And all this business about apps is a real spoiler for suspension of disbelief. I’m clicking a link, expecting to learn more about what I was reading (that was certainly the author’s intent) but instead I get an ad for an app. If I seriously consider it, I’ve lost my train of thought. If I actually take the detour and install it, I’ve lost bigtime. The best way to minimize the loss is hit the Back button and skip it. But that’s a loss too. I clicked the link for a reason. And that was thwarted.

The main concept here is that if you provide links in your mobile application, then you should be linking to some information about the topic you were reading, not an advertisement for a different app. By itself, this complaint seems to be a bit of a stretch. However, he follows with another post a few weeks later that really explains his issue:

Every time around the loop, since then, the Internet has served as the antidote to the controls that the tech industry would place on users. Every time, the tech industry has a rationale, with some validity, that wide-open access would be a nightmare. But eventually we overcome their barriers, and another layer comes on.

Basically, Dave is seeing these mobile apps as trying to kill the web. If the app is trying to control interactivity by only supplying a “walled garden”, similar to what Facebook is doing, then the user really loses the power of the web. The core idea of linking gets lost in this scenario. However, what if the web is more than just links?

Prior to the last few years, people were very document-centric and reading HTML pages from a PC. Now, we have mobile devices that allow you to use the web whenever you want no matter where you are. We also had web applications that did not allow you to take your information elsewhere or integrate with other applications. Now, many applications use your Twitter or Facebook login in order to authenticate, and then post statuses or even create events in Facebook.

In order to support all of this integration, the web is evolving. The web is no longer just HTML. Last summer, I wrote about the rise of the API:

As the web evolves, much of that evolution will be powered by application APIs. Some of the APIs will be application specific, like the Twitter API, and others will be more generic like the various semantic web standards. All of these available APIs allow programmers to create more interesting applications, and potentially a new API layer on top of what already exists. What this means in the long term is that we are finally getting to the point where the semantic web had hoped to be, linking data between various applications and hopefully doing something interesting.

A web of links can be limiting when looking at applications. When looking at reading a news story, links make sense, but reading articles is only part of the web. By looking at the data available, we are starting to create a more interactive and informative web. Sarah Perez at TechCrunch thinks this could be moving towards a web of apps, but that post is more focused on mobile apps. As I said previously, mobile apps tend to be limiting in their own ways.

Think about the possibilities of using the various APIs that are available. I am not just talking about the social network APIs, I am talking about things like Freebase, a huge collection of data, or even data aggregator/providers like Gnip and DataSift. Using these services, developers can build interesting applications using data from various sources without worrying about what the Twitter API looks like.

These types of services provide a level of abstraction that developers are used to. First, you get the core APIs, then you start abstracting those APIs into something easier to use. Once concerns about low-level APIs are removed, developers can focus on being more productive with the new abstraction layer and start solving real problems. Once developers focus on real problems, that is when the real fun begins.

So, is the web just a bunch of links or are we finally getting a layer of abstraction on top of all of the web applications. This layer of abstraction is a normal evolution for developers, and we just need to ensure this is translated into more interesting applications.

Related articles from RegularGeek:

• Twitter Should Cut The SMS Cord
• A Look Back And A Look Ahead At 2012
• Plus Or Like, Choose Your Sharing Weapon

Last year, I wrote about the following trends, with some new comments in italics.

