The post for this has been sitting unpublished, for the last few
weeks. Stuff being added and taken out at random intervals, just waiting for me
to get around to HangOuts. I think it is time I just publish it.
Now days it is pretty hard not to use a Google product unless you are affected by the great firewall of China. So I am assuming that everyone has used a Google Product at some point.
I have used Google products for both work and leisure and some for both.
I pretty much stumbled into using my first google product, which was Google Video, before Google bought YouTube their video service was called
Google Video. I mostly used it to watch TV shows, Anime and AMV (Anime Music
Videos). Now I look up videos for both entertainment and educational purposes.
In 2006, I inadvertently created a Google+ account. I was signed up to a
Google account using my Hotmail address to track my Google videos and on one of
my last times on the platform I was asked did I want to transfer my account to
Google +. Which of course I clicked accept and have never really used until
now. Eventually I signed up to a g-mail account so I could access to Google Calendar so I could keep track of social events.
When I was working as an administrative assistant I used Google Analytics, a statistical tool used to track clicks and visits to webpages. I also had some interaction with adwords.
I used Google Translate to translate work documents into English and quickly discovered not to just copy and paste the entire document. It was better to do it by sentence or paragraph and to correct the grammar along the way or you were left with an incomprehensible mess at the end.
Finally HangOuts…
I watched the Rudai 23 Google Hangouts live on YouTube and was inspired. (To
watch the video click Rudai23 Hangout On Air.)
After exploring Hangouts more I discovered that there were interactive apps you can attach so that you can doodle on your friends videos, play games with them and lots more. There are even apps for story telling.
My impression of Hangouts so far is that it is a mix of video streaming and chat, kind of like a mix between skype and a webinar. This is
definitely something I want to spend more time exploring this but my friends tend to use Skype instead.
While we are on the topic of Google, a few weeks ago I read an article about
Google. I found it an interesting read. The article talks about the steps
Google have taken for restructuring the business into a model more suited for a
conglomerate and how it is to be more transparent for investors. (The Economist
August 15th 2015, p 55-56.)
There was a nice timeline and I was tempted to attach a photo of
it below but I was not sure about copyright. If anyone is interested in taking
a look, Google Timeline: The Economist August 15th 2015, p 55.
Tasks: Open a Google account, set up Google+ profile, do a Hangout
chat, Try Hangouts On Air (optional)
Well done for having a good look at Hangouts, it's a great service (when it works, which to be fair is most of the time). There are so many great services coming from Google these days. I know there are concerns over privacy, but when you weigh up the products, the services they provide, and the convenience of having everything associated with an account that can used across a number of devices, I think the pros outweigh the cons.
ReplyDeleteThe Rudai23 Team.