Google+ adding lots of features, opening for all comers
Been lusting after that new social network feeling? Absolutely dying to cajole your friends to join up to a new site all over again? Yeah, us neither. But at least now you can, because Google+ has reached the hallowed (and often neverending) beta status, meaning anyone can sign up without needing an invite.
El Goog is also looking to sweeten the deal with some nifty new functions; their group video chat ‘Hangouts’ are now available on Android phones running Gingerbread with an update to the iOS app in the works too. Of course, on a 3G connection multiple videochat feeds might be a bit of a problem, and there is a connection speed barrier put up by Google to ensure either a good experience with the feature or none at all. On top of other improvements like including Google Docs in the Hangout feature, the search company has finally implemented a search solution for its social network, allowing you to navigate its users with a bit more ease. Finally, Google is releasing some of the Hangout API’s, allowing third party developers to get in on the web based video chat fun and integrate the services into their own projects.
It’s clear that Google+ is still in a teething stage, fleshing out functionality that you’d expect to be there given the feature set, but with the public opening of the social network, perhaps the growing pains can be eased with an influx of much needed users. If not, it looks more and more like the search giant will have created yet another social-web island to strand early adopters on.
Source: Google Blog
