I think its too much to hope that the watch will work with iOS, but that is also to be expected.  The key question will be price point.  Right now the Google Glass is priced at $1,500 not exactly targeted at the mass market, but if they can come up with a good watch, WITH A SWITCHABLE BAND, I think I will shell out for it.  $200 would be my upper limit.

So lets see how the rumor mill turns over the next few months.

So why is Google doing this?  Not to make friends thats for sure.  On the google forum they nearing 2000 message almost all decrying the end of iGoogle.  There is even a petition on change.org asking for this decision to be reversed.  Buts odds are it will not.  Why? Because Google is trying to narrow the pathways that people consume information to improve its efforts into social media.  And as much as I really hate losing iGoogle, it does make sense.  Right now google does not gain very much when you visit the iGoogle page. Yes there is the top admin bar that is becoming ubiquitous on all Google properties, but thats about it. Nothing to encourage you to share via google+, no adverts, nothing to get you to engage with the Google eco system.

The company did reply to complains recommending users to check Google Play or Google Chrome for substitute apps — which is pointless since the beauty of iGoogle is the  single, convenient page on which to have immediate access to appointments, important links, weather reports, new email, etc.

Sigh.. I will have to find a new homepage now… perhaps NetVibes…

Essentially, this is Google’s answer to Apple’s virtual voice assistant Siri for iOS, which remembers important dates on your calendar, reminds you of appointment times, and allows you to search the web via voice controls. However, Google Now goes a bit above and beyond this concept by taking the data from your daily routine, search history, and other user behavior.

For instance, Google Now will learn your daily commute home. And if there’s particularly congested traffic that would cause you to get home much later, it’ll send you a notification suggesting alternate routes. Another thing it does is update you on restaurants/retail stores as you’re walking past them, provides reviews of those stores, and other recommendations.

I really love the driving aspect of this.  The more I learn about Android 4.1 jelly bean, the more I’m thinking my next phone could be an android.

* FIRST: Click on the doodle to activate

* To change the dial settings, click on the dial and move your mouse up and down, not left to right.

* To play use the middle keys on your keyboard (a, s, d,f g, ..) for the white.  This will start at C

* You can play lower 4th using the top row of keys (q,w,e,r,…) The kit the lowest key, click on ‘tab’

* The number will get you the black keys.

You can use the Moog synthesizer to record and share as well.  You can share your creations directly to Google+ or grab a Google short URL to share it pretty much anywhere online.

Here’s some of the Google Doodle Moog hits to appear online as listed on PCW

MGMT, Kids: http://g.co/doodle/grpstw

Daft Punk, Aerodynamic (guitar solo): http://g.co/doodle/s7hmgm

Deep Purple, Smoke on the water: http://g.co/doodle/m9yhhx

John Williams, Imperial March from Star Wars: http://g.co/doodle/jf5uc5

Ah-ha, Take on Me: http://g.co/doodle/59es5h

Europe, Final Countdown: http://g.co/doodle/w48m6u

Howard Shore, Concerning Hobbits from The Lord of the Rings: http://g.co/doodle/ggqnzg

Here is a starter video to get you going.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkGlctY5zM4

Google I/O has officially sold out! There are no plans to release any additional tickets for Google I/O 2012. We have no plans for Last Call or other promotions at this time. If we do, we will announce it on the Google Developers Blog and Google+ page.

For those who won’t be there in person, Google said it will live stream the keynote and key sessions online and post videos of those sessions after 24 hours. Gundotra also promised “Google I/O extended viewing parties” throughout the world.

While we’re overwhelmed with the interest and enthusiasm around Google I/O, we know it can be very disappointing and frustrating when an event sells out this quickly. So here is what we are going to do:

1) Keynote will be streamed live

2) All key sessions will be streamed live

3) All session videos will be available after 24 hours

4) Google I/O Extended viewing parties will be happening all over the world

So, if you were not able to land a ticket today, see you at I/O Live (goo.gl/K8KQ4) or one of our Extended (goo.gl/ypL0q) locations in person!

