A good way to keep up with changes in the Ads/Sales part of the org is via go/saleshub -- click the gear icon and enable 'Receive SalesBulletin'

This week contained a comprehensive overview of all the upcoming features.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1z5_z3IgiOqwA75uj5Y-LhvNO__SIQmlGpbnXBPiczMs/edit

#googplus

This is a key insight from Nathan Schneider.

We should also ask ourselves "How do we make Google's hardware, software and services more Accountable." (and also find a metric that describes this...)

We should care less about whether something is centralized or decentralized than whether it is accountable. An accountable system is responsive to both the common good for participants and the needs of minorities; it sets consistent rules and can change them when they don’t meet users’ needs.

https://hackernoon.com/decentralizing-everything-never-seems-to-work-2bb0461bd168

#googplus

I've been involved with a number of turndowns, Buzz (1st time, and then the double-tap project). Orkut, Hangouts on Air, Google+ Stories, +1s on the web and more. As stewards of user data I would like to propose that we do something different this time.

While we can't keep the service active we can at least do something useful with the output and give back agency to the users that created the data. So here's my proposal.

1) Create the Plus Cooperative(*), owned by the users of Google+. Each post you made prior to a cutoff date gets you one share in the new entity. Decisions are one-user, one-vote.
2) Transfer the plus.google.com domain over to this new entity or redirect to a new plus.coop domain. Generate a static dump of the public** contents and transfer that to new infrastructure run by the Plus Cooperative. In addition Google provides a full dump to the Internet Archive.
3) Google funds the organization for at minimum 10 years off a one time grant.
4) Google publishes a set of identifiers/claims that would allow a user to gain access to the public data in question. The user could choose to remove data from the plus.coop domain or add their own redirect (a super idea suggested by +104122652599862501408)
5) The Plus Coop would be governed by it's user-owners and could choose how to invest in their infrastructure/product. They could create migration tools, publishing tools -- they could even revive the service starting with the seed data.

To me this is full-on "Respect the Opportunity". There are enough passionate users out there to keep the spark of G+ going; let's not get in their way.

And let's not 404 8 years of cultural history.

* There was an attempt to transform twitter into a Co-op, so this idea is not really my own.
** We could conceivably export private data if it was suitably encrypted and a user could claim it at a later point. But that's very much a stretch goal.
*** I also think that all products should buy Bonds that would fund a similar data preservation effort upon failure/cancellation.

cc: +110664632946820915121 / +115753604102260948135 / +101587921131889992978 / +110940801340246898787 / +115283013747081617765

#googplus

There's a lot that I'd like to share about recent Google+ developments, but.. cannot.. due to... reasons..

What I can do is reaffirm my faith in the team that is now running Google+. They are are smart, determined and working with a limited set of resources towards a crazy ambitious goal to improve workplace communications.

Now if I was someone like Vic I'd trot out some parable about the arch-angel Gabriel or Buffalo facing the wind... But that's not me. So I'm going to give you a few lines of the ever inspirational I Still Believe byThe Call.

If you see or work with the G+ team tell them you still believe. In their Mission; in their Work; and in the Impact they can make on the world.

But I still believe
I still believe
Through the shame
And through the grief
Through the heartache
Through the tears
Through the waiting
Through the years
For people like us
In places like this
We need all the hope
That we can get
I still believe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWhDbkTmJHA

#googplus

Gave a talk about Perkeep at the Decentralized Web conference this week. Very happy that I was finally able to re-use my "confused developer" slide from OpenSocial in a new way...

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1r3hENcuI4E5uR3kFOh4eKAlm91g75sthatOZrgp2c3c/edit?usp=sharing

#googplus

*The Fourth Age of Google+*

There’s a new Google+ on the way. It’s led by new energetic people that are creating *the* Premier Enterprise collaboration system for GSuite customers. It’s my trust in these strong, capable leaders that now allows me to fade and transition to something new.

After almost 8 years working on Google+ I've decided to tackle a new role on the combined Arcs and Cerebra team in SFO. This move returns me to my roots of building open ecosystems using protocols, open source, and sovereign user data. It's an area I've always been passionate about -- working on federated es-protocols was one of the reasons I joined Google in the first place. The move to SFO also allows me to be a more effective caregiver for my family.
While tackling new technical challenges on Arcs I will continue to work on a number of critical privacy and infrastructure needs for Google+. So you’ll still see me in SVL from time-to-time as I continue my quest to slay the Oz Binary.

