Andromeda Media Group: Google

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Jan 10, 2017

Speed Demon

Making Everything Faster!

Operating System: Windows 7, 8 & 10

Topics Discussed: Chrome Browser & Computer Speed Tweaks

It’s a well known fact that Google Chrome tends to be a memory hog at times, and we are often quick to believe that this is always the reason our beloved web browser starts coming to a crawl. However, this isn’t always the case, because the reason it uses so many processes and takes up memory like it does is because it is running tabs in separate processes (for stability).

In this manner, should a website in one of your tabs go awry, it doesn’t take down the entire browser with it. Of course, that isn’t to say Google Chrome is innocent when it comes to slowing to a crawl or just taking it’s sweet time getting anything done. Over time and extended usage, Google Chrome can and often will begin slowing down to that ingratiating snails pace.

In fact, all web browsers will begin to move at the speed of smell over time if we aren’t maintaining them.

So what’s going on?

Well, the simple answer is that the browser has collected a ton of unoptimized junk in the cache in conjunction with a number of other possible culprits which may be contributing to the lesser experience (which we’ll be addressing).

If you’re running around the internet using a monster gaming rig worthy of the PC Master Race, then none of this will likely apply to you. But for the rest of you dirty peasants of computing, I’m certain you’ll find some of the tricks and tweaks below helpful.

For this post, I won’t be addressing an oversimplified “Top Ten” sort of list, but instead we’ll be covering a Comprehensive Tune-Up. When all is said and done, not only should Google Chrome be hauling ass, but (mostly) your computer will be too by comparison.

That Magic Box of Wonders

So let’s start by talking about the sad shape your computer is in. You know… that magical box of wonders that delivers cat pictures to your Facebook?

I know I said this was a post about speeding up your Google Chrome browser, but here me out. After all, Google Chrome is just a program running on your computer, and you’d be surprised to find out that if your computer isn’t running its best, then the programs you are running will also suffer as a result.

GASP! SHOCK!

For many of you reading this, you may not have touched a Disk Defrag in years, or even run some basic computer cleaning tools to clear out all that garbage. In the worst case scenario, you may even have a ton of toolbars and PUP running in the background hogging things.

A PUP (potentially unwanted program) is a program that may be unwanted, despite the possibility that users consented to download it. PUPs include spyware, adware, and dialers, and are often downloaded in conjunction with a program that the user wants.

In order to get to the bottom of this problem, it helps to understand your computer in terms of a symbiotic ecosystem where everything relies on everything else. So if seemingly unrelated parts are suffering, it’s going to drag down the experience for everything else. Therefore, before we get into Chrome specifics, let’s take some time to eliminate outside influences which may be swiftly kicking your browser in the teeth while it’s trying to do its job.

As a quick disclaimer, nothing in this article has been sponsored by the recommended companies I’ll be mentioning, and I’ll just be making recommendations based on things that have worked for me, personally. These are all things I’ve done before for clients when working on their computers in a professional manner over the years and they have been proven to work in those cases reliably. So if you’ve ever wondered what those tech folks were doing behind closed doors to clean up and fix your computer when it’s running slow, now you know.

Clean-up in Aisle 7

As with anything, there isn’t a single “magic bullet” approach to getting something done with this. Many other websites will give you ten tweaks for Chrome itself like experimental options, flags, and add-ons but they aren’t addressing the entire ecosystem at play. Ultimately, this isn’t just about making Google Chrome faster, but maybe your entire computer as well.

Of course, this comes without saying that there is only so much one can do in order to make a computer move faster if you have an older system. At some point, we all have to concede that the problem is just that the computer is very outdated and needs an upgrade. (I’m looking at you Windows XP users)

Barring that, however… these are some preliminary things you can do in the meantime to set the stage for speeding up Google Chrome (and your entire computer in the process).

CCleaner

To begin, let’s grab a copy of CCleaner off of the Piriform website.

CCleaner does a pretty good job of clearing out all that junk piling up in the background and taking up space, and it comes with a built in Registry checker. Between those two options, adding the Tools option for Startup tweaks round this out as a solid first step, and you’re going to want to do this step first before anything else (trust me).

You’ll want to install CCleaner Free, unless you feel the need to go ahead and purchase the Pro version.

Step One: Go to Cleaner on the left side, then click Analyze at the bottom.

Step Two: When the cleaner is finished analyzing, just click Run Cleaner.

Next, click on Registry to the left.

Step One: Click Scan For Issues at the bottom.

Step Two: If anything comes up (and often you’ll get a large list), just click Fix Selected Issues…

It’s at this point, CCleaner is going to ask if you want to back up your registry “just in case”. You can if you want to, but in all honesty I’ve used programs like this for many years and haven’t had a problem occur after allowing it to fix the registry.

