I’ve had my G+ account since July 1, and I think I’m figuring out enough to say something cogent. It’s not Facebook or Twitter; it does take a very different approach to sharing. While there are browser extensions that will take your Facebook or Twitter feeds and put them in your G+ stream, you should think of that as a view portal and not an integration. You do not want to cross-post everything from either service to G+. Circles are the power of G+, but it will take more thought from users, both in creating logical circles and in deciding what to post to which circle(s). A “friend” can be in multiple circles, so while the circles are not hierarchical or overlapping in their definition, they can act that way in practice. You can set up circles for project teams, neighbors, friends, hobbies, etc. You can have public content, but that is really more the realm of Twitter or Facebook (quasi-public). For example, you can have neighbors that are friends and neighbors that are not friends and you only post about neighborhood business to them. A very different model, but more demanding of the user.

The other thing that I think is a killer feature is the “hangout”. Like any content shared on G+, it can be targeted to specific circles, or to all of your circles, or made public. It’s a water cooler/break room/hallway/team room/living room/party, depending on how you use it. Audio, video, text chat, and sharing of YouTube media. For work, combine with the collaborative tools of Google Docs, and you’ve got a powerful toolset.

So, will it replace Facebook and Twitter for me? Maybe, but not yet. G+ suffers in the Metcalfe’s law comparison with tools that have hundreds of millions of users. However, I like the concept, and the more I use it, the more I think it could replace the social interactions of those platforms.

It already has one big advantage…no silly apps 😉

i don’t run much, but I still like to get out and run a bit, particularly on summer mornings. Years ago I ran 5 and 10K races, but that was as they say, “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”! I saw a blurb about an app that worked for running training, a so-called “couch to 5K” app, but it was too rigid, plus it really wasn’t what I wanted. I browsed the app store and found one that looked better, and splurged the $2.99 😉 from the $25 iTunes gift card Jason and Jenny gave me for my birthday. It’s called “Log Your Run” and I’m quite impressed. I’ve used it two days to jog thru the neighborhood and along the creek, stopping to throw sticks to Lessa along the way. I’d guessed this at 2 miles, and it measured 1.99 miles each day. The app lets you upload the results to its web site (logyourrun.com) and track your walks/runs. Lots of features & flexibility. It plots your run on a map and does an elevation profile. I am very impressed with the mapping accuracy and elevation profile accuracy. I’ve compared against a topo sheet and its spot on. The combination of GPS and accelerometers seem to work very well in the iPhone 4. I just drop the phone in my shorts and take off with the dog.

Makes me want to run more! That’s worth $2.99! Will take it to the mountains for hiking this weekend and see hoe that works. So far, very nice!

I have been using the personal hotspot feature on my iPhone for about two months now, and it’s one of the “greatest things since sliced bread.” 🙂 I’m sitting in a hotel in Charlotte right now at the Southeast Regional Educause meeting, doing a bit of email and general web surfing. Downstairs the conference provides nice WiFi, but it doesn’t reach the 9th floor. I could go down to the meeting room floor, but it’s much more comfortable to have a desk and a regular chair to sit and type. I fired up the iPhone, opened up the MacBook (and authenticated WPA2), and it’s good to go. Yes, I brought my MacBook instead of just bringing the iPad, since I thought I was going to have to work on some slides, but one of my co-presenters is doing that. The iPad is here, tho, and it a great conference device due to the form factor and battery life…anyway, this post is about the hotspot, and the thing to say about it is that it just works, and gets decent thruput.

We’ve also used the hotspot for traveling to the beach, for getting traffic reports and for general web surfing (by Jan, while I drive!). My iPad is the AT&T 3G iPad1, and I had a data plan since May 1 of 2010, but have dropped that now in favor of the iPhone. There’s not a time when I have my iPad with me and don’t have my iPhone, so it just made sense. I can say that the Verizon iPhone hotspot connectivity is far superior to the AT&T connection on I40 between Chapel Hill and eastern NC. I’d lose 3G in several spots, going to Edge on the iPad, and now with the iPhone and Verizon, solid rockin’ 3G all the way. It’s very empowering to know that you can set up connectivity like this, virtually wherever you want.

I’ve not had more than two devices connected simultaneously, but I don’t anticipate problems going up to the limit of five. Also, I’ve not found the battery consumption to be horrible in hotspot mode. It does go down faster, but no more so than if you have other active data-hungry apps running in the background. The bottom line is a big “thumbs up” from me. Try it on your iPhone or your Droid…it’s a cool feature.

The state of broadband connectivity is the US is pretty weak. When I look at the bandwidth available to folks in Europe and Asia, I wonder about the policy decisions that have gotten us in the non-competitive mess we have. I’m fortunate to have two providers available, Time Warner Roadrunner and AT&T U-Verse. U-Verse has just instituted a 250GB/mo. cap on bandwidth, and while I’m not coming close to that, it’s pretty aggravating to have that in place. I’ve generally been pleased with U-Verse, as the performance is significantly better than what I had with TWC, especially on the upstream bandwidth, and reliability has been good. I’d still like to have what a friend in Jamestown, NC; a DSL connection with 30Mb up and 30Mb down for $70/mo. I have to be satisfied with my 1.5Mb up and 18Mb down…it’s progress, but now what I’d like to see. Upstream bandwidth is critical for things like videoconferencing.

