with Skype integration.
It really comes down to a one or the other decision because people do not have any more time to devote to social media. To communicate with both Facebook and Google+ users would make even the simplest task tedious. Can you really imagine someone updating their status on both services, let alone posting photos?
I believe the deal breaker for Google+ is the number of people on Facebook. Simply put, people will stay where their friends are: and their friends are on Facebook.
With two highly similar social networks, the best that will come out of this situation is innovation. Both services are competing with each other, with nearly endless resources I’ll add, trying to best the other’s features. This will only benefit the end-user and, ultimately, in my opinion, Facebook users. A theoretical example is Google+ could develop a new feature; Facebook would see what works and what does not and then provide their users with an innovation that works better, thus eliminating a reason to switch services. In fact, Facebook should take a hint from Google+’s Circles and redesign Lists.
Because Google+ has been positioned as a “Facebook killer”, it has neglected to compete with easier, less established targets like LinkedIn and Twitter. Facebook has become for friends and family, LinkedIn is for professionals, and Twitter has become a nearly unmanageable free-for-all where content is basically lost forever minutes after posting. I’d love to see Google+ repositioned to invade Twitter’s space.
Now I’m going to bring up the debacle that is (was?, I don’t know anymore) Myspace. Google+ does not seem to have much to offer in order to do to Facebook, what Facebook did to Myspace. Where Myspace failed was in their lack of a definite marketing strategy. Sure, at first it was a way to connect to friends, and then all I saw was a music promotion website that was all the while becoming unusable due to outrageous load times from dancing and glittering backgrounds, instant-starting videos and audio files, and endless spam posts about checking out a new artist or porn website. Facebook stepped in and defined itself as an easy, clean way to socialize online. We know that Facebook’s strategy works because it has allowed it to reach an estimated value of around 75 billion dollars. This isn’t to say that Google+ couldn’t take over one day, but Facebook must be doing something extremely right in order to have been around so long.
Google+ simply cannot be the same service that Facebook is. If they do not find a better strategy to position their offering, Facebook has nothing to fret about.
What does everyone else think about Google+? Are you deleting your Facebook and making the big switch? Did I miss something completely? Please share your thoughts.

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18 Essential iPhone Apps For Web Developers

Now that iPhones are getting more and more popular, the categories of people using them range from simple users, that only need the basic functionality of the phone – for the calling purpose, to people that try to stay updated and in pace with new technologies or even are somehow related with it, like web developers. For web developers, that are, in most cases, obsessed with their work and are practically tied to their PC or notebook, it’s very important to have something that can cover at least some of the necessities that emerge when away, with some inspiration to deal with and only with their mobile at hand. If this mobile is an iPhone, then rest assured that your needs will be covered, as there are millions of applications to play with when there’s nothing on your mind except that new idea for your website that won’t stop bugging you until it’s transformed into some coding. These great applications that would make any web developer happy have their cost ranging from free to just a few dollars.
Here are 18 of them that we consider essential and a must have in order to part gladly with your pc at least for some time if in vacation or just away. So take a look and decide for yourself how useful and helpful would they be when there’s the need of performing some tasks on the go or applying some changes to a project in the last minute.

Code Cheat Sheets

 

 

Color Stream

FTP on the Go

Ego

Read & Note

Source Viewer

Developer’s Tool Kit

Web Tools

What The Font

Full Screen Web Browser

Network Utility

Dropbox

Analytics App

HTML Cheat Sheet

php Cheat Sheet

CSS Cheat Sheet

jQuery Cheat Sheet

DatabaseViewer

Source: http://designmodo.com/iphone-apps-web-developers/#ixzz1iqIeVzsx

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The Latest Trends in Web Design

Web design has gone from a simple page presentation of certain information on the Internet to fancy design, with intricate details and complicated applications; hence it is an industry walking hand in hand with the increasing needs of the fast developing technology and trends.

Trends come and go, some of the old trends are hidden in a box, while other old trends come back to life and in some cases some totally new revolutionary trends appear that beat up all the rest. This is why web designers all over the world have to keep up with the latest trends in web design, because the client would always ask for this.

For example, you cannot ignore social network buttons. These popped up not so long ago as a trend, because social networks are very popular on the net nowadays and ignoring them would mean that you are practically not part of the crowd. Or else, you simply cannot forget about having a compatible design of your website for mobile phones and tablets. This is definitely one of the newest trends that cannot be ignored. The prediction is that soon the Internet will go mobile and if the future asks for it, a designer will have to keep up with that.

So this is why we have decided to let you know about the latest web design trends in 2011 and the upcoming trends of a new year. If you think you can add something to this list, we’d be glad to read it! There is no particular order of the presented trends. Each trend is important and it all depends on the type of website a designer is aiming for.