• Mobile Computing: People thought mobile computing was big with the advent of smartphones. With the addition of tablets like the iPad, mobile computing got a big screen to play with. As we have seen this past year, mobile computing is definitely exploding, and is likely going to become the dominant platform for non-business usage.
• Tablets everywhere: Not only are tablets gaining a lot of acceptance, they have mostly replaced netbooks as the “smaller than a laptop” device. As the prices drop, expect to see dedicated eReaders convert into tablets similar to what the Nook is doing. Granted, this was an obvious trend and we have seen the recent release of the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. More tablets are being released every month, but not many have been successful. Pricing is the biggest obstacle, which the Fire and Nook are trying to avoid.
• HTML5: HTML5 gets included because it has such different capabilities than web sites currently have. There is huge potential with this technology and it can also blur the lines of web site and desktop or mobile application. HTML5 video is already replacing flash for many sites. With browser support increasing for all parts of HTML5, we will start to see more interesting applications. It has also become the cross-platform language of choice for mobile applications, which given the drive towards mobile, is very important.
• Instant information: This is the extension of my semantic web prediction from last year. As linked data and geo data become more standardized, more applications will include augmented reality-like functionality. Once acceptance of linked data and geo data is more mainstream, other data silos will follow. This trend has not really gotten started yet. We are closer to having more information at our fingertips, but 2012 will probably be the year for this trend.
• Always On: We thought people were always connected before, but the technologies are finally getting to minority report levels. We have the Kinect and other gesture-based interfaces, near field communication to enable proximity computing, and everything is being integrated with social networks. Gesture-based interfaces are being pushed more, and with the mobile growth our connectivity has definitely increased. Now, this combines with the “instant information” trend to move into the augmented reality space.
• A Massive Data Startup: The one prediction I will make is that some data startup will become huge. We have some players already in Gnip and DataSift, but 2011 is really the year of data and one company will have massive growth. This is the one trend that really seems to need another year to become as large as I suspected. Gnip and DataSift are doing well and maybe I am underestimating what they have done in the past year.

Now that we have reviewed last year’s trends, what trends should we watch in 2012? One important note about these trends is that mobile computing is driving almost everything.

• Mobile and Social Commerce: We have only seen the tip of mobile commerce. Next year should be interesting as we see more in-store mobile deals, price comparison shopping and augmented reality focusing on ecommerce. The social aspect will not be in recommendations, but more stores on social networks and the general integration of social networks with ecommerce stores. The one problem here is that someone’s digital wallet will be hacked.
• Digital Health Startups: With the rise of mobile devices, we can capture more data in more places. Carrying your medical history and a digital archive of your daily activity and food intake can change the way the health and medicine industries work.
• Big Data Usability: In the past few years, we have seen the rise of NoSQL tools but they are in the realm of the developer. 2012 will be focused on capturing and using the data in much easier ways. How about point and click building of a data capture process and some simple tools for analyzing the data?
• The Rise of HTML5: 2011 only showed part of what is possible with HTML5. This is so important that it gets a spot this year as well as last year. HTML5 is changing the way web applications are built, including mobile. So, yes it is that big.
• People Talk About Augmented Reality Again: Augmented reality applications were too early when they were released the first time. They launched before smartphones really exploded and tablets barely existed. Now, mobile is everywhere, data speeds are getting better and we have more information readily available. Part of this is made possible by linked data initiatives and the availability of social information.
• Digital Identity: Let’s face it, your digital identity is either your Facebook or Google profile. It has come to the point where most of the internet will require one of these two logins in order to use a service. Obviously, this is both good and bad, and bloggers will focus on the bad parts, obviously.

Google and Facebook are in the advertising business. They don’t really care if you make connections with long lost friends. They do care about your connections and what they say about you. Think about what they have done. Google launches with “circles”, but more importantly, they launch with a few standard circles like family, friends, etc. Facebook decides that lists are actually useful, contrary to their previous opinion of lists, and also creates some standard circles with family, close friends and acquaintances. These standard lists, and the automated lists based on education, employment and location, are the key to Google’s and Facebook’s advertising future.

Why this is important is found in traditional marketing lists. Dave Winer puts it plainly in his post “Facebook Is Scaring Me”:

They are seeking out information to report about you. That’s different from showing people a picture that you posted yourself. If this were the government we’d be talking about the Fourth Amendment.

Facebook and Google are building the largest marketing databases possible. Traditional marketing databases can use location, age, approximate income, and general census information to get an idea of how to market to a person. What these two companies are doing is gathering information about who you really trust, the family and close friend lists, and what you share with these groups. So, not only are you a 30 year old male living near Silicon Valley, they also know who your trusted friends and family are, what your education really entails (not just a BS, but a BS from a specific school), who you have worked for, who worked at the same company at the same time as you, and very likely what music and products you may like.