Now, if you’re paranoid about your activity turn off your history on Google and YouTube, and any other Google service like picasa for which there are instructions here and here. And if you’re really paranoid, you can also consider getting rid of your Google accounts entirely.

BTW, if you do not already practice safe web browser, you may want to give this a read..

http://its.unca.edu/cyber-security-and-safe-web-surfing

We love the way the programmable web has evolved, so we’re using existing standards and best practices wherever we can:

• Our API methods are RESTful HTTP requests which return JSON responses.
• Our payload formats use standard syntax (e.g. PoCo for people info, ActivityStrea.ms for activities).
• We use OAuth 2 for secure trusted access to user data.

The only part that could be as issue is the OAuth stuff, but for now, they are only exposing public data, so short of registering your application, you may not need to bother with it. I do expect that like with Twitter, someone will write a library call to handle the OAuth2 stuff.  I, for one, would love that.  One less hassle to deal with.

If you signed up for the waiting list you would have gotten a email like this..

Greetings developers,

Thank you for showing your interest in the Google+ platform on our developer interest form. We promised to let you know when we had more details to share. Well, that time has come…

Today, we’re launching the first of the Google+ APIs. This initial API release is focused on public data only — it lets you read information that people have shared publicly on Google+. Read our blog post for more details.

Also, we’re happy to introduce a new Google+ developers site. This will be the place to go for our policies, terms, discussions with other developers, access to documentation, tools that make development on the Google+ platform easier and more fun, and of course, the place where announcements concerning new releases will be made.

The most important link here is the the Google+ API blog.  Here you can see sample code and get a helds up on the common issues that will popup for the less to godlike programmers out there.  On the blog you would see this Google+ API example

For example, if you want to get my profile information, you can use the people.get method by sending the following HTTP request:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/plus/v1/people/108189587050871927619?key=yourAPIKey

which returns the following JSON encoded output (excerpted for brevity):

{
 "kind": "plus#person",
 "id": "108189587050871927619",
 "displayName": "Chris Chabot",
 "image": {
  "url": "https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-cQNLOQzkGpE/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAEjo/M9_pXL-ra4Q/photo.jpg"
 },
 "organizations": [
  {
   "name": "Google+ Developer Relations",
   "title": "Developer Advocate & Manager",
   "type": "work"
  }
 ]
}

Pretty normal stuff as far as I can tell.

Here’s the leaked letter Google Ventures sent to its portfolio companies:

Hi –

The Google+ team is going to be starting to roll out some of their APIs to our Trusted Tester program in the next few days (followed by a more general availability in the next few weeks). They’ve agreed to give this early access to a small number (2-4) of our portfolio companies.

If you’re interested, we’d like you to at least be able to commit to building a small “hello world” app quickly (in the next 3-5 days). This stage of the program is more about feedback on docs and code for now, with an intent to have more meaningful interactions with G+ as more APIs roll out.

If you’re interested, please email me back with your company name, contact name, and email address.

Sam

So unless you have been playing with some of the unofficial API sets, dont get all excited, we still have awhile to wait.

• Google+Tweet: A full featured Twitter client inside your Google Plus Account.
• Google+Facebook: A browser extension that lets you view your Facebook stream inside Google Plus. It also allows you to Post to Facebook. Image above from ReadWriteWeb’s coverage
• CircleCount: A web application that takes a Google Plus profile and counts the number of followers and friends.
• PHP-based Google Plus API: This API provides public user and relationship data in Google Plus. It also allows to post to a users activity stream.
• Rudimentary Google Plus API: A Read Only JSON API that accepts a Google Plus profile id and gives you profile information and posts. The author, Emlyn O’Regan has also written a tool, Syyncc for tying together various social networks and currently supports extracting out data from Google Plus to other Social networks.
• Google Plus – Share to Twitter/Facebook : A Chrome browser extension that allows you to share your Google Plus posts to Twitter and Facebook.

I’ve decided to download one from