Name: Started

Ouya, a $99 Android-based video game console, has picked up more than $5 million in the biggest Kickstarter campaign to date. It’s also received plenty of doubts from skeptics as well. In an interview, Julie Uhrman, the CEO and founder, said Ouya is the real deal.

Kickstarter’s records have been smashed by Ouya, a $99 Android-based video game console that promises to bring affordable games to the television. The project, which originally set out to raise $950,000, is now up to $5.7 million pledged from more than 47,000 backers with 10 left to go.

Built using standard components like a Tegra 3 quad-core processor and hackable, Ouya will create a new platform for developers looking to bring both casual and hardcore games to the living room. The console, which is being designed by famed designer Yves Behar, will work with a standard controller that includes a touchpad. Developers will be able to use an SDK to create an array of titles, which will all have a free component to them.

While the project isn’t expected to debut until March 2013, it has started revealing some partnerships, including a deal Friday with OnLive, which will offer its cloud-based streaming games at launch on Ouya. Ouya has also announced its first exclusive title Human Element, a zombie game from developer Robotoki.

I talked by phone last week with Ouya’s CEO and founder Julie Uhrman, who first conceived of Ouya while leading digital distribution and business development for gaming site IGN. We talked about the rising skepticism about the project and how Ouya is working to deliver the goods.

Ryan: Talk about the deal with OnLive. How did that come about and does that change the nature of your console?

Julie: There’s a lot of content and games that we want for Ouya and we listen to our audience. They wanted OnLive so I made it a point to go out get them. OnLive signals some of the types of partnerships we can have on Ouya. The idea is we can have streaming and downloadable content. Because it’s open and built on Android, all different kinds of content would be available: games, videos, streaming and music content. Ouya is about being open and bringing the best content to gamers and anyone who enjoys entertainment. We don’t think OnLive’s content cancels out any publishers or developers, it enhances the platform.

Ryan: Some people are skeptical of Ouya and wonder if it will pan out. Will this project deliver on time?

Julie: We have every confidence that we will do this. The technology isn’t rocket science, it’s standard stuff combined in a new way and wrapped in a beautiful package. It’s been incredibly embraced by gamers and developers. We get hundreds of emails from developers wanting to develop for the platform; the idea of openness of Ouya has resonated. Until we have things on store shelves, we can’t prove things and there will be questions but most (developers) say they want Ouya or something like this to succeed. We have vetted our process, capped the amount of units we are shipping on day one and we have great advisors, who have built great hardware and software. We feel very confident we will deliver in March.

Ryan: So where did this idea come from? What was your vision?

Julie: I was part of the game industry for a long time and I saw AAA developers leaving for mobile. But if you interview gamers, the number one platform is the TV. The most time is spent in the living room, even for mobile games. The experience is better on a TV but all the excitement and growth was in mobile. I grew up on TV games and I wanted to bring it back and I saw an opportunity for a device that has Android as its operating system. The value proposition is there. People don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a console. Ouya is $99 and games are free to play. What’s not to like?

Ryan: But building an ecosystem is hard work. Trying to court and keep developers and convince them there’s money to be made here is not easy. What are you planning to do to ensure that Ouya is appealing to developers?

Julie: The one thing that is always important to remember is this is still a product in development. We are focused on creating a great product. Kickstarter is opening up a two-way dialogue with folks who will benefit and we’re incorporating their feedback. People are incredibly excited. The developer conversations are incredibly well. You aint seen nothing yet.

Ryan: What has Kickstarter meant to you and what does the added money allow you to do?

Julie: It’s been a phenomenal platform for us and allowed us to create a dialogue with an audience of gamers and developers. We knew this was the only way to get to market quickly, raise money and bring this idea to fruition. Our goal was to hit $950,000 and we knew we could deliver units and even provide tools and support for developers with that. Anything over that is truly unbelievable and it means we can build more tools.

View the original article here

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Google-Circles-300x300.png?54167" alt="" />Google’s latest attempt to get into social networking has started to slowly get off the ground and so far, the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. That is, if you have managed to snag a beta invite to get in. With invites class="vt-p" href="http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=google+plus&_sacat=See-All-Categories">currently being sold on eBay (289 at time of writing this), demand to get into class="vt-p" href="https://plus.google.com">Google Plus is currently very high and as critical acclaim grows, the number of people clamoring to get through the door will only increase.

The question currently being asked though is “will Plus survive in the long term or will it go the way of Wave and wither at the hands of Facebook?” (ironically Mark Zuckerberg is the most popular person on Plus right now in terms of followers).

MakeUseOf’s usual policy is not to write about closed betas unless we have invites to hand out. But with Google Plus, people are slowly being let in, a few at a time. So I’ve decided to make an exception and let you know some of the things you should know about Google’s new social network, so when you finally manage to enter, you’ll have a broad overview of how it all works.

