Google Buzz

[Alyianna]

Also... just to add... if you turn the gps off on your Droid before you post a Buzz from the maps... my location isn't exact... seems to be a couple miles off... perhaps locating me where the tower I am accessing is. I Buzz with gps on when out and about... I turn it off when posting from home so my home location is never out there.

 

[radikal]

ive been buzzing like crazy.. i dont care, you want me come get me.. lol

exactly! i have done no one any wrong! come get me. i am not a small person. haha

 

[johnlgalt]

It also helps to use an alias along with a fill alias email account.

For example, my *real* name isn't John Galt....not anywhere close, actually....

If I need a modicum of privacy, I simply use my alias (like I do on forums, when I am not sure who or what may access my info at any given time). I have a corresponding Google account, including all of the features that come with that (all the Labs, a Calendar, Mail, Reader, etc.) and there are (to my knowledge) no real links between this alias and my real name, and I prefer it that way.

However, my phone is integrated with the "real" me, so in that respect, you can also easily come and get me - but if I didn't want to be found, I suppose I wouldn't be running a public business, now would I?

 

[sghere]

Honestly...I think it's a little creepy. I used it a couple times and had people from other States comment on them...was a little weird. This was before all the privacy changes.

 

[BiGMERF]

I am not worried.. i like it. I buzzed My movements as I drove to Florida from Connecticut this past Thursday. I enjoyed doing it. Gonna do it on my way back too

 

[tjreishus]

When I first started doing it when it came out, it was sending all the buzz's from the people I was following to my gmail inbox. This is what I wanted it to do. Now it doesn't do it anymore. Several of my friends that I am following buzzed, but I never received them. I had to go to my buzz page to see what they said. I want to receive all buzz's from the people I am following in my gmail inbox. I also set up my wife with buzz. She is following me, but she also does not get my buzz's in gmail when I post them. Any idea why?

 

[TharOosta]

Is anyone else having problems posting on a friends status through Google maps app? And is there a good buzz app besides internet bookmark? Thanks.

 

[johnlgalt]

Yeah, there is now one that is a V1 by James Baker. It seems decent....

 

[SteveC]

If you are silly enough to want to put any information about you out in the public domain, that is certainly your call. However, Google evidently signed up all 37 million gmail users automatically. They didn't ask, they just did it.

EPIC: Google may have broken wiretap law - The Red Tape Chronicles - msnbc.com

Nothing could have pissed me off any more than if this is true.

 

[tjreishus]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... Silly enough? There are plenty of people who benefited greatly from this. All business owners with G-mail accounts suddenly get a lot more exposure than they did. I understand the fact that they should have asked so that you had the option, but to make a generalized statement that anyone who would do this is "Silly"? That's just plain silly

 

[SteveC]

There are plenty of people who benefited greatly from this. All business owners with G-mail accounts suddenly get a lot more exposure than they did. I understand the fact that they should have asked so that you had the option, but to make a generalized statement that anyone who would do this is "Silly"? That's just plain silly

Yes there are legitimate uses. Fine. But it is not at all silly for Google to have hauled all 37 million gmail users into Buzz, without asking or clearly giving opt out options. Do you really suppose all those who benefited (as you call it) actually wanted that kind of benefit? If they did, fine. Who the hell is Google to drag all 37 million users, without consent into this? You are the silly one if you don't get that simple point. That is stupidity on Google's part that beggars belief.

Realize too, that just because the social networking is useful for a lot of people, that there are a lot of people who view it all as a little silly. Point is to use it or not, at your personal choice.

 

[tjreishus]

If you are silly enough to want to put any information about you out in the public domain, that is certainly your call.

I'm talking about this part of what you said. You are claiming that if you want to put out your information to the public, you are silly. I'm saying thats a rediculous statement. Everything else, I agree with. Thay should have asked! You should have the option! all of that, yes I agree. You do have to admit that having it out there could benefit some. Not all, but some.

 

[barry99705]

If you don't want your info public don't put it on the web. Period. If your info is on a server somewhere "out there" the potential for it to become public is there. All you have to do is watch the news, you'll see something about some company losing a laptop with it's customer database on it, or some site got hacked and it's user accounts were made public. Google didn't intend for the buzz account info becoming public, it was a goof on their part, they've said so and publicly apologized. Didn't facebook do something similar recently? My wife is still emailing her friends telling them their phone numbers are public on fb.

If you are silly enough to want to put any information about you out in the public domain, that is certainly your call. However, Google evidently signed up all 37 million gmail users automatically. They didn't ask, they just did it.

EPIC: Google may have broken wiretap law - The Red Tape Chronicles - msnbc.com

Nothing could have pissed me off any more than if this is true.

Then the users should have actually read the Google terms of service. They didn't have to ask.

