How to Achieve Your Financial Goals Before Retirement ? Larger ...

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A recent United States Department of Labor study found that the majority of Americans are unprepared for their retirement. Fewer than half have begun determining how much they?ll need to save. Between kids, mortgages and various bills, finding the money to contribute to your 401(k) or to resolve your debts can feel impossible. Achieving your financial goals before retirement is feasible, but you must start as soon as possible and determine what it will take to keep you secure in your golden years.

Financial Goals to Consider

Every individual?s financial objectives are different, but in general here are a few you might consider:

Own Your Home. Once considered the quintessential American dream, home ownership has become something of a burden to many Americans. Between refinancing and restructuring, it can take some individuals beyond their initial 30-year plan to pay off their homes. If your mortgage is at the top of your financial to-do list, speak to a financial planner to discover how to make this dream a reality.

Pay Off Your Debt. Paying your debt is another one of life?s unnecessary evils. Aside from a mortgage, the average American is carrying around $36,000 in debt, a number than can skyrocket if you suffer an illness or job loss.

Pamper Your Retirement Fund. It might be an inconvenience now, but maxing out your retirement fund is critical if you want to live comfortably once you quit working. If you aren?t sure about the specifics of your 401(k), ask your company?s HR rep about your maximum contribution limit. See if you can set aside more from each paycheck to ensure you have enough money for a comfortable retirement.

Save for an Emergency. Emergencies are an unfortunate and unavoidable part of life, and they don?t magically disappear after you retire. Setting aside money specifically for emergencies can help avoid unnecessary pressure on your family and bank account.

Consider Your Children?s Education. The cost of a four-year education is skyrocketing, and it?s the dream of many parents to help their children earn a degree without amassing an insurmountable debt. If you aren?t sure how much money to set aside, remember that, on average, college tuition rises three to five percent each year.

How to Set Your Financial Goals

You have your financial must-do list in place, but where do you begin? You don?t need an MBA from Harvard to create a realistic list of your financial goals; you just need to know where to find help.

Seek Assistance and Resources. If using a financial planner isn?t possible, then take it upon yourself to learn what you can about investing, retirement planning, the potential cost of college tuition and the multitude of ways to save for your future. Surf the Internet, browse your local library or attend seminars in your area.

Determine Your Short and Long-Term Goals. Now that you have a list in place, break each step into your long-, medium- and short-term goals. For instance, your short-term goal might be to pay off a certain credit card. A medium-term goal could be to pay off your children?s education. Long-term goals could include creating a rainy day medical fund, paying off your mortgage and maxing out your 401(k).

Review and Evaluate Your Plan Often. You have your plan firmly in place, but don?t assume that every step will be relevant and realistic in five months or even five years. As your life changes, tweak your financial plan accordingly. If some aspect isn?t working, change or remove it.

There?s no time like the present, so don?t put off making a financial plan for your future. Start today by picking up a book or magazine on financial planning or speaking to your employer?s HR rep to set up or expand your retirement fund.

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About the Author: Katherine Smith is a guest blogger and a fan of saving money wherever she can. From purchasing cheap checks to negotiating her banking fees, Katherine loves sharing her money-saving tips with her devoted blog followers.

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Source: http://www.largerfamilylife.com/2013/01/03/how-to-achieve-your-financial-goals-before-retirement/

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Looking North: Investigating Technology Innovation & Entrepreneurship in North Africa

Much of our focus in the past has centered around Sub-Saharan Africa and in particularly key ?hubs? in the region ? Nigeria in Western Africa, Kenya in Eastern Africa and South Africa in Southern Africa.

However, it goes without saying that though these areas are much discussed and have received a lot of attention for their progress in terms of tech and innovation, there are other countries that deserve to be highlighted on. In future, we?re aiming at canvassing more of the continent and investigating other countries that normally do not pop up by default when hear about ?tech in Africa?.

For example, at the recently concluded DEMO Africa event, I had a chat with Jon Gosier, founder of Appfrica who enlightened me on some of their efforts around the continent. Part of their activities involve running an annual developer contest (Apps4Africa), as part of this they hold developer events in several nations across Africa, I was amazed to learn that some of their highest turnouts were in countries that do not feature in hyped up conversations about tech in Africa.