And finally, thank you to everyone (there are too many to name) who has helped me learn, lead and develop products that improve people's lives. I am grateful and humbled to be working with the best, and confident in the future of both Google+ and Arcs!

[1] https://arcs.googleplex.com
[2] https://cerebra.googleplex.com/
[3] https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wPKmKBKXteFv-FU-18Nctx9C9ptunzIkt4V6i-MfyBw/edit?usp=sharing

*The Right Kind of AI*
Really enjoyed the wide-ranging discussion with Google's own +104315190395846060684 on the Team Human podcast. I'd love to see a TGIF covering these deep topics sometime, and hope there are more Kenrics in our midst.

You also get Douglas Rushkoff's entertaining rant on Facebook. (!)

http://teamhuman.fm/episodes/ep-80-kenric-mcdowell-the-right-kind-of-ai/

#googplus

*Incognito by Default*

Redesign all of our systems to operate without direct access to user data while maintaining quality.

This is my dream after reading https://sites.google.com/corp/google.com/quirk/ and filing data retention plans for the past month....

Ambitious enough?

#googplus

Had a Slacker Shuttle May Day treat.

Here's a Google Shuttle Bus patiently waiting for the ILWU Drill Team and Parade to proceed from the docks to downtown Oakland.

#googplus

Self-redacting your messages on Hangouts Chat? think again....

A message was edited in Hangouts Chat, view the updated message on (https://chat.google.com).

While not strictly social, this did use the underlying Shindig code based used for social gadgets. It also allowed for Cooperating Gadgets in the browser via gadgets.pubsub and distributed Prefs system using gadgets.prefs

In fact one of the use cases was 'add the Google Gadget to your container' so your other gadgets could have enhanced functionality. The only thing missing is a user-owned, portable data store. We're seeing a return to this model in ARCS and Fuchsia.

#googplus

This is good. Read and/or watch it.

http://opentranscripts.org/transcript/programming-forgetting-new-hacker-ethic/

Build systems that forget less. Use that as a metric...

Of course the cybernetician in me wants to say:
- Forgetting is really Variety Attenuation[1]
- The Good Regulator theorem applies [2]. To effectively regulate a system your model needs to be as complex as the system itself.

[[Oh and http://opentranscripts.org is such a great project. It's something that Google could do at scale, especially for educational materials, lectures etc. It also... *increases variety* by making video content more accessible]]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_(cybernetics)
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_regulator

#googplus

oh no, not this again....

https://sites.google.com/a/google.com/moma-news/home/201202/whathappenedwithcpac?pli=1

#googplus

5000 memberships? I thought this was Google?

com.google.apps.framework.request.StatusException: <eye3 title='FAILED_PRECONDITION'/> generic::FAILED_PRECONDITION: User 91363953886 has 5309 total memberships, can not mutate to reach 5310 as that is over the limit of 5000 ;AppErrorCode=9;StartTimeMs=1519173416402;tcp;Deadline(sec)=9.664;ResFormat=UNCOMPRESSED;Originator=corp-loas-proxy;Tag=cidc3;ServerTimeSec=0.365905408;LogBytes=256;Non-FailFast;EndUserCredsRequested;EffSecLevel=none;ReqFormat=UNCOMPRESSED;ReqID=feead50e0dd47f81;GlobalID=d58444c9b3c68ad4;Server=10.2.37.199:4113

#googplus

googlegroups.com == dogfood history

I counted 44 dogfood google groups (!) including these classics:

butterandcream-prod (wha?)
friendsofallen
openbonfire
snickersmocha

Enjoy it while you can, GDPR will probably force the cleanup of all these...

#googplus

Googlers, don't be smug, doesn't look like Google Express supports Food Stamps either..

[And at least Amazon offers discounted Prime membership to people with EBT cards.]

That said if you don't have the learned experience of being poor you might want to check out today's talk "Growing Up Poor In America" - Lisa 'Tiny' Garcia at 11am PT

Livestream at http://go/tiny-kim

[original image sourced from https://imgur.com/MUuZ9sr]

#googplus

So one more Nexus 6p / Android post.

A teammate offered me a 6p test device as a loaner. Has the asset tag and everything. *Yay!*

Turns out it was factory reset with a test account on it. *Uhoh!*

But no worries there's an internal unlock tool. (http://go/androidunlock) *Yay*

Ugh it's broken for some odd reason:

https://buganizer.corp.google.com/issues/68021469

Techstop basically gives up at this point and say try out http://go/skylab -- basically saying that the device is a paperweight.