Since the beginning of the year (mid-January) I’ve had a probe from SamKnows measuring my bandwidth. It’s a part of a project with the FCC to help determine if we are getting the bandwidth we’re paying for. I’m pleased to report that it seems that I generally do get good throughput of approximately the metered rate. Here’s my graph for the last week:

Here’s hoping that we all have more competition in the broadband marketplace, and that we can all see our available speeds increase.

Save the Internet! Support Network Neutrality!

Many people think of flyfishing as it’s shown in “A River Runs Through It,” with trout, snow-capped peaks, and improbable demonstrations of casting. In fact, ARRTI is a great flick, and it’s pretty good in its treatment of the sport, as well as being a good story. But I digress…flyfishing is something that’s at home in many different locales from the coast to the mountains and all points in between. Yesterday I met friend, fellow scouter and expert flyfisherman Terry Hackett to fish a couple stretches of the Eno River in Orange County, NC.

The Eno is a warmwater stream that’s a part of the Neuse River drainage. As such, it’s home to a wide variety of sunfish, largemouth bass, and Roanoke Bass. The latter, Roanoke Bass, were the target quarry for the day.

The Eno tumbles through the piedmont on its way to meet the Little and Flat Rivers to form the Neuse, and is characterized by small rapids and riffles interspersed with slow, languid pools. One of the nice things is that miles of the Eno are accessible through the Eno River State Park. Created in 1975 and expanded since to encompass both more river miles and adjoining lands, the park provides a wonderful oasis from the bustle of life in the Research Triangle area.

I met Terry at his house at 9:30, after a quick stop to buy insect repellent. It’s always nice to fish at a civilized hour. It’s tick season, and we’d be crashing through a lot of brush, and that DEET would come in handy. We drove to a nearby park access and hiked to the river. Each of us carried a 5wt since we’d want to throw weighted flies. Terry had recently caught a few very nice Roanoke Bass, so I was really looking forward to this.

The stream was a bit high and slightly off-color due to recent rains. Standing in knee-deep water, I could see where my bare leg met the wool socks in my wading shoes, but that was about it. We worked one of Terry’s favorite spots but it was slow. I caught a couple of hand-sized sunfish on an olive bead-eye bugger (with a pair of rubber legs tied in an “X” on the back). We worked downstream, catching an occasional sunfish. It was a magnificent day, with temps rising slowly toward 70F, blue sky, and the drone of cicadas in the distance. We knew it was slow when I tossed a cicada in a pool and it fluttered, uneaten, for 50 yards down a pool 🙂 . We decided to go to another area, but walked upstream to the first pool to give it another try before leaving. Terry caught a redhorse sucker, and then a nice Roanoke Bass!

We drove through through the Eno valley to our second destination. Beautiful, rocky pools. I just knew I’d hook that Roanoke Bass. But, while I caught several sunfish, no bass for me, as my bass mojo let me down. Terry picked up a few more bass, and we decided it was time to pack it in. I picked several good tips from Terry on Roanoke Bass; always good to learn at the feet of the master!

A great day, and it reminded me of why I like to fish the Eno. It’s convenient and a lot of fun. I’m going to make sure I spend some more time there this summer.

I saw a sign of the technology times today, the passing of era. Columbia University will no longer maintain the Kermit program suite. Frankly, I’m surprised that they actually were supporting it, but now that I know it’s being dropped, it’s time for a moment of reflection. I have a warm place in my heart for Kermit.

In the mid 1980’s I was working at UNC-Chapel Hill, and we deployed several hundred Convergent Technologies workstations for office automation functions. This was before the PC and Ethernet won in the marketplace, and the CTOS operating system from Convergent had a true multi-user networked environment that was easy to use and very capable. We did a lot of good work around campus with these computers, both with the native apps and by developing custom code. I wrote, for example, an “instant messaging” program with pop-up alerts that was quite popular.

A challenge, however, was getting data from other systems onto these workstations. I looked around at options, but didn’t have a good tool. Then, I found C-Kermit. It worked on most every system in the world except CTOS. I downloaded the distribution (circuitously!) and started to geek out some code. I rewrote the comm line (modem) I/O, disk I/O, screen I/O, and damned if it didn’t work!

I told the folks at Columbia, and it became an official distribution. I sent copies to folks all around the world, and was surprised at the interest! I guess that was my 15 minutes of Internet fame. Anyway, I look at the formal passing of Kermit with a twinge of sadness…that was back in the day when I wrote code instead of going to meetings 😉

A quick shout out for iOS 4.3. I’ve upgraded my iPad now (my Verizon iPhone doesn’t yet have 4.3 available. One of the best features for me will be the speed improvement in the browser. So far, it does seem noticeably snappier. I’m a big fan of AirPlay, and there are several improvements there I’m looking forward to trying. Personal hotspot doesn’t excite me, but I’m sure it will be very useful to some folks. For a good summary, see this link from Network World.