In this article, I?d like to turn our attention to the northern part of Africa, a region that has received wide attention particularly following the Arab Spring ? but what does the technology innovation and entrepreneurship landscape look like in Northern Africa? We can consider the cases of Egypt and Tunisia:

Basic statistics

The following data is based on indicators published by the Egyptian Ministry of ICT (MICT), specifically the March 2012 ICT Indicators Bulletin and August 2012 ICT Indicators in Brief

Telecommunications & Mobile: In July 2011, Egypt recorded 77.76 million mobile subscriptions, that number jumped to 92.64 million in July 2012, recording an annual growth rate of approximately 19%.

Internet, Web & Social: In July 2011 there were 26.54 million internet users in Egypt of whom 9.95 million were mobile internet users (37.49%), as at July 2012 this number stood at 31.03% (approx. 17% increase) of whom 10.87 million were mobile internet users. The internet penetration rising from 32.96% to 27.79% in the respective periods.

Continue reading on?Afrinnovator

By Will Mutua

Source: http://www.afronline.org/?p=27512&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=looking-north-investigating-technology-innovation-entrepreneurship-in-north-africa

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Science?s HelloInsights Is An Influencer Analytics Platform For Pinterest

LA-based incubator Science is debuting a new service today, HelloInsights.com, which is a platform for Pinterest influencer analytics. HelloInsights offers a way for brands to monitor company growth, track popular items, and connect with potential brand ambassadors on Pinterest.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9fmaCBztpA8/

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A year after lavish funeral, Savile myth in ruins

FILE This March 25, 2008 file photo shows Jimmy Savile showing a medal in London. Amid mounting complaints that British authorities for decades failed to properly examine allegations of child abuse, lawmakers called Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012 for a sweeping national inquiry into the issue. Allegations that renowned BBC children?s TV host Jimmy Savile abused hundreds of young people have prompted national debate, and led scores of adults to contact authorities about other, unrelated cases of sex offenses in the past. (AP Photo/Lewis Whyld/PA Wire)

FILE This March 25, 2008 file photo shows Jimmy Savile showing a medal in London. Amid mounting complaints that British authorities for decades failed to properly examine allegations of child abuse, lawmakers called Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012 for a sweeping national inquiry into the issue. Allegations that renowned BBC children?s TV host Jimmy Savile abused hundreds of young people have prompted national debate, and led scores of adults to contact authorities about other, unrelated cases of sex offenses in the past. (AP Photo/Lewis Whyld/PA Wire)

LONDON (AP) ? At Jimmy Savile's funeral, a year ago Friday, the priest delivering the homily was emphatic: the DJ and television host "can face eternal life with confidence."

Hundreds of people packed a cathedral for Savile's funeral Mass, thousands paid their respects at his coffin, and people from Prince Charles to the Bee Gees sent condolences. He was a cultural fixture, even an icon, and his BBC television shows had been part of childhood for two generations of Britons.

But a year on, Savile's reputation is in ruins. Police have branded him one of Britain's worst sex offenders, accused of assaulting underage girls over half a century. Like those who feted and praised him on that November day, millions are wondering: How could he have duped so many for so long?

A SELF-MADE MYTH

"His life story was an epic of giving ? giving of time, giving of talent, giving of treasure," Monsignor Kieran Heskin told hundreds of mourners at the funeral. "Sir Jimmy Savile can face eternal life with confidence."

Savile's death, like his life, was full of self-spun mythology. He cast himself as a colorful entertainer who worked tirelessly for charity ? and he choreographed his exit as carefully as an Egyptian pharaoh, leaving instructions for an elaborate three-day commemoration in his home city of Leeds, in northern England.

Thousands of people turned out to pay tribute at the Queen's Hotel, where the entertainer's coffin sat surrounded by flowers, photos and the last cigar he ever smoked. Inside lay Savile, dressed in a tracksuit and clutching a string of rosary beads.

Others lined the street as Savile was carried into St. Anne's Cathedral by Royal Marine pallbearers for a richly ceremonial requiem Mass. Later he was buried in a golden coffin, in a tree-shaded cemetery ? and on a 45-degree angle so he could overlook the sea.

CHARITY SHIELD

"He had gold, jewelry and diamonds, but wealth meant nothing to him," Alistair Hall, a cardiologist at one of the hospitals Savile supported, said in his eulogy. Savile, he said, "was as he appeared ? a caring man."