If we can't manage a shared pool of devices I fear what hell our enterprise customers go through. Also imagine if a fired employee Factory Resets their phone before they leave. Instant brick...

Anyway, enough ranting for today. I need to save my energy to deal with my wife's repeated question: "let's just go buy iPhones -- Are you some kind of masochist or what?"...

#googplus

Google Store, please take my money :(

- FWIW this is the chrome bug where time goes backwards
- And to add insult to injury I now have 4 pending charges for the failed orders.... At least having my card declined let me know that this was the case
- Filed http://b/72589737

#googplus

Wow, so this is what the Google Store offers for a clean/working Nexus 6p trade-in...

#googplus

Nexus 6p Bootloop :(

And we're not making it right for users and sending people to Huawei, who are now closed. And all my spare phones are micro-sim.

The playbook for the people on the phone is a depressing read:

https://support.google.com/playops/hardware/answer/7519413

We have a huge hoard of cash, surely we could do right by our users?

Oh and this is my 4th 6p...

#googplus

#googplus

Well worth watching. The blog->book is an interesting thing I didn't know about and I found the email -> blog solution for communicating with her future grown-up children clever.

Slides are here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14fAzIdLrfKt6K313UraEJATFsjFsqTEumNun4ufhtiU/edit?usp=sharing

https://wordpress.tv/2017/12/10/brianna-privett-the-story-of-your-life-using-wordpress-as-your-memor...

#googplus

#googplus

Looks like G+ sharing was added to gThanks in

https://b.corp.google.com/issues/9972517

But the shares it creates now are pretty bare-bones and you have to really hunt down that G+ share button...

Oh and big congrats to all the people getting Kudos and PBs lately. Y'all are awesome!

#googplus

It took a bit of searching to figure out why I received a check for 8. But if you get one here's why:

This is a wage and hour PAGA action arising from Defendant's failure to pay wages in a timely manner at the end of each pay period. Labor Code § 204( d) requires employees to be paid out by the seventh (ih) day following the closing of the pay period if employees are paid on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Defendant, who paid its employees on a bi-weekly basis, had a consistent policy of paying the wages of its employees on the eighth (8t11) day or later following the close of the respective pay period, and thus, beyond the time periods as allowed pursum1t to Labor Code § 204. This PAGA action is being sought on behalf of Defendant's other aggrieved employees.

In addition to the PAGA action, Plaintiff also asserts individual claims for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. Specifically, Plaintiff engaged in protected activity by removing alcohol from the workplace (due to fear for her personal safety and the safety of co-workers), and to prevent sexual harassment. However, by exercising such rights, Plaintiff was terminated from her employment.

Defendant's Position

Plaintiff was employed by Defendant from approximately January 27, 2015 to April 12, 2016 as a Program Manager. In late March 2016, a Google employee reported that several personal items had gone missing. Google's asset investigations team confirmed through video evidence that Plaintiff had taken the reported items. During its investigation, Plaintiff provided inconsistent accounts of her actions, which Google deemed to lack credibility. As a result, Google terminated Plaintiffs employment for violation of company policy and the dishonest conduct she exhibited.

Google denies that its payroll schedule was inconsistent with section 204 of the Labor Code. Moreover, Plaintiff cannot show that she or any of the members of the group she seeks to represent were aggrieved. An award of civil penalties under PAGA would result in an award that is unjust, arbitrary, and oppressive

https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/California_State_Santa_Clara_County_Superior_Court/16CV301321/Baid...

#googplus

Two new local charities available for gift match for California Wildfires so it's not just the Red Cross now:

http://go/california-fires

Still *0k* to match.

Also I learned that Google Docs has a 'mobilebasic' suffix which generates a simple lightweight doc. Many of the emergency resource docs are using this:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ZhXDNaL260p5OempaFbCrsYBe_5pvNvDqV7xcwn95s/mobilebasic

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14ZhXDNaL260p5OempaFbCrsYBe_5pvNvDqV7xcwn95s/mobilebasic

#googplus

#googplus

Not strictly "social" per-se, but there were a number of cross overs from iGoogle. Also relevant as Now is undergoing some historical changes of it's own..

- Pixie Labs ended up moving their games to Google+ Games (remember Farmville?)
- The gadget infrastructure from iGoogle (GGS) was used heavily for the +1 button, OpenSocial, PeopleSense and others. +103390686048441232976 might even still carry a pager for this old infrastructure...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XS9u1D-pFSxTcrbTZRa43CV7VKHztHzWLDCzrj0csJ4/edit?_escaped_fragme...

#googplus

#googplus