New Google + tricks

You may have started using Google+, but did you know that you could edit photos in it? Integrate it with other social networks? Or video Chat in HD? Like with any new service, there are a lot of hidden features and lesser-known tricks in Google+, just waiting to be explored. ET offers 12 killer tips just as Google+ goes out of beta.

1. Hide Notification

 If you have commented on a post, but do not want notifications of the follow-up comments coming to your inbox, there is a simple way out. Go to the original post and on the right side you will see a drop down arrow. Click on the arrow and select 'mute conversation'. You can choose to shut off all notifications from Google+ settings as well.

2. Hide Circle Members

If you do not want others to see the people in your Circles, go to your profile page and click on 'edit profile'. On the left side, you will see a small grey disc just above the photographs of your Circle members. Click on the disc and in the box that opens, you can choose the visibillity of your circle members.

3. Send Notification to your Mobile Phone

You can setup Google+ to send notifications to your mobile phone as well. Click on the gear icon on the top right corner and select Google+ settings. On the page that opens, go to 'delivery preferences' and under your email address you'll see the option to add a mobile number to receive push notifications. Enter your phone number and Google will first send you a verification code. After verification, you will start receiving free notifications on your phone by sms.

4. Enable HD Video Support

By default, video chat in Google+ uses standard definition video, but if your webcam supports it, you can enable HD video support. First, sign in to chat, hover the mouse cursor over the chat section on the Google+ page, click on the small triangle that appears and then click on settings. Here, you'll see a checkbox to enable HD video chat.

5. Built in basic Photo editor

There is a built-in basic photo editor in Google+ as well. Select any of the photos uploaded to your profile and double click on it to edit. It will open the image in a full page - click on the 'actions' box below the image and here you can rotate the photos or click on edit to apply a variety of basic effects and tune-ups.

6. Save Shared link

The Circle feature can be used to save various shared links and notes if you want to read them later. Go to Circles, create a new Circle, name it whatever you want (like 'Read Later') and do not add anyone in it (Google calls it an Empty Circle). Now, whatever you want to read later, share it on your Google+ status with only this empty Circle that you have created. It will work as your online repository for bookmarks, videos and any other thing you want to access later.

7. Add a Faux banner to your Google+ profile page

To add a faux banner to your Google+ profile page, you will need to do a bit of photo cropping and resizing using an image editing program. Paste a photo into a template, 750 pixels wide and 150 pixels high and resize it to fit. Then, split this image into 5 smaller photos, each with a dimension of 150 x 150 pixels. Go to your profile page, click on 'edit profile' and upload the images in the order that you want.

8. Share Location

To share your location with a person or a circle, first click the share button on the top right of the Google+ page, then click the 'add your location' button in the text box that pops up. You may have to click 'allow' if a webpage notification comes up. Once Google+ has determined your location, just add names to add them to the share list, or add a complete Circle.

9. Free extension

Using Google Chrome with Google+ gives you a whole host of new things to play with, thanks to free extensions. For example, an extension called Helper for Google+ allows you to share your Google+ posts to Twitter, while an extension called Surplus integrates Google+ right into the browser. With it, you can post/share though a pop-up or get desktop notifications even if the Google+ webpage is not open.

10. Share a permalink

Let's say you want to share a specific post with someone new to Google+ - the easiest way to do this would be to share a permalink (permanent link). To get a permalink for a specific post, simply click the time stamp in the post - and it will open in a new page. Copy this link to share with anyone over email or chat, even if they don't have a Google+ account.

Google + spoof

Google plus, is indeed the trending topic not only on twitter but on facebook too. The latest buzz coming straight  from Google is that its social venture has already registered nearly 18 million users inspite of being in "beta and invite only mode."

Here are few of the videos (coustesy-youtube, one of the closet in Google's vast wardrobe) which spoofs the Facebook founder's take on Google +.




Ever thought How would Adolf Hotler react to this online sensation. If not then have a look





Now how about the Google- (minus) project.



Even the babies are concerned about this online phenomenon. Have a look


Google minus not that bad either ;p

Google chrome : buzz

So finally google plus (+) is ready for the networking market (still in Beta testing and invite only mode though) but the big question is do we need to change the social platform again i.e. from "facebook" to "google plus", more so when the 70% of the all internet users are still active on Facebook.

Aren't we already slaves to Google's vast empire ?? From watching videos(youtube) to managing our e-mails(gmail), from blogging(blogger) to storing our photos(picasa), from advertising(adwords) to publishing(adsense,doubleclick), from internet browsing(chrome) to seeking information(google) and last but not the least even our mobile phones are having google's presence in the form of "Android" and if we prefer google plus, our entire internet activity might concentrate at the single host, which may be risky as some critics are pointing out.

The biggest fear among all the tech critics is that the hype which is being created by the Google +, we hope it don't turn out to be a desperate shout or if you would like to put in the financial terms "a big powerful social bubble". Google is treating their social venture as a "project" and not as a "website" (good for them). It's not very long ago when Google launched their one more over hyped social platform named "buzz" to gain the market share of "instant micro-blogging market" and beat the competitors like "Twitter" which for now is clearly dominating the field but unfortunately Google failed miserably and that's the very reason, I would suggest to all the facebook users to think twice before swapping your social life from one platform to another.
It's too early to compare Google plus with Facebook. Google's current 10 million users database might seem "as a drop in the ocean" in front of the mammoth size of  Facebook which is having more than 750 million users, out of them more than 50% are active users. But again Google is in beta testing mode only and is available to selected users only. We have to wait for the real response from the people.

It would be quite emotinal for the addiccted and  avid facebook lovers to leave the terms like "wall", "poke", "like" and get use to new social terminologies such as "hangouts", "sparks", "circles". Google's marketing strategy is quite lame too. Instead of endorsing their own brand, they are showing more interest in downgrading other social media services especially "facebook". Google is emphasizing more on the "privacy issue" which scores where facebook lacks and "sharing" to be made simpler and compatible. Well to be frank there is nothing new in this social extravaganza but slightly different from others. Here are few of their main features-


Circles = Facebook. Share content with your friends, only you don't have to share everything with  everybody at once. You can pick and choose specific groups.

Sparks = Google Reader or Delicious. Subscribe to news and information sources and get a constantly updated feed.

Hangouts = Tinychat. Live video conversations with multiple friends at once.

Instant Uploads = Microsoft Kin (and iCloud, and...). Snap photos with your phone and they're automatically uploaded to an online storage spot on Google Plus.

Huddle = GroupMe. Group chat.