Savile cultivated the persona of an eccentric, curmudgeonly but generous uncle. He wore brightly colored tracksuits and chunky gold chains and drove a Rolls-Royce. On the long-running TV show "Jim'll Fix It" he made children's wishes come true. Off-screen, he ran marathons for charity and frequently visited schools and hospitals.

What now seems clear ? what so many missed ? is that both roles brought him into contact with potential victims: star-struck teenagers, vulnerable patients, inmates of a secure psychiatric hospital.

Cary Cooper, a professor of psychology at England's Lancaster University, said that probably nobody will ever know whether Savile used his charity work deliberately to meet victims, or simply to burnish his saintly image. "Either way," Cooper said, "it protected him more, being seen as a philanthropic individual. It served his purpose."

At the funeral, Hall said Saville's charitable legacy would live on. Last month the trustees of two charities that bear his name announced that they were closing down.

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

When Savile died, Prince Charles' office said the heir to the throne and his wife "were saddened to hear of Jimmy Savile's death."

The late DJ boasted of his ties to powerful people, including Prince Charles, the late Princess Diana and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom he visited at her country retreat.

His connections may have helped shield him from criticism. Several young people accused Savile of abuse while he was alive, and he was questioned by police, but no charges were laid ? and no newspaper ever printed the allegations.

Now, police are investigating claims of abuse from some 300 people who have come forward since the scandal exploded when allegations about Savile were broadcast in a TV documentary in early October. And police are facing investigation themselves for their failure to act sooner.

Charles' Clarence House office says the prince's relationship with Savile was solely a result of their shared charity work.

REMORSE AND REGRET

"If there's a heaven, he'll be laughing now if he's got time," fellow DJ Tony Prince said at the funeral. "Because if there is a heaven, he'll be introducing Elvis on the clouds."

Younger DJs mentored by Savile were out in force at the memorial, and remembered the flamboyant star fondly. One, Dave Eager, wore a bright yellow sweat shirt saying "Jimmy's Eager Helper."

"Everyone who knew Jimmy knows it was a life-changing experience," he said.

Last month, Eager told The Sun newspaper that he was "completely and utterly gobsmacked" by the allegations against Savile, and felt guilty about failing to stop the abuse.

"You feel traumatized and sorry for the people abused by Jimmy but equally you think, 'Why the bloody hell didn't we see something?'" he said.

A SHATTERED IMAGE

Savile's carefully crafted myth didn't outlive him by long, and he has not rested in peace. His family has had the star's gravestone destroyed in response to public outrage. This week his nephew backed calls to exhume and cremate Savile's body out of respect to other bereaved families.

Of all the words spoken at the funeral a year ago, one comment now sounds prophetic. "None of us really knew the real Jimmy," fellow DJ Mike Read said. "Maybe he didn't even know himself."

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-09-Britain-Jimmy%20Savile/id-e4ff2cb0a9a242bda64afe0a335b39d6

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Video: Florida: the big political prize

>>> as we said at the top of our first half hour tonight, if you want to find out what is important to win this this election, trace the itineraries of the campaign in the last 24 hours , today, they basically crossed while on the ground, while on the taxi way, and in the air because they don't call them battleground states for nothing. mitt romney barnstorming through four states today, florida , ohio, virginia and iowa, making his argumentarguments.

>> this is a campaign about america, their children, we ask you to stay all the way until we win tomorrow night, we got to have your vote.

>> reporter: and for his part, president obama was shoring up what his campaign has optimistically called his midwestern firewall, and in wisconsin and iowa, making his final appeal.

>> you know where i stand, you know i tell the truth. and you know i will fight for you and your family every single day, as hard as i know how.

>> reporter: now, here is what we have done tonight, we have deployed our team across all that territory and will swing through some of the swing states tonight, beginning with mark potter in tampa, florida , good evening.

>> reporter: good evening to you, brian, florida is a political prize with the 29 electoral votes , making it a rich, diverse state, making it a political bellweather for much of the country. today, many voted after sometimes waiting in long lines. early voting at the polls ended saturday officially, but many still lined up today to fill out absentee ballots. today, governor romney was near orlando, florida , yesterday, president obama was in south florida . both are trying to energize their bases and engage the independents here, who are particularly strong in central florida , the democrats say they have the better ground game. the republicans say they have a stronger economic message here in a state hit hard by unemployment and foreclosures.