You may want to rinse and repeat the Registry portion fix a few times to catch the straggling registry errors and correct them. When the list comes up clean for scanning for issues, you’re good to go.

Quick Explanation: For those who aren’t aware, the Registry is where your computer is keeping settings and other miscellaneous information about programs like what program opens what files, and so on. Problem is, this can get bloated and out of control as you uninstall programs because it leaves a bunch of invalid entries. The reason this is a problem is that the computer has to load the Registry when it starts the computer – so obviously, the larger that list is, the longer it’ll take to start the computer. Though on more modern systems this could be negligible. As a result, it is really just a good practice to occasionally go through and clean that up with a program like CCleaner on a regular basis – maybe once every couple weeks should be fine.

Auslogics Disk Defrag

If you’re like most people who use a computer, regularly defragmenting your computer hasn’t occurred to you. If anything, Defrag is that program that came with your computer (Microsoft), assuming you knew where to find it.

While the built-in defrag program works fine, sometimes you’re going to have to up your game and get a program with a little more oompf to it. For this, I suggest Auslogics Disk Defrag. It has a plethora of options, including algorithms for SSD drives and more. The Pro version (that you see above) has a host of other tools at your disposal as well (like health of your hard drive and such).

While the version shown here is the Professional version, the Free version should work just fine for your needs at this time. By all means, if you want the paid versions of these programs, support the developers and buy them.

Auslogics Disk Defrag is pretty straightforward. You’ll want to select the hard disks you want to defragment (usually just your main drive) and hit Analyze. After it’s finished with that, go ahead and press Defrag.

Now, you’ll notice there is a drop down menu option for Defrag, and these are more advanced methods for doing the job. Each option is tailored to specific needs, and there is even one there for a more thorough sort of defragmentation.

Choose whatever suits your needs best for this, and if you’re unsure, just stick with the default settings and let it do its thing.

Spybot Search & Destroy

Remember when I mentioned earlier PuP, spyware and malware? Well, after we’ve finished CCleaner and Auslogics Disk Defrag, now it’s time to double check to see if there is any of that on your computer. Spybot S&D (Search and Destroy) is a program that is built just for this purpose.

After you install the program, it should walk you though the basic steps from updating the database, running your first complete scan, and then immunization.

There’s a lot to cover with this one, so go ahead and take some time to familiarize yourself with the program a bit and remember to click that update periodically to get the latest definitions from the server (it doesn’t auto-update in the free version).

There are other options out there (Maybe Bazooka or MalwareBytes, etc) but this is the one I’ve been using for years and it works wonderfully.

The Nuclear Option

There is a program I’ve left off the main list because it is more of an advanced nuclear option when it comes to cleaning up your computer. Essentially this program removes the unwanted programs, toolbars, advertising popups, and all that crap that seems to be plaguing so many computers. If your browsers have also been hijacked, this will usually solve the problem.

Essentially, if you already know that things have been getting out of control (Toolbars, hijackers, adware, etc) then this is what you use to kill it with fire.

Malwarebytes JRT

I’d love to show you some pretty graphics when it comes to JRT, but this is really all there is. JRT, or Junkware Removal Tool, runs in the Windows Shell (or DOS as you old timers remember). It is absolutely no-frills and has one purpose in mind:

Kill all junkware, PuPs, toolbars and whatever else sneaky and unscrupulous folks might have snuck into your system. This is pretty much the nuclear option when you want to make sure none of those nasties are left over.

This program works extremely well, but a word of caution is in order: It might work a little too well for your liking. For instance, killing off bloatware that came with the computer that vendors love pre-installing, etc.

So as the program itself says – use it at your own risk, and it is provided “As-Is” without warranty.

Antivirus Ahoy!

Ok, so let’s assume you have an anti-virus already installed. Usually I can guess which one for the average end-user (sit down, power users… I already know).

So let’s take a guess and say maybe MacAfee or Norton?

shudders

If it works for you (and you’ve paid for them), then go ahead and keep them.

There are a lot of better options out there (in my own opinion). One thing I have noticed over the years though when dealing with client computers is that MacAfee and Norton (and also Panda) seem to cause way more problems than they are worth.

Here’s a quick recommendation that I would suggest if you were going to get rid of MacAfee, Norton, etc.

Avast!

I’m going to be honest: I used to use AVG for years as my antivirus program, but in the past few years it has started getting absolutely ridiculous with the advertising and popups. So much so that I’ve come to the conclusion that AVG is in and of itself malware.

So what did I change my antivirus over to? Well, after evaluating the options I finally decided on Avast. Just reading through the list of features was impressive and as I’ve been running this antivirus for awhile now I’ve noticed that it is insanely fast.

They’ve offloaded a lot of work onto cloud systems or something, so when you go to run your initial scan (or any virus scan), you might expect a couple of minutes for the entire thing to go through and complete.