It’s All About The Circles

width="580" height="430">name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ocPeAdpe_A8&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3">name="allowFullScreen" value="true">name="allowScriptAccess" value="always">src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ocPeAdpe_A8&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="580" height="430">

The thing that people love the most about Plus is that you can categorise your contacts into different circles and then only post your status messages to the circles of people who you want to inform. So for example, you can keep your family in one circle, your work colleagues in another circle, and your friends in another. Then, for example, you can discuss your drunken night out that culminated in a stay in a police cell with a traffic cone, and only tell your trusted friends about it, safe in the knowledge that your boss or your mother will never see that status update if you don’t want them to.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus2.jpg?54167" alt="" />

When you first start using Plus, your Gmail contacts will be scanned and “suggestions” will be given to you as to who you should follow. A little envelope beside their picture means they haven’t been allowed into Plus yet but they will get status messages via email, if you want that. When you have found someone you want to add, just drag them with your mouse to the circle you want them to be in. Is there not a circle there suitable for a particular contact? Then make a new circle! Make as many as you want. Go on, go wild and make loads of circles. Live life on the edge.

Start Updating Your Stream

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus3.jpg?54167" alt="" width="568" height="433" />

When you have some circles set up, you can then start to update your stream with status messages. You will soon realise that Google Plus is basically a Facebook clone but much cleaner and more minimalist. No crappy Farmville or Mafia Wars games and “what is your horoscope today?” apps. It’s just people interacting with one another. As it should be.

When you have written your status update, you have the option of attaching a photo, a video clip, a link or your geo-location. Photos can be taken from Picasa Web or your phone (more on that later) and videos from either your phone or YouTube. Then click “add circles or people to share with“, choose the circles you want to send your status update to, then click “share“.

As you can see from the screenshot above, replies are “threaded”, just like Gmail messages. So posts are easy to navigate and you can shrink / collapse posts to read the comments then move on.

Watch The Privacy Settings!

When you post a status update, you have the option of posting to one or more circles. In this case, when you publish the status, you will see “limited” at the top, meaning it is limited to the circles you have sent it to.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus4.jpg?54167" alt="" />

But you can also choose to dispense with circles altogether and publish your post to anyone who visits your public profile. This setting is called “public” and will probably be indexed on the web.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus5.jpg?54167" alt="" />

The moral of the story is, when publishing something, take extra care to ensure you are giving the post the correct privacy setting! Otherwise that hilarious tale of you and the traffic cone in the police cell will suddenly go global and you’ll find yourself a viral hit – as well as probably unemployed and disowned by your mother!

Update your Google Profile

class="aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus6.jpg?54167" alt="" />

Obviously you would like people to follow you so you have a few people to talk to. So for them to find you, you need your profile properly filled out. class="vt-p" href="https://plus.google.com/112495062145828779627/posts">Here’s mine. If you already have a class="vt-p" href="http://profiles.google.com">Google Profile, then it automatically becomes your Plus Profile when you sign up for Plus. Make sure you have a good photograph, fill out your bio, your about page and link your class="vt-p" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/home">Picasa Web account, if you have one. If not, make one because it will quickly become invaluable.

Uploading Your Photos To Picasa Web & Your Plus Stream

There are two ways you can upload photos to Picasa Web and your stream. Either through your phone (those with an Android mobile phone, with at least the 2.1 OS, can get class="vt-p" href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.android.apps.plus&feature=search_result">the Plus app ) or you can upload the photo via the Plus website when you are writing your status update. But what makes Plus cool is that it offers on-the-fly online image editing.

So if you want to edit a photo that is perhaps too dark, just click on it once it’s been uploaded, then underneath the photo, you will see a small menu button called “Actions“. Drop that down and choose “edit photo“. This opens up some basic image editing tools.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus7.jpg?54167" alt="" />

Changes are shown in real time and can be undone if you don’t like any of it. Click “done editing” when you’re finished to see your revamped photo. It isn’t Photoshop but it isn’t that bad either. It makes my crappy Android camera phone look cool all of a sudden.

All Your Notification Messages On One Toolbar

style="margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/plus8.jpg?54167" alt="" align="left" />You have probably already seen the black toolbar that Google has now put at the top of every one of their pages (a bit hard to miss, isn’t it?). But when you start using Plus, that toolbar becomes an instant notification area where you can see how many stream updates there are waiting for you. You can drop down the menu to see what the update is so you know whether or not you have to visit the Plus webpage at that precise moment.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of what Plus has to offer. I haven’t mentioned Hangouts for instance, which allow you to have webcam chats with your circles, or Huddles where you can do group text messaging with the Android app. But MakeUseOf will be covering all of these features in due course. The purpose of this article is just to show you the basics.

Please don’t ask in the comments for an invite because currently Google has suspended all invites. But if you are already in, please let us know what you think of Plus in the comments. Is this a Facebook killer or will Plus go the way of Wave? Is Buzz also likely to be killed off as a result of Plus?/>/> Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/started-google/">Several Tips To Help You Get Started With Google Plus is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

More articles about: href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google/" title="Google" rel="tag">Google, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google-plus/" title="google plus" rel="tag">google plus, href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/social-networks/" title="social networks" rel="tag">social networks/>