MELANCHOLY404 TECHNOLOGY

Sharing any type of content within a group can be quite a pain sometimes and many times, issues go unresolved and content gets inadvertently ignored due to the nature of the group dynamic. This is ironic since one of the points of being in a group and using apps for groups is to be more effective. Any tool that can make this process easier is welcome.

Google Spaces, announced on May 16th, 2016 represents Google’s effort at improving the small group dynamic. With Spaces, you can easily locate the content you wish to share from directly within the app and share it with the people in your Spaces.
But why should you try Spaces over other services that allow for group sharing? Let’s explore this.

1. Easily Share Content

Google Spaces makes it quite easy to share content with your group.





You don’t need to worry about copy and pasting links to media that you want to share. The app has a built-in browser as well as YouTube built right in, which means that content can be shared from right within the app without too much effort.

Images from your gallery can be used to make posts and there is always the option of making a simple text post.

2. Interactive Nature

Ok, you can easily share content but what about feedback from persons who your Space is shared with? Well, each post made in a space allows for an interactive chat between persons in the Space.

The interface for commenting on posts is identical to a typical chat interface. Also, a snapshot of the post is always visible at the top of a discussion which helps to keep things focused.

3. Keep Track of Activity Easily

In a group setting, things can move fairly quickly at times and it may be difficult to keep up with what’s going on. Luckily Spaces’ Activity tab highlights recent activity. This way, users don’t have to wonder what they missed.

This feature also aids in the locating of content.

4. Easily Find Posts With Search

As you continue to make posts, it will become increasingly difficult to find older content. The search feature of Spaces allows for you to carry out a search across all of your Spaces. You are not limited to just searching within one space at a time.

Conclusion

The features of Spaces combine to give the app a more casual feel. This app is not particularly geared towards business users but would probably be more suitable for a group of persons who share a hobby.
Posts can be created quickly and feedback can be clearly communicated. Spaces streamlines the group sharing dynamic quite well.
Although there has been some talk that Spaces is just a rehash of Google+ Communities, this is not necessarily the case. Google+ doesn’t have the personal appeal of a Space. A Community is better suited for providing information to a more general audience while a Space is suited to a more closely knit group of persons.

It will be interesting to see how this app is accepted across the board and if it survives in the long run or is eventually banished to the scrap heap despite its potential. We shall see.

Soundhound is a service that makes it easy to figure out what song is playing. The company has recently ventured into the virtual assistant realm. The new Hound app for Android and iPhone has some great features. The app won’t dethrone Siri or Google Now on most mobile devices.

What Does Hound Do?

Hound is supposed to answer voice queries for both simple and complex information. During the walkthrough they give a few examples:

• What’s the temperature?
• How about tomorrow morning in Austin, Texas?
• How about two months from now?

Each question builds on the last. Hound knows you meant the temperature in the second query. In the third query, Hound knows you meant Austin and temperature and gives the average temperature.
In another example, you can ask Hound “Find me coffee shops with Wi-Fi nearby” then ask which ones are open and have Wi-Fi. No need to repeat what you are looking for.
Hound also lets you book an Uber directly from the app and even estimates fares. Fare estimates aren’t easy to find in the Uber app and it doesn’t take voice commands.

Most of the other features in Hound are also in Siri and Now. Of course, since SoundHound makes Hound, it recognizes music just fine. It won’t take you to the iTunes or Google Play store to buy the song. I asked it after it recognized the song “Bad Romance” to “Tell me the lyrics.” Hound said the song doesn’t have lyrics. Bad dog.

What Hound Can’t Do?

Because Hound is an app, you can’t start it with one swipe or a click of the home button. You’ll need to be in the app. That decreases the app’s usefulness dramatically. If you switch apps, you lose your assistant. One of the key selling features of Siri or Google Now is they are accessible everywhere and across apps.
Hound also can’t interact with most other apps. You can’t change settings or look up information from other apps. For example, it can’t check your email. On the iPhone or Android phone, if you ask Hound to call someone it will dial. If you try to text, though, it opens up the messaging app but doesn’t send the text on the iPhone. The Android version doesn’t have that limitation.

Where Hound Excels Compared to Siri and Google Now

When I asked Siri about the temperature, it got that right. Siri didn’t understand when I asked about tomorrow morning in Austin Texas. It thought I was looking for stores by that name.

Google Now understood the second question I asked, but didn’t vocalize the results. Not bad. Google Now didn’t catch my question “two months from now?” related to the weather. Neither Google nor Siri understood a question about coffee shops nearby with free Wi-Fi.
Another area Hound does well is translations. When I ask Siri “How do you say Hello in Hebrew?” it transfers me to Wolfram and spells out the word Hello using Hebrew letters. Google Now does better. Hound, however, got the word correct and pronounced it for me, but only on the iPhone. Hound didn’t give me that option on Android. Best of all, Hound got the pronunciation correct. When I followed up with “How do you say very good hound,” Hound knew I meant a Hebrew translation and again got it correct. Good dog indeed.

Best Use Case for Hound

I’ll stick with my built-in assistants for most functions. They’re already there and can answer a quick question. When I’m looking for deeper analysis or just a quick ride from Uber, I’ll go take Hound out for a walk. Hopefully, Soundhound will teach this dog new tricks in the future, so might as well keep it on your mobile device.

Google Keep and Google Docs at face value have very similar intentions. The two services aim to collect what you need to document in some way. Google Keep does this in a very informal way with a UI similar to a sticky note board, while Google Docs is more a full-fledged word processor.
Sometimes, you might get started jotting something down in Google Keep and find that it’s probably better suited in the format of a longer document. Perhaps for organizational or backup purposes you just want to keep extra copies of your Google Keep stuff in Docs. Either way, check out this quick trick for transferring notes from Google Keep over to Google Docs whether you’re on web or mobile.

Transferring Notes on the Web

To transfer your notes from Google Keep to Google Docs on the web, first visit the Google Keep website. Either create a new note by clicking Add note or hover over an existing note you have underneath.

Menu options will appear when you hover over a note. Click the three vertical dots and here you’ll find Copy to Google Doc. Click this.

The note will copy quickly and then at the bottom of the screen you should see a message stating a successful copy was made. To open it in Google Docs, click Open.



Sure enough, you should see that the note is now in your Google Docs library with arguably a higher degree of professionalism and customization tools as well.

Transferring Notes on Mobile

To transfer a note from Google Keep to Google Docs on your smartphone, download the Google Keep app for iOS (which finally exists) or Android. The Google Docs app isn’t necessary. Log in with your Google account to bring up your notes.
  
Select the note you want to copy to Google Docs and on the top right, tap the vertical three dots. The menu option may not come up right away, but if you scroll all the way to the bottom you’ll see Copy to Google Docs.
  
Tap that and wait a few seconds. Then click Open to see the document.