When I first ran the scan, I was expecting a good half hour or hour before it was done, so I went to make a cup of coffee and came back to find it had finished.

Adding a cherry to the top of this, Avast doesn’t seem to really eat a lot of resources or footprint on my system.

So if you’re running AVG, MacAfee, Norton, etc… you could very well be dragged down by their bloatware running in the background.

Just some food for thought.

There are other antivirus solutions too (just to mention).

Things like Kapersky and whatnot. As I said before, I’m just going by what I’ve done personally to speed things up and make it all a well oiled machine. Your mileage may (of course) vary.

Intermission

Like you didn’t see this coming…

Holy smokes! We’ve been quite busy in this post today, haven’t we?

We’ve addressed the majority of the computer itself and done what we’ve could to clean up and sort it out. There’s plenty more that could be done, but then we’d be delving into the voodoo level of things that most consumers wouldn’t feel comfortable messing around with.

So let’s get right to it with a list of things you can do right now to speed up Chrome Browser (if it hasn’t sped up already).

And Now – The Main Attraction!

Of course, when we talk about speeding up our Chrome Browser, we’re going to have to get into some options that aren’t run of the mill. This means that going forward, we’ll be taking a look at experimental options, flags, and other little tweaks that can improve your browser experience above and beyond the normal default settings.

Enabling Experimental Features

If you didn’t already know, the Chrome browser has a special page of experimental features. These features are still in development and it will be applied soon in the future as a default setting (maybe), but gosh darn it why should we wait for the cutting edge?

It’s time to get our tinker on and strap the Flux Capacitor to it for good measure!

Let’s head over to the chrome://flags options in another tab and get to work enabling those advanced features. While on that page, enable the following options:

Faster Image Loading

Press Ctrl+F and find “num-raster-threads“, you will see “Number of raster threads” feature. You need to change the value of it to 4 from default if it already hasn’t been changed.

In short, what this will do is give Chrome 4 threads to render images with instead of something smaller, thus speeding things up considerably if your browser was set to default.

Faster Closing Windows & Tabs

Press Ctrl+F and search for “enable-fast-unload“. Click on Enable, this will make closing of tabs faster.

Essentially, you can think of enabling this as the “Kill it with Fire!” option. When you close a tab or the window, it’ll just go ahead and kill it without bothering to be courteous about waiting for the scripts or whatever is loading to give it the OK.

GPU Acceleration

Press Ctrl+F and search for “ignore-gpu-blacklist“. Click on Enable link, this function will ignore those GPUs which has less performance & video RAM and it lets chrome to use the available VRAM.

An obvious word of caution here: Everyone is running different hardware, so your mileage may vary. This might even cause your computer to crash in some isolated cases. That being said, you should be pretty safe in enabling this as it definitely does give you a speed boost in Chrome.

Smooth Scrolling

Press Ctrl+F and search for “smooth-scrolling“. Click on Enable, this will do what it says.

Smooth scrolling is a hit or miss option. Some people absolutely love it, while others think it was an option that spawned from Satan’s ass-crack. The theory here being that while it doesn’t necessarily speed up Chrome, it does give you a perceptual fluidity of interaction which can go a long way toward making the bigger experience feel like it’s performing better.

Regular Settings & Options

Ok, now that we’re done with the Mad Scientist stuff in chrome://flags let’s hit Save to make sure the settings stick before moving on. Of course, it will kindly let you know that restarting Chrome needs to happen before any of it kicks in (unless Chrome restarts for you automatically).

In any event, we’re now down to “Regular Stuff” that we can do in the normal settings… so let’s take a look and make sure these things are done:

Enable Prefetch Resources

Go to Setting> Advance Settings> Privacy.

This option is pre enabled in latest Google Chrome browser. This feature does just what it says “Prefetch resources to load pages more quickly”. Resources means “Javascript” or any other types of script that the page might have will be stored in you PC locally and retrieve it when needed.

Disabling Unneeded Plugins

Obvious answer is obvious, right?

There is no doubt that the Google Chrome’s plugin are quite helpful but they often make the Google Chrome experience slow and affects the performance. That doesn’t mean you should go in there and burn the whole place to the ground. Instead, this is a job for a scalpel and not a blunt instrument. Just figure out what’s in there that you really don’t use and cull the list if you can.

Go to Settings – Extensions – Dustbin button after every extension that you want to delete from your browser.

Clearing Browser Data Regularly

Basically, the saved cache and the other kinds of saved data like the login details, browser history, saved forms, etc. dumps a heavy weightage on your browser. So, it is kind of better if you clear them which will make Google Chrome faster.

Go to Settings and scroll down a bit.
If you see Advanced options, enable it to see the rest
Under Privacy you’ll find the magic button

You’ll see a window like this pop up asking what you’d like to clear out.