>> mark potter , in florida , and

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49702247/

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Pa.: One last Romney foray for Obama to defend

Campaign signs for both President Barack Obama, and his challenger, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are seen in yards outside Evans City, Pa., Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. In the final days of the presidential campaign, Romney is making a concerted push into Pennsylvania, aided by outside political groups that are spending millions in last minute ads in the state to help erode Obama?s 2008 support. Polling shows Obama holding on to a 4 or 5 percentage point lead over Romney, but the trend has been in Romney?s favor. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Campaign signs for both President Barack Obama, and his challenger, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are seen in yards outside Evans City, Pa., Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. In the final days of the presidential campaign, Romney is making a concerted push into Pennsylvania, aided by outside political groups that are spending millions in last minute ads in the state to help erode Obama?s 2008 support. Polling shows Obama holding on to a 4 or 5 percentage point lead over Romney, but the trend has been in Romney?s favor. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Campaign signs for both President Barack Obama, and his challenger, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are seen in yards outside Evans City, Pa., Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. In the final days of the presidential campaign, Romney is making a concerted push into Pennsylvania, aided by outside political groups that are spending millions in last minute ads in the state to help erode Obama?s 2008 support. Polling shows Obama holding on to a 4 or 5 percentage point lead over Romney, but the trend has been in Romney?s favor. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

BRYN MAWR, Pa. (AP) ? Rip Scott regrets his 2008 presidential vote for Barack Obama. The 60-year-old real estate company owner is going home to his Republican Party this year. Here in Philadelphia's suburbs where Pennsylvania political fights can be won or lost, Scott's reversal is the evidence Mitt Romney is looking for to merit his sudden, eleventh-hour sortie into the state.

"I just kind of bought into the whole thing," Scott said remorsefully as he headed for a haircut along Philadelphia's affluent Main Line. He said he feels demonized by Democrats as a successful business owner and wonders why Obama considers him one of the wealthy who needs to contribute more in taxes. "I don't feel wealthy," he said.

In the campaign's final days, Romney is making a concerted push into Pennsylvania, aided by outside political groups spending millions in last-minute ads to help erode Obama's support in 2008, when he won it by more than 10 percentage points. Polling shows Obama holding on to a 4 or 5 percentage point lead over Romney, but Romney has been gaining ground.

The incursion raises the question: Can Pennsylvania help Romney win the election, or is the state once again teasing a Republican presidential candidate only to see him fail??

For Romney, still flush with campaign money, a foray into Pennsylvania is not folly. He has spent massive amounts of time and money in neighboring Ohio only to see Obama maintain a slight and stubborn polling lead. Without Ohio, Romney needs Pennsylvania in his column.

Unlike states with early voting, 95 percent of the Pennsylvania votes are expected to be cast on Election Day, justifying a late attempt to sway the outcome. Romney aides argue that Obama is doing worse in the voter-rich Philadelphia suburbs than he did in 2008 and that Romney is doing better than recent Republicans have, and that he can build on the growing GOP strength in the western part of the state.

What's more, Pennsylvania has not been saturated with political advertising, giving Romney and his supporting groups an opportunity to sway last-minute voters with a barrage of ads. Obama is not ignoring the state, and now is buying commercial time in the state as well. He's also sending his most formidable weapon, former President Bill Clinton, to the state Monday to campaign in Pittsburgh, Scranton and in the Philadelphia area.

"Why not?" says Franklin & Marshall College political scientist Terry Madonna, summing up Romney's reasoning for taking a chance with Pennsylvania.

"When they look across the border and see Pennsylvania, which was a 7-, 8- , 9-point state for Obama before the first debate, is now a 4-, 5-point Obama state," he said. "All things being equal, why not hedge their bets?"

Still, the state has been elusive for the GOP. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 4-3 in the state. Despite trying, no Republican presidential candidate has won the state since 1988. The closest was in 2004, when President George W. Bush came up 2.5 percentage points short of John Kerry. For Romney to win, Obama would have to do worse than Kerry and Romney would have to do better than Bush.

"Every four years we go through this with Republicans saying that they're going to play in Pennsylvania," Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said. "It's a sign that he can't quite figure out his path to 270 electoral votes, so he's sending out lifelines."

