Google has been slowly rolling out new features and closer integration between all of its products and Google+, and yesterday it was Gmail’s turn to get a few updates. Now, when you get G+ notifications in your Gmail inbox, you’ll be able to view, comment and +1 those posts without leaving your inbox, and if you’re viewing a notification post and someone else comments on the post, you’ll see that reply in the message, in real time.
The original aim of Google+ Hangouts was to allow video chat with groups of people. The new Google+ Hangouts On Air option offers a different choice: a live video broadcast which anyone can watch, and which is later archived to YouTube.
The new Google+ layout is pretty nice, but if you’re looking at it on a widescreen monitor it adds a lot of whitespace. If you’d like to cut down on that whitespace and centre everything, Whitespace Remover for Google Plus is a Chrome and Firefox extension that does just that.
Google has introduced a slew of new features for Google+ that seek to make navigation of the social network easier. On top of a new user interface, Google+ users will see a customisable navigation ribbon, a new discussion layout and more.
We spend an awful lot of time using social networks to keep up with people, discover news, and bring new functionality to our favourite apps, but they can get cluttered pretty quickly (not to mention destroy your privacy if you aren’t careful). This weekend, take some time to clean up, organise and re-privatise your Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts.
Google+ Hangouts are great for straight-up talking, and they have some productive features, too. Now the gates are open to third-party apps to enhance the platform. The first batch is mostly games and goofiness, but two tools stand out.
Facebook and Twitter consume increasingly large chunks of our time, providing us with a public face to the world and accumulating personal data over time. Those benefits come with significant security risks, however. Make sure your social networking dream doesn’t turn into a nightmare by ensuring you follow good security practices.
The Google+ app for iOS has added a new Instant Upload feature, which automatically uploads any new photos you take on your phone to Google+.
Verified accounts on Twitter and Google+ are supposed to build trust and allay your fears that you may be following an impostor. Facebook only announced this week that they were getting into the verified account game, but for different reasons — they want to make it easier for you to find and subscribe to interesting people. Let’s take a look at how the process works, and whether or not you have a chance of getting your accounts verified.
When Google+ launched, one key criticism was that it forced people to register with a “real name”, which in Google’s world meant a first name and a surname. Google has now marginally changed that policy, introducing an option to allow “alternate names” on the service.