Just remember, if you get rid of the cookies too, then you’ll probably be clearing out any saved logins for websites that you may have had. But on the flip side, there’s a lot of ad trackers in there spying on you just the same.

That being said, this will definitely give your Chrome browser a fresh start and smooth sailing going forward.

Allowing Chrome to Run In The Background

This one is optional and depends on your personal preferences for how you would like to manage your computer and what’s running. That being said, if you choose to allow Chrome to run in the background, it’ll be pre-loaded in memory when you go to “run” the browser and therefore show up faster versus a “cold start”.

Click on the Chrome menu (or press Alt+E)
Select Settings.
Click on the link titled 'Show advanced settings'
Under the section headed 'System' tick/untick the box next to “Continue running background apps when Google Chrome is closed” depending on your preference

Pretty much, the theory here is that since Chrome processes like plugins essentially use Chrome as their operating environment, then Chrome will be waiting in standby when you go to run the browser itself with everything pre-loaded.

Adding the Flux Capacitor

After a section that advocated removing plugins from Chrome, this final section will seem a bit hypocritical – but bare with me. The following plugins are ones that I use and they are immensely helpful in the goal of making Chrome faster and better overall.

Data Saver

If you are vaguely familiar with Opera as a browser, then you know that they have an option built into the browser that compresses websites server side to make loading on your side faster. This is a god-send for people on mobile who may have a limited data cap. Of course, this same approach is a god-send for people who want a faster browsing experience overall.

But ok, we’re using Google Chrome… what now?

Well, Google has something similar but it’s not built into the web browser by default. It’s a plugin called Data Saver, and it essentially does the same thing as what the Opera browser does.

Huzzah!

AdBlock Plus

Obviously, if you aren’t using an AdBlocker by now you’re wasting a ridiculous amount of bandwidth and time using Chrome. While some advertising is a good thing (and you can make whitelist exceptions), the majority of websites lately just bombard you with advertising from every conceivable angle.

Advertisements that aren’t loading are images, videos, etc that aren’t eating up your bandwidth and slowing down the websites you’re trying to visit. Ergo, AdBlock Plus makes Chrome work faster.

It’s in your best interest to install AdBlock Plus for a faster, safer, and less annoying internet experience.

Mercury Reader

What is Mercury Reader, you might ask? Well, it allows you cut out all of the clutter on a website and present the content you want to read without all of the distractions. Originally the Readability extension, Mercury Reader is the evolution of that premise.

If you’re really looking to speed things up while on a website trying to read the content, then this extension can be a life saver. Your eyes will thank you later.

Last Pass

If you remember earlier about clearing your browsing history and the possibility of losing your passwords and logins? Well, it’s a good idea to clear out those cookies just the same because they contain a ton of personal trackers that allow companies to spy on your online habits.

Of course, you don’t want to lose your passwords in the process, which is where a plugin like LastPass comes in. LastPass is an award-winning password manager, saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. Simple as that.

So there we have it!

By the time you’ve gotten through this entire post today, not only should your computer be running a bit (or a lot) quicker, but so should your Chrome Browser.

I you have any other suggestions, tips or tricks, feel free to leave them in the comments.

May 24, 2014

The Future of Communication

The Google Voice + Hangouts Transition

Ah yes, after that last post I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to read something less uncomfortable this go round. But before I get into today’s topic, let me make a quick recap of what the point (overall) was for the prior post.

Essentially what I was getting at was that we’re living in a world of international communication and a smaller “world” where borders don’t really matter. The problem is that there is a conflict between what the old separatist ways believe and the actual reality of the situation. Ergo, we live in a world where culture shock exists and what is taboo/illegal one place is perfectly fine and acceptable in another. If we’re going to move forward with our technology and global connectivity, we have to address this at the root by finding an acceptable middle ground for laws as well as helping to homogenize/normalize attitudes.

Ok, so that’s out of the way... and that leads us right into today’s subject of the future of communication. I know it may be hard to believe that a prior post about the adult entertainment industry and age of consent could have anything to do with Google... but the underlying theme that ties it together is simply the implications of ubiquitous and global communications.

There used to be a time when everything was separate applications. You’d use one program for VoIP (Skype, for instance), another for Text messaging (AIM, etc), another for email (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, etc) and so on and so forth.

If you wanted to make phone calls, you had the local phone company for that and you’d have a “land line”. Sending SMS messages on your cell phone was it’s own service unto itself (and by god did the cell companies price gouge you).

As technology has progressed, all of these things have been moved over to a purely data service provider, but more curiously that each of those services are no longer in separate applications.

Take for instance the recent consolidation from Google to move all of the communications services into a single app, and that the same app is built into a social media system (Google+), which in turn is also interconnected across all services as a universal identity management and relevance dashboard.

This in turn interconnects everything that utilizes that identity dashboard, and brings all of those services and apps together so they can share relevant data and information about the person using them.