This information is not only marketing gold, it is easily worth hundreds of billions of dollars. This is the future of advertising, and currently only two companies have the power to play. Think about how targeted your advertisements could become. If I listen to music using Spotify and Louis Gray likes the same music, his recent purchase of a Depeche Mode album will be presented as an advertisement to me. This is much more powerful an advertisement than a generic “Popular artist releases new album” advertisement.

Let’s look at how all of this targeting works. Market basket analysis was one of the first popular data mining techniques because it provided much more information than typical census information about your purchasing habits. Wikipedia provides an excellent example:

A company could look at what other items people purchase along with eggs, and classify them as baking a cake (if they’re buying eggs along with flour and sugar) or making omelets (if they’re buying eggs along with bacon and cheese). This identification could then be used to drive other programs.

Now, compare the basics of this concept with the amount of information that Google and Facebook are collecting. The inferences that can be made are staggering. Not only do you get the same type of affinity analysis as the market basket example, you also get the additional input of your trusted social circles. There is much more information that can be gleaned from this type of analysis with so many inputs.

The other side of the targeted advertising is the sale of data. Privacy policies typically state that an individual’s data will not be sold, nor will identifiable data. However, there is nothing wrong with Facebook or Google selling the aggregated data or analysis of that aggregated data. This type of aggregated data is still better than the typical marketing databases based on census data. Just selling the aggregated data is a business worth billions of dollars.

Advertising and marketing are big businesses that have been hoping to get their hands on all of your interests, recommendations and purchases. With Google and Facebook, we may finally see this massive database created.

Cloud computing allows companies to save money by hosting applications in a virtual “cloud” so that they can be accessed from anywhere. When this technology is coupled with unlimited mobile broadband access, business and employees are able to work seamlessly from almost any location without purchasing additional equipment. By hosting applications on a remote computer through your cloud computing provider, you free up space on your company’s server and on each individual computer. The costs are monthly rather than investing in the total cost of the server.

Who Offers Cloud Computing and Who Uses It?

Salesforce.com – This company is a huge player in cloud computing. The company offers several cloud computing applications through the Force.com platform. Numerous companies have taken advantage of their cloud computing offerings. Many of the applications are related to customer relationship management (CRM).

Amazon Web Services – Amazon allows businesses to access applications through the cloud. This increases the mobility of their clients by allowing them to access applications in any location that has a web browser and internet connection. Amazon utilizes the EC2 cloud computing platform.

Google – Google App Engine allows developers to create applications in the cloud and Google also has clients using cloud applications like Google Apps and Google Docs. ChromeOS virtually hosts the entire operating system through the web browser. Every application is hosted through cloud services and applications.

Microsoft – Microsoft’s Azure platform allows users to host and scale their web applications using Microsoft’s data centers. Microsoft has worked with eBay, HP and Dell to host their cloud services.

IBM – IBM SmartCloud is IBM’s attempt to offer its customers applications in the cloud. They have been perfecting their cloud computing applications.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

No Initial Server Investment – Investing in servers is often an expensive endeavor. Businesses must anticipate and plan for the amount of space and bandwidth necessary to host applications and meet the demand of its employees and customers. With cloud-based computing, there are no or minimal initial investment costs. Businesses pay by the month per group of subscriptions.

No Software Downloads – There are no software downloads. The program is web-based, so all employees need is a login ID, password and a web browser. The internet connection should also be fairly good to process some of the applications, as slower speeds will hinder production and defeat the purpose of having widely accessible information.

Scalable – Because of the scalability, clients can roll the applications out to new employees easily. In some cases, cloud computing takes the planning out of the amount of software licenses needed for future growth. New employees can have access to applications within minutes of receiving their login ID and temporary password. Employees with smartphones may even access their applications through their mobile broadband network.

Highly Usability Factor – The applications are easy to use and access via laptop or smartphone over mobile broadband networks. There is not a lot of training required or a huge learning curve, so the transition to cloud use should be relatively smooth.