Romney's entry into Pennsylvania comes in the immediate aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated neighboring New Jersey. The state's southeast has a special relationship with New Jersey, where many of its residents vacation and where New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is as well-known as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, if not better known.

Obama's tour with Christie to survey the storm's damage this week and Christie's compliments for Obama's response are bound to be noticed in some parts of the state.

"The president performs, he's on the ground, he's getting praise by one of the nation's leading Republicans and early supporters of Gov. Romney," Madonna said. "It's certainly helpful. We don't know how helpful."

Romney political director Rich Beeson said Romney will gain in Republican regions where he will push issues of jobs and energy, particularly gas exploration in the northeastern part of the state and coal in the southwest corner. But much of the attention by the two campaigns is in the ring of counties around Democratic-heavy Philadelphia. Romney will campaign in those suburbs this weekend.

With 1 in 5 of Pennsylvania's registered voters living there, the heavily populated, moderate suburbs of Chester, Delaware, Bucks and Montgomery counties are a reliable predictor of who will win the state. Voters there are highly educated and accustomed to splitting their tickets; they tend to lean liberal on environmental and social issues but conservative on fiscal matters.

"The types of voters in places like Bucks County or any of the suburban counties in Philadelphia are not a bad fit for Mitt Romney, especially the moderate Mitt that he's pitched himself as this fall," said Christopher Borick, a pollster and political scientist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown.

"These aren't individuals who are going to say 'Oh, I can't relate at all to a wealthy businessman,'" Borick said, "because in that part of the state a wealthy businessman is not exotic."

Indeed, Beeson sees inroads in those Philadelphia suburbs where Romney could gain from a primary contest when he was labeled a "Massachusetts moderate" by conservative opponents.

It's no wonder that a Romney radio ad playing in Mrs. Marty's Deli stressed his time as Massachusetts governor, working with a Democratic legislature, and his willingness to work across partisan divides as president.

Perry Gresh, 50, a Republican who owns an oil exploration company, said he voted for Ron Paul in the primary but will support Romney as the party's nominee in hopes of seeing a more stable tax structure.

Jonathan Marsh, a 21-year-old software engineer and registered Democrat, said he would vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson if it were not, in essence, a wasted vote. Instead, he will vote for Obama because he finds Romney to be untrustworthy and unreliable.

About 45 minutes away, in Newtown, Warren May, 67, a registered independent, said he will be voting for Romney after supporting Obama in 2008. May said he doesn't regret voting for Obama and struggled to pinpoint exactly why he's switching.

"I don't know what (Obama's) agenda is," May said as he left a drugstore. "He definitely has the smarts to be a great leader, but he didn't show himself to be a great leader."

___

Kuhnhenn reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Mark S. Smith contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-11-02-Presidential%20Campaign-Pennsylvania/id-192c01ff92804ddeb83a1137eb09babd

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The Best Part About Google+ Hangouts Is That The Technology ...

One of the underlying features launched originally with the Google+ project was its video conferencing platform, Hangouts. It?s been a success from the perspective of user adoption and also grabbed a partnership for Google with the NFL. Video is an extremely tough space to tackle, just ask companies like Skype, Airtime and countless others. Nailing an intimate experience that supports two or more people in a video conference is no small feat, but Google knocked it out of the park with Hangouts.

Today, the team announced some new features, nothing ?major,? but some really nice things that make the Hangout experience even more enjoyable and easier to use. When you?re in a Hangout, you can now display or hide a new sidebar, which shows you who?s in the room. It also sports a fit-and-finished notification system, which alerts showing in red, actions in blue and announcements in grey. Hangout apps have also been surfaced, illustrating the great work that developers have done using its API.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Product Manager on Google+ Hangouts, Kate Cushing, about what makes Hangouts so special and how the team tackles hard problems like scaling such a service for the masses.

A Hangout About Hangouts

Long story short, I injured myself yesterday, so I couldn?t visit the Googlplex to talk to Cushing. No problem. We jumped in a Google+ Hangout and chatted for a while. Her insightful knowledge of the project is extremely evident, but the nuances that I?ve surfaced in the past only became clearer as we chatted.