In this manner, for many years I’ve used Google Voice for a primary number and have had it forward calls on that number to a few other landlines and ultimately my tablet and cell phone. This is actually really useful as a service... As part of that, I also used another program on my tablet to connect with my Google Voice account so I could effectively make calls out from my tablet using the WiFi connection with VoIP.

So far, this is a great interconnection.

But alas, Google is transitioning and consolidating services into one communications system called Hangouts (which I don’t mind), but in that process things are still getting broken along the way. While that is the short term future of Google Voice, the obvious speculation is that at this year’s Google IO conference they will likely announce that the Voice Services have been/will be rolled into Hangouts as a ubiquitous all-in-one communications suite.

From 9to5Google:

We’ve heard that Google Voice is getting dragged to the trash can and most of its functionality will be incorporated into the G+ Hangouts apps on both Android and iOS. This has already happened to an extent with the ability to phone friends on Hangouts, but we’re hearing the full shuttering and depreciation of the app is the next step.

What’s interesting here is that VoIP-to-phones is expected to be integrated into the Hangouts iOS and Android apps so that, just like with the Web version, you could be able to actually make (and receive) VoIP calls directly from your Google phone number. Whether the carriers and Apple are okay with this isn’t certain, and the thought is that it could be enabled by carrier like Apple’s FaceTime (or could be scrapped altogether) depending on the global market and the carrier.

Google recently allowed Hangouts to take over the SMS functionality of Android phones, and as Android Police points out, the direction in which Google is trending seems to be pushing all telephony communications into Hangouts.

Minor Turbulence

When Google dropped XMPP functionality and disabled third party access to the Google Voice API, all of the apps on Android that let you dial out using your Google Voice number suddenly stopped working. The number one reason I loved those apps (and Google Voice) was the ability to just make calls from the computer or tablet directly.

However, now when I look at Google Voice, it just asks me what number (landline) I would like it to call in order to connect. So instead of just calling directly from the computer or tablet, I now have to have Google call a landline and then place the call from that landline to the number I requested. This essentially defeats the point of having a Google Voice number.

After all, why exactly would it be better to jump through the hoops of having Google Voice call a landline and then connect to the number I just tried to dial, when I could just as easily pick up the landline on its own and dial the number myself?

Effectively, Google Voice in this transition has been relegated to an overcomplicated program that dials your existing phone for you. Which essentially nobody actually needs...

That being said, I really do hope the trending is correct and that it’s just a stop-gap measure until they migrate all of those functions over to a unified hangouts app.

The Bright Side

That doesn’t mean, however, that Google Voice will wholly cease to exist in the coming months. They did say that as a separate service it will be phased out in the coming months, and that’s something I am fine with – in conjunction with the idea that they are more than likely to incorporate Google Voice directly into Hangouts as an All-In-One communications app.

Now, if I just have to open up Hangouts as an app, and it has all of those abilities built in -

VoIP calling
Video Calling (up to 10 people)
Text Chat
*VoIP –> Phone Calling
*SMS Text Messaging
*Voicemail & Transcription
*Call Forwarding
*Phone –> Hangouts Calling

Then I’m completely alright with this transition. As a matter of fact, that’s pretty much what I’m expecting to happen after the dust settles and the transition is completed. It’s going to get messy for awhile, and by god a lot of things are going to break for a bit... but I’m sticking around to see how it all plays out. But as 9to5Google points out in the image below, it seems like the very obvious thing that Google is up to right now.

The asterisks are indicating that those are things that Google Voice as a service historically has done, and so I’d like to see them rolled into Hangouts as an All-In-One communications app and service before I consider Hangouts as a comprehensive application for that. The last one (Phone –> Hangout Calling) is referring to what would happen when I used GrooveIP Lite on my Nexus 7 tablet (and still do) where if somebody called my Google Voice Number, my Tablet would also ring and I could take the call over WiFi through VoIP and GrooveIP as an app on my Tablet.

I could also call out via my tablet in the same sort of manner, pulling up a dial pad or my Google Contacts to place a call out to their phone using GrooveIP Lite. This is an extremely useful feature to have as a service, and so if Google weren’t rolling those functionalities into Hangouts I’d find myself pretty baffled and just a little pissed off in the short and long run.

Interestingly enough, the ability in that line-up would also be pretty cool if Hangouts itself (when you do voice and video hangouts online/mobile) could include people through their landline/cell phone to talk in the conference.

Rolling it all up into a single application makes sense, and then Voicemail & Transcripts get sent directly to Gmail instead of through a separate service. I already have Google Voice sending my voicemail transcripts and audio to Gmail so this seems like the sort of thing that they are very likely to be doing going forward.

In the meantime, the transition really sucks... as things get discontinued and broken leading up to moving it all together.

