The Order of the Spork

"The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) is a community of federal employees dedicated to the idea that citizens deserve clear communications from government. We first developed this document in the mid-90s. We continue to revise it every few years to provide updated advice on clear communication. We hope you find this document useful, and that it helps you improve your writing"

Google Docs adds support for Fusion Tables and format painter and allows for click and drag of an image from the desktop to the drawing app. 

Impress your friends by typing jibberish code just like they do in the movies!

Vint Cert on Innovation

Browsers, mobile, search, local, social and enterprise

32 minute interview with the two key leaders of Google+

Google hopes that its slow rollout will encourage a steady momentum, and in the early stages Google+ will provide enough value to keep the early adopters engaged, and that it will motivate them to invite their contacts. No one expects an instant success. But even if this week's launch evokes snark or yawns, Google will keep at it. Google+ is not a product like Buzz or Wave where the company's leaders can chalk off a failure to laudable ambition and then move on. "We're in this for the long run," says Ben-Yair. "This isn't like an experiment. We're betting on this, so if obstacles arise, we'll adapt." "I don't really see what Google's alternative is," says Smarr. "People are going to be a fundamental layer of the internet. There's no going back."

What side of the equation do you want to be on? 

Good descriptions for visualizing what a zettabyte is.

Ross Mayfield provides a clear tutorial on circles in 17 slides.  

Nifty HTML5 app for creating online slideshow

Overview of the many features in Google+.  Circles, Huddles, Sparks, Hangouts and more.  

At least it does if you live in one of the six cities Google has so far partnered with. Boston, Portland, San Diego, and San Francisco, as well as Madrid and Turin across the pond, have all worked with Google to include a real-time schedule of their public transit systems in the latest version of Google Maps. 

Google's fourth and most ambitious attempt at social networking has set Silicon Valley abuzz, with membership soaring past 10 million people in just three weeks. Vic Gundotra and Bradley Horowitz, the two executives in charge of Google+, said in an extended interview that they closely studied Google's previous failures with Orkut, Wave and Buzz to find a better approach. They also found a close-knit team of engineers and designers willing to take a risk.

A site that pretailors a search to only run against the public stream of Google+

What google is doing about phishing

a new service that is trying to bridge the world of Google+ and Twitter by watching your public profile for + posts with #p2t in them.  It will then cross post them to Twitter. In invite-only as of July 10. 

Google's business customers, specifically users of Google Apps, have to wait a bit longer to try Google+. The Google Profiles service, a required component of Google+, has not been compatible with Google Apps for several months. Google engineers are working to remedy the situation but there are significant hurdles to overcome

iOS and Android are the only smartphone platforms that are growing. Android smartphones saw their marketshare increase to 38.1% (5.1% increase) and Apple increased to 26.6% (1.4%).