Inexpensive – The monthly fees are inexpensive and do not require a huge investment from small businesses up front. Since the costs are affordable, clients may invest the money saved into other areas of the business. Product development, marketing and sales are wise investments with the savings.

What Cloud Computing Means?

Cloud computing is a unique way of stating that applications are hosted on a remote server through web-based applications. Since the applications are not downloaded directly onto the computer, companies do not have to worry about each client having significant storage space on their computers. Companies only have to be concerned with a fast internet or mobile broadband connection and a highly usable web-based business. As cloud computing becomes more inexpensive and widely available, the future of businesses big and small may change altogether.

This is a guest post from Blake Sanders. Blake is a writer at broadband comparison site Broadband Expert, where he specializes in providing news on the best unlimited mobile broadband packages as well as the latest in high speed internet information.

Fred Wilson talks about this, but his directness will scare off a lot of people:

This is why I love Google Docs so much. I just create a document and email a link. Nobody downloads anything. There are no attachments in the email. Just a link. Just like the web, following links, getting shit done. I love it.

In this quote, his reasoning for loving Google Docs is one of the main reasons that people will migrate to online services. They work and they make it easy to share things. However, when you wrap all of this in the “there are no files” hype, people will run in the other direction. The other problem is the issue of constant connectivity. All documents cannot solely live on some cloud server because there is that time when you do not have internet connectivity and you need to work on a document stored in the cloud. This actually happened to me recently when there was a bad storm in the area and our power and internet connectivity was down. The power came back before our internet connectivity, so I could work, but only if I had local copies of the documents. Here, the idea of cloud-only becomes a problem.

What if document access was seamless? What if I had no idea where a file was, but I could access it from my home PC, my work PC, and maybe even my phone and tablet? Let’s assume I am using a service like Google Docs. This is the holy grail of cloud services, acting like there is no difference regardless of which computing device you use. So, how do we get around this type of issue?

First, don’t talk about it. The key to this type of mainstream disruption is to just make it happen. Look at what the iPhone did to the mobile phone industry. It was not the first touch-screen phone. It was not the first smartphone. It was not the first mobile OS with a development kit. It was not the first device priced around $200 with a long term contract. However, it was the first device to put all of these things together in a nicely designed package with a very easy to use interface. More importantly, it did not seem like a big deal to mainstream consumers to use the new device. The iPhone was tremendously disruptive, but people did not really notice that it was, and that was critical.

If we translate this idea to something like Google Docs, what is needed to make this disruption leap? First, Google Docs, and any other online “office” suite, needs to act as similar to Microsoft Office as possible. This is not about a feature comparison, but it is about making the transition as easy as possible. Second, make the user interface as fast as possible for the most basic tasks. I know things like drawing a table could be a little complicated, but saving a document or changing some text to bold needs to be almost instantaneous. Third, make the application available when not connected to the internet, and make sure that the most recently edited documents are available. Lastly, make the documents readily available on any device that I use, even when not connected to the internet. These last two requirements are the most critical for the mainstream transition to occur.

Fred Wilson said that applications like Dropbox are not going to be needed. I think that applications like Dropbox will be integrated into other applications to provide the synchronization capabilities needed to make all of your documents available everywhere. The mainstream user will not move fully into the cloud until they are sure they can get that document whenever and on whatever device they want. That is how you become truly disruptive, by making it seem normal to completely change the way people work.

Whether you are a student of traditional schools or online schools, your use of technology grows with the growth of technology. The use of personal computers has made it easier for students to get their work done as well as keep up with the news. Now universities themselves are stepping further into the tech world with the creation of Google Apps for Education.  But these new technologies are accompanied by new concerns. Universities have been incorporating online tools for a while—most students are familiar with blackboard software used to keep in touch with teachers and classmates as well as to join the conversation in class specific forums.  Google has joined the fray with a couple of familiar apps that should make online training and traditional learning easier and safer.

