It looks like Google pushed out an enhancement to their queries report in their Webmaster Tools. It now gives the ability to enter a date range, and it shows the number of impressions along with the click throughs (and click through rate). And each query has a dropdown link to see the positions the term showed up in. There is also a graph that trends query volume and click through volume over time.
If you use Google Webmaster Tools, definitely check out this new feature. It’s great for SEO!
Don’t knock it until you try it. Right?
So I learned a week ago how to “hide” people I follow in Buzz from my Google Reader, which up until that point was the reason I refused to use Buzz.
A week in, there are more frustrations. It’s a huge mess.
First, manually hiding in Reader everyone I follow in Buzz is a nuisance. It’s necessary because otherwise, Buzz and Reader are duplicates and the noise is maddening.
Today I learned that all of my shared Reader items that got posted to Buzz had commenting turned off. That’s because you have to manually allow others to comment. You have to allow each and every person you follow in Buzz to this list. Ok, my first issue with Buzz is a preference (sort of, although it should be an OPTION). But this issue is a flaw. Major flaw. I won’t maintain this. Too much work. Instead there needs to be a “allow anyone to comment” option.
I apologize to everyone who can’t comment on my wonderful Reader shared items. Please mail your complaints to:
Matt Soreco
c/o Google Buzz Complaint Team
Mountain View, CA
My other frustrations:
Although I see others having the same difficulties.The list is growing. I wrote about Resistance and Productivity before. I see Buzz as having a lot of nuisances that cause resistance. For me, these have to get worked out. I’ll bail. Like I did on other Google social media efforts.
Well it turns out there was a solution to my biggest issue with Buzz, which was auto-following in Reader everyone I follow in Buzz. I can choose to hide Buzz users I’m following through the Reader interface. Found the answer here. Phew. Ok now I’m going to give Buzz a nice test drive.
Twice I wrote about the untapped potential of Google Bookmarks, and the limitations:
http://mattsoreco.com/2008/10/my-google-wishlist.html
http://mattsoreco.com/2008/10/bookmark-site-id-like-to-see.html
For the longest time, it seemed to have been built but left dormant. I love it, but wished they’d develop it more.
They updated the service today. Now you can create lists and share them.
It seems they worked on the social angle. I still want them to work on the ubiquity angle. I want my Chrome bookmarks, Android browser bookmarks, and Google bookmarks all to be the same. I want to be able to add a bookmark via e-mail, text, or Android app. How’s about it?
At least I know they haven’t forgotten about Bookmarks. I can continue dreaming.
Fresh of my last post on why I refuse to use Buzz becaues it’s integrated with Reader (without the choice), I was reminded of another annoyance of Reader.
I like the recommended feeds feature, but once I say “no thanks,” that should be it. For good. Instead it keeps constantly recommending me the same feeds over and over and over. Enough!!!
It’s making the discovery of really good and NEW blogs slow and hard. I hardly use it because of this.
Also, I liked the “popular” feature that they had a few weeks ago. But they switched it back. They should have both.
Also, another thing about recommendations is that sometimes the feeds are too similar to what I’m already subscribed to. Lately I’ve been going through my feeds and only keeping one or two similar blogs. For example, both Mashable and Techcrunch cover the same things, so subscribing to both creates a lot of duplicate info. Adding more similar feeds would create even more duplicates. So my new motto is just follow one (or two at most) and trust that they cover what I need.
This is also why I’ve stopped following some people. Some people’s habits were to share similiar articles from different sources. I don’t need to read that Google Buzz launched from 10 different sources. One is enough thank you.
Why?
Simply because Google won’t allow me the option to not also follow them in Reader. You see, Google assumes that if I choose to interact with someone on Buzz, that I want to also follow their shared items in Reader.
The result is duplicate noise. Too much for me to handle. I don’t need to see the same things in Buzz and Reader.
I prefer my Reader clean, so I can find articles from blogs I subscribe to quickly. I don’t want to sort through stuff my Buzz followees also share. Nine times out of ten, they are duplicates to what I’ve subscribed to anyway.