 

Big typography, small typography

Using typography in web design has been pretty “trendy” lately and it doesn’t fade away yet. The alternation of big typography and small typography can create pretty impressive effect, without even using fancy graphics. The minimal effort of creating the typography you need for your website will save you some precious time, surprisingly creating a perfect design.
Of course this doesn’t work for all the types of websites, but you might still use some impressive typography in the headers, logos or footers. You never know how you end up liking this trend and including it in more designs, coming up with new ideas at the same time. Using extra-large fonts and mixing bold and scrolling letters has become a trend and it can easily grab the users’ attention.

 

Go For Images and Photo Backgrounds

Just like big and noticeable headers and footers, images and photos are used on backgrounds in order to attract the visitors’ attention. We have already written some posts about photograph backgrounds that you can check out for more information, and this is more or less a pretty popular trend taking up the web lately. Remember the most important rules: use only high quality photos and don’t let the background mix with your content.

 

Social network buttons not to be ignored

As I have mentioned before, social media networks have conquered the web. People share and socialize and this is pretty much what life on the Big Web is. Hence don’t even try to forget about including social media icons and not just the most popular ones. People are different and there are so many social networks out there and it won’t hurt to include all of them so that people can share the information they like on their favorite websites.
Another thing to consider is the design of the social network icons. It all depends on the designer how cool and original they will look.
Don’t forget about creating personal pages on social networks. There is a greater chance that people will find your business there than your own website. This comes as a tip rather than a trend but it’s worth mentioning.

 

Draw your own design

This is a trend that I have found on one website and I simply loved it. It looked so original and funky. This is, of course if you would be able to create a “hand-drawn” design. I read somewhere that this is an upcoming trend in web design and I would agree with that from an aesthetic point of view.
It is simply original to see a hand drawn web design, and I am sure people will be impressed to see it and remember it. Even though this is not a new trend, but many web designers avoid it. I think this is a great way to get closer to your design, considering the fact that it doesn’t have to be perfect but you will definitely add a personal touch to your website.

 

One Page Layout

This trend is more suitable for personal profile websites. This will be like digital business cards, where one can present their most important information and contacts without creating some super website that in the end is kind of useless in this case. It’s all about going minimalist and present the information clearly but still in an elegant way. Go for one page layout if you are thinking of setting a personal profile on the web.

 

Compatible for touchscreen devices

Besides the already “old” mobile format for websites, you don’t have to forget the compatibility with touchscreen devices. With the increasing popularity of tablets and smartphones, you cannot but just go mobile and have a version of your website for smaller screens. Overall the design has to be striking as well, but as seen on a small screen, hence having a smaller resolution but preserving the details that you would like people to focus on.

 

HTML 5 and CSS3

Although there are plenty designers who simply adore Flash, it is slowly giving way to the upcoming HTML5. Flash is not that compatible with mobile versions of websites and as Internet users migrate to smartphones and tablets, web designers need to find how to fix that and the answer to that is – HTML5. It gives web designers and developers a chance to deliver their designs faster, at the same time ensuring flexibility and connecting data.
CSS3 is another upcoming trend for web design and developers are glad to meet it. You can build content-rich web sites with lightweight code requirements and you will have clean and fast-loading pages – what else would you want? Mastering CSS3 is another must for further designs on the web.

 

Animation and 3D

To add more depth perception to your websites a 3D design is probably the best option. Yes, it is difficult to master animation and 3D, but once you do that, you can be sure your website will be special and unique in its own way. Users will appreciate websites that ”think out of the box” and that have that something that no other websites have.

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Is The Internet A Human Right?

No.
At least, that is what Vint Cerf, of TCP/IP, IEEE, and Google fame, decides in a NY Times op-ed piece. But the idea is subtler than the flame-bait headline; the decidedly less flashy “technology is an enabler of rights, not a right itself” that appears a couple paragraphs later expresses his position more accurately.
It’s a difficult topic to address, not just because it’s naturally inflammatory, but because it is difficult to pin down what exactly is meant by “right,” and what is meant by “internet.” Without defining terms, any assertion is meaningless. But a little thought seems to exonerate both Cerf’s position and that of the people who take exception to it.
First, consider what is meant by human right, as differentiated from civil right or privilege. A human right is inalienable, fundamental, and emergent from the fact of existing as a human being. That’s not the same as civil rights (which are granted universally by a governing authority) or privileges, which are not guaranteed in any way. To remove a privilege or civil right is to restrict a person from having the same things others may have; to remove a human right is to prevent them from being a human being.
And now, what is the internet? It is simply a means of communication, like the telephone or smoke signals. It is new, it is powerful, but it is not different.
Would you say that by removing a person’s ability to send smoke signals, you are preventing them from achieving the status of humanity? No – you do that by preventing them from having children or getting a basic education, or torturing them, or enslaving them. These are human rights, though it is not a fallacy of scale to compare the idea of the internet to them. The internet is among the most transformative and important developments mankind has ever wrought. But that doesn’t make it a right.
What humans have a right to is free expression and association. A human alone, or gagged, is not a human. But as the revolutionaries last year showed (and continue to show, though less under the public eye), they can use the internet if it is there, or not use it if it is not there, to the same end: free expression and association. The internet is, indeed, an enabler, a tool, and a very important one.
As for its status as a civil right or universal service, that is something that will differ between countries and cultures. But the UN report makes a good point:

…the full guarantee of the right to freedom of expression must be the norm, and any limitation considered as an exception, and that this principle should never be reversed.

In other words, if an authority fails to provide the full set of tools for expression, or restricts them unnecessarily or unreasonably, that is enough to consider them in breach of the promise to provide for basic human rights. This acknowledges both Cerf’s position and the position of others who rightly consider the internet the most important means of communication ever be invented.
So, is the internet a human right? It is our best and most effective way of achieving a universal freedom of expression, and it should be treated as such. But to enshrine it, as others have said, as a human right when it is in fact merely a powerful enabler thereof, is an unnecessary step. Laws and regulations, and things like UN guidelines, should be aimed at enshrining rights in their pure and timeless forms, not in derivative forms, however widespread and important those derivatives may be.

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Do Blogs Need Comment Reels? Yes, and Here’s How

Commenting on blogs is broken. But what we need is a solution, not an abandonment of the concept. The question comes up every few months, but new social commenting technology means there are better answers now than ever before. Over the last day MG Siegler, MacStories, and mobile developer Mike Gemell have all written about choosing the nuclear option and turning off comments entirely on their sites. Their key reasons for doing so seem to be:

1. Comment reels are full of trolls, bile, and spam links
2. There’s no way for popular sites to keep up with comments on old posts
3. Comment reels give random people too much visibility and distract from primary content

Here are my proposed solutions to these problems. Disqus, Livefyre, Facebook, and WordPress, how about you race to see who can be first to offer all three:

1. Authenticated Identity Sign-In With Minimum Friend/Follower Count

When people have to tie their comments to their identity, they become a lot more civil. The issue with Facebook is that it’s easy to create a throwaway or dedicated commenting account to troll from. An ideal commenting system would allow the host to set a minimum friend count for commenting. A 20 friend count minimum would make it much harder to create a troll account, make bans more long-lasting, and ensure at least someone wants to hear what a commenter has to say.
Update: This is meant to authenticate a commenter’s identity, not to discriminate against loners. Those who don’t meet the requirement can always tweet at the author. An alternative I like, suggested by GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram and ReadWriteWeb’s Jon Mitchell, is a trust pyramid where veteran commenters approve newbies. This is similar to the system The New York Times is testing.

2. Ability To Lock Comments After A Certain Period Of Time

Long-standing authors have more historic content than they can possibly moderate. Comments on old posts are often irrelevant due to newer information that has emerged. I want the ability to lock down and prevent further comments on a post after a designated period of time. I could then commit to moderating and responding to comments on posts younger than a week, a month, or 6 months, and direct all those wishing to comment on old posts to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or elsewhere.

3. Dedicated Comments Page For Each Post

Comment shouldn’t be given even close to the same prominence as the post they refer to. Forcing readers to comment on social networks or their own blogs is too much work, and inefficient for an author to keep up with. A compromise would be the ability to host comments on a separate page linked to at the bottom of a post. It would also make the original post load faster, give sites more control over presentation, and create a dedicated discussion area.
–
Comments keep bloggers humble, honest, accurate, and in touch with their audience. Personally, I enjoy debating with people who think I’m wrong, as long as they’re civil. I really value my commenters and often update my articles with thoughts they’ve inspired or corrections they’ve cited.
With the above options, blogs of all sizes could conduct efficient, meaningful discourse with their readers. There’s no need to nuke the trolls. If we limit and hide them, we can coexist peacefully.
For more thoughts on why comments are important, check out rallies of support from GigaOm’s Mathew Ingram, AVC’s Fred Wilson, and Droid Life’s Ron Offringa.

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Holo Promise: Google Moves To Ensure UI Integrity On All Android 4.0 Devices

Google has posted a bit of new info to the Android Developers blog that is probably less of a big deal than people are making it into, but still worth looking at. The post details a requirement that all manufacturers include in their Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices the default Holo theme. They don’t have to use the theme, they just have to have the data composing it on the phone.

