When the announcement came through, I passed on the basic information to a friend who said “ugh, Google, stop it.” While I’m not cynical, thinking Google is out for the world, I thought to myself “what added features could Buzz really bring?” While I don’t have access through Gmail, I do have access through my Google profile and my G1. Naturally, the first step was to browse the Orlando area looking for local updates to see what people were saying. The first updates I read involved being distracted in a lecture, some friendly trash talk between friends and someone making a reference to privacy.

As powerful as Buzz seems, I think the last point is the strongest concern many will have. Google Buzz requires your Gmail credentials, most often linked to your Google profile. For a lot of people this will be discouraging, however I’d imagine managing the privacy settings on Buzz will only be more difficult for those who use Gmail as their email client (not just service). Further more, with location based updates there’s almost the immediate concern as to who is looking to see where you are.

While the intentions are certainly good, the follow through seems a bit weak. Other location based social applications, like Gowalla and Foursquare are task centric. You’re checking into a location, not binding an update your updates to a location. If Buzz was more centered around being a social network feed, it might have been a bigger hit with me out of the box.

Further note: visiting http://buzz.google.com/ from my G1 shows only considerations about Android 2.0. More on that later, though.

The hype, while often strong, behind a new product almost always revolves around the existence of a product which owns the majority of the market share.  This has been the story with almost every Android phone that’s released, almost as though people expect a phone to take an immediate 40% share of the market.

Unfortunately, while I was browsing CNN between calls, I saw the headline (center page mind you) “Is Google releasing the iPhone killer.” This gains center attention, despite a plethora of equally disappointing articles (such as “woman defends tattooing her infant children.”) Despite the almost invisible article “Dow kicks ass” brushed aside to make room for the Nexus opinion.

Here’s the thing, for me and others, we look at each gadget as having the ability to compliment another instead of replacing it.  A good example is that along side my T-Mobile G1 I carry an iPod Touch and a Laptop.  While it is true that I can preform the same general tasks on my different devices, each carries their own benefits separate from the others.  I refuse to use my G1 for media, because the battery life is stretched thin as it is, while I can’t type on a virtual keyboard for the life of me, I won’t even go into the thought of writing code on my G1 (although I’ve done it numerous times) because it wouldn’t even be fun.

This is the same approach I take to the Nexus One and Apple Tablet launch, sure each would replace a device I already have, but neither will replace my need for the other devices, if anything it would create more of a reliance on them.  If I were to get the Nexus One, which I will some day (I hope), I would be even more bound to my netbook because of it’s keyboard and extended battery life. Whereas, if I were to acquire the Apple Tablet, I would rely more on my phone for communication and my iPod for media. If anything came close to minimizing my reliance on a gadget, it would be my netbook because it’s more powerful and the battery lasts 10 hours on a charge.

I keep telling myself this, day after day, however there’s that part of me that wants everything running at once.  Whether it’s infinite features on a website I’m building or just more plug-ins for a wordpress blog, I get caught up on the small things and forget what REALLY matters.

For a website to be functional, in my opinion, it needs to load quickly and present the newest and more accurate content that it can.  This is where CMS scripts and blogs really shine, however even these can easily be bogged down with modifications and take time out of the little that you already have to catch the audience’s attention.

1. You should start focusing on the bare minimum, and nothing else.  Unless you are showing off photography, your audience is most likely not there for pretty images.

• Basic content.
• Minimalistic design.
• As few ads and images as possible.

2. Once you start generating significant content and the site is loading smoothly, star looking into developing your design into what you think it should be.  Again, the question should always be asked “how will this benefit my audience as well as myself?”

3. Don’t overdo it. Simple. Don’t overdo it.

When you think of the most popular websites, for the most part they all focus on this same idea.  Google, Facebook (atleast the old Facebook) and Twitter all focus on delivering content in the most minimalistic manner. The new Facebook takes away from the content aspect with the new interface, either in an attempt to make the site more pretty or to deliver content in a more timely fashion.