From my personal perspective, it would have been better to have started integrating the Google Voice features into Hangouts up front before cutting off Google Voice as a service. That way there would have been a better transition from point A to point B.

The Future of Communication

It’s a bumpy road as everything gets rolled into the All-In-One package of the future, and if they don’t roll Google Voice services and functionality into Hangouts, I’ll be seriously disappointed when they shut off Google Voice as a standalone service.

The future of communications is an app that can do it all, and is relevant across devices and systems. Whether I’m using my tablet, smart phone, Google Glass, smartwatch, laptop, etc... They should all just work together under the header of “Communications Suite”.

The Pebble SmartWatch (shown above) actually has been updated to support Hangouts notifications, so the bigger picture (I believe) is ubiquitous communications suite going forward.

I wouldn’t say for certain that’s what Google is up to with Google Voice and Hangouts, but it makes perfect sense. On the other hand, I think quite a lot of people will be left scratching their heads in confusion if Google just kills off Google Voice altogether and doesn’t integrate it into Hangouts at all.

But let’s be honest...

It’s far more likely that a place like Google, who is building a self-driving car and all sorts of futuristic gadgetry (GLASS, etc) is more likely to want to enable the Dick Tracy wristwatch than anyone else on the planet.

So I expect Google Voice just to be integrated into Hangouts, and then wearables to be able to tie into Hangouts (like smart watches) where the future will be essentially a more powerful version of Dick Tracy’s wristwatch. I would garner this thinking off of both the official Google blog post and the Computerworld post.

It’s just crazy enough that Google would do it in full force...

As stated in the Computerworld post:

Google's making no bones about the fact that it plans to merge Voice into Hangouts; this week's blog post, like the G+ hint before it, blatantly states that "Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice." The blog also notes that making and receiving calls via Hangouts is "just the beginning" of the integration.

The good news, though, is that Google isn't planning to shut down any of Google Voice's key features as part of the pending evolution. The interface and branding may change, but the road map currently calls for the service's core functionality to remain in place within the Hangouts umbrella, I'm told.

But what about that Dick Tracy smartwatch? It’s not so crazy or far fetched anymore. After all... Will.I.Am is already on top of that with the hardware (among a few other companies), and if anyone is keen on the future, it’s gotta be Google and the guy who is from the future :)

I just wish Google wouldn’t have had that broken void between ending Voice and Incorporating it into Hangouts... the choice of transition strategy sucks.

The future is so bright I’ve gotta wear hyper-reality enabled smart-shades...

Apr 28, 2014

It’s the End of Google+

The Reports of it’s Death Are Exaggerated

Don’t you just love lazy journalism? So, it turns out that in a recent TechCrunch article, the author was essentially writing a total fabrication based out of thin air. What did you expect from a write-up citing unnamed anonymous sources, right?

Well, you’d think so.

Unfortunately, it looks like one too many people have jumped on the bandwagon. Places that you’d expect would check for sources and not just pile on with the rumors. Ars Technica, The New York Times, and more have picked up the ball and ran with it as if it’s a fact. The problem here is that the same places running with the ball are also the usual suspects who have been bemoaning the existence of Google+ from day one and wishing really, really, hard that it’ll just go away.

The New York Times, for instance, doesn’t even engage with the Google+ community even though they have an account there. TechCrunch is exactly the same way, and it’s no surprise that the usual bunch of whiners are writing up hit pieces declaring the demise of Google+

Not even the Chief Architect at Google itself is enough to put this to rest, considering he literally said the TechCrunch article was total bullshit, and that Google+ wasn’t going anywhere.

I’ll give you the link to that article here:

http://www.googleplusdaily.com/2014/04/yonatan-zunger-puts-google-walking-dead.html

But this guy... Yonatan Zunger... he could totally be some random guy on the Internet. It’s not like he’s in any position of authority to be quoted, right? Well, no... Yonatan is the Chief Architect at Google+. I don’t think you get any more credible than that, really...

Yet here we are spreading rumors on unnamed sources from people who absolutely suck at Google+ in every single way, and the people spreading it around as truth are conspicuously also the usual people who refused to use it, refused to engage at all, and expect the whole world to come fawn over them.

You would think that we wouldn’t been seeing all of this bandwagon jumping across the Internet, knowing full well that the article has unnamed sources, and is completely shot to hell as a rumor by employees of Google.

Just one Google employee is not enough of a source! Right?

Fine... let’s see what Moritz Tolxdorff has to say about it.

But wait! Who is this Moritz Tolxdorff person anyway? I mean, it could just be some random guy on the Internet with no relevance to the situation at all... Or he could be the Community Manager for Social & Chrome at Google. It’s one thing to write from “unnamed sources” and have the tech media run on complete bullshit, but it’s another when you start citing Google Employees. Even the Chief Architect at Google has flatly debunked the TechCrunch article as “bullshit” and total fabrication.

