Here’s why Larry Page told Google+ lead Vic Gondotra he can’t use Twitter

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20091110VicGundotra (1)

Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra, who is also known as the man behind Google+, admitted at the SMX Social Media Marketing conference last night that “his boss” asked him to stop tweeting on Twitter. 

Many reports assumed Google CEO Larry Page is the boss in question and further surmised that the above tweet is probably the reason behind his request. Gundotra’s tweet occurred around the same time Microsoft landed a strategic mobile partnership with Nokia that would replace Symbian with the Windows Phone operating system. The timing led to speculation that the tweet was a dig at both companies.

The Next Web published a transcript of Gundotra’s explanation:

No, actually I was asked not to do that by my boss. I tweeted a tweet about two companies that went viral, went very very viral and made a lot of headline news. And honestly, I didn’t anticipate that my comments would be interpreted in the way they were interpreted.

I thought I was speaking to a relatively small number of people who followed me, a developer-oriented group, and instead it went mainstream. And so, uhm, I’ve curtailed my usage since then.

Gundotra last tweeted in July 2011.

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Google+ launches new ‘Communities’ feature with public & private groups, discussion categories

Jordan Kahn

Google announced a new Google+ feature today, dubbed “Communities”, in a post on the Official Google Blog that aims to bring people of common interests together in discussions on the network. The new Google+ Communities will be made up of both private and public groups, discussion categories for finding conversations that meet your interest, hangouts, and sharing through +1 integration. You can activate the new feature by clicking the “Communities” icon to join or create a new community.

From photography to astronomy (and everything in between), Google+ has always been a place to crowd around common interests and meet new people. What’s been missing, however, are more permanent homes for all the stuff you love: the wonderful, the weird, and yes, even the things that are waaay out there. With Google+ Communities there’s now a gathering place for your passions

Snapseed for Android shows up in Google Exec’s Google Plus

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What’s this? A cliché shot of an airplane’s wing taken by the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Google. Not quite, look again:

Vic Gundotra shared the majestic photo, as first noted by #googleplusupdate, to his Google+ profile via Snapseed. As far as the public knows, Snapseed, despite Google buying its developer last month, is an iOS-only app.

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Google airs new Google+ for Android commercial

Jake Smith

The oh-so hip Plus team over at Google released a new commercial today. The 1 minute and 13 second clip shows off Google+ for Android’s array of features, including the app’s ability to share life “as it happens” and seeing the latest from your friends at the touch of your fingertips. It is not clear where the new commercial will air (most likely just the web), but it should encourage users to download the Google+ for Android app. Check out how Google’s Nexus 7 ad stacked up against Apple.  Read more

Google’s Project Glass joins Diane von Furstenberg at the New York Fashion Week Spring 2013 show

Seth Weintraub

If Google’s Glass(es) are going to ever gain mainstream acceptance, they will have to be seen as not only something acceptable to wear in public but also as something fashionable. To that end, Google is teaming with renowned designer Diane von Furstenberg on a project to document the creative process leading up to a fashion show.  On Sept. 13, the two companies will release a video of the project on the DVF Google+ page and Google’s YouTube channel.

The +DVF Page teases an announcement at PM today.

In a statement, Diane von Furstenberg said, “I am so excited to introduce Glass to the fashion world and use this revolutionary technology to give everyone a unique perspective into fashion.”  Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and head of Project X ,which oversees projects like Google Glass and driverless cars, said, “Beauty, style and comfort are as important to Glass as the latest technology. We are delighted to bring Glass to the runway together with DVF.”

WWD spotted Brin and wife Anne Wojcicki with DVF yesterday.

On Saturday afternoon, Google co-founder Sergey Brin was spotted at Diane von Furstenberg during fittings for her Sunday show. Brin and his wife Anne Wojcicki are slated to attend the show, and Wojcicki was being dressed by the designer for the occasion. Brin’s presence was more than just a sartorial coincidence: WWD has learned that some Google-developed technology will be introduced at the runway show. Specific details of the technology could not be learned, and an announcement about it is expected to be made Sunday morning.

Wearing a plain shirt, khaki shorts and Crocs, Brin, whose personal wealth is estimated to be $18.7 billion, admitted that style is not exactly on the top of his mind. “I probably wouldn’t call myself a fashion guy but I am getting there,” he said. Von Furstenberg and the pre-fashion show fittings could hasten the process. “It’s pretty impressive,” Brin said. “It’s quite the operation if you look at the number of styles and the models. It’s an amazing thing to watch.”

Although there is nothing in the press release explicitly saying so, it would not surprise me to see some runway models strutting around with some Glass headsets as well.

The press release follows below:

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Google bulks Google+ for businesses, launches ‘full preview mode’ for Google Apps with bevy of features

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Google started giving Google Apps users access to Google+ in October, and the company added to its initiative today by publicly launching Google+ for enterprise uses with a set of new business-focused social features.

According to a post by Google Apps Product Management Director Clay Bavor on the Google Enterprise Blog, the features include restricted sharing options, Hangouts integrated into Gmail, Calendar, Docs and other Google services, and administrative controls:

So today we’re launching an initial set of Google+ features designed specifically for businesses, and we’re excited to move into a full preview mode for Apps customers. During this preview period, organizations that have gone Google will be able to use the business features of Google+ for free through the end of 2013 while we continue to add more features and administrative controls designed for organizations.

For the past few months, pilot customers like Kaplan and Banshee Wines have been using Google+ to help employees engage and connect with each other. We’ve worked hard to incorporate early feedback from pilot customers into our plans, and we’re thrilled to begin offering Google+ features tailored to organizations.

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