A simple solution is to provide an option to “also follow in Reader” or not. Or if you stop following someone in Reader, you should be able to “keep following in Buzz.”
Right now if I unfollow someone in Reader, it also unfollows in Buzz. And there doesn’t seem to be a way around this.
I wanted to give Buzz a legitimate shot, but this is a showstopper for me.
OPTIONS Google. Provide OPTIONS!
Orkut. Know it? Probably not. It’s Google’s version of Facebook.
Friend Connect. Know it? You may have seen it on a few sites. Do you remember what it was for? I run the http://nycbbb.com/ site, which should be a slam dunk for something like that. I had it on my site for almost a year, and got maybe 7 people to “join.” Then I couldn’t figure out how to leverage it even if more people joined. The only word I can think of to describe the feature is fractured. Compare that to nearly 600 people I got to become a fan of ours on Facebook–in a matter of weeks. Interacting with the fans on Facebook is easy.
Latitude. Does anyone use that for any real purpose? I sure don’t know anyone who even uses it at all. So I finally shut it off.
Buzz. Fitting name. Like an annoying fly it had proved to me to be highly annoying. I want it separate from e-mail all together. I really don’t think it’ll ever become popular like Facebook or Twitter.
I guess you have to be in it to win it so to speak. But Google hasn’t had any wins in the social space yet.
It’s been some time since I last wrote about my beloved G1 phone. Since my purchase when it first came out in October 2008, I’ve flip flopped many times from loving to hating it. Android version 1.6 stabilized a lot of issues. Then once it got turn by turn navigation, I’ve been completely content. I don’t think any device can be great at everything, and the G1 is good enough at the things that matter to me to keep me happy.
But there are still bugs:
Those are my only real annoyances. Quite an improvement from what I’ve written about before.
And I still have a wishlist:
This is also a smaller list than it was in the past! Is Google listening to me!? If so, please hire me. Oh but please let me work from home. I like the East Coast. But you do have an office in NYC right? Who am I talking to?
Now on to my apps reviews! To conserve space, I had to remove a lot of apps I didn’t use often or were there just for show. I ran into the out of space message too many times. It was time to make some cuts! $ indicates paid.
Google Maps: It’s listed as an app, so I’ll mention it. This could not be better. I love the new “labs” feature that has an arrow that points to the direction you’re facing. Turn by turn navigation is great. It’s very easy to punch up a location and get directions to there. I don’t know anyone who uses Latitude of Buzz besides my wife. So they are never used.
Advanced Task Killer: Kills apps that run in the background when you don’t want them to, which saves battery. Works like a charm.
AK Notepad: Decent note app. I hardly use it though. I prefer a pen and paper. Sorry. But it’s a keeper in case my pen ever runs out of ink.
Aldiko: Nice e-book reader. I just have to find good books to read. The free public domain offerings don’t cut it for me. I like modern fiction and non-fiction. So I have to find e-pub books to buy to really give this a true test.
AndFTP: I’m sure this will come in handy one day as I have 3 websites that I maintain. I kicked the tires. It works well. I just haven’t used it for real yet.
AnyCut: Uninstalled. I’m pretty sure earlier versions of Android didn’t have the shortcut making ability it does now. Now most handy shortcuts can be made my long pressing on the home screen. All the ones I need anyway.
aTrackDog: Uninstalled. Same fate as AnyCut. This was a great app for a long time to find apps with updates, but the Market app is now better at identifying apps that have updates.
Beelicious: Good app for saving bookmarks to Delicious. Works well. This would not be needed if Android would snyc with Google Bookmarks. E-mailing myself bookmarks I want to read on my PC later was becoming a chore. Dear Google, you are forcing me to use another service!
BistoMath: Great tip calculator. A keeper.
Bookmark Manager: Does the job of allowing you to rearrange the order of your browser bookmarks. Mark this down as another head-scratcher as to why this isn’t part of Android.
C25K: Awesome app to let you follow the couch to 5k running program. It worked wonders for me. I completed the program with help from this app. I fell off the wagon so hard, that I’ll need it again once the weather gets nicer!
