Google Hangouts App

Over the last few days, Google has been announcing a number of new services and enhancements to their offerings.  One of these enhancements we are excited about is the new Google Hangouts app. Google Hangouts themselves are not new, and chances are you have seen or used them before, but until this week, accessing this service on your mobile device was not very convenient. With this new stand alone app, it looks like the bar has been raised for chat services. As an Android user, I am particularly excited for this enhancement. Although I do love my Samsung Galaxy 3, the one thing it does not do well, is group chatting. Since the majority of mobile devices out there are still iPhones, whenever I get included on a group chat initiated from an iPhone, it is impossible to follow. All the messages get broken up into separate texts and it turns into a nightmare. I have since remedied this inconvenience by using a 3rd party app known as GroupMe. I admit GroupMe does to a good job when it comes to group texts, but it does not have the ability to sync with the rest of my Google services or offer video chatting, plus the people  you are chatting with need to have this app downloaded on their phone.

You may be asking, what about iChat and Skype? Sure, they have fairly good video chatting capability, but if you have tried all 3, it becomes obvious that Google comes out ahead in categories like ease of use, quality and functionality.

This new Google Hangouts app is going to be like text messaging on steroids. The nice thing about texting is the conversation stays in a continuous stream that never stops. No matter how infrequent you talk to someone, you can pick up the conversation from where you left it last.  Google Hangouts is going to be just like this, however, now you can throw in fun things like pictures, videos, multiple people, Gchat messages, screen sharing, etc.

If I haven't convinced you of how awesome this new app will be, check out this YouTube video from Google:

[youtube=http://youtu.be/XkpjZ7oA_Qg]

-Mike

Breaking Pizza News

Starting today, April 23rd, Pizza Hut is launching an app for Xbox Live that will allow you to order a pizza straight from your Xbox console. This idea is so simple, yet so genius, it is amazing that this service has not already been created. Now, this is not the first alternative ordering method to be introduced, but it is the first time someone can order food straight from their gaming console. Some may be wondering why this is even necessary. It seems very similar to picking up the phone or jumping on Seamless.com to order food. However, if any of you know a true gamer, things like food often come second to getting that high score. From what we've seen so far, we think this new ordering system is an amazing idea considering how huge the gaming community is and how all consumer activities are quickly going digital. We can't wait to see it take off to include many new companies and restaurants.

-Mike

Who Actually Uses Social Media?

If you were asked who uses social media, most people would probably be OK with the answer: everyone! While it may seem like everyone in the world is on social media right now, it can be interesting to actually break down the statistics and take a look. Besides, who doesn't love a good infographic? Most of this information may not shock you, but one stat that surprised us was the By Household Income. According to this research, the lowest income bracket (30K and less) has the greatest percentage of social media users, 71%. This may be counterintuitive due to the fact that most people would assume the more household income, the more digital devices to use social media with.  However, like we posted recently, more people are reported to have mobile phones that toothbrushes these days, regardless of income.  Does lower income cause greater social media user, or does more social media use cause lower income? The 21st century version of which came first,  the chicken or the egg.

-Mike

Bad Breath: A Global Epidemic

Some research reveals that there are 4.8 billion mobile users but only 4.2 billion people with a toothbrush. -Jeff Bullas

So apparently there are 600 millions more people on this earth that own a mobile phone than a toothbrush. That's quite the interesting, albeit scary, fact. At least this means you can call these people rather than speak to them face-to-face, since no one likes morning breath.

-Mike