There are a few downsides to Google Apps for Education, though, that haven’t been completely worked through.  When many students transfer or graduate, their student Gmail accounts are frequently deleted.  Since all of the following Google Apps are linked to their log-in, all of the work and projects they’ve finished could disappear.  Additionally, privacy issues are always fraught with controversy when schools adopt new technologies.  These issues will likely be addressed at some point.  New technologies always raise concerns initially.  In spite of these concerns, schools that use Google Apps for Education seem to have experienced no real problems so far.

Google assures that security and privacy are two of the many issues they dealt with when creating the suite for schools. There are no ads being sent through the optional Gmail accounts to students and teachers. Google also has a full team of experts who monitor all issues dealing with information, application and network security. All applications undergo routine checkups to make sure they are secure and running smoothly. Google Apps work hard on its security as well as keeping the system open for school administrators to integrate it into their existing IT platforms.

Below are the Google Education Apps. All apps are free to students and faculty and many of them will be very familiar to both:

• Gmail for Education is a spin on the popular email service. Gmail for Education is fully customizable for every school; they can add their logo, school colors and even domain name. The service comes with 25 GB of storage and an advanced spam filter. Gmail for Education also features IM and voice and video chat.
• Google Docs is a great application for collaboration—something that many teachers and students have been waiting for. Students are able to do group projects more easily. It also is a big hit with teachers and has been incorporated into many of their classes for classwork.
• Google Sites is an application that allows students or teachers to create websites for classes or teams for quick information sharing. Google Sites is also able to take Google Doc files and Google Calendar files and incorporate them onto the site.
• Google Video is an application that allows users to share videos to group members and teachers. The videos can be class projects or simple messages to classmates.
• Google Talk is an instant message application that also has video and voice messaging.
• Google Calendar is another collaboration application that allows students and teachers to update important dates for tests and due dates. Students can also share amongst other students or group members dates that matter to them.

Google Apps for Education has created a very feasible system that helps students and teachers in their classes. The tools make it easier for students to collaborate with each other and to keep in touch with their teachers, and the ability for administrators to customize certain functions allows schools to keep their identity. All in all Google Apps for Education has raised the bar for academic excellence amongst the online community.

This is a guest post from Jesse Langley. Jesse lives near Chicago with his family of four. He works as an IT consultant and writes for Technected.

In a day and time where people are often tied down by 10+ tasks and to-dos a day, it can be hard to keep up with it all. I find it hard to believe that any true freelancer, professional or student can live without some type of GTD (getting things done) tool; it’s just a must-have for staying organized and remembering what needs to be done for the day, week, and month.

With that being said, this list of 13 GTD tools will help you get organized on any platform – whether you’re on Windows, Mac, Linux, a mobile device or right on the web. From managing tasks to creating goals to organizing a project, this list has got you covered and at a company I work for that developed a live chat customer support software we tried almost all of them internally. So here you go:

Things

A stunning task manager with powerful features and synchronization between devices. You can view all to-do items for the current day, the next day, and future days. You can also organize/group to-dos into projects and areas of responsibility. You can even delegate to-dos to your coworkers and teammates; so it is also great for working with groups.

Available for Mac, iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad.

Todoist

Todoist is an online task manager with a very simple interface and built-in calendar. You can organize your tasks into projects and even sub-projects and sub-tasks. It also includes reminders, Gmail integration, Outlook integration, plus a Chrome extension and Firefox addon.

Available for Mac and online use.

Chandler

“A notebook you can organize, back up and share.” You can separate your to-dos into now, later, and done sections so you know what’s more important and what is already completed. You can also organize your items into collections (via drag and drop) and add stars to important notes and events.

Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Beeswax

“An information management system inspired by Lotus Agenda” and only for the true geeks at heart. The UI is text based and formats your tasks in an outline-type format (similar to Microsoft Word). It is very basic, yet has quite a few keyboard shortcuts (command key binding). Tasks can be organized into categories and sub-categories.

Available for Linux.

Nozbe

This is a web-based time management and project management application that is geared toward small teams. Tasks and notes can be organized into projects and you can star the ones that are the most important. You can also attach files to your notes and tasks. Nozbe even integrates with many useful apps including: Evernote, Twitter, Google Calendar, Gmail, Yahoo, and more.