This is less a blow aimed at third-party UIs and more a general integrity check that ensures apps and services will have the choice to provide a consistent face to the user across many devices.
Imagine you are designing an app that finds nearby restaurants and pulls recommendations from your social stream – or something. You have your default buttons, your text fields, your animations, and so on that you make yourself a nice little interface with. For some time, it has been the case that a theme like Sense or TouchWiz could pre-empt those default UI items and substitute their own — a color scheme or set of icons consistent with the rest of the theme. This practice probably wasn’t very common (I have no data to support this but I haven’t run into it much) but it’s potentially destructive to apps that are designed with care.
Google will now require manufacturers to include in their distribution, custom or not, the original Holo theme files. It is up to app developers to determine whether they are used or not. You can signal whether you want your app to use whatever UI items are the default on the phone (so, Sense on an HTC phone if they were to put out a Sense-based ICS device), or you can choose to force the elements to be in the Holo theme provided by Google.
This allows developers to be totally sure their app will look the way they want it to look, while at the same time allowing manufacturers the freedom to create custom launchers, themes, widgets, and so on. It just prevents those manufacturers from affecting and possibly breaking (though, again, I haven’t heard this is a major problem) apps that use and rely on default theme elements.
Those are the immediate effects. But imagine you’re a developer. There’s little reason not to put the flag requiring the use of Holo. Your app may look a little different from some others on a themed device, but UIs on Android are already all over the place, and really, most people won’t notice (though I wish they would) that the text field in one app has a grey gradient and in another there’s a blue one. Choosing Holo guarantees your app will look the same on every compatible device. It’s just consistency at a different level.
None of this means that a certain look will be required on an Android device, even for access to the core Google apps and Market. I’m not sure they even could (launchers and themes could easily run atop the default). But it does show Google acknowledging that a consistent UI is a plus and making that an easier play for devs.

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Fly Or Die: The Nokia Lumia 710 And The Meizu MX

I’ve been playing with the Nokia Lumia 710 for a week or so now and I’m pleased to report that Nokia may have a chance. The phone, while a bit chintzy, is inexpensive, fast, and feature-rich. I doubt you’d be able to find a device as easy to use and comfortable as the 710 at a $50 price with two year contract. We also tried the Meizu MX and came away, well, un-awed. It’s a cool phone, it’s only available in China right now, and there are a few bugs to work out before it could consider a second life on this side of the pond. I was more kind to it than Erick, but we’re both equally trepidatious.
Look for a full Lumia 710 review in a few hours and until then, enjoy our handsome mugs and even more handsome cellphones.

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Are You The World’s Best Programmer? Compete In Facebook’s 2012 Hacker Cup

Facebook has announced its 2012 Hacker Cup, a global computer programming competition. The event will serve as an important recruiting tool to attract great coders to the company, which is constantly battling for fresh engineering talent with other tech giants. In each round, competitors will try to solve complex algorithmic problems as quickly and accurately as possible. Finalists are flown to Facebook HQ, with the winner named the world’s best hacker. Hopefully, the event will go smoother than last year, where instructions were vague and scattered, leading to confusion and frustration.
Programmers looking to claim the bragging rights and token $5,000 grand prize can register here. The competition’s 3 preliminary rounds and the finals will be held throughout January. Here’s some sample questions from last year’s competition, and a review of the finals.
Sure, many of the world’s best programmers already have comfy jobs or are too busy running startups to compete, so the winner might not be “the best”. Still, this is a great way for independent hackers, and especially those from outside the US, to make a name for themselves. Personally, I think some other tech companies should put up their best talent and try to steal the show from Facebook. Imagine the story if Google or Microsoft won the Hacker Cup.
With Silicon Valley in a talent crunch, tech companies are doing whatever it takes to instill the idea that they are serious but open minded engineering companies. Facebook has been especially aggressive in trying to portray itself as a place where independent thinkers can build highly visible and influential products without the bureaucracy that plagues bigger companies like Google. Last month it began listing the address of its new headquarters as “1 Hacker Way”, and brought young teams from 14 colleges to Palo Alto to compete in a hackathon. Google has retaliated with big cash counteroffers to stop employees from signing with Facebook.
Though procedures were smoothed out for the finals, Facebook’s first Hacker Cup in 2011 may have done more to hurt the company’s image than help. A Quora thread by Andrew Brown details how competitors weren’t sure of answer submission time limits or format. The Hacker Cup system also buckled under the massive traffic, causing competitors to miss submission deadlines.
Expect Facebook to be better prepared this year, and use the competition to sift out engineering talent from beyond the elite universities where it recruits directly.

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