Countdown Alarm: Pretty useful.
$ Car Locator: You mark your spot where you park your car, then help you find your car with a radar like map. I bought this app and haven’t used it yet. I know I will though. I had been using Google’s My Maps Editor to perform this function, but it was clunky to use and a space hog.
CardioTrainer: Another beauty for running training. It tracks your running route through GPS, gives you audible messaging on your pace and distance while letting music play in the background. When your done, you see how far you ran, the pace, and the map overlay. You can then save the routes to their website. Again, this will come in handy when I get back on track this upcoming spring!
Car Mode: The simplest yet most useful app. When enabled, it turns on speaker mode for all incoming and outgoing calls for hands free talking. I’ll never ever use an ear piece. Ever.
Compass: Pretty much a show and tell for me. It doesn’t take up a lot of room, so I’ll leave it.
$ Documents to Go: Word and Excel editor. Pretty handy. I got it on sale. I used it a few times, so it was money well spent.
Facebook: Pretty lame for a native app. It takes up a lot of room. I’m debating uninstalling it and just use their online interface. I am holding out for an update–but not holding my breath.
Google Finance: I don’t play the markets so this may come off my phone soon.
Foursquare: I wanted to see what this was all about. It probably stay on my phone long.
Google Sky Map: Show and tell. I can’t wait for a nice clear night to use this to identify all the stars and planets. This might come off soon…
Karl’s Mortgage Calculator: I’m a big fan of this and his site http://www.drcalculator.com/mortgage/. This will come in handy when I go to buy a new car soon.
Live Scores: Beats both Google’s Scoreboard and SportsTap, which I’ve tried and uninstalled.
NYC Bus and Subway Map: Will come in handy when and if I go into NYC. Doesn’t take up much space.
Pandora: Love this app. Matches and plays the music I want to hear. Beats both last.fm and imeem, which I’ve tries and uninstalled.
$ PhoneMyPC: Part show and tell. Part I will need it one day, but don’t know when. I wrote a while back that the G1 needs a gotomypc type app. The name alone should tell you. It allows you to remotely access your computer from your phone. It’s a little rough around the edges, but it works.
Qik: Allows you to livestream video from the phone. I used it once for my mother to see my son. But there was a long delay. This may come off the phone soon.
$ Scan2PDF: Bought and used once. It uses the camera to snap a pic and output it into PDF, which you can e-mail. It might come in handy one day.
Seesmic: Really nice free Twitter app that allows management of multiple accounts. Very well done. I’ve gone up and back, and even paid for twitter apps. All uninstalled in favor of this.
Shazam: Very cool for identifying music. It listens and tells you what song you’re listening to.
ShopSavvy: Never used. You can scan a barcode, then it bring us the best deals in the area using GPS. I actually tried it once in Lowes, and felt like a jerk trying to scan a finishing nailer’s barcode for a good 10 minutes. I think that fiasco was more of a result of the lousy camera, not the app.
The Weather Channel: It is what it is.
Toggle Settings: Love this app. Lets you set up profiles for one click setting changes. For example, work (mute phone, turn off wifi), home (turn on wifi and ringer), etc.
Google Voice: I’m not ready to abandon my cell number in favor of this and let this run everything. But I do selectively give out my Google Voice number, which comes in handy. I like the service and the app, I’m just not ready to go all in yet.
T-Mobile’s Visual Voicemail: Love this app, but does not work when WiFi is on. I don’t know why as that is an annoyance. But I live seeing the voice mail, and being able to click play and delete it without having to dial in to voicemail.
tCalendarWidget: Nice little widget app that displays the date in a small icon on your homescreen. So simple but very nice. Yet another headscratcher why it isn’t built in. The default calendar widget it big and clunky and lacks options.
$ Where’s My Droid: Lets you send a coded text message to your phone if you misplace it. It will then trigger the phone to ring at a high volume. It’ll turn the ringer on if it’s off. Luckily I haven’t misplaces my phone to use it.
Other apps that I tried but landed in the uninstalled heap:
Google Scoreboard – too clunky, sporadic updates.
