When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money.
That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.
Google launched Google+ Pages to allow companies and brands to connect with their customers. Danny Sullivan (SearchEngineLand) wrote a thorough overview. You can create a new Google+ page here.
This is the introductory video from Google:
Many people were excited about this announcement, but there were some critics. Some common complaints were:
It’s not designed for large companies who have multiple people managing the account (Robert Scoble)
It’s too easy to claim a brand that isn’t yours (ITWorld)
My take? Hopefully the Google+ team is listening closely and will address these issues in the near future.
If you’re looking for companies & brands to circle on Google+, just type in “+” followed by the brand name in the Google+ search box. Here are some brands that I’ve circled: Google+, This Week In Tech (TWiT), TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, NPR, NPR Fresh Air, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, WIRED, San Francisco Giants.
Other Tech News This Week
Zynga is planning an IPO after Thanksgiving (Bloomberg)
Yelp is rumored to be planning an IPO in early 2012 (WSJ)
Salesforce launches a new collaboration platform called Do.com. Currently invitation-only (ReadWriteWeb)
Amazon announced more apps for the Kindle Fire (VentureBeat)
Is Google launching Google Music next week? (The Verge)
Bank Simple rebrands as Simple, opens beta (VentureBeat)
Apple release iOS 5.0.1 to fix issues with battery life but the issue still persists (All Things D)
Rock Health is a new seed accelerator for health startups. It’s like a Y Combinator for healthcare. This is how they describe their program on their About page:
Do you have an idea or startup that’s working to solve a health-related issue? Apply to join Rock Health, a group of dedicated individuals working to catalyze innovation in the interactive health space, and gain to access our unrivaled community of experts and seed-accelerator program. Startups partake in an intensive 5-month program, turning ideas into products and businesses. Our next class will begin in January 2012.
A few of days ago, their class of 2011 presented at Rock Health’s first “Demo Day” in San Francisco. I didn’t attend the event but I was able to follow some of it on Twitter by searching the #rockdemo hashtag. Many of these companies are still early stage and haven’t publicly launched their products yet.
Tagline: Parenting is tough! Whether you’re facing a fever or potty training, WeSprout helps you make great decisions. We safely monitor your child’s health records and give you access to resources, useful data, and a community of parents who’ve been there before.
Tagline: CellScope uses patent-pending optical attachments to turn smartphones into a diagnostic-quality imaging systems for telemedicine, skincare and education.
