Google+ Hangouts being used to remote monitor the home

In a genius move one Google+ user is remote monitoring his newborn baby at work using a google+ hangout. +Frances Haugen of the team responsible for Google+ posted today that her colleague at Google Sf, Thomas Stromberg, has set up a persistent Google hangout using a netbook at his house to view the baby's crib. Ms. Haugen Said "{this is a} Great example of applying Google+ in ways we didn't plan for!" Google Hangouts is a feature that allows users to hangout LIVE via video and/or voice simultaneously from anywhere in world. One person is trying to set the record for the longest continuous Google+ Hangout, currently (Sat. July 23, 2011, 7PM EST) it's been running for more than 4 days! that's over 48 hours of folks talking about all things Google+ and so much more. It's being kept alive by a rotating group of people from all over the world numbering 169 at this time. They have also innovated past Google's limit of the number of people in one hangout by live streaming the Hangout via this Ustream channel: http://www.hangoutongplus.com/

Google+ see fastest growth in History with 20 Million users in 3 Weeks

I have seen my Stream and Circles of friends steadily grow on Google+ during the two weeks I've been using Google's new social networking platform. Today the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google Plus has reached 20 Million users in just 3 short weeks. Usage is also widespread across the globe where we see early adopters in large numbers in India, the United kingdom, Canada, Germany, Brazil, Taiwan and France among other countries. Another thing I noticed is that I spend much more time on Google+ than Facebook, and maybe the newness factor is driving this usage, but I can honestly say that it is so much easier to use when compared with Facebook. For instance, like Facebook, Google+ has notifications (also RED) so you can see all new updates to friends, comments, messages and posts, but unlike Facebook, Google+ allows you to expand the specific thread right within the notifications panel (UI), that is pretty revolutionary! This is better. It allows you to continue whatever you were doing without the hassle of toggling between a bunch of pages.