#GivingTuesday: Google Hangout-a-thon

Black Friday, Cyber Monday....#GivingTuesday?

Google has partnered with Mashable to create the first ever Google+ Hangout-a-thon, where from 9am - 9pm today, you can see different charities present on why they do what they do.

Hear from charities like Charity:Water, Toms, Unicef, Save the Children, Happy Hearts Fund and many more. Google then makes it easy to donate using the Google Donation Shortlist, which you can simply click and go to the donation websites.

If you're like me and have been spending money on Christmas gifts and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, it feels great to give back to someone else and put my money toward those in need.

Check it out here. I promise you, its worth it!

Jennifer Garner presenting on Save the Children 

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HaPpY BiRtHdAy GoOgLe!!!!

Happy 15th birthday, Google! From all of us Google fans out there, you have made our lives easier and more complete.

Keep doing what you do, Google.

In honor of Google's birthday, I have decided to give you a list of my favorite Google easter eggs - that is, fun things you can do with the Google homepage, as well as some Youtube, Google Earth and Google Hangout. Seriously, pull up the Google homepage now and get to searching. You WON'T regret it.

Google Homepage

Google in 1998: In honor of their birthday, Google just came out with the "Google in 1998" easter egg. Just enter those words into the search bar and get a blast from the past.

Google Gravity: Click this link to have your Google world come crashing down: http://www.mrdoob.com/projects/chromeexperiments/google-gravity/

Askew or Tilt: Search "askew" or "tilt" then try really hard not to tilt your head. 

Barrel Roll: Search "do a barrel roll" or "z or r twice", an homage to the video game Star Fox 64.  

Google Interfaces: Google has made different interfaces over the past years. Here's one for pirates, one for the Swedish Chef from the Muppets, one for hackers, and one for those who are more pig latin inclined. 

YouTube 

Beam Me Up, Scotty: Search these words in your YouTube box for an out-of-this-world surprise.

Use The Force, Luke: Enter these words in your search bar to control your screen using the force. 

Ponies or Bronies: If you enter "ponies" or "bronies" in the YouTube search bar, YouTube will not only pull up "My Little Pony" videos, but ponies will come prancing across your screen. Ummm...yes please. 

Google Hangout 

/ponies: If you enter "/ponies" in your chat bar, a pony will run across your Google Hangout. Copy and paste for a whole stream of ponies. OR...

/ponystream: is for if you want a pony stream across your screen and your screen only. 

/shydino: "/shydino" will make a cute dino run across your chat and hide. 

/pitchforks: Like angry mobs? well "/pitchforks" is for you! Enter it in your chat, and an angry mob will run across!  

Google Play 

Unicorns: If you don't enter anything in the search box and click search anyway, Google Play will direct your search results to "unicorns".

What are your favorite Google easter eggs? Let me know! 

I've Been Nodding My Head and Smiling At: Google Plus

Welcome to my new segment called: "I've been Nodding My Head and Smiling At:" where I give you the low-down on things that you will hear regularly, but you may just be nodding and smiling because you have NO IDEA what it is. Google Plus (or G+ as people in the biz call it) just so happens to be one of those things.

Now, we all know that Google is run by aliens that secretly want to take over the world, one part of the internet at a time.What you may not know is the purpose of these Google applications (made by said aliens, respectively), and how you can use them in your daily life.

What Google+ Is

Google+ is Google's social media tool that can be used to chat, promote your business or share interesting articles or news bits. Part online community, part social media and a whole lot of content, Google+ can be managed easily with your existing Google account and you don't have to see your whacked-out high school friend's theories about the upcoming apocalypse strangely mixed with their political beliefs. Breathe the free air, my friend.

A Little Bit of History

Many think that Google+ is Google's answer to Facebook. However, Google had been experimenting with social media before Facebook and even before the social media dinosaur known as MySpace. Under different names, Google has been creating social media buzz (pardon my pun, or click the link to actually get my pun) since 2004. Hipster Google was social media-ing before it was cool.

Marketing Tip

One main difference between Google+ and Facebook is the way that businesses have to market to those on Google+, and gain recognition. Like Facebook, businesses can make pages that fans can then "follow" to read their posts and updates. For instance, here is my company's Google+ page.* As you can see there are two different groups of people. One is "followers" and one is people who have PGi in their "circles". When someone follows a page, they can choose to put the person or business that they are following in a category (Friends, Family, Aquaintences, etc.), or as Google calls it, a "circle". While Facebook marketing measures how many "likes" a page receives  Google reps actually measure how many people put your company in one of their circles  If you have enough people put your business in their circle (Google reps won't tell you how many it takes, but it looks like you have to have 100 or more), then you will get a badge underneath your Google Ads. This badge lets customers know how many people are looking and participating in the content you put on your page, and adds credibility to your company.


I really enjoy Google+ because I love the clarity that comes with a social media site that lets me pick and choose the content that I see. But, if you still have your reservations, always remember: the Google aliens come in peace.

*This post does not reflect the views or opinions of PGi or any of its affiliates 

My Top 10 Coolest New Apps of This Year Thus Far

The idea for this project all started on a mountain weekend with my friends. During breakfast, the more marketing/PR minded of my guests (including myself) started talking shop. We mentioned Mashable, Vine and whether or not Pinterest was a useful marketing tool or not.

