Houston Pearce

“The largest online protest in history has fundamentally changed the game.  You were heard.”

SOPA and PIPA have been stopped. For now, at least.

This year has been truly wonderful for me. In fact, it’s been one of the best years of my entire life. I finished tenth grade, moved on to eleventh, made it to the top fifteen percent of my class, redesigned both of my websites, turned sixteen, got my first car, made new friends, spent quality time with my family, and had fun with friends.

Also, for the first time ever, I realized that I have many other interests besides technology. I have been keeping up with news and business, and I’ve had fun with that. That’s part of what makes it somewhat difficult to make decisions when it comes to matters of college and career. I am positive, however, that I will always be interested in technology, music, and business. I will continue to have new interests, but those will always stay at the forefront of my interests.

People always ask about New Year’s resolutions, but the truth is that I’ve never made a solid one. I actually think it would be pretty fun to come up with a few resolutions, but that’s only if they are goals that are within reach. One of my resolutions is going to be to blog more often, so I’m going to try to follow through with that. I feel like this is a great tool to share what’s going on in my life, and that I don’t use it nearly enough. Anyways, I’ve had a great year, and I am confident that 2012 will be fantastic.

Trying out my developer preview of Facebook Timeline. I think they did a nice job!

As I type this, I realize that summer is almost over. It seems like summer flies by faster and faster each year. Where did the time go? This summer, I’ve had a ton of fun. The day after school got out, we went to Charleston, SC. My Dad still has an office in Charleston, and we lived there for about eight years before moving to Birmingham. In Charleston, I went to the beach, to work with my Dad, and hung out with a couple of good friends. It’s incredibly hard to believe, though, as time goes by, that I’ve known these friends for many years. It’s equally difficult for me to say I’m going into eleventh grade.

Anyways, we came home, and spent a few weeks at home. Then, we went to Las Vegas! It was my first time going to Vegas, and I really had a lot of fun. We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel, where I watched people lose their money gamble, hung out by the pool, and people-watched. Vegas is a very cool place, even for the under-21 demographic. I found it to be a big city in the middle of a desert. After you leave Vegas, there is nothing. That didn’t stop us, though.

We drove to Los Angeles. It was four-hour drive, but it wasn’t so bad. On the way to LA, we stopped and had lunch at Peggy Sue’s. Why did we eat there? Well, it was the only place to eat within miles. It turned out being decent, though. The food was good, and the atmosphere was like nothing else. They did a great job with the retro theme. Finally, we arrived in LA. We went to The Grove, where Mario Lopez was shooting a new episode of Extra. We took the TMZ tour, all of the touristy things. Los Angeles is a fun place to spend vacation time.

Summer has once again come to a close. Next year, I’m going to be a junior. This is incredibly hard to believe, but I feel confident that it’s going to be great. I realize this post is incredibly lengthy, but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to blog again, since I’m usually incredibly busy during the school year. I’m ready to go, though!

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.

- James Dean

As many of you know, Google+ is Google’s (latest) take on social networking. I’ve always been a fan of anything Google. I use Gmail, iGoogle, Voice, YouTube, Google TV, and I even have a Google lava lamp. Let’s face it, their stuff is usually awesome.

It’s been said that the best way to be successful is to copy something that has been successful. That’s kind of what Google did with Google+. The interface is nearly identical to Facebook, and the functionality is close, as well. They added their own famous colors and design elements, and mixed in some ease-of-use features that have made them famous. It absolutely feels like a solid product, and certainly better than their last approach to social networking, called Wave.

The hangouts are a welcomed feature, and Facebook has a lot of catch-up work to do in that department. Google+ has also been compared to Twitter. In my opinion, because of circles and hangouts, Google+ has major potential. For example, I tend to share more personal stuff (such as family photos) on Facebook. On Twitter (which I have set to public), I am more careful about what I post. I think that’s the way most people look at it. On Facebook, I choose who my friends are. Even though I have over 700 friends, I’m fairly picky about who I accept. On Twitter, many of my followers have never met me. And that’s fine. On Google+, though, everyone who wants to add me is able to. I get to decide who gets to see what, and it’s incredibly simple. That’s what makes Google+ stand out. Will the other networks copy it? Probably.

In addition to the main features, I also really like the +1 button. I have seen it on many websites, and I haven’t been afraid to click it. Clicking +1 is like clicking the Facebook “like” button, and they have built-in a simple way to see the +1 activities of your friends.

For now, that’s all I have to say. I’ll probably do a follow-up post sometime in the near future. If you’re already on Google+, add me. I would appreciate a +1 on my business website. What do you like about it? Let me know! If you want to be on there, let me know and I’ll send you an invite. Oh, and I’m currently testing out Spotify. I’ll post a review soon. That’s all for now!