Google+

I really like Google+. For those who don't know, Google+ is a social network site that Google came out with a few years ago. It was at first a huge success, getting lots of users, fast. but then it slowed down a little bit.

Everyone who does social does Facebook. Or has. Facebook just keeps sucking more and more every year. I'm not liking what I see when I log in. Those huge ads taking up space in my news feed is the latest final straw. The interface is annoying, too. And in my opinion it looks cluttered and kind of thrown together, so much stuff all up in your face. Google+ though, I think, got it right. The interface is much simpler, and you only see the stuff you actually care about. It's organised, and easy. It looks prettier.

I'm one of those people who really likes and enjoys Google products and the Google environment. I think Google is awesome. Gmail is by far my favourite email site. I like how all my stuff is integrated. And it's on all of my devices. And now that Google+ is integrated with Blogger, it's so easy to use photos that are tied to my Google+ account. I have my iPhone and Nexus 7 automatically upload photos to Google+ so all my photos are in the cloud privately stored and ready to share either here or on Google+. And whenever I make a post on Blogger, I get a prompt to share the post on Google+ to either Public, or whatever Circles I want.

Circles. I really like the idea of Google+ Circles. It makes the organisation of family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and people/pages you follow so easy. You can create a bunch of circles, and on your home page you can just click on what circle you want to see updates from. When you go to post, you select which circles to share it with, or all of them, or Public. This way, people only see what they feel like seeing. You share stuff with only the people who actually care about it. Or, you can just post everything publicly, or just share stuff with one person at a time. It's up to you.

Communities. The Communities on Google+ are awesome. You can search for topics on Google+ and join huge numbers of Communities. They are actually quite active with many members posting all day every day. In a Community, you can go in and see what people are writing in the group, and contribute your own posts. It's a great way to meet many people like you who share your interests. Google+ really is not the "ghost town" people think it is.

My Google+ home page feed is always moving with a lot of content. The sad part is, it's all from people I mostly don't know personally. Most people currently on Google+ are tech geeks and fans of Google stuff, or photographers, artists, and people like that. I really wish all my friends would give Google+ a decent chance. I would love so much to ditch Facebook. I hate the vicious cycle going on:

"No one" is on Google+ because "no one" is on Google+.

or

No one is joining Google+ because no one they know is on Google+.
No one they know is on Google+ because no one they know is on Google+. .......

The solution to this is, get on Google+ and invite people you know. If everyone did this, there would be more people on Google+... Obviously.

Seriously, Just give it a try. If you're bored one day, and you find yourself on Google.com ... just move your mouse to that black bar at the top and click on +You. If you already use Gmail, then you're basically more than halfway to joining Google+.

Samsung Series 3 Chromebook

So. Chromebooks. I replaced my old trusty ASUS netbook with the new Samsung Chromebook.

At first, I thought the idea of the Chromebook was stupid. I mean.. Who would want a computer that can only run a browser and nothing else? Who would want it if its entire usefulness depends on being connected to WiFi? WELL I went out and bought one. Here are my thoughts on the Chromebook after having had it for a couple months:

1. It's AMAZINGLY affordable. $249 USD is a really nice price for a laptop.
2. It's VERY portable. Its form factor and even appearance is very comparable to MacBook Air.
3. It's FAST. Boots in seconds. Literally, after having powered it down and closed it, I open it and it automatically starts booting. I don't even have enough time to unravel and plug the charger in the wall before it's at the login screen. It wakes up from shutting the lid after like a half second. win.
4. The keyboard is very good. It has great support for input languages and layouts. I was VERY HAPPY and even a little surprised to see the Dvorak layout supported. (Why I am weird and use Dvorak among other things in another post.) 
5. The trackpad pretty much just reminds me of Mac except it pretty much only recognises up to two finger gestures. That's all I need really.
6. It really IS useful. Two words: Web Apps. And some of them have capability to work offline. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Google Drive + Docs/Sheets/Slides works without an internet connection after going into my Google Drive Settings and enabling that feature. So I can write documents, edit spreadsheets or presentations offline. At this point, for me, this thing is literally every bit as useful as my netbook. Which honestly isn't super useful outside the internet. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it has a file manager pre-installed and that it works nicely with NTFS external hard drives. I was able to watch videos and look at photos on the hard drive easily. And there is a torrent app (JSTorrent).
7. The battery life is good. I can use this when I'm out throughout the day without even worrying about running out of battery before I get back home.

