shawnw.orgfaith – technology – culture

What is Google Buzz?

Think Twitter and Facebook updates sprinkled with goodness from such sites as Picasa, Flickr, Gowalla and Foursquare.

If you have an iPhone or Android phone go to http://buzz.google.com on your phone’s browser to get started.

Otherwise you can connect to Buzz right inside Gmail.

Don’t have Gmail? You should fix that.

Can Buzz kill the others to reign supreme? We’ll see.

It took you guys, the readers of this blog, some of whom I’m friends with (in reality and virtually) and some I’ve never even heard from before, just under a week to put together the funds to buy a computer for a pastor in India who couldn’t afford one.

I am in awe. And you guys are my heroes.

In list format no less:

• iPad? Seriously? When someone from Boston says iPad how will I know they’re not saying iPod?
• Do Apple fanboys really want to carry around three devices? I’m weighed down enough by my phone and laptop, why would anyone want to carry around an “in-between” device that’s too big to be a phone but not big enough to be a full-on computer?
• What niche does the iPad fill, other than the “look, we wear money hats!” niche for Apple?
• Hey Apple, laptops already have keyboards! Why make a keyboard attachment for the iPad?
• Wow, only $30/month for unlimited data? Great, let me add that to the $30/month I already spend on my phone’s data plan and my $50/month Internet bill.
• No, seriously… iPad?

Am I the only one not drinking the Kool-Aid here?

This post is for those of you who don’t use Twitter or don’t actively use their Twitter account today.

I’m asking you to take the 30 day Seesmic Look challenge. Why?

If you use Seesmic Look for 30 days you’ll be hooked on Twitter.

Seesmic Look is a fancy new Twitter client (read: a program that runs on your Windows PC that brings Twitter to your desktop) that will make using Twitter a much more fun and easy experience.

Don’t believe me? Check out the image below and tell me that doesn’t look like quality stuff.

So, go grab Seesmic Look (if you already have a Twitter account just sign in; if you don’t, click Create Account in Seesmic Look to create a Twitter account) and start tweeting.

Last but certainly not least – be sure to click here and leave your Twitter name in the comments so I can follow you! You can go to http://twitter.com/shawnw to follow me.

I’ll make a follow up post in 30 days to see what you think.

Let’s go!

1. A solid SMS client – I love the look of the SMS client but sometimes it takes forever to load (and occasionally crashes). The very nature of SMS requires speed (heck, the first S stands for short!) and the Droid SMS client misses the mark.
2. Gmail Tasks integration – Tasks isn’t a Labs feature anymore. It’s enabled by default in Gmail. So why isn’t it built into the Android Gmail client? Big fat zero on this one.
3. Google Apps calendar integration – not there yet. Instead, you have to share your Google Apps calendar with your Gmail account’s calendar to see your Google Apps calendar on the Droid. Weak.
4. A great music player – the built-in player barely has more than shuffle and repeat. It’s also ugly. I’ve seen three year old flip phones with better music players than the Droid.

This list makes it sound like I hate the Droid. Not at all. I’m very happy with it. The Gmail client, for the most part, is amazing, the browser is almost as good as a desktop browser, the actual phone software is responsive and easy to use, and the user interface is clean and easy to understand.

The four features I mention simply should have been better at launch. If you own a Droid, your list is probably different than mine (if so, be sure to share in the comments!). I’m also sure we’ll see fixes for these things with future updates.

Be sure to use the comments to ask questions, and to talk about what you like and what can be better about the Droid!