SportsTap – battery hog
Google Goggles – extreme show and tell. No real use.
$ I Tweet! – Seesmic is better.
$ Keyguard Disabler – ok, but not needed.
$ Any Clip Pro – Good idea, I just never needed it.
$ Quickoffice – Documents to Go is far superior. I think the developer abandoned this app.
$ aHome – fluff
Realty Browser (Layar) – Big time show and tell. I like the augmented reality trend, but it failed to impress me too much.
T-Mobile My Account – I never needed this.
1Cast Video News – Never seemed to have up-to-date news.
Yelp – I like Yelp, but didn’t need the app.
twitdroid – Sessmic is better.
TV.com – not a lot of good content other than previews.
USA Today – likes the app, removed to save room. I use Google News webpage.
Google Places Directory – Would be a home run if the categories were accurate. It finds areas of interest using GPS. The problem is if you go into shopping, it will give you grocery and convenience stores. There are other mis-categorized business listings.
Amazon.com – not needed. Removed to save space. If I want to buy something, I’ll use my pc.
Where – Pretty cool app, just too big to justify keeping.
Evernote – Very nice but goes against my KISS standard for note taking apps.
Phew. Very long winded. I think that’s it. You can see I paid for a lot of apps I ended up uninstalling. None of them were too expensive, so there are no regrets.
No, I have not gone mad.
“Eating one’s own dog food” is a phrase used to describe a company who uses the products it makes. They are essentially their own customer.
I had this thought at the tip of my tongue (or fingers), and one of my favorite blogs beat me to it. Outspoken Media touches on this in their latest post, How Listening To Your Bubble Costs You Money.
There are a lot of Google’s offerings and features of their offerings that are just plain weird. They don’t make much sense at all. I’m not alone. I read and post to their help forums. I see others with the same frustrations.
Perhaps Google employees, some of the most talented programmers there are, use products differently than your everyday lay user.
That’s my guess.
Who are they using to beta test? I would be an excellent beta tester for them. I know a lot about most of Google’s products. I’ve tried them all. And I become sheerly frustrated with some of them. GMail’s suggested completely unintuitive “all contacts” vs. “my contacts” feature. Reader’s automatically following of users you choose to follow in Buzz or “blogs I’m following.” GMail tasks not tightly integrated in Android’s calendar. I can go on an on. I’ve written about it before. I don’t enjoy dogfood.
I’m not a serial complainer. At least I don’t think. A lot of Google’s products are on the verge of greatness, but are one or two steps away–which they don’t seem to ever tie up.
It all depends on how widely it’s adopted by my social circle. I couldn’t wait to get a Wave invite. Once I did, I quickly signed up, sent invites to people I know. Then… Nothing. None of us use it.
I’m a fairly early adopter. Mainly to stay on top of and try new things. But things have to serve a real purpose for me. I don’t try something, then find a purpose for it. I usually try things that serve a real purpose. Wave alone, with no other friends using it, is useless. I assume my friends are like me and find no use for Wave. It’s a nonstarter.
When will it catch on?
I remember when I first signed up for AOL in the very beginning of it. At the time I felt like a computer geek for using it. I kind of was hesitant to tell people I went into chat rooms, because in the very beginning there was a negative stigma attached to it. Then one day I was talking to a friend who I least expected to use AOL, yet alone use a computer for anything. I thought right then, if this guy is on AOL then AOL is going to explode. And it did.
Similar “explosions” happened with other services and social networks I’m in. I can remember having a handful of LinkedIn connections and Facebook friends. Then suddenly, I was being bombarded with requests. They took off in my circle.
Some things will never take off in my circle. Wave is one of them. I wrote about adoption a while back. Wave is a communication preference in my opinion. A preference that relies on others adopting the same preference. If current communication channels (like e-mail) are working, then there is no reason to use Wave.
I foresee the same with Buzz. It’s a little clunky to use. It doesn’t fulfill a real need. My circle will probably not adopt it (rather they’ll stick with Facebook and Twitter). It’s just an extra. But I’ll be in there, to wait and see if it takes off.