12.1 The Software which you use may automatically download and install updates from time to time from Google. These updates are designed to improve, enhance and further develop the Services and may take the form of bug fixes, enhanced functions, new software modules and completely new versions. You agree to receive such updates (and permit Google to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the Services.

 

[crankerchick]

I'm talking about this part of what you said. You are claiming that if you want to put out your information to the public, you are silly.

Indeed that is what was said and quoted below:

If you are silly enough to want to put any information about you out in the public domain, that is certainly your call.

You basically just called people silly for participating in online activities that put information in the public doman. It's honestly just as out-of-line and presumptious as what you are speaking out against.

We really need to think about how we phrase things sometimes, because it's not just how we say things, but what we actually say.

Despite my mostly non-existent concerns of privacy, I am still annoyed that Google basically pulled everyone in to buzz. My screen when it first launched was showing that I had sent requests to basically anyone I've ever communicated with via gmail, so for example I had requests sent to developers of apps that I have emailed. That is annoying to me.

I think they handled the rollout wrong, but that's just my $0.05 (inflation man).

There are a lot of privacy concerns regarding Buzz right now and a few of them are genuinely justified. Think of the people roped into Buzz who don't even know what Buzz is.

 

[PittCaleb]

So I'm not into the fragmenting of the tweeting space - I already have to decide if I'm going to FB Status or Tweet, now I also have to decide who is reading my Buzz's and what I should put there - and if the same on all, then why 3 different ones?

That said, what I like is the location-aware possiblities of Buzz built right in. I can search those near my house who have Buzzed or while out, see what's Buzzing nearby. When i do this from home, it knows exactly where I am wrt finding nearby Buzzes.

So when I went sled riding the other day with the boys, I thought I'd Buzz that I was sledding and it would note my exact location so my friends would know not just that i was sledding, but exactly where, so they could join me. Even if not this time, this is how this would be cool.

I don't know why, i used the GPS to nav to the hill, but using the web interface, it could not or would not locate me whatsoever.

So... using a Droid, what is your experience with Buzzing and having your location annotated?

PittCaleb

 

[Amaroth]

I don't like using it anymore because all my buzzes get emailed to my mom and sister and then they comment on my buzzes and its like wtf go away

 

[alnova1]

I don't like using it anymore because all my buzzes get emailed to my mom and sister and then they comment on my buzzes and its like wtf go away

Take them off your buzz list. I'm still undecided but its kinda neat. As everyone knows it will change over time.

 

[nestrapez]

Simple solution, Dont buzz from your home.

 

[Amaroth]

I don't even live with them. I live in a different state. The thing is I have a blogger site that is linked to google or whatever and they follow me on there. But its just all liknked through google so whenever I update my buzz I geuss they can see it. I mean cfan u block people from fowllowing your google account? I'm sorry for typos but I'm posting this on my droid and the thing takes so long to show what I'm typing

 

[radikal]

i am so not worried about this, i geotag with my twidroid too! this is a non issue really, for me, i can see how some would hate it! i know like, there are podcast people who don't want to be chatted up or there where abouts shown! i am not worried though

 

[johnlgalt]

Not really worried here either. Although, I saw something that made me stop for a second,... and then be very very glad I haven't officially joined foursquare...

Please Rob Me Makes Foursquare Super Useful For Burglars

 

[TharOosta]

Google Buzz has a lot of work to do, to compete against myfacetwit. And they know they have to step it up, which I respect. Is anybody having problems posting on anothers buzz? It says failed to comment on buzz or something. Any1?

 

[PittCaleb]

i am so not worried about this, i geotag with my twidroid too!

I tried setting this up, but it obviously doesn't work for me. Any hints? Pro only feature?

PittCaleb

 

[crankerchick]

One thing that bothered me is this:

Last night I buzzed from the Map app to try it out. My address with my full name is already on the internet for anyone who wants to know, so that isn't what bothered me.

What bothered me is when I buzzed, the buzz showed up just listing a city and a zipcode. I allowed it use My Location on purpose, and would have been fine with it doing so for that buzz, so I could see.

The problem is when I looked at the buzz online from the desktop this morning, it did indeed have the full address.

What's the deal with that?

It's kind of not ok for a person who doesn't want their exact location known, to think their location isn't being provided, only to find out later that it was.

If you use the mobile website you can choose no location, but it appears to me on the Map app that you can not. You can choose a different location, but you can't choose no location.

While some don't care about their location being know, I can see the argument for wanting to not make it known. An obvious reason is if someone wants to rob you, and you buzz from somewhere across town, well you obviously aren't at home!

 

[johnlgalt]

That idea is already being used with FourSquare and Titter...even has its own website....

Google will fix this without too much rancor - they issued a fix within 5 days of release when it was obvious that the privacy / block feature simply was not working....