What started this rumor? Well, funny enough the genesis of this mass stupidity is that Google+ had actually become bigger than the building could contain and so the team was moving to a bigger building. Yes, Google+ as a team (and service) had become bigger than the building could contain and so they are giving them more room.

All of this simply because the guy who was in charge of the Google+ team decided to move on to something else, letting somebody else step into the position. Apparently that was enough to start the speculation mills again... which boils down to a bunch of high-profiles trying to save face.

What it boils down to is this:

The usual suspects going on about the imaginary demise of Google+ are doing so from the perspective of refusing to engage with it, the audience themselves, refusing to take the time to network and grow a following, have discussions with the absolutely huge audience there, and so on.

They come in from Facebook, and pretend like Google+ as an audience automatically owes them the attention from day one, and when they refuse to engage or bother, they throw a fit and walk away. Then they go on about how Google+ is a “ghost town” (I’ve got over 2 million views on posts, and thousands of followers), they write something about how Google+ was “forced” on everyone and nobody really wanted it...

Ok, I need to address that one head-on, because it’s old-hat.

Google's Eric Schmidt Says Plus Is An 'Identity Service' Not A Social Network

As early as 2011 when Google+ began, it was flatly stated that Google+ was first, and foremost, an Identity Service. It covers social network elements, but the truth of the matter is – the entire Google SaaS is the Social Network now, and Google+ is the unified login. You don’t get any clearer than the article on Forbes citing Eric Schmidt himself about what Google+ is about.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/08/29/googles-eric-schmidt-says-plus-is-an-identity-service-not-a-social-network/

Google+ is an identity service first and foremost. It connects the entire SaaS ecosystem of Google together and empowers each and every thing Google is now doing in the ecosystem by allowing a unified identity. It is the thing that allows Youtube to know what things you like from other services in the Google ecosystem, providing better recommendations. It is the thing that lets Google Now predict the things you want better by granting it the ability to pull from everything in the entire ecosystem for a better idea of you as a person. It’s a very, very powerful Social Graph based on the very thing that Google excels at:

Big Data

We can go on indefinitely about this, because it just ties everything together as a whole, instead of keeping everything separate and an island unto itself. From a Nexus 7 tablet to Google Play and everything in between... it’s tied together through Google+ to enrich and amplify the power of the whole. In the same manner as Google filed a patent to allow self driving cars to know your preferences and offer discounts or free rides to the places you might like if they are offering a promotion.

Why on god’s green Earth would Google get rid of the most powerful component of their ecosystem?

It would be like ripping out the keystone on a bridge. The lynchpin that holds everything together. If anything, Google would want to make it more robust than it is today – not kill it.

More importantly, I can’t fathom why it’s absolutely alright for Apple to have an Apple ID, Microsoft to have Live.com ID, Facebook to have Social Graph and the login for their social media site and the apps embedded within it, but the moment Google says:

You know, we have a ton of services we’re offering our users. It makes no sense to keep them all separate when they can all benefit from a unified login and identity service which allows them all to talk to each other for the benefit of the end-user.... let’s do that.

And so, Google+ was born, and the Internet whined about it like a bunch of hypocrites, started writing bullshit about it, and pretending in some fantasy land that it’s a failure, a ghost town, etc... when really they are just as lazy as the journalism they are responsible for when they refuse to use Google+, won’t engage with anyone, and create a self fulfilling situation of social media failure to write about.

It’s the end of Google+ As We Know It... Or not

Follow the Leader

Yes, Google+ is leading the future. I know a lot of people don’t want to hear that, but it’s true. How can I possibly say that in the face of Facebook having billions of users? Well... funny you should ask.

If Google+ really was the “failed” experiment people would like it to be, and not the continuing success that it is, then Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, et al wouldn’t be copying Google+ shamelessly.

Take for instance, Hangouts. This is the most obvious of it all, when recently Microsoft announced that Skype would now offer free group video chat for up to 10 simultaneous people while nixing Skype Premium in the process. Something that users have been requesting for years, and Hangouts just did from day one.

So while Facebook integrated Skype for video chat, it pales in comparison to Hangouts (and still does) since to have a group video chat, somebody in the group needed to be paying for Skype premium.

Of course, the reason I say Hangouts is still far superior is obvious. Google simply has more services to tie together for communications than Facebook, and so through Google+ and Hangouts, it works together.

Gmail (email), Google Voice (it’s going to get integrated), VoIP, Video Calling, Text Chat, and likely SMS (see also merging Google Voice).

It’s kind of hard to pretend like Google+ is a failure when the President of the United States is using it to let people interview him live. I didn’t see that on Skype or Facebook. There was even a Hangout on the International Space Station.

