Google launching new social app called 'Spaces'
I know I'm in the minority when I say this, but I tend to like Google's ventures into the social realm. Sure, they don't always take off as they planned -- remember Google Wave? -- but every time Google comes into the picture with a new social app, I feel like the landscape of all other social apps shift just ever so slightly towards something they introduced (even if theirs doesn't necessarily get popular attention).
Anyway, Spaces, while not entirely new, feels like a new way to do social with small groups. My family and I already use Telegram for this mostly and for now that is more than sufficient, but Google's aesthetics might win me over even if the functionality is more or less the same. We'll see. The Spaces product launches presumably with Google I/O 2016.
PS: MATERIAL DESIGN!
Material Design in Motion
If you've read my site for a while, you'll know that Google's Material Design is one of those things I wish I could find implemented everywhere in my digital life. Android users know this well as the look, overall aesthetics, and the motion all work so well when designed within the Material Design guidelines. Some of this has made it's way to iOS, but for the most part, iOS still retains it's quickly-aging appearance compared to many Android apps as well as the rest of the web which has begun to adopt some of these Material Design ideas into full webpages.