So basically, for $249 this thing does everything I need it to do. (Especially since I used a cool little script Crouton to install Ubuntu. More on this later) And it basically just runs Google Chrome. I'm surprised at how much I can do with a browser. It's for most consumers basically a functional laptop. The only programs I miss from my netbook were Skype and TeamSpeak. Google+ Hangout has been working ok as an alternative, but not everyone has Google+... Cool thing is, a friend of mine sent me his used netbook, so I actually have one again. :)

So yeah, if you are looking for a cheap laptop and you're on the web a lot, look no further than a Chromebook. If you already have a Chromebook, I suggest checking out the following links if you have not already. (From the Chromebooks Community on Google+)

• [Official] Support Forum
• [Official] Support Centre
• [Official] Contact a Ninja
• [Official] Release Announcement Blog
• Current Channel Versions
• [Blog] Chrome Story
• [Blog] OMG! Chrome!
• [Resource] Find Alternative Apps

Hello, World!

Hey everybody what's up? 

I just figured I'd check out Blogger again to see what's going on and maybe get back into the blogging scene a little bit. So this will be a place to organise my random rants. Feel free to comment and discuss. Just know I won't put up with trolls.

Some random stuff about me:

• I'm 22, male, straight and happily taken. 6'1", ~200lb
• From Baltimore, now living near Houston.
• I don't smoke or drink. I have before but not anymore. It's not really as cool as the manufacturers force us to believe.
• I'm a big fan of languages, science, maths, and tech. Therefore, I'm a nerd. Or something. 
• I love Sci-Fi. James Cameron's AVATAR and Doctor Who. 
• Generally speaking, I'm on #TeamGoogle and/or #TeamAndroid. But I don't hate on Apple. Not seriously, anyway. 
• I'm always on Social Media checkin stuff out. Google+, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, and Facebook. (Not the biggest fan of Facebook, but I'm kinda stuck using it.)
• I'm a Linux user and support Free and Open Source software. 
• Speaking of which, though I'm not particularly amazing, I like to write code. I know Java, XML (I like to play with Android sometimes), Python, Javascript, and a little of some others. They're all interesting.
• As for spoken languages, I'm only truly fluent in English, But my Na'vi (from AVATAR) is pretty good (seriously. I love teaching it to people. It's actually easy. Nerdy to the max, I know, but whatever) and in general, I can understand German. I'm familiar with some stuff in other languages too, like alphabets of Russian, Korean and Greek. I need to brush up on Japanese. And then actually learn it. I can also understand Spanish, but for some reason can't speak it very well these days. 
• I want to travel the world but I'm broke.
• Just because I think tech is kinda cool does not mean that I think nature is uncool; I totally think nature is beautiful and fascinating. I like green stuff. Going green whenever possible is cool.
• I totally appreciate wide varieties of art both visual and auditory though I cannot create super awesome stuff myself. Or at least I think so anyway. My girl begs to differ.
• I play guitar and a little bass. I have a history of hard rock and metal, but I like the soothing stuff too. Especially these days. I guess I'm either getting old, or mellowing out or both. meh.
• Modern stuff is cool, but I respect the classics.
• Not too keen on sports. I'm also terrible at every single one I've ever played. Might have something to do with it.
• I'm almost always calm and chill. I'm not much for violence. Or hate. I'm just not a violent or hateful guy. Equal Rights supporter. 
• I consistently wear jeans and T-shirts. Sometimes I go crazy and do cargo and Polo. I don't actually care what I look like or wear as much as other people do, or as I should, probably. Oh well.
• I've got TL;DR syndrome. 
• This post is getting kinda long

Okey so some of these things will get their own posts or series later on. Hopefully I'll find the time to post things here. I may come off as a bit ranty, but that's just natural for me. I'm not holding back. And yes this is how I actually talk in real life. Anyways, that's about enough ranting for today, I think you guys get the general idea here. Seeya around. Hopefully on Google+.