We were getting blank stares from the rest of our friends. We ventured into their territory. "How about Facebook making the decision to put video ads on their site? Sucks for college students, amiright?" More blank stares.

Apparently, PR/Marketing = the new kind of nerd. The kind that knows the new technology, can speak HTML and loves to talk about the new apps that make their lives easier.

Or in the case of my Candy Crush Saga addiction, more expensive.

This blog, therefore, is to educate those who aren't using their lunch hours to download the new apps that Mashable and Tech Crunch say is cool. This is for those who don't know hot to get what they need from apps. This is Tech-Know for the Tech-No.

So, in order to start the blog off right, I have decided to choose the 10 Coolest New Apps of This Year Thus Far. Long title, but I had to get specific lest someone leave an angry comment. I'm a sensitive little duck. Note that this is personal opinion, but these are the apps that I use in my work, play and every day.

10 Coolest New Apps of This Year Thus Far:

1. Vine

The new kid on the block as far as social media goes, Vine allows you to take 6-second videos you can upload to either Facebook or Twitter that will continuously loop. With Vine coming to Android soon, this will be an app for all those who've ever wanted their Instagram pictures to move.

2. Flipboard

This app MORE than makes up for the death of Google Reader. Choose the sections that you most care about (Art, Science, Politics, Fashion, etc.) and it will start posting relevant articles to your "board" that you can flip through. Use the plus sign in the corner (+) to add content to personal "magazines" that you create to keep your clippings in.


3. PopAGraph

This is seriously one of the coolest picture editing apps out there. "Mask" over the part of the picture that you want to make stand out, then choose from different backgrounds, like sepia or blurry. The part of the picture that you mask will stay in original color, while the rest of the picture stays in original form and color. 

 4. PicMonkey 

This Google Chrome App makes it easier to edit pictures right from your desktop. Drag a picture into the picture editor and add backgrounds, filters, objects, even mustaches to your pictures. Who needs Photoshop when you have mustaches at your fingertips?

5. Glide

Glide is the sort of app that are making your message carrier nervous. This "video walkie talkie" app allows you to send videos back and forth between your friends. It's a TechCrunch Disrupt Finalist this year at the annual TechCrunch conference in New York City and was an early crowd favorite.

6. Evernote Apps

Evernote has come out with so many great apps lately, they make it almost impossible not to be productive. ALMOST. Download these on your Google Homepage, your Android or your Apple device. Seriously, Evernote is EVERYWHERE.

• Everclip: Allows you to copy text and images from any other app on your phone, organize them, and then send them off to your Evernote account.
• Evernote Hello: Take a picture with your phone of a business card that you want to add to your contacts, and Evernote Hello will upload the information from the card to your phone's address book. It will also schedule meetings for you and connects to LinkedIn so that you can add that person to your connections. If anyone near you also has the app, it will allow you to automatically upload their information as well. So handy!
• Evernote Food: With so many great restaurants where I live, I find myself always saying "yeah, it's the one restaurant...with the trendy decor...I had a really great chicken dish there...." and its never helpful. This app allows you to bookmark restaurants, as well as recipes that you can search through via the "Explore Recipes" section. You can even add your own recipes to "My Meals" and it will save it all to your Evernote account to have wherever you go.
• Skitch: Skitch allows you to mark up any document, including PDFs on any smart phone or tablet device. Super useful much? 

7. Seesaw

Seesaw lets you ask the masses their opinion on a topic of your choice. Upload two pictures to compare to each other, or ask a yes or no question, and let people make their choice.

8. Knotch

 Another place to share your opinion (and who doesn't like to do that?), Knotch allows you to rate things based on hot or cold. You scale things according to color, red shades being hot, blue shades being cold, and comment on the topic of your choice. It may sound basic, but it is highly addicting.

9. Ness

This app is for the foodies out there. Ness starts by your location and asks you to rate some restaurants in your area. It then starts recommending restaurants based on your likes, and will even calculate how likely it is that you will like a certain restaurant. The more you use the app and rate places, the more accurate it is. It's like it KNOWS.

10. Yahoo! Weather

Although this app is sort of reinventing the wheel, I now use this instead of the standard weather app that came with my iPhone. Beautiful pictures that correspond with the city whose weather you are looking at are the background to this app that, when you scroll down, will tell you everything from the weekly weather forecast to when the sun is going to set to what moon will be out tonight. But did I mention the background pictures? Because they are GORGEOUS.


Honorable Mentions: 

• Hello Cupcake App 

I'm sorry, this app is all about how to make amazing looking cupcakes, complete with stop-motion videos and easy how-tos. Your argument is invalid.

• Phoster

Ever wanted to turn your pictures into super trendy posters? Today's your lucky day. Phoster has pre-made templates of posters that just need you to upload your photos, and add the text you need. Instant hipster artist appeal.

• Takes

This is a photo app that allows you to take snapshots and turn them into videos. It's really a great app, I just never remember to go into the app to take my pictures, and I can't get it to sync to my photo album. Maybe I'm just derpy.


What do you think about these apps? What are some other new apps that you use everyday?