Hasta La Gadget!

If Google+ wants any chance of beating the social media juggernaut that is Facebook — especially after the latter’s latest efforts in the search arena — it needs to reach a far wider audience than it does now. The Mountain View company has just made a small but significant step in that direction with the availability of its G+ iOS app to 48 more countries and territories, according to a G+ post by engineer Frank Petterson. The countries listed — Bermuda, Cambodia, Malawi and Nepal, just to name a few — aren’t necessarily known for their large populations, but we’re sure Google will accept anything that’ll help Larry Page make his case against Zuckerberg and crew. To find out which new areas will let you download that G+ app from the App Store, check out the source below.

Filed under: Google

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Source: Google+

Many running Google+ Pages for their companies have likely been frustrated by the lack of interaction with some of their fans — if visitors haven’t already put the brand in a circle, they’ve been off-limits regardless of their interest. A quiet change may have just opened the floodgates. Pages can now share, comment on and +1 posts from those who weren’t already followers. Google hasn’t made the change official, but it is promising a feature that’s ultimately complementary: Pages should get their own analytics for demographics and social activity in the “coming weeks,” giving owners an idea as to who they’re attracting. While we hope that the loosened restrictions don’t lead to unwanted conversations in our feeds, they’re undoubtedly valuable to companies that just want to share good news or offer a helping hand.

Filed under: Internet, Google

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Talking Moose Media (Google+), Google+ for Business

While this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, today Google put to rest any lingering doubts about keeping Snapseed alive and well. After acquiring Nik Software last September, Google’s just launched Snapseed for Android and refreshed the existing iOS app. The Android version features seamless Google+ integration (complete with support for Instant Upload) and the iOS version gains a few additional filters. Better yet, the app is now completely free on both platforms (it was $4.99 in the App Store).

If you’re not familiar with Snapseed, it’s an incredibly powerful yet easy-to-use photo editor based on Nik Software’s award-winning professional-grade imaging tools. The app provides a super-intuitive gesture-based UI to capture, tweak, enhance and share pictures. As such, it’s more advanced than Instagram, but far simpler than Photoshop Touch. It’s available for phones, tablets, Macs and PCs (no word from Google on whether the desktop version was also updated).

We spent some time with Snapseed for Android yesterday and it looks and feels pretty much identical to the iOS version — the user experience is just as polished and responsive. In the main screen, you’ll find a new button which lets you post an image directly to Google+ via the same UI as the the Google+ app. There’s a separate button to save pictures to the gallery (this also sends photos to Google+ if you’ve enabled Instant Upload in the Google+ app). Want more info? Peek at our IRL post and the galleries below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google

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Source: Snapseed, iTunes (App Store), Google Play

YouTube asks nicely if you would like to post comments using your Google+ name, and now a similar change has quietly made it to the Play Store. When we say similar, we mean in this case, you’re forced into revealing your true identity from now on — at least when you’re accessing Google’s virtual marketplace from a browser. We’d guess that linking ratings and reviews to your account ties in with the enhanced Google+ integration recently added to the app, and will serve to provide better download recommendations based on your profile and friends. The requirement, however, has not yet been implemented in the app, so if you’ve been meaning to leave a few damning reviews, this loophole is your last chance to do so anonymously.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Google

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Via: Android Central

Source: Google Play Store

Next to an in-person demo, social networking is arguably the most common way to learn about apps through unofficial sources. It’s only natural, then, that Google streamline the whole process of sharing Android apps in Google+. Include a link to a release in the Google Play Store with a Google+ post and the page now generates a clickable title card that installs the app right after choosing a target device. While the gesture doesn’t extend to +1 votes, it’s more than enough to give Android fans an easy and trustworthy way of spreading love for a favorite app. Or, at least, some shameless self-promotion.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Google

Google+ auto-embeds Android app install links to spur curious downloaders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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