So unless Facebook is about to give you the ability to make phone calls for free in the United States, give you a free phone number with SMS capability, give you an email service and integration of voicemails, and build their own line of Tablets, Phones, and Augmented Reality hardware... it doesn’t matter if Microsoft & Facebook is offering free group video the same as Hangouts and Google. They’re still about twenty steps behind Google right now.

How else are they shamelessly copying Google at this point?

Well, as recently pointed out – Twitter redid the profile page layout and it looks almost exactly like how Facebook recently redesigned things. Funnier still is that the changes that Facebook made were to follow Google+ in focusing on a more visual style and layout, giving focus to the pictures and such. Cover photos and tossing your profile picture on the top left, and so on... the announcement of Skype offering free group video chat was just another follow the leader moment copying Hangouts, which is integrated into Google+, Gmail, available on Tablets, Phones, etc ... And Facebook is worried about being the “go to” text messenger on our tablets and phones?

Holy crap, they are a light year behind the times.

So much are they freaking the hell out about this that Facebook dropped 2 billion dollars just to buy out Oculus VR. Why would you think Facebook wanted to get into the VR field? Well I suppose it helps to see that Google is making waves with Google GLASS, and they see a release as imminent. So Facebook doesn’t really know what the hell to do with Oculus or how it can integrate with Facebook, but it just knows that if Google is doing something in that space, then Facebook can’t sit on the fence.

And here’s the thing... Google actually knows what the hell it needs GLASS for and everything else. There is a total ecosystem involved here, and it’s all meant to work together seamlessly – thanks to Google+

Facebook, on the other hand has done the exact opposite. When people were screaming bloody murder about Oculus being overrun with Facebook integration, they were both right and wrong for the assessment.

Facebook leaving Oculus alone to do whatever they want is fine, but the very fact that Facebook isn’t a well integrated ecosystem that spans outside of the walled garden through a myriad of services is enough to put the brakes on following Google’s footsteps. more accurately, they are starting to realize what Google has been up to all of this time and now trying to build the same ecosystem of services that Google has had a head start for years building while everyone else was scoffing (and still is).

So even if they did try to follow the Google trail and integrate Facebook with Oculus in some manner, they’d likely royally screw it up. They simply do not have the complete SaaS ecosystem tied together in order to make that something worth doing (if at all). And that’s where Facebook is getting their asses handed to them.

Microsoft wouldn’t be giving you free 10 person group video chat if Hangouts wasn’t starting to kick their ass. Facebook wouldn’t be rearranging their site to offer the same things Google+ is if Google+ was a “failure”. Zuckerberg wouldn’t be throwing obscene money to buy all of these services and companies, if they weren’t trying to follow the footsteps of Google.

The only people in denial about all of this are the people who use Facebook, and the people who routinely refuse to use Google+ or went into it half-assed and went whimpering back to Facebook and their years of effort.

I’ll be using Google+

The only “dead man walking” right now are places like Facebook. When social media and tech companies start copying the competitor that they all swear to god is a total failure and going under any day now... that’s a sign of desperation and panic.

If you want to use Facebook, that’s fine... but I’m using Google+ going forward, and have been using it since Beta. If it was failing or going under, the competition wouldn’t be copying it while telling everyone it’s not a big deal. Facebook wouldn’t be spending billions to stay relevant versus Google if Google+ wasn’t doing anything good.

Microsoft wouldn’t be (3 Years Later) matching what Hangouts has done since day one, if they thought Google+ wasn’t going anywhere.

At the end of the day, I believe Google+ is far superior on every possible front. The entire cross-integrated SaaS ecosystem of Google itself is brilliant.

It’s no different than when you were “forced” to get an Apple ID to use all of those Apple products and software, and it’s no different than the Microsoft Live ID integration into pretty much everything as well (including Windows 8).

I’m not on Google+ because I’m interested in visiting your Facebook pages, so quit spamming them in hopes to keep your Facebook page afloat. I’m interested in the robust discussion, Hangouts, and overall higher quality of engagement that I find on Google+, which is why I use it predominantly.

That doesn’t mean it’s perfect... but it’s a hell of a lot better than Facebook in the bigger picture. But that’s just my opinion... from somebody who has actually been using Google+ since the beginning.

Takeaway

The best takeaway is probably from the GooglePlusDaily Article:

"Ultimately, it’s up to you as a reader to choose who to believe: Google employees or TechCrunch’s unnamed sources.

It may be worth noting that one of the authors, +Alexia Tsotsis, owns shares in Facebook, Yahoo!, and Twitter, while the other, +Matthew Panzarino, is described in his TechCrunch bio as “relentlessly covering Apple and Twitter.” This does not explain their information or sources, but it could be partly why they closed the article by comparing Google+ to an “unwelcome hairy spider” whose integration is a form of “grating party crashing.” Either way, it certainly draws their credibility into question."