Cushing is a recent graduate who was a part of the famed Google APM program, and has been working on Hangouts before it was launched to the public last year. Previously, she worked on Google Analytics, but there was something about Hangouts that caught her attention:

Hangouts is where I wanted to be, it?s an exciting place to be at Google and on the net right now. Real-time communication is the next frontier. When I went away to college it was SMS and voice and for my dad it was letters and phone calls. Now it?s video chatting.

The No. 1 use case for Google+ Hangouts is for hanging out with friends, but companies are adopting it for internal meetings with teams that are spread out all over the world. For example, Cushing works with some of the engineers who aren?t in Mountain View, using Hangouts to get a more ?natural? feel that beats emails, texts and phone calls. Cushing explained this phenomenon quite eloquently:

I think one of the most exciting pieces around what we?re doing with Hangouts is mirroring the real-life interactions you have?but on the web. Tiny details like how we switch video when we?re talking. Switching focus is what you see on a TV show and the kind of focus when you have during a normal group conversation in real life.

I can interrupt you, make a joke, fire out punchlines. The standard parts of conversations that are fun are here in Hangouts, and I can recreate the dinners that I would have with my family.

It?s that real-life mirroring that makes the actual technology behind Hangouts, which is actually quite impressive, essentially disappear. To me, the best technology in the world gets out of the way and lets you do your thing. It?s one of the reasons why I really enjoy using Apple products, because even though everything is pretty, the ?tech? hides itself. I honestly have to say that Google?s products are starting to show those same properties.

New Forms Of Communication

I?ve been a digital native for as long as I can remember. My first gig was with a tech company ? the same company that TechCrunch is under. I used to use AOL chatrooms, Instant Messenger, and before that, BBS. Texting, tweeting, instant messaging and video chat have always been the ?same? as talking in person with someone for me, even though I?d prefer the real thing. It?s not a replacement, but it?s an enhancement when people you care about don?t live nearby.

It?s more than just one-on-one chat though, which is why Hangouts are so magical. Cushing described her own personal experiences with the product to me as we hung out:

I work with a bunch of engineers in a different office and we talk about their kids and I see their Halloween photos like we?re sitting in an office. That isn?t possible without video. The same thing with my family. Last Christmas, since we?re all over the place, my grandparents couldn?t see everyone at Christmas and have never had all of their grandchildren together at once. We gave her a tablet and all of these people showed up after it dings.

She got to meet her first great-grandchild over Hangouts and a tablet.

The Hangout product continues to evolve under the leadership of some visionary folks at Google, but mostly thanks to the feedback from its users and ?ambassadors,? which the Hangouts team works very closely with to learn about how they use the product.

I asked Cushing what her favorite piece of Hangouts was for her personally to work on. Her answer surprised me, but made absolute sense:

I actually did the Hangouts piece for Gmail. That was really cool because we brought free calling to every Gmail caller and the nuances for what that meant was pretty cool. It was fun for me because I have friends who are on Gchat/Gmail all day. It was one of those times when you see people transition from asynchronous ?chats? to easily having a ?conversation.?

The Future Of The Future

There are more places where Hangouts makes sense, like within education. I can totally see classrooms using the product to conduct classes or as a place where students can help one another study for a test. Sure, they could do this on something like Skype, but the Hangouts experience is built for a use case like this.

I mean, during the NBA dunk contest, a player held a Hangout and performed dunks that were requested by the audience. That?s the next level of interactivity on multiple levels. I?d like to see television perform in this way sometime in the future. It could happen.

As I mentioned, the underlying technology behind Hangouts is a massive undertaking. I asked Cushing to talk about the major hurdles of keeping up with the community requests, as well as the wants and needs that the team has for the product:

One of the biggest challenges that we face is balancing the directed communication you want to have with people and at the same time supporting these broader conversations, along with the context and the conversation. We really care about both of those. One is innovating, and one is making it easier to let you instantly connect with someone.

Figuring out how to balance the two uses of the project and deliver on both of them well. That?s kind of the challenge we face.

How do you innovate and keep it simple at the same time? That?s what the team is working on. Along with that, there are things that we don?t ?see,? like incremental improvements to audio and video quality, messaging on its pages and placement of buttons to keep things usable for everyone, not just tech nerds.

There?s a lot going on with Hangouts, but once you start using them, you completely forget that you?re on your computer using a sophisticated technology project. It?s like you?re having dinner with your parents.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/01/the-best-part-about-google-hangouts-is-that-the-technology-itself-completely-disappears/

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