Available for iPhone/iPod Touch, iPad, and online use.

ThinkingRock

A Java based application that is great for collecting thoughts, creating to-do lists, organizing tasks into projects and sub-projects, and creating “Do ASAP” actions (for those really important tasks). You can also use it to create goals, which can then be put into a “someday” or “maybe” category.

Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, and Android.

Toodledo

Toodledo is a very popular and powerful online to-do list organizer. Your tasks can be prioritized and organized into folders and sub-tasks. You can also create notes and goals. Toodledo has numerous integrations and other features like email, SMS reminders, IM support, a Google Gadget, Twitter support, a Firefox addon, Apple dashboard widget and more.

Available for iPhone and online use.

Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk (also known as RTM) is a popular favorite for managing tasks and creating to-do lists. It is very simple, yet offers superb functionality and integrations with Gmail, Google Calendar, Twitter and more. You can also get reminders via email, SMS or IM and share you tasks with others. There are few other great to-do list apps on the web but RTM are probably the most popular one.

Available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and online use.

MyLifeOrganized

With MyLifeOrganized you can collaborate and create tasks, sub-tasks, projects, goals and even mind-maps. The interface is customizable and actually designed to run from a portable drive. One of the most unique features is the ability to enter the amount of time required for a task. You can then ask MyLifeOrganized “I have only 30 minutes now. What is the best thing I can complete from my To-Do list?” and it will let you know which items you can do.

Available for Windows, iPhone, and Android.

Doit.im

Another simple, yet stylish to-do list manager that works on just about every platform and browser. You can organize your tasks into projects and share with others. There is also a quick-add feature, which is great if you’re in a hurry. The different view modes lets you you filter your tasks by time, context, project, contact, calendar and archiver.

Available for Windows, Linux, iPhone, iPad, Android, and online use.

TimeGT

“TimeGT is a powerful life and task management software that keeps data in sync using a secure server and freeware desktop clients.” Tasks can be tagged and organized into nested projects with unlimited depth levels. You can also separate the items that you can do now from the ones that you want to do later or someday. TimeGT also offers secure synchronization and backup so that you never lose your data.

Available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and online use.

Veetosoft

Veetosoft offers 2 different programs: uTodo (“simple and fast to-do list software”) and uOrganized (“powerful task list software”). uTodo lets you tag your tasks and organize them into lists, while uOrganized lets you tag your tasks and organize them into folders. Both offer task filtering, organization via drag and drop, keyboard shortcuts, sticky notes, themes, and the ability to run the program from a portable drive.

Available for Windows.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is very similar to Doit.im; it’s a beautifully designed task manager that is accessible from almost any device. Items can be started to show importance, organized into lists, and shared with others. You can also customize your background with 1 of 12 built-in designs. Tasks can be filtered and viewed by due date, importance, or according to whether or not it has been completed.

Available for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, and online use.

What have we missed? What’s your favorite GTD tool?

This post was written by Lior Levin who works for iAdvize and is also a marketing advisor to a psd to html service company that works with designers from all over the US and Europe.

• +Circles – These are private lists, which are needed so that you can share things with a select group of people. Obviously, things you share with your family may not be things you want to share with your coworkers.
• +Sparks – These are the required status updates, but they are more than that. It is a mixture of interest-based aggregation, sharing and discussion. This is much closer to what the Facebook news feed is like.
• +Hangouts – These are live mult-person video chat, centered around your Circles. The idea is a casual meetup of friends.
• +Mobile – This is a combination of different offerings,  +Instant Upload and +Huddle. Instant Upload gives you the ability to automatically upload photos taken with your mobile phone. Huddle is a new mobile group messaging app that looks like it uses the Circles as well.

Unsurprisingly, Google Plus has been greeted with plenty of bad reviews especially when people were expecting something hugely different from Facebook or something to kill Facebook immediately. However, there have been several solid reviews as well. Louis Gray has already show his interest:

With today’s launch of Google Plus (nee Google+), you can see they haven’t taken the role of backup lightly – delivering a fun and engaging place that brings many of the benefits of existing social sites, but learns from their mistakes. In time, the package of Google+ could be a serious alternative for people’s attention.

MG Siegler even gave it a thumbs up when he wrote “I have a strong desire to keep using Google+”. More often than not, I am seeing positive reviews of the Google Plus experience.

So, the big question is what does this release mean? Does Google Plus kill Facebook? No. First, killing Facebook will take years of user attrition, and there needs to be an excellent reason to switch from Facebook to Google Plus. Will Google Plus fail like Wave or struggle like Buzz? Initial reviews make it highly improbable for Google Plus to fail like Wave did. The comparison to Buzz’s struggles is a little more interesting. Buzz has struggled mainly because of the lack of a real hook. Aggregation of news or information is useful, but not by itself. Sparks gives you more than Buzz ever could, so at the minimum, Sparks has a bigger hook.

Will Google Plus fail like every other Google social offering? Thankfully, no. Once I get access I will have more information, but Circles and Sparks look like very interesting products by themselves. Facebook has made lists difficult to use and Google has the right idea with Circles. Ideas and implementation are different, but there does seem to be a lot of good feedback so far. Sparks could be very interesting due to its interest-based implementation. As I mentioned above, aggregation is not useful by itself. In the case of Sparks, Google is taking on some of the topic-based news sites, but shoving the functionality into their social network. Think of it from the perspective of Facebook. If Facebook had real topic-based news aggregation and the ability to share these items with select lists of people, you would likely spend a lot more time using Facebook than you do now. I am not saying that Google is killing Facebook, but this integration is a fantastic idea if implemented well.

I have written about the previously rumored Google Me project and the initial launch of Google +1. In one of my posts regarding Google Me I listed a bunch of possible features:

• Messaging provided by GMail
• IM provided by Google Talk
• Google Buzz integrated with the basic status updates on the network
• Orkut, new and improved with social circles provides the core social network features and a platform to build upon
• Google Docs integration so that you can share documents with specific social circles
• Picasa integration so that you can share pictures with specific social circles
• Wave integration so that a specific social circle can have real-time collaboration features.
• Latitude integration in order to share location information with specific social circles

Thankfully, GMail is currently outside of the social offering, but some sort of messaging will probably be included at some point. Instant Messaging integration was surprisingly missing, but it could be due to the lack of any sort of messaging which could point towards a much larger initiative to provide Wave-like messaging, a mixture of IM and email. As previously stated, Sparks takes the position of Buzz integration. Orkut is a big omission at this point, but I would suspect that there will be a migration path from Orkut to Google Plus (and Circles in particular). With Circles, you can see how Google Docs integration will be fairly simple, and the same can be said for Picasa integration as well. Mobile is a big feature of Google Plus, but collaboration is missing in a big way. As I mentioned, IM and email are missing but so is any sort of collaboration tool. In my previous post about Google Me, I mentioned the integration of Wave. Thankfully, Wave itself is not integrated, but I would have expected some of the collaborative features of Wave. This also points to the possibility of another large update to Google Plus if messaging and collaboration get included.

In my Google +1 post I expanded upon this list of features as well. Integration of Google profiles was an obvious decision, and the profile updates do look much nicer already. Another huge win for Google Plus is the basic concept of consistency. Making everything live under the Plus product and having +1 buttons everywhere gives the feeling of a unified product, even if everything really is separate. This consistency will also aid in user adoption.

With all of this what is missing from Google Plus? I have mentioned messaging and collaboration already, but one big thing that is missing is an application platform. One of the reasons for Facebook’s success is the application platform. Many users get hooked on games like Farmville, and that is not possible without the platform. Having an application platform will be a huge benefit to Google, and I am sure we will see one before the end of the year. Google can even provide hooks into Google App Engine in order to get existing developers to create applications for the platform.

Overall, there is a lot of interesting features in Google’s social offering and you can see how they can add more. It is definitely a solid initial release but there is still a lot of work to be done.